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diff --git a/31681.txt b/31681.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fadeabc --- /dev/null +++ b/31681.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18522 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hand and Ring, by Anna Katharine Green + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Hand and Ring + + +Author: Anna Katharine Green + + + +Release Date: March 17, 2010 [eBook #31681] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAND AND RING*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Emmy, and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images +generously made available by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 31681-h.htm or 31681-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31681/31681-h/31681-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31681/31681-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/handring00greeuoft + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). + + + + + +HAND AND RING + +by + +ANNA KATHARINE GREEN + + + * * * * * + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR. + + =The Leavenworth Case.= A LAWYER'S STORY. 16mo, cloth, + $1.00; paper, 50 cents; 4to, paper 20 + + =A Strange Disappearance.= 16mo, cloth, $1.00; paper 50 + + =The Sword of Damocles.= 16mo, cloth, $1.00; paper 50 + + =X. Y. Z.= A DETECTIVE STORY. 16mo, paper 25 + + =The Defence of the Bride, and other Poems.= Square, + 8vo., flexible cloth 1 00 + + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, PUBLISHERS, + NEW YORK AND LONDON. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: "'Look out,' cried the detective, 'or you will get +yourself into trouble,' and he tightened his grip on the old creature's +arm."--(Page 43.) (_Frontispiece_.)] + + + +HAND AND RING + +by + +ANNA KATHARINE GREEN + +Author of "The Leavenworth Case", "The Sword of Damocles", "The +Defense of the Bride" Etc., Etc. + + + "For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak + with most miraculous organ." + + + + + + + +G. P. Putnam's Sons +New York: 27 & 29 West 23d Street +London: 25 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden +1883 + +Copyright by +Anna Katharine Green +1883 + +Press of +G. P. Putnam's Sons +New York + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + _BOOK I._ + + THE GENTLEMAN FROM TOLEDO. + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. A Startling Coincidence 1 + II. An Appeal to Heaven 17 + III. The Unfinished Letter 31 + IV. Imogene 49 + V. Horace Byrd 67 + VI. The Skill of an Artist 85 + VII. Miss Firman 95 + VIII. The Thick-set Man 115 + IX. Close Calculations 128 + X. The Final Test 146 + XI. Decision 162 + + + _BOOK II._ + + THE WEAVING OF A WEB. + + XII. The Spider 168 + XIII. The Fly 175 + XIV. A Last Attempt 189 + XV. The End of a Tortuous Path 199 + XVI. Storm 205 + XVII. A Surprise 213 + XVIII. A Brace of Detectives 214 + XIX. Mr. Ferris 233 + XX. A Crisis 245 + XXI. A Heart's Martyrdom 258 + XXII. Craik Mansell 264 + XXIII. Mr. Orcutt 278 + XXIV. A True Bill 299 + XXV. Among Telescopes and Charts 306 + XXVI. "He Shall Hear Me!" 313 + + + _BOOK III._ + + THE SCALES OF JUSTICE. + + XXVII. The Great Trial 315 + XXVIII. The Chief Witness for the Prosecution 322 + XXIX. The Opening of the Defence 350 + XXX. Byrd Uses his Pencil Again 356 + XXXI. The Chief Witness for the Defence 369 + XXXII. Hickory 383 + XXXIII. A Late Discovery 392 + XXXIV. What Was Hid Behind Imogene's Veil 411 + XXXV. Pro and Con 436 + XXXVI. A Mistake Rectified 465 + XXXVII. Under the Great Tree 475 + XXXVIII. Unexpected Words 502 + XXXIX. Mr. Gryce 516 + XL. In the Prison 529 + XLI. A Link Supplied 555 + XLII. Consultations 568 + XLIII. Mrs. Firman 573 + XLIV. The Widow Clemmens 587 + XLV. Mr. Gryce Says Good-bye 600 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE + "'Look out,' cried the detective, 'or you will get yourself + into trouble,' and he tightened his grip on the old + creature's arm." _Frontispiece_ + + "Taking her hand in his, he looked at her long and + searchingly. 'Imogene,' he exclaimed, 'there is + something weighing on your heart.'" 58 + + "He paused, sick and horror-stricken. Her face had risen + upon him from the back of the chair, and was staring + at him like that of a Medusa." 252 + + Diagram 364 + + "The curtains parted and disclosed the form of Imogene. + 'I am coming,' she murmured, and stepped forth." 402 + + NOTE.--A portion of these illustrations originally + appeared in _Frank Leslie's Illustrated + Newspaper_, and have been used in this volume + through the courtesy of Mrs. Leslie. + + + + +HAND AND RING. + + + + +BOOK I. + +THE GENTLEMAN FROM TOLEDO. + + + + +I. + +A STARTLING COINCIDENCE. + + By the pricking of my thumbs, + Something wicked this way comes. + --MACBETH. + + +THE town clock of Sibley had just struck twelve. Court had adjourned, +and Judge Evans, with one or two of the leading lawyers of the county, +stood in the door-way of the court-house discussing in a friendly way +the eccentricities of criminals as developed in the case then before the +court. Mr. Lord had just ventured the assertion that crime as a fine art +was happily confined to France; to which District Attorney Ferris had +replied: + +"And why? Because atheism has not yet acquired such a hold upon our +upper classes that gentlemen think it possible to meddle with such +matters. It is only when a student, a doctor, a lawyer, determines to +put aside from his path the secret stumbling-block to his desires or +his ambition that the true intellectual crime is developed. That brute +whom you see slouching along over the way is the type of the average +criminal of the day." + +And he indicated with a nod a sturdy, ill-favored man, who, with pack on +his back, was just emerging from a grassy lane that opened out from the +street directly opposite the court-house. + +"Such men are often seen in the dock," remarked Mr. Orcutt, of more than +local reputation as a criminal lawyer. "And often escape the penalty of +their crimes," he added, watching, with a curious glance, the lowering +brow and furtive look of the man who, upon perceiving the attention he +had attracted, increased his pace till he almost broke into a run. + +"Looks as if he had been up to mischief," observed Judge Evans. + +"Rather as if he had heard the sentence which was passed upon the last +tramp who paid his respects to this town," corrected Mr. Lord. + +"Revenons a nos moutons," resumed the District Attorney. "Crime, as an +investment, does not pay in this country. The regular burglar leads a +dog's life of it; and when you come to the murderer, how few escape +suspicion if they do the gallows. I do not know of a case where a murder +for money has been really successful in this region." + +"Then you must have some pretty cute detective work going on here," +remarked a young man who had not before spoken. + +"No, no--nothing to brag of. But the brutes are so clumsy--that is the +word, clumsy. They don't know how to cover up their tracks." + +"The smart ones don't make tracks," interposed a rough voice near them, +and a large, red-haired, slightly hump-backed man, who, from the looks +of those about, was evidently a stranger in the place, shuffled forward +from the pillar against which he had been leaning, and took up the +thread of conversation. + +"I tell you," he continued, in a gruff tone somewhat out of keeping with +the studied abstraction of his keen, gray eye, "that half the criminals +are caught because they do make tracks and then resort to such +extraordinary means to cover them up. The true secret of success in this +line lies in striking your blow with a weapon picked up on the spot, and +in choosing for the scene of your tragedy a thoroughfare where, in the +natural course of events, other men will come and go and unconsciously +tread out your traces, provided you have made any. This dissipates +suspicion, or starts it in so many directions that justice is at once +confused, if not ultimately baffled. Look at that house yonder," the +stranger pursued, pointing to a plain dwelling on the opposite corner. +"While we have been standing here, several persons of one kind or +another, and among them a pretty rough-looking tramp, have gone into the +side gate and so around to the kitchen door and back. I don't know who +lives there, but say it is a solitary old woman above keeping help, and +that an hour from now some one, not finding her in the house, searches +through the garden and comes upon her lying dead behind the wood-pile, +struck down by her own axe. On whom are you going to lay your hand in +suspicion? On the stranger, of course--the rough-looking tramp that +everybody thinks is ready for bloodshed at the least provocation. But +suspicion is not conviction, and I would dare wager that no court, in +face of a persistent denial on his part that he even saw the old woman +when he went to her door, would bring in a verdict of murder against +him, even though silver from her private drawer were found concealed +upon his person. The chance that he spoke the truth, and that she was +not in the house when he entered, and that his crime had been merely one +of burglary or theft, would be enough to save him from the hangman." + +"That is true," assented Mr. Lord, "unless all the other persons who had +been seen to go into the yard were not only reputable men, but were +willing to testify to having seen the woman alive up to the time he +invaded her premises." + +But the hump-backed stranger had already lounged away. + +"What do you think about this, Mr. Byrd?" inquired the District +Attorney, turning to the young man before alluded to. "You are an expert +in these matters, or ought to be. What would you give for the tramp's +chances if the detectives took him in hand?" + +"I, sir?" was the response. "I am so comparatively young and +inexperienced in such affairs, that I scarcely dare presume to express +an opinion. But I have heard it said by Mr. Gryce, who you know stands +foremost among the detectives of New York, that the only case of murder +in which he utterly failed to get any clue to work upon, was that of a +Jew who was knocked down in his own shop in broad daylight. But this +will not appear so strange when you learn the full particulars. The +store was situated between two alley-ways in Harlem. It had an entrance +back and an entrance front. Both were in constant use. The man was found +behind his counter, having evidently been hit on the head by a +slung-shot while reaching for a box of hosiery. But though a succession +of people were constantly passing by both doors, there was for that very +reason no one to tell which of all the men who were observed to enter +the shop, came out again with blood upon his conscience. Nor were the +circumstances of the Jew's life such as to assist justice. The most +careful investigation failed to disclose the existence of any enemy, nor +was he found to possess in this country, at least, any relative who +could have hoped to be benefited by the few dollars he had saved from a +late bankruptcy. The only conclusion to be drawn is that the man was +secretly in the way of some one and was as secretly put out of it, but +for what purpose or by whose hand, time has never disclosed." + +"There is one, however, who knows both," affirmed Judge Evans, +impressively. + +"The man himself?" + +"God!" + +The solemnity with which this was uttered caused a silence, during which +Mr. Orcutt looked at his watch. + +"I must go to dinner," he announced, withdrawing, with a slight nod, +across the street. + +The rest stood for a few minutes abstractedly contemplating his +retreating figure, as with an energetic pace all his own he passed down +the little street that opened opposite to where they stood, and entered +the unpretending cottage of a widow lady, with whom he was in the habit +of taking his mid-day meal whenever he had a case before the court. + +A lull was over the whole village, and the few remaining persons on the +court-house steps were about to separate, when Mr. Lord uttered an +exclamation and pointed to the cottage into which they had just seen Mr. +Orcutt disappear. Immediately all eyes looked that way and saw the +lawyer standing on the stoop, having evidently issued with the utmost +precipitation from the house. + +"He is making signs," cried Mr. Lord to Mr. Ferris; and scarcely knowing +what they feared, both gentlemen crossed the way and hurried down the +street toward their friend, who, with unusual tokens of disturbance in +his manner, ran forward to meet them. + +"A murder!" he excitedly exclaimed, as soon as he came within speaking +distance. "A strange and startling coincidence. Mrs. Clemmens has been +struck on the head, and is lying covered with blood at the foot of her +dining-room table." + +Mr. Lord and the District Attorney stared at each other in a maze of +surprise and horror easily to be comprehended, and then they rushed +forward. + +"Wait a moment," the latter suddenly cried, stopping short and looking +back. "Where is the fellow who talked so learnedly about murder and the +best way of making a success of it. He must be found at once. I don't +believe in coincidences." And he beckoned to the person they had called +Byrd, who with very pardonable curiosity was hurrying their way. "Go +find Hunt, the constable," he cried; "tell him to stop and retain the +humpback. A woman here has been found murdered, and that fellow must +have known something about it." + +The young man stared, flushed with sudden intelligence, and darted off. +Mr. Ferris turned, found Mr. Orcutt still at his side, and drew him +forward to rejoin Mr. Lord, who by this time was at the door of the +cottage. + +They all went in together, Mr. Ferris, who was of an adventurous +disposition, leading the way. The room into which they first stepped was +empty. It was evidently the widow's sitting-room, and was in perfect +order, with the exception of Mr. Orcutt's hat, which lay on the +centre-table where he had laid it on entering. Neat, without being +prim, the entire aspect of the place was one of comfort, ease, and +modest luxury. For, though the Widow Clemmens lived alone and without +help, she was by no means an indigent person, as a single glance at her +house would show. The door leading into the farther room was open, and +toward this they hastened, led by the glitter of the fine old china +service which loaded the dining-table. + +"She is there," said Mr. Orcutt, pointing to the other side of the room. + +They immediately passed behind the table, and there, sure enough, lay +the prostrate figure of the widow, her head bleeding, her arms extended, +one hand grasping her watch, which she had loosened from her belt, the +other stretched toward a stick of firewood, that, from the mark of blood +upon its side, had evidently been used to fell her to the floor. She was +motionless as stone, and was, to all appearance, dead. + +"Sickening, sickening!--horrible!" exclaimed Mr. Lord, recoiling upon +the District Attorney with a gesture, as if he would put the frightful +object out of his sight. "What motive could any one have for killing +such an inoffensive woman? The deviltry of man is beyond belief!" + +"And after what we have heard, inexplicable," asserted Mr. Ferris. "To +be told of a supposable case of murder one minute, and then to see it +exemplified in this dreadful way the next, is an experience of no common +order. I own I am overcome by it." And he flung open a door that +communicated with the lane and let the outside air sweep in. + +"That door was unlocked," remarked Mr. Lord, glancing at Mr. Orcutt, who +stood with severe, set face, looking down at the outstretched form +which, for several years now, had so often sat opposite to him at his +noonday meal. + +With a start the latter looked up. "What did you say? The door unlocked? +There is nothing strange in that. She never locked her doors, though she +was so very deaf I often advised her to." And he allowed his eyes to run +over the wide stretch of low, uncultivated ground before him, that, in +the opinion of many persons, was such a decided blot upon the town. +"There is no one in sight," he reluctantly admitted. + +"No," responded the other. "The ground is unfavorable for escape. It is +marshy and covered with snake grass. A man could make his way, however, +between the hillocks into those woods yonder, if he were driven by fear +or understood the path well. What is the matter, Orcutt?" + +"Nothing," affirmed the latter,--"nothing, I thought I heard a groan." + +"You heard me make an exclamation," spoke up Mr. Ferris, who by this +time had sufficiently overcome his emotion to lift the head of the +prostrate woman and look in her face. "This woman is not dead." + +"What!" they both cried, bounding forward. + +"See, she breathes," continued the former, pointing to her slowly +laboring chest. "The villain, whoever he was, did not do his work well; +she may be able to tell us something yet." + +"I do not think so," murmured Mr. Orcutt. "Such a blow as that must have +destroyed her faculties, if not her life. It was of cruel force." + +"However that may be, she ought to be taken care of now," cried Mr. +Ferris. "I wish Dr. Tredwell was here." + +"I will go for him," signified the other. + +But it was not necessary. Scarcely had the lawyer turned to execute this +mission, when a sudden murmur was heard at the door, and a dozen or so +citizens burst into the house, among them the very person named. Being +coroner as well as physician, he at once assumed authority. The widow +was carried into her room, which was on the same floor, and a brother +practitioner sent for, who took his place at her head and waited for any +sign of returning consciousness. The crowd, remanded to the yard, spent +their time alternately in furtive questionings of each other's +countenances, and in eager look-out for the expected return of the +strange young man who had been sent after the incomprehensible humpback +of whom all had heard. The coroner, closeted with the District Attorney +in the dining-room, busied himself in noting certain evident facts. + +"I am, perhaps, forestalling my duties in interfering before the woman +is dead," intimated the former. "But it is only a matter of a few hours, +and any facts we can glean in the interim must be of value to a proper +conduct of the inquiry I shall be called upon to hold. I shall therefore +make the same note of the position of affairs as I would do if she were +dead; and to begin with, I wish you to observe that she was hit while +setting the clock." And he pointed to the open door of the huge +old-fashioned timepiece which occupied that corner of the room in which +she had been found. "She had not even finished her task," he next +remarked, "for the clock is still ten minutes slow, while her watch is +just right, as you will see by comparing it with your own. She was +attacked from behind, and to all appearances unexpectedly. Had she +turned, her forehead would have been struck, while, as all can see, it +is the back of her head that has suffered, and that from a right-hand +blow. Her deafness was undoubtedly the cause of her immobility under the +approach of such an assailant. She did not hear his step, and, being so +busily engaged, saw nothing of the cruel hand uplifted to destroy her. I +doubt if she even knew what happened. The mystery is that any one could +have sufficiently desired her death to engage in such a cold-blooded +butchery. If plunder were wanted, why was not her watch taken from her? +And see, here is a pile of small change lying beside her plate on the +table,--a thing a tramp would make for at once." + +"It was not a thief that struck her." + +"Well, well, we don't know. I have my own theory," admitted the coroner; +"but, of course, it will not do for me to mention it here. The stick was +taken from that pile laid ready on the hearth," he went on. "Odd, +significantly odd, that in all its essential details this affair should +tally so completely with the supposable case of crime given a moment +before by the deformed wretch you tell me about." + +"Not if that man was a madman and the assailant," suggested the District +Attorney. + +"True, but I do not think he was mad--not from what you have told me. +But let us see what the commotion is. Some one has evidently arrived." + +It was Mr. Byrd, who had entered by the front door, and deaf to the low +murmur of the impatient crowd without, stood waiting in silent patience +for an opportunity to report to the District Attorney the results of his +efforts. + +Mr. Ferris at once welcomed him. + +"What have you done? Did you find the constable or succeed in laying +hands on that scamp of a humpback?" + +Mr. Byrd, who, to explain at once, was a young and intelligent +detective, who had been brought from New York for purposes connected +with the case then before the court, glanced carefully in the direction +of the coroner and quietly replied: + +"The hump-backed scamp, as you call him, has disappeared. Whether he +will be found or not I cannot say. Hunt is on his track, and will report +to you in an hour. The tramp whom you saw slinking out of this street +while we stood on the court-house steps is doubtless the man whom you +most want, and him we have captured." + +"You have?" repeated Mr. Ferris, eying, with good-natured irony, the +young man's gentlemanly but rather indifferent face. "And what makes you +think it is the tramp who is the guilty one in this case? Because that +ingenious stranger saw fit to make him such a prominent figure in his +suppositions?" + +"No, sir," replied the detective, flushing with a momentary +embarrassment he however speedily overcame; "I do not found my opinions +upon any man's remarks. I only---- Excuse me," said he, with a quiet air +of self-control that was not without its effect upon the sensible man he +was addressing. "If you will tell me how, where, and under what +circumstances this poor murdered woman was found, perhaps I shall be +better able to explain my reasons for believing in the tramp as the +guilty party; though the belief, even of a detective, goes for but +little in matters of this kind, as you and these other gentlemen very +well know." + +"Step here, then," signified Mr. Ferris, who, accompanied by the +coroner, had already passed around the table. "Do you see that clock? +She was winding it when she was struck, and fell almost at its foot. +The weapon which did the execution lies over there; it is a stick of +firewood, as you see, and was caught up from that pile on the hearth. +Now recall what that humpback said about choosing a thoroughfare for a +murder (and this house is a thoroughfare), and the peculiar stress which +he laid upon the choice of a weapon, and tell me why you think he is +innocent of this immediate and most remarkable exemplification of his +revolting theory?" + +"Let me first ask," ventured the other, with a remaining tinge of +embarrassment coloring his cheek, "if you have reason to think this +woman had been lying long where she was found, or was she struck soon +before the discovery?" + +"Soon. The dinner was still smoking in the kitchen, where it had been +dished up ready for serving." + +"Then," declared the detective with sudden confidence, "a single word +will satisfy you that the humpback was not the man who delivered this +stroke. To lay that woman low at the foot of this clock would require +the presence of the assailant in the room. Now, the humpback was not +here this morning, but in the court-room. I know this, for I saw him +there." + +"You did? You are sure of that?" cried, in a breath, both his hearers, +somewhat taken aback by this revelation. + +"Yes. He sat down by the door. I noticed him particularly." + +"Humph! that is odd," quoth Mr. Ferris, with the testiness of an +irritable man who sees himself contradicted in a publicly expressed +theory. + +"Very odd," repeated the coroner; "so odd, I am inclined to think he did +not sit there every moment of the time. It is but a step from the +court-house here; he might well have taken the trip and returned while +you wiped your eye-glasses or was otherwise engaged." + +Mr. Byrd did not see fit to answer this. + +"The tramp is an ugly-looking customer," he remarked, in what was almost +a careless tone of voice. + +Mr. Ferris covered with his hand the pile of loose change that was yet +lying on the table, and shortly observed: + +"A tramp to commit such a crime must be actuated either by rage or +cupidity; that you will acknowledge. Now the fellow who struck this +woman could not have been excited by any sudden anger, for the whole +position of her body when found proves that she had not even turned to +face the intruder, much less engaged in an altercation with him. Yet how +could it have been money he was after, when a tempting bit like this +remained undisturbed upon the table?" + +And Mr. Ferris, with a sudden gesture, disclosed to view the pile of +silver coin he had been concealing. + +The young detective shook his head but lost none of his seeming +indifference. "That is one of the little anomalies of criminal +experience that we were talking about this morning," he remarked. +"Perhaps the fellow was frightened and lost his head, or perhaps he +really heard some one at the door, and was obliged to escape without +reaping any of the fruits of his crime." + +"Perhaps and perhaps," retorted Mr. Ferris, who was a quick man, and +who, once settled in a belief, was not to be easily shaken out of it. + +"However that may be," continued Mr. Byrd, without seeming to notice the +irritating interruption, "I still think that the tramp, rather than the +humpback, will be the man to occupy your future attention." + +And with a deprecatory bow to both gentlemen, he drew back and quietly +left the room. + +Mr. Ferris at once recovered from his momentary loss of temper. + +"I suppose the young man is right," he acknowledged; "but, if so, what +an encouragement we have received this morning to a belief in +clairvoyance." And with less irony and more conviction, he added: "The +humpback _must_ have known something about the murder." + +And the coroner bowed; common-sense undoubtedly agreeing with this +assumption. + + + + +II. + +AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN. + + Her step was royal--queen-like.--LONGFELLOW. + + +IT was now half-past one. An hour and a half had elapsed since the widow +had been laid upon her bed, and to all appearance no change had taken +place in her condition. Within the room where she lay were collected the +doctor and one or two neighbors of the female sex, who watched every +breath she drew, and stood ready to notice the slightest change in the +stony face that, dim with the shadow of death, stared upon them from the +unruffled pillows. In the sitting-room Lawyer Orcutt conversed in a +subdued voice with Mr. Ferris, in regard to such incidents of the +widow's life as had come under his notice in the years of their daily +companionship, while the crowd about the gate vented their interest in +loud exclamations of wrath against the tramp who had been found, and the +unknown humpback who had not. Our story leads us into the crowd in +front. + +"I don't think she'll ever come to," said one, who from his dusty coat +might have been a miller. "Blows like that haven't much let-up about +them." + +"Doctor says she will die before morning," put in a pert young miss, +anxious to have her voice heard. + +"Then it will be murder and no mistake, and that brute of a tramp will +hang as high as Haman." + +"Don't condemn a man before you've had a chance to hear what he has to +say for himself," cried another in a strictly judicial tone. "How do you +know as he came to this house at all?" + +"Miss Perkins says he did, and Mrs. Phillips too; they saw him go into +the gate." + +"And what else did they see? I warrant he wasn't the only beggar that +was roaming round this morning." + +"No; there was a tin peddler in the street, for I saw him my own self, +and Mrs. Clemmens standing in the door flourishing her broom at him. She +was mighty short with such folks. Wouldn't wonder if some of the unholy +wretches killed her out of spite. They're a wicked lot, the whole of +them." + +"Widow Clemmens had a quick temper, but she had a mighty good heart +notwithstanding. See how kind she was to them Hubbells." + +"And how hard she was to that Pratt girl." + +"Well, I know, but----" And so on and so on, in a hum and a buzz about +the head of Mr. Byrd, who, engaged in thought seemingly far removed from +the subject in hand, stood leaning against the fence, careless and +_insouciant_. Suddenly there was a lull, then a short cry, then a +woman's voice rose clear, ringing, and commanding, and Mr. Byrd caught +the following words: + +"What is this I hear? Mrs. Clemmens dead? Struck down by some wandering +tramp? Murdered and in her own house?" + +In an instant, every eye, including Mr. Byrd's, was fixed upon the +speaker. The crowd parted, and the young girl, who had spoken from the +street, came into the gate. She was a remarkable-looking person. Tall, +large, and majestic in every proportion of an unusually noble figure, +she was of a make and possessed a bearing to attract attention had she +borne a less striking and beautiful countenance. As it was, the glance +lingered but a moment on the grand curves and lithe loveliness of that +matchless figure, and passed at once to the face. Once there, it did not +soon wander; for though its beauty was incontestable, the something that +lay behind that beauty was more incontestable still, and held you, in +spite of yourself, long after you had become acquainted with the broad +white brow, the clear, deep, changing gray eye, the straight but +characteristic nose, and the ruddy, nervous lip. You felt that, young +and beautiful as she was, and charming as she might be, she was also one +of nature's unsolvable mysteries--a woman whom you might study, obey, +adore, but whom you could never hope to understand; a Sphinx without an +Oedipus. She was dressed in dark green, and held her gloves in her +hand. Her appearance was that of one who had been profoundly startled. + +"Why don't some one answer me?" she asked, after an instant's pause, +seemingly unconscious that, alike to those who knew her and to those +who did not, her air and manner were such as to naturally impose +silence. "Must I go into the house in order to find out if this good +woman is dead or not?" + +"Shure she isn't dead yet," spoke up a brawny butcher-boy, bolder than +the rest. "But she's sore hurt, miss, and the doctors say as how there +is no hope." + +A change impossible to understand passed over the girl's face. Had she +been less vigorous of body, she would have staggered. As it was, she +stood still, rigidly still, and seemed to summon up her faculties, till +the very clinch of her fingers spoke of the strong control she was +putting upon herself. + +"It is dreadful, dreadful!" she murmured, this time in a whisper, and as +if to some rising protest in her own soul. "No good can come of it, +none." Then, as if awakening to the scene about her, shook her head and +cried to those nearest: "It was a tramp who did it, I suppose; at least, +I am told so." + +"A tramp has been took up, miss, on suspicion, as they call it." + +"If a tramp has been taken up on suspicion, then he was the one who +assailed her, of course." And pushing on through the crowd that fell +back still more awe-struck than before, she went into the house. + +The murmur that followed her was subdued but universal. It made no +impression on Mr. Byrd. He had leaned forward to watch the girl's +retreating form, but, finding his view intercepted by the wrinkled +profile of an old crone who had leaned forward too, had drawn +impatiently back. Something in that crone's aged face made him address +her. + +"You know the lady?" he inquired. + +"Yes," was the cautious reply, given, however, with a leer he found not +altogether pleasant. + +"She is a relative of the injured woman, or a friend, perhaps?" + +The old woman's face looked frightful. + +"No," she muttered grimly; "they are strangers." + +At this unexpected response Mr. Byrd made a perceptible start forward. +The old woman's hand fell at once on his arm. + +"Stay!" she hoarsely whispered. "By strangers I mean they don't visit +each other. The town is too small for any of us to be strangers." + +Mr. Byrd nodded and escaped her clutch. + +"This is worth seeing through," he murmured, with the first gleam of +interest he had shown in the affair. And, hurrying forward, he succeeded +in following the lady into the house. + +The sight he met there did not tend to allay his newborn interest. There +she stood in the centre of the sitting-room, tall, resolute, and +commanding, her eyes fixed on the door of the room that contained the +still breathing sufferer, Mr. Orcutt's eyes fixed upon her. It seemed as +if she had asked one question and been answered; there had not been time +for more. + +"I do not know what to say in apology for my intrusion," she remarked. +"But the death, or almost the death, of a person of whom we have all +heard, seems to me so terrible that----" + +But here Mr. Orcutt interrupted gently, almost tenderly, but with a +fatherly authority which Mr. Byrd expected to see her respect. + +"Imogene," he observed, "this is no place for you; the horror of the +event has made you forget yourself; go home and trust me to tell you on +my return all that it is advisable for you to know." + +But she did not even meet his glance with her steady eyes. "Thank you," +she protested; "but I cannot go till I have seen the place where this +woman fell and the weapon with which she was struck. I want to see it +all. Mr. Ferris, will you show me?" And without giving any reason for +this extraordinary request, she stood waiting with that air of conscious +authority which is sometimes given by great beauty when united to a +distinguished personal presence. + +The District Attorney, taken aback, moved toward the dining-room door. +"I will consult with the coroner," said he. + +But she waited for no man's leave. Following close behind him, she +entered upon the scene of the tragedy. + +"Where was the poor woman hit?" she inquired. + +They told her; they showed her all she desired and asked her no +questions. She awed them, all but Mr. Orcutt--him she both astonished +and alarmed. + +"And a tramp did all this?" she finally exclaimed, in the odd, musing +tone she had used once before, while her eye fell thoughtfully to the +floor. Suddenly she started, or so Mr. Byrd fondly imagined, and moved a +pace, setting her foot carefully down upon a certain spot in the carpet +beneath her. + +"She has spied something," he thought, and watched to see if she would +stoop. + +But no, she held herself still more erectly than before, and seemed, by +her rather desultory inquiries, to be striving to engage the attention +of the others from herself. + +"There is some one surely tapping at this door," she intimated, pointing +to the one that opened into the lane. + +Dr. Tredwell moved to see. + +"Is there not?" she repeated, glancing at Mr. Ferris. + +He, too, turned to see. + +But there was still an eye regarding her from behind the sitting-room +door, and, perceiving it, she impatiently ceased her efforts. She was +not mistaken about the tapping. A man was at the door whom both +gentlemen seemed to know. + +"I come from the tavern where they are holding this tramp in custody," +announced the new-comer in a voice too low to penetrate into the room. +"He is frightened almost out of his wits. Seems to think he was taken up +for theft, and makes no bones of saying that he did take a spoon or two +from a house where he was let in for a bite. He gave up the spoons and +expects to go to jail, but seems to have no idea that any worse +suspicion is hanging over him. Those that stand around think he is +innocent of the murder." + +"Humph! well, we will see," ejaculated Mr. Ferris; and, turning back, he +met, with a certain sort of complacence, the eyes of the young lady who +had been somewhat impatiently awaiting his reappearance. "It seems there +are doubts, after all, about the tramp being the assailant." + +The start she gave was sudden and involuntary. She took a step forward +and then paused as if hesitating. Instantly, Mr. Byrd, who had not +forgotten the small object she had been covering with her foot, +sauntered leisurely forward, and, spying a ring on the floor where she +had been standing, unconcernedly picked it up. + +She did not seem to notice him. Looking at Mr. Ferris with eyes whose +startled, if not alarmed, expression she did not succeed in hiding from +the detective, she inquired, in a stifled voice: + +"What do you mean? What has this man been telling you? You say it was +not the tramp. Who, then, was it?" + +"That is a question we cannot answer," rejoined Mr. Ferris, astonished +at her heat, while Lawyer Orcutt, moving forward, attempted once more to +recall her to herself. + +"Imogene," he pleaded,--"Imogene, calm yourself. This is not a matter of +so much importance to you that you need agitate yourself so violently in +regard to it. Come home, I beseech you, and leave the affairs of +justice to the attention of those whose duty it is to look after them." + +But beyond acknowledging his well-meant interference by a deprecatory +glance, she stood immovable, looking from Dr. Tredwell to Mr. Ferris, +and back again to Dr. Tredwell, as if she sought in their faces some +confirmation of a hideous doubt or fear that had arisen in her own mind. +Suddenly she felt a touch on her arm. + +"Excuse me, madam, but is this yours?" inquired a smooth and careless +voice over her shoulder. + +As though awakening from a dream she turned; they all turned. Mr. Byrd +was holding out in his open palm a ring blazing with a diamond of no +mean lustre or value. + +The sight of such a jewel, presented at such a moment, completed the +astonishment of her friends. Pressing forward, they stared at the costly +ornament and then at her, Mr. Orcutt's face especially assuming a +startled expression of mingled surprise and apprehension, that soon +attracted the attention of the others, and led to an interchange of +looks that denoted a mutual but not unpleasant understanding. + +"I found it at your feet," explained the detective, still carelessly, +but with just that delicate shade of respect in his voice necessary to +express a gentleman's sense of presumption in thus addressing a strange +and beautiful young lady. + +The tone, if not the explanation, seemed to calm her, as powerful +natures are calmed in the stress of a sudden crisis. + +"Thank you," she returned, not without signs of great sweetness in her +look and manner. "Yes, it is mine," she added slowly, reaching out her +hand and taking the ring. "I must have dropped it without knowing it." +And meeting the eye of Mr. Orcutt fixed upon her with that startled look +of inquiry already alluded to, she flushed, but placed the jewel +nonchalantly on her finger. + +This cool appropriation of something he had no reason to believe hers, +startled the youthful detective immeasurably. He had not expected such a +_denouement_ to the little drama he had prepared with such quiet +assurance, and, though with the quick self-control that distinguished +him he forbore to show his surprise, he none the less felt baffled and +ill at ease, all the more that the two gentlemen present, who appeared +to be the most disinterested in their regard for this young lady, seemed +to accept this act on her part as genuine, and therefore not to be +questioned. + +"It is a clue that is lost," thought he. "I have made a mess of my first +unassisted efforts at real detective work." And, inwardly disgusted with +himself, he drew back into the other room and took up his stand at a +remote window. + +The slight stir he made in crossing the room seemed to break a spell and +restore the minds of all present to their proper balance. Mr. Orcutt +threw off the shadow that had momentarily disturbed his quiet and +assured mien, and advancing once more, held out his arm with even more +kindness than before, saying impressively: + +"Now you will surely consent to accompany me home. You cannot mean to +remain here any longer, can you, Imogene?" + +But before she could reply, before her hand could lay itself on his arm, +a sudden hush like that of awe passed solemnly through the room, and the +physician, who had been set to watch over the dying gasps of the poor +sufferer within, appeared on the threshold of the bedroom door, holding +up his hand with a look that at once commanded attention and awoke the +most painful expectancy in the hearts of all who beheld him: + +"She stirs; she moves her lips," he announced, and again paused, +listening. + +Immediately there was a sound from the dimness behind him, a low sound, +inarticulate at first, but presently growing loud enough and plain +enough to be heard in the utmost recesses of the furthermost room on +that floor. + +"Hand! ring!" was the burden of the short ejaculation they heard. "Ring! +hand!" till a sudden gasp cut short the fearful iteration, and all was +silent again. + +"Great heavens!" came in an awe-struck whisper from Mr. Ferris, as he +pressed hastily toward the place from which these words had issued. + +But the physician at once stopped and silenced him. + +"She may speak again," he suggested. "Wait." + +But, though they listened breathlessly, and with ever-growing suspense, +no further break occurred in the deep silence, and soon the doctor +announced: + +"She has sunk back into her old state; she may rouse again, and she may +not." + +As though released from some painful tension, the coroner, the District +Attorney, and the detective all looked up. They found Miss Dare standing +by the open window, with her face turned to the landscape, and Mr. +Orcutt gazing at her with an expression of perplexity that had almost +the appearance of dismay. This look passed instantly from the lawyer's +countenance as he met the eyes of his friends, but Mr. Byrd, who was +still smarting under a sense of his late defeat, could not but wonder +what that gentleman had seen in Miss Dare, during the period of their +late preoccupation, to call up such an expression to his usually keen +and composed face. + +The clinch of her white hand on the window-sill told nothing; but when +in a few moments later she turned toward them again, Mr. Byrd saw, or +thought he saw, the last lingering remains of a great horror fading out +of her eyes, and was not surprised when she walked up to Mr. Orcutt and +said, somewhat hoarsely: "I wish to go home now. This place is a +terrible one to be in." + +Mr. Orcutt, who was only too glad to comply with her request, again +offered her his arm. But anxious as they evidently were to quit the +house, they were not allowed to do so without experiencing another +shock. Just as they were passing the door of the room where the wounded +woman lay, the physician in attendance again appeared before them with +that silently uplifted hand. + +"Hush!" said he; "she stirs again. I think she is going to speak." + +And once more that terrible suspense held each and every one enthralled: +once more that faint, inarticulate murmur eddied through the house, +growing gradually into speech that this time took a form that curdled +the blood of the listeners, and made Mr. Orcutt and the young woman at +his side drop apart from each other as though a dividing sword had +passed between them. + +"May the vengeance of Heaven light upon the head of him who has brought +me to this pass," were the words that now rose ringing and clear from +that bed of death. "May the fate that has come upon me be visited upon +him, measure for measure, blow for blow, death for death." + +Strange and awe-inspiring words, that drew a pall over that house and +made the dullest person there gasp for breath. In the silence that +followed--a silence that could be felt--the white faces of lawyer and +physician, coroner and detective, turned and confronted each other. But +the young lady who lingered in their midst looked at no one, turned to +no one. Shuddering and white, she stood gazing before her as if she +already beheld that retributive hand descending upon the head of the +guilty; then, as she awoke to the silence of those around her, gave a +quick start and flashed forward to the door and so out into the street +before Mr. Orcutt could rouse himself sufficiently from the stupor of +the moment to follow her. + + + + +III. + +THE UNFINISHED LETTER. + + Faith, thou hast some crotchets in thy head now. + --MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. + + +"WOULD there be any indiscretion in my asking who that young lady is?" +inquired Mr. Byrd of Mr. Ferris, as, after ascertaining that the +stricken sufferer still breathed, they stood together in a distant +corner of the dining-room. + +"No," returned the other, in a low tone, with a glance in the direction +of the lawyer, who was just re-entering the house, after an unsuccessful +effort to rejoin the person of whom they were speaking. "She is a Miss +Dare, a young lady much admired in this town, and believed by many to be +on the verge of matrimony with----" He nodded toward Mr. Orcutt, and +discreetly forbore to finish the sentence. + +"Ah!" exclaimed the youthful detective, "I understand." And he cast a +look of suddenly awakened interest at the man who, up to this time, he +had merely regarded as a more than usually acute criminal lawyer. + +He saw a small, fair, alert man, of some forty years of age, of a good +carriage, easy manner, and refined cast of countenance, overshadowed now +by a secret anxiety he vainly tried to conceal. He was not as handsome +as Coroner Tredwell, nor as well built as Mr. Ferris, yet he was, +without doubt, the most striking-looking man in the room, and, to the +masculine eyes of the detective, seemed at first glance to be a person +to win the admiration, if not the affection, of women. + +"She appears to take a great interest in this affair," he ventured +again, looking back at Mr. Ferris. + +"Yes, that is woman's way," replied the other, lightly, without any hint +of secret feeling or curiosity. "Besides, she is an inscrutable girl, +always surprising you by her emotions--or by her lack of them," he +added, dismissing the topic with a wave of his hand. + +"Which is also woman's way," remarked Mr. Byrd, retiring into his shell, +from which he had momentarily thrust his head. + +"Does it not strike you that there are rather more persons present than +are necessary for the purposes of justice?" asked the lawyer, now coming +forward with a look of rather pointed significance at the youthful +stranger. + +Mr. Ferris at once spoke up. "Mr. Orcutt," said he, "let me introduce to +you Mr. Byrd, of New York. He is a member of the police force, and has +been rendering me assistance in the case just adjourned." + +"A detective!" repeated the other, eying the young man with a critical +eye. "It is a pity, sir," he finally observed, "that your present duties +will not allow you to render service to justice in this case of +mysterious assault." And with a bow of more kindness than Mr. Byrd had +reason to look for, he went slowly back to his former place near the +door that hid the suffering woman from sight. + +However kindly expressed, Mr. Byrd felt that he had received his +dismissal, and was about to withdraw, when the coroner, who had been +absent from their midst for the last few minutes, approached them from +the foot of the stairs, and tapped the detective on the arm. + +"I want you," said he. + +Mr. Byrd bowed, and with a glance toward the District Attorney, who +returned him a nod of approval, went quickly out with the coroner. + +"I hear you are a detective," observed the latter, taking him up stairs +into a room which he carefully locked behind them. "A detective on the +spot in a case like this is valuable; are you willing to assume the +duties of your profession and act for justice in this matter?" + +"Dr. Tredwell," returned the young man, instantly conscious of a vague, +inward shrinking from meddling further in the affair, "I am not at +present master of my proceedings. To say nothing of the obedience I owe +my superiors at home, I am just now engaged in assisting Mr. Ferris in +the somewhat pressing matter now before the court, and do not know +whether it would meet with his approval to have me mix up matters in +this way." + +"Mr. Ferris is a reasonable man," said the coroner. "If his consent is +all that is necessary----" + +"But it is not, sir. I must have orders from New York." + +"Oh, as to that, I will telegraph at once." + +But still the young man hesitated, lounging in his easy way against the +table by which he had taken his stand. + +"Dr. Tredwell," he suggested, "you must have men in this town amply able +to manage such a matter as this. A woman struck in broad daylight and a +man already taken up on suspicion! 'Tis simple, surely; intricate +measures are not wanted here." + +"So you still think it is the tramp that struck her?" quoth the coroner, +a trifle baffled by the other's careless manner. + +"I still think it was not the man who sat in court all the morning and +held me fascinated by his eye." + +"Ah, he held you fascinated, did he?" repeated the other, a trifle +suspiciously. + +"Well, that is," Mr. Byrd allowed, with the least perceptible loss of +his easy bearing, "he made me look at him more than once. A wandering +eye always attracts me, and his wandered constantly." + +"Humph! and you are sure he was in the court every minute of the +morning?" + +"There must be other witnesses who can testify to that," answered the +detective, with the perceptible irritation of one weary of a subject +which he feels he has already amply discussed. + +"Well," declared the other, dropping his eyes from the young man's +countenance to a sheet of paper he was holding in his hand, "whatever +_role_ this humpback has played in the tragedy now occupying us, whether +he be a wizard, a secret accomplice, a fool who cannot keep his own +secret, or a traitor who cannot preserve that of his tools, this affair, +as you call it, is not likely to prove the simple matter you seem to +consider it. The victim, if not her townsfolk, knew she possessed an +enemy, and this half-finished letter which I have found on her table, +raises the question whether a common tramp, with no motive but that of +theft or brutal revenge, was the one to meditate the fatal blow, even if +he were the one to deal it." + +A perceptible light flickered into the eyes of Mr. Byrd, and he glanced +with a new but unmistakable interest at the letter, though he failed to +put out his hand for it, even though the coroner held it toward him. + +"Thank you," said he; "but if I do not take the case, it would be better +for me not to meddle any further with it." + +"But you are going to take it," insisted the other, with temper, his +anxiety to secure this man's services increasing with the opposition he +so unaccountably received. "The officers at the detective bureau in New +York are not going to send another man up here when there is already one +on the spot. And a man from New York I am determined to have. A crime +like this shall not go unpunished in this town, whatever it may do in a +great city like yours. We don't have so many murder cases that we need +to stint ourselves in the luxury of professional assistance." + +"But," protested the young man, still determined to hold back, whatever +arguments might be employed or inducements offered him, "how do you know +I am the man for your work? We have many sorts and kinds of detectives +in our bureau. Some for one kind of business, some for another; the +following up of a criminal is not mine." + +"What, then, is yours?" asked the coroner, not yielding a jot of his +determination. + +The detective was silent. + +"Read the letter," persisted Dr. Tredwell, shrewdly conscious that if +once the young man's professional instinct was aroused, all the puerile +objections which influenced him would immediately vanish. + +There was no resisting that air of command. Taking the letter in his +hand, the young man read: + + "DEAR EMILY:--I don't know why I sit down to write + to you to-day. I have plenty to do, and morning is + no time for indulging in sentimentalities; but I + feel strangely lonely and strangely anxious. + Nothing goes just to my mind, and somehow the many + causes for secret fear which I have always had, + assume an undue prominence in my mind. It is + always so when I am not quite well. In vain I + reason with myself, saying that respectable people + do not lightly enter into crime. But there are so + many to whom my death would be more than welcome, + that I constantly see myself in the act of + being----" + +"Struck, shot, murdered," suggested Dr. Tredwell, perceiving the young +man's eye lingering over the broken sentence. + +"The words are not there," remonstrated Mr. Byrd; but the tone of his +voice showed that his professional complacency had been disturbed at +last. + +The other did not answer, but waited with the wisdom of the trapper who +sees the quarry nosing round the toils. + +"There is evidently some family mystery," the young man continued, +glancing again at the letter. "But," he remarked, "Mr. Orcutt is a good +friend of hers, and can probably tell us what it all means." + +"Very likely," the other admitted, "if we choose to ask him." + +Quick as lightning the young man's glance flashed to the coroner's face. + +"You would rather not put the question to him?" he inquired. + +"No. As he is the lawyer who, in all probability, will be employed by +the criminal in this case, I am sure he would rather not be mixed up in +any preliminary investigation of the affair." + +The young man's eye did not waver. He appeared to take a secret resolve. + +"Has it not struck you," he insinuated, "that Mr. Orcutt might have +other reasons for not wishing to give any expression of opinion in +regard to it?" + +The surprise in the coroner's eye was his best answer. + +"No," he rejoined. + +Mr. Byrd at once resumed all his old nonchalance. + +"The young lady who was here appeared to show such agitated interest in +this horrible crime, I thought that, in kindness to her, he might wish +to keep out of the affair as much as possible." + +"Miss Dare? Bless your heart, she would not restrict him in any way. Her +interest in the matter is purely one of curiosity. It has been carried, +perhaps, to a somewhat unusual length for a woman of her position and +breeding. But that is all, I assure you. Miss Dare's eccentricities are +well known in this town." + +"Then the diamond ring was really hers?" Mr. Byrd was about to inquire, +but stopped; something in his memory of this beautiful woman made it +impossible for him to disturb the confidence of the coroner in her +behalf, at least while his own doubts were so vague and shadowy. + +The coroner, however, observed the young detective's hesitation, and +smiled. + +"Are you thinking of Miss Dare as having any thing to do with this +shocking affair?" he asked. + +Mr. Byrd shook his head, but could not hide the flush that stole up over +his forehead. + +The coroner actually laughed, a low, soft, decorous laugh, but none the +less one of decided amusement. "Your line is not in the direction of +spotting criminals, I must allow," said he. "Why, Miss Dare is not only +as irreproachable a young lady as we have in this town, but she is a +perfect stranger to this woman and all her concerns. I doubt if she even +knew her name till to-day." + +A laugh is often more potent than argument. The face of the detective +lighted up, and he looked very manly and very handsome as he returned +the letter to the coroner, saying, with a sweep of his hand as if he +tossed an unworthy doubt away forever: + +"Well, I do not wish to appear obstinate. If this woman dies, and the +inquest fails to reveal who her assailant is, I will apply to New York +for leave to work up the case; that is, if you continue to desire my +assistance. Meanwhile----" + +"You will keep your eyes open," intimated the coroner, taking back the +letter and putting it carefully away in his breast-pocket. "And now, +mum!" + +Mr. Byrd bowed, and they went together down the stairs. + +It was by this time made certain that the dying woman was destined to +linger on for some hours. She was completely unconscious, and her breath +barely lifted the clothes that lay over the slowly laboring breast; but +such vitality as there was held its own with scarcely perceptible +change, and the doctor thought it might be midnight before the solemn +struggle would end. "In the meantime, expect nothing," he exclaimed; +"she has said her last word. What remains will be a mere sinking into +the eternal sleep." + +This being so, Mr. Orcutt and Mr. Ferris decided to leave. Mr. Byrd saw +them safely out, and proceeded to take one or two private observations +of his own. They consisted mostly in noting the precise position of the +various doors in reference to the hearth where the stick was picked up, +and the clock where the victim was attacked. Or, so the coroner gathered +from the direction which Mr. Byrd's eye took in its travels over the +scene of action, and the diagram which he hastily drew on the back of an +envelope. The table was noticed, too, and an inventory of its articles +taken, after which he opened the side-door and looked carefully out into +the lane. + +To observe him now with his quick eye flashing from spot to spot, his +head lifted, and a visible air of determination infused through his +whole bearing, you would scarcely recognize the easy, gracefully +indolent youth who, but a little while before, lounged against the +tables and chairs, and met the most penetrating eye with the sleepy gaze +of a totally uninterested man. Dr. Tredwell, alert to the change, tapped +the letter in his pocket complacently. "I have roused up a weasel," he +mentally decided, and congratulated himself accordingly. + +It was two o'clock when Mr. Byrd went forth to join Mr. Ferris in the +court-room. As he stepped from the door, he encountered, to all +appearance, just the same crowd that had encumbered its entrance a half +hour before. Even the old crone had not moved from her former position, +and seeing him, fairly pounced upon him with question after question, +all of which he parried with a nonchalant dexterity that drew shout +after shout from those who stood by, and, finally, as he thought, won +him the victory, for, with an angry shake of the head, she ceased her +importunities, and presently let him pass. He hastened to improve the +chance to gain for himself the refuge of the streets; and, having done +this, stood for an instant parleying with a trembling young girl, whose +real distress and anxiety seemed to merit some attention. Fatal delay. +In that instant the old woman had got in front of him, and when he +arrived at the head of the street he found her there. + +"Now," said she, with full-blown triumph in her venomous eyes, "perhaps +you will tell me something! You think I am a mumbling old woman who +don't know what she is bothering herself about. But I tell you I've not +kept my eyes and ears open for seventy-five years in this wicked world +without knowing a bit of the devil's own work when I see it." Here her +face grew quite hideous, and her eyes gleamed with an aspect of gloating +over the evil she alluded to, that quite sickened the young man, +accustomed though he was to the worst phases of moral depravity. Leaning +forward, she peered inquiringly in his face. "What has _she_ to do with +it?" she suddenly asked, emphasizing the pronoun with an expressive +leer. + +"She?" he repeated, starting back. + +"Yes, she; the pretty young lady, the pert and haughty Miss Dare, that +had but to speak to make the whole crowd stand back. What had she to do +with it, I say? Something, or she wouldn't be here!" + +"I don't know what you are talking about," he replied, conscious of a +strange and unaccountable dismay at thus hearing his own passing doubt +put into words by this vile and repellent being. "Miss Dare is a +stranger. She has nothing to do either with this affair or the poor +woman who has suffered by it. Her interest is purely one of sympathy." + +"Hi! and you call yourself a smart one, I dare say." And the old +creature ironically chuckled. "Well, well, well, what fools men are! +They see a pretty face, and blind themselves to what is written on it as +plain as black writing on a white wall. They call it sympathy, and never +stop to ask why she, of all the soft-hearted gals in the town, should be +the only one to burst into that house like an avenging spirit! But it's +all right," she went on, in a bitterly satirical tone. "A crime like +this can't be covered up, however much you may try; and sooner or later +we will all know whether this young lady has had any thing to do with +Mrs. Clemmens' murder or not." + +"Stop!" cried Mr. Byrd, struck in spite of himself by the look of +meaning with which she said these last words. "Do you know any thing +against Miss Dare which other folks do not? If you do, speak, and let me +hear at once what it is. But--" he felt very angry, though he could not +for the moment tell why--"if you are only talking to gratify your +spite, and have nothing to tell me except the fact that Miss Dare +appeared shocked and anxious when she came from the widow's house just +now, look out what use you make of her name, or you will get yourself +into trouble. Mr. Orcutt and Mr. Ferris are not men to let you go +babbling round town about a young lady of estimable character." And he +tightened the grip he had taken upon her arm and looked at her +threateningly. + +The effect was instantaneous. Slipping from his grasp, she gazed at him +with a sinister expression and edged slowly away. + +"I know any thing?" she repeated. "What should I know? I only say the +young lady's face tells a very strange story. If you are too dull or too +obstinate to read it, it's nothing to me." And with another leer and a +quick look up and down the street, as if she half feared to encounter +one or both of the two lawyers whose names he had mentioned, she marched +quickly away, wagging her head and looking back as she went, as much as +to say: "You have hushed me up for this time, young man, but don't +congratulate yourself too much. I have still a tongue in my head, and +the day may come when I can use it without any fear of being stopped by +you." + +Mr. Byrd, who was not very well pleased with himself or the way he had +managed this interview, watched her till she was out of sight, and then +turned thoughtfully toward the court-house. The fact was, he felt both +agitated and confused. In the first place, he was disconcerted at +discovering the extent of the impression that had evidently been made +upon him by the beauty of Miss Dare, since nothing short of a deep, +unconscious admiration for her personal attributes, and a strong and +secret dread of having his lately acquired confidence in her again +disturbed, could have led him to treat the insinuations of this babbling +old wretch in such a cavalier manner. Any other detective would have +seized with avidity upon the opportunity of hearing what she had to say +on such a subject, and would not only have cajoled her into confidence, +but encouraged her to talk until she had given utterance to all that was +on her mind. But in the stress of a feeling to which he was not anxious +to give a name, he had forgotten that he was a detective, and remembered +only that he was a man; and the consequence was that he had frightened +the old creature, and cut short words that it was possibly his business +to hear. In the second place, he felt himself in a quandary as regarded +Miss Dare. If, as was more than possible, she was really the innocent +woman the coroner considered her, and the insinuations, if not threats, +to which he had been listening were simply the result of a wicked old +woman's privately nurtured hatred, how could he reconcile it to his duty +as a man, or even as a detective, to let the day pass without warning +her, or the eminent lawyer who honored her with his regard, of the +danger in which she stood from this creature's venomous tongue. + +As he sat in court that afternoon, with his eye upon Mr. Orcutt, beneath +whose ordinary aspect of quiet, sarcastic attention he thought he could +detect the secret workings of a deep, personal perplexity, if not of +actual alarm, he asked himself what he would wish done if he were that +man, and a scandal of a debasing character threatened the peace of one +allied to him by the most endearing ties. "Would I wish to be informed +of it?" he queried. "I most certainly should," was his inward reply. + +And so it was that, after the adjournment of court, he approached Mr. +Orcutt, and leading him respectfully aside, said, with visible +reluctance: + +"I beg your pardon, sir, but a fact has come to my knowledge to-day with +which I think you ought to be made acquainted. It is in reference to the +young lady who was with us at Mrs. Clemmens' house this morning. Did you +know, sir, that she had an enemy in this town?" + +Mr. Orcutt, whose thoughts had been very much with that young lady since +she left him so unceremoniously a few hours before, started and looked +at Mr. Byrd with surprise which was not without its element of distrust. + +"An enemy?" he repeated. "An enemy? What do you mean?" + +"What I say, Mr. Orcutt. As I came out of Mrs. Clemmens' house this +afternoon, an old hag whose name I do not know, but whom you will +probably have no difficulty in recognizing, seized me by the arm and +made me the recipient of insinuations and threats against Miss Dare, +which, however foolish and unfounded, betrayed an animosity and a desire +to injure her that is worthy your attention." + +"You are very kind," returned Mr. Orcutt, with increased astonishment +and a visible constraint, "but I do not understand you. What +insinuations or threats could this woman have to make against a young +lady of Miss Dare's position and character?" + +"It is difficult for me to tell you," acknowledged Mr. Byrd; "but the +vicious old creature presumed to say that Miss Dare must have had a +special and secret interest in this murder, or she would not have gone +as she did to that house. Of course," pursued the detective, discreetly +dropping his eyes from the lawyer's face, "I did what I could to show +her the folly of her suspicions, and tried to make her see the trouble +she would bring upon herself if she persisted in expressing them; but I +fear I only succeeded in quieting her for the moment, and that she will +soon be attacking others with this foolish story." + +Mr. Orcutt who, whatever his own doubts or apprehensions, could not fail +to be totally unprepared for a communication of this kind, gave +utterance to a fierce and bitter exclamation, and fixed upon the +detective his keen and piercing eye. + +"Tell me just what she said," he demanded. + +"I will try to do so," returned Mr. Byrd. And calling to his aid a very +excellent memory, he gave a _verbatim_ account of the conversation that +had passed between him and the old woman. Mr. Orcutt listened, as he +always did, without interruption or outward demonstration; but when the +recital was over and Mr. Byrd ventured to look at him once more, he +noticed that he was very pale and greatly changed in expression. Being +himself in a position to understand somewhat of the other's emotion, he +regained by an effort the air of polite nonchalance that became him so +well, and quickly suggested: "Miss Dare will, of course, be able to +explain herself." + +The lawyer flashed upon him a quick glance. + +"I hope you have no doubts on the subject," he said; then, as the +detective's eye fell a trifle before his, paused and looked at him with +the self-possession gained in fifteen years of practice in the criminal +courts, and said: "I am Miss Dare's best friend. I know her well, and +can truly say that not only is her character above reproach, but that I +am acquainted with no circumstances that could in any way connect her +with this crime. Nevertheless, the incidents of the day have been such +as to make it desirable for her to explain herself, and this, as you +say, she will probably have no difficulty in doing. If you will, +therefore, wait till to-morrow before taking any one else into your +confidence, I promise you to see Miss Dare myself, and, from her own +lips, learn the cause of her peculiar interest in this affair. +Meanwhile, let me request you to put a curb upon your imagination, and +not allow it to soar too high into the regions of idle speculation." + +And he held out his hand to the detective with a smile whose vain +attempt at unconcern affected Mr. Byrd more than a violent outbreak +would have done. It betrayed so unmistakably that his own secret doubts +were not without an echo in the breast of this eminent lawyer. + + + + +IV. + +IMOGENE. + + You are a riddle, solve you who can.--KNOWLES. + + +MR. ORCUTT was a man who for many years had turned a deaf ear and a cold +eye to the various attractions and beguilements of woman. Either from +natural coldness of disposition, or for some other latent cause, +traceable, perhaps, to some fact in his past history, and not to be +inquired into by gossiping neighbors and so-called friends, he had +resisted, even to the point of disdain, both the blandishments of +acknowledged belles, and the more timid but no less pleasing charms of +the shy country misses that he met upon his travels. + +But one day all this was changed. Imogene Dare entered his home, +awakening a light in the dim old place that melted his heart and made a +man out of what was usually considered a well-ordered machine. + +She had been a foundling. Yes, this beautiful, disdainful, almost +commanding woman, had in the beginning been that most unfortunate of +beings--a child without a name. But though this fact may have influenced +the course of her early days, it gradually disappeared from notice as +she grew up and developed, till in Sibley, at least, it became wellnigh +a fact forgotten. Her beauty, as well as the imposing traits of her +character, was the cause. There are some persons so gifted with natural +force that, once brought in contact with them, you forget their +antecedents, and, indeed, every thing but themselves. Either their +beauty overawes you or they, by conversation or bearing, so completely +satisfy you of their right to your respect, that indifference takes the +place of curiosity, and you yield your regard as if you have already +yielded your admiration, without question and without stint. + +The early years of her life were passed in the house of a poor widow, to +whom the appearance of this child on her door-step one fine day had been +nothing more nor less than a veritable godsend. First, because she was +herself alone in the world, and needed the mingled companionship and +care which a little one invariably gives; and, secondly, because +Imogene, from the very first, had been a noticeable child, who early +attracted the attention of the neighbors, and led to many a substantial +evidence of favor from them, as well as from the strangers who passed +their gate or frequented their church. Insensibly to herself, and +without help of circumstances or rearing, the girl was a magnet toward +which all good things insensibly tended; and the widow saw this, and, +while reaping the reward, stinted neither her affection nor her +gratitude. + +When Imogene was eleven, this protector of her infancy died. But another +home instantly offered. A wealthy couple of much kindness, if little +culture, adopted her as their child, and gave her every benefit in life +save education. This never having possessed themselves, they openly +undervalued. But she was not to be kept down by the force of any +circumstances, whether favorable or otherwise. All the graces of manner +and refinements of thought which properly belong to the station she had +now attained, but which, in the long struggle after wealth, had escaped +the honest couple that befriended her, became by degrees her own, +tempering without destroying her individuality, any more than the new +life of restraint that now governed her physical powers, was able to +weaken or subdue that rare and splendid physique which had been her +fairest birthright. + +In the lap of luxury, therefore, and in full possession of means to come +and go and conform herself to the genteel world and its fashions, she +passed the next four years; but scarcely had she attained the age of +fifteen, when bankruptcy, followed by death, again robbed her of her +home and set her once more adrift upon the world. + +This time she looked to no one for assistance. Refusing all offers, many +of them those of honorable marriage, she sought for work, and after a +short delay found it in the household of Mr. Orcutt. The aged sister who +governed his home and attended to all its domestic details, hired her as +a sort of assistant, rightly judging that the able young body and the +alert hand would bring into the household economy just that life and +interest which her own failing strength had now for some time refused +to supply. + +That the girl was a beauty and something more, who could not from the +nature of things be kept in that subordinate position, she either failed +to see, or, seeing, was pleased to disregard. She never sought to impose +restraint upon the girl any more than she did upon her brother, when in +the course of events she saw that his eye was at last attracted and his +imagination fired by the noble specimen of girlhood that made its daily +appearance at his own board. + +That she had introduced a dangerous element into that quiet home, that +ere long would devastate its sacred precincts, and endanger, if not +destroy, its safety and honor, she had no reason to suspect. What was +there in youth, beauty, and womanly power that one should shrink from +their embodiment and tremble as if an evil instead of a good had entered +that hitherto undisturbed household? Nothing, if they had been all. But +alas for her, and alas for him--they were not all! Mixed with the youth, +beauty, and power was a something else not to be so readily +understood--a something, too, which, without offering explanation to the +fascinated mind that studied her, made the beauty unique, the youth a +charm, and the power a controlling force. She was not to be sounded. +Going and coming, smiling and frowning, in movement or at rest, she was +always a mystery; the depths of her being remaining still in hiding, +however calmly she spoke or however graciously she turned upon you the +light of her deep gray eyes. + +Mr. Orcutt loved her. From the first vision he had of her face and form +dominating according to their nature at his board and fireside, he had +given up his will into her unconscious keeping. She was so precisely +what all other women he had known were not. At first so distant, so +self-contained, so unapproachable in her pride; then as her passion grew +for books, so teachable, so industrious, so willing to listen to his +explanations and arguments; and lastly---- + +But that did not come at once. A long struggle took place between those +hours when he used to encourage her to come into his study and sit at +his side, and read from his books, and the more dangerous time still, +when he followed her into the drawing-room and sat at her side, and +sought to read, not from books, but from her eyes, the story of his own +future fate. + +For, powerful as was his passion and deeply as his heart had been +touched, he did not yield to the thought of marriage which such a +passion involves, without a conflict. He would make her his child, the +heiress of his wealth, and the support of his old age; this was his +first resolve. But it did not last; the first sight he had of her on her +return from a visit to Buffalo, which he had insisted upon her making +during the time of his greatest mental conflict, had assured him that +this could never be; that he must be husband and she wife, or else +their relations must entirely cease. Perhaps the look with which she +met him had something to do with this. It was such a blushing, +humble--yes, for her, really humble and beautiful--look. He could not +withstand it. Though no one could have detected it in his manner, he +really succumbed in that hour. Doubt and hesitation flew to the winds, +and to make her his own became the sole aim and object of his life. + +He did not, however, betray his purpose at once. Neighbors and friends +might and did suspect the state of his feelings, but to her he was +silent. That vague something which marked her off from the rest of her +sex, seemed to have deepened in her temporary sojourn from his side, and +whatever it meant of good or of ill, it taught him at least to be wary. +At last, was it with premeditation or was it in some moment of +uncontrollable impulse, he spoke; not with definite pleading, or even +with any very clear intimation that he desired some day to make her his +wife, but in a way that sufficed to tear the veil from their previous +intercourse and let her catch a glimpse, if no more, of his heart, and +its devouring passion. + +He was absolutely startled at the result. She avowed that she had never +thought of his possessing such a regard for her; and for two days shut +herself up in her room and refused to see either him or his sister. Then +she came down, blooming like a rose, but more distant, more quiet, and +more inscrutable than ever. Pride, if pride she felt, was subdued under +a general aspect of womanly dignity that for a time held all further +avowals in check, and made all intercourse between them at once potent +in its attraction and painful in its restraint. + +"She is waiting for a distinct offer of marriage," he decided. + +And thus matters stood, notwithstanding the general opinion of their +friends, when the terrible event recorded in the foregoing chapters of +this story brought her in a new light before his eyes, and raised a +question, shocking as it was unexpected, as to whether this young girl, +immured as he had believed her to be in his own home, had by some +unknown and inexplicable means run upon the secret involving, if not +explaining, the mystery of this dreadful and daring crime. + +Such an idea was certainly a preposterous one to entertain. He neither +could nor would believe she knew more of this matter than any other +disinterested person in town, and yet there had certainly been something +in her bearing upon the scene of tragedy, that suggested a personal +interest in the affair; nor could he deny that he himself had been +struck by the incongruity of her behavior long before it attracted the +attention of others. + +But then he had opportunities for judging of her conduct which others +did not have. He not only had every reason to believe that the ring to +which she had so publicly laid claim was not her own, but he had +observed how, at the moment the dying woman had made that tell-tale +exclamation of "_Ring_ and _Hand!_" Miss Dare had looked down at the +jewel she had thus appropriated, with a quick horror and alarm that +seemed to denote she had some knowledge of its owner, or some suspicion, +at least, as to whose hand had worn it before she placed it upon her +own. + +It was not, therefore, a matter of wonder that he was visibly affected +at finding her conduct had attracted the attention of others, and one of +those a detective, or that the walk home after his interview with Mr. +Byrd should have been fraught with a dread to which he scarcely dared to +give a name. + +The sight of Miss Dare coming down the path as he reached his own gate +did not tend to greatly allay his apprehensions, particularly as he +observed she was dressed in travelling costume, and carried a small +satchel on her arm. + +"Imogene," he cried, as she reached him, "what is the meaning of this? +Where are you going?" + +Her face, which wore a wholly unnatural and strained expression, turned +slowly toward his. + +"I am going to Buffalo," she said. + +"To Buffalo?" + +"Yes." + +This was alarming, surely. She was going to leave the town--leave it +suddenly, without excuse or explanation! + +Looking at her with eyes which, for all their intense inquiry, conveyed +but little of the serious emotions that were agitating his mind, he +asked, hurriedly: + +"What takes you to Buffalo--to-day--so suddenly?" + +Her answer was set and mechanical. + +"I have had news. One of my--my friends is not well. I must go. Do not +detain me." + +And she moved quickly toward the gate. + +But his tremulous hand was upon it, and he made no offer to open a +passage for her. + +"Pardon me," said he, "but I cannot let you go till I have had some +conversation with you. Come with me to the house, Imogene. I will not +detain you long." + +But with a sad and abstracted gesture she slowly shook her head. + +"It is too late," she murmured. "I shall miss the train if I stop now." + +"Then you must miss it," he cried, bitterly, forgetting every thing else +in the torture of his uncertainty. "What I have to say cannot wait. +Come!" + +This tone of command from one who had hitherto adapted himself to her +every whim, seemed to strike her. Paling quickly, she for the first time +looked at him with something like a comprehension of his feelings, and +quietly replied: + +"Forgive me. I had forgotten for the moment the extent of your claims +upon me. I will wait till to-morrow before going." And she led the way +back to the house. + +When they were alone together in the library, he turned toward her with +a look whose severity was the fruit of his condition of mind rather than +of any natural harshness or imperiousness. + +"Now, Imogene," said he, "tell me why you desire to leave my house." + +Her face, which had assumed a mask of cold impassiveness, confronted him +like that of a statue, but her voice, when she spoke, was sufficiently +gentle. + +"Mr. Orcutt," was her answer, "I have told you. I have a call elsewhere +which must be attended to. I do not leave your house; I merely go to +Buffalo for a few days." + +But he could not believe this short statement of her intentions. In the +light of these new fears of his, this talk of Buffalo, and a call there, +looked to him like the merest subterfuge. Yet her gentle tone was not +without its effect, and his voice visibly softened as he said: + +"You are intending, then, to return?" + +Her reply was prefaced by a glance of amazement. + +"Of course," she responded at last. "Is not this my home?" + +Something in the way she said this carried a ray of hope to his heart. +Taking her hand in his, he looked at her long and searchingly. + +"Imogene!" he exclaimed, "there is something serious weighing upon your +heart. What is it? Will you not make me the confidant of your troubles? +Tell me what has made such a change in you since--since noon, and its +dreadful event." + +But her expression did not soften, and her manner became even more +reserved than before. + +[Illustration: "Taking her hand in his, he looked at her long and +searchingly. 'Imogene,' he exclaimed, 'there is something weighing on +your heart.'"--(Page 58.)] + +"I have not any thing to tell," said she. + +"Not any thing?" he repeated. + +"Not any thing." + +Dropping her hand, he communed a moment with himself. That a secret of +possible consequence lay between them he could not doubt. That it had +reference to and involved the crime of the morning, he was equally sure. +But how was he to make her acknowledge it? How was he to reach her mind +and determine its secrets without alarming her dignity or wounding her +heart? + +To press her with questions seemed impossible. Even if he could have +found words with which to formulate his fears, her firm, set face, and +steady, unrelenting eye, assured him only too plainly that the attempt +would be met by failure, if it did not bring upon him her scorn and +contempt. No; some other method must be found; some way that would +completely and at once ease his mind of a terrible weight, and yet +involve no risk to the love that had now become the greatest necessity +of his existence. But what way? With all his acumen and knowledge of the +world, he could think of but one. He would ask her hand in +marriage--aye, at this very moment--and from the tenor of her reply +judge of the nature of her thoughts. For, looking in her face, he felt +forced to acknowledge that whatever doubts he had ever cherished in +reference to the character of this remarkable girl, upon one point he +was perfectly clear, and this was, that she was at basis honorable in +her instincts, and would never do herself or another a real injustice. +If a distinct wrong or even a secret of an unhappy or debasing nature +lay between them, he knew that nothing, not even the bitterest necessity +or the most headlong passion, would ever drive her into committing the +dishonor of marrying him. + +No; if with his declaration in her ears, and with his eyes fixed upon +hers, she should give any token of her willingness to accept his +addresses, he felt he might know, beyond doubt or cavil, that whatever +womanish excitability may have moved her in her demonstrations that day, +they certainly arose from no private knowledge or suspicion detrimental +to his future peace or to hers. + +Bracing himself, therefore, to meet any result that might follow his +attempt, he drew her gently toward him and determinedly addressed her. + +"Imogene, I told you at the gate that I had something to say to you. So +I have; and though it may not be wholly unexpected to you, yet I doubt +if it would have left my lips to-night if the events of the day had not +urged me to offer you my sympathy and protection." + +He paused, almost sickened; at that last phrase she had grown so +terribly white and breathless. But something in her manner, +notwithstanding, seemed to encourage him to proceed, and smothering his +doubts, trampling, as it were, upon his rising apprehensions, he calmed +down his tone and went quietly on: + +"Imogene, I love you." + +She did not shrink. + +"Imogene, I want you for my wife. Will you listen to my prayer, and make +my home forever happy with your presence?" + +Ah, now she showed feeling; now she started and drew back, putting out +her hands as if the idea he had advanced was insupportable to her. But +it was only for a moment. Before he could say to himself that it was all +over, that his worst fears had been true, and that nothing but the sense +of some impassable gulf between them could have made her recoil from him +like this, she had dropped her hands and turned toward him with a look +whose deep inquiry and evident struggle after an understanding of his +claims, spoke of a mind clouded by trouble, but not alienated from +himself by fear. + +She did not speak, however,--not for some few minutes, and when she did, +her words came in short and hurried gasps. + +"You are kind," was what she said. "To be your--wife"--she had +difficulty in uttering the word, but it came at last--"would be an honor +and a protection. I appreciate both. But I am in no mood to-night to +listen to words of love from any man. Perhaps six months hence----" + +But he already had her in his arms. The joy and relief he felt were so +great he could not control himself. "Imogene," he murmured, "my +Imogene!" And scarcely heeded her when, in a burst of subdued agony, +she asked to be released, saying that she was ill and tired, and must be +allowed to withdraw to her room. + +But a second appeal woke him from his dream. If his worst fears were +without foundation; if her mind was pure of aught that unfitted her to +be his wife, there was yet much that was mysterious in her conduct, and, +consequently, much which he longed to have explained. + +"Imogene," he said, "I must ask you to remain a moment longer. Hard as +it is for me to distress you, there is a question which I feel it +necessary to put to you before you go. It is in reference to the fearful +crime which took place to-day. Why did you take such an interest in it, +and why has it had such an effect upon you that you look like a changed +woman to-night?" + +Disengaging herself from his arms, she looked at him with the set +composure of one driven to bay, and asked: + +"Is there any thing strange in my being interested in a murder +perpetrated on a person whose name I have frequently heard mentioned in +this house?" + +"No," he murmured, "no; but what led you to her home? It was not a spot +for a young lady to be in, and any other woman would have shrunk from so +immediate a contact with crime." + +Imogene's hand was on the door, but she turned back. + +"I am not like other women," she declared. "When I hear of any thing +strange or mysterious, I want to understand it. I did not stop to ask +what people would think of my conduct." + +"But your grief and terror, Imogene? They are real, and not to be +disguised. Look in the glass over there, and you will yourself see what +an effect all this has had upon you. If Mrs. Clemmens is a stranger to +you; if you know no more of her than you have always led me to suppose, +why should you have been so unnaturally impressed by to-day's tragedy?" + +It was a searching question, and her eye fell slightly, but her steady +demeanor did not fail her. + +"Still," said she, "because I am not like other women. I cannot forget +such horrors in a moment." And she advanced again to the door, upon +which she laid her hand. + +Unconsciously his eye followed the movement, and rested somewhat +inquiringly upon that hand. It was gloved, but to all appearance was +without the ring which he had seen her put on at the widow's house. + +She seemed to comprehend his look. Meeting his eye with unshaken +firmness, she resumed, in a low and constrained voice: + +"You are wondering about the ring that formed a portion of the scene we +are discussing. Mr. Orcutt, I told the gentleman who handed it to me +to-day that it was mine. That should be enough for the man who professes +sufficient confidence in me to wish to make me his wife. But since your +looks confess a curiosity in regard to this diamond, I will say that I +was as much astonished as anybody to see it picked up from the floor at +my feet. The last time I had seen it was when I dropped it, somewhat +recklessly, into a pocket. How or when it fell out, I cannot say. As for +the ring itself," she haughtily added, "young ladies frequently possess +articles of whose existence their friends are unconscious." + +Here was an attempt at an explanation which, though meagre and far from +satisfactory, had at least a basis in possibility. But Mr. Orcutt, as I +have before said, was certain that the ring was lying on the floor of +the room where it was picked up, before Imogene had made her appearance +there, and was therefore struck with dismay at this conclusive evidence +of her falsehood. + +Yet, as he said to himself, she might have some association with the +ring, might even have an owner's claim upon it, incredible as this +appeared, without being in the possession of such knowledge as +definitely connected it with this crime. And led by this hope he laid +his hand on hers as it was softly turning the knob of the door, and +said, with emotion: + +"Imogene, one moment. This is a subject which I am as anxious to drop as +you are. In your condition it is almost cruelty to urge it upon you, but +of one thing I must be assured before you leave my presence, and that +is, that whatever secrets you may hide in your soul, or whatever motive +may have governed your treatment of me and my suit to-night, they do not +spring from any real or supposed interest in this crime, which ought +from its nature to separate you and me. I ask," he quickly added, as he +saw her give a start of injured pride or irrepressible dismay, "not +because I have any doubts on the subject myself, but because some of the +persons who have unfortunately been witness to your strange and excited +conduct to-day, have presumed to hint that nothing short of a secret +knowledge of the crime or criminal could explain your action upon the +scene of tragedy." + +And with a look which, if she had observed it, might have roused her to +a sense of the critical position in which she stood, he paused and held +his breath for her reply. + +It did not come. + +"Imogene?" + +"I hear." + +Cold and hard the words sounded--his hand went like lightning to his +heart. + +"Are you going to answer?" he asked, at last. + +"Yes." + +"What is that answer to be, Yes or No?" + +She turned upon him her large gray eyes. There was misery in their +depths, but there was a haughtiness, also, which only truth could +impart. + +"My answer is No!" said she. + +And, without another word, she glided from the room. + +Next morning, Mr. Byrd found three notes awaiting his perusal. The first +was a notification from the coroner to the effect that the Widow +Clemmens had quietly breathed her last at midnight. The second, a +hurried line from Mr. Ferris, advising him to make use of the day in +concluding a certain matter of theirs in the next town; and the third, a +letter from Mr. Orcutt, couched in the following terms: + + MR. BYRD: _Dear Sir_--I have seen the person named + between us, and I here state, upon my honor, that + she is in possession of no facts which it concerns + the authorities to know. + + TREMONT B. ORCUTT. + + + + +V. + +HORACE BYRD. + + But now, I am cabin'd, cribbed, confin'd, bound in + To saucy doubts and fears.--MACBETH. + + +HORACE BYRD was by birth and education a gentleman. He was the son of a +man of small means but great expectations, and had been reared to look +forward to the day when he should be the possessor of a large income. +But his father dying, both means and expectations vanished into thin +air, and at the age of twenty, young Horace found himself thrown upon +the world without income, without business, and, what was still worse, +without those habits of industry that serve a man in such an emergency +better than friends and often better than money itself. + +He had also an invalid mother to look after, and two young sisters whom +he loved with warm and devoted affection; and though by the kindness and +forethought of certain relatives he was for a time spared all anxiety on +their account, he soon found that some exertion on his part would be +necessary to their continued subsistence, and accordingly set about the +task of finding suitable employment, with much spirit and no little +hope. + +But a long series of disappointments taught him that young men cannot +leap at a bound into a fine salary or even a promising situation; and +baffled in every wish, worn out with continued failures, he sank from +one state of hope to another, till he was ready to embrace any prospect +that would insure ease and comfort to the helpless beings he so much +loved. + +It was while he was in this condition that Mr. Gryce--a somewhat famous +police detective of New York--came upon him, and observing, as he +thought, some signs of natural aptitude for _fine work_, as he called +it, in this elegant but decidedly hard-pushed young gentleman, seized +upon him with an avidity that can only be explained by this detective's +long-cherished desire to ally to himself a man of real refinement and +breeding; having, as he privately admitted more than once to certain +chosen friends, a strong need of such a person to assist him in certain +cases where great houses were to be entered and fine gentlemen if not +fair ladies subjected to interviews of a delicate and searching nature. + +To join the police force and be a detective was the last contingency +that had occurred to Horace Byrd. But men in decidedly straitened +circumstances cannot pick and choose too nicely; and after a week of +uncertainty and fresh disappointment, he went manfully to his mother and +told her of the offer that had been made him. Meeting with less +discouragement than he had expected from the broken-down and unhappy +woman, he gave himself up to the guiding hand of Mr. Gryce, and before +he realized it, was enrolled among the secret members of the New York +force. + +He was not recognized publicly as a detective. His name was not even +known to any but the highest officials. He was employed for special +purposes, and it was not considered desirable that he should be seen at +police head-quarters. But being a man of much ability and of a solid, +reliable nature, he made his way notwithstanding, and by the time he had +been in the service a year, was looked upon as a good-fellow and a truly +valuable acquisition to the bureau. Indeed, he possessed more than the +usual qualifications for his calling, strange as the fact appeared not +only to himself but to the few friends acquainted with his secret. In +the first place, he possessed much acuteness without betraying it. Of an +easy bearing and a polished address, he was a man to please all and +alarm none, yet he always knew what he was about and what you were +about, too, unless indeed you possessed a power of dissimulation much +beyond ordinary, when the chances were that his gentlemanly instincts +would get in his way, making it impossible for him to believe in a guilt +that was too hardy to betray itself, and too insensible to shame to +blush before the touch of the inquisitor. + +In the second place, he liked the business. Yes, notwithstanding the +theories of that social code to which he once paid deference, +notwithstanding the frankness and candor of his own disposition, he +found in this pursuit a nice adjustment of cause to effect and effect +to cause that at once pleased and satisfied his naturally mathematical +mind. + +He did not acknowledge the fact, not even to himself. On the contrary, +he was always threatening that in another month he should look up some +new means of livelihood, but the coming month would invariably bring a +fresh case before his notice, and then it would be: "Well, after this +matter is probed to the bottom," or, "When that criminal is made to +confess his guilt," till even his little sisters caught the infection, +and would whisper over their dolls: + +"Brother Horace is going to be a great man when all the bad and naughty +people in the world are put in prison." + +As a rule, Mr. Byrd was not sent out of town. But, on the occasion of +Mr. Ferris desiring a man of singular discretion to assist him in +certain inquiries connected with the case then on trial in Sibley, there +happened to be a deficiency of capable men in the bureau, and the +superintendent was obliged to respond to the call by sending Mr. Byrd. +He did not do it, however, without making the proviso that all public +recognition of this officer, in his real capacity, was to be avoided. +And so far the wishes of his superiors had been respected. No one +outside of the few persons mentioned in the first chapter of this story +suspected that the easy, affable, and somewhat distinguished-looking +young gentleman who honored the village hotel with his patronage was a +secret emissary of the New York police. + +Mr. Byrd was, of all men, then, the very one to feel the utmost +attraction toward, and at the same time the greatest shrinking from, the +pursuit of such investigations as were likely to ensue upon the +discovery of the mysterious case of murder which had so unexpectedly +been presented to his notice. As a professional, he could not fail to +experience that quick start of the blood which always follows the +recognition of a "big affair," while as a gentleman, he felt himself +recoil from probing into a matter that was blackened by a possibility +against which every instinct in his nature rebelled. + +It was, therefore, with oddly mingled sensations that he read Mr. +Orcutt's letter, and found himself compelled to admit that the coroner +had possessed a truer insight than himself into the true cause of Miss +Dare's eccentric conduct upon the scene of the tragedy. His main +feeling, however, was one of relief. It was such a comfort to think he +could proceed in the case without the dread of stumbling upon a clue +that, in some secret and unforeseen way, should connect this imposing +woman with a revolting crime. Or so he fondly considered. But he had not +spent five minutes at the railroad station, where, in pursuance to the +commands of Mr. Ferris, he went to take the train for Monteith, before +he saw reason to again change his mind. For, there among the passengers +awaiting the New York express, he saw Miss Dare, with a travelling-bag +upon her arm and a look on her face that, to say the least, was of most +uncommon character in a scene of so much bustle and hurry. She was +going away, then--going to leave Sibley and its mystery behind her! He +was not pleased with the discovery. This sudden departure looked too +much like escape, and gave him, notwithstanding the assurance he had +received from Mr. Orcutt, an uneasy sense of having tampered with his +duty as an officer of justice, in thus providing this mysterious young +woman with a warning that could lead to a result like this. + +Yet, as he stood at the depot surveying Miss Dare, in the few minutes +they both had to wait, he asked himself over and over again how any +thought of her possessing a personal interest in the crime which had +just taken place could retain a harbor in his mind. She looked so noble +in her quiet aspect of solemn determination, so superior in her young, +fresh beauty--a determination that, from the lofty look it imparted, +must have its birth in generous emotion, even if her beauty was but the +result of a rarely modelled frame and a health of surpassing perfection. +He resolved he would think of her no more in that or any other +connection; that he would follow the example of her best friend, and +give his doubts to the wind. + +And yet such a burr is suspicion, that he no sooner saw a young man +approaching her with the evident intention of speaking, than he felt an +irresistible desire to hear what she would have to say, and, led by this +impulse, allowed himself to saunter nearer and nearer the pair, till he +stood almost at their backs. + +The first words he heard were: + +"How long do you expect to remain in Buffalo, Miss Dare?" + +To which she replied: + +"I have no idea whether I shall stay a week or a month." + +Then the whistle of the advancing train was heard, and the two pressed +hurriedly forward. + +The business which had taken Mr. Byrd to Monteith kept him in that small +town all day. But though he thus missed the opportunity of attending the +opening of the inquest at Sibley, he did not experience the vivid +disappointment which might have been expected, his interest in that +matter having in some unaccountable way subsided from the moment he saw +Imogene Dare take the cars for Buffalo. + +It was five o'clock when he again returned to Sibley, the hour at which +the western train was also due. In fact, it came steaming in while he +stood there, and, as was natural, perhaps, he paused a moment to watch +the passengers alight. There were not many, and he was about to turn +toward home, when he saw a lady step upon the platform whose appearance +was so familiar that he stopped, disbelieving the evidence of his own +senses. Miss Dare returned? Miss Dare, who but a few hours before had +left this very depot for the purpose, as she said, of making a visit of +more or less length in the distant city of Buffalo? It could not be. And +yet there was no mistaking her, disguised though she was by the heavy +veil that covered her features. She had come back, and the interest +which Mr. Byrd had lost in Sibley and its possible mystery, revived with +a suddenness that called up a self-conscious blush to his hardy cheek. + +But why had she so changed her plans? What could have occurred during +the few hours that had elapsed since her departure, to turn her about on +her path and drive her homeward before her journey was half completed? +He could not imagine. True, it was not his present business to do so; +and yet, however much he endeavored to think of other things, he found +this question occupying his whole mind long after his return to the +village hotel. She was such a mystery, this woman, it might easily be +that she had never intended to go to Buffalo; that she had only spoken +of that place as the point of her destination under the stress of her +companion's importunities, and that the real place for which she was +bound had been some spot very much nearer home. The fact, that her +baggage had consisted only of a small bag that she carried on her arm, +would lend probability to this idea, yet, such was the generous +character of the young detective, he hesitated to give credit to this +suspicion, and indeed took every pains to disabuse himself of it by +inquiring of the ticket-agent, whether it was true, as he had heard, +that Miss Dare had left town on that day for a visit to her friends in +Buffalo. + +He received for his reply that she had bought a ticket for that place, +though she evidently had not used it, a fact which seemed at least to +prove she was honest in the expression of her intentions that morning, +whatever alteration may have taken place in her plans during the course +of her journey. + +Mr. Byrd did not enjoy his supper that night, and was heartily glad +when, in a few moments after its completion, Mr. Ferris came in for a +chat and a cigar. + +They had many things to discuss. First, their own case now drawing to a +successful close; next, the murder of the day before; and lastly, the +few facts which had been elicited in regard to that murder, in the +inquiry which had that day been begun before the coroner. + +Of the latter Mr. Ferris spoke with much interest. He had attended the +inquest himself, and, though he had not much to communicate--the time +having been mainly taken up in selecting and swearing in a jury--a few +witnesses had been examined and certain conclusions reached, which +certainly added greatly to the impression already made upon the public +mind, that an affair of great importance had arisen; an affair, too, +promising more in the way of mystery than the simple nature of its +earlier manifestations gave them reason to suppose. + +In the first place, the widow had evidently been assaulted with a +deliberate purpose and a serious intent to slay. + +Secondly, no immediate testimony was forthcoming calculated to point +with unerring certainty to the guilty party. + +To be sure, the tramp and the hunchback still offered possibilities of +suspicion; but even they were slight, the former having been seen to +leave the widow's house without entering, and the latter having been +proved beyond a question to have come into town on the morning train and +to have gone at once to court where he remained till the time they all +saw him disappear down the street. + +That the last-mentioned individual may have had some guilty knowledge of +the crime was possible enough. The fact of his having wiped himself out +so completely as to elude all search, was suspicious in itself, but if +he was connected with the assault it must have been simply as an +accomplice employed to distract public attention from the real criminal; +and in a case like this, the interest naturally centres with the actual +perpetrator; and the question was now and must be: Who was the man who, +in broad daylight, dared to enter a house situated like this in a +thickly populated street, and kill with a blow an inoffensive woman? + +"I cannot imagine," declared Mr. Ferris, as his communication reached +this point. "It looks as if she had an enemy, but what enemy could such +a person as she possess--a woman who always did her own work, attended +to her own affairs, and made it an especial rule of her life never to +meddle with those of anybody else?" + +"Was she such a woman?" inquired Mr. Byrd, to whom as yet no knowledge +had come of the widow's life, habits, or character. + +"Yes. In all the years I have been in this town I have never heard of +her visiting any one or encouraging any one to visit her. Had it not +been for Mr. Orcutt, she would have lived the life of a recluse. As it +was, she was the most methodical person in her ways that I ever knew. At +just such an hour she rose; at just such an hour put on her kettle, +cooked her meal, washed her dishes, and sat herself down to her sewing +or whatever work it was she had to do. The dinner was the only meal that +waited, and that, Mr. Orcutt says, was always ready and done to a turn +at whatever moment he chose to present himself." + +"Had she no intimates, no relatives?" asked Mr. Byrd, remembering that +fragment of a letter he had read--a letter which certainly contradicted +this assertion in regard to her even and quiet life. + +"None that I am aware of," was the response. "Wait, I believe I have +been told she has a nephew somewhere--a sister's son, for whom she had +some regard and to whom she intended to leave her money." + +"She had money, then?" + +"Some five thousand, maybe. Reports differ about such matters." + +"And this nephew, where does he live?" + +"I cannot tell you. I don't know as any one can. My remembrances in +regard to him are of the vaguest character." + +"Five thousand dollars is regarded as no mean sum in a town like this," +quoth Mr. Byrd, carelessly. + +"I know it. She is called quite rich by many. How she got her money no +one knows; for when she first came here she was so poor she had to eat +and sleep all in one room. Mr. Orcutt paid her something for his daily +dinner, of course, but that could not have enabled her to put ten +dollars in the bank as she has done every week for the last ten years. +And to all appearances she has done nothing else for her living. You +see, we have paid attention to her affairs, if she has paid none to +ours." + +Mr. Byrd again remembered that scrap of a letter which had been shown +him by the coroner, and thought to himself that their knowledge was in +all probability less than they supposed. + +"Who was that horrid crone I saw shouldering herself through the crowd +that collected around the gate yesterday?" was his remark, however. "Do +you remember a wizen, toothless old wretch, whose eye has more of the +Evil One in it than that of many a young thief you see locked up in the +county jails?" + +"No; that is, I wonder if you mean Sally Perkins. She is old enough and +ugly enough to answer your description; and, now I think of it, she +_has_ a way of leering at you as you go by that is slightly suggestive +of a somewhat bitter knowledge of the world. What makes you ask about +her?" + +"Because she attracted my attention, I suppose. You must remember that I +don't know any of these people, and that an especially vicious-looking +person like her would be apt to awaken my curiosity." + +"I see, I see; but, in this case, I doubt if it leads to much. Old Sally +is a hard one, no doubt. But I don't believe she ever contemplated a +murder, much less accomplished it. It would take too much courage, to +say nothing of strength. It was a man's hand struck that blow, Mr. +Byrd." + +"Yes," was the quick reply--a reply given somewhat too quickly, perhaps, +for it made Mr. Ferris look up inquiringly at the young man. + +"You take considerable interest in the affair," he remarked, shortly. +"Well, I do not wonder. Even my old blood has been somewhat fired by its +peculiar features. I foresee that your detective instinct will soon lead +you to risk a run at the game." + +"Ah, then, you see no objection to my trying for the scent, if the +coroner persists in demanding it?" inquired Mr. Byrd, as he followed the +other to the door. + +"On the contrary," was the polite response. + +And Mr. Byrd found himself satisfied on that score. + +Mr. Ferris had no sooner left the room than the coroner came in. + +"Well," cried he, with no unnecessary delay, "I want you." + +Mr. Byrd rose. + +"Have you telegraphed to New York?" he asked. + +"Yes, and expect an answer every minute. There will be no difficulty +about that. The superintendent is my friend, and will not be likely to +cross me in my expressed wish." + +"But----" essayed the detective. + +"We have no time for buts," broke in the coroner. "The inquest begins in +earnest to-morrow, and the one witness we most want has not yet been +found. I mean the man or the woman who can swear to seeing some one +approach or enter the murdered woman's house between the time the +milkman left it at half-past eleven and the hour she was found by Mr. +Orcutt, lying upon the floor of her dining-room in a dying condition. +That such a witness exists I have no doubt. A street in which there are +six houses, every one of which has to be passed by the person entering +Widow Clemmens' gate, must produce one individual, at least, who can +swear to what I want. To be sure, all whom I have questioned so far say +that they were either eating dinner at the time or were in the kitchen +serving it up; but, for all that, there were plenty who saw the tramp, +and two women, at least, who are ready to take their oath that they not +only saw him, but watched him long enough to observe him go around to +the Widow Clemmens' kitchen door and turn about again and come away as +if for some reason he had changed his mind about entering. Now, if there +were two witnesses to see all that, there must have been one somewhere +to notice that other person, known or unknown, who went through the +street but a few minutes before the tramp. At all events, I believe such +a witness can be found, and I mean to have him if I call up every man, +woman, and child who was in the lane at the time. But a little +foreknowledge helps a coroner wonderfully, and if you will aid me by +making judicious inquiries round about, time will be gained, and, +perhaps, a clue obtained that will lead to a direct knowledge of the +perpetrator of this crime." + +"But," inquired the detective, willing, at least, to discuss the subject +with the coroner, "is it absolutely necessary that the murderer should +have advanced from the street? Is there no way he could have reached the +house from the back, and so have eluded the gaze of the neighbors round +about?" + +"No; that is, there is no regular path there, only a stretch of swampy +ground, any thing but pleasant to travel through. Of course a man with a +deliberate purpose before him might pursue that route and subject +himself to all its inconveniences; but I would scarcely expect it of one +who--who chose such an hour for his assault," the coroner explained, +with a slight stammer of embarrassment that did not escape the +detective's notice. "Nor shall I feel ready to entertain the idea till +it has been proved that no person, with the exception of those already +named, was seen any time during that fatal half-hour to advance by the +usual way to the widow's house." + +"Have you questioned the tramp, or in any way received from him an +intimation of the reason why he did not go into the house after he came +to it?" + +"He said he heard voices quarrelling." + +"Ah!" + +"Of course he was not upon his oath, but as the statement was +volunteered, we have some right to credit it, perhaps." + +"Did he say"--it was Mr. Byrd now who lost a trifle of his +fluency--"what sort of voices he heard?" + +"No; he is an ignorant wretch, and is moreover thoroughly frightened. I +don't believe he would know a cultivated from an uncultivated voice, a +gentleman's from a quarryman's. At all events, we cannot trust to his +discrimination." + +Mr. Byrd started. This was the last construction he had expected to be +put upon his question. Flushing a trifle, he looked the coroner +earnestly in the face. But that gentleman was too absorbed in the train +of thought raised by his own remark to notice the look, and Mr. Byrd, +not feeling any too well assured of his own position, forbore to utter +the words that hovered on his tongue. + +"I have another commission for you," resumed the coroner, after a +moment. "Here is a name which I wish you would look at----" + +But at this instant a smart tap was heard at the door, and a boy entered +with the expected telegram from New York. Dr. Tredwell took it, and, +after glancing at its contents with an annoyed look, folded up the paper +he was about to hand to Mr. Byrd and put it slowly back into his pocket. +He then referred again to the telegram. + +"It is not what I expected," he said, shortly, after a moment of +perplexed thought. "It seems that the superintendent is not disposed to +accommodate me." And he tossed over the telegram. + +Mr. Byrd took it and read: + + "Expect a suitable man by the midnight express. He + will bring a letter." + +A flush mounted to the detective's brow. + +"You see, sir," he observed, "I was right when I told you I was not the +man." + +"I don't know," returned the other, rising. "I have not changed my +opinion. The man they send may be very keen and very well-up in his +business, but I doubt if he will manage this case any better than you +would have done," and he moved quietly toward the door. + +"Thank you for your too favorable opinion of my skill," said Mr. Byrd, +as he bowed the other out. "I am sure the superintendent is right. I am +not much accustomed to work for myself, and was none too eager to take +the case in the first place, as you will do me the justice to remember. +I can but feel relieved at this shifting of the responsibility upon +shoulders more fitted to bear it." + +Yet, when the coroner was gone, and he sat down alone by himself to +review the matter, he found he was in reality more disappointed than he +cared to confess. Why, he scarcely knew. There was no lessening of the +shrinking he had always felt from the possible developments which an +earnest inquiry into the causes of this crime might educe. Yet, to be +severed in this way from all professional interest in the pursuit cut +him so deeply that, in despite of his usual good-sense and correct +judgment, he was never nearer sending in his resignation than he was in +that short half-hour which followed the departure of Dr. Tredwell. To +distract his thoughts, he at last went down to the bar-room. + + + + +VI. + +THE SKILL OF AN ARTIST. + + A hit, a very palpable hit.--HAMLET. + + +HE found it occupied by some half-dozen men, one of whom immediately +attracted his attention, by his high-bred air and total absorption in +the paper he was reading. He was evidently a stranger, and, though not +without some faint marks of a tendency to gentlemanly dissipation, was, +to say the least, more than ordinarily good-looking, possessing a large, +manly figure, and a fair, regular-featured face, above which shone a +thick crop of short curly hair of a peculiarly bright blond color. He +was sitting at a small table, drawn somewhat apart from the rest, and +was, as I have said, engrossed with a newspaper, to the utter exclusion +of any apparent interest in the talk that was going on at the other end +of the room. And yet this talk was of the most animated description, and +was seemingly of a nature to attract the attention of the most +indifferent. At all events Mr. Byrd considered it so; and, after one +comprehensive glance at the elegant stranger, that took in not only the +personal characteristics I have noted, but also the frown of deep +thought or anxious care that furrowed a naturally smooth forehead, he +passed quietly up the room and took his stand among the group of +loungers there assembled. + +Mr. Byrd was not unknown to the _habitues_ of that place, and no +cessation took place in the conversation. They were discussing an +occurrence slight enough in itself, but made interesting and dramatic by +the unconscious enthusiasm of the chief speaker, a young fellow of +indifferent personal appearance, but with a fervid flow of words and a +knack at presenting a subject that reminded you of the actor's power, +and made you as anxious to watch his gesticulations as to hear the words +that accompanied them. + +"I tell you," he was saying, "that it was just a leaf out of a play. I +never saw its equal off the stage. She was so handsome, so impressive in +her trouble or anxiety, or whatever it was that agitated her, and he so +dark, and so determined in _his_ trouble or anxiety, or whatever it was +that agitated him. They came in at different doors, she at one side of +the depot and he at another, and they met just where I could see them +both, directly in the centre of the room. 'You!' was her involuntary +cry, and she threw up her hands before her face just as if she had seen +a ghost or a demon. An equal exclamation burst from him, but he did not +cover his eyes, only stood and looked at her as if he were turned to +stone. In another moment she dropped her hands. 'Were you coming to see +_me_?' came from her lips in a whisper so fraught with secret horror and +anguish that it curdled my blood to hear it. 'Were you coming to see +_me_?' was his response, uttered in an equally suppressed voice and with +an equal intensity of expression. And then, without either giving an +answer to the other's question, they both shrank back, and, turning, +fled with distracted looks, each by the way they had come, the two doors +closing with a simultaneous bang that echoed through that miserable +depot like a knell. There were not many folks in the room just at that +minute, but I tell you those that were looked at each other as they had +not done before and would not be likely to do again. Some unhappy +tragedy underlies such a meeting and parting, gentlemen, and I for one +would rather not inquire what." + +"But the girl--the man--didn't you see them again before you left?" +asked an eager voice from the group. + +"The young lady," remarked the other, "was on the train that brought me +here. The gentleman went the other way." + +"Oh!" "Ah!" and "Where did she get off?" rose in a somewhat deafening +clamor around him. + +"I did not observe. She seemed greatly distressed, if not thoroughly +overcome, and observing her pull down her veil, I thought she did not +relish my inquiring looks, and as I could not sit within view of her and +not watch her, I discreetly betook myself into the smoking-car, where I +stayed till we arrived at this place." + +"Hum!" "Ha!" "Curious!" rose in chorus once more, and then, the general +sympathies of the crowd being exhausted, two or three or more of the +group sauntered up to the bar, and the rest sidled restlessly out of the +room, leaving the enthusiastic speaker alone with Mr. Byrd. + +"A strange scene!" exclaimed the latter, infusing just enough of seeming +interest into his usually nonchalant tone to excite the vanity of the +person he addressed, and make him more than ever ready to talk. "I wish +I had been in your place," continued Mr. Byrd, almost enthusiastically. +"I am sure I could have made a picture of that scene that would have +been very telling in the gazette I draw for." + +"Do you make pictures for papers?" the young fellow inquired, his +respect visibly rising. + +"Sometimes," the imperturbable detective replied, and in so doing told +no more than the truth. He had a rare talent for off-hand sketching, and +not infrequently made use of it to increase the funds of the family. + +"Well, that is something I would like to do," acknowledged the youth, +surveying the other over with curious eyes. "But I hav'n't a cent's +worth of talent for it. I can see a scene in my mind now--this one for +instance--just as plain as I can see you; all the details of it, you +know, the way they stood, the clothes they wore, the looks on their +faces, and all that, but when I try to put it on paper, why, I just +can't, that's all." + +"Your forte lies another way," remarked Mr. Byrd. "You can present a +scene so vividly that a person who had not seen it for himself, might +easily put it on paper just from your description. See now!" And he +caught up a sheet of paper from the desk and carried it to a side table. +"Just tell me what depot this was in." + +The young fellow, greatly interested at once, leaned over the +detective's shoulder and eagerly replied: "The depot at Syracuse." + +Mr. Byrd nodded and made a few strokes with his pencil on the paper +before him. + +"How was the lady dressed?" he next asked. + +"In blue; dark blue cloth, fitting like a glove. Fine figure, you know, +very tall and unusually large, but perfect, I assure you, perfect. Yes, +that is very like it," he went on watching the quick, assured strokes of +the other with growing wonder and an unbounded admiration. "You have +caught the exact poise of the head, as I live, and--yes, a large hat +with two feathers, sir, two feathers drooping over the side, so; a bag +on the arm; two flounces on the skirt; a--oh! the face? Well, handsome, +sir, very handsome; straight nose, large eyes, determined mouth, strong, +violently agitated expression. Well, I will give up! A photograph +couldn't have done her better justice. You are a genius, sir, a genius!" + +Mr. Byrd received this tribute to his skill with some confusion and a +deep blush, which he vainly sought to hide by bending lower over his +work. + +"The man, now," he suggested, with the least perceptible change in his +voice, that, however, escaped the attention of his companion. "What was +he like; young or old?" + +"Well, young--about twenty-five I should say; medium height, but very +firmly and squarely built, with a strong face, large mustache, brilliant +eyes, and a look--I cannot describe it, but you have caught that of the +lady so well, you will, doubtless, succeed in getting his also." + +But Mr. Byrd's pencil moved with less certainty now, and it was some +time before he could catch even the peculiarly sturdy aspect of the +figure which made this unknown gentleman, as the young fellow declared, +look like a modern Hercules, though he was far from being either large +or tall. The face, too, presented difficulties he was far from +experiencing in the case of the lady, and the young fellow at his side +was obliged to make several suggestions such as:--"A little more hair on +the forehead, if you please--there was quite a lock showing beneath his +hat;" or, "A trifle less sharpness to the chin,--so;" or, "Stay, you +have it too square now; tone it down a hair's breadth, and you will get +it," before he received even the somewhat hesitating acknowledgment from +the other of: "There, that is something like him!" + +But he had not expected to succeed very well in this part of the +picture, and was sufficiently pleased to have gained a very correct +notion of the style of clothing the gentleman wore, which, it is +needless to state, was most faithfully reproduced in the sketch, even if +the exact expression of the strong and masculine face was not. + +"A really remarkable bit of work," admitted the young fellow when the +whole was completed. "And as true to the scene, too, as half the +illustrations given in the weekly papers. Would you mind letting me have +it as a _souvenir_?" he eagerly inquired. "I would like to show it to a +chap who was with me at the time. The likeness to the lady is +wonderful." + +But Mr. Byrd, with his most careless air, had already thrust the picture +into his pocket, from which he refused to withdraw it, saying, with an +easy laugh, that it might come in play with him some time, and that he +could not afford to part with it. At which remark the young fellow +looked disappointed and vaguely rattled some coins he had in his pocket; +but, meeting with no encouragement from the other, forbore to press his +request, and turned it into an invitation to join him in a social glass +at the bar. + +To this slight token of appreciation Mr. Byrd did not choose to turn a +deaf ear. So the drinks being ordered, he proceeded to clink glasses +with the youthful stranger, taking the opportunity, at the same time, of +glancing over to the large, well-built man whose quiet absorption in the +paper he was reading had so attracted his attention when he first came +in. + +To his surprise he found that person just as engrossed in the news as +ever, not a feature or an eyelash appearing to have moved since the time +he looked at him last. + +Mr. Byrd was so astonished at this that when he left the room a few +minutes later he took occasion in passing the gentleman, to glance at +the paper he was studying so industriously, and, to his surprise, found +it to be nothing more nor less than the advertising sheet of the New +York _Herald_. + +"A fellow of my own craft," was his instantaneous conclusion. But a +moment's consideration assured him that this could not be, as no +detective worthy the name would place so little value upon the +understanding of those about him as to sit for a half-hour with his eyes +upon a sheet of paper totally devoid of news, no matter what his purpose +might be, or how great was his interest in the conversation to which he +was secretly listening. No; this gentleman was doubtless what he seemed +to be, a mere stranger, with something of a serious and engrossing +nature upon his mind, or else he was an amateur, who for some reason was +acting the part of a detective without either the skill or experience of +one. + +Whichever theory might be true, this gentleman was a person who at this +time and in this place was well worth watching: that is, if a man had +any reason for interesting himself in the pursuit of possible clues to +the mystery of Mrs. Clemmens' murder. But Mr. Byrd felt that he no +longer possessed a professional right to such interest; so, leaving +behind him this fine-looking gentleman, together with all the inevitable +conjectures which the latter's peculiar manner had irresistibly +awakened, he proceeded to regain his room and enter upon that +contemplation of the picture he had just made, which was naturally +demanded by his regard for one of the persons there depicted. + +It was a vigorous sketch, and the slow blush crept up and dyed Mr. +Byrd's forehead as he gazed at it and realized the perfection of the +likeness he had drawn of Miss Dare. Yes, that was her form, her face, +her expression, her very self. She it was and no other who had been the +heroine of the strange scene enacted that day in the Syracuse depot; a +scene to which, by means of this impromptu sketch, he had now become as +nearly a witness as any one could hope for who had not been actually +upon the spot. Strange! And he had been so anxious to know what had +altered the mind of this lady and sent her back to Sibley before her +journey was half completed--had pondered so long and vainly upon the +whys and wherefores of an action whose motive he had never expected to +understand, but which he now saw suggested in a scene that seriously +whetted, if it did not thoroughly satisfy, his curiosity. + +The moment he had chosen to portray was that in which the eyes of the +two met and their first instinctive recoil took place. Turning his +attention from the face of the lady and bestowing it upon that of the +man, he perceived there the horror and shrinking which he had imprinted +so successfully upon hers. That the expression was true, though the +countenance was not, he had no doubt. The man, whatever his name, +nature, calling, or history, recoiled from a meeting with Imogene Dare +as passionately as she did from one with him. Both had started from home +with a simultaneous intention of seeking the other, and yet, at the +first recognition of this fact, both had started and drawn back as if +death rather than life had confronted them in each other's faces. What +did it mean? What secret of a deep and deadly nature could lie between +these two, that a scene of such evident import could take place between +them? He dared not think; he could do nothing but gaze upon the figure +of the man he had portrayed, and wonder if he would be able to identify +the original in case he ever met him. The face was more or less a +failure, of course, but the form, the cut of the clothes, the manner of +carriage, and the general aspect of strong and puissant manhood which +distinguished the whole figure, could not be so far from correct but +that, with a hint from surrounding circumstances, he would know the man +himself when he saw him. At all events, he meant to imprint the possible +portrait upon his mind in case----in case what? Pausing he asked himself +this question with stern determination, and could find no answer. + +"I will burn the sketch at once, and think of it and her no more," he +muttered, half-rising. + +But he did not do it. Some remembrance crossed his mind of what the +young fellow downstairs had said about retaining it as a _souvenir_, and +he ended in folding it up and putting it away somewhat carefully in his +memorandum-book, with a vow that he would leave Sibley and its troublous +mystery at the first moment of release that he could possibly obtain. +The pang which this decision cost him convinced him that it was indeed +high time he did so. + + + + +VII. + +MISS FIRMAN. + + I confess with all humility that at times the line + of demarcation between truth and fiction is + rendered so indefinite and indistinct, that I + cannot always determine, with unerring certainty, + whether an event really happened to me, or whether + _I_ only dreamed it.--LONGFELLOW. + + +MR. BYRD, upon waking next morning, found himself disturbed by a great +perplexity. Were the words then ringing in his ears, real words, which +he had overheard spoken outside of his door some time during the past +night, or were they merely the empty utterances of a more than usually +vivid dream? + +He could not tell. He could remember the very tone of voice in which he +fancied them to have been spoken--a tone which he had no difficulty in +recognizing as that of the landlord of the hotel; could even recall the +faint sounds of bustle which accompanied them, as though the person +using them had been showing another person through the hall; but beyond +that, all was indistinct and dream-like. + +The words were these: + +"Glad to see you back, sir. This murder following so close upon your +visit must have been a great surprise. A sad occurrence, that, sir, and +a very mysterious one. Hope you have some information to give." + +"If it is a remembrance and such words were uttered outside of my door +last night," argued the young detective to himself, "the guest who +called them forth can be no other than the tall and florid gentleman +whom I encountered in the bar-room. But is it a remembrance, or only a +chimera of my own overwrought brain struggling with a subject it will +not let drop? As Shakespeare says, 'That is the question!'" + +Fortunately, it was not one which it behooved him to decide. So, for the +twentieth time, he put the subject by and resolved to think of it no +more. + +But perplexities of this kind are not so easily dismissed, and more than +once during his hurried and solitary breakfast, did he ask himself +whether, in case the words were real, he had not found in the landlord +of this very hotel the one witness for which the coroner was so +diligently seeking. + +A surprise awaited him after breakfast, in the sudden appearance at his +room door of the very gentleman last alluded to. + +"Ha, Byrd," said he, with cheerful vivacity: "here is a line from the +superintendent which may prove interesting to you." + +And with a complacent smile, Dr. Tredwell handed over a letter which had +been brought to him by the detective who had that morning arrived from +New York. + +With a dim sense of foreboding which he would have found difficult to +explain, Mr. Byrd opened the note and read the following words: + + DEAR SIR,--I send with this a man fully competent + to conduct a case of any ordinary difficulty. I + acknowledge it is for our interest that you employ + him to the exclusion of the person mentioned in + your letter. But if you or that person think that + he can render you any real assistance by his + interference, he is at liberty to act in his + capacity of detective in as far as he can do so + without divulging too widely the secret of his + connection with the force. ---- ----. + +"The superintendent need not be concerned," said Mr. Byrd, returning the +note with a constrained bow. "I shall not interfere in this matter." + +"You will miss a good thing, then," remarked the coroner, shortly, +looking keenly at the young man. + +"I cannot help it," observed the other, with a quick sigh of impatience +or regret. "I should have to see my duty very clearly and possess the +very strongest reasons for interfering before I presumed to offer either +advice or assistance after a letter of this kind." + +"And who knows but what such reasons may yet present themselves?" +ventured the coroner. Then seeing the young man shake his head, made +haste to add in the business-like tone of one preparing to take his +leave, "At all events the matter stands open for the present; and if +during the course of to-day's inquiry you see fit to change your mind, +it will be easy enough for you to notify me." And without waiting for +any further remonstrance, he gave a quick nod and passed hastily out. + +The state of mind in which he left Mr. Byrd was any thing but enviable. +Not that the young man's former determination to let this matter alone +had been in any wise shaken by the unexpected concession on the part of +the superintendent, but that the final hint concerning the inquest had +aroused his old interest to quite a formidable degree, and, what was +worse, had reawakened certain feelings which since last night it had +been his most earnest endeavor to subdue. He felt like a man pursued by +an implacable fate, and dimly wondered whether he would be allowed to +escape before it was too late to save himself from lasting uneasiness, +if not lifelong regret. + +A final stroke of business for Mr. Ferris kept him at the court-house +most of the morning; but his duty in that direction being at an end, he +no longer found any excuse for neglecting the task imposed upon him by +the coroner. He accordingly proceeded to the cottage where the inquest +was being held, and finding each and every available room there packed +to its uttermost by interested spectators, took up his stand on the +outside of a curtained window, where with but a slight craning of his +neck he could catch a very satisfactory view of the different witnesses +as they appeared before the jury. The day was warm and he was by no +means uncomfortable, though he could have wished that the advantages of +his position had occasioned less envy in the breasts of the impatient +crowd that was slowly gathering at his back; or, rather, that their +sense of these advantages might have been expressed in some more +pleasing way than by the various pushes he received from the more or +less adventurous spirits who endeavored to raise themselves over his +shoulder or insinuate themselves under his arms. + +The room into which he looked was the sitting-room, and it was, so far +as he could judge in the first casual glance he threw into it, occupied +entirely by strangers. This was a relief. Since it had become his duty +to attend this inquiry, he wished to do so with a free mind, unhindered +by the watchfulness of those who knew his interest in the affair, or by +the presence of persons around whom his own imagination had +involuntarily woven a network of suspicion that made his observation of +them at once significant and painful. + +The proceedings were at a standstill when he first came upon the scene. + +A witness had just stepped aside, who, from the impatient shrugs of many +persons present, had evidently added little if any thing to the +testimony already given. Taking advantage of the moment, Mr. Byrd leaned +forward and addressed a burly man who sat directly under him. + +"What have they been doing all the morning?" he asked. "Any thing +important?" + +"No," was the surly reply. "A score of folks have had their say, but not +one of them has told any thing worth listening to. Nobody has seen any +thing, nobody knows any thing. The murderer might have risen up through +the floor to deal his blow, and having given it, sunk back again with +the same supernatural claptrap, for all these stupid people seem to know +about him." + +The man had a loud voice, and as he made no attempt to modulate it, his +words were heard on all sides. Naturally many heads were turned toward +him, and more than one person looked at him with an amused smile. +Indeed, of all the various individuals in his immediate vicinity, only +one forbore to take any notice of his remark. This was a heavy, +lymphatic, and somewhat abstracted-looking fellow of nondescript +appearance, who stood stiff and straight as an exclamation point against +the jamb of the door-way that led into the front hall. + +"But have no facts been obtained, no conclusions reached, that would +serve to awaken suspicion or put justice on the right track?" pursued +Mr. Byrd, lowering his voice in intimation for the other to do the same. + +But that other was of an obstinate tendency, and his reply rose full and +loud. + +"No, unless it can be considered proved that it is only folly to try and +find out who commits a crime in these days. Nothing else has come to +light, as far as I can see, and that much we all knew before." + +A remark of this kind was not calculated to allay the slight inclination +to mirth which his former observation had raised; but the coroner +rapping with his gavel on the table at this moment, every other +consideration was lost in the natural curiosity which every one felt as +to who the next witness would be. + +But the coroner had something to say before he called for further +testimony. + +"Gentlemen," he remarked, in a clear and commanding tone that at once +secured attention and awakened interest, "we have spent the morning in +examining the persons who live in this street, with a view to +ascertaining, if possible, who was in conversation with Mrs. Clemmens at +the time the tramp went up to her door." + +Was it a coincidence, or was there something in the words themselves +that called forth the stir that at this moment took place among the +people assembled directly before Mr. Byrd? It was of the slightest +character, and was merely momentary in its duration; nevertheless, it +attracted his attention, especially as it seemed to have its origin in a +portion of the room shut off from his observation by the corner of the +wall already alluded to. + +The coroner proceeded without pause. + +"The result, as you know, has not been satisfactory. No one seems to be +able to tell us who it was that visited Mrs. Clemmens on that day. I now +propose to open another examination of a totally different character, +which I hope may be more conclusive in its results. Miss Firman, are you +prepared to give your testimony?" + +Immediately a tall, gaunt, but pleasant-faced woman arose from the dim +recesses of the parlor. She was dressed with decency, if not taste, and +took her stand before the jury with a lady-like yet perfectly assured +air that promised well for the correctness and discretion of her +answers. The coroner at once addressed her. + +"Your full name, madam?" + +"Emily Letitia Firman, sir." + +"Emily!" ejaculated Mr. Byrd, to himself, with a throb of sudden +interest. "That is the name of the murdered woman's correspondent." + +"Your birthplace," pursued the coroner, "and the place of your present +residence?" + +"I was born in Danbury, Connecticut," was the reply, "and I am living in +Utica, where I support my aged mother by dress-making." + +"How are you related to Mrs. Clemmens, the lady who was found murdered +here two days ago?" + +"I am her second cousin; her grandmother and my mother were sisters." + +"Upon what terms have you always lived, and what can you tell us of her +other relatives and connections?" + +"We have always been friends, and I can tell you all that is generally +known of the two or three remaining persons of her blood and kindred. +They are, first, my mother and myself, who, as I have before said, live +in Utica, where I am connected with the dress-making establishment of +Madame Trebelle; and, secondly, a nephew of hers, the son of a favorite +brother, whom she has always supported, and to whom she has frequently +avowed her intention of leaving her accumulated savings." + +"The name of this gentleman and his place of residence?" + +"His name is Mansell--Craik Mansell--and he lives in Buffalo, where he +has a situation of some trust in the large paper manufactory of +Harrison, Goodman, & Chamberlin." + +Buffalo! Mr. Byrd gave an involuntary start, and became, if possible, +doubly attentive. + +The coroner's questions went on. + +"Do you know this young man?" + +"Yes, sir. He has been several times to our house in the course of the +last five years." + +"What can you tell us of his nature and disposition, as well as of his +regard for the woman who proposed to benefit him so materially by her +will?" + +"Well, sir," returned Miss Firman, "it is hard to read the nature and +feelings of any man who has much character, and Craik Mansell has a good +deal of character. But I have always thought him a very honest and +capable young man, who might do us credit some day, if he were allowed +to have his own way and not be interfered with too much. As for his +feelings toward his aunt, they were doubtless those of gratitude, though +I have never heard him express himself in any very affectionate terms +toward her, owing, no doubt, to a natural reticence of disposition which +has been observable in him from childhood." + +"You have, however, no reason to believe he cherished any feelings of +animosity toward his benefactress?" continued the coroner, somewhat +carelessly, "or possessed any inordinate desire after the money she was +expecting to leave him at her death?" + +"No, sir. Both having minds of their own, they frequently disagreed, +especially on business matters; but there was never any bitterness +between them, as far as I know, and I never heard him say any thing +about his expectations one way or the other. He is a man of much natural +force, of strong, if not violent, traits of character; but he has too +keen a sense of his own dignity to intimate the existence of desires so +discreditable to him." + +There was something in this reply and the impartial aspect of the lady +delivering it that was worthy of notice, perhaps. And such it would have +undoubtedly received from Mr. Byrd, at least, if the words she had used +in characterizing this person had not struck him so deeply that he +forgot to note any thing further. + +"A man of great natural force--of strong, if not violent traits of +character," he kept repeating to himself. "The description, as I live, +of the person whose picture I attempted to draw last night." + +And, ignoring every thing else, he waited with almost sickening +expectation for the question that would link this nephew of Mrs. +Clemmens either to the tragedy itself, or to that person still in the +background, of whose secret connection with a man of this type, he had +obtained so curious and accidental a knowledge. + +But it did not come. With a quiet abandonment of the by no means +exhausted topic, which convinced Mr. Byrd that the coroner had plans and +suspicions to which the foregoing questions had given no clue, Dr. +Tredwell leaned slowly forward, and, after surveying the witness with a +glance of cautious inquiry, asked in a way to concentrate the attention +of all present: + +"You say that you knew the Widow Clemmens well; that you have always +been on friendly terms with her, and are acquainted with her affairs. +Does that mean you have been made a confidante of her troubles, her +responsibilities, and her cares?" + +"Yes, sir; that is, in as far as she ever made a confidant of any one. +Mrs. Clemmens was not of a complaining disposition, neither was she by +nature very communicative. Only at rare times did she make mention of +herself or her troubles: but when she did, it was invariably to me, +sir--or so she used to say; and she was not a woman to deceive you in +such matters." + +"Very well, then, you are in a position to tell us something of her +history, and why it is she kept herself so close after she came to this +town?" + +But Miss Firman uttered a vigorous disclaimer to this. "No, sir," said +she, "I am not. Mrs. Clemmens' history was simple enough, but her +reasons for living as she did have never been explained. She was not +naturally a quiet woman, and, when a girl, was remarkable for her +spirits and fondness for company." + +"Has she had any great sorrow since you knew her--any serious loss or +disappointment that may have soured her disposition, and turned her, as +it were, against the world?" + +"Perhaps; she felt the death of her husband very much--indeed, has never +been quite the same since she lost him." + +"And when was that, if you please?" + +"Full fifteen years ago, sir; just before she came to this town." + +"Did you know Mr. Clemmens?" + +"No, sir; none of us knew him. They were married in some small village +out West, where he died--well, I think she wrote--a month if not less +after their marriage. She was inconsolable for a time, and, though she +consented to come East, refused to take up her abode with any of her +relatives, and so settled in this place, where she has remained ever +since." + +The manner of the coroner suddenly changed to one of great +impressiveness. + +"Miss Firman," he now asked, "did it ever strike you that the hermit +life she led was due to any fear or apprehension which she may have +secretly entertained?" + +"Sir?" + +The question was peculiar and no one wondered at the start which the +good woman gave. But what mainly struck Mr. Byrd, and gave to the moment +a seeming importance, was the fact that she was not alone in her +surprise or even her expression of it; that the indefinable stir he had +before observed had again taken place in the crowd before him, and that +this time there was no doubt about its having been occasioned by the +movements of a person whose elbow he could just perceive projecting +beyond the door-way that led into the hall. + +But there was no time for speculation as to whom this person might be. +The coroner's questions were every moment growing more rapid, and Miss +Firman's answers more interesting. + +"I asked," here the coroner was heard to say, "whether, in your +intercourse with Mrs. Clemmens, you have ever had reason to suppose she +was the victim of any secret or personal apprehension that might have +caused her to seclude herself as she did? Or let me put it in another +way. Can you tell me whether you know of any other person besides this +nephew of hers who is likely to be benefited by Mrs. Clemmens' death?" + +"Oh, sir," was the hasty and somewhat excited reply, "you mean young Mr. +Hildreth!" + +The way in which this was said, together with the slight flush of +satisfaction or surprise which rose to the coroner's brow, naturally +awoke the slumbering excitement of the crowd and made a small sensation. +A low murmur ran through the rooms, amid which Mr. Byrd thought he heard +a suppressed but bitter exclamation. He could not be sure of it, +however, and had just made up his mind that his ears had deceived him, +when his attention was attracted by a shifting in the position of the +sturdy, thick-set man who had been leaning against the opposite wall, +but who now crossed and took his stand beside the jamb, on the other +side of which sat the unknown individual toward whom so many inquiring +glances had hitherto been directed. + +The quietness with which this change was made, and the slight, almost +imperceptible, alteration in the manner of the person making it, brought +a sudden enlightenment to Mr. Byrd, and he at once made up his mind that +this dull, abstracted-looking nonentity leaning with such apparent +unconcern against the wall, was the new detective who had been sent up +that morning from New York. His curiosity in regard to the identity of +the individual round the corner was not lessened by this. + +Meantime the coroner had answered the hasty exclamation of the witness, +by disclaiming the existence of any special meaning of his own, and had +furthermore pressed the question as to who this Mr. Hildreth was. + +She immediately answered: "A gentleman of Toledo, sir; a young man who +could only come into his property by the death of Mrs. Clemmens." + +"How? You have not spoken of any such person as connected with her." + +"No," was her steady response; "nor was he so connected by any tie of +family or friendship. Indeed, I do not know as they were ever +acquainted, or, as for that matter, ever saw each other's faces. The +fact to which I allude was simply the result of a will, sir, made by Mr. +Hildreth's grandfather." + +"A will? Explain yourself. I do not understand." + +"Well, sir, I do not know much about the law, and may make a dozen +mistakes in telling you what you wish to know; but what I understand +about the matter is this: Mr. Hildreth, the grandfather of the gentleman +of whom I have just spoken, having a large property, which he wanted to +leave in bulk to his grandchildren,--their father being a very +dissipated and reckless man,--made his will in such a way as to prevent +its distribution among his heirs till after the death of two persons +whom he mentioned by name. Of these two persons one was the son of his +head clerk, a young boy, who sickened and died shortly after Mr. +Hildreth himself, and the other my cousin, the poor murdered woman, who +was then a little girl visiting the family. I do not know how she came +to be chosen by him for this purpose, unless it was that she was +particularly round and ruddy as a child, and looked as if she might live +for many years." + +"And the Hildreths? What of them during these years?" + +"Well, I cannot exactly say, as I never had any acquaintance with them +myself. But I know that the father, whose dissipated habits were the +cause of this peculiar will tying up the property, died some little time +ago; also one or two of his children, but beyond that I know little, +except that the remaining heirs are a young gentleman and one or two +young girls, all of the worldliest and most fashionable description." + +The coroner, who had followed all this with the greatest interest, now +asked if she knew the first name of the young gentleman. + +"Yes," said she, "I do. It is Gouverneur." + +The coroner gave a satisfied nod, and remarked casually, "It is not a +common name," and then, leaning forward, selected a paper from among +several that lay on the table before him. "Miss Firman," he inquired, +retaining this paper in his hand, "do you know when it was that Mrs. +Clemmens first became acquainted with the fact of her name having been +made use of in the elder Mr. Hildreth's will?" + +"Oh, years ago; when she first came of age, I believe." + +"Was it an occasion of regret to her? Did she ever express herself as +sorry for the position in which she stood toward this family?" + +"Yes, sir; she did." + +The coroner's face assumed a yet greater gravity, and his manner became +more and more impressive. + +"Can you go a step farther and say that she ever acknowledged herself to +have cherished apprehensions of her personal safety, during these years +of weary waiting on the part of the naturally impatient heirs?" + +A distressed look crossed the amiable spinster's face, and she looked +around at the jury with an expression almost deprecatory in its nature. + +"I scarcely know what answer to give," she hesitatingly declared. "It is +a good deal to say that she was apprehensive; but I cannot help +remembering that she once told me her peace of mind had left her since +she knew there were persons in the world to whom her death would be a +matter of rejoicing. 'It makes me feel as if I were keeping people out +of their rights,' she remarked at the same time. 'And, though it is not +my fault, I should not be surprised if some day I had to suffer for +it.'" + +"Was there ever any communication made to Mrs. Clemmens by persons +cognizant of the relation in which she stood to these Hildreths?--or any +facts or gossip detailed to her concerning them, that would seem to give +color to her fears and supply her with any actual grounds for her +apprehensions?" + +"No; only such tales as came to her of their expensive ways of living +and somewhat headlong rush into all fashionable freaks and follies." + +"And Gouverneur Hildreth? Any special gossip in regard to him?" + +"No!" + +There are some noes that are equivalent to affirmations. This was one of +them. Naturally the coroner pressed the question. + +"I must request you to think again," he persisted. Then, with a change +of voice: "Are you sure you have never heard any thing specially +derogatory to this young man, or that Mrs. Clemmens had not?" + +"I have friends in Toledo who speak of him as the fastest man about +town, if that could be called derogatory. As for Mrs. Clemmens, she may +have heard as much, and she may have heard more, I cannot say. I know +she always frowned when his father's name was mentioned." + +"Miss Firman," proceeded the coroner, "in the long years in which you +have been more or less separated from Mrs. Clemmens, you have, +doubtless, kept up a continued if not frequent correspondence with her?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Do you think, from the commencement and general tone of this letter, +which I found lying half finished on her desk, that it was written and +intended for yourself?" + +Taking the letter from his outstretched hand, she fumbled nervously for +her glasses, put them on, and then glanced hurriedly at the sheet, +saying as she did so: + +"There can be no doubt of it. She had no other friend whom she would +have been likely to address as 'Dear Emily.'" + +"Gentlemen of the Jury, you have a right to hear the words written by +the deceased but a few hours, if not a few minutes, previous to the +brutal assault that has led to the present inquiry. Miss Firman, as the +letter was intended for yourself, will you be kind enough to read it +aloud, after which you will hand it over to the jury." + +With a gloomy shake of her head, and a certain trembling in her voice, +that was due, perhaps, as much to the sadness of her task as to any +foreboding of the real nature of the words she had to read, she +proceeded to comply: + + "DEAR EMILY:--I don't know why I sit down to write + to you to-day. I have plenty to do, and morning is + no time for indulging in sentimentalities. But I + feel strangely lonely and strangely anxious. + Nothing goes just to my mind, and somehow the many + causes for secret fear which I have always had, + assume an undue prominence in my mind. It is + always so when I am not quite well. In vain I + reason with myself, saying that respectable people + do not lightly enter into crime. But there are so + many to whom my death would be more than welcome, + that I constantly see myself in the act of being---- + +"Good heavens!" ejaculated the spinster, dropping the paper from her +hand and looking dismally around upon the assembled faces of the now +deeply interested spectators. + +Seeing her dismay, a man who stood at the right of the coroner, and who +seemed to be an officer of the law, quietly advanced, and picking up the +paper she had let fall, handed it to the jury. The coroner meanwhile +recalled her attention to herself. + +"Miss Firman," said he, "allow me to put to you one final question +which, though it might not be called a strictly legal one, is surely +justified by the gravity of the situation. If Mrs. Clemmens had finished +this letter, and you in due course had received it, what conclusion +would you have drawn from the words you have just read?" + +"I could have drawn but one, sir. I should have considered that the +solitary life led by my cousin was telling upon her mind." + +"But these terrors of which she speaks? To what and whom would you have +attributed them?" + +"I don't like to say it, and I don't know as I am justified in saying +it, but it would have been impossible for me, under the circumstances, +to have thought of any other source for them than the one we have +already mentioned." + +"And that is?" inexorably pursued the coroner. + +"Mr. Gouverneur Hildreth." + + + + +VIII. + +THE THICK-SET MAN. + + Springs to catch woodcocks.--HAMLET. + + +IN the pause that followed, Miss Firman stepped aside, and Mr. Byrd, +finding his attention released, stole a glance toward the hall-way and +its nearly concealed occupant. He found the elbow in agitated movement, +and, as he looked at it, saw it disappear and a hand project into view, +groping for the handkerchief which was, doubtless, hidden in the hat +which he now perceived standing on the floor in the corner of the +door-way. He looked at that hand well. It was large, white, and +elegantly formed, and wore a seal ring of conspicuous size upon the +little finger. He had scarcely noticed this ring, and wondered if others +had seen it too, when the hand plunged into the hat, and drawing out the +kerchief, vanished with it behind the jamb that had already hidden so +much from his view. + +"A fine gentleman's hand, and a fine gentleman's ring," was Mr. Byrd's +mental comment; and he was about to glance aside, when, to his great +astonishment, he saw the hand appear once more with the handkerchief in +it, but without the ring which a moment since had made it such a +conspicuous mark for his eyes. + +"Our fine gentleman is becoming frightened," he thought, watching the +hand until it dropped the handkerchief back into the hat. "One does not +take off a ring in a company like this without a good reason." And he +threw a quick glance at the man he considered his rival in the detective +business. + +But that worthy was busily engaged in stroking his chin in a feeling +way, strongly suggestive of a Fledgerby-like interest in his absent +whisker; and well versed as was Mr. Byrd in the ways of his +fellow-detectives, he found it impossible to tell whether the +significant action he had just remarked had escaped the attention of +this man or not. Confused if not confounded, he turned back to the +coroner, in a maze of new sensations, among which a growing hope that +his own former suspicions had been of a wholly presumptuous character, +rose predominant. + +He found that functionary preparing to make a remark. + +"Gentlemen," said he; "you have listened to the testimony of Mrs. +Clemmens' most confidential friend, and heard such explanations as she +had to give, of the special fears which Mrs. Clemmens acknowledges +herself to have entertained in regard to her personal safety. Now, while +duly impressing upon you the necessity of not laying too much stress +upon the secret apprehensions of a woman living a life of loneliness and +seclusion, I still consider it my duty to lay before you another bit of +the widow's writing, in which----" + +Here he was interrupted by the appearance at his side of a man with a +telegram in his hand. In the pause which followed his reading of the +same, Mr. Byrd, with that sudden impulse of interference which comes +upon us all at certain junctures, tore out a leaf from his +memorandum-book, and wrote upon it some half dozen or so words +indicative of the advisability of examining the proprietor of the +Eastern Hotel as to the name and quality of the several guests +entertained by him on the day of the murder; and having signed this +communication with his initial letters H. B., looked about for a +messenger to carry it to the coroner. He found one in the person of a +small boy, who was pressing with all his might against his back, and +having despatched him with the note, regained his old position at the +window, and proceeded to watch, with a growing interest in the drama +before him, the result of his interference upon the coroner. + +He had not long to wait. The boy had no sooner shown himself at the door +with the note, than Dr. Tredwell laid down the telegram he was perusing +and took this new communication. With a slight smile Mr. Byrd was not +slow in attributing to its true source, he read the note through, then +turned to the officer at his side and gave him some command that sent +him from the room. He then took up the slip he was on the point of +presenting to the jury at the time he was first interrupted, and +continuing his remarks in reference to it, said quietly: + +"Gentlemen, this paper which I here pass over to you, was found by me in +the recess of Mrs. Clemmens' desk at the time I examined it for the +address of Miss Firman. It was in an envelope that had never been +sealed, and was, if I may use the expression, tucked away under a pile +of old receipts. The writing is similar to that used in the letter you +have just read, and the signature attached to it is 'Mary Ann Clemmens.' +Will Mr. Black of the jury read aloud the words he will there find +written?" + +Mr. Black, in whose hand the paper then rested, looked up with a flush, +and slowly, if not painfully, complied: + + "I desire"--such was the language of the writing + before him--"that in case of any sudden or violent + death on my part, the authorities should inquire + into the possible culpability of a gentleman + living in Toledo, Ohio, known by the name of + Gouverneur Hildreth. He is a man of no principle, + and my distinct conviction is, that if such a + death should occur to me, it will be entirely due + to his efforts to gain possession of property + which cannot be at his full disposal until my + death. + + "MARY ANN CLEMMENS, Sibley, N. Y." + +"A serious charge!" quoth a juryman, breaking the universal silence +occasioned by this communication from the dead. + +"I should think so," echoed the burly man in front of Mr. Byrd. + +But Mr. Byrd himself and the quiet man who leaned so stiffly and +abstractedly against the wall, said nothing. Perhaps they found +themselves sufficiently engaged in watching that half-seen elbow, which +since the reading of this last slip of paper had ceased all movement and +remained as stationary as though it had been paralyzed. + +"A charge which, as yet, is nothing but a charge," observed the coroner. +"But evidence is not wanting," he went on, "that Mr. Hildreth is not at +home at this present time, but is somewhere in this region, as will be +seen by the following telegram from the superintendent of the Toledo +police." And he held up to view, not the telegram he had just received, +but another which he had taken from among the papers on the table before +him: + + "Party mentioned not in Toledo. Left for the East + on midnight train of Wednesday the 27th inst. When + last heard from was in Albany. He has been living + fast, and is well known to be in pecuniary + difficulties, necessitating a large and immediate + amount of money. Further particulars by letter. + +"That, gentlemen, I received last night. To-day," he continued, taking +up the telegram that had just come in, "the following arrives: + + "Fresh advices. Man you are in search of talked of + suicide at his club the other night. Seemed in a + desperate way, and said that if something did not + soon happen he should be a lost man. Horse-flesh + and unfortunate speculations have ruined him. They + say it will take all he will ultimately receive to + pay his debts. + +"And below: + + "Suspected that he has been in your town." + +A crisis was approaching round the corner. This, to the skilled eyes of +Mr. Byrd, was no longer doubtful. Even if he had not observed the +wondering glances cast in that direction by persons who could see the +owner of that now immovable elbow, he would have been assured that all +was not right, by the alert expression which had now taken the place of +the stolid and indifferent look which had hitherto characterized the +face of the man he believed to be a detective. + +A panther about to spring could not have looked more threatening, and +the wonder was, that there were no more to observe this exciting +by-play. Yet the panther did not spring, and the inquiry went on. + +"The witness I now propose to call," announced the coroner, after a +somewhat trying delay, "is the proprietor of the Eastern Hotel. Ah, here +he is. Mr. Symonds, have you brought your register for the past week?" + +"Yes, sir," answered the new-comer, with a good deal of flurry in his +manner and an embarrassed look about him, which convinced Mr. Byrd that +the words in regard to whose origin he had been so doubtful that +morning, had been real words and no dream. + +"Very well, then, submit it, if you please, to the jury, and tell us in +the meantime whether you have entertained at your house this week any +guest who professed to come from Toledo?" + +"I don't know. I don't remember any such," began the witness, in a +stammering sort of way. "We have always a great many men from the West +stopping at our house, but I don't recollect any special one who +registered himself as coming from Toledo." + +"You, however, always expect your guests to put their names in your +book?" + +"Yes, sir." + +There was something in the troubled look of the man which aroused the +suspicion of the coroner, and he was about to address him with another +question when one of the jury, who was looking over the register, spoke +up and asked: + +"Who is this Clement Smith who writes himself down here as coming from +Toledo?" + +"Smith?--Smith?" repeated Symonds, going up to the juryman and looking +over his shoulder at the book. "Oh, yes, the gentleman who came +yesterday. He----" + +But at this moment a slight disturbance occurring in the other room, the +witness paused and looked about him with that same embarrassed look +before noted. "He is at the hotel now," he added, with an attempt at +ease, transparent as it was futile. + +The disturbance to which I have alluded was of a peculiar kind. It was +occasioned by the thick-set man making the spring which, for some +minutes, he had evidently been meditating. It was not a tragic leap, +however, but a decidedly comic one, and had for its end and aim the +recovery of a handkerchief which he had taken from his pocket at the +moment when the witness uttered the name of Smith, and, by a useless +flourish in opening it, flirted from his hand to the floor. At least, so +the amused throng interpreted the sudden dive which he made, and the +heedless haste that caused him to trip over the gentleman's hat that +stood on the floor, causing it to fall and another handkerchief to +tumble out. But Mr. Byrd, who had a detective's insight into the whole +matter, saw something more than appeared in the profuse apologies which +the thick-set man made, and the hurried manner in which he gathered up +the handkerchiefs and stood looking at them before returning one to his +pocket and the other to its place in the gentleman's hat. Nor was Mr. +Byrd at all astonished to observe that the stand which his +fellow-detective took, upon resettling himself, was much nearer the +unseen gentleman than before, or that in replacing the hat, he had taken +pains to put it so far to one side that the gentleman would be obliged +to rise and come around the corner in order to obtain it. The drift of +the questions propounded to the witness at this moment opened his eyes +too clearly for him to fail any longer to understand the situation. + +"Now at the hotel?" the coroner was repeating. "And came yesterday? Why, +then, did you look so embarrassed when I mentioned his name?" + +"Oh--well--ah," stammered the man, "because he was there once before, +though his name is not registered but once in the book." + +"He was? And on what day?" + +"On Tuesday," asserted the man, with the sudden decision of one who sees +it is useless to attempt to keep silence. + +"The day of the murder?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And why is his name not on the book at that time if he came to your +house and put up?" + +"Because he did not put up; he merely called in, as it were, and did not +take a meal or hire a room." + +"How did you know, then, that he was there? Did you see him or talk to +him?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And what did you say?" + +"He asked me for directions to a certain house, and I gave them." + +"Whose house?" + +"The Widow Clemmens', sir." + +Ah, light at last! The long-sought-for witness had been found! Coroner +and jury brightened visibly, while the assembled crowd gave vent to a +deep murmur, that must have sounded like a knell of doom--in one pair of +ears, at least. + +"He asked you for directions to the house of Widow Clemmens. At what +time was this?" + +"At about half-past eleven in the morning." + +The very hour! + +"And did he leave then?" + +"Yes, sir; after taking a glass of brandy." + +"And did you not see him again?" + +"Not till yesterday, sir." + +"Ah, and at what time did you see him yesterday?" + +"At bedtime, sir. He came with other arrivals on the five o'clock train; +but I was away all the afternoon and did not see him till I went into +the bar-room in the evening." + +"Well, and what passed between you then?" + +"Not much, sir. I asked if he was going to stay with us, and when he +said 'Yes,' I inquired if he had registered his name. He replied 'No.' +At which I pointed to the book, and he wrote his name down and then went +up-stairs with me to his room." + +"And is that all? Did you say nothing beyond what you have mentioned? +ask him no questions or make no allusions to the murder?" + +"Well, sir, I did make some attempt that way, for I was curious to know +what took him to the Widow Clemmens' house, but he snubbed me so +quickly, I concluded to hold my tongue and not trouble myself any +further about the matter." + +"And do you mean to say you haven't told any one that an unknown man had +been at your house on the morning of the murder inquiring after the +widow?" + +"Yes, sir. I am a poor man, and believe in keeping out of all sort of +messes. Policy demands that much of me, gentlemen." + +The look he received from the coroner may have convinced him that policy +can be carried too far. + +"And now," said Dr. Tredwell, "what sort of a man is this Clement +Smith?" + +"He is a gentleman, sir, and not at all the sort of person with whom you +would be likely to connect any unpleasant suspicion." + +The coroner surveyed the hotel-keeper somewhat sternly. + +"We are not talking about suspicions!" he cried; then, in a different +tone, repeated: "This gentleman, you say, is still at your house?" + +"Yes, sir, or was at breakfast-time. I have not seen him since." + +"We will have to call Mr. Smith as a witness," declared the coroner, +turning to the officer at his side. "Go and see if you cannot bring him +as soon as you did Mr. Symonds." + +But here a voice spoke up full and loud from the other room. + +"It is not necessary, sir. A witness you will consider more desirable +than he is in the building." And the thick-set man showed himself for an +instant to the coroner, then walking back, deliberately laid his hand on +the elbow which for so long a time had been the centre of Mr. Byrd's +wondering conjectures. + +In an instant the fine, gentlemanly figure of the stranger, whom he had +seen the night before in the bar-room, appeared with a bound from beyond +the jamb, and pausing excitedly before the man, now fully discovered to +all around as a detective, asked him, in shaking tones of suppressed +terror or rage, what it was he meant. + +"I will tell you," was the ready assurance, "if you will step out here +in view of the coroner and jury." + +With a glance that for some reason disturbed Mr. Byrd in his newly +acquired complacency, the gentleman stalked hurriedly forward and took +his stand in the door-way leading into the room occupied by the persons +mentioned. + +"Now," he cried, "what have you to say?" + +But the detective, who had advanced behind him, still refrained from +replying, though he gave a quick look at the coroner, which led that +functionary to glance at the hotel-keeper and instantly ask: + +"You know this gentleman?" + +"It is Mr. Clement Smith." + +A flush so violent and profuse, that even Mr. Byrd could see it from his +stand outside the window, inundated for an instant the face and neck of +the gentleman, but was followed by no words, though the detective at his +side waited for an instant before saying: + +"I think you are mistaken; I should call him now Mr. Gouverneur +Hildreth!" + +With a start and a face grown as suddenly white as it had but an instant +before been red, the gentleman turned and surveyed the detective from +head to foot, saying, in a tone of mock politeness: + +"And why, if you please? I have never been introduced to you that I +remember." + +"No," rejoined the detective, taking from his pocket the handkerchief +which he had previously put there, and presenting it to the other with +a bow, "but I have read the monogram upon your handkerchief and it +happens to be----" + +"Enough!" interrupted the other, in a stern if not disdainful voice. "I +see I have been the victim of espionage." And stepping into the other +room, he walked haughtily up to the coroner and exclaimed: "I am +Gouverneur Hildreth, and I come from Toledo. Now, what is it you have to +say to me?" + + + + +IX. + +CLOSE CALCULATIONS. + + + Truth alone, + Truth tangible and palpable; such truth + As may be weighed and measured; truth deduced + By logical conclusion--close, severe-- + From premises incontrovertible.--MOULTRIE. + + +THE excitement induced by the foregoing announcement had, in a degree, +subsided. The coroner, who appeared to be as much startled as any one at +the result of the day's proceedings, had manifested his desire of +putting certain questions to the young man, and had begun by such +inquiries into his antecedents, and his connection with Mrs. Clemmens, +as elicited the most complete corroboration of all Miss Firman's +statements. + +An investigation into his motives for coming East at this time next +followed, in the course of which he acknowledged that he undertook the +journey solely for the purpose of seeing Mrs. Clemmens. And when asked +why he wished to see her at this time, admitted, with some manifestation +of shame, that he desired to see for himself whether she was really in +as strong and healthy a condition as he had always been told; his +pecuniary embarrassments being such that he could not prevent his mind +from dwelling upon possibilities which, under any other circumstances, +he would have been ashamed to consider. + +"And did you see Mrs. Clemmens?" the coroner inquired. + +"Yes, sir; I did." + +"When?" + +"On Tuesday, sir; about noon." + +The answer was given almost with bravado, and the silence among the +various auditors became intense. + +"You admit, then, that you were in the widow's house the morning she was +murdered, and that you had an interview with her a few minutes before +the fatal blow was struck?" + +"I do." + +There was doggedness in the tone, and doggedness in the look that +accompanied it. The coroner moved a little forward in his chair and +uttered his next question with deep gravity. + +"Did you approach the widow's house by the road and enter into it by +means of the front door overlooking the lane?" + +"I did." + +"And did you meet no one in the lane, or see no one at the windows of +any of the houses as you came by?" + +"No, sir." + +"How long did you stay in this house, and what was the result of the +interview which you had with Mrs. Clemmens?" + +"I stayed, perhaps, ten minutes, and I learned nothing from Mrs. +Clemmens, save that she was well and hearty, and likely to live out her +threescore years and ten for all hint that her conversation or +appearance gave me." + +He spoke almost with a tone of resentment; his eyes glowed darkly, and a +thrill of horror sped through the room as if they felt that the murderer +himself stood before them. + +"You will tell me what was said in this interview, if you please, and +whether the widow knew who you were; and, if so, whether any words of +anger passed between you?" + +The face of the young man burned, and he looked at the coroner and then +at the jurymen, as if he would like to challenge the whole crew, but the +color that showed in his face was the flush of shame, or, so thought Mr. +Byrd, and in his reply, when he gave it, there was a bitterness of +self-scorn that reminded the detective more of the mortification of a +gentleman caught in an act of meanness than the secret alarm of a man +who had been beguiled into committing a dastardly crime. + +"Mrs. Clemmens was evidently a woman of some spirit," said he, forcing +out his words with sullen desperation. "She may have used sharp +language; I believe indeed she did; but she did not know who I was, +for--for I pretended to be a seller of patent medicine, warranted to +cure all ills, and she told me she had no ills, and--and--Do you want a +man to disgrace himself in your presence?" he suddenly flashed out, +cringing under the gaze of the many curious and unsympathetic eyes fixed +upon him. + +But the coroner, with a sudden assumption of severity, pardonable, +perhaps, in a man with a case of such importance on his hands, +recommended the witness to be calm and not to allow any small feelings +of personal mortification to interfere with a testimony of so much +evident value. And without waiting for the witness to recover himself, +asked again: + +"What did the widow say, and with what words did you leave?" + +"The widow said she abominated drugs, and never took them. I replied +that she made a great mistake, if she had any ailments. Upon which she +retorted that she had no ailment, and politely showed me the door. I do +not remember that any thing else passed between us." + +His tone, which had been shrill and high, dropped at the final sentence, +and by the nervous workings of his lips, Mr. Byrd perceived that he +dreaded the next question. The persons grouped around him evidently +dreaded it too. + +But it was less searching than they expected, and proved that the +coroner preferred to approach his point by circuitous rather than direct +means. + +"In what room was the conversation held, and by what door did you come +in and go out?" + +"I came in by the front door, and we stood in that room"--pointing to +the sitting-room from which he had just issued. + +"Stood! Did you not sit down?" + +"No." + +"Stood all the time, and in that room to which you have just pointed?" + +"Yes." + +The coroner drew a deep breath, and looked at the witness long and +searchingly. Mr. Hildreth's way of uttering this word had been any thing +but pleasant, and consequently any thing but satisfactory. A low murmur +began to eddy through the rooms. + +"Gentlemen, silence!" commanded the coroner, venting in this injunction +some of the uncomfortable emotion with which he was evidently +surcharged; for his next words were spoken in a comparatively quiet +voice, though the fixed severity of his eye could have given the witness +but little encouragement. + +"You say," he declared, "that in coming through the lane you encountered +no one. Was this equally true of your return?" + +"Yes, sir; I believe so. I don't remember. I was not looking up," was +the slightly confused reply. + +"You passed, however, through the lane, and entered the main street by +the usual path?" + +"Yes." + +"And where did you go then?" + +"To the depot." + +"Ah!" + +"I wished to leave the town. I had done with it." + +"And did you do so, Mr. Hildreth?" + +"I did." + +"Where did you go?" + +"To Albany, where I had left my traps." + +"You took the noon train, then?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Which leaves precisely five minutes after twelve?" + +"I suppose so." + +"Took it without stopping anywhere on the way?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Did you buy a ticket at the office?" + +"No, sir." + +"Why?" + +"I did not have time." + +"Ah, the train was at the station, then?" + +Mr. Hildreth did not reply; he had evidently been driven almost to the +end of his patience, or possibly of his courage, by this quick fire of +small questions. + +The coroner saw this and pressed his advantage. + +"Was the train at the station or not when you arrived there, Mr. +Hildreth?" + +"I do not see why it can interest you to know," the witness retorted, +with a flash of somewhat natural anger; "but since you insist, I will +tell you that it was just going out, and that I had to run to reach it, +and only got a foothold upon the platform of the rear car at the risk of +my life." + +He looked as if he wished it had been at the cost of his life, and +compressed his lips and moved restlessly from side to side as if the +battery of eyes levelled upon his face were so many points of red-hot +steel burning into his brain. + +But the coroner, intent upon his duty, released not one jot of the +steady hold he had taken upon his victim. + +"Mr. Hildreth," said he, "your position as the only person who +acknowledges himself to have been in this house during the half-hour +that preceded the assault, makes every thing you can tell us in +reference to your visit of the highest importance. Was the widow alone, +do you think, or did you see any thing--pause now and consider +well--_any thing_ that would lead you to suppose there was any one +beside her and yourself in the house?" + +It was the suggestion of a just man, and Mr. Byrd looked to see the +witness grasp with all the energy of despair at the prospect of release +it held out. But Mr. Hildreth either felt his cause beyond the reach of +any such assistance, or his understanding was so dulled by misery he +could not see the advantage of acknowledging the presence of a third +party in the cottage. Giving a dreary shake of the head, he slowly +answered: + +"There may have been somebody else in the house, I don't know; but if +so, I didn't hear him or see him. I thought we were alone." + +The frankness with which he made the admission was in his favor, but the +quick and overpowering flush that rose to his face the moment he had +given utterance to it, betrayed so unmistakable a consciousness of what +the admission implied that the effect was immediately reversed. Seeing +that he had lost rather than gained in the opinions of the merciless +inquisitors about him, he went back to his old bravado, and haughtily +lifted his head. + +"One question more," resumed the coroner. "You have said that Mrs. +Clemmens was a spirited woman. Now, what made you think so? Any +expression of annoyance on her part at the interruption in her work +which your errand had caused her, or merely the expression of her face +and the general way she had of speaking?" + +"The latter, I think, though she did use a harsh word or two when she +showed me the door." + +"And raised her voice?" + +"Yes, yes." + +"Mr. Hildreth," intimated the coroner, rising, "will you be kind enough +to step with me into the adjoining room?" + +With a look of wonder not unmixed with alarm, the young man prepared to +comply. + +"I should like the attention of the jury," Dr. Tredwell signified as he +passed through the door. + +There was no need to give them this hint. Not a man of them but was +already on his feet in eager curiosity as to what their presiding +officer was about to do. + +"I wish you to tell me now," the coroner demanded of Mr. Hildreth, as +they paused in the centre of the sitting-room, "where it was you stood +during your interview with Mrs. Clemmens, and, if possible, take the +very position now which you held at that time." + +"There are too many persons here," the witness objected, visibly +rebelling at a request of which he could not guess the full +significance. + +"The people present will step back," declared the coroner; "you will +have no trouble in taking your stand on the spot you occupied the other +day." + +"Here, then!" exclaimed the young man, taking a position near the centre +of the room. + +"And the widow?" + +"Stood there." + +"Facing you?" + +"Yes." + +"I see," intimated the coroner, pointing toward the windows. "Her back +was to the yard while you stood with your face toward it." Then with a +quick motion, summoning the witness back into the other room, asked, +amid the breathless attention of the crowd, whom this bit of by-play had +wrought up to expectation: "Did you observe any one go around to the +back door while you stood there, and go away again without attempting to +knock?" + +Mr. Hildreth knitted his brow and seemed to think. + +"Answer," persisted the coroner; "it is not a question that requires +thought." + +"Well, then, I did not," cried the witness, looking the other directly +in the eye, with the first gleam of real manly feeling which he had yet +displayed. + +"You did not see a tramp come into the yard, walk around to the kitchen +door, wait a moment as if hesitating whether he would rap, and then turn +and come back again without doing so?" + +"No, sir." + +The coroner drew a piece of paper before him and began figuring on it. +Earnestly, almost wildly, the young man watched him, drawing a deep +breath and turning quite pale as the other paused and looked up. + +"Yet," affirmed the coroner, as if no delay had occurred since he +received his last answer, "such a person did approach the house while +you were in it, and if you had stood where you say, you must have seen +him." + +It was a vital thrust, a relentless presentation of fact, and as such +shook the witness out of his lately acquired composure. Glancing hastily +about, he sought the assistance of some one both capable and willing to +advise him in this crisis, but seeing no one, he made a vigorous effort +and called together his own faculties. + +"Sir," he protested, a tremor of undisguised anxiety finding way into +his voice, "I do not see how you make that all out. What proof have you +that this tramp of which you speak came to the house while I was in it? +Could he not have come before? Or, what was better, could he not have +come after?" + +The ringing tone with which the last question was put startled +everybody. No such sounds had issued from his lips before. Had he caught +a glimpse of hope, or was he driven to an extremity in his defence that +forced him to assert himself? The eyes of Miss Firman and of a few other +women began to soften, and even the face of Mr. Byrd betrayed that a +change was on the verge of taking place in his feelings. + +But the coroner's look and tone dashed cold water on this young and +tender growth of sympathy. Passing over to the witness the paper on +which he had been scribbling, he explained with dry significance: + +"It is only a matter of subtraction and addition, Mr. Hildreth. You have +said that upon quitting this house you went directly to the depot, where +you arrived barely in time to jump on the train as it was leaving the +station. Now, to walk from this place to the depot at any pace you would +be likely to use, would occupy--well, let us say seven minutes. At two +minutes before twelve, then, you were still in this house. Well!" he +ejaculated, interrupting himself as the other opened his lips, "have you +any thing to say?" + +"No," was the dejected and hesitating reply. + +The coroner at once resumed: + +"But at five minutes before twelve, Mr. Hildreth, the tramp walked into +the widow's yard. Now, allowing only two minutes for your interview with +that lady, the conclusion remains that you were in the house when he +came up to it. Yet you declare that, although you stood in full view of +the yard, you did not see him." + +"You figure closer than an astronomer calculating an eclipse," burst +from the young man's lips in a flash of that resolution which had for +the last few minutes animated him. "How do you know your witnesses have +been so exact to a second when they say this and that of the goings and +comings you are pleased to put into an arithmetical problem. A minute or +two one way or the other would make a sad discrepancy in your +calculations, Mr. Coroner." + +"I know it," assented Dr. Tredwell, quietly ignoring the other's heat; +"but if the jury will remember, there were four witnesses, at least, who +testified to the striking of the town clock just as the tramp finally +issued from the lane, and one witness, of well-known accuracy in matters +of detail, who declared on oath that she had just dropped her eyes from +that same clock when she observed the tramp go into the widow's gate, +and that it was five minutes to twelve exactly. But, lest I do seem too +nice in my calculations," the coroner inexorably pursued, "I will take +the trouble of putting it another way. At what time did you leave the +hotel, Mr. Hildreth?" + +"I don't know," was the testy response. + +"Well, I can tell you," the coroner assured him. "It was about twenty +minutes to twelve, or possibly earlier, but no later. My reason for +saying this," he went on, drawing once more before him the fatal sheet +of paper, "is that Mrs. Dayton's children next door were out playing in +front of this house for some few minutes previous to the time the tramp +came into the lane. As you did not see them you must have arrived here +before they began their game, and that, at the least calculation, would +make the time as early as a quarter to twelve." + +"Well," the fierce looks of the other seemed to say, "and what if it +was?" + +"Mr. Hildreth," continued the coroner, "if you were in this house at a +quarter to twelve and did not leave it till two minutes before, and the +interview was as you say a mere interchange of a dozen words or so, that +could not possibly have occupied more than three minutes; _where were +you during all the rest of the time_ that must have elapsed after you +finished your interview and the moment you left the house?" + +It was a knock-down question. This aristocratic-looking young gentleman +who had hitherto held himself erect before them, notwithstanding the +humiliating nature of the inquiries which had been propounded to him, +cringed visibly and bowed his head as if a stroke of vital force had +descended upon it. Bringing his fist down on the table near which he +stood, he seemed to utter a muttered curse, while the veins swelled on +his forehead so powerfully that more than one person present dropped +their eyes from a spectacle which bore so distinctly the stamp of guilt. + +"You have not answered," intimated the coroner, after a moment of silent +waiting. + +"No!" was the loud reply, uttered with a force that startled all +present, and made the more timid gaze with some apprehension at his +suddenly antagonistic attitude. "It is not pleasant for a gentleman"--he +emphasized the word bitterly--"for a _gentleman_ to acknowledge himself +caught at a time like this in a decided equivocation. But you have +cornered me fairly and squarely, and I am bound to tell the truth. +Gentlemen, I did not leave the widow's house as immediately as I said. I +stayed for fully five minutes or so alone in the small hall that leads +to the front door. In all probability I was there when the tramp passed +by on his way to the kitchen-door, and there when he came back again." +And Mr. Hildreth fixed his eyes on the coroner as if he dared him to +push him further. + +But Dr. Tredwell had been in his present seat before. Merely confronting +the other with that cold official gaze which seems to act like a wall of +ice between a witness and the coroner, he said the two words: "What +doing?" + +The effect was satisfactory. Paling suddenly, Mr. Hildreth dropped his +eyes and replied humbly, though with equal laconism, "I was thinking." +But scarcely had the words left his lips, than a fresh flame of feeling +started up within him, and looking from juryman to juryman he +passionately exclaimed: "You consider that acknowledgment suspicious. +You wonder why a man should give a few minutes to thought after the +conclusion of an interview that terminated all hope. I wonder at it now +myself. I wonder I did not go straight out of the house and rush +headlong into any danger that promised an immediate extinction of my +life." + +No language could have more forcibly betrayed the real desperation of +his mind at the critical moment when the widow's life hung in the +balance. He saw this, perhaps, when it was too late, for the sweat +started on his brow, and he drew himself up like a man nerving himself +to meet a blow he no longer hoped to avert. One further remark, however, +left his lips. + +"Whatever I did or of whatever I was thinking, one thing I here declare +to be true, and that is, that I did not see the widow again after she +left my side and went back to her kitchen in the rear of the house. The +hand that struck her may have been lifted while I stood in the hall, but +if so, I did not know it, nor can I tell you now who it was that killed +her." + +It was the first attempt at direct disavowal which he had made, and it +had its effect. The coroner softened a trifle of his austerity, and the +jurymen glanced at each other relieved. But the weight of suspicion +against this young man was too heavy, and his manner had been too +unfortunate, for this effect to last long. Gladly as many would have +been to credit this denial, if only for the name he bore and a certain +fine aspect of gentlemanhood that surrounded him in spite of his present +humiliation, it was no longer possible to do so without question, and he +seemed to feel this and do his best to accept the situation with +patience. + +An inquiry which was put to him at this time by a juryman showed the +existent state of feeling against him. + +"May I ask," that individual dryly interrogated, "why you came back to +Sibley, after having left it?" + +The response came clear and full. Evidently the gravity of his position +had at last awakened the latent resources of Mr. Hildreth's mind. + +"I heard of the death of this woman, and my surprise caused me to +return." + +"How did you hear of it?" + +"Through the newspapers." + +"And you were surprised?" + +"I was astounded; I felt as if I had received a blow myself, and could +not rest till I had come back where I could learn the full particulars." + +"So, then, it was curiosity that brought you to the inquest to-day?" + +"It was." + +The juryman looked at him astonished; so did all the rest. His manner +was so changed, his answers so prompt and ringing. + +"And what was it," broke in the coroner, "that led you to register +yourself at the hotel under a false name?" + +"I scarcely know," was the answer, given with less fire and some show of +embarrassment. "Perhaps I thought that, under the circumstances, it +would be better for me not to use my own." + +"In other words, you were afraid?" exclaimed the coroner, with the full +impressiveness of his somewhat weighty voice and manner. + +It was a word to make the weakest of men start. Mr. Hildreth, who was +conspicuous in his own neighborhood for personal if not for moral +courage, flushed till it looked as if the veins would burst on his +forehead, but he made no other reply than a proud and angry look and a +short: + +"I was not aware of fear; though, to be sure, I had no premonition of +the treatment I should be called upon to suffer here to-day." + +The flash told, the coroner sat as if doubtful, and looked from man to +man of the jury as if he would question their feelings on this vital +subject. Meantime the full shame of his position settled heavier and +heavier upon Mr. Hildreth; his head fell slowly forward, and he seemed +to be asking himself how he was to meet the possibly impending ignominy +of a direct accusation. Suddenly he drew himself erect, and a gleam shot +from his eyes that, for the first time, revealed him as a man of latent +pluck and courage. + +"Gentlemen," he began, looking first at the coroner and then at the +jury, "you have not said you consider me guilty of this crime, but you +evidently harbor the suspicion. I do not wonder; my own words have given +me away, and any man would find it difficult to believe in my innocence +after what has been testified to in this place. Do not hesitate, then. +The shock of finding myself suspected of a horrible murder is passed. I +am willing to be arrested. Indeed, after what has here taken place, I +not only am willing but even anxious. I want to be tried, if only to +prove to the world my complete and entire innocence." + +The effect of this speech, uttered at a moment so critical, may be +easily imagined. All the impressible people present at once signified +their belief in his honesty, and gave him looks of sympathy, if not +approval; while the cooler and possibly the more judicious of his +auditors calmly weighed these assertions against the evidence that had +been advanced, and finding the result unsatisfactory, shook their heads +as if unconvinced, and awaited further developments. + +They did not come. The inquiry had reached its climax, and little, if +any thing, more was left to be said. Mr. Hildreth was examined more +fully, and some few of the witnesses who had been heard in the early +part of the day were recalled, but no new facts came to light, and no +fresh inquiries were started. + +Mr. Byrd, who from the attitude of the coroner could not fail to see Mr. +Hildreth was looked upon with a suspicion that would ultimately end in +arrest, decided that his interest in the inquest was at an end, and +being greatly fatigued, gave up his position at the window and quietly +stole away. + + + + +X. + +THE FINAL TEST. + + Men are born with two eyes, but with one tongue, + in order that they should see twice as much as + they say.--COLTON. + + +THE fact was, he wanted to think. Detective though he was and accustomed +to the bravado with which every sort of criminal will turn to meet their +fate when fully driven to bay, there had been something in the final +manner of this desperate but evidently cultured gentleman, which had +impressed him against his own will, and made him question whether the +suspected man was not rather the victim of a series of extraordinary +circumstances, than the selfish and brutal criminal which the evidence +given seemed to suggest. + +Not that Mr. Byrd ever allowed his generous heart to blind him to the +plain language of facts. His secret and not to be smothered doubts in +another direction were proof enough of this; and had it not been for +those very doubts, the probabilities are that he would have agreed with +the cooler-headed portion of the crowd, which listened unmoved to that +last indignant burst of desperate manhood. + +But with those doubts still holding possession of his mind, he could not +feel so sure of Mr. Hildreth's guilt; and the struggle that was likely +to ensue between his personal feelings on the one side and his sense of +duty on the other did not promise to be so light as to make it possible +for him to remain within eye and earshot of an unsympathetic crowd. + +"If only the superintendent had not left it to my judgment to +interfere," thought he, pacing the streets with ever-increasing +uneasiness, "the responsibility would have been shifted from my +shoulders, and I would have left the young man to his fate in peace. But +now I would be criminally at fault if I were to let him drift hopelessly +to his doom, when by a lift of my finger I might possibly turn the +attention of justice toward the real culprit." + +Yet the making up of his mind to interfere was a torture to Horace Byrd. +If he was not conscious of any love for Imogene Dare, he was +sufficiently under the dominion of her extraordinary fascinations to +feel that any movement on his part toward the unravelling of the mystery +that enveloped her, would be like subjecting his own self to the rack of +public inquiry and suspicion. + +Nor, though he walked the streets for hours, each moment growing more +and more settled in his conviction of Mr. Hildreth's innocence, could he +bring himself to the point of embracing the duty presented to him, till +he had subjected Miss Dare to a new test, and won for himself absolute +certainty as to the fact of her possessing a clue to the crime, which +had not been discovered in the coroner's inquiry. + +"The possibility of innocence on her part is even greater than on that +of Mr. Hildreth," he considered, "and nothing, not even the peril of +those dearest to me, could justify me in shifting the weight of +suspicion from a guiltless man to an equally guiltless woman." + +It was, therefore, for the purpose of solving this doubt, that he +finally sought Mr. Ferris, and after learning that Mr. Hildreth was +under surveillance, and would in all probability be subjected to arrest +on the morrow, asked for some errand that would take him to Mr. Orcutt's +house. + +"I have a great admiration for that gentleman and would like to make his +acquaintance," he remarked carelessly, hiding his true purpose under his +usual nonchalant tones. "But I do not want to seem to be pushing myself +forward; so if you could give me some papers to carry to him, or some +message requiring an introduction to his presence, I should feel very +much obliged." + +Mr. Ferris, who had no suspicions of his own to assist him in +understanding the motives that led to this request, easily provided the +detective with the errand he sought. Mr. Byrd at once started for the +lawyer's house. + +It was fully two miles away, but once arrived there, he was thankful +that the walk had been so long, as the fatigue, following upon the +activity of the afternoon, had succeeded in quieting his pulses and +calming down the fierce excitement which had held him under its control +ever since he had taken the determination to satisfy his doubts by an +interview with Miss Dare. + +Ringing the bell of the rambling old mansion that spread out its wide +extensions through the vines and bushes of an old-fashioned and most +luxuriant garden, he waited the issue with beating heart. A +respectable-looking negro servant came to the door. + +"Is Mr. Orcutt in?" he asked; "or, if not, Miss Dare? I have a message +from Mr. Ferris and would be glad to see one of them." + +This, in order to ascertain at a word if the lady was at home. + +"Miss Dare is not in," was the civil response, "and Mr. Orcutt is very +busily engaged; but if you will step into the parlor I will tell him you +are here." + +"No," returned the disappointed detective, handing her the note he held +in his hand. "If your master is busy I will not disturb him." And, +turning away, he went slowly down the steps. + +"If I only knew where she was gone!" he muttered, bitterly. + +But he did not consider himself in a position to ask. + +Inwardly chafing over his ill-luck, Mr. Byrd proceeded with reluctant +pace to regain the street, when, hearing the gate suddenly click, he +looked up, and saw advancing toward him a young gentleman of a +peculiarly spruce and elegant appearance. + +"Ha! another visitor for Miss Dare," was the detective's natural +inference. And with a sudden movement he withdrew from the path, and +paused as if to light his cigar in the shadow of the thick bushes that +grew against the house. + +In an instant the young stranger was on the stoop. Another, and he had +rung the bell, which was answered almost as soon as his hand dropped +from the knob. + +"Is Miss Dare in?" was the inquiry, uttered in loud and cheery tones. + +"No, sir. She is spending a few days with Miss Tremaine," was the clear +and satisfactory reply. "Shall I tell her you have been here?" + +"No. I will call myself at Miss Tremaine's," rejoined the gentleman. +And, with a gay swing of his cane and a cheerful look overhead where the +stars were already becoming visible, he sauntered easily off, followed +by the envious thoughts of Mr. Byrd. + +"Miss Tremaine," repeated the latter, musingly. "Who knows Miss +Tremaine?" + +While he was asking himself this question, the voice of the young man +rose melodiously in a scrap of old song, and instantly Mr. Byrd +recognized in the seeming stranger the well-known tenor singer of the +church he had himself attended the Sunday before--a gentleman, too, to +whom he had been introduced by Mr. Ferris, and with whom he had +exchanged something more than the passing civilities of the moment. + +To increase his pace, overtake the young man, recall himself to his +attention, and join him in his quick walk down the street, was the work +of a moment. The natural sequence followed. Mr. Byrd made himself so +agreeable that by the time they arrived at Miss Tremaine's the other +felt loath to part with him, and it resulted in his being urged to join +this chance acquaintance in his call. + +Nothing could have pleased Mr. Byrd better. So, waiving for once his +instinctive objection to any sort of personal intrusion, he signified +his acquiescence to the proposal, and at once accompanied his new friend +into the house of the unknown Miss Tremaine. He found it lit up as for +guests. All the rooms on the ground floor were open, and in one of them +he could discern a dashing and coquettish young miss holding court over +a cluster of eager swains. + +"Ah, I forgot," exclaimed Mr. Byrd's companion, whose name, by-the-way, +was Duryea. "It is Miss Tremaine's reception night. She is the daughter +of one of the professors of the High School," he went on, whispering his +somewhat late explanations into the ear of Mr. Byrd. "Every Thursday +evening she throws her house open for callers, and the youth of the +academy are only too eager to avail themselves of the opportunity of +coming here. Well, it is all the better for us. Miss Dare despises boys, +and in all likelihood we shall have her entirely to ourselves." + +A quick pang contracted the breast of Mr. Byrd. If this easy, almost +rakish, fellow at his side but knew the hideous errand which brought him +to this house, what a scene would have ensued! + +But he had no time for reflection, or even for that irresistible +shrinking from his own designs which he now began to experience. Before +he realized that he was fully committed to this venture, he found +himself in the parlor bowing before the _naive_ and laughing-eyed Miss +Tremaine, who rose to receive him with all the airy graciousness of a +finished coquette. + +Miss Dare was not visible, and Mr. Byrd was just wondering if he would +be called upon to enter into a sustained conversation with his pretty +hostess, when a deep, rich voice was heard in the adjoining room, and, +looking up, he saw the stately figure he so longed and yet dreaded to +encounter, advancing toward them through the open door. She was very +pale, and, to Mr. Byrd's eyes, looked thoroughly worn out, if not ill. +Yet, she bore herself with a steadiness that was evidently the result of +her will; and manifested neither reluctance nor impatience when the +eager Mr. Duryea pressed forward with his compliments, though from the +fixedness of her gaze and the immobility of her lip, Mr. Byrd too truly +discovered that her thoughts were far away from the scene of mirth and +pleasure in which she found herself. + +"You see I have presumed to follow you, Miss Dare," was the greeting +with which Mr. Duryea hailed her approach. And he immediately became so +engrossed with his gallantries he forgot to introduce his companion. + +Mr. Byrd was rather relieved at this. He was not yet ready to submit +her to the test he considered necessary to a proper understanding of the +situation; and he had not the heart to approach her with any mere +civility on his tongue, while matters of such vital importance to her +happiness, if not to her honor, trembled in the balance. + +He preferred to talk to Miss Tremaine, and this he continued to do till +the young fellows at his side, one by one, edged away, leaving no one in +that portion of the room but himself and Miss Tremaine, Mr. Duryea and +Miss Dare. + +The latter two stood together some few feet behind him, and were +discussing in a somewhat languid way, the merits of a _musicale_ which +they had lately attended. They were approaching, however, and he felt +that if he did not speak at once he might not have another opportunity +for doing so during the whole evening. Turning, therefore, to Miss +Tremaine, with more seriousness than her gay and totally inconsequent +conversation had hitherto allowed, he asked, in what he meant to be a +simply colloquial and courteous manner, if she had heard the news. + +"News," she repeated, "no; is there any news?" + +"Yes, I call it news. But, perhaps, you are not interested in the murder +that has lately taken place in this town?" + +"Oh, yes, I am," she exclaimed, all eagerness at once, while he felt +rather than perceived that the couple at his back stood suddenly still, +as if his words had worked their spell over one heart there at least. +"Papa knew Mrs. Clemmens very well," the little lady proceeded with a +bewitchingly earnest look. "Have they found the murderer, do you think? +Any thing less than that would be no news to me." + +"There is every reason to suppose----" he began, and stopped, something +in the deadly silence behind him making it impossible for him to +proceed. Happily he was not obliged to. An interruption occurred in the +shape of a new-comer, and he was left with the fatal word on his lips to +await the approach of that severely measured step behind him, which by +this time he knew was bringing the inscrutable Miss Dare to his side. + +"Miss Dare, allow me to present to you Mr. Byrd. Mr. Byrd, Miss Dare." + +The young detective bowed. With rigid attention to the forms of +etiquette, he uttered the first few acknowledgments necessary to the +occasion, and then glanced up. + +She was looking him full in the face. + +"We have met before," he was about to observe, but not detecting the +least sign of recognition in her gaze, restrained the words and hastily +dropped his eyes. + +"Mr. Duryea informs me you are a stranger in the town," she remarked, +moving slowly to one side in a way to rid herself of that gentleman's +too immediate presence. "Have you a liking for the place, or do you +meditate any lengthy stay?" + +"No. That is," he rejoined, somewhat shaken in his theories by the +self-possession of her tone and the ease and quietness with which she +evidently prepared to enter into a sustained conversation, "I may go +away to-morrow, and I may linger on for an indefinite length of time. It +all depends upon certain matters that will be determined for me +to-night. Sibley is a very pretty place," he observed, startled at his +own temerity in venturing the last remark. + +"Yes." + +The word came as if forced, and she looked at Mr. Duryea. + +"Do you wish any thing, Miss Dare?" that gentleman suddenly asked. "You +do not look well." + +"I am not well," she acknowledged. "No, thank you," she cried, as he +pushed a chair toward her. "It is too warm here. If you do not object, +we will go into the other room." And with a courteous glance that +included both gentlemen in its invitation, she led the way into the +adjoining apartment. Could it have been with the purpose of ridding +herself of the assiduities of Mr. Duryea? The room contained half a +dozen or more musical people, and no sooner did they perceive their +favorite tenor approach than they seized upon him and, without listening +to his excuses, carried him off to the piano, leaving Miss Dare alone +with Mr. Byrd. + +She seemed instantly to forget her indisposition. Drawing herself up +till every queenly attribute she possessed flashed brilliantly before +his eyes, she asked, with sudden determination, if she had been right in +understanding him to say that there was news in regard to the murder of +Mrs. Clemmens? + +Subduing, by a strong inward effort, every token of the emotion which +her own introduction of this topic naturally evoked, he replied in his +easiest tones: + +"Yes; there was an inquest held to-day, and the authorities evidently +think they have discovered the person who killed her." And obliging +himself to meet half-way the fate that awaited him, he bestowed upon the +lady before him a casual glance that hid beneath its easy politeness the +greatest anxiety of his life. + +The test worked well. From the pallor of sickness, grief, or +apprehension, her complexion whitened to the deadlier hue of mortal +terror. + +"Impossible!" her lips seemed to breathe; and Mr. Byrd could almost +fancy he saw the hair rise on her forehead. + +Cursing in his heart the bitter necessity that had forced him into this +duty, he was about to address her in a way calculated to break the spell +occasioned by his last words, when the rich and tuneful voice of the +melodious singer rose suddenly on the air, and they heard the words: + + "Come rest in this bosom, my own stricken deer, + Though the herd have fled from thee, thy home is still here; + Here still is the smile that no cloud can o'ercast, + And a heart and a hand all thy own to the last." + +Instantly Mr. Byrd perceived that he should not be obliged to speak. +Though the music, or possibly the words, struck her like a blow, it +likewise served to recall her to herself. Dropping her gaze, which had +remained fixed upon his own, she turned her face aside, saying with +forced composure: + +"This near contact with crime is dreadful." Then slowly, and with a +quietness that showed how great was her power of self-control when she +was not under the influence of surprise, she inquired: "And who do they +think this person is? What name do they presume to associate with the +murderer of this woman?" + +With something of the feeling of a surgeon who nerves himself to bury +the steel in his patient's quivering flesh, he gave his response +unhesitatingly. + +"A gentleman's, I believe. A young man connected with her, in some +strange way, by financial interests. A Mr. Hildreth, of +Toledo--Gouverneur Hildreth, I think they call him." + +It was not the name she expected. He saw this by the relaxation that +took place in all her features, by the look of almost painful relief +that flashed for a moment into the eyes she turned like lightning upon +him. + +"Gouverneur Hildreth!" she repeated. And he knew from the tone that it +was not only a different name from what she anticipated, but that it was +also a strange one to her. "I never heard of such a person," she went on +after a minute, during which the relentless mellow voice of the +unconscious singer filled the room with the passionate appeal: + + "Oh, what was love made for, if 't is not the same, + Through joy and through sorrow, through glory and shame!" + +"That is not strange," explained Mr. Byrd, drawing nearer, as if to +escape that pursuing sweetness of incongruous song. "He is not known in +this town. He only came here the morning the unfortunate woman was +murdered. Whether he really killed her or not," he proceeded, with +forced quietness, "no one can tell, of course. But the facts are very +much against him, and the poor fellow is under arrest." + +"What?" + +The word was involuntary. So was the tone of horrified surprise in which +it was uttered. But the music, now swelling to a crescendo, drowned both +word and tone, or so she seemed to fondly imagine; for, making another +effort at self-control, she confined herself to a quiet repetition of +his words, "'Under arrest'?" and then waited with only a suitable +display of emotion for whatever further enlightenment he chose to give +her. + +He mercifully spoke to the point. + +"Yes, under arrest. You see he was in the house at or near the time the +deadly blow was struck. He was in the front hall, he says, and nowhere +near the woman or her unknown assailant, but there is no evidence +against any one else, and the facts so far proved, show he had an +interest in her death, and so he has to pay the penalty of +circumstances. And he may be guilty, who knows," the young detective +pursued, seeing she was struck with horror and dismay, "dreadful as it +is to imagine that a gentleman of culture and breeding could be brought +to commit such a deed." + +But she seemed to have ears for but one phrase of all this. + +"He was in the front hall," she repeated. "How did he get there? What +called him there?" + +"He had been visiting the widow, and was on his way out. He paused to +collect his thoughts, he said. It seems unaccountable, Miss Dare; but +the whole thing is strange and very mysterious." + +She was deaf to his explanations. + +"Do you suppose he heard the widow scream?" she asked, tremblingly, +"or----" + +A sinking of the ringing tones whose powerful vibration had made this +conversation possible, caused her to pause. When the notes grew loud +enough again for her to proceed, she seemed to have forgotten the +question she was about to propound, and simply inquired: + +"Had he any thing to say about what he overheard--or saw?" + +"No. If he spoke the truth and stood in the hall as he said, the sounds, +if sounds there were, stopped short of the sitting-room door, for he has +nothing to say about them." + +A change passed over Miss Dare. She dropped her eyes, and an instant's +pause followed this last acknowledgment. + +"Will you tell me," she inquired, at last, speaking very slowly, in an +attempt to infuse into her voice no more than a natural tone of +interest, "how it was he came to say he stood in that place during the +assault?" + +"He did not say he stood in that place during the assault," was again +the forced rejoinder of Mr. Byrd. "It was by means of a nice calculation +of time and events, that it was found he must have been in the house at +or near the fatal moment." + +Another pause; another bar of that lovely music. + +"And he is a gentleman, you say?" was her hurried remark at last. + +"Yes, and a very handsome one." + +"And they have put him in prison?" + +"Yes, or will on the morrow." + +She turned and leaned against a window-frame near by, looking with eyes +that saw nothing into the still vast night. + +"I suppose he has friends," she faintly suggested. + +"Two sisters, if no one nearer and dearer." + + "Thou hast called me thy angel in moments of bliss, + And thy angel I 'll be, 'mid the horrors of this-- + Through the furnace, unshrinking, thy steps to pursue, + And shield thee, and save thee--or perish there too," + +rang the mellow song. + +"I am not well," she suddenly cried, leaving the window and turning +quickly toward Mr. Byrd. "I am much obliged to you," said she, lowering +her voice to a whisper, for the last note of the song was dying away in +a quivering _pianissimo_. "I have been deeply interested in this +tragedy, and am thankful for any information in regard to it. I must now +bid you good-evening." + +And with a stately bow into which she infused the mingled courtesy and +haughtiness of her nature, she walked steadily away through the crowd +that vainly sought to stay her, and disappeared, almost without a pause, +behind the door that opened into the hall. + +Mr. Byrd remained for a full half-hour after that, but he never could +tell what he did, or with whom he conversed, or how or when he issued +from the house and made his way back to his room in the hotel. He only +knew that at midnight he was still walking the floor, and had not yet +made up his mind to take the step which his own sense of duty now +inexorably demanded. + + + + +XI. + +DECISION. + + Who dares + To say that he alone has found the truth. + --LONGFELLOW. + + +THE next morning Mr. Ferris was startled by the appearance in his office +of Mr. Byrd, looking wretchedly anxious and ill. + +"I have come," said the detective, "to ask you what you think of Mr. +Hildreth's prospects. Have you made up your mind to have him arrested +for this crime?" + +"Yes," was the reply. "The evidence against him is purely +circumstantial, but it is very strong; and if no fresh developments +occur, I think there can be no doubt about my duty. Each and every fact +that comes to light only strengthens the case against him. When he came +to be examined last night, a ring was found on his person, which he +acknowledged to having worn on the day of the murder." + +"He took it off during the inquest," murmured Mr. Byrd; "I saw him." + +"It is said by Hickory--the somewhat questionable cognomen of your +fellow-detective from New York--that the young man manifested the most +intense uneasiness during the whole inquiry. That in fact his attention +was first drawn to him by the many tokens which he gave of suppressed +agitation and alarm. Indeed, Mr. Hickory at one time thought he should +be obliged to speak to this stranger in order to prevent a scene. Once +Mr. Hildreth got up as if to go, and, indeed, if he had been less hemmed +in by the crowd, there is every reason to believe he would have +attempted an escape." + +"Is this Hickory a man of good judgment?" inquired Mr. Byrd, anxiously. + +"Why, yes, I should say so. He seems to understand his business. The way +he procured us the testimony of Mr. Hildreth was certainly +satisfactory." + +"I wish that, without his knowing it, I could hear him give his opinion +of this matter," intimated the other. + +"Well, you can," rejoined Mr. Ferris, after a quick and comprehensive +survey of Mr. Byrd's countenance. "I am expecting him here any moment, +and if you see fit to sit down behind that screen, you can, without the +least difficulty to yourself or him, hear all he has to impart." + +"I will, then," the detective declared, a gloomy frown suddenly +corrugating his brow; and he stepped across to the screen which had been +indicated to him, and quietly withdrew from view. + +He had scarcely done this, when a short, quick step was heard at the +door, and a wide-awake voice called out, cheerily: + +"Are you alone, sir?" + +"Ah!" ejaculated Mr. Ferris, "come in, come in. I have been awaiting +you for some minutes," he declared, ignoring the look which the man +threw hastily around the room. "Any news this morning?" + +"No," returned the other, in a tone of complete self-satisfaction. +"We've caged the bird and mustn't expect much more in the way of news. +I'm on my way to Albany now, to pick up such facts about him as may be +lying around there loose, and shall be ready to start for Toledo any day +next week that you may think proper." + +"You are, then, convinced that Mr. Hildreth is undeniably the guilty +party in this case?" exclaimed the District Attorney, taking a whiff at +his cigar. + +"Convinced? That is a strong word, sir. A detective is never convinced," +protested the man. "He leaves that for the judge and jury. But if you +ask me if there is any doubt about the direction in which all the +circumstantial evidence in this case points, I must retort by asking you +for a clue, or the tag-end of a clue, guiding me elsewhere. I know," he +went on, with the volubility of a man whose work is done, and who feels +he has the right to a momentary indulgence in conversation, "that it is +not an agreeable thing to subject a gentleman like Mr. Hildreth to the +shame of a public arrest. But facts are not partial, sir; and the +gentleman has no more rights in law than the coarsest fellow that we +take up for butchering his mother. But you know all this without my +telling you, and I only mention it to excuse any obstinacy I may have +manifested on the subject. He is mightily cut up about it," he again +proceeded, as he found Mr. Ferris forebore to reply. "I am told he +didn't sleep a wink all night, but spent his time alternately in pacing +the floor like a caged lion, and in a wild sort of stupor that had +something of the hint of madness in it. 'If my grandfather had only +known!' was the burden of his song; and when any one approached him he +either told them to keep their eyes off him, or else buried his face in +his hands with an entreaty for them not to disturb the last hours of a +dying man. He evidently has no hope of escaping the indignity of arrest, +and as soon as it was light enough for him to see, he asked for paper +and pencil. They were brought him, and a man stood over him while he +wrote. It proved to be a letter to his sisters enjoining them to believe +in his innocence, and wound up with what was very much like an attempt +at a will. Altogether, it looks as if he meditated suicide, and we have +been careful to take from him every possible means for his effecting his +release in this way, as well as set a strict though secret watch upon +him." + +A slight noise took place behind the screen, which at any other time Mr. +Hickory would have been the first to notice and inquire into. As it was, +it had only the effect of unconsciously severing his train of thought +and starting him alertly to his feet. + +"Well," said he, facing the District Attorney with cheerful vivacity, +"any orders?" + +"No," responded Mr. Ferris. "A run down to Albany seems to be the best +thing for you at present. On your return we will consult again." + +"Very well, sir. I shall not be absent more than two days, and, in the +meantime, you will let me know if any thing important occurs?" And, +handing over his new address, Hickory speedily took his leave. + +"Well, Byrd, what do you think of him?" + +For reply, Mr. Byrd stepped forth and took his stand before the District +Attorney. + +"Has Coroner Tredwell informed you," said he, "that the superintendent +has left it to my discretion to interfere in this matter if I thought +that by so doing I could further the ends of justice?" + +"Yes," was the language of the quick, short nod he received. + +"Very well," continued the other, "you will pardon me, then, if I ask +you to convey to Mr. Hildreth the following message: That if he is +guiltless of this crime he need have no fear of the results of the +arrest to which he may be subjected; that a man has interested himself +in this matter who pledges his word not to rest till he has discovered +the guilty party and freed the innocent from suspicion." + +"What!" cried Mr. Ferris, astonished at the severe but determined +bearing of the young man who, up to this time, he had only seen under +his lighter and more indifferent aspect. "You don't agree with this +fellow, then, in his conclusions regarding Mr. Hildreth?" + +"No, sir. Hickory, as I judge, is an egotist. He discovered Mr. Hildreth +and brought him to the notice of the jury, therefore Mr. Hildreth is +guilty." + +"And you?" + +"I am open to doubt about it. Not that I would acknowledge it to any one +but you, sir." + +"Why?" + +"Because if I work in this case at all, or make any efforts to follow up +the clue which I believe myself to have received, it must be done +secretly, and without raising the suspicion of any one in this town. I +am not in a position, as you know, to work openly, even if it were +advisable to do so, which it certainly is not. What I do must be +accomplished under cover, and I ask you to help me in my self-imposed +and by no means agreeable task, by trusting me to pursue my inquiries +alone, until such time as I assure myself beyond a doubt that my own +convictions are just, and that the man who murdered Mrs. Clemmens is +some one entirely separated from Mr. Hildreth and any interests that he +represents." + +"You are, then, going to take up this case?" + +The answer given was short, but it meant the deliberate shivering of the +fairest dream of love that had ever visited Mr. Byrd's imagination. + +"I am." + + + + +BOOK II. + +THE WEAVING OF A WEB. + + + + +XII. + +THE SPIDER. + + "Thus far we run before the wind." + + +IN the interview which Mr. Byrd had held with Miss Dare he had been +conscious of omitting one test which many another man in his place would +have made. This was the utterance of the name of him whom he really +believed to be the murderer of Mrs. Clemmens. Had he spoken this name, +had he allowed himself to breathe the words "Craik Mansell" into the +ears of this agitated woman, or even gone so far as to allude in the +most careless way to the widow's nephew, he felt sure his daring would +have been rewarded by some expression on her part that would have given +him a substantial basis for his theories to rest upon. + +But he had too much natural chivalry for this. His feelings as a man got +in the way of his instinct as a detective. Nevertheless, he felt +positive that his suspicions in regard to this nephew of Mrs. Clemmens +were correct, and set about the task of fitting facts to his theory, +with all that settled and dogged determination which follows the pursuit +of a stern duty unwillingly embraced. + +Two points required instant settling. + +First, the truth or falsehood of his supposition as to the +identification of the person confronted by Miss Dare in the Syracuse +depot with the young man described by Miss Firman as the nephew of Widow +Clemmens. + +Secondly, the existence or non-existence of proof going to show the +presence of this person at or near the house of Mrs. Clemmens, during +the time of the assault. + +But before proceeding to satisfy himself in regard to these essentials, +he went again to the widow's house and there spent an hour in a careful +study of its inner and outer arrangements, with a view to the formation +of a complete theory as to the manner and method of the murder. He found +that in default of believing Mr. Hildreth the assailant, one supposition +was positively necessary, and this was that the murderer was in the +house when this gentleman came to it. A glance at the diagram on next +page will explain why. + +The house, as you will see, has but three entrances: the front door, at +which Mr. Hildreth unconsciously stood guard; the kitchen door, also +unconsciously guarded during the critical moment by the coming and going +of the tramp through the yard; and the dining-room door, which, though +to all appearance free from the surveillance of any eye, was so situated +in reference to the clock at which the widow stood when attacked, that +it was manifestly impossible for any one to enter it and cross the room +to the hearth without attracting the attention of her eye if not of her +ear. + +[Illustration: Diagram] + +To be sure, there was the bare possibility of his having come in by the +kitchen-door, after the departure of the tramp, but such a contingency +was scarcely worth considering. The almost certain conclusion was that +he had been in the house for some time, and was either in the +dining-room when Mrs. Clemmens returned to it from her interview with +Mr. Hildreth, or else came down to it from the floor above by means of +the staircase that so strangely descended into that very room. + +Another point looked equally clear. The escape of the murderer--still in +default of considering Mr. Hildreth as such--must have been by means of +one of the back doors, and must have been in the direction of the woods. +To be sure there was a stretch of uneven and marshy ground to be +travelled over before the shelter of the trees could be reached; but a +person driven by fear could, at a pinch, travel it in five minutes or +less; and a momentary calculation on the part of Mr. Byrd sufficed to +show him that more time than this had elapsed from the probable instant +of assault to the moment when Mr. Ferris opened the side door and looked +out upon the swamp. + +The dearth of dwellings on the left-hand side of the street, and, +consequently, the comparative immunity from observation which was given +to that portion of the house which over-looked the swamp, made him +conclude that this outlet from the dining-room had been the one made use +of in the murderer's flight. A glance down the yard to the broken fence +that separated the widow's land from the boggy fields beyond, only +tended to increase the probabilities of this supposition, and, alert to +gain for himself that full knowledge of the situation necessary to a +successful conduct of this mysterious affair, he hastily left the house +and started across the swamp, with the idea of penetrating the woods and +discovering for himself what opportunity they afforded for concealment +or escape. + +He had more difficulty in doing this than he expected. The ground about +the hillocks was half-sunk in water, and the least slip to one side +invariably precipitated him among the brambles that encumbered this +spot. Still, he compassed his task in little more than five minutes, +arriving at the firm ground, and its sturdy growth of beeches and +maples, well covered with mud, but so far thoroughly satisfied with the +result of his efforts. + +The next thing to be done was to search the woods, not for the purpose +of picking up clues--it was too late for that--but to determine what +sort of a refuge they afforded, and whether, in the event of a man's +desiring to penetrate them quickly, many impediments would arise in the +shape of tangled underground or loose-lying stones. + +He found them remarkably clear; so much so, indeed, that he travelled +for some distance into their midst before he realized that he had passed +beyond their borders. More than this, he came ere long upon something +like a path, and, following it, emerged into a sort of glade, where, +backed up against a high rock, stood a small and seemingly deserted hut. +It was the first object he had met with that in any way suggested the +possible presence of man, and advancing to it with cautious steps, he +looked into its open door-way. Nothing met his eyes but an empty +interior, and without pausing to bestow upon the building a further +thought, he hurried on through a path he saw opening beyond it, till he +came to the end of the wood. + +Stepping forth, he paused in astonishment. Instead of having penetrated +the woods in a direct line, he found that he had merely described a half +circle through them, and now stood on a highway leading directly back +into the town. + +Likewise, he was in full sight of the terminus of a line of horse-cars +that connected this remote region of Sibley with its business portion, +and though distant a good mile from the railway depot, was, to all +intents and purposes, as near that means of escape as he would have been +in the street in front of Widow Clemmens' house. + +Full of thoughts and inly wondering over the fatality that had confined +the attention of the authorities to the approaches afforded by the lane, +to the utter exclusion of this more circuitous, but certainly more +elusive, road of escape, he entered upon the highway, and proceeded to +gain the horse-car he saw standing at the head of the road, a few rods +away. As he did so, he for the first time realized just where he was. +The elegant villa of Professor Darling rising before him on the ridge +that ran along on the right-hand side of the road, made it at once +evident that he was on the borders of that choice and aristocratic +quarter known as the West Side. It was a new region to him, and, +pausing for a moment, he cast his eyes over the scene which lay +stretched out before him. He had frequently heard it said that the view +commanded by the houses on the ridge was the finest in the town, and he +was not disappointed in it. As he looked across the verdant basin of +marshy ground around which the road curved like a horseshoe, he could +see the city spread out like a map before him. So unobstructed, indeed, +was the view he had of its various streets and buildings, that he +thought he could even detect, amid the taller and more conspicuous +dwellings, the humble walls and newly-shingled roof of the widow's +cottage. + +But he could not be sure of this; his eyesight was any thing but +trustworthy for long distances, and hurrying forward to the car, he took +his seat just as it was about to start. + +It carried him straight into town, and came to a standstill not ten feet +from the railroad depot. As he left it and betook himself back to his +hotel, he gave to his thoughts a distinct though inward expression. + +"If," he mused, "my suppositions in regard to this matter are true, and +another man than Mr. Hildreth struck the fatal blow, then I have just +travelled over the self-same route he took in his flight." + +But were his suppositions true? It remained for him to determine. + + + + +XIII. + +THE FLY. + + Like--but oh! how different.--WORDSWORTH. + + +THE paper mill of Harrison, Goodman & Chamberlain was situated in one of +the main thoroughfares of Buffalo. It was a large but otherwise +unpretentious building, and gave employment to a vast number of +operatives, mostly female. + +Some of these latter might have been surprised, and possibly a little +fluttered, one evening, at seeing a well-dressed young gentleman +standing at the gate as they came forth, gazing with languid interest +from one face to another, as if he were on the look-out for some one of +their number. + +But they would have been yet more astonished could they have seen him +still lingering after the last one had passed, watching with unabated +patience the opening and shutting of the small side door devoted to the +use of the firm, and such employes as had seats in the office. It was +Mr. Byrd, and his purpose there at this time of day was to see and +review the whole rank and file of the young men employed in the place, +in the hope of being able to identify the nephew of Mrs. Clemmens by his +supposed resemblance to the person whose character of face and form had +been so minutely described to him. + +For Mr. Byrd was a just man and a thoughtful one, and knowing this +identification to be the key-stone of his lately formed theory, desired +it to be complete and of no doubtful character. He accordingly held fast +to his position, watching and waiting, seemingly in vain, for the dark, +powerful face and the sturdily-built frame of the gentleman whose +likeness he had attempted to draw in conjunction with that of Miss Dare. +But, though he saw many men of all sorts and kinds issue from one door +or another of this vast building, not one of them struck him with that +sudden and unmistakable sense of familiarity which he had a right to +expect, and he was just beginning to doubt if the whole framework of his +elaborately-formed theory was not destined to fall into ruins, when the +small door, already alluded to, opened once more, and a couple of +gentlemen came out. + +The appearance of one of them gave Mr. Byrd a start. He was young, +powerfully built, wore a large mustache, and had a complexion of unusual +swarthiness. There was character, too, in his face, though not so much +as Mr. Byrd had expected to see in the nephew of Mrs. Clemmens. Still, +people differ about degrees of expression, and to his informant this +face might have appeared strong. He was dressed in a business suit, and +was without an overcoat--two facts that made it difficult for Mr. Byrd +to get any assistance from the cut and color of his clothes. + +But there was enough in the general style and bearing of this person to +make Mr. Byrd anxious to know his name. He, therefore, took it upon +himself to follow him--a proceeding which brought him to the corner just +in time to see the two gentlemen separate, and the especial one in whom +he was interested, step into a car. + +He succeeded in getting a seat in the same car, and for some blocks had +the pleasure of watching the back of the supposed Mansell, as he stood +on the front platform with the driver. Then others got in, and the +detective's view was obstructed, and presently--he never could tell how +it was--he lost track of the person he was shadowing, and when the +chance came for another sight of the driver and platform, the young man +was gone. + +Annoyed beyond expression, Mr. Byrd went to a hotel, and next day sent +to the mill and procured the address of Mr. Mansell. Going to the place +named, he found it to be a very respectable boarding-house, and, +chancing upon a time when more or less of the rooms were empty, +succeeded in procuring for himself an apartment there. + +So here he was a fixture in the house supposed by him to hold the +murderer of Mrs. Clemmens. When the time for dinner came, and with it an +opportunity for settling the vexed question of Mr. Mansell's identity +not only with the man in the Syracuse depot, but with the person who had +eluded his pursuit the day before, something of the excitement of the +hunter in view of his game seized upon this hitherto imperturbable +detective, and it was with difficulty he could sustain his usual _role_ +of fashionable indifference. + +He arrived at the table before any of the other boarders, and presently +a goodly array of amiable matrons, old and young gentlemen, and pretty +girls came filing into the room, and finally--yes, finally--the +gentleman whom he had followed from the mill the day before, and whom he +now had no hesitation in fixing upon as Mr. Mansell. + +But the satisfaction occasioned by the settlement of this perplexing +question was dampened somewhat by a sudden and uneasy sense of being +himself at a disadvantage. Why he should feel thus he did not know. +Perhaps the almost imperceptible change which took place in that +gentleman's face as their eyes first met, may have caused the +unlooked-for sensation; though why Mr. Mansell should change at the +sight of one who must have been a perfect stranger to him, was more than +Mr. Byrd could understand. It was enough that the latter felt he had +made a mistake in not having donned a disguise before entering this +house, and that, oppressed by the idea, he withdrew his attention from +the man he had come to watch, and fixed it upon more immediate and +personal matters. + +The meal was half over. Mr. Byrd who, as a stranger of more than +ordinary good looks and prepossessing manners, had been placed by the +obliging landlady between her own daughter and a lady of doubtful +attractions, was endeavoring to improve his advantages and make himself +as agreeable as possible to both of his neighbors, when he heard a lady +near him say aloud, "You are late, Mr. Mansell," and, looking up in his +amazement, saw entering the door---- Well, in the presence of the real +owner of this name, he wondered he ever could have fixed upon the other +man as the original of the person that had been described to him. The +strong face, the sombre expression, the herculean frame, were unique, +and in the comparison which they inevitably called forth, made all other +men in the room look dwarfed if not actually commonplace. + +Greatly surprised at this new turn of affairs, and satisfied that he at +last had before him the man who had confronted Miss Dare in the Syracuse +depot, he turned his attention back to the ladies. He, however, took +care to keep one ear open on the side of the new-comer, in the hope of +gleaning from his style and manner of conversation some notion of his +disposition and nature. + +But Craik Mansell was at no time a talkative man, and at this especial +period of his career was less inclined than ever to enter into the +trivial debates or good-natured repartee that was the staple of +conversation at Mrs. Hart's table. + +So Mr. Byrd's wishes in this regard were foiled. He succeeded, however, +in assuring himself by a square look, into the other's face, that to +whatever temptation this man may have succumbed, or of whatever crime he +may have been guilty, he was by nature neither cold, cruel, nor +treacherous, and that the deadly blow, if dealt by him, was the +offspring of some sudden impulse or violent ebullition of temper, and +was being repented of with every breath he drew. + +But this discovery, though it modified Mr. Byrd's own sense of personal +revolt against the man, could not influence him in the discharge of his +duty, which was to save another of less interesting and perhaps less +valuable traits of character from the consequences of a crime he had +never committed. It was, therefore, no more than just, that, upon +withdrawing from the table, he should endeavor to put himself in the way +of settling that second question, upon whose answer in the affirmative +depended the rightful establishment of his secret suspicions. + +That was, whether this young man was at or near the house of his aunt at +the time when she was assaulted. + +Mrs. Hart's parlors were always thrown open to her boarders in the +evening. + +There, at any time from seven to ten, you might meet a merry crowd of +young people intent upon enjoying themselves, and usually highly +successful in their endeavors to do so. Into this throng Mr. Byrd +accordingly insinuated himself, and being of the sort to win instant +social recognition, soon found he had but to make his choice in order to +win for himself that _tete-a-tete_ conversation from which he hoped so +much. He consequently surveyed the company with a critical eye, and soon +made up his mind as to which lady was the most affable in her manners +and the least likely to meet his advances with haughty reserve, and +having won an introduction to her, sat down at her side with the stern +determination of making her talk about Mr. Mansell. + +"You have a very charming company here," he remarked; "the house seems +to be filled with a most cheerful class of people." + +"Yes," was the not-unlooked-for reply. "We are all merry enough if we +except Mr. Mansell. But, of course, there is excuse for him. No one +expects him to join in our sports." + +"Mr. Mansell? the gentleman who came in late to supper?" repeated Mr. +Byrd, with no suggestion of the secret satisfaction he felt at the +immediate success of his scheme. + +"Yes, he is in great trouble, you know; is the nephew of the woman who +was killed a few days ago at Sibley, don't you remember? The widow lady +who was struck on the head by a man of the name of Hildreth, and who +died after uttering something about a ring, supposed by many to be an +attempt on her part to describe the murderer?" + +"Yes," was the slow, almost languid, response; "and a dreadful thing, +too; quite horrifying in its nature. And so this Mr. Mansell is her +nephew?" he suggestively repeated. "Odd! I suppose he has told you all +about the affair?" + +"He? Mercy! I don't suppose you could get him to say anything about it +to save your life. He isn't of the talking sort. Besides, I don't +believe he knows any more about it than you or I. He hasn't been to +Sibley." + +"Didn't he go to the funeral?" + +"No; he said he was too ill; and indeed he was shut up one whole day +with a terrible sore throat. He is the heir, too, of all her savings, +they say; but he won't go to Sibley. Some folks think it is queer, but +I----" + +Here her eyes wandered and her almost serious look vanished in a +somewhat coquettish smile. Following her gaze with his own, Mr. Byrd +perceived a gentleman approaching. It was the one he had first taken for +Mr. Mansell. + +"Beg pardon," was the somewhat abrupt salutation with which this person +advanced. "But they are proposing a game in the next room, and Miss +Clayton's assistance is considered absolutely indispensable." + +"Mr. Brown, first allow me to make you acquainted with Mr. Byrd," said +the light-hearted damsel, with a gracious inclination. "As you are both +strangers, it is well for you to know each other, especially as I expect +you to join in our games." + +"Thank you," protested Mr. Brown, "but I don't play games." Then seeing +the deep bow of acquiescence which Mr. Byrd was making, added, with what +appeared to be a touch of jealousy, "Except under strong provocation," +and holding out his arm, offered to escort the young lady into the next +room. + +With an apologetic glance at Mr. Byrd, she accepted the attention +proffered her, and speedily vanished into the midst of the laughing +group that awaited her. + +Mr. Byrd found himself alone. + +"Check number one," thought he; and he bestowed any thing but an amiable +benediction upon the man who had interrupted him in the midst of so +promising a conversation. + +His next move was in the direction of the landlady's daughter, who, +being somewhat shy, favored a retired nook behind the piano. They had +been neighbors at table, and he could at once address her without fear +of seeming obtrusive. + +"I do not see here the dark young gentleman whom you call Mr. Mansell?" +he remarked, inquiringly. + +"Oh, no; he is in trouble. A near relative of his was murdered in cold +blood the other day, and under the most aggravating circumstances. +Haven't you heard about it? She was a Mrs. Clemmens, and lived in +Sibley. It was in all the papers." + +"Ah, yes; I remember about it very well. And so he is her nephew," he +went on, recklessly repeating himself in his determination to elicit all +he could from these young and thoughtless misses. "A peculiar-looking +young man; has the air of thoroughly understanding himself." + +"Yes, he is very smart, they say." + +"Does he never talk?" + +"Oh, yes; that is, he used to; but, since his aunt's death, we don't +expect it. He is very much interested in machinery, and has invented +something----" + +"Oh, Clara, you are not going to sit here," interposed the reproachful +voice of a saucy-eyed maiden, who at this moment peeped around the +corner of the piano. "We want all the recruits we can get," she cried, +with a sudden blush, as she encountered the glance of Mr. Byrd. "Do +come, and bring the gentleman too." And she slipped away to join that +very Mr. Brown who, by his importunities, had been the occasion of the +former interruption from which Mr. Byrd had suffered. + +"That man and I will quarrel yet," was the mental exclamation with which +the detective rose. "Shall we join your friends?" asked he, assuming an +unconcern he was far from feeling. + +"Yes, if you please," was the somewhat timid, though evidently pleased, +reply. + +And Mr. Byrd noted down in his own mind check number two. + +The game was a protracted one. Twice did he think to escape from the +merry crowd he had entered, and twice did he fail to do so. The +indefatigable Brown would not let him slip, and it was only by a +positive exertion of his will that he finally succeeded in withdrawing +himself. + +"I wish to have a word with your mother," he explained, in reply to the +look of protest with which Miss Hart honored his departure. "I hear she +retires early; so you will excuse me if I leave somewhat abruptly." + +And to Mrs. Hart's apartment he at once proceeded, and, by dint of his +easy assurance, soon succeeded in leading her, as he had already done +the rest, into a discussion of the one topic for which he had an +interest. He had not time, however, to glean much from her, for, just as +she was making the admission that Mr. Mansell had not been home at the +time of the murder, a knock was heard at the door, and, with an affable +bow and a short, quick stare of surprise at Mr. Byrd, the ubiquitous Mr. +Brown stepped in and took a seat on the sofa, with every appearance of +intending to make a call. + +At this third check, Mr. Byrd was more than annoyed. Rising, however, +with the most amiable courtesy, he bowed his acknowledgments to the +landlady, and, without heeding her pressing invitation to remain and +make the acquaintance of Mr. Brown, left the room and betook himself +back to the parlors. + +He was just one minute too late. The last of the boarders had gone +up-stairs, and only an empty room met his eyes. + +He at once ascended to his own apartment. It was on the fourth floor. +There were many other rooms on this floor, and for a moment he could not +remember which was his own door. At last, however, he felt sure it was +the third one from the stairs, and, going to it, gave a short knock in +case of mistake, and, hearing no reply, opened it and went in. + +The first glance assured him that his recollection had played him false, +and that he was in the wrong room. The second, that he was in that of +Mr. Mansell. The sight of the small model of a delicate and intricate +machine that stood in full view on a table before him would have been +sufficient assurance of this fact, even if the inventor himself had been +absent. But he was there. Seated at a table, with his back to the door, +and his head bowed forward on his arms, he presented such a picture of +misery or despair, that Mr. Byrd felt his sympathies touched in spite of +himself, and hastily stumbling backward, was about to confusedly +withdraw, when a doubt struck him as to the condition of the deathly, +still, and somewhat pallid figure before him, and, stepping hurriedly +forward, he spoke the young man's name, and, failing to elicit a +response, laid his hand on his shoulder, with an apology for disturbing +him, and an inquiry as to how he felt. + +The touch acted where the voice had failed. Leaping from his partly +recumbent position, Craik Mansell faced the intruder with indignant +inquiry written in every line of his white and determined face. + +"To what do I owe this intrusion?" he cried, his nostrils expanding and +contracting with an anger that proved the violence of his nature when +aroused. + +"First, to my carelessness," responded Mr. Byrd; "and, secondly----" But +there he paused, for the first time in his life, perhaps, absolutely +robbed of speech. His eye had fallen upon a picture that the other held +clutched in his vigorous right hand. It was a photograph of Imogene +Dare, and it was made conspicuous by two heavy black lines which had +been relentlessy drawn across the face in the form of a cross. +"Secondly," he went on, after a moment, resolutely tearing his gaze away +from this startling and suggestive object, "to my fears. I thought you +looked ill, and could not forbear making an effort to reassure myself +that all was right." + +"Thank you," ejaculated the other, in a heavy weariful tone. "I am +perfectly well." And with a short bow he partially turned his back, with +a distinct intimation that he desired to be left alone. + +Mr. Byrd could not resist this appeal. Glad as he would have been for +even a moment's conversation with this man, he was, perhaps +unfortunately, too much of a gentleman to press himself forward against +the expressed wishes even of a suspected criminal. He accordingly +withdrew to the door, and was about to open it and go out, when it was +flung violently forward, and the ever-obtrusive Brown stepped in. + +This second intrusion was more than unhappy Mr. Mansell could stand. +Striding passionately forward, he met the unblushing Brown at full tilt, +and angrily pointing to the door, asked if it was not the custom of +gentlemen to knock before entering the room of strangers. + +"I beg pardon," said the other, backing across the threshold, with a +profuse display of confusion. "I had no idea of its being a stranger's +room. I thought it was my own. I--I was sure that my door was the third +from the stairs. Excuse me, excuse me." And he bustled noisily out. + +This precise reproduction of his own train of thought and action +confounded Mr. Byrd. + +Turning with a deprecatory glance to the perplexed and angry occupant of +the room, he said something about not knowing the person who had just +left them; and then, conscious that a further contemplation of the stern +and suffering countenance before him would unnerve him for the duty he +had to perform, hurriedly withdrew. + + + + +XIV. + +A LAST ATTEMPT. + + When Fortune means to men most good, + She looks upon them with a threatening eye.--KING JOHN. + + +THE sleep of Horace Byrd that night was any thing but refreshing. In the +first place, he was troubled about this fellow Brown, whose last +impertinence showed he was a man to be watched, and, if possible, +understood. Secondly, he was haunted by a vision of the unhappy youth he +had just left; seeing, again and again, both in his dreams and in the +rush of heated fancies which followed his awaking, that picture of utter +despair which the opening of his neighbor's door had revealed. He could +not think of that poor mortal as sleeping. Whether it was the result of +his own sympathetic admiration for Miss Dare, or of some subtle +clairvoyance bestowed upon him by the darkness and stillness of the +hour, he felt assured that the quiet watch he had interrupted by his +careless importunity, had been again established, and that if he could +tear down the partition separating their two rooms, he should see that +bowed form and buried face crouched despairingly above the disfigured +picture. The depths of human misery and the maddening passions that +underlie all crime had been revealed to him for the first time, +perhaps, in all their terrible suggestiveness, and he asked himself over +and over as he tossed on his uneasy pillow, if he possessed the needful +determination to carry on the scheme he had undertaken, in face of the +unreasoning sympathies which the fathomless misery of this young man had +aroused. Under the softening influences of the night, he answered, No; +but when the sunlight came and the full flush of life with its restless +duties and common necessities awoke within him, he decided, Yes. + +Mr. Mansell was not at the breakfast-table when Mr. Byrd came down. His +duties at the mill were peremptory, and he had already taken his coffee +and gone. But Mr. Brown was there, and at sight of him Mr. Byrd's +caution took alarm, and he bestowed upon this intrusive busybody a close +and searching scrutiny. It, however, elicited nothing in the way of his +own enlightenment beyond the fact that this fellow, total stranger +though he seemed, was for some inexplicable reason an enemy to himself +or his plans. + +Not that Mr. Brown manifested this by any offensive token of dislike or +even of mistrust. On the contrary, he was excessively polite, and let +slip no opportunity of dragging Mr. Byrd into the conversation. Yet, for +all that, a secret influence was already at work against the detective, +and he could not attribute it to any other source than the jealous +efforts of this man. Miss Hart was actually curt to him, and in the +attitude of the various persons about the board he detected a certain +reserve which had been entirely absent from their manner the evening +before. + +But while placing, as he thought, due weight upon this fellow's +animosity, he had no idea to what it would lead, till he went up-stairs. +Mrs. Hart, who had hitherto treated him with the utmost cordiality, now +called him into the parlor, and told him frankly that she would be +obliged to him if he would let her have his room. To be sure, she +qualified the seeming harshness of her request by an intimation that a +permanent occupant had applied for it, and offered to pay his board at +the hotel till he could find a room to suit him in another house; but +the fact remained that she was really in a flutter to rid herself of +him, and no subterfuge could hide it, and Mr. Byrd, to whose plans the +full confidence of those around him was essential, found himself obliged +to acquiesce in her desires, and announce at once his willingness to +depart. + +Instantly she was all smiles, and overwhelmed him with overtures of +assistance; but he courteously declined her help, and, flying from her +apologies with what speed he could, went immediately to his room. Here +he sat down to deliberate. + +The facts he had gleaned, despite the interference of his unknown enemy, +were three: + +First, that Craik Mansell had found excuses for not attending the +inquest, or even the funeral, of his murdered aunt. + +Secondly, that he had a strong passion for invention, and had even now +the model of a machine on hand. + +And third, that he was not at home, wherever else he may have been, on +the morning of the murder in Sibley. + +"A poor and meagre collection of insignificant facts," thought Mr. Byrd. +"Too poor and meagre to avail much in stemming the tide threatening to +overwhelm Gouverneur Hildreth." + +But what opportunity remained for making them weightier? He was turned +from the house that held the few persons from whom he could hope to +glean more complete and satisfactory information, and he did not know +where else to seek it unless he went to the mill. And this was an +alternative from which he shrank, as it would, in the first place, +necessitate a revelation of his real character; and, secondly, make +known the fact that Mr. Mansell was under the surveillance of the +police, if not in the actual attitude of a suspected man. + +A quick and hearty, "Shure, you are very good, sir!" uttered in the hall +without roused him from his meditations and turned his thoughts in a new +direction. What if he could learn something from the servants? He had +not thought of them. This girl, now, whose work constantly carried her +into the various rooms on this floor, would, of course, know whether Mr. +Mansell had been away on the day of the murder, even if she could not +tell the precise time of his return. At all events, it was worth while +to test her with a question or two before he left, even if he had to +resort to the means of spurring her memory with money. His failure in +other directions did not necessitate a failure here. + +He accordingly called her in, and showing her a bright silver dollar, +asked her if she thought it good enough pay for a short answer to a +simple question. + +To his great surprise she blushed and drew back, shaking her head and +muttering that her mistress didn't like to have the girls talk to the +young men about the house, and finally going off with a determined toss +of her frowsy head, that struck Mr. Byrd aghast, and made him believe +more than ever that his evil star hung in the ascendant, and that the +sooner he quit the house the better. + +In ten minutes he was in the street. + +But one thing now remained for him to do. He must make the acquaintance +of one of the mill-owners, or possibly of an overseer or accountant, and +from him learn where Mr. Mansell had been at the time of his aunt's +murder. To this duty he devoted the day; but here also he was met by +unexpected difficulties. Though he took pains to disguise himself before +proceeding to the mill, all the endeavors which he made to obtain an +interview there with any responsible person were utterly fruitless. +Whether his ill-luck at the house had followed him to this place he +could not tell, but, for some reason or other, there was not one of the +gentlemen for whom he inquired but had some excuse for not seeing him; +and, worn out at last with repeated disappointments, if not oppressed +by the doubtful looks he received from the various subordinates who +carried his messages, he left the building, and proceeded to make use of +the only means now left him of compassing his end. + +This was to visit Mr. Goodman, the one member of the firm who was not at +his post that day, and see if from him he could gather the single fact +he was in search of. + +"Perhaps the atmosphere of distrust with which I am surrounded in this +quarter has not reached this gentleman's house," thought he. And having +learned from the directory where that house was, he proceeded +immediately to it. + +His reception was by no means cordial. Mr. Goodman had been ill the +night before, and was in no mood to see strangers. + +"Mansell?" he coolly repeated, in acknowledgment of the other's inquiry +as to whether he had a person of that name in his employ. "Yes, our +book-keeper's name is Mansell. May I ask"--and here Mr. Byrd felt +himself subjected to a thorough, if not severe, scrutiny--"why you come +to me with inquiries concerning him?" + +"Because," the determined detective responded, adopting at once the bold +course, "you can put me in possession of a fact which it eminently +befits the cause of justice to know. I am an emissary, sir, from the +District Attorney at Sibley, and the point I want settled is, where Mr. +Mansell was on the morning of the twenty-sixth of September?" + +This was business, and the look that involuntarily leaped into Mr. +Goodman's eye proved that he considered it so. He did not otherwise +betray this feeling, however, but turned quite calmly toward a chair, +into which he slowly settled himself before replying: + +"And why do you not ask the gentleman himself where he was? He probably +would be quite ready to tell you." + +The inflection he gave to these words warned Mr. Byrd to be careful. The +truth was, Mr. Goodman was Mr. Mansell's best friend, and as such had +his own reasons for not being especially communicative in his regard, to +this stranger. The detective vaguely felt this, and immediately changed +his manner. + +"I have no doubt of that, sir," he ingenuously answered. "But Mr. +Mansell has had so much to distress him lately, that I was desirous of +saving him from the unpleasantness which such a question would +necessarily cause. It is only a small matter, sir. A person--it is not +essential to state whom--has presumed to raise the question among the +authorities in Sibley as to whether Mr. Mansell, as heir of poor Mrs. +Clemmens' small property, might not have had some hand in her dreadful +death. There was no proof to sustain the assumption, and Mr. Mansell was +not even known to have been in the town on or after the day of her +murder; but justice, having listened to the aspersion, felt bound to +satisfy itself of its falsity; and I was sent here to learn where Mr. +Mansell was upon that fatal day. I find he was not in Buffalo. But this +does not mean he was in Sibley, and I am sure that, if you will, you can +supply me with facts that will lead to a complete and satisfactory +_alibi_ for him." + +But the hard caution of the other was not to be moved. + +"I am sorry," said he, "but I can give you no information in regard to +Mr. Mansell's travels. You will have to ask the gentleman himself." + +"You did not send him out on business of your own, then?" + +"No." + +"But you knew he was going?" + +"Yes." + +"And can tell when he came back?" + +"He was in his place on Wednesday." + +The cold, dry nature of these replies convinced Mr. Byrd that something +more than the sullen obstinacy of an uncommunicative man lay behind this +determined reticence. Looking at Mr. Goodman inquiringly, he calmly +remarked: + +"You are a friend of Mr. Mansell?" + +The answer came quick and coldly: + +"He is a constant visitor at my house." + +Mr. Byrd made a respectful bow. + +"You can, then, have no doubts of his ability to prove an _alibi_?" + +"I have no doubts concerning Mr. Mansell," was the stern and +uncompromising reply. + +Mr. Byrd at once felt he had received his dismissal. But before making +up his mind to go, he resolved upon one further effort. Calling to his +aid his full power of acting, he slowly shook his head with a thoughtful +air, and presently murmured half aloud and half, as it were, to himself: + +"I thought, possibly, he might have gone to Washington." Then, with a +casual glance at Mr. Goodman, added: "He is an inventor, I believe?" + +"Yes," was again the laconic response. + +"Has he not a machine at present which he desires to bring to the notice +of some capitalist?" + +"I believe he has," was the forced and none too amiable answer. + +Mr. Byrd at once leaned confidingly forward. + +"Don't you think," he asked, "that he may have gone to New York to +consult with some one about this pet hobby of his? It would certainly be +a natural thing for him to do, and if I only knew it was so, I could go +back to Sibley with an easy conscience." + +His disinterested air, and the tone of kindly concern which he had +adopted, seemed at last to produce its effect on his companion. Relaxing +a trifle of his austerity, Mr. Goodman went so far as to admit that Mr. +Mansell had told him that business connected with his patent had called +him out of town; but beyond this he would allow nothing; and Mr. Byrd, +baffled in his attempts to elicit from this man any distinct +acknowledgment of Mr. Mansell's whereabouts at the critical time of Mrs. +Clemmens' death, made a final bow and turned toward the door. + +It was only at this moment he discovered that Mr. Goodman and himself +had not been alone in the room; that curled up in one of the +window-seats was a little girl of some ten or twelve years of age, who +at the first tokens of his taking his departure slipped shyly down to +the floor and ran before him out into the hall. He found her by the +front door when he arrived there. She was standing with her hand on the +knob, and presented such a picture of childish eagerness, tempered by +childish timidity, that he involuntarily paused before her with a smile. +She needed no further encouragement. + +"Oh, sir, I know about Mr. Mansell!" she cried. "He wasn't in that place +you talk about, for he wrote a letter to papa just the day before he +came back, and the postmark on the envelope was Monteith. I remember, +because it was the name of the man who made our big map." And, looking +up with that eager zeal which marks the liking of very little folks for +some one favorite person among their grown acquaintances, she added, +earnestly: "I do hope you won't let them say any thing bad about Mr. +Mansell, he is so good." + +And without waiting for a reply, she ran off, her curls dancing, her +eyes sparkling, all her little innocent form alive with the joy of +having done a kindness, as she thought, for her favorite, Mr. Mansell. + +Mr. Byrd, on the contrary, felt a strange pang that the information he +had sought for so long and vainly should come at last from the lips of +an innocent child. + +Monteith, as you remember, was the next station to Sibley. + + + + +XV. + +THE END OF A TORTUOUS PATH. + + Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.--HAMLET. + + +THE arrest of Mr. Hildreth had naturally quieted public suspicion by +fixing attention upon a definite point, so that when Mr. Byrd returned +to Sibley he found that he could pursue whatever inquiries he chose +without awakening the least mistrust that he was on the look-out for the +murderer of Mrs. Clemmens. + +The first use he made of his time was to find out if Mr. Mansell, or any +man answering to his description, had been seen to take the train from +the Sibley station on the afternoon or evening of the fatal Tuesday. The +result was unequivocal. No such person had been seen there, and no such +person was believed to have been at the station at any time during that +day. This was his first disappointment. + +He next made the acquaintance of the conductors on that line of +street-cars by means of which he believed Mr. Mansell to have made his +escape. But with no better result. Not one of them remembered having +taken up, of late, any passenger from the terminus, of the appearance +described by Mr. Byrd. + +And this was his second disappointment. + +His next duty was obviously to change his plan of action and make the +town of Monteith the centre of his inquiries. But he hesitated to do +this till he had made one other visit to the woods in whose recesses he +still believed the murderer to have plunged immediately upon dealing the +fatal blow. + +He went by the way of the street railroad, not wishing to be again seen +crossing the bog, and arrived at the hut in the centre of the glade +without meeting any one or experiencing the least adventure. + +This time he went in, but nothing was to be seen save bare logs, a rough +hearth where a fire had once been built, and the rudest sort of bench +and table; and hurrying forth again, he looked doubtfully up and down +the glade in pursuit of some hint to guide him in his future researches. + +Suddenly he received one. The thick wall of foliage which at first +glance revealed but the two outlets already traversed by him, showed +upon close inspection a third path, opening well behind the hut, and +leading, as he soon discovered, in an entirely opposite direction from +that which had taken him to West Side. Merely stopping to cast one +glance at the sun, which was still well overhead, he set out on this new +path. It was longer and much more intricate than the other. It led +through hollows and up steeps, and finally out into an open blackberry +patch, where it seemed to terminate. But a close study of the +surrounding bushes, soon disclosed signs of a narrow and thread-like +passage curving about a rocky steep. Entering this he presently found +himself drawn again into the woods, which he continued to traverse till +he came to a road cut through the heart of the forest, for the use of +the lumbermen. Here he paused. Should he turn to the right or left? He +decided to turn to the right. Keeping in the road, which was rough with +stones where it was not marked with the hoofs of both horses and cattle, +he walked for some distance. Then he emerged into open space again, and +discovered that he was on the hillside overlooking Monteith, and that by +a mile or two's further walk over the highway that was dimly to be +descried at the foot of the hill, he would reach the small station +devoted to the uses of the quarrymen that worked in this place. + +There was no longer any further doubt that this route, and not the +other, had been the one taken by Mr. Mansell on that fatal afternoon. +But he was determined not to trust any further to mere surmises; so +hastening down the hill, he made his way in the direction of the +highway, meaning to take the walk alluded to, and learn for himself what +passengers had taken the train at this point on the Tuesday afternoon so +often mentioned. + +But a barrier rose in his way. A stream which he had barely noticed in +the quick glance he threw over the landscape from the brow of the hill, +separated with quite a formidable width of water the hillside from the +road, and it was not till he wandered back for some distance along its +banks, that he found a bridge. The time thus lost was considerable, but +he did not think of it; and when, after a long and weary tramp, he +stepped upon the platform of the small station, he was so eager to learn +if he had correctly followed the scent, that he forgot to remark that +the road he had taken was any thing but an easy or feasible one for a +hasty escape. + +The accommodation-trains, which alone stop at this point, had both +passed, and he found the station-master at leisure. A single glance into +his honest and intelligent face convinced the detective that he had a +reliable man to deal with. He at once commenced his questions. + +"Do many persons besides the quarrymen take the train at this place?" +asked he. + +"Not many," was the short but sufficiently good-natured rejoinder. "I +guess I could easily count them on the fingers of one hand," he laughed. + +"You would be apt to notice, then, if a strange gentleman got on board +here at any time, would you not?" + +"Guess so; not often troubled that way, but sometimes--sometimes." + +"Can you tell me whether a young man of very dark complexion, heavy +mustache, and a determined, if not excited, expression, took the cars +here for Monteith, say, any day last week?" + +"I don't know," mused the man. "Dark complexion, you say, large +mustache; let me see." + +"No dandy," Mr. Byrd carefully explained, "but a strong man, who +believes in work. He was possibly in a state of somewhat nervous hurry," +he went on, suggestively, "and if he wore an overcoat at all, it was a +gray one." + +The face of the man lighted up. + +"I seem to remember," said he. "Did he have a very bright blue eye and a +high color?" + +Mr. Byrd nodded. + +"And did he carry a peculiarly shaped bag, of which he was very +careful?" + +"I don't know," said Mr. Byrd, but remembering the model, added with +quick assurance, "I have no doubt he did"; which seemed to satisfy the +other, for he at once cried: + +"I recollect such a person very well. I noticed him before he got to the +station; as soon in fact as he came in sight. He was walking down the +highway, and seemed to be thinking about something. He's of the kind to +attract attention. What about him, sir?" + +"Nothing. He was in trouble of some kind, and he went from home without +saying where he was going; and his friends are anxious about him, that +is all. Do you think you could swear to his face if you saw it?" + +"I think I could. He was the only stranger that got on to the cars that +afternoon." + +"Do you remember, then, the day?" + +"Well, no, now, I don't." + +"But can't you, if you try? Wasn't there something done by you that day +which will assist your memory?" + +Again that slow "Let me see" showed that the man was pondering. Suddenly +he slapped his thigh and exclaimed: + +"You might be a lawyer's clerk now, mightn't you; or, perhaps, a lawyer +himself? I do remember that a large load of stone was sent off that day, +and a minute's look at my book---- It was Tuesday," he presently +affirmed. + +Mr. Byrd drew a deep breath. There is sadness mixed with the +satisfaction of such a triumph. + +"I am much obliged to you," he said, in acknowledgment of the other's +trouble. "The friends of this gentleman will now have little difficulty +in tracing him. There is but one thing further I should like to make +sure of." + +And taking from his memorandum-book the picture he kept concealed there, +he showed him the face of Mr. Mansell, now altered to a perfect +likeness, and asked him if he recognized it. + +The decided Yes which he received made further questions unnecessary. + + + + +XVI. + +STORM. + + Oh, my offence is rank, it smells to heav'n: + It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't!--HAMLET. + + +A DAY had passed. Mr. Byrd, who no longer had any reason to doubt that +he was upon the trail of the real assailant of the Widow Clemmens, had +resolved upon a third visit to the woods, this time with the definite +object of picking up any clew, however trifling, in support of the fact +that Craik Mansell had passed through the glade behind his aunt's house. + +The sky, when he left the hotel, was one vast field of blue; but by the +time he reached the terminus of the car-route, and stepped out upon the +road leading to the woods, dark clouds had overcast the sun, and a cool +wind replaced the quiet zephyrs which had all day fanned the brilliant +autumn foliage. + +He did not realize the condition of the atmosphere, however, and +proceeded on his way, thinking more of the person he had just perceived +issuing from the door-way of Professor Darling's lofty mansion, than of +the low mutterings of distant thunder that now and then disturbed the +silence of the woods, or of the ominous, brazen tint which was slowly +settling over the huge bank of cloud that filled the northern sky. For +that person was Miss Dare, and her presence here, or anywhere near him, +at this time, must of necessity, awaken a most painful train of thought. + +But, though unmindful of the storm, he was dimly conscious of the +darkness that was settling about him. Quicker and quicker grew his pace, +and at last he almost broke into a run as the heavy pall of a large +black cloud swept up over the zenith, and wiped from the heavens the +last remnant of blue sky. One drop fell, then another, then a slow, +heavy patter, that bent double the leaves they fell upon, as if a shower +of lead had descended upon the heavily writhing forest. The wind had +risen, too, and the vast aisles of that clear and beautiful wood +thundered with the swaying of boughs, and the crash here and there of an +old and falling limb. But the lightning delayed. + +The blindest or most abstracted man could be ignorant no longer of what +all this turmoil meant. Stopping in the path along which he had been +speeding, Mr. Byrd glanced before him and behind, in a momentary +calculation of distances, and deciding he could not regain the terminus +before the storm burst, pushed on toward the hut. + +He reached it just as the first flash of lightning darted down through +the heavy darkness, and was about to fling himself against the door, +when something--was it the touch of an invisible hand, or the crash of +awful thunder which at this instant plowed up the silence of the forest +and woke a pandemonium of echoes about his head?--stopped him. + +He never knew. He only realized that he shuddered and drew back, with a +feeling of great disinclination to enter the low building before him, +alone; and that presently taking advantage of another loud crash of +falling boughs, he crept around the corner of the hut, and satisfied his +doubts by looking into the small, square window opening to the west. + +He found there was ample reason for all the hesitation he had felt. A +man was sitting there, who, at the first glimpse, appeared to him to be +none other than Craik Mansell. But reason soon assured him this could +not be, though the shape, the attitude--that old attitude of despair +which he remembered so well--was so startlingly like that of the man +whose name was uppermost in his thoughts, that he recoiled in spite of +himself. + +A second flash swept blinding through the wood. Mr. Byrd advanced his +head and took another glance at the stranger. It _was_ Mr. Mansell. No +other man would sit so quiet and unmoved during the rush and clatter of +a terrible storm. + +Look! not a hair of his head has stirred, not a movement has taken place +in the hands clasped so convulsively beneath his brow. He is an image, a +stone, and would not hear though the roof fell in. + +Mr. Byrd himself forgot the storm, and only queried what his duty was +in this strange and surprising emergency. + +But before he could come to any definite conclusion, he was subjected to +a new sensation. A stir that was not the result of the wind or the rain +had taken place in the forest before him. A something--he could not tell +what--was advancing upon him from the path he had himself travelled so +short a time before, and its step, if step it were, shook him with a +vague apprehension that made him dread to lift his eyes. But he +conquered the unmanly instinct, and merely taking the precaution to step +somewhat further back from view, looked in the direction of his fears, +and saw a tall, firmly-built woman, whose grandly poised head, held +high, in defiance of the gale, the lightning, and the rain, proclaimed +her to be none other than Imogene Dare. + +It was a juxtaposition of mental, moral, and physical forces that almost +took Mr. Byrd's breath away. He had no doubt whom she had come to see, +or to what sort of a tryst he was about to be made an unwilling witness. +But he could not have moved if the blast then surging through the trees +had uprooted the huge pine behind which he had involuntarily drawn at +the first impression he had received of her approach. He must watch that +white face of hers slowly evolve itself from the surrounding darkness, +and he must be present when the dreadful bolt swept down from heaven, if +only to see her eyes in the flare of its ghostly flame. + +It came while she was crossing the glade. Fierce, blinding, more vivid +and searching than at any time before, it flashed down through the +cringing boughs, and, like a mantle of fire, enveloped her form, +throwing out its every outline, and making of the strong and beautiful +face an electric vision which Mr. Byrd was never able to forget. + +A sudden swoop of wind followed, flinging her almost to the ground, but +Mr. Byrd knew from that moment that neither wind nor lightning, not even +the fear of death, would stop this woman if once she was determined upon +any course. + +Dreading the next few moments inexpressibly, yet forcing himself, as a +detective, to remain at his post, though every instinct of his nature +rebelled, Mr. Byrd drew himself up against the side of the low hut and +listened. Her voice, rising between the mutterings of thunder and the +roar of the ceaseless gale, was plainly to be heard. + +"Craik Mansell," said she, in a strained tone, that was not without its +severity, "you sent for me, and I am here." + +Ah, this was her mode of greeting, was it? Mr. Byrd felt his breath come +easier, and listened for the reply with intensest interest. + +But it did not come. The low rumbling of the thunder went on, and the +wind howled through the gruesome forest, but the man she had addressed +did not speak. + +"Craik!" Her voice still came from the door-way, where she had seemingly +taken her stand. "Do you not hear me?" + +A stifled groan was the sole reply. + +She appeared to take one step forward, but no more. + +"I can understand," said she, and Mr. Byrd had no difficulty in hearing +her words, though the turmoil overhead was almost deafening, "why the +restlessness of despair should drive you into seeking this interview. I +have longed to see you too, if only to tell you that I wish heaven's +thunderbolts had fallen upon us both on that day when we sat and talked +of our future prospects and----" + +A lurid flash cut short her words. Strange and awesome sounds awoke in +the air above, and the next moment a great branch fell crashing down +upon the roof of the hut, beating in one corner, and sliding thence +heavily to the ground, where it lay with all its quivering leaves +uppermost, not two feet from the door-way where this woman stood. + +A shriek like that of a lost spirit went up from her lips. + +"I thought the vengeance of heaven had fallen!" she gasped. And for a +moment not a sound was heard within or without the hut, save that low +flutter of the disturbed leaves. "It is not to be," she then whispered, +with a return of her old calmness, that was worse than any shriek. +"Murder is not to be avenged thus." Then, shortly: "A dark and hideous +line of blood is drawn between you and me, Craik Mansell. _I_ cannot +pass it, and you must not, forever and forever and forever. But that +does not hinder me from wishing to help you, and so I ask, in all +sincerity, What is it you want me to do for you to-day?" + +A response came this time. + +"Show me how to escape the consequences of my act," were his words, +uttered in a low and muffled voice. + +She did not answer at once. + +"Are you threatened?" she inquired at last, in a tone that proved she +had drawn one step nearer to the bowed form and hidden face of the +person she addressed. + +"My conscience threatens me," was the almost stifled reply. + +Again that heavy silence, all the more impressive that the moments +before had been so prolific of heaven's most terrible noises. + +"You suffer because another man is forced to endure suspicion for a +crime he never committed," she whisperingly exclaimed. + +Only a groan answered her; and the moments grew heavier and heavier, +more and more oppressive, though the hitherto accompanying outcries of +the forest had ceased, and a faint lightening of the heavy darkness was +taking place overhead. Mr. Byrd felt the pressure of the situation so +powerfully, he drew near to the window he had hitherto avoided, and +looked in. She was standing a foot behind the crouched figure of the +man, between whom and herself she had avowed a line of blood to be +drawn. As he looked she spoke. + +"Craik," said she, and the deathless yearning of love spoke in her voice +at last, "there is but one thing to do. Expiate your guilt by +acknowledging it. Save the innocent from unmerited suspicion, and trust +to the mercy of God. It is the only advice I can give you. I know no +other road to peace. If I did----" She stopped, choked by the terror of +her own thoughts. "Craik," she murmured, at last, "on the day I hear of +your having made this confession, I vow to take an oath of celibacy for +life. It is the only recompense I can offer for the misery and sin into +which our mutual mad ambitions have plunged you." + +And subduing with a look of inexpressible anguish an evident longing to +lay her hand in final caress upon that bended head, she gave him one +parting look, and then, with a quick shudder, hurried away, and buried +herself amid the darkness of the wet and shivering woods. + + + + +XVII. + +A SURPRISE. + + Season your admiration for awhile.--HAMLET. + + +WHEN all was still again, Mr. Byrd advanced from his place of +concealment, and softly entered the hut. Its solitary occupant sat as +before, with his head bent down upon his clasped hands. But at the first +sound of Mr. Byrd's approach he rose and turned. The shock of the +discovery which followed sent the detective reeling back against the +door. The person who faced him with such quiet assurance was _not_ Craik +Mansell. + + + + +XVIII. + +A BRACE OF DETECTIVES. + + Hath this fellow no feeling of his business?--HAMLET. + + No action, whether foul or fair, + Is ever done, but it leaves somewhere + A record. --LONGFELLOW. + + +"SO there are two of us! I thought as much when I first set eyes upon +your face in Buffalo!" + +This exclamation, uttered in a dry and musing tone, woke Mr. Byrd from +the stupor into which this astonishing discovery had thrown him. +Advancing upon the stranger, who in size, shape, and coloring was almost +the _fac-simile_ of the person he had so successfully represented, Mr. +Byrd looked him scrutinizingly over. + +The man bore the ordeal with equanimity; he even smiled. + +"You don't recognize me, I see." + +Mr. Byrd at once recoiled. + +"Ah!" cried he, "you are that Jack-in-the-box, Brown!" + +"_Alias_ Frank Hickory, at your service." + +This name, so unexpected, called up a flush of mingled surprise and +indignation to Mr. Byrd's cheek. + +"I thought----" he began. + +"Don't think," interrupted the other, who, when excited, affected +laconicism, "know." Then, with affability, proceeded, "You are the +gentleman----" he paid that much deference to Mr. Byrd's air and manner, +"who I was told might lend me a helping hand in this Clemmens affair. I +didn't recognize you before, sir. Wouldn't have stood in your way if I +had. Though, to be sure, I did want to see this matter through myself. I +thought I had the right. And I've done it, too, as you must acknowledge, +if you have been present in this terrible place very long." + +This self-satisfied, if not boastful, allusion to a scene in which this +strange being had played so unworthy, if not unjustifiable, a part, sent +a thrill of revulsion through Mr. Byrd. Drawing hastily back with an +instinct of dislike he could not conceal, he cast a glance through the +thicket of trees that spread beyond the open door, and pointedly asked: + +"Was there no way of satisfying yourself of the guilt of Craik Mansell, +except by enacting a farce that may lead to the life-long remorse of the +woman out of whose love you have made a trap?" + +A slow flush, the first, possibly, that had visited the hardy cheek of +this thick-skinned detective for years, crept over the face of Frank +Hickory. + +"I don't mean she shall ever know," he sullenly protested, kicking at +the block upon which he had been sitting. "But it _was_ a mean trick," +he frankly enough admitted the next moment. "If I hadn't been the tough +old hickory knot that I am, I couldn't have done it, I suppose. The +storm, too, made it seem a bit trifling. But---- Well, well!" he +suddenly interjected, in a more cheerful tone, "'tis too late now for +tears and repentance. The thing is done, and can't be undone. And, at +all events, I reckon we are both satisfied _now_ as to who killed Widow +Clemmens!" + +Mr. Byrd could not resist a slight sarcasm. "I thought you were +satisfied in that regard before?" said he. "At least, I understood that +at a certain time you were very positive it was Mr. Hildreth." + +"So I was," the fellow good-naturedly allowed; "so I was. The byways of +a crime like this are dreadful dark and uncertain. It isn't strange that +a fellow gets lost sometimes. But I got a jog on my elbow that sent me +into the right path," said he, "as, perhaps, you did too, sir, eh?" + +Not replying to this latter insinuation, Mr. Byrd quietly repeated: + +"You got a jog on your elbow? When, may I ask?" + +"Three days ago, _just_!" was the emphatic reply. + +"And from whom?" + +Instead of replying, the man leaned back against the wall of the hut and +looked at his interlocutor in silence. + +"Are we going to join hands over this business?" he cried, at last, "or +are you thinking of pushing your way on alone after you have got from me +all that I know?" + +The question took Mr. Byrd by surprise. + +He had not thought of the future. He was as yet too much disturbed by +his memories of the past. To hide his discomfiture, he began to pace the +floor, an operation which his thoroughly wet condition certainly made +advisable. + +"I have no wish to rob you of any glory you may hope to reap from the +success of the plot you have carried on here to-day," he presently +declared, with some bitterness; "but if this Craik Mansell _is_ guilty, +I suppose it is my duty to help you in the collection of all suitable +and proper evidence against him." + +"Then," said the other, who had been watching him with rather an anxious +eye, "let us to work." And, sitting down on the table, he motioned to +Mr. Byrd to take a seat upon the block at his side. + +But the latter kept up his walk. + +Hickory surveyed him for a moment in silence, then he said: + +"You must have something against this young man, or you wouldn't be +here. What is it? What first set you thinking about Craik Mansell?" + +Now, this was a question Mr. Byrd could not and would not answer. After +what had just passed in the hut, he felt it impossible to mention to +this man the name of Imogene Dare in connection with that of the nephew +of Mrs. Clemmens. He therefore waived the other's interrogation and +remarked: + +"My knowledge was rather the fruit of surmise than fact. I did not +believe in the guilt of Gouverneur Hildreth, and so was forced to look +about me for some one whom I could conscientiously suspect. I fixed upon +this unhappy man in Buffalo; how truly, your own suspicions, +unfortunately, reveal." + +"And I had to have my wits started by a horrid old woman," murmured the +evidently abashed Hickory. + +"Horrid old woman!" repeated Mr. Byrd. "Not Sally Perkins?" + +"Yes. A sweet one, isn't she?" + +Mr. Byrd shuddered. + +"Tell me about it," said he, coming and sitting down in the seat the +other had previously indicated to him. + +"I will, sir; I will: but first let's look at the weather. Some folks +would think it just as well for you to change that toggery of yours. +What do you say to going home first, and talking afterward?" + +"I suppose it would be wise," admitted Mr. Byrd, looking down at his +garments, whose decidedly damp condition he had scarcely noticed in his +excitement. "And yet I hate to leave this spot till I learn how you came +to choose it as the scene of the tragi-comedy you have enacted here +to-day, and what position it is likely to occupy in the testimony which +you have collected against this young man." + +"Wait, then," said the bustling fellow, "till I build you the least bit +of a fire to warm you. It won't take but a minute," he averred, piling +together some old sticks that cumbered the hearth, and straightway +setting a match to them. "See! isn't that pleasant? And now, just cast +your eye at this!" he continued, drawing a comfortable-looking flask out +of his pocket and handing it over to the other with a dry laugh. "Isn't +_this_ pleasant?" And he threw himself down on the floor and stretched +out his hands to the blaze, with a gusto which the dreary hour he had +undoubtedly passed made perfectly natural, if not excusable. + +"I thank you," said Mr. Byrd; "I didn't know I was so chilled," and he, +too, enjoyed the warmth. "And, now," he pursued, after a moment, "go on; +let us have the thing out at once." + +But the other was in no hurry. "Very good, sir," he cried; "but, first, +if you don't mind, suppose you tell me what brought _you_ to this hut +to-day?" + +"I was on the look-out for clues. In my study of the situation, I +decided that the murderer of Mrs. Clemmens escaped, not from the front, +but from the back, of the house. Taking the path I imagined him to have +trod, I came upon this hut. It naturally attracted my attention, and +to-day I came back to examine it more closely in the hope of picking up +some signs of his having been here, or at least of having passed through +the glade on his way to the deeper woods." + +"And what, if you had succeeded in this, sir? What, if some token of his +presence had rewarded your search?" + +"I should have completed a chain of proof of which only this one link is +lacking. I could have shown how Craik Mansell fled from this place on +last Tuesday afternoon, making his way through the woods to the highway, +and thence to the Quarry Station at Monteith, where he took the train +which carried him back to Buffalo." + +"You could!--show me how?" + +Mr. Byrd explained himself more definitely. + +Hickory at once rose. + +"I guess we can give you the link," he dryly remarked. "At all events, +suppose you just step here and tell me what conclusion you draw from the +appearance of this pile of brush." + +Mr. Byrd advanced and looked at a small heap of hemlock that lay in a +compact mass in one corner. + +"I have not disturbed it," pursued the other. "It is just as it was when +I found it." + +"Looks like a pillow," declared Mr. Byrd. "Has been used for such, I am +sure; for see, the dust in this portion of the floor lies lighter than +elsewhere. You can almost detect the outline of a man's recumbent form," +he went on, slowly, leaning down to examine the floor more closely. "As +for the boughs, they have been cut from the tree with a knife, and----" +Lifting up a sprig, he looked at it, then passed it over to Hickory, +with a meaning glance that directed attention to one or two short hairs +of a dark brown color, that were caught in the rough bark. "He did not +even throw his pocket-handkerchief over the heap before lying down," he +observed. + +Mr. Hickory smiled. "You're up in your business, I see." And drawing his +new colleague to the table, he asked him what he saw there. + +At first sight Mr. Byrd exclaimed: "Nothing," but in another moment he +picked up an infinitesimal chip from between the rough logs that formed +the top of this somewhat rustic piece of furniture, and turning it over +in his hand, pronounced it to be a piece of wood from a lead-pencil. + +"Here are several of them," remarked Mr. Hickory, "and what is more, it +is easy to tell just the color of the pencil from which they were cut. +It was blue." + +"That is so," assented Mr. Byrd. + +"Quarrymen, charcoal-burners, and the like are not much in the habit of +sharpening pencils," suggested Hickory. + +"Is the pencil now to be found in the pocket of Mr. Mansell a blue one?" + +"It is." + +"Have you any thing more to show me?" asked Mr. Byrd. + +"Only this," responded the other, taking out of his pocket the torn-off +corner of a newspaper. "I found this blowing about under the bushes out +there," said he. "Look at it and tell me from what paper it was torn." + +"I don't know," said Mr. Byrd; "none that I am acquainted with." + +"You don't read the Buffalo _Courier_?" + +"Oh, is this----" + +"A corner from the Buffalo _Courier_? I don't know, but I mean to find +out. If it is, and the date proves to be correct, we won't have much +trouble about the little link, will we?" + +Mr. Byrd shook his head and they again crouched down over the fire. + +"And, now, what did you learn in Buffalo?" inquired the persistent +Hickory. + +"Not much," acknowledged Mr. Byrd. "The man Brown was entirely too +ubiquitous to give me my full chance. Neither at the house nor at the +mill was I able to glean any thing beyond an admission from the landlady +that Mr. Mansell was not at home at the time of his aunt's murder. I +couldn't even learn where he was on that day, or where he had ostensibly +gone? If it had not been for the little girl of Mr. Goodman----" + +"Ah, I had not time to go to that house," interjected the other, +suggestively. + +"I should have come home as wise as I went," continued Mr. Byrd. "She +told me that on the day before Mr. Mansell returned, he wrote to her +father from Monteith, and _that_ settled my mind in regard to him. It +was pure luck, however." + +The other laughed long and loud. + +"I didn't know I did it up so well," he cried. "I told the landlady you +were a detective, or acted like one, and she was very ready to take the +alarm, having, as I judge, a motherly liking for her young boarder. Then +I took Messrs. Chamberlin and Harrison into my confidence, and having +got from them all the information they could give me, told them there +was evidently another man on the track of this Mansell, and warned them +to keep silence till they heard from the prosecuting attorney in Sibley. +But I didn't know who you were, or, at least, I wasn't sure; or, as I +said before, I shouldn't have presumed." + +The short, dry laugh with which he ended this explanation had not +ceased, when Mr. Byrd observed: + +"You have not told me what _you_ gathered in Buffalo." + +"Much," quoth Hickory, reverting to his favorite laconic mode of speech. +"First, that Mansell went from home on Monday, the day before the +murder, for the purpose, as he said, of seeing a man in New York about +his wonderful invention. Secondly, that he never went to New York, but +came back the next evening, bringing his model with him, and looking +terribly used up and worried. Thirdly, that to get this invention before +the public had been his pet aim and effort for a whole year. That he +believed in it as you do in your Bible, and would have given his heart's +blood, if it would have done any good, to start the thing, and prove +himself right in his estimate of its value. That the money to do this +was all that was lacking, no one believing in him sufficiently to +advance him the five thousand dollars considered necessary to build the +machine and get it in working order. That, in short, he was a fanatic on +the subject, and often said he would be willing to die within the year +if he could first prove to the unbelieving capitalists whom he had +vainly importuned for assistance, the worth of the discovery he believed +himself to have made. Fourthly--but what is it you wish to say, sir?" + +"Five thousand dollars is just the amount Widow Clemmens is supposed to +leave him," remarked Mr. Byrd. + +"Precisely," was the short reply. + +"And fourthly?" suggested the former. + +"Fourthly, he was in the mill on Wednesday morning, where he went about +his work as usual, until some one who knew his relation to Mrs. Clemmens +looked up from the paper he was reading, and, in pure thoughtlessness, +cried, 'So they have killed your aunt for you, have they?' A barbarous +jest, that caused everybody near him to start in indignation, but which +made him recoil as if one of these thunderbolts we have been listening +to this afternoon had fallen at his feet. And he didn't get over it," +Hickory went on. "He had to beg permission to go home. He said the +terrible news had made him ill, and indeed he looked sick enough, and +continued to look sick enough for days. He had letters from Sibley, and +an invitation to attend the inquest and be present at the funeral +services, but he refused to go. He was threatened with diphtheria, he +declared, and remained away from the mill until the day before +yesterday. Some one, I don't remember who, says he went out of town the +very Wednesday he first heard the news; but if so, he could not have +been gone long, for he was at home Wednesday night, sick in bed, and +threatened, as I have said, with the diphtheria. Fifthly----" + +"Well, fifthly?" + +"I am afraid of your criticisms," laughed the rough detective. "Fifthly +is the result of my poking about among Mr. Mansell's traps." + +"Ah!" frowned the other, with a vivid remembrance of that picture of +Miss Dare, with its beauty blotted out by the ominous black lines. + +"You are too squeamish for a detective," the other declared. "Guess +you're kept for the fancy business, eh?" + +The look Mr. Byrd gave him was eloquent. "Go on," said he; "let us hear +what lies behind your fifthly." + +"Love," returned the man. "Locked in the drawer of this young +gentleman's table, I found some half-dozen letters tied with a black +ribbon. I knew they were written by a lady, but squeamishness is not a +fault of mine, and so I just allowed myself to glance over them. They +were from Miss Dare, of course, and they revealed the fact that love, as +well as ambition, had been a motive power in determining this Mansell to +make a success out of his invention." + +Leaning back, the now self-satisfied detective looked at Mr. Byrd. + +"The name of Miss Dare," he went on, "brings me to the point from which +we started. I haven't yet told you what old Sally Perkins had to say to +me." + +"No," rejoined Mr. Byrd. + +"Well," continued the other, poking with his foot the dying embers of +the fire, till it started up into a fresh blaze, "the case against this +young fellow wouldn't be worth very much without that old crone's +testimony, I reckon; but with it I guess we can get along." + +"Let us hear," said Mr. Byrd. + +"The old woman is a wretch," Hickory suddenly broke out. "She seems to +gloat over the fact that a young and beautiful woman is in trouble. She +actually trembled with eagerness as she told her story. If I hadn't been +rather anxious myself to hear what she had to say, I could have thrown +her out of the window. As it was, I let her go on; duty before pleasure, +you see--duty before pleasure." + +"But her story," persisted Mr. Byrd, letting some of his secret +irritation betray itself. + +"Well, her story was this: Monday afternoon, the day before the murder, +you know, she was up in these very woods hunting for witch-hazel. She +had got her arms full and was going home across the bog when she +suddenly heard voices. Being of a curious disposition, like myself, I +suppose, she stopped, and seeing just before her a young gentleman and +lady sitting on an old stump, crouched down in the shadow of a tree, +with the harmless intent, no doubt, of amusing herself with their +conversation. It was more interesting than she expected, and she really +became quite tragic as she related her story to me. I cannot do justice +to it myself, and I sha'n't try. It is enough that the man whom she did +not know, and the woman whom she immediately recognized as Miss Dare, +were both in a state of great indignation. That he spoke of selfishness +and obstinacy on the part of his aunt, and that she, in the place of +rebuking him, replied in a way to increase his bitterness, and lead him +finally to exclaim: 'I cannot bear it! To think that with just the +advance of the very sum she proposes to give me some day, I could make +her fortune and my own, and win _you_ all in one breath! It is enough to +drive a man mad to see all that he craves in this world so near his +grasp, and yet have nothing, not even hope, to comfort him.' And at +that, it seems, they both rose, and she, who had not answered any thing +to this, struck the tree before which they stood, with her bare fist, +and murmured a word or so which the old woman couldn't catch, but which +was evidently something to the effect that she wished she knew Mrs. +Clemmens; for Mansell--of course it was he--said, in almost the same +breath, 'And if you did know her, what then?' A question which elicited +no reply at first, but which finally led her to say: 'Oh! I think that, +possibly, I might be able to persuade her.' All this," the detective +went on, "old Sally related with the greatest force; but in regard to +what followed, she was not so clear. Probably they interrupted their +conversation with some lovers' by-play, for they stood very near +together, and he seemed to be earnestly pleading with her. 'Do take it,' +old Sally heard him say. 'I shall feel as if life held some outlook for +me, if you only will gratify me in this respect.' But she answered: 'No; +it is of no use. I am as ambitious as you are, and fate is evidently +against us,' and put his hand back when he endeavored to take hers, but +finally yielded so far as to give it to him for a moment, though she +immediately snatched it away again, crying: 'I cannot; you must wait +till to-morrow.' And when he asked: 'Why to-morrow?' she answered: 'A +night has been known to change the whole current of a person's affairs.' +To which he replied: 'True,' and looked thoughtful, very thoughtful, as +he met her eyes and saw her raise that white hand of hers and strike the +tree again with a passionate force that made her fingers bleed. And she +was right," concluded the speaker. "The night, or if not the night, the +next twenty-four hours, _did_ make a change, as even old Sally Perkins +observed. Widow Clemmens was struck down and Craik Mansell became the +possessor of the five thousand dollars he so much wanted in order to win +for himself a fortune and a bride." + +Mr. Byrd, who had been sitting with his face turned aside during this +long recital, slowly rose to his feet. "Hickory," said he, and his tone +had an edge of suppressed feeling in it that made the other start, +"don't let me ever hear you say, in my presence, that you think this +young and beautiful woman was the one to suggest murder to this man, for +I won't hear it. And now," he continued, more calmly, "tell me why this +babbling old wretch did not enliven the inquest with her wonderful tale. +It would have been a fine offset to the testimony of Miss Firman." + +"She said she wasn't fond of coroners and had no wish to draw the +attention of twelve of her own townsfolk upon herself. She didn't mean +to commit herself with me," pursued Hickory, rising also. "She was going +to give me a hint of the real state of affairs; or, rather, set me +working in the right direction, as this little note which she tucked +under the door of my room at the hotel will show. But I was too quick +for her, and had her by the arm before she could shuffle down the +stairs. It was partly to prove her story was true and not a romance made +up for the occasion, that I lured this woman here this afternoon." + +"You are not as bad a fellow as I thought," Mr. Byrd admitted, after a +momentary contemplation of the other's face. "If I might only know how +you managed to effect this interview." + +"Nothing easier. I found in looking over the scraps of paper which +Mansell had thrown into the waste-paper basket in Buffalo, the draft of +a note which he had written to Miss Dare, under an impulse which he +afterward probably regretted. It was a summons to their usual place of +tryst at or near this hut, and though unsigned, was of a character, as I +thought, to effect its purpose. I just sent it to her, that's all." + +The nonchalance with which this was said completed Mr. Byrd's +astonishment. + +"You are a worthy disciple of Gryce," he asserted, leading the way to +the door. + +"Think so?" exclaimed the man, evidently flattered at what he considered +a great compliment. "Then shake hands," he cried, with a frank appeal +Mr. Byrd found it hard to resist. "Ah, you don't want to," he somewhat +ruefully declared. "Will it change your feelings any if I promise to +ignore what happened here to-day--my trick with Miss Dare and what she +revealed and all that? If it will, I swear I won't even think of it any +more if I can help it. At all events, I won't tattle about it even to +the superintendent. It shall be a secret between you and me, and she +won't know but what it was her lover she talked to, after all." + +"You are willing to do all this?" inquired Mr. Byrd. + +"Willing and ready," cried the man. "I believe in duty to one's +superiors, but duty doesn't always demand of one to tell every thing he +knows. Besides, it won't be necessary, I imagine. There is enough +against this poor fellow without that." + +"I fear so," ejaculated Mr. Byrd. + +"Then it is a bargain?" said Hickory. + +"Yes." + +And Mr. Byrd held out his hand. + +The rain had now ceased and they prepared to return home. Before leaving +the glade, however, Mr. Byrd ran his eye over the other's person and +apparel, and in some wonder inquired: + +"How do you fellows ever manage to get up such complete disguises? I +declare you look enough like Mr. Mansell in the back to make me doubt +even now who I am talking to." + +"Oh," laughed the other, "it is easy enough. It's my specialty, you see, +and one in which I _am_ thought to excel. But, to tell the truth, I +hadn't much to contend with in this case. In build I am famously like +this man, as you must have noticed when you saw us together in Buffalo. +Indeed, it was our similarity in this respect that first put the idea of +personifying him into my head. My complexion had been darkened already, +and, as for such accessories as hair, voice, manner, dress, etc., a +five-minutes' study of my model was sufficient to prime me up in all +that--enough, at least, to satisfy the conditions of an interview which +did not require me to show my face." + +"But you did not know when you came here that you would not have to show +your face," persisted Mr. Byrd, anxious to understand how this man dared +risk his reputation on an undertaking of this kind. + +"No, and I did not know that the biggest thunderstorm of the season was +going to spring up and lend me its darkness to complete the illusion I +had attempted. I only trusted my good fortune--and my wits," he added, +with a droll demureness. "Both had served me before, and both were +likely to serve me again. And, say she had detected me in my little +game, what then? Women like her don't babble." + +There was no reply to make to this, and Mr. Byrd's thoughts being thus +carried back to Imogene Dare and the unhappy revelations she had been +led to make, he walked on in a dreary silence his companion had +sufficient discretion not to break. + + + + +XIX. + +MR. FERRIS. + + Which of you have done this?--MACBETH. + + What have we here?--TEMPEST. + + +MR. FERRIS sat in his office in a somewhat gloomy frame of mind. There +had been bad news from the jail that morning. Mr. Hildreth had attempted +suicide the night before, and was now lying in a critical condition at +the hospital. + +Mr. Ferris himself had never doubted this man's guilt. From Hildreth's +first appearance at the inquest, the District Attorney had fixed upon +him as the murderer of Mrs. Clemmens, and up to this time he had seen no +good and substantial reason for altering his opinion. + +Even the doubts expressed by Mr. Byrd had moved him but little. Mr. Byrd +was an enthusiast, and, naturally enough, shrank from believing a +gentleman capable of such a crime. But the other detective's judgment +was unswayed, and he considered Hildreth guilty. It was not astonishing, +then, that the opinion of Mr. Ferris should coincide with that of the +older and more experienced man. + +But the depth of despair or remorse which had led Mr. Hildreth to this +desperate attempt upon his own life had struck the District Attorney +with dismay. Though not over-sensitive by nature, he could not help +feeling sympathy for the misery that had prompted such a deed, and while +secretly regarding this unsuccessful attempt at suicide as an additional +proof of guilt, he could not forbear satisfying himself by a review of +the evidence elicited at the inquest, that the action of the authorities +in arresting this man had been both warrantable and necessary. + +The result was satisfactory in all but one point. When he came to the +widow's written accusation against one by the name of Gouverneur +Hildreth, he was impressed by a fact that had hitherto escaped his +notice. This was the yellowness of the paper upon which the words were +written. If they had been transcribed a dozen years before, they would +not have looked older, nor would the ink have presented a more faded +appearance. Now, as the suspected man was under twenty-five years of +age, and must, therefore, have been a mere child when the paper was +drawn up, the probability was that the Gouverneur intended was the +prisoner's father, their names being identical. + +But this discovery, while it robbed the affair of its most dramatic +feature, could not affect in any serious way the extreme significance of +the remaining real and compromising facts which told so heavily against +this unfortunate man. Indeed, the well-known baseness of the father made +it easier to distrust the son, and Mr. Ferris had just come to the +conclusion that his duty compelled him to draw up an indictment of the +would-be suicide, when the door opened, and Mr. Byrd and Mr. Hickory +came in. + +To see these two men in conjunction was a surprise to the District +Attorney. He, however, had no time to express himself on the subject, +for Mr. Byrd, stepping forward, immediately remarked: + +"Mr. Hickory and I have been in consultation, sir; and we have a few +facts to give you that we think will alter your opinion as to the person +who murdered Mrs. Clemmens." + +"Is this so?" cried Mr. Ferris, looking at Hickory with a glance +indicative of doubt. + +"Yes, _sir_," exclaimed that not easily abashed individual, with an +emphasis decided enough to show the state of his feelings on the +subject. "After I last saw you a woman came in my way and put into my +hands so fresh and promising a clue, that I dropped the old scent at +once and made instanter for the new game. But I soon found I was not the +only sportsman on this trail. Before I had taken a dozen steps I ran +upon this gentleman, and, finding him true grit, struck up a partnership +with him that has led to our bringing down the quarry together." + +"Humph!" quoth the District Attorney. "Some very remarkable discoveries +must have come to light to influence the judgment of two such men as +yourselves." + +"You are right," rejoined Mr. Byrd. "In fact, I should not be surprised +if this case proved to be one of the most remarkable on record. It is +not often that equally convincing evidence of guilt is found against two +men having no apparent connection." + +"And have you collected such evidence?" + +"We have." + +"And who is the person you consider equally open to suspicion with Mr. +Hildreth?" + +"Craik Mansell, Mrs. Clemmens' nephew." + +The surprise of the District-Attorney was, as Mr. Hickory in later days +remarked, nuts to him. The solemn nature of the business he was engaged +upon never disturbed this hardy detective's sense of the ludicrous, and +he indulged in one of his deepest chuckles as he met the eye of Mr. +Ferris. + +"One never knows what they are going to run upon in a chase of this +kind, do they, sir?" he remarked, with the greatest cheerfulness. "Mr. +Mansell is no more of a gentleman than Mr. Hildreth; yet, because he is +the second one of his caste who has attracted our attention, you are +naturally very much surprised. But wait till you hear what we have to +tell you. I am confident you will be satisfied with our reasons for +suspecting this new party." And he glanced at Mr. Byrd, who, seeing no +cause for delay, proceeded to unfold before the District Attorney the +evidence they had collected against Mr. Mansell. + +It was strong, telling, and seemingly conclusive, as we already know; +and awoke in the mind of Mr. Ferris the greatest perplexity of his +life. It was not simply that the facts urged against Mr. Mansell were of +the same circumstantial character and of almost the same significance as +those already urged against Mr. Hildreth, but that the association of +Miss Dare's name with this new theory of suspicion presented +difficulties, if it did not involve consequences, calculated to make any +friend of Mr. Orcutt quail. And Mr. Ferris was such a friend, and knew +very well the violent nature of the shock which this eminent lawyer +would experience at discovering the relations held by this trusted woman +toward a man suspected of crime. + +Then Miss Dare herself! Was this beautiful and cherished woman, hitherto +believed by all who knew her to be set high above the reach of reproach, +to be dragged down from her pedestal and submitted to the curiosity of +the rabble, if not to its insinuations and reproach? It seemed hard; +even to this stern, dry searcher among dead men's bones, it seemed both +hard and bitter. And yet, because he was an honest man, he had no +thought of paltering with his duty. He could only take time to make sure +what that duty was. He accordingly refrained from expressing any opinion +in regard to Mr. Mansell's culpability to the two detectives, and +finally dismissed them without any special orders. + +But a day or two after this he sent for them again, and said: + +"Since I have seen you I have considered, with due carefulness, the +various facts presented me in support of your belief that Craik Mansell +is the man who assailed the Widow Clemmens, and have weighed them +against the equally significant facts pointing toward Mr. Hildreth as +the guilty party, and find but one link lacking in the former chain of +evidence which is not lacking in the latter; and that is this: Mrs. +Clemmens, in the one or two lucid moments which returned to her after +the assault, gave utterance to an exclamation which many think was meant +to serve as a guide in determining the person of her murderer. She said, +'Ring,' as Mr. Byrd here will doubtless remember, and then 'Hand,' as if +she wished to fix upon the minds of those about her that the hand +uplifted against her wore a ring. At all events, such a conclusion is +plausible enough, and led to my making an experiment yesterday, which +has, for ever, set the matter at rest in my own mind. I took my stand at +the huge clock in her house, just in the attitude she was supposed to +occupy when struck, and, while in this position, ordered my clerk to +advance upon me from behind with his hands clasped about a stick of +wood, which he was to bring down within an inch of my head. This was +done, and while his arm was in the act of descending, I looked to see if +by a quick glance from the corner of my eye I could detect the broad +seal ring I had previously pushed upon his little finger. I discovered +that I could; that indeed it was all of the man which I could distinctly +see without turning my head completely around. The ring, then, is an +important feature in this case, a link without which any chain of +evidence forged for the express purpose of connecting a man with this +murder must necessarily remain incomplete and consequently useless. But +amongst the suspicious circumstances brought to bear against Mr. +Mansell, I discern no token of a connection between him and any such +article, while we all know that Mr. Hildreth not only wore a ring on the +day of the murder, but considered the circumstance so much in his own +disfavor, that he slipped it off his finger when he began to see the +shadow of suspicion falling upon him." + +"You have, then, forgotten the diamond I picked up from the floor of +Mrs. Clemmens' dining-room on the morning of the murder?" suggested Mr. +Byrd with great reluctance. + +"No," answered the District Attorney, shortly. "But Miss Dare distinctly +avowed that ring to be hers, and you have brought me no evidence as yet +to prove her statement false. If you can supply such proof, or if you +can show that Mr. Mansell had that ring on his hand when he entered Mrs. +Clemmens' house on the fatal morning--another fact, which, by-the-way, +rests as yet upon inference only--I shall consider the case against him +as strong as that against Mr. Hildreth; otherwise, not." + +Mr. Byrd, with the vivid remembrance before him of Miss Dare's looks and +actions in the scene he had witnessed between her and the supposed +Mansell in the hut, smiled with secret bitterness over this attempt of +the District Attorney to shut his eyes to the evident guiltiness of this +man. + +Mr. Ferris saw this smile and instantly became irritated. + +"I do not doubt any more than yourself," he resumed, in a changed voice, +"that this young man allowed his mind to dwell upon the possible +advantages which might accrue to himself if his aunt should die. He may +even have gone so far as to meditate the commission of a crime to insure +these advantages. But whether the crime which did indeed take place the +next day in his aunt's house was the result of his meditations, or +whether he found his own purpose forestalled by an attack made by +another person possessing no less interest than himself in seeing this +woman dead, is not determined by the evidence you bring." + +"Then you do not favor his arrest?" inquired Mr. Byrd. + +"No. The vigorous measures which were taken in Mr. Hildreth's case, and +the unfortunate event to which they have led, are terrible enough to +satisfy the public craving after excitement for a week at least. I am +not fond of driving men to madness myself, and unless I can be made to +see that my duty demands a complete transferal of my suspicions from +Hildreth to Mansell, I can advise nothing more than a close but secret +surveillance of the latter's movements until the action of the Grand +Jury determines whether the evidence against Mr. Hildreth is sufficient +to hold him for trial." + +Mr. Byrd, who had such solid, if private and uncommunicable, reasons for +believing in the guilt of Craik Mansell, was somewhat taken aback at +this unlooked-for decision of Mr. Ferris, and, remembering the +temptation which a man like Hickory must feel to make his cause good at +all hazards, cast a sharp look toward that blunt-spoken detective, in +some doubt as to whether he could be relied upon to keep his promise in +the face of this manifest disappointment. + +But Hickory had given his word, and Hickory remained firm; and Mr. Byrd, +somewhat relieved in his own mind, was about to utter his acquiescence +in the District Attorney's views, when a momentary interruption +occurred, which gave him an opportunity to exchange a few words aside +with his colleague. + +"Hickory," he whispered, "what do you think of this objection which Mr. +Ferris makes?" + +"I?" was the hurried reply. "Oh, I think there is something in it." + +"Something in it?" + +"Yes. Mr. Mansell is the last man to wear a ring, I must acknowledge. +Indeed, I took some pains while in Buffalo to find out if he ever +indulged in any such vanity, and was told decidedly No. As to the +diamond you mentioned, that is certainly entirely too rich a jewel for a +man like him to possess. I--I am a afraid the absence of this link in +our chain of evidence is fatal. I shouldn't wonder if the old scent was +the best, after all." + + +"But Miss Dare--her feelings and her convictions, as manifested by the +words she made use of in the hut?" objected Mr. Byrd. + +"Oh! _she_ thinks he is guilty, of course!" + +_She_ thinks! Mr. Byrd stared at his companion for a minute in silence. +_She_ thinks! Then there was a possibility, it seems, that it was only +her thought, and that Mr. Mansell was not really the culpable man he had +been brought to consider him. + +But here an exclamation, uttered by Mr. Ferris, called their attention +back to that gentleman. He was reading a letter which had evidently been +just brought in, and his expression was one of amazement, mixed with +doubt. As they looked toward him they met his eye, that had a troubled +and somewhat abashed expression, which convinced them that the +communication he held in his hand was in some way connected with the +matter under consideration. + +Surprised themselves, they unconsciously started forward, when, in a dry +and not altogether pleased tone, the District Attorney observed: + +"This affair seems to be full of coincidences. You talk of a missing +link, and it is immediately thrust under your nose. Read that!" + +And he pushed toward them the following epistle, roughly scrawled on a +sheet of common writing-paper: + + If Mr. Ferris is anxious for justice, and can + believe that suspicion does not always attach + itself to the guilty, let him, or some one whose + business it is, inquire of Miss Imogene Dare, of + this town, how she came to claim as her own the + ring that was picked up on the floor of Mrs. + Clemmens' house. + +"Well!" cried Mr. Byrd, glancing at Hickory, "what are we to think of +this?" + +"Looks like the work of old Sally Perkins," observed the other, pointing +out the lack of date and signature. + +"So it does," acquiesced Mr. Byrd, in a relieved tone. "The miserable +old wretch is growing impatient." + +But Mr. Ferris, with a gloomy frown, shortly said: + +"The language is not that of an ignorant old creature like Sally +Perkins, whatever the writing may be. Besides, how could she have known +about the ring? The persons who were present at the time it was picked +up are not of the gossiping order." + +"Who, then, do you think wrote this?" inquired Mr. Byrd. + +"That is what I wish you to find out," declared the District Attorney. + +Mr. Hickory at once took it in his hand. + +"Wait," said he, "I have an idea." And he carried the letter to one +side, where he stood examining it for several minutes. When he came back +he looked tolerably excited and somewhat pleased. "I believe I can tell +you who wrote it," said he. + +"Who?" inquired the District Attorney. + +For reply the detective placed his finger upon a name that was written +in the letter. + + +"Imogene Dare?" exclaimed Mr. Ferris, astonished. + +"She herself," proclaimed the self-satisfied detective. + +"What makes you think that?" the District Attorney slowly asked. + +"Because I have seen her writing, and studied her signature, and, ably +as she has disguised her hand in the rest of the letter, it betrays +itself in her name. See here." And Hickory took from his pocket-book a +small slip of paper containing her autograph, and submitted it to the +test of comparison. + +The similarity between the two signatures was evident, and both Mr. Byrd +and Mr. Ferris were obliged to allow the detective might be right, +though the admission opened up suggestions of the most formidable +character. + +"It is a turn for which I am not prepared," declared the District +Attorney. + +"It is a turn for which _we_ are not prepared," repeated Mr. Byrd, with +a controlling look at Hickory. + +"Let us, then, defer further consideration of the matter till I have had +an opportunity to see Miss Dare," suggested Mr. Ferris. + +And the two detectives were very glad to acquiesce in this, for they +were as much astonished as he at this action of Miss Dare, though, with +their better knowledge of her feelings, they found it comparatively easy +to understand how her remorse and the great anxiety she doubtless felt +for Mr. Hildreth had sufficed to drive her to such an extreme and +desperate measure. + + + + +XX. + +A CRISIS. + + _Queen._ Alas, how is it with you? + That you do bend your eye on vacancy, + And with the incorporeal air do hold discourse? + + * * * * * + + Your bedded hair, like life in excrements, + Starts up and stands on end. + + * * * * * + + Whereon do you look? + + _Hamlet._ On him! On him! Look you how pale he glares! + His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones, + Would make them capable. Do not look upon me; + Lest, with this piteous action, you convert + My stern effects! then what I have to do + Will want true color; tears, perchance, for blood.--HAMLET. + + +THAT my readers may understand even better than Byrd and Hickory how it +was that Imogene came to write this letter, I must ask them to consider +certain incidents that had occurred in a quarter far removed from the +eye of the detectives. + +Mr. Orcutt's mind had never been at rest concerning the peculiar +attitude assumed by Imogene Dare at the time of Mrs. Clemmens' murder. +Time and thought had not made it any more possible for him to believe +now than then that she knew any thing of the matter beyond what appeared +to the general eye: but he could not forget the ring. It haunted him. +Fifty times a day he asked himself what she had meant by claiming as her +own a jewel which had been picked up from the floor of a strange house +at a time so dreadful, and which, in despite of her explanations to him, +he found it impossible to believe was hers or ever could have been hers? +He was even tempted to ask her; but he never did. The words would not +come. Though they faltered again and again upon his lips, he could not +give utterance to them; no, though with every passing day he felt that +the bond uniting her to him was growing weaker and weaker, and that if +something did not soon intervene to establish confidence between them, +he would presently lose all hope of the treasure for the possession of +which he was now ready to barter away half the remaining years of his +life. + +Her increasing reticence, and the almost stony look of misery that now +confronted him without let or hindrance from her wide gray eyes, were +not calculated to reassure him or make his future prospects look any +brighter. Her pain, if pain it were, or remorse, if remorse it could be, +was not of a kind to feel the influence of time; and, struck with +dismay, alarmed in spite of himself, if not for her reason at least for +his own, he watched her from day to day, feeling that now he would give +his life not merely to possess her, but to understand her and the secret +that was gnawing at her heart. + +At last there came a day when he could no longer restrain himself. She +had been seated in his presence, and had been handed a letter which for +the moment seemed to thoroughly overwhelm her. We know what that letter +was. It was the note which had been sent as a decoy by the detective +Hickory, but which she had no reason to doubt was a real communication +from Craik Mansell, despite the strange handwriting on the envelope. It +prayed her for an interview. It set the time and mentioned the place of +meeting, and created for the instant such a turmoil in her usually +steady brain that she could not hide it from the searching eyes that +watched her. + +"What is it, Imogene?" inquired Mr. Orcutt, drawing near her with a +gesture of such uncontrollable anxiety, it looked as if he were about to +snatch the letter from her hand. + +For reply she rose, walked to the grate, in which a low wood fire was +burning, and plunged the paper in among the coals. When it was all +consumed she turned and faced Mr. Orcutt. + +"You must excuse me," she murmured; "but the letter was one which I +absolutely desired no one to see." + +But he did not seem to hear her apology. He stood with his gaze fixed on +the fire, and his hand clenched against his heart, as if something in +the fate of that wretched sheet of paper reminded him of the love and +hope that were shrivelling up before his eyes. + +She saw his look and drooped her head with a sudden low moan of mingled +shame and suffering. + +"Am I killing _you_?" she faintly cried. "Are my strange, wild ways +driving _you_ to despair? I had not thought of that. I am so selfish, I +had not thought of that!" + +This evidence of feeling, the first she had ever shown him, moved Mr. +Orcutt deeply. Advancing toward her, with sudden passion, he took her by +the hand. + +"Killing me?" he repeated. "Yes, you are killing me. Don't you see how +fast I am growing old? Don't you see how the dust lies thick upon the +books that used to be my solace and delight? I do not understand you, +Imogene. I love you and I do not understand your grief, or what it is +that is affecting you in this terrible way. Tell me. Let me know the +nature of the forces with which I have to contend, and I can bear all +the rest." + +This appeal, forced as it was from lips unused to prayer, seemed to +strike her, absorbed though she was in her own suffering. Looking at him +with real concern, she tried to speak, but the words faltered on her +tongue. They came at last, however, and he heard her say: + +"I wish I could weep, if only to show you I am not utterly devoid of +womanly sympathy for an anguish I cannot cure. But the fountain of my +tears is dried at its source. I do not think I can ever weep again. I am +condemned to tread a path of misery and despair, and must traverse it to +the end without weakness and without help. Do not ask me why, for I can +never tell you. And do not detain me now, or try to make me talk, for I +must go where I can be alone and silent." + +She was slipping away, but he caught her by the wrist and drew her back. +His pain and perplexity had reached their climax. + +"You must speak," he cried. "I have paltered long enough with this +matter. You must tell me what it is that is destroying your happiness +and mine." + +But her eyes, turning toward him, seemed to echo that _must_ in a look +of disdain eloquent enough to scorn all help from words, and in the +indomitable determination of her whole aspect he saw that he might slay +her, but that he could never make her speak. + +Loosing her with a gesture of despair, he turned away. When he glanced +back again she was gone. + +The result of this interview was naturally an increased doubt and +anxiety on his part. He could not attend to his duties with any degree +of precision, he was so haunted by uneasy surmises as to what might have +been the contents of the letter which he had thus seen her destroy +before his eyes. As for her words, they were like her conduct, an +insolvable mystery, for which he had no key. + +His failure to find her at home when he returned that night added to his +alarm, especially as he remembered the vivid thunderstorm that had +deluged the town in the afternoon. Nor, though she came in very soon and +offered both excuses and explanations for her absence, did he experience +any appreciable relief, or feel at all satisfied that he was not +threatened with some secret and terrible catastrophe. Indeed, the air of +vivid and feverish excitement which pervaded every look of hers from +this time, making each morning and evening distinctive in his memory as +a season of fresh fear and renewed suspense, was enough of itself to +arouse this sense of an unknown, but surely approaching, danger. He saw +she was on the look out for some event, he knew not what, and studied +the papers as sedulously as she, in the hope of coming upon some +revelation that should lay bare the secret of this new condition of +hers. At last he thought he had found it. Coming home one day from the +court, he called her into his presence, and, without pause or preamble, +exclaimed, with almost cruel abruptness: + +"An event of possible interest to you has just taken place. The murderer +of Mrs. Clemmens has just cut his throat." + +He saw before he had finished the first clause that he had struck at the +very citadel of her terrors and her woe. At the end of the second +sentence he knew, beyond all doubt now, what it was she had been +fearing, if not expecting. Yet she said not a word, and by no movement +betrayed that the steel had gone through and through her heart. + +A demon--the maddening demon of jealousy--gripped him for the first time +with relentless force. + +"Ah, you have been looking for it?" he cried in a choked voice. "You +know this man, then--knew him, perhaps, before the murder of Mrs. +Clemmens; knew him, and--and, perhaps, loved him?" + +She did not reply. + +He struck his forehead with his hand, as if the moment was perfectly +intolerable to him. + +"Answer," he cried. "Did you know Gouverneur Hildreth or not?" + +"_Gouverneur Hildreth?_" Oh, the sharp surprise, the wailing anguish of +her tone! Mr. Orcutt stood amazed. "It is not he who has made this +attempt upon his life!--not he!" she shrieked like one appalled. + +Perhaps because all other expression or emotion failed him, Mr. Orcutt +broke forth into a loud and harrowing laugh. "And who else should it +be?" he cried. "What other man stands accused of having murdered Widow +Clemmens? You are mad, Imogene; you don't know what you say or what you +do." + +"Yes, I am mad," she repeated--"mad!" and leaned her forehead forward on +the back of a high chair beside which she had been standing, and hid her +face and struggled with herself for a moment, while the clock went on +ticking, and the wretched surveyer of her sorrow stood looking at her +bended head like a man who does not know whether it is he or she who is +in the most danger of losing his reason. + +At last a word struggled forth from between her clasped hands. + +"When did it happen?" she gasped, without lifting her head. "Tell me all +about it. I think I can understand." + +The noted lawyer smiled a bitter smile, and spoke for the first time, +without pity and without mercy. + +"He has been trying for some days to effect his death. His arrest and +the little prospect there is of his escaping trial seem to have maddened +his gentlemanly brain. Fire-arms were not procurable, neither was poison +nor a rope, but a pewter plate is enough in the hands of a desperate +man. He broke one in two last night, and----" + +He paused, sick and horror-stricken. Her face had risen upon him from +the back of the chair, and was staring upon him like that of a Medusa. +Before that gaze the flesh crept on his bones and the breath of life +refused to pass his lips. Gazing at her with rising horror, he saw her +stony lips slowly part. + +"Don't go on," she whispered. "I can see it all without the help of +words." Then, in a tone that seemed to come from some far-off world of +nightmare, she painfully gasped, "Is he dead?" + +[Illustration: "He paused, sick and horror-stricken. Her face had risen +upon him from the back of the chair, and was staring at him like that of +a Medusa."--(Page 252.)] + +Mr. Orcutt was a man who, up to the last year, had never known what it +was to experience a real and controlling emotion. Life with him had +meant success in public affairs, and a certain social pre-eminence that +made his presence in any place the signal of admiring looks and +respectful attentions. But let no man think that, because his doom +delays, it will never come. Passions such as he had deprecated in +others, and desires such as he had believed impossible to himself, had +seized upon him with ungovernable power, and in this moment especially +he felt himself yielding to their sway with no more power of resistance +than a puppet experiences in the grasp of a whirlwind. Meeting that +terrible eye of hers, burning with an anxiety for a man he despised, +and hearing that agonized question from lips whose touch he had never +known, he experienced a sudden wild and almost demoniac temptation to +hurl back the implacable "Yes" that he felt certain would strike her +like a dead woman to the ground. But the horrid impulse passed, and, +with a quick remembrance of the claims of honor upon one bearing his +name and owning his history, he controlled himself with a giant +resolution, and merely dropping his eyes from an anguish he dared no +longer confront, answered, quietly: + +"No; he has hurt himself severely and has disfigured his good looks for +life, but he will not die; or so the physicians think." + +A long, deep, shuddering sigh swept through the room. + +"Thank God!" came from her lips, and then all was quiet again. + +He looked up in haste; he could not bear the silence. + +"Imogene----" he began, but instantly paused in surprise at the change +which had taken place in her expression. "What do you intend to do?" was +his quick demand. "You look as I have never seen you look before." + +"Do not ask me!" she returned. "I have no words for what I am going to +do. What _you_ must do is to see that Gouverneur Hildreth is released +from prison. He is not guilty, mind you; he never committed this crime +of which he is suspected, and in the shame of which suspicion he has +this day attempted his life. If he is kept in the restraint which is so +humiliating to him, and if he dies there, it will be murder--do you +hear? murder! And he _will_ die there if he is not released; I know his +feelings only too well." + +"But, Imogene----" + +"Hush! don't argue. 'Tis a matter of life and death, I tell you. He must +be released! I know," she went on, hurriedly, "what it is you want to +say. You think you cannot do this; that the evidence is all against him; +that he went to prison of his own free will and cannot hope for release +till his guilt or innocence has been properly inquired into. But I know +you can effect his enlargement if you will. You are a lawyer, and +understand all the crooks and turns by which a man can sometimes be made +to evade the grasp of justice. Use your knowledge. Avail yourself of +your influence with the authorities, and I----" she paused and gave him +a long, long look. + +He was at her side in an instant. + +"You would--what?" he cried, taking her hand in his and pressing it +impulsively. + +"I would grant you whatever you ask," she murmured, in a weariful tone. + +"Would you be my wife?" he passionately inquired. + +"Yes," was the choked reply; "if I did not die first." + +He caught her to his breast in rapture. He knelt at her side and threw +his arms about her waist. + +"You shall not die," he cried. "You shall live and be happy. Only marry +me to-day." + +"Not till Gouverneur Hildreth be released," she interposed, gently. + +He started as if touched by a galvanic battery, and slowly rose up and +coldly looked at her. + +"Do you love him so madly you would sell yourself for his sake?" he +sternly demanded. + +With a quick gesture she threw back her head as though the indignant +"No" that sprang to her lips would flash out whether she would or not. +But she restrained herself in time. + +"I cannot answer," she returned. + +But he was master now--master of this dominating spirit that had held +him in check for so long a time, and he was not to be put off. + +"You must answer," he sternly commanded. "I have the right to know the +extent of your feeling for this man, and I will. Do you _love_ him, +Imogene Dare? Tell me, or I here swear that I will do nothing for him, +either now or at a time when he may need my assistance more than you +know." + +This threat, uttered as he uttered it, could have but one effect. +Turning aside, so that he should not see the shuddering revolt in her +eyes, she mechanically whispered: + +"And what if I did? Would it be so very strange? Youth admires youth, +Mr. Orcutt, and Mr. Hildreth is very handsome and very unfortunate. Do +not oblige me to say more." + +Mr. Orcutt, across whose face a dozen different emotions had flitted +during the utterance of these few words, drew back till half the +distance of the room lay between them. + +"Nor do I wish to hear any more," he rejoined, slowly. "You have said +enough, quite enough. I understand now all the past--all your terrors +and all your secret doubts and unaccountable behavior. The man you loved +was in danger, and you did not know how to manage his release. Well, +well, I am sorry for you, Imogene. I wish I could help you. I love you +passionately, and would make you my wife in face of your affection for +this man if I could do for you what you request. But it is impossible. +Never during the whole course of my career has a blot rested upon my +integrity as a lawyer. I am known as an honest man, and honest will I +remain known to the last. Besides, I could do nothing to effect his +enlargement if I tried. Nothing but the plainest proof that he is +innocent, or that another man is guilty, would avail now to release him +from the suspicion which his own admissions have aroused." + +"Then there is no hope?" was her slow and despairing reply. + +"None at present, Imogene," was his stern, almost as despairing, answer. + +As Mr. Orcutt sat over his lonely hearth that evening, a servant brought +to him the following letter: + + DEAR FRIEND,--It is not fit that I should remain + any longer under your roof. I have a duty before + me which separates me forever from the friendship + and protection of honorable men and women. No home + but such as I can provide for myself by the work + of my own hands shall henceforth shelter the + disgraced head of Imogene Dare. Her fate, whatever + it may prove to be, she bears alone, and you, who + have been so kind, shall never suffer from any + association with one whose name must henceforth + become the sport of the crowd, if not the + execration of the virtuous. If your generous heart + rebels at this, choke it relentlessly down. I + shall be already gone when you read these lines, + and nothing you could do or say would make me come + back. Good-by, and may Heaven grant you + forgetfulness of one whose only return to your + benefactions has been to make you suffer almost as + much as she suffers herself. + +As Mr. Orcutt read these last lines, District Attorney Ferris was +unsealing the anonymous missive which has already been laid before my +readers. + + + + +XXI. + +HEART'S MARTYRDOM. + + Oh that a man might know + The end of this day's business, ere it come; + But it sufficeth that the day will end, + And then the end is known!--JULIUS CAESAR. + + +MR. FERRIS' first impulse upon dismissing the detectives had been to +carry the note he had received to Mr. Orcutt. But a night's careful +consideration of the subject convinced him that the wisest course would +be to follow the suggestions conveyed in the letter, and seek a direct +interview with Imogene Dare. + +It was not an agreeable task for him to undertake. Miss Dare was a young +lady whom he had always held in the highest esteem. He had hoped to see +her the wife of his friend, and would have given much from his own +private stock of hope and happiness to have kept her name free from the +contumely which any association with this dreadful crime must +necessarily bring upon it. But his position as prosecuting attorney of +the county would not allow him to consult his feelings any further in a +case of such serious import. The condition of Mr. Hildreth was, to say +the least, such as demanded the most impartial action on the part of the +public officials, and if through any explanation of Miss Dare the one +missing link in the chain of evidence against another could be +supplied, it was certainly his duty to do all he could to insure it. + +Accordingly at a favorable hour the next day, he made his appearance at +Mr. Orcutt's house, and learning that Miss Dare had gone to Professor +Darling's house for a few days, followed her to her new home and +requested an interview. + +She at once responded to his call. Little did he think as she came into +the parlor where he sat, and with even more than her usual calm +self-possession glided down the length of that elegant apartment to his +side, that she had just come from a small room on the top floor, where, +in the position of a hired seamstress, she had been engaged in cutting +out the wedding garments of one of the daughters of the house. + +Her greeting was that of a person attempting to feign a surprise she did +not feel. + +"Ah," said she, "Mr. Ferris! This is an unexpected pleasure." + +But Mr. Ferris had no heart for courtesies. + +"Miss Dare," he began, without any of the preliminaries which might be +expected of him, "I have come upon a disagreeable errand. I have a favor +to ask. You are in the possession of a piece of information which it is +highly necessary for me to share." + +"I?" + +The surprise betrayed in this single word was no more than was to be +expected from a lady thus addressed, neither did the face she turned so +steadily toward him alter under his searching gaze. + +"If I can tell you any thing that you wish to know," she quietly +declared, "I am certainly ready to do so, sir." + +Deceived by the steadiness of her tone and the straightforward look of +her eyes, he proceeded, with a sudden releasement from his +embarrassment, to say: + +"I shall have to recall to your mind a most painful incident. You +remember, on the morning when we met at Mrs. Clemmens' house, claiming +as your own a diamond ring which was picked up from the floor at your +feet?" + +"I do." + +"Miss Dare, was this ring really yours, or were you misled by its +appearance into merely thinking it your property? My excuse for asking +this is that the ring, if not yours, is likely to become an important +factor in the case to which the murder of this unfortunate woman has +led." + +"Sir----" The pause which followed the utterance of this one word was +but momentary, but in it what faint and final hope may have gone down +into the depths of everlasting darkness God only knows. "Sir, since you +ask me the question, I will say that in one sense of the term it was +mine, and in another it was not. The ring was mine, because it had been +offered to me as a gift the day before. The ring was not mine, because I +had refused to take it when it was offered." + +At these words, spoken with such quietness they seemed like the +mechanical utterances of a woman in a trance, Mr. Ferris started to his +feet. He could no longer doubt that evidence of an important nature lay +before him. + +"And may I ask," he inquired, without any idea of the martyrdom he +caused, "what was the name of the person who offered you this ring, and +from whom you refused to take it?" + +"The name?" She quavered for a moment, and her eyes flashed up toward +heaven with a look of wild appeal, as if the requirement of this moment +was more than even she had strength to meet. Then a certain terrible +calm settled upon her, blotting the last hint of feeling from her face, +and, rising up in her turn, she met Mr. Ferris' inquiring eye, and +slowly and distinctly replied: + +"It was Craik Mansell, sir. He is a nephew of Mrs. Clemmens." + +It was the name Mr. Ferris had come there to hear, yet it gave him a +slight shock when it fell from her lips--perhaps because his mind was +still running upon her supposed relations with Mr. Orcutt. But he did +not show his feelings, however, and calmly asked: + +"And was Mr. Mansell in this town the day before the assault upon his +aunt?" + +"He was." + +"And you had a conversation with him?" + +"I had." + +"May I ask where?" + +For the first time she flushed; womanly shame had not yet vanished +entirely from her stricken breast; but she responded as steadily as +before: + +"In the woods, sir, back of Mrs. Clemmens' house. There were +reasons"--she paused--"there were good reasons, which I do not feel +obliged to state, why a meeting in such a place was not discreditable to +us." + +Mr. Ferris, who had received from other sources a full version of the +interview to which she thus alluded, experienced a sudden revulsion of +feeling against one he could not but consider as a detected coquette; +and, drawing quickly back, made a gesture such as was not often +witnessed in those elegant apartments. + +"You mean," said he, with a sharp edge to his tone that passed over her +dreary soul unheeded, "that you were lovers?" + +"I mean," said she, like the automaton she surely was at that moment, +"that he had paid me honorable addresses, and that I had no reason to +doubt his motives or my own in seeking such a meeting." + +"Miss Dare,"--all the District Attorney spoke in the manner of Mr. +Ferris now,--"if you refused Mr. Mansell his ring, you must have +returned it to him?" + +She looked at him with an anguish that bespoke her full appreciation of +all this question implied, but unequivocally bowed her head. + +"It was in his possession, then," he continued, "when you left him on +that day and returned to your home?" + +"Yes," her lips seemed to say, though no distinct utterance came from +them. + +"And you did not see it again till you found it on the floor of Mrs. +Clemmens' dining-room the morning of the murder?" + +"No." + +"Miss Dare," said he, with greater mildness, after a short pause, "you +have answered my somewhat painful inquiries with a straightforwardness I +cannot sufficiently commend. If you will now add to my gratitude by +telling me whether you have informed any one else of the important facts +you have just given me, I will distress you by no further questions." + +"Sir," said she, and her attitude showed that she could endure but +little more, "I have taken no one else into my confidence. Such +knowledge as I had to impart was not matter for idle gossip." + +And Mr. Ferris, being thus assured that his own surmises and that of +Hickory were correct, bowed with the respect her pale face and rigid +attitude seemed to demand, and considerately left the house. + + + + +XXII. + +CRAIK MANSELL. + + Bring me unto my trial when you will.--HENRY VI. + + +"HE is here." + +Mr. Ferris threw aside his cigar, and looked up at Mr. Byrd, who was +standing before him. + +"You had no difficulty, then?" + +"No, sir. He acted like a man in hourly expectation of some such +summons. At the very first intimation of your desire to see him in +Sibley, he rose from his desk, with what I thought was a meaning look at +Mr. Goodman, and after a few preparations for departure, signified he +was ready to take the next train." + +"And did he ask no questions?" + +"Only one. He wished to know if I were a detective. And when I responded +'Yes,' observed with an inquiring look: 'I am wanted as a witness, I +suppose.' A suggestion to which I was careful to make no reply." + +Mr. Ferris pushed aside his writing and glanced toward the door. "Show +him in, Mr. Byrd," said he. + +A moment after Mr. Mansell entered the room. + +The District Attorney had never seen this man, and was struck at once by +the force and manliness of his appearance. Half-rising from his seat to +greet the visitor, he said: + +"I have to beg your pardon, Mr. Mansell. Feeling it quite necessary to +see you, I took the liberty of requesting you to take this journey, my +own time being fully occupied at present." + +Mr. Mansell bowed--a slow, self-possessed bow,--and advancing to the +table before which the District Attorney sat, laid his hand firmly upon +it and said: + +"No apologies are needed." Then shortly, "What is it you want of me?" + +The words were almost the same as those which had been used by Mr. +Hildreth under similar circumstances, but how different was their +effect! The one was the utterance of a weak man driven to bay, the other +of a strong one. Mr. Ferris, who was by no means of an impressible +organization, flashed a look of somewhat uneasy doubt at Mr. Byrd, and +hesitated slightly before proceeding. + +"We have sent for you in this friendly way," he remarked, at last, "in +order to give you that opportunity for explaining certain matters +connected with your aunt's sudden death which your well-known character +and good position seem to warrant. We think you can do this. At all +events I have accorded myself the privilege of so supposing; and any +words you may have to say will meet with all due consideration. As Mrs. +Clemmens' nephew, you, of course, desire to see her murderer brought to +justice." + +The slightly rising inflection given to the last few words made them to +all intents and purposes a question, and Mr. Byrd, who stood near by, +waited anxiously for the decided Yes which seemed the only possible +reply under the circumstances, but it did not come. + +Surprised, and possibly anxious, the District Attorney repeated himself. + +"As her nephew," said he, "and the inheritor of the few savings she has +left behind her, you can have but one wish on this subject, Mr. +Mansell?" + +But this attempt succeeded no better than the first. Beyond a slight +compression of the lips, Mr. Mansell gave no manifestation of having +heard this remark, and both Mr. Ferris and the detective found +themselves forced to wonder at the rigid honesty of a man who, whatever +death-giving blow he may have dealt, would not allow himself to escape +the prejudice of his accusers by assenting to a supposition he and they +knew to be false. + +Mr. Ferris did not press the question. + +"Mr. Mansell," he remarked instead, "a person by the name of Gouverneur +Hildreth is, as you must know, under arrest at this time, charged with +the crime of having given the blow that led to your aunt's death. The +evidence against him is strong, and the public generally have no doubt +that his arrest will lead to trial, if not to conviction. But, +unfortunately for us, however fortunately for him, another person has +lately been found, against whom an equal show of evidence can be raised, +and it is for the purpose of satisfying ourselves that it is but a +show, we have requested your presence here to-day." + +A spasm, vivid as it was instantaneous, distorted for a moment the +powerful features of Craik Mansell at the words, "another person," but +it was gone before the sentence was completed; and when Mr. Ferris +ceased, he looked up with the steady calmness which made his bearing so +remarkable. + +"I am waiting to hear the name of this freshly suspected person," he +observed. + +"Cannot you imagine?" asked the District Attorney, coldly, secretly +disconcerted under a gaze that held his own with such steady +persistence. + +The eyeballs of the other flashed like coals of fire. + +"I think it is my right to hear it spoken," he returned. + +This display of feeling restored Mr. Ferris to himself. + +"In a moment, sir," said he. "Meanwhile, have you any objections to +answering a few questions I would like to put to you?" + +"I will hear them," was the steady reply. + +"You know," said the District Attorney, "you are at perfect liberty to +answer or not, as you see fit. I have no desire to entrap you into any +acknowledgments you may hereafter regret." + +"Speak," was the sole response he received. + +"Well, sir," said Mr. Ferris, "are you willing to tell me where you were +when you first heard of the assault which had been made upon your aunt?" + +"I was in my place at the mill." + +"And--pardon me if I go too far--were you also there the morning she was +murdered?" + +"No, sir." + +"Mr. Mansell, if you could tell us where you were at that time, it would +be of great benefit to us, and possibly to yourself." + +"To myself?" + +Having shown his surprise, or, possibly, his alarm, by the repetition of +the other's words, Craik Mansell paused and looked slowly around the +room until he encountered Mr. Byrd's eye. There was a steady compassion +in the look he met there that seemed to strike him with great force, for +he at once replied that he was away from home, and stopped--his glance +still fixed upon Mr. Byrd, as if, by the very power of his gaze, he +would force the secrets of that detective's soul to the surface. + +"Mr. Mansell," pursued the District Attorney, "a distinct avowal on your +part of the place where you were at that time, would be best for us +both, I am sure." + +"Do you not already know?" inquired the other, his eye still upon Horace +Byrd. + +"We have reason to think you were in this town," averred Mr. Ferris, +with an emphasis calculated to recall the attention of his visitor to +himself. + +"And may I ask," Craik Mansell quietly said, "what reason you can have +for such a supposition? No one could have seen me here, for, till to-day +I have not entered the streets of this place since my visit to my aunt +three months ago." + +"It was not necessary to enter the streets of this town to effect a +visit to Mrs. Clemmens' house, Mr. Mansell." + +"No?" + +There was the faintest hint of emotion in the intonation he gave to that +one word, but it vanished before he spoke his next sentence. + +"And how," asked he, "can a person pass from Sibley Station to the door +of my aunt's house without going through the streets?" + +Instead of replying, Mr. Ferris inquired: + +"Did you get out at Sibley Station, Mr. Mansell?" + +But the other, with unmoved self-possession, returned: + +"I have not said so." + +"Mr. Mansell," the District Attorney now observed, "we have no motive in +deceiving or even in misleading you. You were in this town on the +morning of your aunt's murder, and you were even in her house. Evidence +which you cannot dispute proves this, and the question that now arises, +and of whose importance we leave you to judge, is whether you were there +prior to the visit of Mr. Hildreth, or after. Any proof you may have to +show that it was before will receive its due consideration." + +A change, decided as it was involuntary, took place in the hitherto +undisturbed countenance of Craik Mansell. Leaning forward, he surveyed +Mr. Ferris with great earnestness. + +"I asked that man," said he, pointing with a steady forefinger at the +somewhat abashed detective, "if I were not wanted here simply as a +witness, and he did not say No. Now, sir," he continued, turning back +with a slight gesture of disdain to the District Attorney, "was the man +right in allowing me to believe such a fact, or was he not? I would like +an answer to my question before I proceed further, if you please." + +"You shall have it, Mr. Mansell. If this man did not answer you, it was +probably because he did not feel justified in so doing. He knew I had +summoned you here in the hope of receiving such explanations of your +late conduct as should satisfy me you had nothing to do with your aunt's +murder. The claims upon my consideration, which are held by certain +persons allied to you in this matter"--Mr. Ferris' look was eloquent of +his real meaning here--"are my sole justification for this somewhat +unusual method of dealing with a suspected man." + +A smile, bitter, oh, how bitter in its irony! traversed the firm-set +lips of Craik Mansell for a moment, then he bowed with a show of +deference to the District Attorney, and settling into the attitude of a +man willing to plead his own cause, responded: + +"It would be more just, perhaps, if I first heard the reasons you have +for suspecting me, before I attempt to advance arguments to prove the +injustice of your suspicions." + +"Well," said Mr. Ferris, "you shall have them. If frankness on my part +can do aught to avert the terrible scandal which your arrest and its +consequent developments would cause, I am willing to sacrifice thus much +to my friendship for Mr. Orcutt. But if I do this, I shall expect an +equal frankness in return. The matter is too serious for subterfuge." + +The other merely waved his hand. + +"The reasons," proceeded Mr. Ferris, "for considering you a party as +much open to suspicion as Mr. Hildreth, are several. First, we have +evidence to prove your great desire for a sum of money equal to your +aunt's savings, in order to introduce an invention which you have just +patented. + +"Secondly, we can show that you left your home in Buffalo the day before +the assault, came to Monteith, the next town to this, alighted at the +remote station assigned to the use of the quarrymen, crossed the hills +and threaded the woods till you came to a small hut back of your aunt's +house, where you put up for the night. + +"Thirdly, evidence is not lacking to prove that while there you visited +your aunt's once, if not twice; the last time on the very morning she +was killed, entering the house in a surreptitious way by the back door, +and leaving it in the same suspicious manner. + +"And fourthly, we can prove that you escaped from this place as you had +come, secretly, and through a difficult and roundabout path over the +hills. + +"Mr. Mansell, these facts, taken with your reticence concerning a visit +so manifestly of importance to the authorities to know, must strike +even you as offering grounds for a suspicion as grave as that attaching +to Mr. Hildreth." + +With a restraint marked as it was impressive, Mr. Mansell looked at the +District Attorney for a moment, and then said: + +"You speak of proof. Now, what proof have you to give that I put up, as +you call it, for a night, or even for an hour, in the hut which stands +in the woods back of my aunt's house?" + +"This," was Mr. Ferris' reply. "It is known you were in the woods the +afternoon previous to the assault upon your aunt, because you were seen +there in company with a young lady with whom you were holding a tryst. +Did you speak, sir?" + +"No!" was the violent, almost disdainful, rejoinder. + +"You did not sleep at your aunt's, for her rooms contained not an +evidence of having been opened for a guest, while the hut revealed more +than one trace of having been used as a dormitory. I could even tell you +where you cut the twigs of hemlock that served you for a pillow, and +point to the place where you sat when you scribbled over the margin of +the Buffalo _Courier_ with a blue pencil, such as that I now see +projecting from your vest pocket." + +"It is not necessary," replied the young man, heavily frowning. Then +with another short glance at Mr. Ferris, he again demanded: + +"What is your reason for stating I visited my aunt's house on the +morning she was murdered? Did any one see me do it? or does the house, +like the hut, exhibit traces of my presence there at that particular +time?" + +There was irony in his tone, and a disdain almost amounting to scorn in +his wide-flashing blue eyes; but Mr. Ferris, glancing at the hand +clutched about the railing of the desk, remarked quietly: + +"You do not wear the diamond ring you carried away with you from the +tryst I mentioned? Can it be that the one which was picked up after the +assault, on the floor of Mrs. Clemmens' dining-room, could have fallen +from your finger, Mr. Mansell?" + +A start, the first this powerfully repressed man had given, showed that +his armor of resistance had been pierced at last. + +"How do you know," he quickly asked, "that I carried away a diamond ring +from the tryst you speak of?" + +"Circumstances," returned the District Attorney, "prove it beyond a +doubt. Miss Dare----" + +"Miss Dare!" + +Oh, the indescribable tone of this exclamation! Mr. Byrd shuddered as he +heard it, and looked at Mr. Mansell with a new feeling, for which he had +no name. + +"Miss Dare," repeated the District Attorney, without, apparently, +regarding the interruption, "acknowledges she returned you the ring +which you endeavored at that interview to bestow upon her." + +"Ah!" The word came after a moment's pause. "I see the case has been +well worked up, and it only remains for me to give you such explanations +as I choose to make. Sir," declared he, stepping forward, and bringing +his clenched hand down upon the desk at which Mr. Ferris was sitting, "I +did not kill my aunt. I admit that I paid her a visit. I admit that I +stayed in the woods back of her house, and even slept in the hut, as you +have said; but that was on the day previous to her murder, and not after +it. I went to see her for the purpose of again urging the claims of my +invention upon her. I went secretly, and by the roundabout way you +describe, because I had another purpose in visiting Sibley, which made +it expedient for me to conceal my presence in the town. I failed in my +efforts to enlist the sympathies of my aunt in regard to my plans, and I +failed also in compassing that other desire of my heart of which the +ring you mention was a token. Both failures unnerved me, and I lay in +that hut all night. I even lay there most of the next morning; but I did +not see my aunt again, and I did not lift my hand against her life." + +There was indescribable quiet in the tone, but there was indescribable +power also, and the look he levelled upon the District Attorney was +unwaveringly solemn and hard. + +"You deny, then, that you entered the widow's house on the morning of +the murder?" + +"I do." + +"It is, then, a question of veracity between you and Miss Dare?" + +Silence. + +"She asserts she gave you back the ring you offered her. If this is so, +and that ring was in your possession after you left her on Monday +evening, how came it to be in the widow's dining-room the next morning, +if you did not carry it there?" + +"I can only repeat my words," rejoined Mr. Mansell. + +The District Attorney replied impatiently. For various reasons he did +not wish to believe this man guilty. + +"You do not seem very anxious to assist me in my endeavors to reach the +truth," he observed. "Cannot you tell me what you did with the ring +after you left Miss Dare? Whether you put it on your finger, or thrust +it into your pocket, or tossed it into the marsh? If you did not carry +it to the house, some one else must have done so, and you ought to be +able to help us in determining who." + +But Mr. Mansell shortly responded: + +"I have nothing to say about the ring. From the moment Miss Dare +returned it to me, as you say, it was, so far as I am concerned, a thing +forgotten. I do not know as I should ever have thought of it again, if +you had not mentioned it to me to-day. How it vanished from my +possession only to reappear upon the scene of murder, some more clever +conjurer than myself must explain." + +"And this is all you have to say, Mr. Mansell?" + +"This is all I have to say." + +"Byrd," suggested the District Attorney, after a long pause, during +which the subject of his suspicions had stood before him as rigid and +inscrutable as a statue in bronze, "Mr. Mansell would probably like to +go to the hotel, unless, indeed, he desires to return immediately to +Buffalo." + +Craik Mansell at once started forward. + +"Do you intend to allow me to return to Buffalo?" he asked. + +"Yes," was the District Attorney's reply. + +"You are a good man," broke involuntarily from the other's lips, and he +impulsively reached out his hand, but as quickly drew it back with a +flush of pride that greatly became him. + +"I do not say," quoth Mr. Ferris, "that I exempt you from surveillance. +As prosecuting attorney of this district, my duty is to seek out and +discover the man who murdered Mrs. Clemmens, and your explanations have +not been as full or as satisfactory as I could wish." + +"Your men will always find me at my desk in the mill," said Mr. Mansell, +coldly. And, with another short bow, he left the attorney's side and +went quickly out. + +"That man is innocent," declared Mr. Ferris, as Horace Byrd leaned above +him in expectation of instructions to keep watch over the departing +visitor. + +"The way in which he held out his hand to me spoke volumes." + +The detective cast a sad glance at Craik Mansell's retreating figure. + +"You could not convince Hickory of that fact," said he. + + + + +XXIII. + +MR. ORCUTT. + + What is it she does now?--MACBETH. + + My resolution's plac'd, and I have nothing + Of woman in me. Now, from head to foot + I am marble--constant.--ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. + + +THESE words rang in the ears of Mr. Ferris. For he felt himself +disturbed by them. Hickory did not believe Mr. Mansell innocent. + +At last he sent for that detective. + +"Hickory," he asked, "why do you think Mansell, rather than Hildreth, +committed this crime?" + +Now this query, on the part of the District Attorney, put Hickory into a +quandary. He wished to keep his promise to Horace Byrd, and yet he +greatly desired to answer his employer's question truthfully. Without +any special sympathies of his own, he yet had an undeniable leaning +toward justice, and justice certainly demanded the indictment of +Mansell. He ended by compromising matters. + +"Mr. Ferris," said he, "when you went to see Miss Dare the other day, +what did you think of her state of mind?" + +"That it was a very unhappy one." + +"Didn't you think more than that, sir? Didn't you think she believed Mr. +Mansell guilty of this crime?" + +"Yes," admitted the other, with reluctance. + +"If Miss Dare is attached to Mr. Mansell, she must feel certain of his +guilt to _offer_ testimony against him. Her belief should go for +something, sir; for much, it strikes me, when you consider what a woman +she is." + +This conversation increased Mr. Ferris' uneasiness. Much as he wished to +spare the feelings of Miss Dare, and, through her, those of his friend, +Mr. Orcutt, the conviction of Mansell's criminality was slowly gaining +ground in his mind. He remembered the peculiar manner of the latter +during the interview they had held together; his quiet acceptance of the +position of a suspected man, and his marked reticence in regard to the +ring. Though the delicate nature of the interests involved might be +sufficient to explain his behavior in the latter regard, his whole +conduct could not be said to be that of a disinterested man, even if it +were not necessarily that of a guilty one. In whatever way Mr. Ferris +looked at it, he could come to but one conclusion, and that was, that +justice to Hildreth called for such official attention to the evidence +which had been collected against Mansell as should secure the indictment +of that man against whom could be brought the more convincing proof of +guilt. + +Not that Mr. Ferris meant, or in anywise considered it good policy, to +have Mansell arrested at this time. As the friend of Mr. Orcutt, it was +manifestly advisable for him to present whatever evidence he possessed +against Mansell directly to the Grand Jury. For in this way he would not +only save the lawyer from the pain and humiliation of seeing the woman +he so much loved called up as a witness against the man who had +successfully rivalled him in her affections, but would run the chance, +at least, of eventually preserving from open knowledge, the various +details, if not the actual facts, which had led to this person being +suspected of crime. For the Grand Jury is a body whose business it is to +make secret inquisition into criminal offences. Its members are bound by +oath to the privacy of their deliberations. If, therefore, they should +find the proofs presented to them by the District Attorney insufficient +to authorize an indictment against Mansell, nothing of their proceedings +would transpire. While, on the contrary, if they decided that the +evidence was such as to oblige them to indict Mansell instead of +Hildreth, neither Mr. Orcutt nor Miss Dare could hold the District +Attorney accountable for the exposures that must follow. + +The course, therefore, of Mr. Ferris was determined upon. All the +evidence in his possession against both parties, together with the +verdict of the coroner's jury, should go at once before the Grand Jury; +Mansell, in the meantime, being so watched that a bench-warrant issuing +upon the indictment would have him safely in custody at any moment. + +But this plan for saving Mr. Orcutt's feelings did not succeed as fully +as Mr. Ferris hoped. By some means or other the rumor got abroad that +another man than Hildreth had fallen under the suspicion of the +authorities, and one day Mr. Ferris found himself stopped on the street +by the very person he had for a week been endeavoring to avoid. + +"Mr. Orcutt!" he cried, "how do you do? I did not recognize you at +first." + +"No?" was the sharp rejoinder. "I'm not myself nowadays. I have a bad +cold." With which impatient explanation he seized Mr. Ferris by the arm +and said: "But what is this I hear? You have your eye on another party +suspected of being Mrs. Clemmens' murderer?" + +The District Attorney bowed uneasily. He had hoped to escape the +discussion of this subject with Mr. Orcutt. + +The lawyer observed the embarrassment his question had caused, and +instantly turned pale, notwithstanding the hardihood which a long career +at the bar had given him. + +"Ferris," he pursued, in a voice he strove hard to keep steady, "we have +always been good friends, in spite of the many tilts we have had +together before the court. Will you be kind enough to inform me if your +suspicions are founded upon evidence collected by yourself, or at the +instigation of parties professing to know more about this murder than +they have hitherto revealed?" + +Mr. Ferris could not fail to understand the true nature of this +question, and out of pure friendship answered quietly: + +"I have allowed myself to look with suspicion upon this Mansell--for it +is Mrs. Clemmens' nephew who is at present occupying our +attention,--because the facts which have come to light in his regard are +as criminating in their nature as those which have transpired in +reference to Mr. Hildreth. The examination into this matter, which my +duty requires, has been any thing but pleasant to me, Mr. Orcutt. The +evidence of such witnesses as will have to be summoned before the Grand +Jury, is of a character to bring open humiliation, if not secret grief, +upon persons for whom I entertain the highest esteem." + +The pointed way in which this was said convinced Mr. Orcutt that his +worst fears had been realized. Turning partly away, but not losing his +hold upon the other's arm, he observed with what quietness he could: + +"You say that so strangely, I feel forced to put another question to +you. If what I have to ask strikes you with any surprise, remember that +my own astonishment and perplexity at being constrained to interrogate +you in this way, are greater than any sensation you can yourself +experience. What I desire to know is this. Among the witnesses you have +collected against this last suspected party, there are some women, are +there not?" + +The District Attorney gravely bowed. + +"Ferris, is Miss Dare amongst them?" + +"Orcutt, she is." + +With a look that expressed his secret mistrust the lawyer gave way to a +sudden burst of feeling. + +"Ferris," he wrathfully acknowledged, "I may be a fool, but I don't see +what she can have to say on this subject. It is impossible she should +know any thing about the murder; and, as for this Mansell----" He made a +violent gesture with his hand, as if the very idea of her having any +acquaintance with the nephew of Mrs. Clemmens were simply preposterous. + +The District Attorney, who saw from this how utterly ignorant the other +was concerning Miss Dare's relations to the person named, felt his +embarrassment increase. + +"Mr. Orcutt," he replied, "strange as it may appear to you, Miss Dare +_has_ testimony to give of value to the prosecution, or she would not be +reckoned among its witnesses. What that testimony is, I must leave to +her discretion to make known to you, as she doubtless will, if you +question her with sufficient consideration. I never forestall matters +myself, nor would you wish me to tell you what would more becomingly +come from her own lips. But, Mr. Orcutt, this I can say: that if it had +been given me to choose between the two alternatives of resigning my +office and of pursuing an inquiry which obliges me to submit to the +unpleasantness of a judicial investigation a person held in so much +regard by yourself, I would have given up my office with pleasure, so +keenly do I feel the embarrassment of my position and the unhappiness of +yours. But any mere resignation on my part would have availed nothing to +save Miss Dare from appearing before the Grand Jury. The evidence she +has to give in this matter makes the case against Mansell as strong as +that against Hildreth, and it would be the duty of any public prosecutor +to recognize the fact and act accordingly." + +Mr. Orcutt, who had by the greatest effort succeeded in calming himself +through this harangue, flashed sarcastically at this last remark, and +surveyed Mr. Ferris with a peculiar look. + +"Are you sure," he inquired in a slow, ironical tone, "that she has not +succeeded in making it stronger?" + +The look, the tone, were unexpected, and greatly startled Mr. Ferris. +Drawing nearer to his friend, he returned his gaze with marked +earnestness. + +"What do you mean?" he asked, with secret anxiety. + +But the wary lawyer had already repented this unwise betrayal of his own +doubts. Meeting his companion's eye with a calmness that amazed himself, +he remarked, instead of answering: + +"It was through Miss Dare, then, that your attention was first drawn to +Mrs. Clemmens' nephew?" + +"No," disclaimed Mr. Ferris, hastily. "The detectives already had their +eyes upon him. But a hint from her went far toward determining me upon +pursuing the matter," he allowed, seeing that his friend was determined +upon hearing the truth. + +"So then," observed the other, with a stern dryness that recalled his +manner at the bar, "she opened a communication with you herself?" + +"Yes." + +It was enough. Mr. Orcutt dropped the arm of Mr. Ferris, and, with his +usual hasty bow, turned shortly away. The revelation which he believed +himself to have received in this otherwise far from satisfactory +interview, was one that he could not afford to share--that is, not yet; +not while any hope remained that circumstances would so arrange +themselves as to make it unnecessary for him to do so. If Imogene Dare, +out of her insane desire to free Gouverneur Hildreth from the suspicion +that oppressed him, had resorted to perjury and invented evidence +tending to show the guilt of another party--and remembering her +admissions at their last interview and the language she had used in her +letter of farewell, no other conclusion offered itself,--what +alternative was left him but to wait till he had seen her before he +proceeded to an interference that would separate her from himself by a +gulf still greater than that which already existed between them? To be +sure, the jealousy which consumed him, the passionate rage that seized +his whole being when he thought of all she dared do for the man she +loved, or that he thought she loved, counselled him to nip this attempt +of hers in the bud, and by means of a word to Mr. Ferris throw such a +doubt upon her veracity as a witness against this new party as should +greatly influence the action of the former in the critical business he +had in hand. But Mr. Orcutt, while a prey to unwonted passions, had not +yet lost control of his reason, and reason told him that impulse was an +unsafe guide for him to follow at this time. Thought alone--deep and +concentrated thought--would help him out of this crisis with honor and +safety. But thought would not come at call. In all his quick walk home +but one mad sentence formulated itself in his brain, and that was: "She +loves him so, she is willing to perjure herself for his sake!" Nor, +though he entered his door with his usual bustling air and went through +all the customary observances of the hour with an appearance of no +greater abstraction and gloom than had characterized him ever since the +departure of Miss Dare, no other idea obtruded itself upon his mind than +this: "She loves him so, she is willing to perjure herself for his +sake!" + +Even the sight of his books, his papers, and all that various +paraphernalia of work and study which gives character to a lawyer's +library, was insufficient to restore his mind to its usual condition of +calm thought and accurate judgment. Not till the clock struck eight and +he found himself almost without his own volition at Professor Darling's +house, did he realize all the difficulties of his position and the +almost intolerable nature of the undertaking which had been forced upon +him by the exigencies of the situation. + +Miss Dare, who had refused to see him at first, came into his presence +with an expression that showed him with what reluctance she had finally +responded to his peremptory message. But in the few heavy moments he had +been obliged to wait, he had schooled himself to expect coldness if not +absolute rebuff. He therefore took no heed of the haughty air of inquiry +which she turned upon him, but came at once to the point, saying almost +before she had closed the door: + +"What is this you have been doing, Imogene?" + +A flush, such as glints across the face of a marble statue, visited for +a moment the still whiteness of her set features, then she replied: + +"Mr. Orcutt, when I left your house I told you I had a wretched and +unhappy duty to perform, that, when once accomplished, would separate us +forever. I have done it, and the separation has come; why attempt to +bridge it?" + +There was a sad weariness in her tone, a sad weariness in her face, but +he seemed to recognize neither. The demon jealousy--that hindrance to +all unselfish feeling--had gripped him again, and the words that came to +his lips were at once bitter and masterful. + +"Imogene," he cried, with as much wrath in his tone as he had ever +betrayed in her presence, "you do not answer my question. I ask you what +you have been doing, and you reply, your duty. Now, what do you mean by +duty? Tell me at once and distinctly, for I will no longer be put off +by any roundabout phrases concerning a matter of such vital importance." + +"Tell you?" This repetition of his words had a world of secret anguish +in it which he could not help but notice. She did not succumb to it, +however, but continued in another moment: "You said to me, in the last +conversation we held together, that Gouverneur Hildreth could not be +released from his terrible position without a distinct proof of +innocence or the advancement of such evidence against another as should +turn suspicion aside from him into a new and more justifiable quarter. I +could not, any more than he, give a distinct proof of his innocence; but +I could furnish the authorities with testimony calculated to arouse +suspicion in a fresh direction, and I did it. For Gouverneur Hildreth +had to be saved at any price--_at any price_." + +The despairing emphasis she laid upon the last phrase went like hot +steel to Mr. Orcutt's heart, and made his eyes blaze with almost +uncontrollable passion. + +"_Je ne vois pas la necessite_," said he, in that low, restrained tone +of bitter sarcasm which made his invective so dreaded by opposing +counsel. "If Gouverneur Hildreth finds himself in an unfortunate +position, he has only his own follies and inordinate desire for this +woman's death to thank for it. Because you love him and compassionate +him beyond all measure, that is no reason why you should perjure +yourself, and throw the burden of his shame upon a man as innocent as +Mr. Mansell." + +But this tone, though it had made many a witness quail before it, +neither awed nor intimidated her. + +"You--you do not understand," came from her white lips. "It is Mr. +Hildreth who is perfectly innocent, and not----" But here she paused. +"You will excuse me from saying more," she said. "You, as a lawyer, +ought to know that I should not be compelled to speak on a subject like +this except under oath." + +"Imogene!" A change had passed over Mr. Orcutt. "Imogene, do you mean to +affirm that you really have charges to make against Craik Mansell; that +this evidence you propose to give is real, and not manufactured for the +purpose of leading suspicion aside from Hildreth?" + +It was an insinuation against her veracity he never could have made, or +she have listened to, a few weeks before; but the shield of her pride +was broken between them, and neither he nor she seemed to give any +thought to the reproach conveyed in these words. + +"What I have to say is the truth," she murmured. "I have not +manufactured any thing." + +With an astonishment he took no pains to conceal, Mr. Orcutt anxiously +surveyed her. He could not believe this was so, yet how could he convict +her of falsehood in face of that suffering expression of resolve which +she wore. His methods as a lawyer came to his relief. + +"Imogene," he slowly responded, "if, as you say, you are in possession +of positive evidence against this Mansell, how comes it that you +jeopardized the interests of the man you loved by so long withholding +your testimony?" + +But instead of the flush of confusion which he expected, she flashed +upon him with a sudden revelation of feeling that made him involuntarily +start. + +"Shall I tell you?" she replied. "You will have to know some time, and +why not now? I kept back the truth," she replied, advancing a step, but +without raising her eyes to his, "because it is not the aspersed +Hildreth that I love, but----" + +Why did she pause? What was it she found so hard to speak? Mr. Orcutt's +expression became terrible. + +"But the other," she murmured at last. + +"The other!" + +It was now her turn to start and look at him in surprise, if not in some +fear. + +"What other?" he cried, seizing her by the hand. "Name him. I will have +no further misunderstanding between us." + +"Is it necessary?" she asked, with bitterness. "Will Heaven spare me +nothing?" Then, as she saw no relenting in the fixed gaze that held her +own, whispered, in a hollow tone: "You have just spoken the name +yourself--Craik Mansell." + +"Ah!" + +Incredulity, anger, perplexity, all the emotions that were seething in +this man's troubled soul, spoke in that simple exclamation. Then silence +settled upon the room, during which she gained control over herself, +and he the semblance of it if no more. She was the first to speak. + +"I know," said she, "that this avowal on my part seems almost incredible +to you; but it is no more so than that which you so readily received +from me the other day in reference to Gouverneur Hildreth. A woman who +spends a month away from home makes acquaintances which she does not +always mention when she comes back. I saw Mr. Mansell in Buffalo, +and----" turning, she confronted the lawyer with her large gray eyes, in +which a fire burned such as he had never seen there before--"and grew to +esteem him," she went on. "For the first time in my life I found myself +in the presence of a man whose nature commanded mine. His ambition, his +determination, his unconventional and forcible character woke +aspirations within me such as I had never known myself capable of +before. Life, which had stretched out before me with a somewhat +monotonous outlook, changed to a panorama of varied and wonderful +experiences, as I listened to his voice and met the glance of his eye; +and soon, before he knew it, and certainly before I realized it, words +of love passed between us, and the agony of that struggle began which +has ended---- Ah, let me not think how, or I shall go mad!" + +Mr. Orcutt, who had watched her with a lover's fascination during all +this attempted explanation, shivered for a moment at this last bitter +cry of love and despair, but spoke up when he did speak, with a coldness +that verged on severity. + +"So you loved another man when you came back to my home and listened to +the words of passion which came from _my_ lips, and the hopes of future +bliss and happiness that welled up from _my_ heart?" + +"Yes," she whispered, "and, as you will remember, I tried to suppress +those hopes and turn a deaf ear to those words, though I had but little +prospect of marrying a man whose fortunes depended upon the success of +an invention he could persuade no one to believe in." + +"Yet you brought yourself to listen to those hopes on the afternoon of +the murder," he suggested, ironically. + +"Can you blame me for that?" she cried, "remembering how you pleaded, +and what a revulsion of feeling I was laboring under?" + +A smile bitter as the fate which loomed before him, and scornful as the +feelings that secretly agitated his breast, parted Mr. Orcutt's pale +lips for an instant, and he seemed about to give utterance to some +passionate rejoinder, but he subdued himself with a determined effort, +and quietly waiting till his voice was under full control, remarked with +lawyer-like brevity at last: + +"You have not told me what evidence you have to give against young +Mansell?" + +Her answer came with equal brevity if not equal quietness. + +"No; I have told Mr. Ferris; is not that enough?" + +But he did not consider it so. "Ferris is a District Attorney," said he, +"and has demanded your confidence for the purposes of justice, while I +am your friend. The action you have taken is peculiar, and you may need +advice. But how can I give it or how can you receive it unless there is +a complete understanding between us?" + +Struck in spite of herself, moved perhaps by a hope she had not allowed +herself to contemplate before, she looked at him long and earnestly. + +"And do you really wish to help me?" she inquired. "Are you so generous +as to forgive the pain, and possibly the humiliation, I have inflicted +upon you, and lend me your assistance in case my testimony works its due +effect, and he be brought to trial instead of Mr. Hildreth?" + +It was a searching and a pregnant question, for which Mr. Orcutt was +possibly not fully prepared, but his newly gained control did not give +way. + +"I must insist upon hearing the facts before I say any thing of my +intentions," he averred. "Whatever they may be, they cannot be more +startling in their character than those which have been urged against +Hildreth." + +"But they are," she whispered. Then with a quick look around her, she +put her mouth close to Mr. Orcutt's ear and breathed: + +"Mr. Hildreth is not the only man who, unseen by the neighbors, visited +Mrs. Clemmens' house on the morning of the murder. Craik Mansell was +there also." + +"Craik Mansell! How do you know that? Ah," he pursued, with the scornful +intonation of a jealous man, "I forgot that you are lovers." + +The sneer, natural as it was, perhaps, seemed to go to her heart and +wake its fiercest indignation. + +"Hush," cried she, towering upon him with an ominous flash of her proud +eye. "Do not turn the knife in _that_ wound or you will seal my lips +forever." And she moved hastily away from his side. But in another +instant she determinedly returned, saying: "This is no time for +indulging in one's sensibilities. I affirm that Craik Mansell visited +his aunt on that day, because the ring which was picked up on the floor +of her dining-room--you remember the ring, Mr. Orcutt?" + +Remember it! Did he not? All his many perplexities in its regard crowded +upon him as he made a hurried bow of acquiescence. + +"It belonged to him," she continued. "He had bought it for me, or, +rather, had had the diamond reset for me--it had been his mother's. Only +the day before, he had tried to put it on my finger in a meeting we had +in the woods back of his aunt's house. But I refused to allow him. The +prospect ahead was too dismal and unrelenting for us to betroth +ourselves, whatever our hopes or wishes might be." + +"You--you had a meeting with this man in the woods the day before his +aunt was assaulted," echoed Mr. Orcutt, turning upon her with an +amazement that swallowed up his wrath. + +"Yes." + +"And he afterward visited her house?" + +"Yes." + +"And dropped that ring there?" + +"Yes." + +Starting slowly, as if the thoughts roused by this short statement of +facts were such as demanded instant consideration, Mr. Orcutt walked to +the other side of the room, where he paced up and down in silence for +some minutes. When he returned it was the lawyer instead of the lover +who stood before her. + +"Then, it was the simple fact of finding this gentleman's ring on the +floor of Mrs. Clemmens' dining-room that makes you consider him the +murderer of his aunt?" he asked, with a tinge of something like irony in +his tone. + +"No," she breathed rather than answered. "That was a proof, of course, +that he had been there, but I should never have thought of it as an +evidence of guilt if the woman herself had not uttered, in our hearing +that tell-tale exclamation of 'Ring and Hand,' and if, in the talk I +held with Mr. Mansell the day before, he had not betrayed---- Why do you +stop me?" she whispered. + +"I did not stop you," he hastily assured her. "I am too anxious to hear +what you have to say. Go on, Imogene. What did this Mansell betray? I--I +ask as a father might," he added, with some dignity and no little +effort. + +But her fears had taken alarm, or her caution been aroused, and she +merely said: + +"The five thousand dollars which his aunt leaves him is just the amount +he desired to start him in life." + +"Did he wish such an amount?" Mr. Orcutt asked. + +"Very much." + +"And acknowledged it in the conversation he had with you?" + +"Yes." + +"Imogene," declared the lawyer, "if you do not want to insure Mr. +Mansell's indictment, I would suggest to you not to lay too great stress +upon any _talk_ you may have held with him." + +But she cried with unmoved sternness, and a relentless crushing down of +all emotion that was at once amazing and painful to see: + +"The innocent is to be saved from the gallows, no matter what the fate +of the guilty may be." + +And a short but agitated silence followed which Mr. Orcutt broke at last +by saying: + +"Are these all the facts you have to give me?" + +She started, cast him a quick look, bowed her head, and replied: + +"Yes." + +There was something in the tone of this assertion that made him repeat +his question. + +"Are these _all_ the facts you have to give me?" + +Her answer came ringing and emphatic now. + +"Yes," she avowed--"all." + +With a look of relief, slowly smoothing out the deep furrows of his +brow, Mr. Orcutt, for the second time, walked thoughtfully away in +evident consultation with his own thoughts. This time he was gone so +long, the suspense became almost intolerable to Imogene. Feeling that +she could endure it no longer, she followed him at last, and laid her +hand upon his arm. + +"Speak," she impetuously cried. "Tell me what you think; what I have to +expect." + +But he shook his head. + +"Wait," he returned; "wait till the Grand Jury has brought in a bill of +indictment. It will, doubtless, be against one of these two men; but I +must know which, before I can say or do any thing." + +"And do you think there can be any doubt about which of these two it +will be?" she inquired, with sudden emotion. + +"There is always doubt," he rejoined, "about any thing or every thing a +body of men may do. This is a very remarkable case, Imogene," he +resumed, with increased sombreness; "the most remarkable one, perhaps, +that has ever come under my observation. What the Grand Jury will think +of it; upon which party, Mansell or Hildreth, the weight of their +suspicion will fall, neither I nor Ferris, nor any other man, can +prophesy with any assurance. The evidence against both is, in so far as +we know, entirely circumstantial. That you believe Mr. Mansell to be the +guilty party----" + +"Believe!" she murmured; "I know it." + +"That you _believe_ him to be the guilty party," the wary lawyer +pursued, as if he had not heard her "does not imply that they will +believe it too. Hildreth comes of a bad stock, and his late attempt at +suicide tells wonderfully against him; yet, the facts you have to give +in Mansell's disfavor are strong also, and Heaven only knows what the +upshot will be. However, a few weeks will determine all that, and +then----" Pausing, he looked at her, and, as he did so, the austerity +and self-command of the lawyer vanished out of sight, and the passionate +gleam of a fierce and overmastering love shone again in his eyes. "And +then," he cried, "then we will see what Tremont Orcutt can do to bring +order out of this chaos." + +There was so much resolve in his look, such a hint of promise in his +tone, that she flushed with something almost akin to hope. + +"Oh, generous----" she began. + +But he stopped her before she could say more. + +"Wait," he repeated; "wait till we see what action will be taken by the +Grand Jury." And taking her hand, he looked earnestly, if not +passionately, in her face. "Imogene," he commenced, "if I should +succeed----" But there he himself stopped short with a quick recalling +of his own words, perhaps. "No," he cried, "I will say no more till we +see which of these two men is to be brought to trial." And, pressing her +hand to his lips, he gave her one last look in which was concentrated +all the secret passions which had been called forth by this hour, and +hastily left the room. + + + + +XXIV. + +A TRUE BILL. + + Come to me, friend or foe, + And tell me who is victor, York or Warwick.--HENRY VI. + + +THE town of Sibley was in a state of excitement. About the court-house +especially the crowd was great and the interest manifested intense. The +Grand Jury was in session, and the case of the Widow Clemmens was before +it. + +As all the proceedings of this body are private, the suspense of those +interested in the issue was naturally very great. The name of the man +lastly suspected of the crime had transpired, and both Hildreth and +Mansell had their partisans, though the mystery surrounding the latter +made his friends less forward in asserting his innocence than those of +the more thoroughly understood Hildreth. Indeed, the ignorance felt on +all sides as to the express reasons for associating the name of Mrs. +Clemmens' nephew with his aunt's murder added much to the significance +of the hour. Conjectures were plenty and the wonder great, but the +causes why this man, or any other, should lie under a suspicion equal to +that raised against Hildreth at the inquest was a mystery that none +could solve. + +But what is the curiosity of the rabble to us? Our interest is in a +little room far removed from this scene of excitement, where the young +daughter of Professor Darling kneels by the side of Imogene Dare, +striving by caress and entreaty to win a word from her lips or a glance +from her heavy eyes. + +"Imogene," she pleaded,--"Imogene, what is this terrible grief? Why did +you have to go to the court-house this morning with papa, and why have +you been almost dead with terror and misery ever since you got back? +Tell me, or I shall perish of mere fright. For weeks now, ever since you +were so good as to help me with my wedding-clothes, I have seen that +something dreadful was weighing upon your mind, but this which you are +suffering now is awful; this I cannot bear. Cannot you speak dear? Words +will do you good." + +"Words!" + +Oh, the despair, the bitterness of that single exclamation! Miss Darling +drew back in dismay. As if released, Imogene rose to her feet and +surveyed the sweet and ingenuous countenance uplifted to her own, with a +look of faint recognition of the womanly sympathy it conveyed. + +"Helen," she resumed, "you are happy. Don't stay here with me, but go +where there are cheerfulness and hope." + +"But I cannot while you suffer so. I love you, Imogene. Would you drive +me away from your side when you are so unhappy? You don't care for me as +I do for you or you could not do it." + +"Helen!" The deep tone made the sympathetic little bride-elect quiver. +"Helen, some griefs are best borne alone. Only a few hours now and I +shall know the worst. Leave me." + +But the gentle little creature was not to be driven away. She only clung +the closer and pleaded the more earnestly: + +"Tell me, tell me!" + +The reiteration of this request was too much for the pallid woman before +her. Laying her two hands on the shoulders of this child, she drew back +and looked her earnestly in the face. + +"Helen," she cried, "what do you know of earthly anguish? A petted +child, the favorite of happy fortune, you have been kept from evil as +from a blight. None of the annoyances of life have been allowed to enter +your path, much less its griefs and sins. Terror with you is but a name, +remorse an unknown sensation. Even your love has no depths in it such as +suffering gives. Yet, since you do love, and love well, perhaps you can +understand something of what a human soul can endure who sees its only +hope and only love tottering above a gulf too horrible for words to +describe--a gulf, too, which her own hand---- But no, I cannot tell you. +I overrated my strength. I----" + +She sank back, but the next moment started again to her feet: a servant +had opened the door. + +"What is it!" she exclaimed; "speak, tell me." + +"Only a gentleman to see you, miss." + +"Only a----" But she stopped in that vain repetition of the girl's +simple words, and looked at her as if she would force from her lips the +name she had not the courage to demand; but, failing to obtain it, +turned away to the glass, where she quietly smoothed her hair and +adjusted the lace at her throat, and then catching sight of the +tear-stained face of Helen, stooped and gave her a kiss, after which she +moved mechanically to the door and went down those broad flights, one +after one, till she came to the parlor, when she went in and +encountered--Mr. Orcutt. + +A glance at his face told her all she wanted to know. + +"Ah!" she gasped, "it is then----" + +"Mansell!" + +It was five minutes later. Imogene leaned against the window where she +had withdrawn herself at the utterance of that one word. Mr. Orcutt +stood a couple of paces behind her. + +"Imogene," said he, "there is a question I would like to have you +answer." + +The feverish agitation expressed in his tone made her look around. + +"Put it," she mechanically replied. + +But he did not find it easy to do this, while her eyes rested upon him +in such despair. He felt, however, that the doubt in his mind must be +satisfied at all hazards; so choking down an emotion that was almost as +boundless as her own, he ventured to ask: + +"Is it among the possibilities that you could ever again contemplate +giving yourself in marriage to Craik Mansell, no matter what the issue +of the coming trial may be?" + +A shudder quick and powerful as that which follows the withdrawal of a +dart from an agonizing wound shook her whole frame for a moment, but she +answered, steadily: + +"No; how can you ask, Mr. Orcutt?" + +A gleam of relief shot across his somewhat haggard features. + +"Then," said he, "it will be no treason in me to assure you that never +has my love been greater for you than to-day. That to save you from the +pain which you are suffering, I would sacrifice every thing, even my +pride. If, therefore, there is any kindness I can show you, any deed I +can perform for your sake, I am ready to attempt it, Imogene. + +"Would you--" she hesitated, but gathered courage as she met his +eye--"would you be willing to go to him with a message from me?" + +His glance fell and his lips took a line that startled Imogene, but his +answer, though given with bitterness was encouraging. + +"Yes," he returned; "even that." + +"Then," she cried, "tell him that to save the innocent, I had to betray +the guilty, but in doing this I did not spare myself; that whatever his +doom may be, I shall share it, even though it be that of death." + +"Imogene!" + +"Will you tell him?" she asked. + +But he would not have been a man, much less a lover, if he could answer +that question now. Seizing her by the arm, he looked her wildly in the +face. + +"Do you mean to kill yourself?" he demanded. + +"I feel I shall not live," she gasped, while her hand went involuntarily +to her heart. + +He gazed at her in horror. + +"And if he is cleared?" he hoarsely ejaculated. + +"I--I shall try to endure my fate." + +He gave her another long, long look. + +"So this is the alternative you give me?" he bitterly exclaimed. "I must +either save this man or see you perish. Well," he declared, after a few +minutes' further contemplation of her face, "I will save this man--that +is, if he will allow me to do so." + +A flash of joy such as he had not perceived on her countenance for weeks +transformed its marble-like severity into something of its pristine +beauty. + +"And you will take him my message also?" she cried. + +But to this he shook his head. + +"If I am to approach him as a lawyer willing to undertake his cause, +don't you see I can give him no such message as that?" + +"Ah, yes, yes. But you can tell him Imogene Dare has risked her own life +and happiness to save the innocent." + +"I will tell him whatever I can to show your pity and your misery." + +And she had to content herself with this. In the light of the new hope +that was thus unexpectedly held out to her, it did not seem so +difficult. Giving Mr. Orcutt her hand, she endeavored to thank him, but +the reaction from her long suspense was too much, and, for the first +time in her brave young life, Imogene lost consciousness and fainted +quite away. + + + + +XXV. + +AMONG TELESCOPES AND CHARTS. + + Tarry a little--there is something else.--MERCHANT OF VENICE. + + +GOUVERNEUR HILDRETH was discharged and Craik Mansell committed to prison +to await his trial. + +Horace Byrd, who no longer had any motive for remaining in Sibley, had +completed all his preparations to return to New York. His valise was +packed, his adieus made, and nothing was left for him to do but to step +around to the station, when he bethought him of a certain question he +had not put to Hickory. + +Seeking him out, he propounded it. + +"Hickory," said he, "have you ever discovered in the course of your +inquiries where Miss Dare was on the morning of the murder?" + +The stalwart detective, who was in a very contented frame of mind, +answered up with great cheeriness: + +"Haven't I, though! It was one of the very first things I made sure of. +She was at Professor Darling's house on Summer Avenue." + +"At Professor Darling's house?" Mr. Byrd felt a sensation of dismay. +Professor Darling's house was, as you remember, in almost direct +communication with Mrs. Clemmens' cottage by means of a path through +the woods. As Mr. Byrd recalled his first experience in threading those +woods, and remembered with what suddenness he had emerged from them only +to find himself in full view of the West Side and Professor Darling's +spacious villa, he stared uneasily at his colleague and said: + +"It is train time, Hickory, but I cannot help that. Before I leave this +town I must know just what she was doing on that morning, and whom she +was with. Can you find out?" + +"_Can I find out?_" + +The hardy detective was out of the door before the last word of this +scornful repetition had left his lips. + +He was gone an hour. When he returned he looked very much excited. + +"Well!" he ejaculated, breathlessly, "I have had an experience." + +Mr. Byrd gave him a look, saw something he did not like in his face, and +moved uneasily in his chair. + +"You have?" he retorted. "What is it? Speak." + +"Do you know," the other resumed, "that the hardest thing I ever had to +do was to keep my head down in the hut the other day, and deny myself a +look at the woman who could bear herself so bravely in the midst of a +scene so terrible. Well," he went on, "I have to-day been rewarded for +my self-control. I have seen Miss Dare." + +Horace Byrd could scarcely restrain his impatience. + +"Where?" he demanded. "How? Tell a fellow, can't you?" + +"I am going to," protested Hickory. "Cannot you wait a minute? _I_ had +to wait forty. Well," he continued more pleasantly as he saw the other +frown, "I went to Professor Darling's. There is a girl there I have +talked to before, and I had no difficulty in seeing her or getting a +five minutes' chat with her at the back-gate. Odd how such girls will +talk! She told me in three minutes all I wanted to know. Not that it was +so much, only----" + +"Do get on," interrupted Mr. Byrd. "When did Miss Dare come to the house +on the morning Mrs. Clemmens was murdered, and what did she do while +there?" + +"She came early; by ten o'clock or so, I believe, and she sat, if she +did sit, in an observatory they have at the top of the house: a place +where she often used to go, I am told, to study astronomy with Professor +Darling's oldest daughter." + +"And was Miss Darling with her that morning? Did they study together all +the time she was in the house?" + +"No; that is, the girl said no one went up to the observatory with Miss +Dare; that Miss Darling did not happen to be at home that day, and Miss +Dare had to study alone. Hearing this," pursued Hickory, answering the +look of impatience in the other's face, "I had a curiosity to interview +the observatory, and being--well, not a clumsy fellow at softsoaping a +girl--I at last succeeded in prevailing upon her to take me up. Byrd, +will you believe me when I tell you that we did it without going into +the house?" + +"What?" + +"I mean," corrected the other, "without entering the main part of the +building. The professor's house has a tower, you know, at the upper +angle toward the woods, and it is in the top of that tower he keeps his +telescopes and all that kind of thing. The tower has a special staircase +of its own. It is a spiral one, and opens on a door below that connects +directly with the garden. We went up these stairs." + +"You dared to?" + +"Yes; the girl assured me every one was out of the house but the +servants, and I believed her. We went up the stairs, entered the +observatory----" + +"It is not kept locked, then?" + +"It was not locked to-day--saw the room, which is a curious one--glanced +out over the view, which is well worth seeing, and then----" + +"Well, what?" + +"I believe I stood still and asked the girl a question or two more. I +inquired," he went on, deprecating the other's impatience by a wave of +his nervous hand, "when Miss Dare came down from this place on the +morning you remember. She answered that she couldn't quite tell; that +she wouldn't have remembered any thing about it at all, only that Miss +Tremaine came to the house that morning, and wanting to see Miss Dare, +ordered her to go up to the observatory and tell that lady to come down, +and that she went, but to her surprise did not find Miss Dare there, +though she was sure she had not gone home, or, at least, hadn't taken +any of the cars that start from the front of the house, for she had +looked at them every one as they went by the basement window where she +was at work." + +"The girl said this?" + +"Yes, standing in the door of this small room, and looking me straight +in the eye." + +"And did you ask her nothing more? Say nothing about the time, Hickory, +or--or inquire where she supposed Miss Dare to have gone?" + +"Yes, I asked her all this. I am not without curiosity any more than you +are, Mr. Byrd." + +"And she replied?" + +"Oh, as to the time, that it was somewhere before noon. Her reason for +being sure of this was that Miss Tremaine declined to wait till another +effort had been made to find Miss Dare, saying she had an engagement at +twelve which she did not wish to break." + +"And the girl's notions about where Miss Dare had gone?" + +"Such as you expect, Byrd. She said she did not know any thing about it, +but that Miss Dare often went strolling in the garden, or even in the +woods when she came to Professor Darling's house, and that she supposed +she had gone off on some such walk at this time, for, at one o'clock or +thereabouts, she saw her pass in the horse-car on her way back to the +town." + +"Hickory, I wish you had not told me this just as I am going back to the +city." + +"Wish I had not told it, or wish I had not gone to Professor Darling's +house as you requested?" + +"Wish you had not told it. I dare not wish the other. But you spoke of +seeing Miss Dare; how was that? Where did you run across her?" + +"Do you want to hear?" + +"Of course, of course." + +"But I thought----" + +"Oh, never mind, old boy; tell me the whole now, as long as you have +told me any. Was she in the house?" + +"I will tell you. I had asked the girl all these questions, as I have +said, and was about to leave the observatory and go below when I thought +I would cast another glance around the curious old place, and in doing +so caught a glimpse of a huge portfolio of charts, as I supposed, +standing upright in a rack that stretched across the further portion of +the room. Somehow my heart misgave me when I saw this rack, and, +scarcely conscious what it was I feared, I crossed the floor and looked +behind the portfolio. Byrd, there was a woman crouched there--a woman +whose pallid cheeks and burning eyes lifted to meet my own, told me only +too plainly that it was Miss Dare. I have had many experiences," +Hickory allowed, after a moment, "and some of them any thing but +pleasant to myself, but I don't think I ever felt just as I did at that +instant. I believe I attempted a bow--I don't remember; or, at least, +tried to murmur some excuse, but the look that came into her face +paralyzed me, and I stopped before I had gotten very far, and waited to +hear what she would say. But she did not say much; she merely rose, and, +turning toward me, exclaimed: 'No apologies; you are a detective, I +suppose?' And when I nodded, or made some other token that she had +guessed correctly, she merely remarked, flashing upon me, however, in a +way I do not yet understand: 'Well, you have got what you desired, and +now can go.' And I went, Byrd, went; and I felt puzzled, I don't know +why, and a little bit sore about the heart, too, as if---- Well, I can't +even tell what I mean by that _if_. The only thing I am sure of is, that +Mansell's cause hasn't been helped by this day's job, and that if this +lady is asked on the witness stand where she was during the hour every +one believed her to be safely shut up with the telescopes and charts, we +shall hear----" + +"What?" + +"Well, that she _was_ shut up with them, most likely. Women like her are +not to be easily disconcerted even on the witness stand." + + + + +XXVI. + +"HE SHALL HEAR ME!" + + There's some ill planet reigns; + I must be patient till the heavens look + With an aspect more favorable.--WINTER'S TALE. + + +THE time is midnight, the day the same as that which saw this irruption +of Hickory into Professor Darling's observatory; the scene that of Miss +Dare's own room in the northeast tower. She is standing before a table +with a letter in her hand and a look upon her face that, if seen, would +have added much to the puzzlement of the detectives. + +The letter was from Mr. Orcutt and ran thus: + + I have seen Mr. Mansell, and have engaged myself + to undertake his defence. When I tell you that out + of the hundreds of cases I have tried in my still + short life, I have lost but a small percentage, + you will understand what this means. + + In pursuance to your wishes, I mentioned your name + to the prisoner with an intimation that I had a + message from you to deliver. But he stopped me + before I could utter a word. "I receive no + communication from Miss Dare!" he declared, and, + anxious as I really was to do your bidding, I was + compelled to refrain; for his tone was one of + hatred and his look that of ineffable scorn. + +This was all, but it was enough. Imogene had read these words over three +times, and now was ready to plunge the letter into the flame of a +candle to destroy it. As it burned, her grief and indignation took +words: + +"He is alienated, completely alienated," she gasped; "and I do not +wonder. But," and here the full majesty of her nature broke forth in one +grand gesture, "he shall hear me yet! As there is a God above, he shall +hear me yet, even if it has to be in the open court and in the presence +of judge and jury!" + + + + +BOOK III. + +THE SCALES OF JUSTICE. + + + + +XXVII. + +THE GREAT TRIAL. + + _Othello._--What dost thou think? + _Iago._-- Think, my lord? + _Othello._--By heav'n, he echoes me. + As if there was some monster in his thought + Too hideous to be shown.--OTHELLO. + + +SIBLEY was in a stir. Sibley was the central point of interest for the +whole country. The great trial was in progress and the curiosity of the +populace knew no bounds. + +In a room of the hotel sat our two detectives. They had just come from +the court-house. Both seemed inclined to talk, though both showed an +indisposition to open the conversation. A hesitation lay between them; a +certain thin vail of embarrassment that either one would have found it +hard to explain, and yet which sufficed to make their intercourse a +trifle uncertain in its character, though Hickory's look had lost none +of its rude good-humor, and Byrd's manner was the same mixture of easy +nonchalance and quiet self-possession it had always been. + +It was Hickory who spoke at last. + +"Well, Byrd?" was his suggestive exclamation. + +"Well, Hickory?" was the quiet reply. + +"What do you think of the case so far?" + +"I think"--the words came somewhat slowly--"I think that it looks bad. +Bad for the prisoner, I mean," he explained the next moment with a quick +flush. + +"Your sympathies are evidently with Mansell," Hickory quietly remarked. + +"Yes," was the slow reply. "Not that I think him innocent, or would turn +a hair's breadth from the truth to serve him." + +"He _is_ a manly fellow," Hickory bluntly admitted, after a moment's +puff at the pipe he was smoking. "Do you remember the peculiar +straightforwardness of his look when he uttered his plea of 'Not +guilty,' and the tone he used too, so quiet, yet so emphatic? You could +have heard a pin drop." + +"Yes," returned Mr. Byrd, with a quick contraction of his usually smooth +brow. + +"Have you noticed," the other broke forth, after another puff, "a +certain curious air of disdain that he wears?" + +"Yes," was again the short reply. + +"I wonder what it means?" queried Hickory carelessly, knocking the ashes +out of his pipe. + +Mr. Byrd flashed a quick askance look at his colleague from under his +half-fallen lids, but made no answer. + +"It is not pride alone," resumed the rough-and-ready detective, +half-musingly; "though he's as proud as the best of 'em. Neither is it +any sort of make-believe, or _I_ wouldn't be caught by it. +'Tis--'tis--what?" And Hickory rubbed his nose with his thoughtful +forefinger, and looked inquiringly at Mr. Byrd. + +"How should I know?" remarked the other, tossing his stump of a cigar +into the fire. "Mr. Mansell is too deep a problem for me." + +"And Miss Dare too?" + +"_And_ Miss Dare." + +Silence followed this admission, which Hickory broke at last by +observing: + +"The day that sees _her_ on the witness stand will be interesting, eh?" + +"It is not far off," declared Mr. Byrd. + +"No?" + +"I think she will be called as a witness to-morrow." + +"Have you noticed," began Hickory again, after another short interval of +quiet contemplation, "that it is only when Miss Dare is present that +Mansell wears the look of scorn I have just mentioned." + +"Hickory," said Mr. Byrd, wheeling directly about in his chair and for +the first time surveying his colleague squarely, "I have noticed _this_. +That ever since the day she made her first appearance in the court-room, +she has sat with her eyes fixed earnestly upon the prisoner, and that he +has never answered her look by so much as a glance in her direction. +This has but one explanation as I take it. He never forgets that it is +through her he has been brought to trial for his life." + +Mr. Byrd uttered this very distinctly, and with a decided emphasis. But +the impervious Hickory only settled himself farther back in his chair, +and stretching his feet out toward the fire, remarked dryly: + +"Perhaps I am not much of a judge of human nature, but I should have +said now that this Mansell was not a man to treat her contemptuously for +that. Rage he might show or hatred, but this quiet ignoring of her +presence seems a little too dignified for a criminal facing a person he +has every reason to believe is convinced of his guilt." + +"Ordinary rules don't apply to this man. Neither you nor I can sound his +nature. If he displays contempt, it is because he is of the sort to feel +it for the woman who has betrayed him." + +"You make him out mean-spirited, then, as well as wicked?" + +"I make him out human. More than that," Mr. Byrd resumed, after a +moment's thought, "I make him out consistent. A man who lets his +passions sway him to the extent of committing a murder for the purpose +of satisfying his love or his ambition, is not of the unselfish cast +that would appreciate such a sacrifice as Miss Dare has made. This under +the supposition that our reasons for believing him guilty are well +founded. If our suppositions are false, and the crime was not committed +by him, his contempt needs no explanation." + +"Just so!" + +The peculiar tone in which this was uttered caused Mr. Byrd to flash +another quick look at his colleague. Hickory did not seem to observe it. + +"What makes you think Miss Dare will be called to the witness stand +to-morrow?" he asked. + +"Well I will tell you," returned Byrd, with the sudden vivacity of one +glad to turn the current of conversation into a fresh channel. "If you +have followed the method of the prosecution as I have done, you will +have noticed that it has advanced to its point by definite stages. +First, witnesses were produced to prove the existence of motive on the +part of the accused. Mr. Goodman was called to the witness stand, and, +after him, other business men of Buffalo, all of whom united in +unqualified assertions of the prisoner's frequently-expressed desire for +a sum of money sufficient to put his invention into practical use. Next, +the amount considered necessary for this purpose was ascertained and +found to be just covered by the legacy bequeathed him by his aunt; after +which, ample evidence was produced to show that he knew the extent of +her small fortune, and the fact that she had by her will made him her +heir. Motive for the crime being thus established, they now proceeded to +prove that he was not without actual opportunity for perpetrating it. He +was shown to have been in Sibley at the time of the murder. The +station-master at Monteith was confronted with the prisoner, also old +Sally Perkins. Then you and I came before the court with our testimony, +and whatever doubt may have remained as to his having been in a position +to effect his aunt's death, and afterward escape unnoticed by means of +the path leading over the hills to Monteith Quarry station, was swept +away. What remains? To connect him with the murder itself, by some, +strong link of circumstantial evidence, such as the ring provides. And +who is it that can give testimony regarding the ring?--Miss Dare." + +"Hem! Well, she will do it," was the dry remark of Hickory. + +"She will be obliged to do it," was the emphatic response of Byrd. + +And again their glances crossed in a furtive way both seemed ready to +ignore. + +"What do you think of Orcutt?" Hickory next inquired. + +"He is very quiet." + +"Too quiet, eh?" + +"Perhaps. Folks that know him well declare they never before saw him +conduct a case in so temperate a manner. He has scarcely made an effort +at cross-examination, and, in fact, has thus far won nothing for the +defence except that astonishing tribute to the prisoner's character +given by Mr. Goodman." + +"Mr. Goodman is Mansell's friend." + +"I know it; but his short, decisive statements told upon the jury. Such +a man as he made Mansell out to be is just the sort to create an +impression on a body of men like them." + +"Orcutt understands a jury." + +"Orcutt understands his case. He knows he can make nothing by attempting +to shake the evidence which has been presented by the prosecution; the +facts are too clear, and the witnesses which have been called to testify +are of too reliable a character. Whatever defence he contemplates, it +will not rest upon a denial of any of the facts brought to light through +our efforts, or the evidence of such persons as Messrs. Goodman and +Harrison." + +"No." + +"The question is, then, in what will it lie? Some strong point, I +warrant you, or he would not hold himself and his plans so completely in +reserve. But what strong point? I acknowledge the uncertainty troubles +me." + +"I don't wonder," rejoined Hickory. "So it does me." + +And a constraint again fell between them that lasted till Hickory put +his pipe in his pocket and signified his intention of returning to his +own apartments. + + + + +XXVIII. + +THE CHIEF WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. + + Oh, while you live tell truth and shame the devil! + --HENRY IV. + + +MR. BYRD'S countenance after the departure of his companion was any +thing but cheerful. The fact is, he was secretly uneasy. He dreaded the +morrow. He dreaded the testimony of Miss Dare. He had not yet escaped so +fully from under the dominion of her fascinations as to regard with +equanimity this unhappy woman forcing herself to give testimony +compromising to the man she loved. + +Yet when the morrow came he was among the first to secure a seat in the +court-room. Though the scene was likely to be harrowing to his feelings, +he had no wish to lose it, and, indeed, chose such a position as would +give him the best opportunity for observing the prisoner and surveying +the witnesses. + +He was not the only one on the look-out for the testimony of Miss Dare. +The increased number of the spectators and the general air of +expectation visible in more than one of the chief actors in this +terrible drama gave suspicious proof of the fact; even if the deadly +pallor of the lady herself had not revealed her own feelings in regard +to the subject. + +The entrance of the prisoner was more marked, too, than usual. His air +and manner were emphasized, so to speak, and his face, when he turned it +toward the jury, wore an iron look of resolution that would have made +him conspicuous had he occupied a less prominent position than that of +the dock. + +Miss Dare, who had flashed her eyes toward him at the moment of his +first appearance, dropped them again, contrary to her usual custom. Was +it because she knew the moment was at hand when their glances would be +obliged to meet? + +Mr. Orcutt, whom no movement on the part of Miss Dare ever escaped, +leaned over and spoke to the prisoner. + +"Mr. Mansell," said he, "are you prepared to submit with composure to +the ordeal of confronting Miss Dare?" + +"Yes," was the stern reply. + +"I would then advise you to look at her now," proceeded his counsel. +"She is not turned this way, and you can observe her without +encountering her glance. A quick look at this moment may save you from +betraying any undue emotion when you see her upon the stand." + +The accused smiled with a bitterness Mr. Orcutt thought perfectly +natural, and slowly prepared to obey. As he raised his eyes and allowed +them to traverse the room until they settled upon the countenance of the +woman he loved, this other man who, out of a still more absorbing +passion for Imogene, was at that very moment doing all that lay in his +power for the saving of this his openly acknowledged rival, watched him +with the closest and most breathless attention. It was another instance +of that peculiar fascination which a successful rival has for an +unsuccessful one. It was as if this great lawyer's thoughts reverted to +his love, and he asked himself: "What is there in this Mansell that she +should prefer him to me?" + +And Orcutt himself, though happily unaware of the fact, was at that same +instant under a scrutiny as narrow as that he bestowed upon his client. +Mr. Ferris, who knew his secret, felt a keen interest in watching how he +would conduct himself at this juncture. Not an expression of the +lawyer's keen and puzzling eye but was seen by the District Attorney and +noted, even if it was not understood. + +Of the three, Mr. Ferris was the first to turn away, and his thoughts if +they could have been put into words might have run something like this: +"That man"--meaning Orcutt--"is doing the noblest work one human being +can perform for another, and yet there is something in his face I do not +comprehend. Can it be he hopes to win Miss Dare by his effort to save +his rival?" + +As for the thoughts of the person thus unconsciously subjected to the +criticism of his dearest friend, let our knowledge of the springs that +govern his action serve to interpret both the depth and bitterness of +his curiosity; while the sentiments of Mansell---- But who can read what +lurks behind the iron of that sternly composed countenance? Not +Imogene, not Orcutt, not Ferris. His secret, if he owns one, he keeps +well, and his lids scarcely quiver as he drops them over the eyes that +but a moment before reflected the grand beauty of the unfortunate woman +for whom he so lately protested the most fervent love. + +The next moment the court was opened and Miss Dare's name was called by +the District Attorney. + +With a last look at the unresponsive prisoner, Imogene rose, took her +place on the witness stand and faced the jury. + +It was a memorable moment. If the curious and impressible crowd of +spectators about her had been ignorant of her true relations to the +accused, the deadly stillness and immobility of her bearing would have +convinced them that emotion of the deepest nature lay behind the still, +white mask she had thought fit to assume. That she was beautiful and +confronted them from that common stand as from a throne, did not serve +to lessen the impression she made. + +The officer held the Bible toward her. With a look that Mr. Byrd was +fain to consider one of natural shrinking only, she laid her white hand +upon it; but at the intimation from the officer, "The right hand, if you +please, miss," she started and made the exchange he suggested, while at +the same moment there rang upon her ear the voice of the clerk as he +administered the awful adjuration that she should, as she believed and +hoped in Eternal mercy, tell the truth as between this man and the law +and keep not one tittle back. The book was then lifted to her lips by +the officer, and withdrawn. + +"Take your seat, Miss Dare," said the District Attorney. And the +examination began. + +"Your name, if you please?" + +"Imogene Dare." + +"Are you married or single?" + +"I am single." + +"Where were you born?" + +Now this was a painful question to one of her history. Indeed, she +showed it to be so by the flush which rose to her cheek and by the +decided trembling of her proud lip. But she did not seek to evade it. + +"Sir," she said, "I cannot answer you. I never heard any of the +particulars of my birth. I was a foundling." + +The mingled gentleness and dignity with which she made this +acknowledgment won for her the instantaneous sympathy of all present. +Mr. Orcutt saw this, and the flash of indignation that had involuntarily +passed between him and the prisoner subsided as quickly as it arose. + +Mr. Ferris went on. + +"Where do you live?" + +"In this town?" + +"With whom do you live?" + +"I am boarding at present with a woman of the name of Kennedy. I support +myself by my needle," she hurriedly added, as though anxious to +forestall his next question. + +Seeing the prisoner start at this, Imogene lifted her head still higher. +Evidently this former lover of hers knew little of her movements since +they parted so many weeks ago. + +"And how long is it since you supported yourself in this way?" asked the +District Attorney. + +"For a few weeks only. Formerly," she said, making a slight inclination +in the direction of the prisoner's counsel, "I lived in the household of +Mr. Orcutt, where I occupied the position of assistant to the lady who +looks after his domestic affairs." And her eye met the lawyer's with a +look of pride that made him inwardly cringe, though not even the jealous +glance of the prisoner could detect that an eyelash quivered or a +flicker disturbed the studied serenity of his gaze. + +The District Attorney opened his lips as if to pursue this topic, but, +meeting his opponent's eye, concluded to waive further preliminaries and +proceed at once to the more serious part of the examination. + +"Miss Dare," said he, "will you look at the prisoner and tell us if you +have any acquaintance with him?" + +Slowly she prepared to reply; slowly she turned her head and let her +glance traverse that vast crowd till it settled upon her former lover. +The look which passed like lightning across her face as she encountered +his gaze fixed for the first time steadily upon her own, no one in that +assemblage ever forgot. + +"Yes," she returned, quietly, but in a tone that made Mansell quiver and +look away, despite his iron self-command; "I know him." + +"Will you be kind enough to say how long you have known him and where it +was you first made his acquaintance?" + +"I met him first in Buffalo some four months since," was the steady +reply. "He was calling at a friend's house where I was staying." + +"Did you at that time know of his relation to your townswoman, Mrs. +Clemmens?" + +"No, sir. It was not till I had seen him several times that I learned he +had any connections in Sibley." + +"Miss Dare, you will excuse me, but it is highly desirable for the court +to know if the prisoner ever paid his addresses to you?" + +The deep, almost agonizing blush that colored her white cheek answered +as truly as the slow "Yes," that struggled painfully to her lips. + +"And--excuse me again, Miss Dare--did he propose marriage to you?" + +"He did." + +"Did you accept him?" + +"I did not." + +"Did you refuse him?" + +"I refused to engage myself to him." + +"Miss Dare, will you tell us when you left Buffalo?" + +"On the nineteenth day of August last." + +"Did the prisoner accompany you?" + +"He did not." + +"Upon what sort of terms did you part?" + +"Good terms, sir." + +"Do you mean friendly terms, or such as are held by a man and a woman +between whom an attachment exists which, under favorable circumstances, +may culminate in marriage?" + +"The latter, sir, I think." + +"Did you receive any letters from the prisoner after your return to +Sibley?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And did you answer them?" + +"I did." + +"Miss Dare, may I now ask what reasons you gave the prisoner for +declining his offer--that is, if my friend does not object to the +question?" added the District Attorney, turning with courtesy toward Mr. +Orcutt. + +The latter, who had started to his feet, bowed composedly and prepared +to resume his seat. + +"I desire to put nothing in the way of your eliciting the whole truth +concerning this matter," was his quiet, if somewhat constrained, +response. + +Mr. Ferris at once turned back to Miss Dare. + +"You will, then, answer," he said. + +Imogene lifted her head and complied. + +"I told him," she declared, with thrilling distinctness, "that he was in +no condition to marry. I am by nature an ambitious woman, and, not +having suffered at that time, thought more of my position before the +world than of what constitutes the worth and dignity of a man." + +No one who heard these words could doubt they were addressed to the +prisoner. Haughtily as she held herself, there was a deprecatory +humility in her tone that neither judge nor jury could have elicited +from her. Naturally many eyes turned in the direction of the prisoner. +They saw two white faces before them, that of the accused and that of +his counsel, who sat near him. But the pallor of the one was of scorn, +and that of the other---- Well, no one who knew the relations of Mr. +Orcutt to the witness could wonder that the renowned lawyer shrank from +hearing the woman he loved confess her partiality for another man. + +Mr. Ferris, who understood the situation as well as any one, but who had +passed the point where sympathy could interfere with his action, showed +a disposition to press his advantage. + +"Miss Dare," he inquired, "in declining the proposals of the prisoner, +did you state to him in so many words these objections you have here +mentioned?" + +"I did." + +"And what answer did he give you?" + +"He replied that he was also ambitious, and hoped and intended to make a +success in life." + +"And did he tell you how he hoped and intended to make a success?" + +"He did." + +"Miss Dare, were these letters written by you?" + +She looked at the packet he held toward her, started as she saw the +broad black ribbon that encircled it, and bowed her head. + +"I have no doubt these are my letters," she rejoined, a little +tremulously for her. And unbinding the packet, she examined its +contents. "Yes," she answered, "they are. These letters were all written +by me." + +And she handed them back with such haste that the ribbon which bound +them remained in her fingers, where consciously or unconsciously she +held it clutched all through the remaining time of her examination. + +"Now," said the District Attorney, "I propose to read two of these +letters. Does my friend wish to look at them before I offer them in +evidence?" holding them out to Mr. Orcutt. + +Every eye in the court-room was fixed upon the latter's face, as the +letters addressed to his rival by the woman he wished to make his wife, +were tendered in this public manner to his inspection. Even the iron +face of Mansell relaxed into an expression of commiseration as he turned +and surveyed the man who, in despite of the anomalous position they held +toward each other, was thus engaged in battling for his life before the +eyes of the whole world. At that instant there was not a spectator who +did not feel that Tremont Orcutt was the hero of the moment. + +He slowly turned to the prisoner: + +"Have you any objection to these letters being read?" + +"No," returned the other, in a low tone. + +Mr. Orcutt turned firmly to the District Attorney: + +"You may read them if you think proper," said he. + +Mr. Ferris bowed; the letters were marked as exhibits by the +stenographic reporter who was taking the minutes of testimony, and +handed back to Ferris, who proceeded to read the following in a clear +voice to the jury: + + + "SIBLEY, N. Y., September 7, 1882. + + "DEAR FRIEND,--You show signs of impatience, and + ask for a word to help you through this period of + uncertainty and unrest. What can I say more than I + have said? That I believe in you and in your + invention, and proudly wait for the hour when you + will come to claim me with the fruit of your + labors in your hand. I am impatient myself, but I + have more trust than you. Some one will see the + value of your work before long, or else your aunt + will interest herself in your success, and lend + you that practical assistance which you need to + start you in the way of fortune and fame. I cannot + think you are going to fail. I will not allow + myself to look forward to any thing less than + success for you and happiness for myself. For the + one involves the other, as you must know by this + time, or else believe me to be the most heartless + of coquettes. + + "Wishing to see you, but of the opinion that + further meetings between us would be unwise till + our future looks more settled, I remain, hopefully + yours, + + "IMOGENE DARE." + +"The other letter I propose to read," continued Mr. Ferris, "is dated +September 23d, three days before the widow's death. + + "DEAR CRAIK,--Since you insist upon seeing me, and + say that you have reasons of your own for not + visiting me openly, I will consent to meet you at + the trysting spot you mention, though all such + underhand dealings are as foreign to my nature as + I believe them to be to yours. + + "Trusting that fortune will so favor us as to make + it unnecessary for us to meet in this way more + than once, I wait in anxiety for your coming. + + "IMOGENE DARE." + +These letters, unfolding relations that, up to this time, had been +barely surmised by the persons congregated before her, created a great +impression. To those especially who knew her and believed her to be +engaged to Mr. Orcutt the surprise was wellnigh thrilling. The witness +seemed to feel this, and bestowed a short, quick glance upon the lawyer, +that may have partially recompensed him for the unpleasantness of the +general curiosity. + +The Prosecuting Attorney went on without pause: + +"Miss Dare," said he, "did you meet the prisoner as you promised?" + +"I did." + +"Will you tell me when and where?" + +"On the afternoon of Monday, September 27th, in the glade back of Mrs. +Clemmens' house." + +"Miss Dare, we fully realize the pain it must cost you to refer to these +matters, but I must request you to tell us what passed between you at +this interview?" + +"If you will ask me questions, sir, I will answer them with the truth +the subject demands." + +The sorrowful dignity with which this was said, called forth a bow from +the Prosecuting Attorney. + +"Very well," he rejoined, "did the prisoner have any thing to say about +his prospects?" + +"He did." + +"How did he speak of them?" + +"Despondingly." + +"And what reason did he give for this?" + +"He said he had failed to interest any capitalist in his invention." + +"Any other reason?" + +"Yes." + +"What was that?" + +"That he had just come from his aunt whom he had tried to persuade to +advance him a sum of money to carry out his wishes, but that she had +refused." + +"He told you that?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Did he also tell you what path he had taken to his aunt's house?" + +"No, sir." + +"Was there any thing said by him to show he did not take the secret path +through the woods and across the bog to her back door?" + +"No, sir." + +"Or that he did not return in the same way?" + +"No, sir." + +"Miss Dare, did the prisoner express to you at this time irritation as +well as regret at the result of his efforts to elicit money from his +aunt?" + +"Yes," was the evidently forced reply. + +"Can you remember any words that he used which would tend to show the +condition of his mind?" + +"I have no memory for words," she began, but flushed as she met the eye +of the Judge, and perhaps remembered her oath. "I do recollect, however, +one expression he used. He said: 'My life is worth nothing to me without +success. If only to win you, I must put this matter through; and I will +do it yet.'" + +She repeated this quietly, giving it no emphasis and scarcely any +inflection, as if she hoped by her mechanical way of uttering it to rob +it of any special meaning. But she did not succeed, as was shown by the +compassionate tone in which Mr. Ferris next addressed her. + +"Miss Dare, did you express any anger yourself at the refusal of Mrs. +Clemmens to assist the prisoner by lending him such moneys as he +required?" + +"Yes, sir; I fear I did. It seemed unreasonable to me then, and I was +very anxious he should have that opportunity to make fame and fortune +which I thought his genius merited." + +"Miss Dare," inquired the District Attorney, calling to his aid such +words as he had heard from old Sally in reference to this interview, +"did you make use of any such expression as this: 'I wish I knew Mrs. +Clemmens'?" + +"I believe I did." + +"And did this mean you had no acquaintance with the murdered woman at +that time?" pursued Mr. Ferris, half-turning to the prisoner's counsel, +as if he anticipated the objection which that gentleman might very +properly make to a question concerning the intention of a witness. + +And Mr. Orcutt, yielding to professional instinct, did indeed make a +slight movement as if to rise, but became instantly motionless. Nothing +could be more painful to him than to wrangle before the crowded +court-room over these dealings between the woman he loved and the man he +was now defending. + +Mr. Ferris turned back to the witness and awaited her answer. It came +without hesitation. + +"It meant that, sir." + +"And what did the prisoner say when you gave utterance to this wish?" + +"He asked me why I desired to know her." + +"And what did you reply?" + +"That if I knew her I might be able to persuade her to listen to his +request." + +"And what answer had he for this?" + +"None but a quick shake of his head." + +"Miss Dare; up to the time of this interview had you ever received any +gift from the prisoner--jewelry, for instance--say, a ring!" + +"No, sir." + +"Did he offer you such a gift then?" + +"He did." + +"What was it?" + +"A gold ring set with a diamond." + +"Did you receive it?" + +"No, sir. I felt that in taking a ring from him I would be giving an +irrevocable promise, and I was not ready to do that." + +"Did you allow him to put it on your finger?" + +"I did." + +"And it remained there?" suggested Mr. Ferris, with a smile. + +"A minute, may be." + +"Which of you, then, took it off?" + +"I did." + +"And what did you say when you took it off?" + +"I do not remember my words." + +Again recalling old Sally's account of this interview, Mr. Ferris asked: + +"Were they these: 'I cannot. Wait till to-morrow'?" + +"Yes, I believe they were." + +"And when he inquired: 'Why to-morrow?' did you reply: 'A night has been +known to change the whole current of one's affairs'?" + +"I did." + +"Miss Dare, what did you mean by those words?" + +"I object!" cried Mr. Orcutt, rising. Unseen by any save himself, the +prisoner had made him an eloquent gesture, slight, but peremptory. + +"I think it is one I have a right to ask," urged the District Attorney. + +But Mr. Orcutt, who manifestly had the best of the argument, maintained +his objection, and the Court instantly ruled in his favor. + +Mr. Ferris prepared to modify his question. But before he could speak +the voice of Miss Dare was heard. + +"Gentlemen," said she, "there was no need of all this talk. I intended +to seek an interview with Mrs. Clemmens and try what the effect would be +of confiding to her my interest in her nephew." + +The dignified simplicity with which she spoke, and the air of quiet +candor that for that one moment surrounded her, gave to this voluntary +explanation an unexpected force that carried it quite home to the hearts +of the jury. Even Mr. Orcutt could not preserve the frown with which he +had confronted her at the first movement of her lips, but turned toward +the prisoner with a look almost congratulatory in its character. But Mr. +Byrd, who for reasons of his own kept his eyes upon that prisoner, +observed that it met with no other return than that shadow of a bitter +smile which now and then visited his otherwise unmoved countenance. + +Mr. Ferris, who, in his friendship for the witness, was secretly +rejoiced in an explanation which separated her from the crime of her +lover, bowed in acknowledgment of the answer she had been pleased to +give him in face of the ruling of the Court, and calmly proceeded: + +"And what reply did the prisoner make you when you uttered this remark +in reference to the change that a single day sometimes makes in one's +affairs?" + +"Something in the way of assent." + +"Cannot you give us his words?" + +"No, sir." + +"Well, then, can you tell us whether or not he looked thoughtful when +you said this?" + +"He may have done so, sir." + +"Did it strike you at the time that he reflected on what you said?" + +"I cannot say how it struck me at the time." + +"Did he look at you a few minutes before speaking, or in any way conduct +himself as if he had been set thinking?" + +"He did not speak for a few minutes." + +"And looked at you?" + +"Yes, sir." + +The District Attorney paused a moment as if to let the results of his +examination sink into the minds of the jury; then he went on: + +"Miss Dare, you say you returned the ring to the prisoner?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You say positively the ring passed from you to him; that you saw it in +his hand after it had left yours?" + +"No, sir. The ring passed from me to him, but I did not see it in his +hand, because I did not return it to him that way. I dropped it into his +pocket." + +At this acknowledgment, which made both the prisoner and his counsel +look up, Mr. Byrd felt himself nudged by Hickory. + +"Did you hear that?" he whispered. + +"Yes," returned the other. + +"And do you believe it?" + +"Miss Dare is on oath," was the reply. + +"Pooh!" was Hickory's whispered exclamation. + +The District Attorney alone showed no surprise. + +"You dropped it into his pocket?" he resumed. "How came you to do that?" + +"I was weary of the strife which had followed my refusal to accept this +token. He would not take it from me himself, so I restored it to him in +the way I have said." + +"Miss Dare, will you tell us what pocket this was?" + +"The outside pocket on the left side of his coat," she returned, with a +cold and careful exactness that caused the prisoner to drop his eyes +from her face, with that faint but scornful twitch of the muscles about +his mouth, which gave to his countenance now and then the proud look of +disdain which both the detectives had noted. + +"Miss Dare," continued the Prosecuting Attorney, "did you see this ring +again during the interview?" + +"No, sir." + +"Did you detect the prisoner making any move to take it out of his +pocket, or have you any reason to believe that it was taken out of the +pocket on the left-hand side of his coat while you were with him?" + +"No, sir." + +"So that, as far as you know, it was still in his pocket when you +parted?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Miss Dare, have you ever seen that ring since?" + +"I have." + +"When and where?" + +"I saw it on the morning of the murder. It was lying on the floor of +Mrs. Clemmens' dining-room. I had gone to the house, in my surprise at +hearing of the murderous assault which had been made upon her, and, +while surveying the spot where she was struck, perceived this ring lying +on the floor before me." + +"What made you think it was this ring which you had returned to the +prisoner the day before?" + +"Because of its setting, and the character of the gem, I suppose." + +"Could you see all this where it was lying on the floor?" + +"It was brought nearer to my eyes, sir. A gentleman who was standing +near, picked it up and offered it to me, supposing it was mine. As he +held it out in his open palm I saw it plainly." + +"Miss Dare, will you tell us what you did when you first saw this ring +lying on the floor?" + +"I covered it with my foot." + +"Was that before you recognized it?" + +"I cannot say. I placed my foot upon it instinctively." + +"How long did you keep it there?" + +"Some few minutes." + +"What caused you to move at last?" + +"I was surprised." + +"What surprised you?" + +"A man came to the door." + +"What man." + +"I don't know. A stranger to me. Some one who had been sent on an errand +connected with this affair." + +"What did he say or do to surprise you?" + +"Nothing. It was what you said yourself after the man had gone." + +"And what did I say, Miss Dare?" + +She cast him a look of the faintest appeal, but answered quietly: + +"Something about its not being the tramp who had committed this crime." + +"That surprised you?" + +"That made me start." + +"Miss Dare, were you present in the house when the dying woman spoke the +one or two exclamations which have been testified to in this trial?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"What was the burden of the first speech you heard?" + +"The words _Hand_, sir, and _Ring_. She repeated the two half a dozen +times." + +"Miss Dare, what did you say to the gentleman who showed you the ring +and asked if it were yours?" + +"I told him it was mine, and took it and placed it on my finger." + +"But the ring was not yours?" + +"My acceptance of it made it mine. In all but that regard it had been +mine ever since Mr. Mansell offered it to me the day before." + +Mr. Ferris surveyed the witness for a moment before saying: + +"Then you considered it damaging to your lover to have this ring found +in that apartment?" + +Mr. Orcutt instantly rose to object. + +"I won't press the question," said the District Attorney, with a wave of +his hand and a slight look at the jury. + +"You ought never to have asked it?" exclaimed Mr. Orcutt, with the first +appearance of heat he had shown. + +"You are right," Mr. Ferris coolly responded. "The jury could see the +point without any assistance from you or me." + +"And the jury," returned Mr. Orcutt, with equal coolness, "is scarcely +obliged to you for the suggestion." + +"Well, we won't quarrel about it," declared Mr. Ferris. + +"We won't quarrel about any thing," retorted Mr. Orcutt. "We will try +the case in a legal manner." + +"Have you got through?" inquired Mr. Ferris, nettled. + +Mr. Orcutt took his seat with the simple reply: + +"Go on with the case." + +The District Attorney, after a momentary pause to regain the thread of +his examination and recover his equanimity, turned to the witness. + +"Miss Dare," he asked, "how long did you keep that ring on your finger +after you left the house?" + +"A little while--five or ten minutes, perhaps." + +"Where were you when you took it off?" + +Her voice sank just a trifle: + +"On the bridge at Warren Street." + +"What did you do with it then?" + +Her eyes which had been upon the Attorney's face, fell slowly. + +"I dropped it into the water," she said. + +And the character of her thoughts and suspicions at that time stood +revealed. + +The Prosecuting Attorney allowed himself a few more questions. + +"When you parted with the prisoner in the woods, was it with any +arrangement for meeting again before he returned to Buffalo?" + +"No, sir." + +"Give us the final words of your conversation, if you please." + +"We were just parting, and I had turned to go, when he said: 'Is it +good-by, then, Imogene?' and I answered, 'That to-morrow must decide.' +'Shall I stay, then?' he inquired; to which I replied, 'Yes.'" + +'Twas a short, seemingly literal, repetition of possibly innocent words, +but the whisper into which her voice sank at the final "Yes" endowed it +with a thrilling effect for which even she was not prepared. For she +shuddered as she realized the deathly quiet that followed its utterance, +and cast a quick look at Mr. Orcutt that was full of question, if not +doubt. + +"I was calculating upon the interview I intended to have with Mrs. +Clemmens," she explained, turning toward the Judge with indescribable +dignity. + +"We understand that," remarked the Prosecuting Attorney, kindly, and +then inquired: + +"Was this the last you saw of the prisoner until to-day?" + +"No, sir." + +"When did you see him again?" + +"On the following Wednesday." + +"Where?" + +"In the depot at Syracuse." + +"How came you to be in Syracuse the day after the murder?" + +"I had started to go to Buffalo." + +"What purpose had you in going to Buffalo?" + +"I wished to see Mr. Mansell." + +"Did he know you were coming?" + +"No, sir." + +"Had no communication passed between you from the time you parted in the +woods till you came upon each other in the depot you have just +mentioned?" + +"No, sir." + +"Had he no reason to expect to meet you there?" + +"No, sir." + +"With what words did you accost each other?" + +"I don't know. I have no remembrance of saying any thing. I was utterly +dumbfounded at seeing him in this place, and cannot say into what +exclamation I may have been betrayed." + +"And he? Don't you remember what he said?" + +"No, sir. I only know he started back with a look of great surprise. +Afterward he asked if I were on my way to see him." + +"And what did you answer?" + +"I don't think I made any answer. I was wondering if he was on his way +to see me." + +"Did you put the question to him?" + +"Perhaps. I cannot tell. It is all like a dream to me." + +If she had said horrible dream, every one there would have believed her. + +"You can tell us, however, if you held any conversation?" + +"We did not." + +"And you can tell us how the interview terminated?" + +"Yes, sir. I turned away and took the train back home, which I saw +standing on the track without." + +"And he?" + +"Turned away also. Where he went I cannot say." + +"Miss Dare"--the District Attorney's voice was very earnest--"can you +tell us which of you made the first movement to go?" + +"What does he mean by that?" whispered Hickory to Byrd. + +"I think----" she commenced and paused. Her eyes in wandering over the +throng of spectators before her, had settled on these two detectives, +and noting the breathless way in which they looked at her, she seemed to +realize that more might lie in this question than at first appeared. + +"I do not know," she answered at last. "It was a simultaneous movement, +I think." + +"Are you sure?" persisted Mr. Ferris. "You are on oath, Miss Dare? Is +there no way in which you can make certain whether he or you took the +initiatory step in this sudden parting after an event that so materially +changed your mutual prospects?" + +"No, sir. I can only say that in recalling the sensations of that hour, +I am certain my own movement was not the result of any I saw him take. +The instinct to leave the place had its birth in my own breast." + +"I told you so," commented Hickory, in the ear of Byrd. "She is not +going to give herself away, whatever happens." + +"But can you positively say he did not make the first motion to leave?" + +"No, sir." + +Mr. Ferris bowed, turned toward the opposing counsel and said: + +"The witness is yours." + +Mr. Ferris sat down perfectly satisfied. He had dexterously brought out +Imogene's suspicions of the prisoner's guilt, and knew that the jury +must be influenced in their convictions by those of the woman who, of +all the world, ought to have believed, if she could, in the innocence of +her lover. He did not even fear the cross-examination which he expected +to follow. No amount of skill on the part of Orcutt could extract other +than the truth, and the truth was that Imogene believed the prisoner to +be the murderer of his aunt. He, therefore, surveyed the court-room with +a smile, and awaited the somewhat slow proceedings of his opponent with +equanimity. + +But, to the surprise of every one, Mr. Orcutt, after a short +consultation with the prisoner, rose and said he had no questions to put +to the witness. + +And Miss Dare was allowed to withdraw from the stand, to the great +satisfaction of Mr. Ferris, who found himself by this move in a still +better position than he had anticipated. + +"Byrd," whispered Hickory, as Miss Dare returned somewhat tremulously to +her former seat among the witnesses--"Byrd, you could knock me over with +a feather. I thought the defence would have no difficulty in riddling +this woman's testimony, and they have not even made the effort. Can it +be that Orcutt has such an attachment for her that he is going to let +his rival hang?" + +"No. Orcutt isn't the man to deliberately lose a case for any woman. He +looks at Miss Dare's testimony from a different standpoint than you do. +He believes what she says to be true, and you do not." + +"Then, all I've got to say, 'So much the worse for Mansell!'" was the +whispered response. "He was a fool to trust his case to that man." + +The judge, the jury, and all the by-standers in court, it must be +confessed, shared the opinion of Hickory--Mr. Orcutt was standing on +slippery ground. + + + + +XXIX. + +THE OPENING OF THE DEFENCE. + + Excellent! I smell a device.--TWELFTH NIGHT. + + +LATE that afternoon the prosecution rested. It had made out a case of +great strength and seeming impregnability. Favorably as every one was +disposed to regard the prisoner, the evidence against him was such that, +to quote a man who was pretty free with his opinions in the lobby of the +court-room: "Orcutt will have to wake up if he is going to clear his man +in face of facts like these." + +The moment, therefore, when this famous lawyer and distinguished +advocate rose to open the defence, was one of great interest to more +than the immediate actors in the scene. It was felt that hitherto he had +rather idled with his case, and curiosity was awake to his future +course. Indeed, in the minds of many the counsel for the prisoner was on +trial as well as his client. + +He rose with more of self-possession, quiet and reserved strength, than +could be hoped for, and his look toward the Court and then to the jury +tended to gain for him the confidence which up to this moment he seemed +to be losing. Never a handsome man or even an imposing one, he had the +advantage of always rising to the occasion, and whether pleading with a +jury or arguing with opposing counsel, flashed with that unmistakable +glitter of keen and ready intellect which, once observed in a man, marks +him off from his less gifted fellows and makes him the cynosure of all +eyes, however insignificant his height, features, or ordinary +expression. + +To-day he was even cooler, more brilliant, and more confident in his +bearing than usual. Feelings, if feelings he possessed--and we who have +seen him at his hearth can have no doubt on this subject,--had been set +aside when he rose to his feet and turned his face upon the expectant +crowd before him. To save his client seemed the one predominating +impulse of his soul, and, as he drew himself up to speak, Mr. Byrd, who +was watching him with the utmost eagerness and anticipation, felt that, +despite appearances, despite evidence, despite probability itself, this +man was going to win his case. + +"May it please your Honor and Gentlemen of the Jury," he began, and +those who looked at him could not but notice how the prisoner at his +side lifted his head at this address, till it seemed as if the words +issued from his lips instead of from those of his counsel, "I stand +before you to-day not to argue with my learned opponent in reference to +the evidence which he has brought out with so much ingenuity. I have a +simpler duty than that to perform. I have to show you how, in spite of +this evidence, in face of all this accumulated testimony showing the +prisoner to have been in possession of both motive and opportunities +for committing this crime, he is guiltless of it; that a physical +impossibility stands in the way of his being the assailant of the Widow +Clemmens, and that to whomever or whatsoever her death may be due, it +neither was nor could have been the result of any blow struck by the +prisoner's hand. In other words, we dispute, not the facts which have +led the Prosecuting Attorney of this district, and perhaps others also, +to infer guilt on the part of the prisoner,"--here Mr. Orcutt cast a +significant glance at the bench where the witnesses sat,--"but the +inference itself. Something besides proof of motive and opportunity must +be urged against _this_ man in order to convict him of guilt. Nor is it +sufficient to show he was on the scene of murder some time during the +fatal morning when Mrs. Clemmens was attacked; you must prove he was +there at the time the deadly blow was struck; for it is not with him as +with so many against whom circumstantial evidence of guilt is brought. +_This_ man, gentlemen, has an answer for those who accuse him of +crime--an answer, too, before which all the circumstantial evidence in +the world cannot stand. Do you want to know what it is? Give me but a +moment's attention and you shall hear." + +Expectation, which had been rising through this exordium, now stood at +fever-point. Byrd and Hickory held their breaths, and even Miss Dare +showed feeling through the icy restraint which had hitherto governed her +secret anguish and suspense. Mr. Orcutt went on: + +"First, however, as I have already said, the prisoner desires it to be +understood that he has no intention of disputing the various facts which +have been presented before you at this trial. He does not deny that he +was in great need of money at the time of his aunt's death; that he came +to Sibley to entreat her to advance to him certain sums he deemed +necessary to the furtherance of his plans; that he came secretly and in +the roundabout way you describe. Neither does he refuse to allow that +his errand was also one of love, that he sought and obtained a private +interview with the woman he wished to make his wife, in the place and at +the time testified to; that the scraps of conversation which have been +sworn to as having passed between them at this interview are true in as +far as they go, and that he did place upon the finger of Miss Dare a +diamond ring. Also, he admits that she took this ring off immediately +upon receiving it, saying she could not accept it, at least not then, +and that she entreated him to take it back, which he declined to do, +though he cannot say she did not restore it in the manner she declares, +for he remembers nothing of the ring after the moment he put her hand +aside as she was offering it back to him. The prisoner also allows that +he slept in the hut and remained in that especial region of the woods +until near noon the next day; but, your Honor and Gentlemen of the Jury, +what the prisoner does not allow and will not admit is that he struck +the blow which eventually robbed Mrs. Clemmens of her life, and the +proof which I propose to bring forward in support of this assertion is +this: + +"Mrs. Clemmens received the blow which led to her death at some time +previously to three minutes past twelve o'clock on Tuesday, September +26th. This the prosecution has already proved. Now, what I propose to +show is, that Mrs. Clemmens, however or whenever assailed, was still +living and unhurt up to ten minutes before twelve on that same day. A +witness, whom you must believe, saw her at that time and conversed with +her, proving that the blow by which she came to her death must have +occurred after that hour, that is, after ten minutes before noon. But, +your Honor and Gentlemen of the Jury, the prosecution has already shown +that the prisoner stepped on to the train at Monteith Quarry Station at +twenty minutes past one of that same day, and has produced witnesses +whose testimony positively proves that the road he took there from Mrs. +Clemmens' house was the same he had traversed in his secret approach to +it the day before--viz., the path through the woods; the only path, I +may here state, that connects those two points with any thing like +directness. + +"But, Sirs, what the prosecution has not shown you, and what it now +devolves upon me to show, is that this path which the prisoner is +allowed to have taken is one which no man could traverse without +encountering great difficulties and many hindrances to speed. It is not +only a narrow path filled with various encumbrances in the way of +brambles and rolling stones, but it is so flanked by an impenetrable +undergrowth in some places, and by low, swampy ground in others, that no +deviation from its course is possible, while to keep within it and +follow its many turns and windings till it finally emerges upon the +highway that leads to the Quarry Station would require many more minutes +than those which elapsed between the time of the murder and the hour the +prisoner made his appearance at the Quarry Station. In other words, I +propose to introduce before you as witnesses two gentlemen from New +York, both of whom are experts in all feats of pedestrianism, and who, +having been over the road themselves, are in position to testify that +the time necessary for a man to pass by means of this path from Mrs. +Clemmens' house to the Quarry Station is, by a definite number of +minutes, greater than that allowed to the prisoner by the evidence laid +before you. If, therefore, you accept the testimony of the prosecution +as true, and believe that the prisoner took the train for Buffalo, which +he has been said to do, it follows, as a physical impossibility, for him +to have been at Mrs. Clemmens' cottage, or anywhere else except on the +road to the station, at the moment when the fatal blow was dealt. + +"Your Honor, this is our answer to the terrible charge which has been +made against the prisoner; it is simple, but it is effective, and upon +it, as upon a rock, we found our defence." + +And with a bow, Mr. Orcutt sat down, and, it being late in the day, the +court adjourned. + + + + +XXX. + +BYRD USES HIS PENCIL AGAIN. + + Ay, sir, you shall find me reasonable; if it be + so, I shall do that that is reason.--MERRY WIVES + OF WINDSOR. + + +"BYRD, you look dazed." + +"I am." + +Hickory paused till they were well clear of the crowd that was pouring +from the court-room; then he said: + +"Well, what do you think of this as a defence?" + +"I am beginning to think it is good," was the slow, almost hesitating, +reply. + +"Beginning to think?" + +"Yes. At first it seemed puerile. I had such a steadfast belief in +Mansell's guilt, I could not give much credit to any argument tending to +shake me loose from my convictions. But the longer I think of it the +more vividly I remember the difficulties of the road he had to take in +his flight. I have travelled it myself, you remember, and I don't see +how he could have got over the ground in ninety minutes." + +Hickory's face assumed a somewhat quizzical expression. + +"Byrd," said he, "whom were you looking at during the time Mr. Orcutt +was making his speech?" + +"At the speaker, of course." + +"Bah!" + +"Whom were _you_ looking at?" + +"At the person who would be likely to give me some return for my pains." + +"The prisoner?" + +"No." + +"Whom, then?" + +"Miss Dare." + +Byrd shifted uneasily to the other side of his companion. + +"And what did you discover from her, Hickory?" he asked. + +"Two things. First, that she knew no more than the rest of us what the +defence was going to be. Secondly, that she regarded it as a piece of +great cleverness on the part of Orcutt, but that she didn't believe in +it anymore--well, any more than I do." + +"Hickory!" + +"Yes, _sir_! Miss Dare is a smart woman, and a resolute one, and could +have baffled the penetration of all concerned if she had only remembered +to try. But she forgot that others might be more interested in making +out what was going on in her mind at this critical moment than in +watching the speaker or noting the effect of his words upon the court. +In fact, she was too eager herself to hear what he had to say to +remember her _role_, I fancy." + +"But, I don't see----" began Byrd. + +"Wait," interrupted the other. "You believe Miss Dare loves Craik +Mansell?" + +"Most certainly," was the gloomy response. + +"Very well, then. If she had known what the defence was going to be she +would have been acutely alive to the effect it was going to have upon +the jury. That would have been her first thought and her only thought +all the time Mr. Orcutt was speaking, and she would have sat with her +eyes fixed upon the men upon whose acceptance or non-acceptance of the +truth of this argument her lover's life ultimately depended. But no; her +gaze, like yours, remained fixed upon Mr. Orcutt, and she scarcely +breathed or stirred till he had fully revealed what his argument was +going to be. Then----" + +"Well, then?" + +"Instead of flashing with the joy of relief which any devoted woman +would experience who sees in this argument a proof of her lover's +innocence, she merely dropped her eyes and resumed her old mask of +impassiveness." + +"From all of which you gather----" + +"That her feelings were not those of relief, but doubt. In other words, +that the knowledge she possesses is of a character which laughs to scorn +any such subterfuge of defence as Orcutt advances." + +"Hickory," ventured Byrd, after a long silence, "it is time we +understood each other. What is your secret thought in relation to Miss +Dare?" + +"My secret thought? Well," drawled the other, looking away, "I think +she knows more about this crime than she has yet chosen to reveal." + +"More than she evinced to-day in her testimony?" + +"Yes." + +"I should like to know why you think so. What special reasons have you +for drawing any such conclusions?" + +"Well, one reason is, that she was no more shaken by the plausible +argument advanced by Mr. Orcutt. If her knowledge of the crime was +limited to what she acknowledged in her testimony, and her conclusions +as to Mansell's guilt were really founded upon such facts as she gave us +in court to-day, why didn't she grasp at the possibility of her lover's +innocence which was held out to her by his counsel? No facts that she +had testified to, not even the fact of his ring having been found on the +scene of murder, could stand before the proof that he left the region of +Mrs. Clemmens' house before the moment of assault; yet, while evincing +interest in the argument, and some confidence in it, too, as one that +would be likely to satisfy the jury, she gave no tokens of being +surprised by it into a reconsideration of her own conclusions, as must +have happened if she told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but +the truth, when she was on the stand to-day." + +"I see," remarked Byrd, "that you are presuming to understand Miss Dare +after all." + +Hickory smiled. + +"You call this woman a mystery," proceeded Byrd; "hint at great +possibilities of acting on her part, and yet in a moment, as it were, +profess yourself the reader of her inmost thoughts, and the interpreter +of looks and expressions she has manifestly assumed to hide those +thoughts." + +Hickory's smile broadened into a laugh. + +"Just so," he cried. "One's imbecility has to stop somewhere." Then, as +he saw Byrd look grave, added: "I haven't a single fact at my command +that isn't shared by you. My conclusions are different, that is all." + +Horace Byrd did not answer. Perhaps if Hickory could have sounded his +thoughts he would have discovered that their conclusions were not so far +apart as he imagined. + +"Hickory," Byrd at last demanded, "what do you propose to do with your +conclusions?" + +"I propose to wait and see if Mr. Orcutt proves his case. If he don't, I +have nothing more to say; but if he does, I think I shall call the +attention of Mr. Ferris to one question he has omitted to ask Miss +Dare." + +"And what is that?" + +"Where she was on the morning of Mrs. Clemmens' murder. You remember you +took some interest in that question yourself a while ago." + +"But----" + +"Not that I think any thing will come of it, only my conscience will be +set at rest." + +"Hickory,"--Byrd's face had quite altered now--"where do you think Miss +Dare was at that time?" + +"Where do I think she was?" repeated Hickory. + +"Well, I will tell you. I think she was _not_ in Professor Darling's +observatory." + +"Do you think she was in the glade back of Widow Clemmens' house?" + +"Now you ask me conundrums." + +"Hickory!" Byrd spoke almost violently, "Mr. Orcutt shall not prove his +case." + +"No?" + +"I will make the run over the ground supposed to have been taken by +Mansell in his flight, and show in my own proper person that it can be +done in the time specified." + +Hickory's eye, which had taken a rapid survey of his companion's form +during the utterance of the above, darkened, then he slowly shook his +head. + +"You couldn't," he rejoined laconically. "Too little staying power; +you'd give out before you got clear of the woods. Better delegate the +job to me." + +"To you?" + +"Yes. I'm of the make to stand long runs; besides I am no novice at +athletic sports of any kind. More than one race has owed its interest to +the efforts of your humble servant. 'Tis my pet amusement, you see, as +off-hand drawing is yours, and is likely to be of as much use to me, +eh?" + +"Hickory, you are chaffing me." + +"Think so? Do you see that five-barred gate over there? Well, now keep +your eye on the top rail and see if I clear it without a graze or not." + +"Stop!" exclaimed Mr. Byrd, "don't make a fool of yourself in the public +street. I'll believe you if you say you understand such things." + +"Well, I do, and what is more, I'm an adept at them. If I can't make +that run in the time requisite to show that Mansell could have committed +the murder, and yet arrive at the station the moment he did, I don't +know of a chap who can." + +"Hickory, do you mean to say you _will_ make this run?" + +"Yes." + +"With a conscientious effort to prove that Orcutt's scheme of defence is +false?" + +"Yes." + +"When?" + +"To-morrow." + +"While we are in court?" + +"Yes." + +Byrd turned square around, gave Hickory a look and offered his hand. + +"You are a good fellow," he declared, "May luck go with you." + +Hickory suddenly became unusually thoughtful. + +"A little while ago," he reflected, "this fellow's sympathies were all +with Mansell; now he would risk my limbs and neck to have the man proved +guilty. He does not wish Miss Dare to be questioned again, I see." + +"Hickory," resumed Byrd, a few minutes later, "Orcutt has not rested the +defence upon this one point without being very sure of its being +unassailable." + +"I know that." + +"He has had more than one expert make that run during the weeks that +have elapsed since the murder. It has been tested to the uttermost." + +"I know _that_." + +"If you succeed then in doing what none of these others have, it must be +by dint of a better understanding of the route you have to take and the +difficulties you will have to overcome. Now, do you understand the +route?" + +"I think so." + +"You will have to start from the widow's door, you know?" + +"Certain." + +"Cross the bog, enter the woods, skirt the hut--but I won't go into +details. The best way to prove you know exactly what you have to do is +to see if you can describe the route yourself. Come into my room, old +fellow, and let us see if you can give me a sufficiently exact account +of the ground you will have to pass over, for me to draw up a chart by +it. An hour spent with paper and pencil to-night may save you from an +uncertainty to-morrow that would lose you a good ten minutes." + +"Good! that's an idea; let's try it," rejoined Hickory. + +And being by this time at the hotel, they went in. In another moment +they were shut up in Mr. Byrd's room, with a large sheet of foolscap +before them. + +"Now," cried Horace, taking up a pencil, "begin with your description, +and I will follow with my drawing." + +"Very well," replied Hickory, setting himself forward in a way to watch +his colleague's pencil. "I leave the widow's house by the dining-room +door--a square for the house, Byrd, well down in the left-hand corner of +the paper, and a dotted line for the path I take,--run down the yard to +the fence, leap it, cross the bog, and make straight for the woods." + +"Very good," commented Byrd, sketching rapidly as the other spoke. + +"Having taken care to enter where the trees are thinnest, I find a path +along which I rush in a bee-line till I come to the glade--an ellipse +for the glade, Byrd, with a dot in it for the hut. Merely stopping to +dash into the hut and out again----" + +"Wait!" put in Byrd, pausing with his pencil in mid-air; "what did you +want to go into the hut for?" + +"To get the bag which I propose to leave there to-night." + +"Bag?" + +[Illustration: (Page 364)] + +"Yes; Mansell carried a bag, didn't he? Don't you remember what the +station-master said about the curious portmanteau the fellow had in +his hand when he came to the station?" + +"Yes, but----" + +"Byrd, if I run that fellow to his death it must be fairly. A man with +an awkward bag in his hand cannot run like a man without one. So I +handicap myself in the same way he did, do you see?" + +"Yes." + +"Very well, then; I rush into the hut, pick up the bag, carry it out, +and dash immediately into the woods at the opening behind the hut.--What +are you doing?" + +"Just putting in a few landmarks," explained Byrd, who had run his +pencil off in an opposite direction. "See, that is the path to West Side +which I followed in my first expedition through the woods--the path, +too, which Miss Dare took when she came to the hut at the time of the +fearful thunderstorm. And wait, let me put in Professor Darling's house, +too, and the ridge from which you can see Mrs. Clemmens' cottage. It +will help us to understand----" + +"What?" cried Hickory, with quick suspiciousness, as the other paused. + +But Byrd, impatiently shaking his head, answered: + +"The whole situation, of course." Then, pointing hastily back to the +hut, exclaimed: "So you have entered the woods again at this place? Very +well; what then?" + +"Well, then," resumed Hickory, "I make my way along the path I find +there--run it at right angles to the one leading up to the glade--till +I come to a stony ledge covered with blackberry bushes. (A very cleverly +drawn blackberry patch that, Byrd.) Here I fear I shall have to pause." + +"Why?" + +"Because, deuce take me if I can remember where the path runs after +that." + +"But I can. A big hemlock-tree stands just at the point where the woods +open again. Make for that and you will be all right." + +"Good enough; but it's mighty rough travelling over that ledge, and I +shall have to go at a foot's pace. The stones are slippery as glass, and +a fall would scarcely be conducive to the final success of my scheme." + +"I will make the path serpentine." + +"That will be highly expressive." + +"And now, what next?" + +"The Foresters' Road, Byrd, upon which I ought to come about this time. +Run it due east and west--not that I have surveyed the ground, but it +looks more natural so--and let the dotted line traverse it toward the +right, for that is the direction in which I shall go." + +"It's done," said Byrd. + +"Well, description fails me now. All I know is, I come out on a hillside +running straight down to the river-bank and that the highway is visible +beyond, leading directly to the station; but the way to get to it----" + +"I will show you," interposed Byrd, mapping out the station and the +intervening river with a few quick strokes of his dexterous pencil. "You +see this point where you issue from the woods? Very good; it is, as you +say, on a hillside overlooking the river. Well, it seems unfortunate, +but there is no way of crossing that river at this point. The falls +above and below make it no place for boats, and you will have to go back +along its banks for some little distance before you come to a bridge. +But there is no use in hesitating or looking about for a shorter path. +The woods just here are encumbered with a mass of tangled undergrowth +which make them simply impassable except as you keep in the road, while +the river curves so frequently and with so much abruptness--see, I will +endeavor to give you some notion of it here--that you would only waste +time in attempting to make any short cuts. But, once over the +bridge----" + +"I have only to foot it," burst in Hickory, taking up the sketch which +the other had now completed, and glancing at it with a dubious eye. "Do +you know, Byrd," he remarked in another moment, "that it strikes me +Mansell did not take this roundabout road to the station?" + +"Why?" + +"Because it _is_ so roundabout, and he is such a clearheaded fellow. +Couldn't he have got there by some shorter cut?" + +"No. Don't you remember how Orcutt cross-examined the station-master +about the appearance which Mansell presented when he came upon the +platform, and how that person was forced to acknowledge that, although +the prisoner looked heated and exhausted, his clothes were neither +muddied nor torn? Now, I did not think of it at the time, but this was +done by Orcutt to prove that Mansell did take the road I have jotted +down here, since any other would have carried him through swamps +knee-deep with mud, or amongst stones and briers which would have put +him in a state of disorder totally unfitting him for travel." + +"That is so," acquiesced Hickory, after a moment's thought. "Mansell +must be kept in the path. Well, well, we will see to-morrow if wit and a +swift foot can make any thing out of this problem." + +"Wit? Hickory, it _will_ be wit and not a swift foot. Or luck, maybe I +should call it, or rather providence. If a wagon should be going along +the highway, now----" + +"Let me alone for availing myself of it," laughed Hickory. "Wagon! I +would jump on the back of a mule sooner than lose the chance of gaining +a minute on these experts whose testimony we are to hear to-morrow. +Don't lose confidence in old Hickory yet. He's the boy for this job if +he isn't for any other." + +And so the matter was settled. + + + + +XXXI. + +THE CHIEF WITNESS FOR THE DEFENCE. + + Your _If_ is the only peace-maker; much virtue in _If_.--AS YOU + LIKE IT. + + +THE crowd that congregated at the court-house the next morning was even +greater than at any previous time. The opening speech of Mr. Orcutt had +been telegraphed all over the country, and many who had not been +specially interested in the case before felt an anxiety to hear how he +would substantiate the defence he had so boldly and confidently put +forth. + +To the general eye, however, the appearance of the court-room was much +the same as on the previous day. Only to the close observer was it +evident that the countenances of the several actors in this exciting +drama wore a different expression. Mr. Byrd, who by dint of the most +energetic effort had succeeded in procuring his old seat, was one of +these, and as he noted the significant change, wished that Hickory had +been at his side to note it with him. + +The first person he observed was, naturally, the Judge. + +Judge Evans, who has been but barely introduced to the reader, was a man +of great moral force and discretion. He had occupied his present +position for many years, and possessed not only the confidence but the +affections of those who came within the sphere of his jurisdiction. The +reason for this undoubtedly lay in his sympathetic nature. While never +accused of weakness, he so unmistakably retained the feeling heart under +the official ermine that it was by no means an uncommon thing for him to +show more emotion in uttering a sentence than the man he condemned did +in listening to it. + +His expression, then, upon this momentous morning was of great +significance to Mr. Byrd. In its hopefulness and cheer was written the +extent of the effect made upon the unprejudiced mind by the promised +defence. + +As for Mr. Orcutt himself, no advocate could display a more confident +air or prepare to introduce his witnesses with more dignity or quiet +assurance. His self-possession was so marked, indeed, that Mr. Byrd, who +felt a sympathetic interest in what he knew to be seething in this man's +breast, was greatly surprised, and surveyed, with a feeling almost akin +to awe, the lawyer who could so sink all personal considerations in the +cause he was trying. + +Miss Dare, on the contrary, was in a state of nervous agitation. Though +no movement betrayed this, the very force of the restraint she put upon +herself showed the extent of her inner excitement. + +The prisoner alone remained unchanged. Nothing could shake his steady +soul from its composure, not the possibility of death or the prospect of +release. He was absolutely imposing in his quiet presence, and Mr. Byrd +could not but admire the power of the man even while recoiling from his +supposed guilt. + +The opening of the defence carried the minds of many back to the +inquest. The nice question of time was gone into, and the moment when +Mrs. Clemmens was found lying bleeding and insensible at the foot of her +dining-room clock, fixed at three or four minutes past noon. The next +point to be ascertained was when she received the deadly blow. + +And here the great surprise of the defence occurred. Mr. Orcutt rose, +and in clear, firm tones said: + +"Gouverneur Hildreth, take the stand." + +Instantly, and before the witness could comply, Mr. Ferris was on his +feet. + +"Who? what?" he cried. + +"Gouverneur Hildreth," repeated Mr. Orcutt. + +"Did you know this gentleman has already been in custody upon suspicion +of having committed the crime for which the prisoner is now being +tried?" + +"I do," returned Mr. Orcutt, with imperturbable _sang froid_. + +"And is it your intention to save your client from the gallows by +putting the halter around the neck of the man you now propose to call as +a witness?" + +"No," retorted Mr. Orcutt; "_I_ do not propose to put the halter about +any man's neck. That is the proud privilege of my learned and respected +opponent." + +With an impatient frown Mr. Ferris sat down, while Mr. Hildreth, who +had taken advantage of this short passage of arms between the lawyers to +retain his place in the remote corner where he was more or less shielded +from the curiosity of the crowd, rose, and, with a slow and painful +movement that at once attracted attention to his carefully bandaged +throat and the general air of debility which surrounded him, came +hesitatingly forward and took his stand in face of the judge and jury. + +Necessarily a low murmur greeted him from the throng of interested +spectators who saw in this appearance before them of the man who, by no +more than a hair's-breadth, had escaped occupying the position of the +prisoner, another of those dramatic incidents with which this trial +seemed fairly to bristle. + +It was hushed by one look from the Judge, but not before it had awakened +in Mr. Hildreth's weak and sensitive nature those old emotions of shame +and rage whose token was a flush so deep and profuse it unconsciously +repelled the gaze of all who beheld it. Immediately Mr. Byrd, who sat +with bated breath, as it were, so intense was his excitement over the +unexpected turn of affairs, recognized the full meaning of the +situation, and awarded to Mr. Orcutt all the admiration which his skill +in bringing it about undoubtedly deserved. Indeed, as the detective's +quick glance flashed first at the witness, cringing in his old +unfortunate way before the gaze of the crowd, and then at the prisoner +sitting unmoved and quietly disdainful in his dignity and pride, he +felt that, whether Mr. Orcutt succeeded in getting all he wished from +his witness, the mere conjunction of these two men before the jury, with +the opportunity for comparison between them which it inevitably offered, +was the master-stroke of this eminent lawyer's legal career. + +Mr. Ferris seemed to feel the significance of the moment also, for his +eyes fell and his brow contracted with a sudden doubt that convinced Mr. +Byrd that, mentally, he was on the point of giving up his case. + +The witness was at once sworn. + +"Orcutt believes Hildreth to be the murderer, or, at least, is willing +that others should be impressed with this belief," was the comment of +Byrd to himself at this juncture. + +He had surprised a look which had passed between the lawyer and Miss +Dare--a look of such piercing sarcasm and scornful inquiry that it might +well arrest the detective's attention and lead him to question the +intentions of the man who could allow such an expression of his feelings +to escape him. + +But whether the detective was correct in his inferences, or whether Mr. +Orcutt's glance at Imogene meant no more than the natural emotion of a +man who suddenly sees revealed to the woman he loves the face of him for +whose welfare she has expressed the greatest concern and for whose sake, +while unknown, she has consented to make the heaviest of sacrifices, the +wary lawyer was careful to show neither scorn nor prejudice when he +turned toward the witness and began his interrogations. + +On the contrary, his manner was highly respectful, if not considerate, +and his questions while put with such art as to keep the jury constantly +alert to the anomalous position which the witness undoubtedly held, were +of a nature mainly to call forth the one fact for which his testimony +was presumably desired. This was, his presence in the widow's house on +the morning of the murder, and the fact that he saw her and conversed +with her and could swear to her being alive and unhurt up to a few +minutes before noon. To be sure, the precise minute of his leaving her +in this condition Mr. Orcutt failed to gather from the witness, but, +like the coroner at the inquest, he succeeded in eliciting enough to +show that the visit had been completed prior to the appearance of the +tramp at the widow's kitchen-door, as it had been begun after the +disappearance of the Danton children from the front of the widow's +house. + +This fact being established and impressed upon the jury, Mr. Orcutt with +admirable judgment cut short his own examination of the witness, and +passed him over to the District Attorney, with a grim smile, suggestive +of his late taunt, that to this gentleman belonged the special privilege +of weaving halters for the necks of unhappy criminals. + +Mr. Ferris who understood his adversary's tactics only too well, but who +in his anxiety for the truth could not afford to let such an +opportunity for reaching it slip by, opened his cross-examination with +great vigor. + +The result could not but be favorable to the defence and damaging to the +prosecution. The position which Mr. Hildreth must occupy if the prisoner +was acquitted, was patent to all understandings, making each and every +admission on his part tending to exculpate the latter, of a manifest +force and significance. + +Mr. Ferris, however, was careful not to exceed his duty or press his +inquiries beyond due bounds. The man they were trying was not Gouverneur +Hildreth but Craik Mansell, and to press the witness too close, was to +urge him into admissions seemingly so damaging to himself as, in the +present state of affairs, to incur the risk of distracting attention +entirely from the prisoner. + +Mr. Hildreth's examination being at an end, Mr. Orcutt proceeded with +his case, by furnishing proof calculated to fix the moment at which Mr. +Hildreth had made his call. This was done in much the same way as it was +at the inquest. Mrs. Clemmens' next-door neighbor, Mrs. Danton, was +summoned to the stand, and after her her two children, the testimony of +the three, taken with Mr. Hildreth's own acknowledgments, making it very +evident to all who listened that he could not have gone into Mrs. +Clemmens' house before a quarter to twelve. + +The natural inference followed. Allowing the least possible time for his +interview with Mrs. Clemmens, the moment at which the witness swore to +having seen her alive and unhurt must have been as late as ten minutes +before noon. + +Taking pains to impress this time upon the jury, Mr. Orcutt next +proceeded to fix the moment at which the prisoner arrived at Monteith +Quarry Station. As the fact of his having arrived in time to take the +afternoon train to Buffalo had been already proved by the prosecution, +it was manifestly necessary only to determine at what hour the train was +due, and whether it had come in on time. + +The hour was ascertained, by direct consultation with the road's +time-table, to be just twenty minutes past one, and the station-master +having been called to the stand, gave it as his best knowledge and +belief that the train had been on time. + +This, however, not being deemed explicit enough for the purposes of the +defence, there was submitted to the jury a telegram bearing the date of +that same day, and distinctly stating that the train was on time. This +was testified to by the conductor of the train as having been sent by +him to the superintendent of the road who was awaiting the cars at +Monteith; and was received as evidence and considered as conclusively +fixing the hour at which the prisoner arrived at the Quarry Station as +twenty minutes past one. + +This settled, witnesses were called to testify as to the nature of the +path by which he must have travelled from the widow's house to the +station. A chart similar to that Mr. Byrd had drawn, but more explicit +and nice in its details, was submitted to the jury by an actual surveyor +of the ground; after which, and the establishment of other minor details +not necessary to enumerate here, a man of well-known proficiency in +running and other athletic sports, was summoned to the stand. + +Mr. Byrd, who up to this moment had shared in the interest every where +displayed in the defence, now felt his attention wandering. The fact is, +he had heard the whistle of the train on which Hickory had promised to +return to Sibley, and interesting as was the testimony given by the +witness, he could not prevent his eyes from continually turning toward +the door by which he expected Hickory to enter. + +Strange to say, Mr. Orcutt seemed to take a like interest in that same +door, and was more than once detected by Byrd flashing a hurried glance +in its direction, as if he, too, were on the look-out for some one. + +Meantime the expert in running was saying: + +"It took me one hundred and twenty minutes to go over the ground the +first time, and one hundred and fifteen minutes the next. I gained five +minutes the second time, you see," he explained, "by knowing my ground +better and by saving my strength where it was of no avail to attempt +great speed. The last time I made the effort, however, I lost three +minutes on my former time. The wood road which I had to take for some +distance was deep with mud, and my feet sank with every step. The +shortest time, then, which I was able to make in three attempts, was one +hundred and fifteen minutes." + +Now, as the time between the striking of the fatal blow and the hour at +which the prisoner arrived at the Quarry Station was only ninety +minutes, a general murmur of satisfaction followed this announcement. It +was only momentary, however, for Mr. Ferris, rising to cross-examine the +witness, curiosity prevailed over all lesser emotions, and an immediate +silence followed without the intervention of the Court. + +"Did you make these three runs from Mrs. Clemmens' house to Monteith +Quarry Station entirely on foot?" + +"I did, sir." + +"Was that necessary?" + +"Yes, sir; as far as the highway, at least. The path through the woods +is not wide enough for a horse, unless it be for that short distance +where the Foresters' Road intervenes." + +"And you ran there?" + +"Yes, sir, twice at full speed; the third time I had the experience I +have told you of." + +"And how long do you think it took you to go over that especial portion +of ground?" + +"Five minutes, maybe." + +"And, supposing you had had a horse?" + +"Well, sir, _if_ I had had a horse, and _if_ he had been waiting there, +all ready for me to jump on his back, and _if_ he had been a good +runner and used to the road, I think I could have gone over it in two +minutes, if I had not first broken my neck on some of the jagged stones +that roughen the road." + +"In other words, you could have saved three minutes if you had been +furnished with a horse at that particular spot?" + +"Yes, _if_." + +Mr. Orcutt, whose eye had been fixed upon the door at this particular +juncture, now looked back at the witness and hurriedly rose to his feet. + +"Has my esteemed friend any testimony on hand to prove that the prisoner +had a horse at this place? if he has not, I object to these questions." + +"What testimony I have to produce will come in at its proper time," +retorted Mr. Ferris. "Meanwhile, I think I have a right to put this or +any other kind of similar question to the witness." + +The Judge acquiescing with a nod, Mr. Orcutt sat down. + +Mr. Ferris went on. + +"Did you meet any one on the road during any of these three runs which +you made?" + +"No, sir. That is, I met no one in the woods. There were one or two +persons on the highway the last time I ran over it." + +"Were they riding or walking?" + +"Walking." + +Here Mr. Orcutt interposed. + +"Did you say that in passing over the highway you ran?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Why did you do this? Had you not been told that the prisoner was seen +to be walking when he came down the road to the station?" + +"Yes, sir. But I was in for time, you see." + +"And you did not make it even with that advantage?" + +"No, sir." + +The second expert had the same story to tell, with a few variations. He +had made one of his runs in five minutes less than the other had done, +but it was by a great exertion that left him completely exhausted when +he arrived at the station. It was during his cross-examination that +Hickory at last came in. + +Horace Byrd, who had been growing very impatient during the last few +minutes, happened to be looking at the door when it opened to admit this +late comer. So was Mr. Orcutt. But Byrd did not notice this, or Hickory +either. If they had, perhaps Hickory would have been more careful to +hide his feelings. As it was, he no sooner met his colleague's eye than +he gave a quick, despondent shake of the head in intimation that he had +_failed_. + +Mr. Byrd, who had anticipated a different result, was greatly +disappointed. His countenance fell and he cast a glance of compassion +at Miss Dare, now flushing with a secret but slowly growing hope. The +defence, then, was good, and she ran the risk of being interrogated +again. It was a prospect from which Mr. Byrd recoiled. + +As soon as Hickory got the chance, he made his way to the side of Byrd. + +"No go," was his low but expressive salutation. "One hundred and five +minutes is the shortest time in which I can get over the ground, and +that by a deuced hard scramble of it too." + +"But that's five minutes' gain on the experts," Byrd whispered. + +"Is it? Hope I could gain something on them, but what's five minutes' +gain in an affair like this? Fifteen is what's wanted." + +"I know it." + +"And fifteen I cannot make, nor ten either, unless a pair of wings +should be given me to carry me over the river." + +"Sure?" + +"Sure!" + +Here there was some commotion in their vicinity, owing to the withdrawal +of the last witness from the stand. Hickory took advantage of the bustle +to lean over and whisper in Byrd's ear: + +"Do you know I think I have been watched to-day. There was a fellow +concealed in Mrs. Clemmens' house, who saw me leave it, and who, I have +no doubt, took express note of the time I started. And there was another +chap hanging round the station at the quarries, whom I am almost sure +had no business there unless it was to see at what moment I arrived. He +came back to Sibley when I did, but he telegraphed first, and it is my +opinion that Orcutt----" + +Here he was greatly startled by hearing his name spoken in a loud and +commanding tone of voice. Stopping short, he glanced up, encountered the +eye of Mr. Orcutt fixed upon him from the other side of the court-room, +and realized he was being summoned to the witness stand. + +"The deuce!" he murmured, with a look at Byrd to which none but an +artist could do justice. + + + + +XXXII. + +HICKORY. + + Hickory, dickory, dock! + The mouse ran up the clock! + The clock struck one, + And down he run! + Hickory, dickory, dock! + --MOTHER GOOSE MELODIES. + + +HICKORY'S face was no new one to the court. He had occupied a +considerable portion of one day in giving testimony for the prosecution, +and his rough manner and hardy face, twinkling, however, at times with +an irrepressible humor that redeemed it and him from all charge of +ugliness, were well known not only to the jury but to all the _habitues_ +of the trial. Yet, when he stepped upon the stand at the summons of Mr. +Orcutt, every eye turned toward him with curiosity, so great was the +surprise with which his name had been hailed, and so vivid the interest +aroused in what a detective devoted to the cause of the prosecution +might have to say in the way of supporting the defence. + +The first question uttered by Mr. Orcutt served to put them upon the +right track. + +"Will you tell the court where you have been to-day, Mr. Hickory?" + +"Well," replied the witness in a slow and ruminating tone of voice, as +he cast a look at Mr. Ferris, half apologetic and half reassuring, "I +have been in a good many places----" + +"You know what I mean," interrupted Mr. Orcutt. "Tell the court where +you were between the hours of eleven and a quarter to one," he added, +with a quick glance at the paper he held in his hand. + +"Oh, _then_," cried Hickory, suddenly relaxing into his drollest self. +"Well, _then_, I was all along the route from Sibley to Monteith Quarry +Station. I don't think I was stationary at any one minute of the time, +sir." + +"In other words----" suggested Mr. Orcutt, severely. + +"I was trying to show myself smarter than my betters;" bowing with a +great show of respect to the two experts who sat near. "_Or_, in other +words still, I was trying to make the distance between Mrs. Clemmens' +house and the station I have mentioned, in time sufficient to upset the +defence, sir." + +And the look he cast at Mr. Ferris was wholly apologetic now. + +"Ah, I understand, and at whose suggestion did you undertake to do this, +Mr. Hickory?" + +"At the suggestion of a friend of mine, who is also somewhat of a +detective." + +"And when was this suggestion given?" + +"After your speech, sir, yesterday afternoon." + +"And where?" + +"At the hotel, sir, where I and my friend put up." + +"Did not the counsel for the prosecution order you to make this +attempt?" + +"No, sir." + +"Did he not know you were going to make it?" + +"No, sir." + +"Who did know it?" + +"My friend." + +"No one else?" + +"Well, sir, judging from my present position, I should say there seems +to have been some one else," the witness slyly retorted. + +The calmness with which Mr. Orcutt carried on this examination suffered +a momentary disturbance. + +"You know what I mean," he returned. "Did you tell any one but your +friend that you were going to undertake this run?" + +"No, sir." + +"Mr. Hickory," the lawyer now pursued, "will you tell us why you +considered yourself qualified to succeed in an attempt where you had +already been told regular experts had failed?" + +"Well, sir, I don't know unless you find the solution in the slightly +presumptive character of my disposition." + +"Had you ever run before or engaged in athletic sports of any kind?" + +"Oh, yes, I have run before." + +"And engaged in athletic sports?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Mr. Hickory, have you ever run in a race with men of well-known +reputation for speed?" + +"Well, yes, I have." + +"Did you ever win in running such a race?" + +"Once." + +"No more?" + +"Well, then, twice." + +The dejection with which this last assent came forth roused the mirth of +some light-hearted, feather-headed people, but the officers of the court +soon put a stop to that. + +"Mr. Hickory, will you tell us whether on account of having twice beaten +in a race requiring the qualifications of a professional runner, you +considered yourself qualified to judge of the feasibility of any other +man's making the distance from Mrs. Clemmens' house to Monteith Quarry +Station in ninety minutes by your own ability or non-ability to do so?" + +"Yes, sir, I did; but a man's judgment of his own qualifications don't +go very far, I've been told." + +"I did not ask you for any remarks, Mr. Hickory. This is a serious +matter and demands serious treatment. I asked if in undertaking to make +this run in ninety minutes you did not presume to judge of the +feasibility of the prisoner having made it in that time, and you +answered, 'Yes.' It was enough." + +The witness bowed with an air of great innocence. + +"Now," resumed the lawyer, "you say you made a run from Mrs. Clemmens' +house to Monteith Quarry Station to-day. Before telling us in what time +you did it, will you be kind enough to say what route you took?" + +"The one, sir, which has been pointed out by the prosecution as that +which the prisoner undoubtedly took--the path through the woods and over +the bridge to the highway. I knew no other." + +"Did you know _this_?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"How came you to know it?" + +"I had been over it before." + +"The whole distance?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Mr. Hickory, were you well enough acquainted with the route not to be +obliged to stop at any point during your journey to see if you were in +the right path or taking the most direct road to your destination?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And when you got to the river?" + +"I turned straight to the right and made for the bridge." + +"Did you not pause long enough to see if you could not cross the stream +in some way?" + +"No, sir. I don't know how to swim in my clothes and keep them dry, and +as for my wings, I had unfortunately left them at home." + +Mr. Orcutt frowned. + +"These attempts at humor," said he, "are very _mal a propos_, Mr. +Hickory." Then, with a return to his usual tone: "Did you cross the +bridge at a run?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And did you keep up your pace when you got to the highroad?" + +"No, I did not." + +"You did not?" + +"No, sir." + +"And why, may I ask?" + +"I was tired." + +"Tired?" + +"Yes, sir." + +There was a droll demureness in the way Hickory said this which made Mr. +Orcutt pause. But in another minute he went on. + +"And what pace do you take when you are tired?" + +"A horse's pace when I can get it," was the laughing reply. "A team was +going by, sir, and I just jumped up with the driver." + +"Ah, you rode, then, part of the way? Was it a fast team, Mr. Hickory?" + +"Well, it wasn't one of Bonner's." + +"Did they go faster than a man could run?" + +"Yes, sir, I am obliged to say they did." + +"And how long did you ride behind them?" + +"Till I got in sight of the station." + +"Why did you not go farther?" + +"Because I had been told the prisoner was seen to walk up to the +station, and I meant to be fair to him when I knew how." + +"Oh, you did; and do you think it was fair to him to steal a ride on the +highway?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And why?" + +"Because no one has ever told me he didn't ride down the highway, at +least till he came within sight of the station." + +"Mr. Hickory," inquired the lawyer, severely, "are you in possession of +any knowledge proving that he did?" + +"No, sir." + +Mr. Byrd, who had been watching the prisoner breathlessly through all +this, saw or thought he saw the faintest shadow of an odd, disdainful +smile cross his sternly composed features at this moment. But he could +not be sure. There was enough in the possibility, however, to make the +detective thoughtful; but Mr. Orcutt proceeding rapidly with his +examination, left him no time to formulate his sensations into words. + +"So that by taking this wagon you are certain you lost no time?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Rather gained some?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Mr. Hickory, will you now state whether you put forth your full speed +to-day in going from Mrs. Clemmens' house to the Quarry Station?" + +"I did not." + +"What?" + +"I did not put forth any thing like my full speed, sir," the witness +repeated, with a twinkle in the direction of Byrd that fell just short +of being a decided wink. + +"And why, may I ask? What restrained you from running as fast as you +could? Sympathy for the defence?" + +The ironical suggestion conveyed in this last question gave Hickory an +excuse for indulging in his peculiar humor. + +"No, sir; sympathy for the prosecution. I feared the loss of one of its +most humble but valuable assistants. In other words, I was afraid I +should break my neck." + +"And why should you have any special fears of breaking your neck?" + +"The path is so uneven, sir. No man could run for much of the way +without endangering his life or at least his limbs." + +"Did you run when you could?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And in those places where you could not run, did you proceed as fast as +you knew how?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Very well; now I think it is time you told the jury just how many +minutes it took you to go from Mrs. Clemmens' door to the Monteith +Quarry Station." + +"Well, sir, according to _my_ watch, it took one hundred and five +minutes." + +Mr. Orcutt glanced impressively at the jury. + +"One hundred and five minutes," he repeated. He then turned to the +witness with his concluding questions. + +"Mr. Hickory, were you present in the court-room just now when the two +experts whom I have employed to make the run gave their testimony?" + +"No, sir." + +"Do you know in what time they made it?" + +"I believe I do. I was told by the person whom I informed of my failure +that I had gained five minutes upon them." + +"And what did you reply?" + +"That I hoped I could make something on _them_; but that five minutes +wasn't much when a clean fifteen was wanted," returned Hickory, with +another droll look at the experts and an askance appeal at Byrd, which +being translated might read: "How in the deuce could this man have known +what I was whispering to you on the other side of the court-room? Is he +a wizard, this Orcutt?" + +He forgot that a successful lawyer is always more or less of a wizard. + + + + +XXXIII. + +A LATE DISCOVERY. + + Oh, torture me no more, I will confess.--KING LEAR. + + +WITH the cross-examination of Hickory, the defence rested, and the day +being far advanced, the court adjourned. + +During the bustle occasioned by the departure of the prisoner, Mr. Byrd +took occasion to glance at the faces of those most immediately concerned +in the trial. + +His first look naturally fell upon Mr. Orcutt. Ah! all was going well +with the great lawyer. Hope, if not triumph, beamed in his eye and +breathed in every movement of his alert and nervous form. He was looking +across the court-room at Imogene Dare, and his features wore a faint +smile that indelibly impressed itself upon Mr. Byrd's memory. Perhaps +because there was something really peculiar and remarkable in its +expression, and perhaps because of the contrast it offered to his own +feelings of secret doubt and dread. + +His next look naturally followed that of Mr. Orcutt and rested upon +Imogene Dare. Ah! she was under the spell of awakening hope also. It was +visible in her lightened brow, her calmer and less studied aspect, her +eager and eloquently speaking gaze yet lingering on the door through +which the prisoner had departed. As Mr. Byrd marked this look of hers +and noted all it revealed, he felt his emotions rise till they almost +confounded him. But strong as they were, they deepened still further +when, in another moment, he beheld her suddenly drop her eyes from the +door and turn them slowly, reluctantly but gratefully, upon Mr. Orcutt. +All the story of her life was in that change of look; all the story of +her future, too, perhaps, if---- Mr. Byrd dared not trust himself to +follow the contingency that lurked behind that _if_, and, to divert his +mind, turned his attention to Mr. Ferris. + +But he found small comfort there. For the District Attorney was not +alone. Hickory stood at his side, and Hickory was whispering in his ear, +and Mr. Byrd, who knew what was weighing on his colleague's mind, found +no difficulty in interpreting the mingled expression of perplexity and +surprise that crossed the dark, aquiline features of the District +Attorney as he listened with slightly bended head to what the detective +had to say. That look and the deep, anxious frown which crossed his brow +as he glanced up and encountered Imogene's eye, remained in Mr. Byrd's +mind long after the court-room was empty and he had returned to his +hotel. It mingled with the smile of strange satisfaction which he had +detected on Mr. Orcutt's face, and awakened such a turmoil of +contradictory images in his mind that he was glad when Hickory at last +came in to break the spell. + +Their meeting was singular, and revealed, as by a flash, the difference +between the two men. Byrd contented himself with giving Hickory a look +and saying nothing, while Hickory bestowed upon Byrd a hearty "Well, old +fellow!" and broke out into a loud and by no means unenjoyable laugh. + +"You didn't expect to see me mounting the rostrum in favor of the +defence, did you?" he asked, after he had indulged himself as long as he +saw fit in the display of this somewhat unseasonable mirth. "Well, it +was a surprise. But I've done it for Orcutt now!" + +"You have?" + +"Yes, I have." + +"But the prosecution has closed its case?" + +"Bah! what of that?" was the careless reply. "The District Attorney can +get it reopened. No Court would refuse that." + +Horace surveyed his colleague for a moment in silence. + +"So Mr. Ferris was struck with the point you gave him?" he ventured, at +last. + +"Well, sufficiently so to be uneasy," was Hickory's somewhat dry +response. + +The look with which Byrd answered him was eloquent. "And that makes you +cheerful?" he inquired, with ill-concealed sarcasm. + +"Well, it has a slight tendency that way," drawled the other, seemingly +careless of the other's expression, if, indeed, he had noted it. "You +see," he went on, with a meaning wink and a smile of utter unconcern, +"all my energies just now are concentrated on getting myself even with +that somewhat too wide-awake lawyer." And his smile broadened till it +merged into a laugh that was rasping enough to Byrd's more delicate and +generous sensibilities. + +"Sufficiently so to be uneasy!" Yes, that was it. From the minute Mr. +Ferris listened to the suggestion that Miss Dare had not told all she +knew about the murder, and that a question relative to where she had +been at the time it was perpetrated would, in all probability, bring +strange revelations to light, he had been awakened to a most +uncomfortable sense of his position and the duty that was possibly +required of him. To be sure, the time for presenting testimony to the +court was passed, unless it was in the way of rebuttal; but how did he +know but what Miss Dare had a fact at her command which would help the +prosecution in overturning the strange, unexpected, yet simple theory of +the defence? At all events, he felt he ought to know whether, in giving +her testimony she had exhausted her knowledge on this subject, or +whether, in her sympathy for the accused, she had kept back certain +evidence which if presented might bring the crime more directly home to +the prisoner. Accordingly, somewhere toward eight o'clock in the +evening, he sought her out with the bold resolution of forcing her to +satisfy him on this point. + +He did not find his task so easy, however, when he came into direct +contact with her stately and far from encouraging presence, and met the +look of surprise not unmixed with alarm with which she greeted him. She +looked very weary, too, and yet unnaturally excited, as if she had not +slept for many nights, if indeed she had rested at all since the trial +began. It struck him as cruel to further disturb this woman, and yet the +longer he surveyed her, the more he studied her pale, haughty, +inscrutable face, he became the more assured that he would never feel +satisfied with himself if he did not give her an immediate opportunity +to disperse at once and forever these freshly awakened doubts. + +His attitude or possibly his expression must have betrayed something of +his anxiety if not of his resolve, for her countenance fell as she +watched him, and her voice sounded quite unnatural as she strove to ask +to what she was indebted for this unexpected visit. + +He did not keep her in suspense. + +"Miss Dare," said he, not without kindness, for he was very sorry for +this woman, despite the inevitable prejudice which her relations to the +accused had awakened, "I would have given much not to have been obliged +to disturb you to-night, but my duty would not allow it. There is a +question which I have hitherto omitted to ask----" + +He paused, shocked; she was swaying from side to side before his eyes, +and seemed indeed about to fall. But at the outreaching of his hand she +recovered herself and stood erect, the noblest spectacle of a woman +triumphing over the weakness of her body by the mere force of her +indomitable will, that he had ever beheld. + +"Sit down," he gently urged, pushing toward her a chair. "You have had a +hard and dreary week of it; you are in need of rest." + +She did not refuse to avail herself of the chair, though, as he could +not help but notice, she did not thereby relax one iota of the restraint +she put upon herself. + +"I do not understand," she murmured; "what question?" + +"Miss Dare, in all you have told the court, in all that you have told +me, about this fatal and unhappy affair, you have never informed us how +it was you first came to hear of it. You were----" + +"I heard it on the street corner," she interrupted, with what seemed to +him an almost feverish haste. + +"First?" + +"Yes, first." + +"Miss Dare, had you been in the street long? Were you in it at the time +the murder happened, do you think?" + +"I in the street?" + +"Yes," he repeated, conscious from the sudden strange alteration in her +look that he had touched upon a point which, to her, was vital with some +undefined interest, possibly that to which the surmises of Hickory had +supplied a clue. "Were you in the street, or anywhere out-of-doors at +the time the murder occurred? It strikes me that it would be well for me +to know." + +"Sir," she cried, rising in her sudden indignation, "I thought the time +for questions had passed. What means this sudden inquiry into a matter +we have all considered exhausted, certainly as far as I am concerned." + +"Shall I show you?" he cried, taking her by the hand and leading her +toward the mirror near by, under one of those impulses which sometimes +effect so much. "Look in there at your own face and you will see why I +press this question upon you." + +Astonished, if not awed, she followed with her eyes the direction of his +pointing finger, and anxiously surveyed her own image in the glass. +Then, with a quick movement, her hands went up before her face--which +till that moment had kept its counsel so well--and, tottering back +against a table, she stood for a moment communing with herself, and +possibly summoning up her courage for the conflict she evidently saw +before her. + +"What is it you wish to know?" she faintly inquired, after a long period +of suspense and doubt. + +"Where were you when the clock struck twelve on the day Mrs. Clemmens +was murdered?" + +Instantly dropping her hands, she turned toward him with a sudden lift +of her majestic figure that was as imposing as it was unexpected. + +"I was at Professor Darling's house," she declared, with great +steadiness. + +Mr. Ferris had not expected this reply, and looked at her for an instant +almost as if he felt inclined to repeat his inquiry. + +"Do you doubt my word?" she queried. "Is it possible you question my +truth at a time like this?" + +"No, Miss Dare," he gravely assured her. "After the great sacrifice you +have publicly made in the interests of justice, it would be worse than +presumptuous in me to doubt your sincerity now." + +She drew a deep breath, and straightened herself still more proudly. + +"Then am I to understand you are satisfied with the answer you have +received?" + +"Yes, if you will also add that you were in the observatory at Professor +Darling's house," he responded quickly, convinced there was some mystery +here, and seeing but one way to reach it. + +"Very well, then, I was," she averred, without hesitation. + +"You were!" he echoed, advancing upon her with a slight flush on his +middle-aged cheek, that evinced how difficult it was for him to pursue +this conversation in face of the haughty and repellant bearing she had +assumed. "You will, perhaps, tell me, then, why you did not see and +respond to the girl who came into that room at this very time, with a +message from a lady who waited below to see you?" + +"Ah!" she cried, succumbing with a suppressed moan to the inexorable +destiny that pursued her in this man, "you have woven a net for me!" + +And she sank again into a chair, where she sat like one stunned, looking +at him with a hollow gaze which filled his heart with compassion, but +which had no power to shake his purpose as a District Attorney. + +"Yes," he acknowledged, after a moment, "I have woven a net for you, but +only because I am anxious for the truth, and desirous of furthering the +ends of justice. I am confident you know more about this crime than you +have ever revealed, Miss Dare; that you are acquainted with some fact +that makes you certain Mr. Mansell committed this murder, +notwithstanding the defence advanced in his favor. What is this fact? It +is my office to inquire. True," he admitted, seeing her draw back with +denial written on every line of her white face, "you have a right to +refuse to answer me here, but you will have no right to refuse to answer +me to-morrow when I put the same question to you in the presence of +judge and jury." + +"And"--her voice was so husky he could but with difficulty distinguish +her words--"do you intend to recall me to the stand to-morrow?" + +"I am obliged to, Miss Dare." + +"But I thought the time for examination was over; that the witnesses had +all testified, and that nothing remained now but for the lawyers to sum +up." + +"When in a case like this the prisoner offers a defence not anticipated +by the prosecution, the latter, of course, has the right to meet such +defence with proof in rebuttal." + +"Proof in rebuttal? What is that?" + +"Evidence to rebut or prove false the matters advanced in support of the +defence." + +"Ah!" + +"I must do it in this case--if I can, of course." + +She did not reply. + +"And even if the testimony I desire to put in is not rebuttal in its +character, no unbiassed judge would deny to counsel the privilege of +reopening his case when any new or important fact has come to light." + +As if overwhelmed by a prospect she had not anticipated, she hurriedly +arose and pointed down the room to a curtained recess. + +"Give me five minutes," she cried; "five minutes by myself where no one +can look at me, and where I can think undisturbed upon what I had better +do." + +"Very well," he acquiesced; "you shall have them." + +She at once crossed to the small retreat. + +"Five minutes," she reiterated huskily, as she lifted the curtains +aside; "when the clock strikes nine I will come out." + +"You will?" he repeated, doubtfully. + +"I will." + +The curtains fell behind her, and for five long minutes Mr. Ferris paced +the room alone. He was far from easy. All was so quiet behind that +curtain,--so preternaturally quiet. But he would not disturb her; no, he +had promised, and she should be left to fight her battle alone. When +nine o'clock struck, however, he started, and owned to himself some +secret dread. Would she come forth or would he have to seek her in her +place of seclusion? It seemed he would have to seek her, for the +curtains did not stir, and by no sound from within was any token given +that she had heard the summons. Yet he hesitated, and as he did so, a +thought struck him. Could it be there was any outlet from the refuge she +had sought? Had she taken advantage of his consideration to escape him? +Moved by the fear, he hastily crossed the room. But before he could lay +his hand upon the curtains, they parted, and disclosed the form of +Imogene. + +"I am coming," she murmured, and stepped forth more like a +faintly-breathing image than a living woman. + +His first glance at her face convinced him she had taken her resolution. +His second, that in taking it she had drifted into a state of feeling +different from any he had observed in her before, and of a sort that to +him was wholly inexplicable. Her words when she spoke only deepened this +impression. + +[Illustration: "The curtains parted and disclosed the form of Imogene. +'I am coming,' she murmured, and stepped forth."--(Page 402.)] + +"Mr. Ferris," said she, coming very near to him in evident dread of +being overheard, "I have decided to tell you all. I hoped never to be +obliged to do this. I thought enough had been revealed to answer your +purpose. I--I believed Heaven would spare me this last trial, let me +keep this last secret. It was of so strange a nature, so totally out of +the reach of any man's surmise. But the finger of God is on me. It has +followed this crime from the beginning, and there is no escape. By some +strange means, some instinct of penetration, perhaps, you have +discovered that I know something concerning this murder of which I have +never told you, and that the hour I spent at Professor Darling's is +accountable for this knowledge. Sir, I cannot struggle with Providence. +I will tell you all I have hitherto hidden from the world if you will +promise to let me know if my words will prove fatal, and if he--he who +is on trial for his life--will be lost if I give to the court my last +evidence against him?" + +"But, Miss Dare," remonstrated the District Attorney, "no man can +tell----" He did not finish his sentence. Something in the feverish gaze +she fixed upon him stopped him. He felt that he could not palter with a +woman in the grasp of an agony like this. So, starting again, he +observed: "Let me hear what you have to say, and afterward we will +consider what the effect of it may be; though a question of expediency +should not come into your consideration, Miss Dare, in telling such +truths as the law demands." + +"No?" she broke out, giving way for one instant to a low and terrible +laugh which curdled Mr. Ferris' blood and made him wish his duty had +led him into the midst of any other scene than this. + +But before he could remonstrate with her, this harrowing expression of +misery had ceased, and she was saying in quiet and suppressed tones: + +"The reason I did not see and respond to the girl who came into the +observatory on the morning of Mrs. Clemmens' murder is, that I was so +absorbed in the discoveries I was making behind the high rack which +shuts off one end of the room, that any appeal to me at that time must +have passed unnoticed. I had come to Professor Darling's house, +according to my usual custom on Tuesday mornings, to study astronomy +with his daughter Helen. I had come reluctantly, for my mind was full of +the secret intention I had formed of visiting Mrs. Clemmens in the +afternoon, and I had no heart for study. But finding Miss Darling out, I +felt a drawing toward the seclusion I knew I should find in the +observatory, and mounting to it, I sat down by myself to think. The rest +and quiet of the place were soothing to me, and I sat still a long time, +but suddenly becoming impressed with the idea that it was growing late, +I went to the window to consult the town-clock. But though its face +could be plainly seen from the observatory, its hands could not, and I +was about to withdraw from the window when I remembered the telescope, +which Miss Darling and I had, in a moment of caprice a few days before, +so arranged as to command a view of the town. Going to it, I peered +through it at the clock." Stopping, she surveyed the District Attorney +with breathless suspense. "It was just five minutes to twelve," she +impressively whispered. + +Mr. Ferris felt a shock. + +"A critical moment!" he exclaimed. Then, with a certain intuition of +what she was going to say next, inquired: "And what then, Miss Dare?" + +"I was struck by a desire to see if I could detect Mrs. Clemmens' house +from where I was, and shifting the telescope slightly, I looked through +it again, and----" + +"What did you see, Miss Dare?" + +"I saw her dining-room door standing ajar and a man leaping headlong +over the fence toward the bog." + +The District Attorney started, looked at her with growing interest, and +inquired: + +"Did you recognize this man, Miss Dare?" + +She nodded in great agitation. + +"Who was he?" + +"Craik Mansell." + +"Miss Dare," ventured Mr. Ferris, after a moment, "you say this was five +minutes to twelve?" + +"Yes, sir," was the faint reply. + +"Five minutes later than the time designated by the defence as a period +manifestly too late for the prisoner to have left Mrs. Clemmens' house +and arrived at the Quarry Station at twenty minutes past one?" + +"Yes," she repeated, below her breath. + +The District Attorney surveyed her earnestly, perceiving she had not +only spoken the truth, but realized all which that truth implied, and +drew back a few steps muttering ironically to himself: + +"Ah, Orcutt! Orcutt!" + +Breathlessly she watched him, breathlessly she followed him step by step +like some white and haunting spirit. + +"You believe, then, this fact will cost him his life?" came from her +lips at last. + +"Don't ask me that, Miss Dare. You and I have no concern with the +consequences of this evidence." + +"No concern?" she repeated, wildly. "You and I no concern? Ah!" she went +on, with heart-piercing sarcasm, "I forgot that the sentiments of the +heart have no place in judicial investigation. A criminal is but lawful +prey, and it is every good citizen's duty to push him to his doom. No +matter if one is bound to that criminal by the dearest ties which can +unite two hearts; no matter if the trust he has bestowed upon you has +been absolute and unquestioning, the law does not busy itself with that. +The law says if you have a word at your command which can destroy this +man, give utterance to it; and the law must be obeyed." + +"But, Miss Dare----" the District Attorney hastily intervened, startled +by the feverish gleam of her hitherto calm eye. + +But she was not to be stopped, now that her misery had at last found +words. + +"You do not understand my position, perhaps," she continued. "You do not +see that it has been my hand, and mine only, which, from the first, has +slowly, remorselessly pushed this man back from the point of safety, +till now, now, I am called upon to drag from his hand the one poor +bending twig to which he clings, and upon which he relies to support him +above the terrible gulf that yawns at his feet. You do not see----" + +"Pardon me," interposed Mr. Ferris again, anxious, if possible, to +restore her to herself. "I see enough to pity you profoundly. But you +must allow me to remark that your hand is not the only one which has +been instrumental in hurrying this young man to his doom. The +detectives----" + +"Sir," she interrupted in her turn, "can you, dare you say, that without +my testimony he would have stood at any time in a really critical +position?--or that he would stand in jeopardy of his life even now, if +it were not for this fact I have to tell?" + +Mr. Ferris was silent. + +"Oh, I knew it, I knew it!" she cried. "There will be no doubt +concerning whose testimony it was that convicted him, if he is sentenced +by the court for this crime. Ah, ah, what an enviable position is mine! +What an honorable deed I am called upon to perform! To tell the truth at +the expense of the life most dear to you. It is a Roman virtue! I shall +be held up as a model to my sex. All the world must shower plaudits upon +the woman who, sooner than rob justice of its due, delivered her own +lover over to the hangman." + +Pausing in her passionate burst, she turned her hot, dry eyes in a sort +of desperation upon his face. + +"Do you know," she gurgled in his ear, "some women would kill themselves +before they would do this deed." + +Struck to his heart in spite of himself, Mr. Ferris looked at her in +alarm--saw her standing there with her arms hanging down at her sides, +but with her two hands clinched till they looked as if carved from +marble--and drew near to her with the simple hurried question of: + +"But you?" + +"I?" she laughed again--a low, gurgling laugh, that yet had a tone in it +that went to the other's heart and awoke strange sensations there. "Oh, +I shall live to respond to your questions. Do not fear that I shall not +be in the court-room to-morrow." + +There was something in her look and manner that was new. It awed him, +while it woke all his latent concern. + +"Miss Dare," he began, "you can believe how painful all this has been to +me, and how I would have spared you this misery if I could. But the +responsibilities resting upon me are such----" + +He did not go on; why should he? She was not listening. To be sure, she +stood before him, seemingly attentive, but the eyes with which she met +his were fixed upon other objects than any which could have been +apparent to her in his face; and her form, which she had hitherto held +upright, was shaking with long, uncontrollable shudders, which, to his +excited imagination, threatened to lay her at his feet. + +He at once started toward the door for help. But she was alive to his +movements if not to his words. Stopping him with a gesture, she cried: + +"No--no! do not call for any one; I wish to be alone; I have _my_ duty +to face, you know; my testimony to prepare." And rousing herself she +cast a peculiar look about the room, like one suddenly introduced into a +strange place, and then moving slowly toward the window, threw back the +curtain and gazed without. "Night!" she murmured, "night!" and after a +moment added, in a deep, unearthly voice that thrilled irresistibly upon +Mr. Ferris' ear: "And a heaven full of stars!" + +Her face, as she turned it upward, wore so strange a look, Mr. Ferris +involuntarily left his position and crossed to her side. She was still +murmuring to herself in seeming unconsciousness of his presence. +"Stars!" she was repeating; "and above them God!" And the long shudders +shook her frame again, and she dropped her head and seemed about to fall +into her old abstraction when her eye encountered that of the District +Attorney, and she hurriedly aroused herself. + +"Pardon me," she exclaimed, with an ill-concealed irony, particularly +impressive after her tone of the moment before, "have you any thing +further to exact of me?" + +"No," he made haste to reply; "only before I go I would entreat you to +be calm----" + +"And say the word I have to say to-morrow without a balk and without an +unnecessary display of feeling," she coldly interpolated. "Thanks, Mr. +Ferris, I understand you. But you need fear nothing from me. There will +be no scene--at least on my part--when I rise before the court to give +my testimony to-morrow. Since my hand must strike the fatal blow, it +shall strike--firmly!" and her clenched fist fell heavily on her own +breast, as if the blow she meditated must first strike there. + +The District Attorney, more moved than he had deemed it possible for him +to be, made her a low bow and withdrew slowly to the door. + +"I leave you, then, till to-morrow," he said. + +"Till to-morrow." + +Long after he had passed out, the deep meaning which informed those two +words haunted his memory and disturbed his heart. Till to-morrow! Alas, +poor girl! and after to-morrow, what then? + + + + +XXXIV. + +WHAT WAS HID BEHIND IMOGENE'S VEIL. + + Mark now, how a plain tale shall put you down.--HENRY IV. + + +THE few minutes that elapsed before the formal opening of court the next +morning were marked by great cheerfulness. The crisp frosty air had put +everybody in a good-humor. Even the prisoner looked less sombre than +before, and for the first time since the beginning of his trial, deigned +to turn his eyes toward the bench where Imogene sat, with a look that, +while it was not exactly kind, had certainly less disdain in it than +before he saw his way to a possible acquittal on the theory advanced by +his counsel. + +But this look, though his first, did not prove to be his last. Something +in the attitude of the woman he gazed at--or was it the mystery of the +heavy black veil that enveloped her features?--woke a strange doubt in +his mind. Beckoning to Mr. Orcutt, he communicated with him in a low +tone. + +"Can it be possible," asked he, "that any thing new could have +transpired since last night to give encouragement to the prosecution?" + +The lawyer, startled, glanced hastily about him and shook his head. + +"No," he cried; "impossible! What could have transpired?" + +"Look at Mr. Ferris," whispered the prisoner, "and then at the witness +who wears a veil." + +With an unaccountable feeling of reluctance, Mr. Orcutt hastily +complied. His first glance at the District Attorney made him thoughtful. +He recognized the look which his opponent wore; he had seen it many a +time before this, and knew what it indicated. As for Imogene, who could +tell what went on in that determined breast? The close black veil +revealed nothing. Mr. Orcutt impatiently turned back to his client. + +"I think you alarm yourself unnecessarily," he whispered. "Ferris means +to fight, but what of that? He wouldn't be fit for his position if he +didn't struggle to the last gasp even for a failing cause." + +Yet in saying this his lip took its sternest line, and from the glitter +of his eye and the close contraction of his brow it looked as if he were +polishing his own weapons for the conflict he thus unexpectedly saw +before him. + +Meantime, across the court-room, another whispered conference was going +on. + +"Hickory, where have you been ever since last night? I have not been +able to find you anywhere." + +"I was on duty; I had a bird to look after." + +"A bird?" + +"Yes, a wild bird; one who is none too fond of its cage; a desperate one +who might find means to force aside its bars and fly away." + +"What do you mean, Hickory? What nonsense is this?" + +"Look at Miss Dare and perhaps you will understand." + +"Miss Dare?" + +"Yes." + +Horace's eyes opened in secret alarm. + +"Do you mean----" + +"I mean that I spent the whole night in tramping up and down in front of +her window. And a dismal task it was too. Her lamp burned till +daylight." + +Here the court was called to order and Byrd had only opportunity to ask: + +"Why does she wear a veil?" + +To which the other whisperingly retorted: + +"Why did she spend the whole night in packing up her worldly goods and +writing a letter to the Congregational minister to be sent after the +adjournment of court to-day?" + +"Did she do that?" + +"She did." + +"Hickory, don't _you_ know--haven't you been told what she is expected +to say or do here to-day?" + +"No." + +"You only guess?" + +"No, I don't guess." + +"You fear, then?" + +"Fear! Well, that's a big word to a fellow like me. I don't know as I +fear any thing; I'm curious, that is all." + +Mr. Byrd drew back, looked over at Imogene, and involuntarily shook his +head. What was in the mind of this mysterious woman? What direful +purpose or shadow of doom lay behind the veil that separated her from +the curiosity and perhaps the sympathy of the surrounding crowd? It was +in vain to question; he could only wait in secret anxiety for the +revelations which the next few minutes might bring. + +The defence having rested the night before, the first action of the +Judge on the opening of the court was to demand whether the prosecution +had any rebuttal testimony to offer. + +Mr. Ferris instantly rose. + +"Miss Dare, will you retake the stand," said he. + +Immediately Mr. Orcutt, who up to the last moment had felt his case as +secure as if it had indeed been founded on a rock, bounded to his feet, +white as the witness herself. + +"I object!" he cried. "The witness thus recalled by the counsel of the +prosecution has had ample opportunity to lay before the court all the +evidence in her possession. I submit it to the court whether my learned +opponent should not have exhausted his witness before he rested his +case." + +"Mr. Ferris," asked the Judge, turning to the District Attorney, "do you +recall this witness for the purpose of introducing fresh testimony in +support of your case or merely to disprove the defence?" + +"Your honor," was the District Attorney's reply, "I ought to say in +fairness to my adversary and to the court, that since the case was +closed a fact has come to my knowledge of so startling and conclusive a +nature that I feel bound to lay it before the jury. From this witness +alone can we hope to glean this fact; and as I had no information on +which to base a question concerning it in her former examination, I beg +the privilege of reopening my case to that extent." + +"Then the evidence you desire to submit is not in rebuttal?" queried the +Judge. + +"I do not like to say that," rejoined the District Attorney, adroitly. +"I think it may bear directly upon the question whether the prisoner +could catch the train at Monteith Quarry if he left the widow's house +after the murder. If the evidence I am about to offer be true, he +certainly could." + +Thoroughly alarmed now and filled with the dismay which a mysterious +threat is always calculated to produce, Mr. Orcutt darted a wild look of +inquiry at Imogene, and finding her immovable behind her thick veil, +turned about and confronted the District Attorney with a most sarcastic +smile upon his blanched and trembling lips. + +"Does my learned friend suppose the court will receive any such +ambiguous explanation as this? If the testimony sought from this witness +is by way of rebuttal, let him say so; but if it is not, let him be +frank enough to admit it, that I may in turn present my objections to +the introduction of any irrelevant evidence at this time." + +"The testimony I propose to present through this witness _is_ in the way +of rebuttal," returned Mr Ferris, severely. "The argument advanced by +the defence, that the prisoner could not have left Mrs. Clemmens' house +at ten minutes before twelve and arrived at Monteith Quarry Station at +twenty minutes past one, is not a tenable one, and I purpose to prove it +by this witness." + +Mr. Orcutt's look of anxiety changed to one of mingled amazement and +incredulity. + +"By _this_ witness! You have chosen a peculiar one for the purpose," he +ironically exclaimed, more and more shaken from his self-possession by +the quiet bearing of his opponent, and the silent air of waiting which +marked the stately figure of her whom, as he had hitherto believed, he +thoroughly comprehended. "Your Honor," he continued, "I withdraw my +objections; I should really like to hear how Miss Dare or any lady can +give evidence on this point." + +And he sank back into his seat with a look at his client in which +professional bravado strangely struggled with something even deeper than +alarm. + +"This must be an exciting moment to the prisoner," whispered Hickory to +Byrd. + +"So, so. But mark his control, will you? He is less cut up than Orcutt." + +"Look at his eyes, though. If any thing could pierce that veil of hers, +you would think such a glance might." + +"Ah, he is trying his influence over her at last." + +"But it is too late." + +Meantime the District Attorney had signified again to Miss Dare his +desire that she should take the stand. Slowly, and like a person in a +dream, she arose, unloosed her veil, dragged it from before her set +features, and stepped mechanically forward to the place assigned her. +What was there in the face thus revealed that called down an +instantaneous silence upon the court, and made the momentary pause that +ensued memorable in the minds of all present? It was not that she was so +pale, though her close-fitting black dress, totally unrelieved by any +suspicion of white, was of a kind to bring out any startling change in +her complexion; nor was there visible in her bearing any trace of the +feverish excitement which had characterized it the evening before; yet +of all the eyes that were fixed upon her--and there were many in that +crowd whose only look a moment before had been one of heartless +curiosity--there were none which were not filled with compassion and +more or less dread. + +Meanwhile, she remained like a statue on the spot where she had taken +her stand, and her eyes, which in her former examination had met the +court with the unflinching gaze of an automaton, were lowered till the +lashes swept her cheek. + +"Miss Dare," asked the District Attorney, as soon as he could recover +from his own secret emotions of pity and regret, "will you tell us where +you were at the hour of noon on the morning Mrs. Clemmens was murdered?" + +Before she could answer, before in fact her stiff and icy lips could +part, Mr. Orcutt had risen impetuously to his feet, like a man bound to +contend every step of the way with the unknown danger that menaced him. + +"I object!" he cried, in the changed voice of a deeply disturbed man, +while those who had an interest in the prisoner at this juncture, could +not but notice that he, too, showed signs of suppressed feeling, and for +the first time since the beginning of the trial, absolutely found his +self-command insufficient to keep down the rush of color that swept up +to his swarthy cheek. + +"The question," continued Mr. Orcutt, "is not to elicit testimony in +rebuttal." + +"Will my learned friend allow the witness to give her answer, instead of +assuming what it is to be?" + +"I will not," retorted his adversary. "A child could see that such a +question is not admissible at this stage of the case." + +"I am sure my learned friend would not wish me to associate _him_ with +any such type of inexperience?" suggested Mr. Ferris, grimly. + +But the sarcasm, which at one time would have called forth a stinging +retort from Mr. Orcutt, passed unheeded. The great lawyer was fighting +for his life, for his heart's life, for the love and hand of Imogene--a +recompense which at this moment her own unconsidered action, or the +constraining power of a conscience of whose might he had already +received such heart-rending manifestation, seemed about to snatch from +his grasp forever. Turning to the Judge, he said: + +"I will not delay the case by bandying words with my esteemed friend, +but appeal at once to the Court as to whether the whereabouts of Miss +Dare on that fatal morning can have any thing to do with the defence we +have proved." + +"Your Honor," commenced the District Attorney, calmly following the lead +of his adversary, "I am ready to stake my reputation on the declaration +that this witness is in possession of a fact that overturns the whole +fabric of the defence. If the particular question I have made use of, in +my endeavor to elicit this fact, is displeasing to my friend, I will +venture upon another less ambiguous, if more direct and perhaps +leading." And turning again to the witness, Mr. Ferris calmly inquired: + +"Did you or did you not see the prisoner on the morning of the assault, +at a time distinctly known by you to be after ten minutes to twelve?" + +It was out. The line of attack meditated by Mr. Ferris was patent to +everybody. A murmur of surprise and interest swept through the +court-room, while Mr. Orcutt, who in spite of his vague fears was any +thing but prepared for a thrust of this vital nature, started and cast +short demanding looks from Imogene to Mansell, as if he would ask them +what fact this was which through ignorance or presumption they had +conspired to keep from him. The startled look which he surprised on the +stern face of the prisoner, showed him there was every thing to fear in +her reply, and bounding again to his feet, he was about to make some +further attempt to stave off the impending calamity, when the rich voice +of Imogene was heard saying: + +"Gentlemen, if you will allow me to tell my story unhindered, I think I +shall soonest satisfy both the District Attorney and the counsel for the +prisoner." + +And raising her eyes with a slow and heavy movement from the floor, she +fixed them in a meaning way upon the latter. + +At once convinced that he had been unnecessarily alarmed, Mr. Orcutt +sank back into his seat, and Imogene slowly proceeded. + +She commenced in a forced tone and with a sudden quick shudder that made +her words come hesitatingly and with strange breaks: "I have been +asked--two questions by Mr. Ferris--I prefer--to answer the first. He +asked me--where I was at the hour Mrs. Clemmens was murdered." + +She paused so long one had time to count her breaths as they came in +gasps to her white lips. + +"I have no further desire to hide from you the truth. I was with Mrs. +Clemmens in her own house." + +At this acknowledgment so astonishing, and besides so totally different +from the one he had been led to expect, Mr. Ferris started as if a +thunder-bolt had fallen at his feet. + +"In Mrs. Clemmens' house!" he repeated, amid the excited hum of a +hundred murmuring voices. "Did you say, in Mrs. Clemmens' house?" + +"Yes," she returned, with a wild, ironical smile that at once assured +Mr. Ferris of his helplessness. "I am on oath _now_, and I assert that +on the day and at the hour Mrs. Clemmens was murdered, I was in her +house and in her dining-room. I had come there secretly," she proceeded, +with a sudden feverish fluency that robbed Mr. Ferris of speech, and in +fact held all her auditors spell-bound. "I had been spending an hour or +so at Professor Darling's, whose house in West Side is, as many here +know, at the very end of Summer Avenue, and close to the woods that run +along back of Mrs. Clemmens' cottage. I had been sitting alone in the +observatory, which is at the top of one of the towers, but being +suddenly seized with a desire to see the widow and make that promised +attempt at persuading her to reconsider her decision in regard to the +money her--her--the prisoner wanted, I came down, and unknown to any +one in the house, stole away to the woods and so to the widow's +cottage. It was noon when I got there, or very near it, for her company, +if she had had any, was gone, and she was engaged in setting the clock +where----" + +Why did she pause? The District Attorney, utterly stupefied by his +surprise, had made no sign; neither had Mr. Orcutt. Indeed, it looked as +if the latter could not have moved, much less spoken, even if he had +desired it. Thought, feeling, life itself, seemed to be at a standstill +within him as he sat with a face like clay, waiting for words whose +import he perhaps saw foreshadowed in her wild and terrible mien. But +though his aspect was enough to stop her, it was not upon him she was +gazing when the words tripped on her lips. It was upon the prisoner, on +the man who up to this time had borne himself with such iron-like +composure and reserve, but who now, with every sign of feeling and +alarm, had started forward and stood surveying her, with his hand +uplifted in the authoritative manner of a master. + +The next instant he sank back, feeling the eye of the Judge upon him; +but the signal had been made, and many in that court-room looked to see +Imogene falter or break down. But she, although fascinated, perhaps +moved, by this hint of feeling from one who had hitherto met all the +exigencies of the hour with a steady and firm composure, did not +continue silent at his bidding. On the contrary, her purpose, whatever +it was, seemed to acquire new force, for turning from him with a +strange, unearthly glare on her face, she fixed her glances on the jury +and went steadily on. + +"I have said," she began, "that Mrs. Clemmens was winding her clock. +When I came in she stepped down, and a short and angry colloquy +commenced between us. She did not like my coming there. She did not +appreciate my interest in her nephew. She made me furious, frenzied, +mad. I--I turned away--then I came back. She was standing with her face +lifted toward her clock, as though she no longer heeded or remembered my +presence. I--I don't know what came to me; whether it was hatred or love +that maddened my brain--but----" + +She did not finish; she did not need to. The look she gave, the attitude +she took, the appalling gesture which she made, supplied the place of +language. In an instant Mr. Ferris, Mr. Orcutt, all the many and +confused spectators who hung upon her words as if spell-bound, realized +that instead of giving evidence inculpating the prisoner, she was giving +evidence _accusing_ herself; that, in other words, Imogene Dare, goaded +to madness by the fearful alternative of either destroying her lover or +sacrificing herself, had yielded to the claims of her love or her +conscience, and in hearing of judge and jury, proclaimed herself to be +the murderess of Mrs. Clemmens. + +The moment that followed was frightful. The prisoner, who was probably +the only man present who foresaw her intention when she began to speak, +had sunk back into his seat and covered his face with his hands long +before she reached the fatal declaration. But the spectacle presented +by Mr. Orcutt was enough, as with eyes dilated and lips half parted in +consternation, he stood before them a victim of overwhelming emotion; so +overcome, indeed, as scarcely to be able to give vent to the one low and +memorable cry that involuntarily left his lips as the full realization +of what she had done smote home to his stricken breast. + +As for Mr. Ferris, he stood dumb, absolutely robbed of speech by this +ghastly confession he had unwillingly called from his witness' lips; +while slowly from end to end of that court-room the wave of horror +spread, till Imogene, her cause, and that of the wretched prisoner +himself, seemed swallowed up in one fearful tide of unreality and +nightmare. + +The first gleam of relief came from the Judge. + +"Miss Dare," said he, in his slow, kindly way that nothing could impair, +"do you realize the nature of the evidence you have given to the court?" + +Her slowly falling head and white face, from which all the fearful +excitement was slowly ebbing in a dead despair, gave answer for her. + +"I fear that you are not in a condition to realize the effect of your +words," the Judge went on. "Sympathy for the prisoner or the excitement +of being recalled to the stand has unnerved or confused you. Take time, +Miss Dare, the court will wait; reconsider your words, and then tell us +the truth about this matter." + +But Imogene, with white lips and drooped head, answered hurriedly: + +"I have nothing to consider. I have told, or attempted to tell, how Mrs. +Clemmens came to her death. She was struck down by me; Craik Mansell +there is innocent." + +At this repetition in words of what she had before merely intimated by a +gesture, the Judge ceased his questions, and the horror of the multitude +found vent in one long, low, but irrepressible murmur. Taking advantage +of the momentary disturbance, Byrd turned to his colleague with the +agitated inquiry: + +"Hickory, is _this_ what you have had in your mind for the last few +days?" + +"This," repeated the other, with an air of careful consideration, +assumed, as Byrd thought, to conceal any emotion which he might have +felt; "no, no, not really. I--I don't know what I thought. Not this +though." And he fixed his eyes upon Imogene's fallen countenance, with +an expression of mingled doubt and wonder, as baffling in its nature as +the tone of voice he had used. + +"But," stammered Byrd, with an earnestness that almost partook of the +nature of pleading, "she is not speaking the truth, of course. What we +heard her say in the hut----" + +"Hush!" interposed the other, with a significant gesture and a sudden +glance toward the prisoner and his counsel; "watching is better than +talking just now. Besides, Orcutt is going to speak." + +It was so. After a short and violent conflict with the almost +overwhelming emotions that had crushed upon him with the words and +actions of Imogene, the great lawyer had summoned up sufficient control +over himself to reassume the duties of his position and face once more +the expectant crowd, and the startled, if not thoroughly benumbed, jury. + +His first words had the well-known ring, and, like a puff of cool air +through a heated atmosphere, at once restored the court-room to its +usual condition of formality and restraint. + +"This is not evidence, but the raving of frenzy," he said, in +impassioned tones. "The witness has been tortured by the demands of the +prosecution, till she is no longer responsible for her words." And +turning toward the District Attorney, who, at the first sound of his +adversary's voice, had roused himself from the stupor into which he had +been thrown by the fearful and unexpected turn which Imogene's +confession had taken, he continued: "If my learned friend is not lost to +all feelings of humanity, he will withdraw from the stand a witness +laboring under a mental aberration of so serious a nature." + +Mr. Ferris was an irritable man, but he was touched with sympathy for +his friend, reeling under so heavy a blow. He therefore forbore to +notice this taunt save by a low bow, but turned at once to the Judge. + +"Your Honor," said he, "I desire to be understood by the Court, that +the statement which has just been made in your hearing by this witness, +is as much of a surprise to me as to any one in this court-room. The +fact which I proposed to elicit from her testimony was of an entirely +different nature. In the conversation which we held last night----" + +But Mr. Orcutt, vacillating between his powerful concern for Imogene, +and his duty to his client, would not allow the other to proceed. + +"I object," said he, "to any attempt at influencing the jury by the +statement of any conversation which may have passed between the District +Attorney and the witness. From its effects we may judge something of its +nature, but with its details we have nothing to do." + +And raising his voice till it filled the room like a clarion, Mr. Orcutt +said: + +"The moment is too serious for wrangling. A spectacle, the most terrible +that can be presented to the eyes of man, is before you. A young, +beautiful, and hitherto honored woman, caught in the jaws of a cruel +fate and urged on by the emotions of her sex, which turn ever toward +self-sacrifice, has, in a moment of mistaken zeal or frantic terror, +allowed herself to utter words which sound like a criminal confession. +May it please your Honor and Gentlemen of the Jury, this is an act to +awaken compassion in the breast of every true man. Neither my client nor +myself can regard it in any other light. Though his case were ten times +more critical than it is, and condemnation awaited him at your hands +instead of a triumphant acquittal, he is not the man I believe him, if +he would consent to accept a deliverance founded upon utterances so +manifestly frenzied and devoid of truth. I therefore repeat the +objection I have before urged. I ask your Honor now to strike out all +this testimony as irrelevant in rebuttal, and I beg our learned friend +to close an examination as unprofitable to his own cause as to mine." + +"I agree with my friend," returned Mr. Ferris, "that the moment is one +unfit for controversy. If it please the Court, therefore, I will +withdraw the witness, though by so doing I am forced to yield all hope +of eliciting the important fact I had relied upon to rebut the defence." + +And obedient to the bow of acquiescence he received from the Judge, the +District Attorney turned to Miss Dare and considerately requested her to +leave the stand. + +But she, roused by the sound of her name perhaps, looked up, and meeting +the eye of the Judge, said: + +"Pardon me, your Honor, but I do not desire to leave the stand till I +have made clear to all who hear me that it is I, not the prisoner, who +am responsible for Mrs. Clemmens' death. The agony which I have been +forced to undergo in giving testimony against him, has earned me the +right to say the words that prove his innocence and my own guilt." + +"But," said the Judge, "we do not consider you in any condition to give +testimony in court to-day, even against yourself. If what you say is +true, you shall have ample opportunities hereafter to confirm and +establish your statements, for you must know, Miss Dare, that no +confession of this nature will be considered sufficient without +testimony corroborative of its truth." + +"But, your Honor," she returned, with a dreadful calmness, "I have +corroborative testimony." And amid the startled looks of all present, +she raised her hand and pointed with steady forefinger at the astounded +and by-no-means gratified Hickory. "Let that man be recalled," she +cried, "and asked to repeat the conversation he had with a young +servant-girl called Roxana, in Professor Darling's observatory some ten +weeks ago." + +The suddenness of her action, the calm assurance with which it was made, +together with the intention it evinced of summoning actual evidence to +substantiate her confession, almost took away the breath of the +assembled multitude. Even Mr. Orcutt seemed shaken by it, and stood +looking from the outstretched hand of this woman he so adored, to the +abashed countenance of the rough detective, with a wonder that for the +first time betrayed the presence of alarm. Indeed, to him as to others, +the moment was fuller of horror than when she made her first +self-accusation, for what at that time partook of the vagueness of a +dream, seemed to be acquiring the substance of an awful reality. + +Imogene alone remained unmoved. Still with her eyes fixed on Hickory, +she continued: + +"He has not told you all he knows about this matter, any more than I. If +my word needs corroboration, look to him." + +And taking advantage of the sensation which this last appeal occasioned, +she waited where she was for the Judge to speak, with all the calmness +of one who has nothing more to fear or hope for in this world. + +But the Judge sat aghast at this spectacle of youth and beauty insisting +upon its own guilt, and neither Mr. Ferris nor Mr. Orcutt having words +for this emergency, a silence, deep as the feeling which had been +aroused, gradually settled over the whole court. It was fast becoming +oppressive, when suddenly a voice, low but firm, and endowed with a +strange power to awake and hold the attention, was heard speaking in +that quarter of the room whence Mr. Orcutt's commanding tones had so +often issued. It was an unknown voice, and for a minute a doubt seemed +to rest upon the assembled crowd as to whom it belonged. + +But the change that had come into Imogene's face, as well as the +character of the words that were uttered, soon convinced them it was the +prisoner himself. With a start, every one turned in the direction of the +dock. The sight that met their eyes seemed a fit culmination of the +scene through which they had just passed. Erect, noble, as commanding in +appearance and address as the woman who still held her place on the +witness stand, Craik Mansell faced the judge and jury with a quiet, +resolute, but courteous assurance, that seemed at once to rob him of +the character of a criminal, and set him on a par with the able and +honorable men by whom he was surrounded. Yet his words were not those of +a belied man, nor was his plea one of innocence. + +"I ask pardon," he was saying, "for addressing the court directly; first +of all, the pardon of my counsel, whose ability has never been so +conspicuous as in this case, and whose just resentment, if he were less +magnanimous and noble, I feel I am now about to incur." + +Mr. Orcutt turned to him a look of surprise and severity, but the +prisoner saw nothing but the face of the Judge, and continued: + +"I would have remained silent if the disposition which your Honor and +the District Attorney proposed to make of this last testimony were not +in danger of reconsideration from the appeal which the witness has just +made. I believe, with you, that her testimony should be disregarded. I +intend, if I have the power, that it shall be disregarded." + +The Judge held up his hand, as if to warn the prisoner and was about to +speak. + +"I entreat that I may be heard," said Mansell, with the utmost calmness. +"I beg the Court not to imagine that I am about to imitate the witness +in any sudden or ill-considered attempt at a confession. All I intend is +that her self-accusation shall not derive strength or importance from +any doubts of my guilt which may spring from the defence which has been +interposed in my behalf." + +Mr. Orcutt, who, from the moment the prisoner began to speak, had given +evidences of a great indecision as to whether he should allow his client +to continue or not, started at these words, so unmistakably pointing +toward a demolishment of his whole case, and hurriedly rose. But a +glance at Imogene seemed to awaken a new train of thought, and he as +hurriedly reseated himself. + +The prisoner, seeing he had nothing to fear from his counsel's +interference, and meeting with no rebuke from the Judge, went calmly on: + +"Yesterday I felt differently in regard to this matter. If I could be +saved from my fate by a defence seemingly so impregnable, I was willing +to be so saved, but to-day I would be a coward and a disgrace to my sex +if, in face of the generous action of this woman, I allowed a falsehood +of whatever description to place her in peril, or to stand between me +and the doom that probably awaits me. Sir," he continued, turning for +the first time to Mr. Orcutt, with a gesture of profound respect, "you +had been told that the path from Mrs. Clemmens' house to the bridge, and +so on to Monteith Quarry Station, could not be traversed in ninety +minutes, and you believed it. You were not wrong. It cannot be gone over +in that time. But I now say to your Honor and to the jury, that the +distance from my aunt's house to the Quarry Station can be made in that +number of minutes if a way can be found to cross the river without +going around by the bridge. I know," he proceeded, as a torrent of +muttered exclamations rose on his ear, foremost among which was that of +the much-discomfited Hickory, "that to many of you, to all of you, +perhaps, all means for doing this seem to be lacking to the chance +wayfarer, but if there were a lumberman here, he would tell you that the +logs which are frequently floated down this stream to the station afford +an easy means of passage to one accustomed to ride them, as I have been +when a lad, during the year I spent in the Maine woods. At all events, +it was upon a log that happened to be lodged against the banks, and +which I pushed out into the stream by means of the 'pivy' or long spiked +pole which I found lying in the grass at its side, that I crossed the +river on that fatal day; and if the detective, who has already made such +an effort to controvert the defence, will risk an attempt at this +expedient for cutting short his route, I have no doubt he will be able +to show you that a man can pass from Mrs. Clemmens' house to the station +at Monteith Quarry, not only in ninety minutes, but in less, if the +exigencies of the case seem to demand it. I did it." + +And without a glance at Imogene, but with an air almost lofty in its +pride and manly assertion, the prisoner sank back into his seat, and +resumed once more his quiet and unshaken demeanor. + +This last change in the kaleidoscope of events, that had been shifting +before their eyes for the last half hour, was too much for the continued +equanimity of a crowd already worked up into a state of feverish +excitement. It had become apparent that by stripping away his defence, +Mansell left himself naked to the law. In this excitement of the jury, +consequent upon the self-accusation of Imogene, the prisoner's admission +might prove directly fatal to him. He was on trial for this crime; +public justice demanded blood for blood, and public excitement clamored +for a victim. It was dangerous to toy with a feeling but one degree +removed from the sentiment of a mob. The jury might not stop to +sympathize with the self-abnegation of these two persons willing to die +for each other. They might say: "The way is clear as to the prisoner at +least; he has confessed his defence is false; the guilty interpose false +defences; we are acquit before God and men if we convict him out of his +own mouth." + +The crowd in the court-room was saying all this and more, each man to +his neighbor. A clamor of voices next to impossible to suppress rose +over the whole room, and not even the efforts of the officers of the +court, exerted to their full power in the maintenance of order, could +have hushed the storm, had not the spectators become mute with +expectation at seeing Mr. Ferris and Mr. Orcutt, summoned by a sign from +the Judge, advance to the front of the bench and engage in an earnest +conference with the Court. A few minutes afterward the Judge turned to +the jury and announced that the disclosures of the morning demanded a +careful consideration by the prosecution, that an adjournment was +undoubtedly indispensable, and that the jury should refrain from any +discussion of the case, even among themselves, until it was finally +given them under the charge of the Court. The jury expressed their +concurrence by an almost unanimous gesture of assent, and the crier +proclaimed an adjournment until the next day at ten o'clock. + +Imogene, still sitting in the witness chair, saw the prisoner led forth +by the jailer without being able to gather, in the whirl of the moment, +any indication that her dreadful sacrifice--for she had made wreck of +her life in the eyes of the world whether her confession were true or +false--had accomplished any thing save to drive the man she loved to the +verge of that doom from which she had sought to deliver him. + + + + +XXXV. + +PRO AND CON. + + _Hamlet._--Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel? + _Polonius._--By the mass, and 'tis like a camel indeed. + _Hamlet._--Methinks it is like a weasel. + _Polonius._--It is back'd like a weasel. --HAMLET. + + +SHORTLY after the adjournment of court, Mr. Ferris summoned the two +detectives to his office. + +"We have a serious question before us to decide," said he. "Are we to go +on with the prosecution or are we to stop? I should like to hear your +views on the subject." + +Hickory was, as usual, the first to speak. + +"I should say, stop," he cried. "This fresh applicant for the honor of +having slain the Widow Clemmens deserves a hearing at least." + +"But," hurriedly interposed Byrd, "you don't give any credit to her +story now, even if you did before the prisoner spoke? You know she did +not commit the crime herself, whatever she may choose to declare in her +anxiety to shield the prisoner. I hope, sir," he proceeded, glancing at +the District Attorney, "that _you_ have no doubts as to Miss Dare's +innocence?" + +But Mr. Ferris, instead of answering, turned to Hickory and said: + +"Miss Dare, in summoning you to confirm her statement, relied, I +suppose, upon the fact of your having been told by Professor Darling's +servant-maid that she--that is, Miss Dare--was gone from the observatory +when the girl came for her on the morning of the murder?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"A strong corroborative fact, if true?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"But is it true? In the explanation which Miss Dare gave me last night +of this affair, she uttered statements essentially different from those +she made in court to-day. She then told me she _was_ in the observatory +when the girl came for her; that she was looking through a telescope +which was behind a high rack filled with charts; and that---- Why do you +start?" + +"I didn't start," protested Hickory. + +"I beg your pardon," returned Mr. Ferris. + +"Well, then, if I did make such a fool of myself, it was because so far +her story is plausible enough. She was in that very position when _I_ +visited the observatory, you remember, and she was so effectually +concealed I didn't see her or know she was there, till I looked behind +the rack." + +"Very good!" interjected Mr. Ferris. "And that," he resumed, "she did +not answer the girl or make known her presence, because at the moment +the girl came in she was deeply interested in watching something that +was going on in the town." + +"In the town!" repeated Byrd. + +"Yes; the telescope was lowered so as to command a view of the town, and +she had taken advantage of its position (as she assured me last night) +to consult the church clock." + +"The church clock!" echoed Byrd once more. "And what time did she say it +was?" breathlessly cried both detectives. + +"Five minutes to twelve." + +"A critical moment," ejaculated Byrd. "And what was it she saw going on +in the town at that especial time?" + +"I will tell you," returned the District Attorney, impressively. "She +said--and I believed her last night and so recalled her to the stand +this morning--that she saw Craik Mansell fleeing toward the swamp from +Mrs. Clemmens' dining-room door." + +Both men looked up astonished. + +"That was what she told me last night. To-day she comes into court with +this contradictory story of herself being the assailant and sole cause +of Mrs. Clemmens' death." + +"But all that is frenzy," protested Byrd. "She probably saw from your +manner that the prisoner was lost if she gave this fact to the court, +and her mind became disordered. She evidently loves this Mansell, and as +for me, I pity her." + +"So do I," assented the District Attorney; "still----" + +"Is it possible," Byrd interrupted, with feeling, as Mr. Ferris +hesitated, "that you do doubt her innocence? After the acknowledgments +made by the prisoner too?" + +Rising from his seat, Mr. Ferris began slowly to pace the floor. + +"I should like each of you," said he, without answering the appeal of +Byrd, "to tell me why I should credit what she told me in conversation +last night rather than what she uttered upon oath in the court-room +to-day?" + +"Let me speak first," rejoined Byrd, glancing at Hickory. And, rising +also, he took his stand against the mantel-shelf where he could +partially hide his face from those he addressed. "Sir," he proceeded, +after a moment, "both Hickory and myself know Miss Dare to be innocent +of this murder. A circumstance which we have hitherto kept secret, but +which in justice to Miss Dare I think we are now bound to make known, +has revealed to us the true criminal. Hickory, tell Mr. Ferris of the +deception you practised upon Miss Dare in the hut." + +The surprised, but secretly gratified, detective at once complied. _He_ +saw no reason for keeping quiet about that day's work. He told how, by +means of a letter purporting to come from Mansell, he had decoyed +Imogene to an interview in the hut, where, under the supposition she was +addressing her lover, she had betrayed her conviction of his guilt, and +advised him to confess it. + +Mr. Ferris listened with surprise and great interest. + +"That seems to settle the question," he said. + +But it was now Hickory's turn to shake his head. + +"I don't know," he remonstrated. "I have sometimes thought she saw +through the trick and turned it to her own advantage." + +"How to her own advantage?" + +"To talk in such a way as to make us think Mansell was guilty." + +"Stuff!" said Byrd; "that woman?" + +"More unaccountable things have happened," was the weak reply of +Hickory, his habitual state of suspicion leading him more than once into +similar freaks of folly. + +"Sir," said Mr. Byrd, confidingly, to the District Attorney, "let us run +over this matter from the beginning. Starting with the supposition that +the explanation she gave you last night was the true one, let us see if +the whole affair does not hang together in a way to satisfy us all as to +where the real guilt lies. To begin, then, with the meeting in the +woods----" + +"Wait," interrupted Hickory; "there is going to be an argument here; so +suppose you give your summary of events from the lady's standpoint, as +that seems to be the one which interests you most." + +"I was about to do so," Horace assured him, heedless of the rough +fellow's good-natured taunt. "To make my point, it is absolutely +necessary for us to transfer ourselves into her position and view +matters as they gradually unfolded themselves before her eyes. First, +then, as I have before suggested, let us consider the interview held by +this man and woman in the woods. Miss Dare, as we must remember, was not +engaged to Mr. Mansell; she only loved him. Their engagement, to say +nothing of their marriage, depended upon his success in life--a success +which to them seemed to hang solely upon the decision of Mrs. Clemmens +concerning the small capital he desired her to advance him. But in the +interview which Mansell had held with his aunt previous to the meeting +between the lovers, Mrs. Clemmens had refused to loan him this money, +and Miss Dare, whose feelings we are endeavoring to follow, found +herself beset by the entreaties of a man who, having failed in his plans +for future fortune, feared the loss of her love as well. What was the +natural consequence? Rebellion against the widow's decision, of +course,--a rebellion which she showed by the violent gesture which she +made;--and then a determination to struggle for her happiness, as she +evinced when, with most unhappy ambiguity of expression, she begged him +to wait till the next day before pressing his ring upon her acceptance, +because, as she said: + +"'A night has been known to change the whole current of a person's +affairs.' + +"To her, engrossed with the one idea of making a personal effort to +alter Mrs. Clemmens' mind on the money question, these words seemed +innocent enough. But the look with which he received them, and the pause +that followed, undoubtedly impressed her, and prepared the way for the +interest she manifested when, upon looking through the telescope the +next day, she saw him flying in that extraordinary way from his aunt's +cottage toward the woods. Not that she then thought of his having +committed a crime. As I trace her mental experience, she did not come to +that conclusion till it was forced upon her. I do not know, and so +cannot say, how she first heard of the murder----" + +"She was told of it on the street-corner," interpolated Mr. Ferris. + +"Ah, well, then, fresh from this vision of her lover hasting from his +aunt's door to hide himself in the woods beyond, she came into town and +was greeted by the announcement that Mrs. Clemmens had just been +assaulted by a tramp in her own house. I know this was the way in which +the news was told her, from the expression of her face as she entered +the house. I was standing at the gate, you remember, when she came up, +and her look had in it determination and horror, but no special fear. In +fact, the words she dropped show the character of her thoughts at that +time. She distinctly murmured in my hearing: 'No good can come of it, +none.' As if her mind were dwelling upon the advantages which might +accrue to her lover from his aunt's death, and weighing them against the +foul means by which that person's end had been hastened. Yet I will not +say but she may have been influenced in the course which she took by +some doubt or apprehension of her own. The fact that she came to the +house at all, and, having come, insisted upon knowing all the details +of the assault, seem to prove she was not without a desire to satisfy +herself that suspicion rightfully attached itself to the tramp. But not +until she saw her lover's ring on the floor (the ring which she had with +her own hand dropped into the pocket of his coat the day before) and +heard that the tramp had justified himself and was no longer considered +the assailant, did her true fear and horror come. Then, indeed, all the +past rose up before her, and, believing her lover guilty of this crime, +she laid claim to the jewel as the first and only alternative that +offered by which she might stand between him and the consequences of his +guilt. Her subsequent agitation when the dying woman made use of the +exclamation that indissolubly connected the crime with a ring, speaks +for itself. Nor was her departure from the house any too hurried or +involuntary, when you consider that the vengeance invoked by the widow, +was, in Miss Dare's opinion, called down upon one to whom she had nearly +plighted her troth. What is the next act in the drama? The scene in the +Syracuse depot. Let me see if I cannot explain it. A woman who has once +allowed herself to suspect the man she loves of a murderous deed, cannot +rest till she has either convinced herself that her suspicions are +false, or until she has gained such knowledge of the truth as makes her +feel justified in her seeming treason. A woman of Miss Dare's generous +nature especially. What does she do, then? With the courage that +characterizes all her movements, she determines upon seeing him, and +from his own lips, perhaps, win a confession of guilt or innocence. +Conceiving that his flight was directed toward the Quarry Station, and +thence to Buffalo, she embraced the first opportunity to follow him to +the latter place. As I have told you, her ticket was bought for Buffalo, +and to Buffalo she evidently intended going. But chancing to leave the +cars at Syracuse, she was startled by encountering in the depot the very +man with whom she had been associating thoughts of guilt. Shocked and +thrown off her guard by the unexpectedness of the occurrence, she +betrays her shrinking and her horror. 'Were you coming to see me?' she +asks, and recoils, while he, conscious at the first glimpse of her face +that his guilt has cost him her love, starts back also, uttering, in his +shame and despair, words that were similar to hers, 'Were you coming to +see me?'" + +"Convinced without further speech, that her worst fears had foundation +in fact, she turns back toward her home. The man she loved had committed +a crime. That it was partly for her sake only increased her horror +sevenfold. She felt as if she were guilty also, and, with sudden +remorse, remembered how, instead of curbing his wrath the day before she +had inflamed it by her words, if not given direction to it by her +violent gestures. That fact, and the self-blame it produced, probably is +the cause why her love did not vanish with her hopes. Though he was +stained by guilt, she felt that it was the guilt of a strong nature +driven from its bearings by the conjunction of two violent +passions,--ambition and love; and she being passionate and ambitious +herself, remained attached to the man while she recoiled from his crime. + +"This being so, she could not, as a woman, wish him to suffer the +penalty of his wickedness. Though lost to her, he must not be lost to +the world. So, with the heroism natural to such a nature, she shut the +secret up in her own breast, and faced her friends with courage, +wishing, if not hoping, that the matter would remain the mystery it +promised to be when she stood with us in the presence of the dying +woman. + +"But this was not to be, for suddenly, in the midst of her complacency, +fell the startling announcement that another man--an innocent man--one, +too, of her lover's own standing, if not hopes, had by a curious +conjunction of events so laid himself open to the suspicion of the +authorities as to be actually under arrest for this crime. 'Twas a +danger she had not foreseen, a result for which she was not prepared. + +"Startled and confounded she let a few days go by in struggle and +indecision, possibly hoping, with the blind trust of her sex, that Mr. +Hildreth would be released without her interference. But Mr. Hildreth +was not released, and her anxiety was fast becoming unendurable, when +that decoy letter sent by Hickory reached her, awakening in her breast +for the first time, perhaps, the hope that Mansell would show himself to +be a true man in this extremity, and by a public confession of guilt +release her from the task of herself supplying the information which +would lead to his commitment. + +"And, perhaps, if it had really fallen to the lot of Mansell to confront +her in the hut and listen to her words of adjuration and appeal, he +might have been induced to consent to her wishes. But a detective sat +there instead of her lover, and the poor woman lived to see the days go +by without any movement being made to save Mr. Hildreth. At last--was it +the result of the attempt made by this man upon his life?--she put an +end to the struggle by acting for herself. Moved by a sense of duty, +despite her love, she sent the letter which drew attention to her lover, +and paved the way for that trial which has occupied our attention for so +many days. But--mark this, for I think it is the only explanation of her +whole conduct--the sense of justice that upheld her in this duty was +mingled with the hope that her lover would escape conviction if he did +not trial. The one fact which told the most against him--I allude to his +flight from his aunt's door on the morning of the murder, as observed by +her through the telescope--was as yet a secret in her own breast, and +there she meant it to remain unless it was drawn forth by actual +question. But it was not a fact likely to be made the subject of +question, and drawing hope from that consideration, she prepared herself +for the ordeal before her, determined, as I actually believe, to answer +with truth all the inquiries that were put to her. + +"But in an unexpected hour she learned that the detectives were anxious +to know where she was during the time of the murder. She heard Hickory +question Professor Darling's servant-girl, as to whether she was still +in the observatory, and at once feared that her secret was discovered. +Feared, I say--I conjecture this,--but what I do not conjecture is that +with the fear, or doubt, or whatever emotion it was she cherished, a +revelation came of the story she might tell if worst came to worst, and +she found herself forced to declare what she saw when the clock stood at +five minutes to twelve on that fatal day. Think of your conversation +with the girl Roxana," he went on to Hickory, "and then think of that +woman crouching behind the rack, listening to your words, and see if you +can draw any other conclusion from the expression of her face than that +of triumph at seeing a way to deliver her lover at the sacrifice of +herself." + +As Byrd waited for a reply, Hickory reluctantly acknowledged: + +"Her look was a puzzler, that I will allow. She seemed glad----" + +"There," cried Byrd, "you say she seemed glad; that is enough. Had she +had the weight of this crime upon her conscience, she would have +betrayed a different emotion from that. I pray you to consider the +situation," he proceeded, turning to the District Attorney, "for on it +hangs your conviction of her innocence. First, imagine her guilty. What +would her feelings be, as, hiding unseen in that secret corner, she +hears a detective's voice inquiring where she was when the fatal blow +was struck, and hears the answer given that she was not where she was +supposed to be, but in the woods--the woods which she and every one know +lead so directly to Mrs. Clemmens' house, she could without the least +difficulty hasten there and back in the hour she was observed to be +missing? Would she show gladness or triumph even of a wild or delirious +order? No, even Hickory cannot say she would. Now, on the contrary, see +her as I do, crouched there in the very place before the telescope which +she occupied when the girl came to the observatory before, but unseen +now as she was unseen then, and watch the change that takes place in her +countenance as she hears question and answer and realizes what +confirmation she would receive from this girl if she ever thought fit to +declare that she was not in the observatory when the girl sought her +there on the day of the murder. That by this act she would bring +execration if not death upon herself, she does not stop to consider. Her +mind is full of what she can do for her lover, and she does not think of +herself. + +"But an enthusiasm like this is too frenzied to last. As time passes by +and Craik Mansell is brought to trial, she begins to hope she may be +spared this sacrifice. She therefore responds with perfect truth when +summoned to the stand to give evidence, and does not waver, though +question after question is asked her, whose answers cannot fail to show +the state of her mind in regard to the prisoner's guilt. Life and honor +are sweet even to one in her condition; and if her lover could be saved +without falsehood it was her natural instinct to avoid it. + +"And it looked as if he would be saved. A defence both skilful and +ingenious had been advanced for him by his counsel--a defence which only +the one fact so securely locked in her bosom could controvert. You can +imagine, then, the horror and alarm which must have seized her when, in +the very hour of hope, you approached her with the demand which proved +that her confidence in her power to keep silence had been premature, and +that the alternative was yet to be submitted to her of destroying her +lover or sacrificing herself. Yet, because a great nature does not +succumb without a struggle, she tried even now the effect of the truth +upon you, and told you the one fact she considered so detrimental to the +safety of her lover. + +"The result was fatal. Though I cannot presume to say what passed +between you, I can imagine how the change in your countenance warned her +of the doom she would bring upon Mansell if she went into court with the +same story she told you. Nor do I find it difficult to imagine how, in +one of her history and temperament, a night of continuous brooding over +this one topic should have culminated in the act which startled us so +profoundly in the court-room this morning. Love, misery, devotion are +not mere names to her, and the greatness which sustained her through the +ordeal of denouncing her lover in order that an innocent man might be +relieved from suspicion, was the same that made it possible for her to +denounce herself that she might redeem the life she had thus +deliberately jeopardized. + +"That she did this with a certain calmness and dignity proves it to have +been the result of design. A murderess forced by conscience into +confession would not have gone into the details of her crime, but +blurted out her guilt, and left the details to be drawn from her by +question. Only the woman anxious to tell her story with the plausibility +necessary to insure its belief would have planned and carried on her +confession as she did. + +"The action of the prisoner, in face of this proof of devotion, though +it might have been foreseen by a man, was evidently not foreseen by her. +To me, who watched her closely at the time, her face wore a strange look +of mingled satisfaction and despair,--satisfaction in having awakened +his manhood, despair at having failed in saving him. But it is not +necessary for me to dilate on this point. If I have been successful in +presenting before you the true condition of her mind during this +struggle, you will see for yourself what her feelings must be now that +her lover has himself confessed to a fact, to hide which she made the +greatest sacrifice of which mortal is capable." + +Mr. Ferris, who, during this lengthy and exhaustive harangue, had sat +with brooding countenance and an anxious mien, roused himself as the +other ceased, and glanced with a smile at Hickory. + +"Well," said he, "that's good reasoning; now let us hear how you will go +to work to demolish it." + +The cleared brow, the playful tone of the District Attorney showed the +relieved state of his mind. Byrd's arguments had evidently convinced him +of the innocence of Imogene Dare. + +Hickory, seeing it, shook his head with a gloomy air. + +"Sir," said he, "I can't demolish it. If I could tell why Mansell fled +from Widow Clemmens' house at five minutes to twelve I might be able to +do so, but that fact stumps me. It is an act consistent with guilt. It +may be consistent with innocence, but, as we don't know all the facts, +we can't say so. But this I do know, that my convictions with regard to +that man have undergone a change. I now as firmly believe in his +innocence as I once did in his guilt." + +"What has produced the change?" asked Mr. Ferris. + +"Well," said Hickory, "it all lies in this. From the day I heard Miss +Dare accuse him so confidently in the hut, I believed him guilty; from +the moment he withdrew his defence, I believed him innocent." + +Mr. Ferris and Mr. Byrd looked at him astonished. He at once brought +down his fist in vigorous assertion on the table. + +"I tell you," said he, "that Craik Mansell is innocent. The truth is, he +believes Miss Dare guilty, and so stands his trial, hoping to save her." + +"And be hung for her crime?" asked Mr. Ferris. + +"No; he thinks his innocence will save him, in spite of the evidence on +which we got him indicted." + +But the District Attorney protested at this. + +"That can't be," said he; "Mansell has withdrawn the only defence he +had." + +"On the contrary," asserted Hickory, "that very thing only proves my +theory true. He is still determined to save Miss Dare by every thing +short of a confession of his own guilt. He won't lie. That man is +innocent." + +"And Miss Dare is guilty?" said Byrd. + +"Shall I make it clear to you in the way it has become clear to Mr. +Mansell?" + +As Byrd only answered by a toss of his head, Hickory put his elbows on +the table, and checking off every sentence with the forefinger of his +right hand, which he pointed at Mr. Ferris' shirt-stud, as if to instil +from its point conviction into that gentleman's bosom, he proceeded with +the utmost composure as follows: + +"To commence, then, with the scene in the woods. He meets her. She is as +angry at his aunt as he is. What does she do? She strikes the tree with +her hand, and tells him to wait till to-morrow, since a night has been +known to change the whole current of a person's affairs. Now tell me +what does that mean? Murder? If so, she was the one to originate it. He +can't forget that. It has stamped itself upon Mansell's memory, and +when, after the assassination of Mrs. Clemmens, he recalls those words, +he is convinced that she has slain Mrs. Clemmens to help him." + +"But, Mr. Hickory," objected Mr. Ferris, "this assumes that Mr. Mansell +is innocent, whereas we have exceedingly cogent proof that he is the +guilty party. There is the circumstance of his leaving Widow Clemmens' +house at five minutes to twelve." + +To which Hickory, with a twinkle in his eye, replied: + +"I won't discuss that; it hasn't been proved, you know. Miss Dare told +you she saw him do this, but she wouldn't swear to it. Nothing is to be +taken for granted against my man." + +"Then you think Miss Dare spoke falsely?" + +"I don't say that. I believe that whatever he did could be explained if +we knew as much about it as he does. But I'm not called upon to explain +any thing which has not appeared in the evidence against him." + +"Well, then, we'll take the evidence. There is his ring, found on the +scene of murder." + +"Exactly," rejoined Hickory. "Dropped there, as he must suppose, by Miss +Dare, because he didn't know she had secretly restored it to his +pocket." + +Mr. Ferris smiled. + +"You don't see the force of the evidence," said he. "As she _had_ +restored it to his pocket, he must have been the one to drop it there." + +"I am willing to admit he dropped it there, not that he killed Mrs. +Clemmens. I am now speaking of his suspicions as to the assassin. When +the betrothal ring was found there, he suspects Miss Dare of the crime, +and nothing has occurred to change his suspicions." + +"But," said the District Attorney, "how does your client, Mr. Mansell, +get over this difficulty; that Miss Dare, who has committed a murder to +put five thousand dollars into his pocket, immediately afterward turns +round and accuses him of the crime--nay more, furnishes evidence against +him!" + +"You can't expect the same consistency from a woman as from a man. They +can nerve themselves up one moment to any deed of desperation, and take +every pains the next to conceal it by a lie." + +"Men will do the same; then why not Mansell?" + +"I am showing you why I know that Mansell believes Miss Dare guilty of a +murder. To continue, then. What does he do when he hears that his aunt +has been murdered? He scratches out the face of Miss Dare in a +photograph; he ties up her letters with a black ribbon as if she were +dead and gone to him. Then the scene in the Syracuse depot! The rule of +three works both ways, Mr. Byrd, and if she left her home to solve _her_ +doubts, what shall be said of him? The recoil, too--was it less on his +part than hers? And, if she had cause to gather guilt from his manner, +had he not as much cause to gather it from hers? If his mind was full of +suspicion when he met her, it became conviction before he left; and, +bearing that fact in your mind, watch how he henceforth conducted +himself. He does not come to Sibley; the woman he fears to encounter is +there. He hears of Mr. Hildreth's arrest, reads of the discoveries which +led to it, and keeps silent. So would any other man have done in his +place, at least till he saw whether this arrest was likely to end in +trial. But he cannot forget he had been in Sibley on the fatal day, or +that there may be some one who saw his interview with Miss Dare. When +Byrd comes to him, therefore, and tells him he is wanted in Sibley, his +first question is, 'Am I wanted as a witness?' and, even you have +acknowledged, Mr. Ferris, that he seemed surprised to find himself +accused of the crime. But, accused, he takes his course and keeps to it. +Brought to trial, he remembers the curious way in which he crossed the +river, and thus cut short the road to the station; and, seeing in it +great opportunities for a successful defence, chooses Mr. Orcutt for his +counsel, and trusts the secret to him. The trial goes on; acquittal +seems certain, when suddenly she is recalled to the stand, and he hears +words which make him think she is going to betray him by some falsehood, +when, instead of following the lead of the prosecution, she launches +into a personal confession. What does he do? Why, rise and hold up his +hand in a command for her to stop. But she does not heed, and the rest +follows as a matter of course. The life she throws away he will not +accept. He is innocent, but his defence is false! He says so, and leaves +the jury to decide on the verdict. There can be no doubt," Hickory +finally concluded, "that some of these circumstances are consistent +only with his belief that Miss Dare is a murderess: such, for instance, +as his scratching out her face in the picture. Others favor the theory +in a less degree, but this is what I want to impress upon both your +minds," he declared, turning first to Mr. Ferris and then to Mr. Byrd: +"_If any fact, no matter how slight, leads us to the conviction that +Craik Mansell, at any time after the murder, entertained the belief that +Miss Dare committed it, his innocence follows as a matter of course. For +the guilty could never entertain a belief in the guilt of any other +person._" + +"Yes," said Mr. Ferris, "I admit that, but we have got to see into Mr. +Mansell's mind before we can tell what his belief really was." + +"No," was Hickory's reply; "let us look at his actions. I say that that +defaced picture is conclusive. One day he loves that woman and wants her +to marry him; the next, he defaces her picture. Why? She had not +offended him. Not a word, not a line, passes between them to cause him +to commit this act. But he does hear of his aunt's murder, and he does +recall her sinister promise: 'Wait; there is no telling what a day will +bring forth.' I say that no other cause for his act is shown except his +conviction that she is a murderess." + +"But," persisted Mr. Ferris, "his leaving the house, as he acknowledges +he did, by this unfrequented and circuitous road?" + +"I have said before that I cannot explain his presence there, or his +flight. All I am now called upon to show is, some fact inconsistent with +any thing except a belief in this young woman's guilt. I claim I have +shown it, and, as you admit, Mr. Ferris, if I show _that_, he is +innocent." + +"Yes," said Byrd, speaking for the first time; "but we have heard of +people manufacturing evidence in their own behalf." + +"Come, Byrd," replied Hickory, "you don't seriously mean to attack my +position with that suggestion. How could a man dream of manufacturing +evidence of such a character? A murderer manufactures evidence to throw +suspicion on other people. No fool could suppose that scratching out the +face of a girl in a photograph and locking it up in his own desk, would +tend to bring her to the scaffold, or save him from it." + +"And, yet," rejoined Byrd, "that very act acquits him in your eyes. All +that is necessary is to give him credit for being smart enough to +foresee that it would have such a tendency in the eyes of any person who +discovered the picture." + +"Then," said Hickory, "he would also have to foresee that she would +accuse herself of murder when he was on trial for it, and that he would +thereupon withdraw his defence. Byrd, you are foreseeing too much. My +friend Mansell possesses no such power of looking into the future as +that." + +"Your friend Mansell!" repeated Mr. Ferris, with a smile. "If you were +on his jury, I suppose your bias in his favor would lead you to acquit +him of this crime?" + +"I should declare him 'Not guilty,' and stick to it, if I had to be +locked up for a year." + +Mr. Ferris sank into an attitude of profound thought. Horace Byrd, +impressed by this, looked at him anxiously. + +"Have your convictions been shaken by Hickory's ingenious theory?" he +ventured to inquire at last. + +Mr. Ferris abstractedly replied: + +"This is no time for me to state my convictions. It is enough that you +comprehend my perplexity." And, relapsing into his former condition, he +remained for a moment wrapped in silence, then he said: "Byrd, how comes +it that the humpback who excited so much attention on the day of the +murder was never found?" + +Byrd, astonished, surveyed the District Attorney with a doubtful look +that gradually changed into one of quiet satisfaction as he realized the +significance of this recurrence to old theories and suspicions. His +answer, however, was slightly embarrassed in tone, though frank enough +to remind one of Hickory's blunt-spoken admissions. + +"Well," said he, "I suppose the main reason is that I made no attempt to +find him." + +"Do you think that you were wise in that, Mr. Byrd?" inquired Mr. +Ferris, with some severity. + +Horace laughed. + +"I can find him for you to-day, if you want him," he declared. + +"You can? You know him, then?" + +"Very well. Mr. Ferris," he courteously remarked, "I perhaps should have +explained to you at the time, that I recognized this person and knew him +to be an honest man; but the habits of secrecy in our profession are so +fostered by the lives we lead, that we sometimes hold our tongue when it +would be better for us to speak. The humpback who talked with us on the +court-house steps the morning Mrs. Clemmens was murdered, was not what +he seemed, sir. He was a detective; a detective in disguise; a man with +whom I never presume to meddle--in other words, our famous Mr. Gryce." + +"Gryce!--that man!" exclaimed Mr. Ferris, astounded. + +"Yes, sir. He was in disguise, probably for some purpose of his own, but +I knew his eye. Gryce's eye isn't to be mistaken by any one who has much +to do with him." + +"And that famous detective was actually on the spot at the time this +murder was discovered, and you let him go without warning me of his +presence?" + +"Sir," returned Mr. Byrd, "neither you nor I nor any one at that time +could foresee what a serious and complicated case this was going to be. +Besides, he did not linger in this vicinity, but took the cars only a +few minutes after he parted from us. I did not think he wanted to be +dragged into this affair unless it was necessary. He had important +matters of his own to look after. However, if suspicion had continued to +follow him, I should have notified him of the fact, and let him speak +for himself. But it vanished so quickly in the light of other +developments, I just let the matter drop." + +The impatient frown with which Mr. Ferris received this acknowledgment +showed he was not pleased. + +"I think you made a mistake," said he. Then, after a minute's thought, +added: "You have seen Gryce since?" + +"Yes, sir; several times." + +"And he acknowledged himself to have been the humpback?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You must have had some conversation with him, then, about this murder? +He was too nearly concerned in it not to take some interest in the +affair?" + +"Yes, sir; Gryce takes an interest in all murder cases." + +"Well, then, what did he have to say about this one? He gave an opinion, +I suppose?" + +"No, sir. Gryce never gives an opinion without study, and we detectives +have no time to study up an affair not our own. If you want to know what +Gryce thinks about a crime, you have got to put the case into his +hands." + +Mr. Ferris paused and seemed to ruminate. Seeing this, Mr. Byrd flushed +and cast a side glance at Hickory, who returned him an expressive shrug. + +"Mr. Ferris," ventured the former, "if you wish to consult with Mr. +Gryce on this matter, do not hesitate because of us. Both Hickory and +myself acknowledge we are more or less baffled by this case, and Gryce's +judgment is a good thing to have in a perplexity." + +"You think so?" queried the District Attorney. + +"I do," said Byrd. + +Mr. Ferris glanced at Hickory. + +"Oh, have the old man here if you want him," was that detective's blunt +reply. "I have nothing to say against your getting all the light you can +on this affair." + +"Very good," returned Mr. Ferris. "You may give me his address before +you go." + +"His address for to-night is Utica," observed Byrd. "He could be here +before morning, if you wanted him." + +"I am in no such hurry as that," returned Mr. Ferris, and he sank again +into thought. + +The detectives took advantage of his abstraction to utter a few private +condolences in each other's ears. + +"So it seems we are to be laid on the shelf," whispered Hickory. + +"Yes, for which let us be thankful," answered Byrd. + +"Why? Are you getting tired of the affair?" + +"Yes." + +A humorous twinkle shone for a minute in Hickory's eye. + +"Pooh!" said he, "it's just getting interesting." + +"Opinions differ," quoth Byrd. + +"Not much," retorted Hickory. + +Something in the way he said this made Byrd look at him more intently. +He instantly changed his tone. + +"Old fellow," said he, "you don't believe Miss Dare committed this crime +any more than I do." + +A sly twinkle answered him from the detective's half-shut eye. + +"All that talk of having seen through your disguise in the hut is just +nonsense on your part to cover up your real notion about it. What is +that notion, Hickory? Come, out with it; let us understand each other +thoroughly at last." + +"Do I understand you?" + +"You shall, when you tell me just what your convictions are in this +matter." + +"Well, then," replied Hickory, with a short glance at Mr. Ferris, "I +believe (it's hard as pulling teeth to own it) that neither of them did +it: that she thought him guilty and he thought her so, but that in +reality the crime lies at the door of some third party totally +disconnected with either of them." + +"Such as Gouverneur Hildreth?" whispered Byrd. + +"Such--as--Gouverneur Hildreth," drawled Hickory. + +The two detectives eyed each other, smiled, and turned with relieved +countenances toward the District Attorney. He was looking at them with +great earnestness. + +"That is your joint opinion?" he remarked. + +"It is mine," cried Hickory, bringing his fist down on the table with a +vim that made every individual article on it jump. + +"It is and it is not mine," acquiesced Byrd, as the eye of Mr. Ferris +turned in his direction. "Mr. Mansell may be innocent--indeed, after +hearing Hickory's explanation of his conduct, I am ready to believe he +is--but to say that Gouverneur Hildreth is guilty comes hard to me after +the long struggle I have maintained in favor of his innocence. Yet, what +other conclusion remains after an impartial view of the subject? None. +Then why should I shrink from acknowledging I was at fault, or hesitate +to admit a defeat where so many causes combined to mislead me?" + +"Which means you agree with Hickory?" ventured the District Attorney. + +Mr. Byrd slowly bowed. + +Mr. Ferris continued for a moment looking alternately from one to the +other; then he observed: + +"When two such men unite in an opinion, it is at least worthy of +consideration." And, rising, he took on an aspect of sudden +determination. "Whatever may be the truth in regard to this matter," +said he, "one duty is clear. Miss Dare, as you inform me, has been--with +but little idea of the consequences, I am sure--allowed to remain under +the impression that the interview which she held in the hut was with her +lover. As her belief in the prisoner's guilt doubtless rests upon the +admissions which were at that time made in her hearing, it is palpable +that a grave injustice has been done both to her and to him by leaving +this mistake of hers uncorrected. I therefore consider it due to Miss +Dare, as well as to the prisoner, to undeceive her on this score before +another hour has passed over our heads. I must therefore request you, +Mr. Byrd, to bring the lady here. You will find her still in the +court-house, I think, as she requested leave to remain in the room below +till the crowd had left the streets." + +Mr. Byrd, who, in the new light which had been thrown on the affair by +his own and Hickory's suppositions, could not but see the justice of +this, rose with alacrity to obey. + +"I will bring her if she is in the building," he declared, hurriedly +leaving the room. + +"And if she is not," Mr. Ferris remarked, with a glance at the +consciously rebuked Hickory, "we shall have to follow her to her home, +that is all. I am determined to see this woman's mind cleared of all +misapprehensions before I take another step in the way of my duty." + + + + +XXXVI. + +A MISTAKE RECTIFIED. + + If circumstances lead me, I will find + Where truth is hid, though it were hid, indeed, + Within the centre. --HAMLET. + + +IF Mr. Ferris, in seeking this interview with Miss Dare, had been +influenced by any hope of finding her in an unsettled and hesitating +state of mind, he was effectually undeceived, when, after a few minutes' +absence, Mr. Byrd returned with her to his presence. Though her physical +strength was nearly exhausted, and she looked quite pale and worn, there +was a steady gleam in her eye, which spoke of an unshaken purpose. + +Seeing it, and noting the forced humility with which she awaited his +bidding at the threshold, the District Attorney, for the first time +perhaps, realized the power of this great, if perverted, nature, and +advancing with real kindness to the door, he greeted her with as much +deference as he ever showed to ladies, and gravely pushed toward her a +chair. + +She did not take it. On the contrary, she drew back a step, and looked +at him in some doubt, but a sudden glimpse of Hickory's sturdy figure in +the corner seemed to reassure her, and merely stopping to acknowledge +Mr. Ferris' courtesy by a bow, she glided forward and took her stand by +the chair he had provided. + +A short and, on his part, somewhat embarrassing pause followed. It was +broken by her. + +"You sent for me," she suggested. "You perhaps want some explanation of +my conduct, or some assurance that the confession I made before the +court to-day was true?" + +If Mr. Ferris had needed any further proof than he had already received +that Imogene Dare, in presenting herself before the world as a criminal, +had been actuated by a spirit of devotion to the prisoner, he would have +found it in the fervor and unconscious dignity with which she uttered +these few words. But he needed no such proof. Giving her, therefore, a +look full of grave significance, he replied: + +"No, Miss Dare. After my experience of the ease with which you can +contradict yourself in matters of the most serious import, you will +pardon me if I say that the truth or falsehood of your words must be +arrived at by some other means than any you yourself can offer. My +business with you at this time is of an entirely different nature. +Instead of listening to further confessions from you, it has become my +duty to offer one myself. Not on my own behalf," he made haste to +explain, as she looked up, startled, "but on account of these men, who, +in their anxiety to find out who murdered Mrs. Clemmens, made use of +means and resorted to deceptions which, if their superiors had been +consulted, would not have been countenanced for a moment." + +"I do not understand," she murmured, looking at the two detectives with +a wonder that suddenly merged into alarm as she noticed the +embarrassment of the one and the decided discomfiture of the other. + +Mr. Ferris at once resumed: + +"In the weeks that have elapsed since the commission of this crime, it +has been my lot to subject you to much mental misery, Miss Dare. +Provided by yourself with a possible clue to the murder, I have probed +the matter with an unsparing hand. Heedless of the pain I was +inflicting, or the desperation to which I was driving you, I asked you +questions and pressed you for facts as long as there seemed questions to +ask or facts to be gained. My duty and the claims of my position +demanded this, and for it I can make no excuse, notwithstanding the +unhappy results that have ensued. But, Miss Dare, whatever anxiety I may +have shown in procuring the conviction of a man I believed to be a +criminal, I have never wished to win my case at the expense of justice +and right; and had I been told before you came to the stand that you had +been made the victim of a deception calculated to influence your +judgment, I should have hastened to set you right with the same anxiety +as I do now." + +"Sir--sir----" she began. + +But Mr. Ferris would not listen. + +"Miss Dare," he proceeded with all the gravity of conviction, "you have +uttered a deliberate perjury in the court-room to-day. You said that you +alone were responsible for the murder of Mrs. Clemmens, whereas you not +only did not commit the crime yourself but were not even an accessory to +it. Wait!" he commanded, as she flashed upon him a look full of denial, +"I would rather you did not speak. The motive for this calumny you +uttered upon yourself lies in a fact which may be modified by what I +have to reveal. Hear me, then, before you stain yourself still further +by a falsehood you will not only be unable to maintain, but which you +may no longer see reason for insisting upon. Hickory, turn around so +Miss Dare can see your face. Miss Dare, when you saw fit to call upon +this man to upbear you in the extraordinary statements you made to-day, +did you realize that in doing this you appealed to the one person best +qualified to prove the falsehood of what you had said? I see you did +not; yet it is so. He if no other can testify that a few weeks ago, no +idea of taking this crime upon your own shoulders had ever crossed your +mind; that, on the contrary, your whole heart was filled with sorrow for +the supposed guilt of another, and plans for inducing that other to make +a confession of his guilt before the world." + +"This man!" was her startled exclamation. "It is not possible; I do not +know him; he does not know me. I never talked with him but once in my +life, and that was to say words I am not only willing but anxious for +him to repeat." + +"Miss Dare," the District Attorney pursued, "when you say this you show +how completely you have been deceived. The conversation to which you +allude is not the only one which has passed between you two. Though you +did not know it, you held a talk with this man at a time in which you so +completely discovered the secrets of your heart, you can never hope to +deceive us or the world by any story of personal guilt which you may see +fit to manufacture." + +"I reveal my heart to this man!" she repeated, in a maze of doubt and +terror that left her almost unable to stand. "You are playing with my +misery, Mr. Ferris." + +The District Attorney took a different tone. + +"Miss Dare," he asked, "do you remember a certain interview you held +with a gentleman in the hut back of Mrs. Clemmens' house, a short time +after the murder?" + +"Did this man overhear my words that day?" she murmured, reaching out +her hand to steady herself by the back of the chair near which she was +standing. + +"Your words that day were addressed to this man." + +"To him!" she repeated, staggering back. + +"Yes, to him, disguised as Craik Mansell. With an unjustifiable zeal to +know the truth, he had taken this plan for surprising your secret +thoughts, and he succeeded, Miss Dare, remember that, even if he did you +and your lover the cruel wrong of leaving you undisturbed in the +impression that Mr. Mansell had admitted his guilt in your presence." + +But Imogene, throwing out her hands, cried impetuously: + +"It is not so; you are mocking me. This man never could deceive me like +that!" + +But even as she spoke she recoiled, for Hickory, with ready art, had +thrown his arms and head forward on the table before which he sat, in +the attitude and with much the same appearance he had preserved on the +day she had come upon him in the hut. Though he had no assistance from +disguise and all the accessories were lacking which had helped forward +the illusion on the former occasion, there was still a sufficient +resemblance between this bowed figure and the one that had so impressed +itself upon her memory as that of her wretched and remorseful lover, +that she stood rooted to the ground in her surprise and dismay. + +"You see how it was done, do you not?" inquired Mr. Ferris. Then, as he +saw she did not heed, added: "I hope you remember what passed between +you two on that day?" + +As if struck by a thought which altered the whole atmosphere of her +hopes and feelings, she took a step forward with a power and vigor that +recalled to mind the Imogene of old. + +"Sir," she exclaimed, "let that man turn around and face me!" + +Hickory at once rose. + +"Tell me," she demanded, surveying him with a look it took all his +well-known hardihood to sustain unmoved, "was it all false--all a trick +from the beginning to the end? I received a letter--was that written by +your hand too? Are you capable of forgery as well as of other +deceptions?" + +The detective, who knew no other way to escape from his embarrassment, +uttered a short laugh. But finding a reply was expected of him, answered +with well-simulated indifference: + +"No, only the address on the envelope was mine; the letter was one which +Mr. Mansell had written but never sent. I found it in his waste-paper +basket in Buffalo." + +"Ah! and you could make use of that?" + +"I know it was a mean trick," he acknowledged, dropping his eyes from +her face. "But things do look different when you are in the thick of 'em +than when you take a stand and observe them from the outside. I--I was +ashamed of it long ago, Miss Dare"--this was a lie; Hickory never was +really ashamed of it--"and would have told you about it, but I thought +'mum' was the word after a scene like that." + +She did not seem to hear him. + +"Then Mr. Mansell did not send me the letter inviting me to meet him in +the hut on a certain day, some few weeks after Mrs. Clemmens was +murdered?" + +"No." + +"Nor know that such a letter had been sent?" + +"No." + +"Nor come, as I supposed he did, to Sibley? nor admit what I supposed he +admitted in my hearing? nor listen, as I supposed he did, to the +insinuations I made use of in the hut?" + +"No." + +Imbued with sudden purpose and energy, she turned upon the District +Attorney. + +"Oh, what a revelation to come to me now!" she murmured. + +Mr. Ferris bowed. + +"You are right," he assented; "it should have come to you before. But I +can only repeat what I have previously said, that if I had known of this +deception myself, you would have been notified of it previous to going +upon the stand. For your belief in the prisoner's guilt has necessarily +had its effect upon the jury, and I cannot but see how much that belief +must have been strengthened, if it was not actually induced, by the +interview which we have just been considering." + +Her eyes took on fresh light; she looked at Mr. Ferris as if she would +read his soul. + +"Can it be possible----" she breathed, but stopped as suddenly as she +began. The District Attorney was not the man from whom she could hope to +obtain any opinion in reference to the prisoner's innocence. + +Mr. Ferris, noting her hesitation and understanding it too, perhaps, +moved toward her with a certain kindly dignity, saying: + +"I should be glad to utter words that would give you some comfort, Miss +Dare, but in the present state of affairs I do not feel as if I could go +farther than bid you trust in the justice and wisdom of those who have +this matter in charge. As for your own wretched and uncalled-for action +in court to-day, it was a madness which I hope will be speedily +forgotten, or, if not forgotten, laid to a despair almost too heavy for +mortal strength to endure." + +"Thank you," she murmured; but her look, the poise of her head, the +color that quivered through the pallor of her cheek, showed she was not +thinking of herself. Doubt, the first which had visited her since she +became convinced that Craik Mansell was the destroyer of his aunt's +life, had cast a momentary gleam over her thoughts, and she was +conscious of but one wish, and that was to understand the feelings of +the men before her. + +But she soon saw the hopelessness of this, and, sinking back again into +her old distress as she realized how much reason she still had for +believing Craik Mansell guilty, she threw a hurried look toward the door +as if anxious to escape from the eyes and ears of men interested, as she +knew, in gleaning her every thought and sounding her every impulse. + +Mr. Ferris at once comprehended her intention, and courteously advanced. + +"Do you wish to return home?" he asked. + +"If a carriage can be obtained." + +"There can be no difficulty about that," he answered; and he gave +Hickory a look, and whispered a word to Mr. Byrd, that sent them both +speedily from the room. + +When he was left alone with her, he said: + +"Before you leave my presence, Miss Dare, I wish to urge upon you the +necessity of patience. Any sudden or violent act on your part now would +result in no good, and lead to much evil. Let me, then, pray you to +remain quiet in your home, confident that Mr. Orcutt and myself will do +all in our power to insure justice and make the truth evident." + +She bowed, but did not speak; while her impatient eye, resting +feverishly on the door, told of her anxiety to depart. + +"She will need watching," commented Mr. Ferris to himself, and he, too, +waited impatiently for the detectives' return. When they came in he gave +Imogene to their charge, but the look he cast Byrd contained a hint +which led that gentleman to take his hat when he went below to put Miss +Dare into her carriage. + + + + +XXXVII. + +UNDER THE GREAT TREE. + + We but teach + Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return + To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice + Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice + To our own lips. --MACBETH. + + +IMOGENE went to her home. Confused, disordered, the prey of a thousand +hopes and a thousand fears, she sought for solitude and found it within +the four walls of the small room which was now her only refuge. + +The two detectives who had followed her to the house--the one in the +carriage, the other on foot--met, as the street-door closed upon her +retreating form, and consulted together as to their future course. + +"Mr. Ferris thinks we ought to keep watch over the house, to make sure +she does not leave it again," announced Mr. Byrd. + +"Does he? Well, then, I am the man for that job," quoth Hickory. "I was +on this very same beat last night." + +"Good reason why you should rest and give me a turn at the business," +declared the other. + +"Do you want it?" + +"I am willing to take it," said Byrd. + +"Well, then, after nine o'clock you shall." + +"Why after nine?" + +"Because if she's bent on skylarking, she'll leave the house before +then," laughed the other. + +"And you want to be here if she goes out?" + +"Well, yes, _rather_!" + +They compromised matters by both remaining, Byrd within view of the +house and Hickory on a corner within hail. Neither expected much from +this effort at surveillance, there seeming to be no good reason why she +should venture forth into the streets again that night. But the +watchfulness of the true detective mind is unceasing. + +Several hours passed. The peace of evening had come at last to the +troubled town. In the streets, especially, its gentle influence was +felt, and regions which had seethed all day with a restless and +impatient throng were fast settling into their usual quiet and solitary +condition. A new moon hung in the west, and to Mr. Byrd, pacing the walk +in front of Imogene's door, it seemed as if he had never seen the town +look more lovely or less like the abode of violence and crime. All was +so quiet, especially in the house opposite him, he was fast becoming +convinced that further precautions were needless, and that Imogene had +no intention of stirring abroad again, when the window where her light +burned suddenly became dark, and he perceived the street door cautiously +open, and her tall, vailed figure emerge and pass rapidly up the street. +Merely stopping to give the signal to Hickory, he hastened after her +with rapid but cautious steps. + +She went like one bound on no uncertain errand. Though many of the walks +were heavily shaded, and the light of the lamps was not brilliant, she +speeded on from corner to corner, threading the business streets with +rapidity, and emerging upon the large and handsome avenue that led up +toward the eastern district of the town before Hickory could overtake +Byrd, and find sufficient breath to ask: + +"Where is she bound for? Who lives up this way?" + +"I don't know," answered Byrd, lowering his voice in the fear of +startling her into a knowledge of their presence. "It may be she is +going to Miss Tremaine's; the High School is somewhere in this +direction." + +But even as they spoke, the gliding figure before them turned into +another street, and before they knew it, they were on the car-track +leading out to Somerset Park. + +"Ha! I know now," whispered Hickory. "It is Orcutt she is after." And +pressing the arm of Byrd in his enthusiasm, he speeded after her with +renewed zeal. + +Byrd, seeing no reason to dispute a fact that was every moment becoming +more evident, hurried forward also, and after a long and breathless +walk--for she seemed to be urged onward by flying feet--they found +themselves within sight of the grand old trees that guarded the entrance +to the lawyer's somewhat spacious grounds. + +"What are we going to do now?" asked Byrd, stopping, as they heard the +gate click behind her. + +"Wait and watch," said Hickory. "She has not led us this wild-goose +chase for nothing." And leaping the hedge, he began creeping up toward +the house, leaving his companion to follow or not, as he saw fit. + +Meantime Imogene had passed up the walk and paused before the front +door. But a single look at it seemed to satisfy her, for, moving +hurriedly away, she flitted around the corner of the house and stopped +just before the long windows whose brightly illumined sashes proclaimed +that the master of the house was still in his library. + +She seemed to feel relieved at this sight. Pausing, she leaned against +the frame of a trellis-work near by to gather up her courage or regain +her breath before proceeding to make her presence known to the lawyer. +As she thus leaned, the peal of the church clock was heard, striking the +hour of nine. She started, possibly at finding it so late, and bending +forward, looked at the windows before her with an anxious eye that soon +caught sight of a small opening left by the curtains having been drawn +together by a too hasty or a too careless hand, and recognizing the +opportunity it afforded for a glimpse into the room before her, stepped +with a light tread upon the piazza and quietly peered within. + +The sight she saw never left her memory. + +Seated before a deadened fire, she beheld Mr. Orcutt. He was neither +writing nor reading, nor, in the true sense of the word, thinking. The +papers he had evidently taken from his desk, lay at his side +undisturbed, and from one end of the room to the other, solitude, +suffering, and despair seemed to fill the atmosphere and weigh upon its +dreary occupant, till the single lamp which shone beside him burned +dimmer and dimmer, like a life going out or a purpose vanishing in the +gloom of a stealthily approaching destiny. + +Imogene, who had come to this place thus secretly and at this late hour +of the day with the sole intent of procuring the advice of this man +concerning the deception which had been practised upon her before the +trial, felt her heart die within her as she surveyed this rigid figure +and realized all it implied. Though his position was such she could not +see his face, there was that in his attitude which bespoke hopelessness +and an utter weariness of life, and as ash after ash fell from the +grate, she imagined how the gloom deepened on the brow which till this +hour had confronted the world with such undeviating courage and +confidence. + +It was therefore a powerful shock to her when, in another moment, he +looked up, and, without moving his body, turned his head slowly around +in such a way as to afford her a glimpse of his face. For, in all her +memory of it--and she had seen it distorted by many and various emotions +during the last few weeks--she had never beheld it wear such a look as +now. It gave her a new idea of the man; it filled her with dismay, and +sent the life-blood from her cheeks. It fascinated her, as the glimpse +of any evil thing fascinates, and held her spell-bound long after he +had turned back again to his silent contemplation of the fire and its +ever-drifting ashes. It was as if a vail had been rent before her eyes, +disclosing to her a living soul writhing in secret struggle with its own +worst passions; and horrified at the revelation, more than horrified at +the remembrance that it was her own action of the morning which had +occasioned this change in one she had long reverenced, if not loved, she +sank helplessly upon her knees and pressed her face to the window in a +prayer for courage to sustain this new woe and latest, if not heaviest, +disappointment. + +It came while she was kneeling--came in the breath of the cold night +wind, perhaps; for, rising up, she turned her forehead gratefully to the +breeze, and drew in long draughts of it before she lifted her hand and +knocked upon the window. + +The sharp, shrill sound made by her fingers on the pane reassured her as +much as it startled him. Gathering up her long cloak, which had fallen +apart in her last hurried movement, she waited with growing +self-possession for his appearance at the window. + +He came almost immediately--came with his usual hasty step and with much +of his usual expression on his well-disciplined features. Flinging aside +the curtains, he cried impatiently: "Who is there?" But at sight of the +tall figure of Imogene standing upright and firm on the piazza without, +he drew back with a gesture of dismay, which was almost forbidding in +its character. + +She saw it, but did not pause. Pushing up the window, she stepped into +the room; then, as he did not offer to help her, turned and shut the +window behind her and carefully arranged the curtains. He meantime stood +watching her with eyes in whose fierce light burned equal love and equal +anger. + +When all was completed, she faced him. Instantly a cry broke from his +lips: + +"You here!" he exclaimed, as if her presence were more than he could +meet or stand. But in another moment the forlornness of her position +seemed to strike him, and he advanced toward her, saying in a voice +husky with passion: "Wretched woman, what have you done? Was it not +enough that for weeks, months now, you have played with my love and +misery as with toys, that you should rise up at the last minute and +crush me before the whole world with a story, mad as it is false, of +yourself being a criminal and the destroyer of the woman for whose death +your miserable lover is being tried? Had you no consideration, no pity, +if not for yourself, ruined by this day's work, for me, who have +sacrificed every thing, done every thing the most devoted man or lawyer +could do to save this fellow and win you for my wife?" + +"Sir," said she, meeting the burning anger of his look with the coldness +of a set despair, as if in the doubt awakened by his changed demeanor +she sought to probe his mind for its hidden secret, "I did what any +other woman would have done in my place. When we are pushed to the wall +we tell the truth." + +"The truth!" Was that his laugh that rang startlingly through the room? +"The truth! You told the truth! Imogene, Imogene, is any such farce +necessary with me?" + +Her lips, which had opened, closed again, and she did not answer for a +moment; then she asked: + +"How do you know that what I said was not the truth?" + +"How do I know?" He paused as if to get his breath. "How do I know?" he +repeated, calling up all his self-control to sustain her gaze unmoved. +"Do you think I have lost my reason, Imogene, that you put me such a +question as that? How do I know you are innocent? Recall your own words +and acts since the day we met at Mrs. Clemmens' house, and tell me how +it would be possible for me to think any thing else of you?" + +But her purpose did not relax, neither did she falter as she returned: + +"Mr. Orcutt, will you tell me what has ever been said by me or what you +have ever known me to do that would make it certain I did not commit +this crime myself?" + +His indignation was too much for his courtesy. + +"Imogene," he commanded, "be silent! I will not listen to any further +arguments of this sort. Isn't it enough that you have destroyed my +happiness, that you should seek to sport with my good-sense? I say you +are innocent as a babe unborn, not only of the crime itself but of any +complicity in it. Every word you have spoken, every action you have +taken, since the day of Mrs. Clemmens' death, proves you to be the +victim of a fixed conviction totally at war with the statement you were +pleased to make to-day. Only your belief in the guilt of another and +your--your----" + +He stopped, choked. The thought of his rival maddened him. + +She immediately seized the opportunity to say: + +"Mr. Orcutt, I cannot argue about what I have done. It is over and +cannot be remedied. It is true I have destroyed myself, but this is no +time to think of that. All I can think of or mourn over now is that, by +destroying myself, I have not succeeded in saving Craik Mansell." + +If her purpose was to probe the lawyer's soul for the deadly wound that +had turned all his sympathies to gall, she was successful at last. +Turning upon her with a look in which despair and anger were strangely +mingled, he cried: + +"And me, Imogene--have you no thought for me?" + +"Sir," said she, "any thought from one disgraced as I am now, would be +an insult to one of your character and position." + +It was true. In the eyes of the world Tremont Orcutt and Imogene Dare +henceforth stood as far apart as the poles. Realizing it only too well, +he uttered a half-inarticulate exclamation, and trod restlessly to the +other end of the room. When he came back, it was with more of the +lawyer's aspect and less of the baffled lover's. + +"Imogene," he said, "what could have induced you to resort to an +expedient so dreadful? Had you lost confidence in me? Had I not told you +I would save this man from his threatened fate?" + +"You cannot do every thing," she replied. "There are limits even to a +power like yours. I knew that Craik was lost if I gave to the court the +testimony which Mr. Ferris expected from me." + +"Ah, then," he cried, seizing with his usual quickness at the admission +which had thus unconsciously, perhaps, slipped from her, "you +acknowledge you uttered a perjury to save yourself from making +declarations you believed to be hurtful to the prisoner?" + +A faint smile crossed her lips, and her whole aspect suddenly changed. + +"Yes," she said; "I have no motive for hiding it from you now. I +perjured myself to escape destroying Craik Mansell. I was scarcely the +mistress of my own actions. I had suffered so much I was ready to do any +thing to save the man I had so relentlessly pushed to his doom. I forgot +that God does not prosper a lie." + +The jealous gleam which answered her from the lawyer's eyes was a +revelation. + +"You regret, then," he said, "that you tossed my happiness away with a +breath of your perjured lips?" + +"I regret I did not tell the truth and trust God." + +At this answer, uttered with the simplicity of a penitent spirit, Mr. +Orcutt unconsciously drew back. + +"And, may I ask, what has caused this sudden regret?" he inquired, in a +tone not far removed from mockery; "the generous action of the prisoner +in relieving you from your self-imposed burden of guilt by an +acknowledgment that struck at the foundation of the defence I had so +carefully prepared?" + +"No," was her short reply; "that could but afford me joy. Of whatever +sin he may be guilty, he is at least free from the reproach of accepting +deliverance at the expense of a woman. I am sorry I said what I did +to-day, because a revelation has since been made to me, which proves I +could never have sustained myself in the position I took, and that it +was mere suicidal folly in me to attempt to save Craik Mansell by such +means." + +"A revelation?" + +"Yes." And, forgetting all else in the purpose which had actuated her in +seeking this interview, Imogene drew nearer to the lawyer and earnestly +said: "There have been some persons--I have perceived it--who have +wondered at my deep conviction of Craik Mansell's guilt. But the reasons +I had justified it. They were great, greater than any one knew, greater +even than _you_ knew. His mother--were she living--must have thought as +I did, had she been placed beside me and seen what I have seen, and +heard what I have heard from the time of Mrs. Clemmens' death. Not only +were all the facts brought against him in the trial known to me, but I +saw him--saw him with my own eyes, running from Mrs. Clemmens' +dining-room door at the very time we suppose the murder to have been +committed; that is, at five minutes before noon on the fatal day." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Mr. Orcutt, in his astonishment. "You are +playing with my credulity, Imogene." + +But she went on, letting her voice fall in awe of the lawyer's startled +look. + +"No," she persisted; "I was in Professor Darling's observatory. I was +looking through a telescope, which had been pointed toward the town. +Mrs. Clemmens was much in my mind at the time, and I took the notion to +glance at her house, when I saw what I have described to you. I could +not help remembering the time," she added, "for I had looked at the +clock but a moment before." + +"And it was five minutes before noon?" broke again from the lawyer's +lips, in what was almost an awe-struck tone. + +Troubled at an astonishment which seemed to partake of the nature of +alarm, she silently bowed her head. + +"And you were looking at him--actually looking at him--that very moment +through a telescope perched a mile or so away?" + +"Yes," she bowed again. + +Turning his face aside, Mr. Orcutt walked to the hearth and began +kicking the burnt-out logs with his restless foot. As he did so, Imogene +heard him mutter between his set teeth: + +"It is almost enough to make one believe in a God!" + +Struck, horrified, she glided anxiously to his side. + +"Do not you believe in a God?" she asked. + +He was silent. + +Amazed, almost frightened, for she had never heard him breathe a word of +scepticism before,--though, to be sure, he had never mentioned the name +of the Deity in her presence,--she stood looking at him like one who had +received a blow; then she said: + +"I believe in God. It is my punishment that I do. It is He who wills +blood for blood; who dooms the guilty to a merited death. Oh, if He only +would accept the sacrifice I so willingly offer!--take the life I so +little value, and give me in return----" + +"Mansell's?" completed the lawyer, turning upon her in a burst of fury +he no longer had power to suppress. "Is that your cry--always and +forever your cry? You drive me too far, Imogene. This mad and senseless +passion for a man who no longer loves you----" + +"Spare me!" rose from her trembling lips. "Let me forget that." + +But the great lawyer only laughed. + +"You make it worth my while to save you the bitterness of such a +remembrance," he cried. Then, as she remained silent, he changed his +tone to one of careless inquiry, and asked: + +"Was it to tell this story of the prisoner having fled from his aunt's +house that you came here to-night?" + +Recalled to the purpose of the hour, she answered, hurriedly: + +"Not entirely; that story was what Mr. Ferris expected me to testify to +in court this morning. You see for yourself in what a position it would +have put the prisoner." + +"And the revelation you have received?" the lawyer coldly urged. + +"Was of a deception that has been practised upon me--a base deception by +which I was led to think long ago that Craik Mansell had admitted his +guilt and only trusted to the excellence of his defence to escape +punishment." + +"I do not understand," said Mr. Orcutt. "Who could have practised such +deception upon you?" + +"The detectives," she murmured; "that rough, heartless fellow they call +Hickory." And, in a burst of indignation, she told how she had been +practised upon, and what the results had been upon her belief, if not +upon the testimony which grew out of that belief. + +The lawyer listened with a strange apathy. What would once have aroused +his fiercest indignation and fired him to an exertion of his keenest +powers, fell on him now like the tedious repetition of an old and +worn-out tale. He scarcely looked up when she was done; and despair--the +first, perhaps, she had ever really felt--began to close in around her +as she saw how deep a gulf she had dug between this man and herself by +the inconsiderate act which had robbed him of all hope of ever making +her his wife. Moved by this feeling, she suddenly asked: + +"Have you lost all interest in your client, Mr. Orcutt? Have you no wish +or hope remaining of seeing him acquitted of this crime?" + +"My client," responded the lawyer, with bitter emphasis, "has taken his +case into his own hands. It would be presumptuous in me to attempt any +thing further in his favor." + +"Mr. Orcutt!" + +"Ah!" he scornfully laughed, with a quick yielding to his passion as +startling as it was unexpected, "you thought you could play with me as +you would; use my skill and ignore the love that prompted it. You are a +clever woman, Imogene, but you went too far when you considered my +forbearance unlimited." + +"And you forsake Craik Mansell, in the hour of his extremity?" + +"Craik Mansell has forsaken me." + +This was true; for her sake her lover had thrown his defence to the +winds and rendered the assistance of his counsel unavailable. Seeing her +droop her head abashed, Mr. Orcutt dryly proceeded. + +"I do not know what may take place in court to-morrow," said he. "It is +difficult to determine what will be the outcome of so complicated a +case. The District Attorney, in consideration of the deception which has +been practised upon you, may refuse to prosecute any further; or, if the +case goes on and the jury is called upon for a verdict, they may or may +not be moved by its peculiar aspects to acquit a man of such generous +dispositions. If they are, I shall do nothing to hinder an acquittal; +but ask for no more active measures on my part. I cannot plead for the +lover of the woman who has disgraced me." + +This decision, from one she had trusted so implicitly, seemed to crush +her. + +"Ah," she murmured, "if you did not believe him guilty you would not +leave him thus to his fate." + +He gave her a short, side-long glance, half-mocking, half-pitiful. + +"If," she pursued, "you had felt even a passing gleam of doubt, such as +came to me when I discovered that he had never really admitted his +guilt, you would let no mere mistake on the part of a woman turn you +from your duty as counsellor for a man on trial for his life." + +His glance lost its pity and became wholly mocking. + +"And do _you_ cherish but passing gleams?" he sarcastically asked. + +She started back. + +"I laugh at the inconsistency of women," he cried. "You have sacrificed +every thing, even risked your life for a man you really believe guilty +of crime; yet if another man similarly stained asked you for your +compassion only, you would fly from him as from a pestilence." + +But no words he could utter of this sort were able to raise any emotion +in her now. + +"Mr. Orcutt," she demanded, "do _you_ believe Craik Mansell innocent?" + +His old mocking smile came back. + +"Have I conducted his case as if I believed him guilty?" he asked. + +"No, no; but you are his lawyer; you are bound not to let your real +thoughts appear. But in your secret heart you did not, could not, +believe he was free from a crime to which he is linked by so many +criminating circumstances?" + +But his strange smile remaining unchanged, she seemed to waken to a +sudden doubt, and leaping impetuously to his side, laid her hand on his +arm and exclaimed: + +"Oh, sir, if you have ever cherished one hope of his innocence, no +matter how faint or small, tell me of it, even if this last disclosure +has convinced you of its folly!" + +Giving her an icy look, he drew his arm slowly from her grasp and +replied: + +"Mr. Mansell has never been considered guilty by me." + +"Never?" + +"Never." + +"Not even now?" + +"Not even now." + +It seemed as if she could not believe his words. + +"And yet you know all there is against him; all that I do now!" + +"I know he visited his aunt's house at or after the time she was +murdered, but that is no proof he killed her, Miss Dare." + +"No," she admitted with slow conviction, "no. But why did he fly in that +wild way when he left it? Why did he go straight to Buffalo and not wait +to give me the interview he promised?" + +"Shall I tell you?" Mr. Orcutt inquired, with a dangerous sneer on his +lips. "Do you wish to know why this man--the man you have so loved--the +man for whom you would die this moment, has conducted himself with such +marked discretion?" + +"Yes," came like a breath from between Imogene's parted lips. + +"Well," said the lawyer, dropping his words with cruel clearness, "Mr. +Mansell has a great faith in women. He has such faith in you, Imogene +Dare, he thinks you are all you declare yourself to be; that in the hour +you stood up before the court and called yourself a murderer, you spoke +but the truth; that----" He stopped; even his scornful _aplomb_ would +not allow him to go on in the face of the look she wore. + +"Say--say those words again!" she gasped. "Let me hear them once more. +He thinks what?" + +"That you are what you proclaimed yourself to be this day, the actual +assailant and murderer of Mrs. Clemmens. He has thought so all along, +Miss Dare, why, I do not know. Whether he saw any thing or heard any +thing in that house from which you saw him fly so abruptly, or whether +he relied solely upon the testimony of the ring, which you must remember +he never acknowledged having received back from you, I only know that +from the minute he heard of his aunt's death, his suspicions flew to +you, and that, in despite of such suggestions as I felt it judicious to +make, they have never suffered shock or been turned from their course +from that day to this. _Such_ honor," concluded Mr. Orcutt, with dry +sarcasm, "does the man you love show to the woman who has sacrificed for +his sake all that the world holds dear." + +"I--I cannot believe it. You are mocking me," came inarticulately from +her lips, while she drew back, step by step, till half the room lay +between them. + +"Mocking you? Miss Dare, he has shown his feelings so palpably, I have +often trembled lest the whole court should see and understand them." + +"You have trembled"--she could scarcely speak, the rush of her emotion +was so great--"_you_ have trembled lest the whole court should see he +suspected me of this crime?" + +"Yes." + +"Then," she cried, "you must have been convinced,--Ah!" she hurriedly +interposed, with a sudden look of distrust, "you are not amusing +yourself with me, are you, Mr. Orcutt? So many traps have been laid for +me from time to time, I dare not trust the truth of my best friend. +Swear you believe Craik Mansell to have thought this of me! Swear you +have seen this dark thing lying in his soul, or I----" + +"What?" + +"Will confront him myself with the question, if I have to tear down the +walls of the prison to reach him. His mind I must and will know." + +"Very well, then, you do. I have told you," declared Mr. Orcutt. +"Swearing would not make it any more true." + +Lifting her face to heaven, she suddenly fell on her knees. + +"O God!" she murmured, "help me to bear this great joy!" + +"_Joy!_" + +The icy tone, the fierce surprise it expressed, started her at once to +her feet. + +"Yes," she murmured, "joy! Don't you see that if he thinks me guilty, he +_must_ be innocent? I am willing to perish and fall from the ranks of +good men and honorable women to be sure of a fact like this!" + +"Imogene, Imogene, would you drive me mad?" + +She did not seem to hear. + +"Craik, are you guiltless, then?" she was saying. "Is the past all a +dream! Are we two nothing but victims of dread and awful circumstances? +Oh, we will see; life is not ended yet!" And with a burst of hope that +seemed to transfigure her into another woman, she turned toward the +lawyer with the cry: "If he is innocent, he can be saved. Nothing that +has been done by him or me can hurt him if this be so. God who watches +over this crime has His eye on the guilty one. Though his sin be hidden +under a mountain of deceit, it will yet come forth. Guilt like his +cannot remain hidden." + +"You did not think this when you faced the court this morning with +perjury on your lips," came in slow, ironical tones from her companion. + +"Heaven sometimes accepts a sacrifice," she returned. "But who will +sacrifice himself for a man who could let the trial of one he knew to be +innocent go on unhindered?" + +"Who, indeed!" came in almost stifled tones from the lawyer's lips. + +"If a stranger and not Craik Mansell slew Mrs. Clemmens," she went on, +"and nothing but an incomprehensible train of coincidences unites him +and me to this act of violence, then may God remember the words of the +widow, and in His almighty power call down such a doom----" + +She ended with a gasp. Mr. Orcutt, with a sudden movement, had laid his +hand upon her lips. + +"Hush!" he said, "let no curses issue from _your_ mouth. The guilty can +perish without that." + +Releasing herself from him in alarm, she drew back, her eyes slowly +dilating as she noted the dead whiteness that had settled over his face, +and taken even the hue of life from his nervously trembling lip. + +"Mr. Orcutt," she whispered, with a solemnity which made them heedless +that the lamp which had been burning lower and lower in its socket was +giving out its last fitful rays, "if Craik Mansell did not kill the +Widow Clemmens who then did?" + +Her question--or was it her look and tone?--seemed to transfix Mr. +Orcutt. But it was only for a moment. Turning with a slight gesture to +the table at his side, he fumbled with his papers, still oblivious of +the flaring lamp, saying slowly: + +"I have always supposed Gouverneur Hildreth to be the true author of +this crime." + +"Gouverneur Hildreth?" + +Mr. Orcutt bowed. + +"I do not agree with you," she returned, moving slowly toward the +window. "I am no reader of human hearts, as all my past history shows, +but something--is it the voice of God in my breast?--tells me that +Gouverneur Hildreth is as innocent as Craik Mansell, and that the true +murderer of Mrs. Clemmens----" Her words ended in a shriek. The light, +which for so long a time had been flickering to its end, had given one +startling flare in which the face of the man before her had flashed on +her view in a ghastly flame that seemed to separate it from all +surrounding objects, then as suddenly gone out, leaving the room in +total darkness. + +In the silence that followed, a quick sound as of rushing feet was +heard, then the window was pushed up and the night air came moaning in. +Imogene had fled. + + * * * * * + +Horace Byrd had not followed Hickory in his rush toward the house. He +had preferred to await results under the great tree which, standing just +inside the gate, cast its mysterious and far-reaching shadow widely over +the wintry lawn. He was, therefore, alone during most of the interview +which Miss Dare held with Mr. Orcutt in the library, and, being alone, +felt himself a prey to his sensations and the weirdness of the situation +in which he found himself. + +Though no longer a victim to the passion with which Miss Dare had at +first inspired him, he was by no means without feeling for this grand if +somewhat misguided woman, and his emotions, as he stood there awaiting +the issue of her last desperate attempt to aid the prisoner, were strong +enough to make any solitude welcome, though this solitude for some +reason held an influence which was any thing but enlivening, if it was +not actually depressing, to one of his ready sensibilities. + +The tree under which he had taken his stand was, as I have intimated, an +old one. It had stood there from time immemorial, and was, as I have +heard it since said, at once the pride of Mr. Orcutt's heart and the +chief ornament of his grounds. Though devoid of foliage at the time, +its vast and symmetrical canopy of interlacing branches had caught Mr. +Byrd's attention from the first moment of his entrance beneath it, and, +preoccupied as he was, he could not prevent his thoughts from reverting +now and then with a curious sensation of awe to the immensity of those +great limbs which branched above him. His imagination was so powerfully +affected at last, he had a notion of leaving the spot and seeking a +nearer look-out in the belt of evergreens that hid the crouching form of +Hickory; but a spell seemed to emanate from the huge trunk against which +he leaned that restrained him when he sought to go, and noticing almost +at the same moment that the path which Miss Dare would have to take in +her departure ran directly under this tree, he yielded to the apathy of +the moment and remained where he was. + +Soon after he was visited by Hickory. + +"I can see nothing and hear nothing," was that individual's hurried +salutation. "She and Mr. Orcutt are evidently still in the library, but +I cannot get a clue to what is going on. I shall keep up my watch, +however, for I want to catch a glimpse of her face as she steps from the +window." And he was off again before Byrd could reply. + +But the next instant he was back, panting and breathless. + +"The light is out in the library," he cried; "we shall see her no more +to-night." + +But scarcely had the words left his lips when a faint sound was heard +from the region of the piazza, and looking eagerly up the path, they saw +the form of Miss Dare coming hurriedly toward them. + +To slip around into the deepest shadow cast by the tree was but the work +of a moment. Meantime, the moon shone brightly on the walk down which +she was speeding, and as, in the agitation of her departure, she had +forgotten to draw down her veil, they succeeded in obtaining a view of +her face. It was pale, and wore an expression of fear, while her feet +hasted as though she were only filled with thoughts of escape. + +Seeing this, the two detectives held their breaths, preparing to follow +her as soon as she had passed the tree. But she did not pass the tree. +Just as she got within reach of its shadow, a commanding voice was heard +calling upon her to stop, and Mr. Orcutt came hurrying, in his turn, +down the path. + +"I cannot let you go thus," he cried, pausing beside her on the walk +directly under the tree. "If you command me to save Craik Mansell I must +do it. What you wish must be done, Imogene." + +"My wishes should not be needed to lead you to do your duty by the man +you believe to be innocent of the charge for which he is being tried," +was her earnest and strangely cold reply. + +"Perhaps not," he muttered, bitterly; "but--ah, Imogene," he suddenly +broke forth, in a way to startle these two detectives, who, however +suspicious they had been of his passion, had never before had the +opportunity of seeing him under its control, "what have you made of me +with your bewildering graces and indomitable soul? Before I knew you, +life was a round of honorable duties and serene pleasures. I lived in my +profession, and found my greatest delight in its exercise. But now----" + +"What now?" she asked. + +"I seem"--he said, and the hard, cold selfishness that underlay all his +actions, however generous they may have been in appearance, was apparent +in his words and tones,--"I seem to forget every thing, even my standing +and fame as a lawyer, in the one fear that, although lost to me, you +will yet live to give yourself to another." + +"If you fear that I shall ever be so weak as to give myself to Craik +Mansell," was her steady reply, "you have only to recall the promise I +made you when you undertook his case." + +"Yes," said he, "but that was when you yourself believed him guilty." + +"I know," she returned; "but if he were not good enough for me then, I +am not good enough for him now. Do you forget that I am blotted with a +stain that can never be effaced? When I stood up in court to-day and +denounced myself as guilty of crime, I signed away all my chances of +future happiness." + +There was a pause; Mr. Orcutt seemed to be thinking. From the position +occupied by the two detectives his shadow could be seen oscillating to +and fro on the lawn, then, amid the hush of night--a deathly +hush--undisturbed, as Mr. Byrd afterward remarked, by so much as the +cracking of a twig, his voice rose quiet, yet vaguely sinister, in the +words: + +"You have conquered. If any man suffers for this crime it shall not be +Craik Mansell, but----" + +The sentence was never finished. Before the words could leave his mouth +a sudden strange and splitting sound was heard above their heads, then a +terrifying rush took place, and a great limb lay upon the walk where but +a moment before the beautiful form of Imogene Dare lifted itself by the +side of the eminent lawyer. + +When a full sense of the terrible nature of the calamity which had just +occurred swept across the minds of the benumbed detectives, Mr. Byrd, +recalling the words and attitude of Imogene in face of a similar, if +less fatal, catastrophe at the hut, exclaimed under his breath: + +"It is the vengeance of Heaven! Imogene Dare must have been more guilty +than we believed." + +But when, after a superhuman exertion of strength, and the assistance of +many hands, the limb was at length raised, it was found that, although +both had been prostrated by its weight, only one remained stretched and +senseless upon the ground, and that was not Imogene Dare, but the great +lawyer, Mr. Orcutt. + + + + +XXXVIII. + +UNEXPECTED WORDS. + + It will have blood: they say, blood will have blood. + Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak; + Augurs and understood relations have, + By magot-pies and choughs and rooks, brought forth + The secret'st man of blood. + + * * * * * + + Foul whisperings are abroad; unnatural deeds + Do breed unnatural troubles; infected minds + To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. --MACBETH. + + +"MR. ORCUTT dead?" + +"Dying, sir." + +"How, when, where?" + +"In his own house, sir. He has been struck down by a falling limb." + +The District Attorney, who had been roused from his bed to hear these +evil tidings, looked at the perturbed face of the messenger before +him--who was none other than Mr. Byrd--and with difficulty restrained +his emotion. + +"I sympathize with your horror and surprise," exclaimed the detective, +respectfully. Then, with a strange mixture of embarrassment and +agitation, added: "It is considered absolutely necessary that you come +to the house. He may yet speak--and--and--you will find Miss Dare +there," he concluded, with a peculiarly hesitating glance and a rapid +movement toward the door. + +Mr. Ferris, who, as we know, cherished a strong feeling of friendship +for Mr. Orcutt, stared uneasily at the departing form of the detective. + +"What do you say?" he repeated. "Miss Dare there, in Mr. Orcutt's +house?" + +The short "Yes," and the celerity with which Mr. Byrd vanished, gave him +the appearance of one anxious to escape further inquiries. + +Astonished, as well as greatly distressed, the District Attorney made +speedy preparations for following him, and soon was in the street. He +found it all alive with eager citizens, who, notwithstanding the +lateness of the hour, were rushing hither and thither in search of +particulars concerning this sudden calamity; and upon reaching the house +itself, found it wellnigh surrounded by an agitated throng of neighbors +and friends. + +Simply pausing at the gate to cast one glance at the tree and its fallen +limb, he made his way to the front door. It was immediately opened. Dr. +Tredwell, whose face it was a shock to encounter in this place, stood +before him, and farther back a group of such favored friends as had been +allowed to enter the house. Something in the look of the coroner, as he +silently reached forth his hand in salutation, added to the mysterious +impression which had been made upon Mr. Ferris by the manner, if not +words, of Mr. Byrd. Feeling that he was losing his self-command, the +District Attorney grasped the hand that was held out to him, and huskily +inquired if Mr. Orcutt was still alive. + +The coroner, who had been standing before him with a troubled brow and +lowered eyes, gravely bowed, and quietly leading the way, ushered him +forward to Mr. Orcutt's bedroom door. There he paused and looked as if +he would like to speak, but hastily changing his mind, opened the door +and motioned the District Attorney in. As he did so, he cast a meaning +and solemn look toward the bed, then drew back, watching with evident +anxiety what the effect of the scene before him would have upon this new +witness. + +A stupefying one it seemed, for Mr. Ferris, pausing in his approach, +looked at the cluster of persons about the bed, and then drew his hand +across his eyes like a man in a maze. Suddenly he turned upon Dr. +Tredwell with the same strange look he had himself seen in the eyes of +Byrd, and said, almost as if the words were forced from his lips: + +"This is no new sight to us, doctor; we have been spectators of a scene +like this before." + +That was it. As nearly as the alteration in circumstances and +surroundings would allow, the spectacle before him was the same as that +which he had encountered months before in a small cottage at the other +end of the town. On the bed a pallid, senseless, but slowly breathing +form, whose features, stamped with the approach of death, stared at +them with marble-like rigidity from beneath the heavy bandages which +proclaimed the injury to be one to the head. At his side the doctor--the +same one who had been called in to attend Mrs. Clemmens--wearing, as he +did then, a look of sombre anticipation which Mr. Ferris expected every +instant to see culminate in the solemn gesture which he had used at the +widow's bedside before she spoke. Even the group of women who clustered +about the foot of the couch wore much the same expression as those who +waited for movement on the part of Mrs. Clemmens; and had it not been +for the sight of Imogene Dare sitting immovable and watchful on the +farther side of the bed, he might almost have imagined he was +transported back to the old scene, and that all this new horror under +which he was laboring was a dream from which he would speedily be +awakened. + +But Imogene's face, her look, her air of patient waiting, were not to be +mistaken. Attention once really attracted to her, it was not possible +for it to wander elsewhere. Even the face of the dying man and the +countenance of the watchful physician paled in interest before that +fixed look which, never wavering, never altering, studied the marble +visage before her, for the first faint signs of reawakening +consciousness. Even his sister, who, if weak of mind, was most certainly +of a loving disposition, seemed to feel the force of the tie that bound +Imogene to that pillow; and, though she hovered nearer and nearer the +beloved form as the weariful moments sped by, did not presume to +interpose her grief or her assistance between the burning eye of Imogene +and the immovable form of her stricken brother. + +The hush that lay upon the room was unbroken save by the agitated +breaths of all present. + +"Is there no hope?" whispered Mr. Ferris to Dr. Tredwell, as, seeing no +immediate prospect of change, they sought for seats at the other side of +the room. + +"No; the wound is strangely like that which Mrs. Clemmens received. He +will rouse, probably, but he will not live. Our only comfort is that in +this case it is not a murder." + +The District Attorney made a gesture in the direction of Imogene. + +"How came she to be here?" he asked. + +Dr. Tredwell rose and drew him from the room. + +"It needs some explanation," he said; and began to relate to him how Mr. +Orcutt was escorting Miss Dare to the gate when the bough fell which +seemed likely to rob him of his life. + +Mr. Ferris, through whose mind those old words of the widow were running +in a way that could only be accounted for by the memories which the +scene within had awakened--"May the vengeance of Heaven light upon the +head of him who has brought me to this pass! May the fate that has come +upon me be visited upon him, measure for measure, blow for blow, death +for death!"--turned with impressive gravity and asked if Miss Dare had +not been hurt. + +But Dr. Tredwell shook his head. + +"She is not even bruised," said he. + +"And yet was on his arm?" + +"Possibly, though I very much doubt it." + +"She was standing at his side," uttered the quiet voice of Mr. Byrd in +their ear; "and disappeared when he did, under the falling branch. She +must have been bruised, though she says not. I do not think she is in a +condition to feel her injuries." + +"You were present, then," observed Mr. Ferris, with a meaning glance at +the detective. + +"I was present," he returned, with a look the District Attorney did not +find it difficult to understand. + +"Is there any thing you ought to tell me?" Mr. Ferris inquired, when a +moment or so later the coroner had been drawn away by a friend. + +"I do not know," said Byrd. "Of the conversation that passed between +Miss Dare and Mr. Orcutt, but a short portion came to our ears. It is +her manner, her actions, that have astonished us, and made us anxious to +have you upon the spot." And he told with what an expression of fear she +had fled from her interview with Mr. Orcutt in the library, and then +gave, as nearly as he could, an account of what had passed between them +before the falling of the fatal limb. Finally he said: "Hickory and I +expected to find her lying crushed and bleeding beneath, but instead of +that, no sooner was the bough lifted than she sprang to her knees, and +seeing Mr. Orcutt lying before her insensible, bent over him with that +same expression of breathless awe and expectation which you see in her +now. It looks as if she were waiting for him to rouse and finish the +sentence that was cut short by this catastrophe." + +"And what was that sentence?" + +"As near as I can recollect, it was this: 'If any man suffers for this +crime it shall not be Craik Mansell, but----' He did not have time to +say whom." + +"My poor friend!" ejaculated Mr. Ferris, "cut down in the exercise of +his duties! It is a mysterious providence--a very mysterious +providence!" And crossing again to the sick-room, he went sadly in. + +He found the aspect unchanged. On the pillow the same white, immovable +face; at the bedside the same constant and expectant watchers. Imogene +especially seemed scarcely to have made a move in all the time of his +absence. Like a marble image watching over a form of clay she sat +silent, breathless, intent--a sight to draw all eyes and satisfy none; +for her look was not one of grief, nor of awe, nor of hope, yet it had +that within it which made her presence there seem a matter of right even +to those who did not know the exact character of the bond which united +her to the unhappy sufferer. + +Mr. Ferris, who had been only too ready to accept Mr. Byrd's explanation +of her conduct, allowed himself to gaze at her unhindered. + +Overwhelmed, as he was, by the calamity which promised to rob the Bar +of one of its most distinguished advocates, and himself of a long-tried +friend, he could not but feel the throb of those deep interests which, +in the estimation of this woman at least, hung upon a word which those +dying lips might utter. And swayed by this feeling, he unconsciously +became a third watcher, though for what, and in hope of what, he could +scarcely have told, so much was he benumbed by the suddenness of this +great catastrophe, and the extraordinary circumstances by which it was +surrounded. + +And so one o'clock came and passed. + +It was not the last time the clock struck before a change came. The hour +of two went by, then that of three, and still, to the casual eye, all +remained the same. But ere the stroke of four was heard, Mr. Ferris, who +had relaxed his survey of Imogene to bestow a fuller attention upon his +friend, felt an indefinable sensation of dismay assail him, and rising +to his feet, drew a step or so nearer the bed, and looked at its silent +occupant with the air of a man who would fain shut his eyes to the +meaning of what he sees before him. At the same moment Mr. Byrd, who had +just come in, found himself attracted by the subtle difference he +observed in the expression of Miss Dare. The expectancy in her look was +gone, and its entire expression was that of awe. Advancing to the side +of Mr. Ferris, he glanced down at the dying lawyer. He at once saw what +it was that had so attracted and moved the District Attorney. A change +had come over Mr. Orcutt's face. Though rigid still, and unrelieved by +any signs of returning consciousness, it was no longer that of the man +they knew, but a strange face, owning the same features, but +distinguished now by a look sinister as it was unaccustomed, filling the +breasts of those who saw it with dismay, and making any contemplation of +his countenance more than painful to those who loved him. Nor did it +decrease as they watched him. Like that charmed writing which appears on +a blank paper when it is subjected to the heat, the subtle, unmistakable +lines came out, moment by moment, on the mask of his unconscious face, +till even Imogene trembled, and turned an appealing glance upon Mr. +Ferris, as if to bid him note this involuntary evidence of nature +against the purity and good intentions of the man who had always stood +so high in the world's regard. Then, satisfied, perhaps, with the +expression she encountered on the face of the District Attorney, she +looked back; and the heavy minutes went on, only more drearily, and +perhaps more fearfully, than before. + +Suddenly--was it at a gesture of the physician, or a look from +Imogene?--a thrill of expectation passed through the room, and Dr. +Tredwell, Mr. Ferris, and a certain other gentleman who had but just +entered at a remote corner of the apartment, came hurriedly forward and +stood at the foot of the bed. At the same instant Imogene rose, and +motioning them a trifle aside, with an air of mingled entreaty and +command, bent slowly down toward the injured man. A look of recognition +answered her from the face upon the pillow, but she did not wait to meet +it, nor pause for the word that evidently trembled on his momentarily +conscious lip. Shutting out with her form the group of anxious watchers +behind her, she threw all her soul into the regard with which she held +him enchained; then slowly, solemnly, but with unyielding determination, +uttered these words, which no one there could know were but a repetition +of a question made a few eventful hours ago: "If Craik Mansell is not +the man who killed Mrs. Clemmens, do you, Mr. Orcutt, tell us who is!" +and, pausing, remained with her gaze fixed demandingly on that of the +lawyer, undeterred by the smothered exclamations of those who witnessed +this scene and missed its clue or found it only in the supposition that +this last great shock had unsettled her mind. + +The panting sufferer just trembling on the verge of life thrilled all +down his once alert and nervous frame, then searching her face for one +sign of relenting, unclosed his rigid lips and said, with emphasis: + +"Has not Fate spoken?" + +Instantly Imogene sprang erect, and, amid the stifled shrieks of the +women and the muttered exclamations of the men, pointed at the recumbent +figure before them, saying: + +"You hear! Tremont Orcutt declares upon his death-bed that it is the +voice of Heaven which has spoken in this dreadful calamity. You who were +present when Mrs. Clemmens breathed her imprecations on the head of her +murderer, must know what that means." + +Mr. Ferris, who of all present, perhaps, possessed the greatest regard +for the lawyer, gave an ejaculation of dismay at this, and bounding +forward, lifted her away from the bedside he believed her to have basely +desecrated. + +"Madwoman," he cried, "where will your ravings end? He will tell no such +tale to me." + +But when he bent above the lawyer with the question forced from him by +Miss Dare's words, he found him already lapsed into that strange +insensibility which was every moment showing itself more and more to be +the precursor of death. + +The sight seemed to rob Mr. Ferris of his last grain of self-command. +Rising, he confronted the dazed faces of those about him with a severe +look. + +"This charge," said he, "is akin to that which Miss Dare made against +herself in the court yesterday morning. When a woman has become crazed +she no longer knows what she says." + +But Imogene, strong in the belief that the hand of Heaven had pointed +out the culprit for whom they had so long been searching, shook her head +in quiet denial, and simply saying, "None of you know this man as I do," +moved quietly aside to a dim corner, where she sat down in calm +expectation of another awakening on the part of the dying lawyer. + +It came soon--came before Mr. Ferris had recovered himself, or Dr. +Tredwell had had a chance to give any utterance to the emotions which +this scene was calculated to awaken. + +Rousing as the widow had done, but seeming to see no one, not even the +physician who bent close at his side, Mr. Orcutt lifted his voice again, +this time in the old stentorian tones which he used in court, and +clearly, firmly exclaimed: + +"Blood will have blood!" Then in lower and more familiar accents, cried: +"Ah, Imogene, Imogene, it was all for you!" And with her name on his +lips, the great lawyer closed his eyes again, and sank for the last time +into a state of insensibility. + +Imogene at once rose. + +"I must go," she murmured; "my duty in this place is done." And she +attempted to cross the floor. + +But the purpose which had sustained her being at an end, she felt the +full weight of her misery, and looking in the faces about her, and +seeing nothing there but reprobation, she tottered and would have fallen +had not a certain portly gentleman who stood near by put forth his arm +to sustain her. Accepting the support with gratitude, but scarcely +pausing to note from what source it came, she turned for an instant to +Mr. Ferris. + +"I realize," said she, "with what surprise you must have heard the +revelation which has just come from Mr. Orcutt's lips. So unexpected is +it that you cannot yet believe it, but the time will come when, of all +the words I have spoken, these alone will be found worthy your full +credit: that not Craik Mansell, not Gouverneur Hildreth, not even +unhappy Imogene Dare herself, could tell you so much of the real cause +and manner of Mrs. Clemmens' death as this man who lies stricken here a +victim of Divine justice." + +And merely stopping to cast one final look in the direction of the bed, +she stumbled from the room. A few minutes later and she reached the +front door; but only to fall against the lintel with the moan: + +"My words are true, but who will ever believe them?" + +"Pardon me," exclaimed a bland and fatherly voice over her shoulder, "I +am a man who can believe in any thing. Put your confidence in me, Miss +Dare, and we will see--we will see." + +Startled by her surprise into new life, she gave one glance at the +gentleman who had followed her to the door. It was the same who had +offered her his arm, and whom she supposed to have remained behind her +in Mr. Orcutt's room. She saw before her a large comfortable-looking +personage of middle age, of no great pretensions to elegance or culture, +but bearing that within his face which oddly enough baffled her +understanding while it encouraged her trust. This was the more peculiar +in that he was not looking at her, but stood with his eyes fixed on the +fading light of the hall-lamp, which he surveyed with an expression of +concern that almost amounted to pity. + +"Sir, who are you?" she tremblingly asked. + +Dropping his eyes from the lamp, he riveted them upon the veil she held +tightly clasped in her right hand. + +"If you will allow me the liberty of whispering in your ear, I will soon +tell you," said he. + +She bent her weary head downward; he at once leaned toward her and +murmured a half-dozen words that made her instantly start erect with new +light in her eyes. + +"And you will help me?" she cried. + +"What else am I here for?" he answered. + +And turning toward a quiet figure which she now saw for the first time +standing on the threshold of a small room near by, he said with the +calmness of a master: + +"Hickory, see that no one enters or leaves the sick-room till I return." +And offering Imogene his arm, he conducted her into the library, the +door of which he shut to behind them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +MR. GRYCE. + + What you have spoke, it may be so, perchance. + This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues, + Was once thought honest. --MACBETH. + + +AN hour later, as Mr. Ferris was leaving the house in company with Dr. +Tredwell, he felt himself stopped by a slight touch on his arm. Turning +about he saw Hickory. + +"Beg pardon, sirs," said the detective, with a short bow, "but there's a +gentleman, in the library who would like to see you before you go." + +They at once turned to the room indicated. But at sight of its +well-known features--its huge cases of books, its large centre-table +profusely littered with papers, the burnt-out grate, the empty +arm-chair--they paused, and it was with difficulty they could recover +themselves sufficiently to enter. When they did, their first glance was +toward the gentleman they saw standing in a distant window, apparently +perusing a book. + +"Who is it?" inquired Mr. Ferris of his companion. + +"I cannot imagine," returned the other. + +Hearing voices, the gentleman advanced. + +"Ah," said he, "allow me to introduce myself. I am Mr. Gryce, of the New +York Detective Service." + +"Mr. Gryce!" repeated the District Attorney, in astonishment. + +The famous detective bowed. "I have come," said he, "upon a summons +received by me in Utica not six hours ago. It was sent by a subordinate +of mine interested in the trial now going on before the court. Horace +Byrd is his name. I hope he is well liked here and has your confidence." + +"Mr. Byrd is well enough liked," rejoined Mr. Ferris, "but I gave him no +orders to send for you. At what hour was the telegram dated?" + +"At half-past eleven; immediately after the accident to Mr. Orcutt." + +"I see." + +"He probably felt himself inadequate to meet this new emergency. He is a +young man, and the affair is certainly a complicated one." + +The District Attorney, who had been studying the countenance of the able +detective before him, bowed courteously. + +"I am not displeased to see you," said he. "If you have been in the room +above----" + +The other gravely bowed. + +"You know probably of the outrageous accusation which has just been made +against our best lawyer and most-esteemed citizen. It is but one of many +which this same woman has made; and while it is to be regarded as the +ravings of lunacy, still your character and ability may weigh much in +lifting the opprobrium which any such accusation, however unfounded, is +calculated to throw around the memory of my dying friend." + +"Sir," returned Mr. Gryce, shifting his gaze uneasily from one small +object to another in that dismal room, till all and every article it +contained seemed to partake of his mysterious confidence, "this is a +world of disappointment and deceit. Intellects we admired, hearts in +which we trusted, turn out frequently to be the abodes of falsehood and +violence. It is dreadful, but it is true." + +Mr. Ferris, struck aghast, looked at the detective with severe +disapprobation. + +"Is it possible," he asked, "that you have allowed yourself to give any +credence to the delirious utterances of a man suffering from a wound on +the head, or to the frantic words of a woman who has already abused the +ears of the court by a deliberate perjury?" While Dr. Tredwell, equally +indignant and even more impatient, rapped with his knuckles on the table +by which he stood, and cried: + +"Pooh, pooh, the man cannot be such a fool!" + +A solemn smile crossed the features of the detective. + +"Many persons have listened to the aspersion you denounce. Active +measures will be needed to prevent its going farther." + +"I have commanded silence," said Dr. Tredwell. "Respect for Mr. Orcutt +will cause my wishes to be obeyed." + +"Does Mr. Orcutt enjoy the universal respect of the town?" + +"He does," was the stern reply. + +"It behooves us, then," said Mr. Gryce, "to clear his memory from every +doubt by a strict inquiry into his relations with the murdered woman." + +"They are known," returned Mr. Ferris, with grim reserve. "They were +such as any man might hold with the woman at whose house he finds it +convenient to take his daily dinner. She was to him the provider of a +good meal." + +Mr. Gryce's eye travelled slowly toward Mr. Ferris' shirt stud. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "do you forget that Mr. Orcutt was on the scene of +murder some minutes before the rest of you arrived? Let the attention of +people once be directed toward him as a suspicious party, and they will +be likely to remember this fact." + +Astounded, both men drew back. + +"What do you mean by that remark?" they asked. + +"I mean," said Mr. Gryce, "that Mr. Orcutt's visit to Mrs. Clemmens' +house on the morning of the murder will be apt to be recalled by persons +of a suspicious tendency as having given him an opportunity to commit +the crime." + +"People are not such fools," cried Dr. Tredwell; while Mr. Ferris, in a +tone of mingled incredulity and anger, exclaimed: + +"And do you, a reputable detective, and, as I have been told, a man of +excellent judgment, presume to say that there could be found any one in +this town, or even in this country, who could let his suspicions carry +him so far as to hint that Mr. Orcutt struck this woman with his own +hand in the minute or two that elapsed between his going into her house +and his coming out again with tidings of her death?" + +"Those who remember that he had been a participator in the lengthy +discussion which had just taken place on the court-house steps as to how +a man might commit a crime without laying himself open to the risk of +detection, might--yes, sir." + +Mr. Ferris and the coroner, who, whatever their doubts or fears, had +never for an instant seriously believed the dying words of Mr. Orcutt to +be those of confession, gazed in consternation at the detective, and +finally inquired: + +"Do you realize what you are saying?" + +Mr. Gryce drew a deep breath, and shifted his gaze to the next stud in +Mr. Ferris' shirt-front. + +"I have never been accused of speaking lightly," he remarked. Then, with +quiet insistence, asked: "Where was Mrs. Clemmens believed to get the +money she lived on?" + +"It is not known," rejoined the District Attorney. + +"Yet she left a nice little sum behind her?" + +"Five thousand dollars," declared the coroner. + +"Strange that, in a town like this, no one should know where it came +from?" suggested the detective. + +The two gentlemen were silent. + +"It was a good deal to come from Mr. Orcutt in payment of a single meal +a day!" continued Mr. Gryce. + +"No one has ever supposed it did come from Mr. Orcutt," remarked Mr. +Ferris, with some severity. + +"But does any one know it did not?" ventured the detective. + +Dr. Tredwell and the District Attorney looked at each other, but did not +reply. + +"Gentlemen," pursued Mr. Gryce, after a moment of quiet waiting, "this +is without exception the most serious moment of my life. Never in the +course of my experience--and that includes much--have I been placed in a +more trying position than now. To allow one's self to doubt, much less +to question, the integrity of so eminent a man, seems to me only less +dreadful than it does to you; yet, for all that, were I his friend, as I +certainly am his admirer, I would say: 'Sift this matter to the bottom; +let us know if this great lawyer has any more in favor of his innocence +than the other gentlemen who have been publicly accused of this crime.'" + +"But," protested Dr. Tredwell, seeing that the District Attorney was too +much moved to speak, "you forget the evidences which underlay the +accusation of these _other_ gentlemen; also that of all the persons who, +from the day the widow was struck till now, have been in any way +associated with suspicion, Mr. Orcutt is the only one who could have had +no earthly motive for injuring this humble woman, even if he were all +he would have to be to first perform such a brutal deed and then carry +out his hypocrisy to the point of using his skill as a criminal lawyer +to defend another man falsely accused of the crime." + +"I beg your pardon, sir," said the detective, "but I forget nothing. I +only bring to the consideration of this subject a totally unprejudiced +mind and an experience which has taught me never to omit testing the +truth of a charge because it seems at first blush false, preposterous, +and without visible foundation. If you will recall the conversation to +which I have just alluded as having been held on the court-house steps +on the morning Mrs. Clemmens was murdered, you will remember that it was +the intellectual crime that was discussed--the crime of an intelligent +man, safe in the knowledge that his motive for doing such a deed was a +secret to the world." + +"My God!" exclaimed Mr. Ferris, under his breath, "the man seems to be +in earnest!" + +"Gentlemen," pursued Mr. Gryce, with more dignity than he had hitherto +seen fit to assume, "it is not my usual practice to express myself as +openly as I have done here to-day. In all ordinary cases I consider it +expedient to reserve intact my suspicions and my doubts till I have +completed my discoveries and arranged my arguments so as to bear out +with some show of reason whatever statement I may feel obliged to make. +But the extraordinary features of this affair, and the fact that so +many were present at the scene we have just left, have caused me to +change my usual tactics. Though far from ready to say that Mr. Orcutt's +words were those of confession, I still see much reason to doubt his +innocence, and, feeling thus, am quite willing you should know it in +time to prepare for the worst." + +"Then you propose making what has occurred here public?" asked Mr. +Ferris, with emotion. + +"Not so," was the detective's ready reply. "On the contrary, I was about +to suggest that you did something more than lay a command of silence +upon those who were present." + +The District Attorney, who, as he afterward said, felt as if he were +laboring under some oppressive nightmare, turned to the coroner and +said: + +"Dr. Tredwell, what do you advise me to do? Terrible as this shock has +been, and serious as is the duty it possibly involves, I have never +allowed myself to shrink from doing what was right simply because it +afforded suffering to myself or indignity to my friends. Do you think I +am called upon to pursue this matter?" + +The coroner, troubled, anxious, and nearly as much overwhelmed as the +District Attorney, did not immediately reply. Indeed, the situation was +one to upset any man of whatever calibre. Finally he turned to Mr. +Gryce. + +"Mr. Gryce," said he, "we are, as you have observed, friends of the +dying man, and, being so, may miss our duty in our sympathy. What do you +think ought to be done, in justice to him, the prisoner, and the +positions which we both occupy?" + +"Well, sirs," rejoined Mr. Gryce, "it is not usual, perhaps, for a man +in my position to offer actual advice to gentlemen in yours; but if you +wish to know what course I should pursue if I were in your places, I +should say: First, require the witnesses still lingering around the +dying man to promise that they will not divulge what was there said till +a week has fully elapsed; next, adjourn the case now before the court +for the same decent length of time; and, lastly, trust me and the two +men you have hitherto employed, to find out if there is any thing in Mr. +Orcutt's past history of a nature to make you tremble if the world hears +of the words which escaped him on his death-bed. We shall probably need +but a week." + +"And Miss Dare?" + +"Has already promised secrecy." + +There was nothing in all this to alarm their fears; every thing, on the +contrary, to allay them. + +The coroner gave a nod of approval to Mr. Ferris, and both signified +their acquiescence in the measures proposed. + +Mr. Gryce at once assumed his usual genial air. + +"You may trust me," said he, "to exercise all the discretion you would +yourselves show under the circumstances. I have no wish to see the name +of such a man blasted by an ineffaceable stain." And he bowed as if +about to leave the room. + +But Mr. Ferris, who had observed this movement with an air of some +uneasiness, suddenly stepped forward and stopped him. + +"I wish to ask," said he, "whether superstition has had any thing to do +with this readiness on your part to impute the worst meaning to the +chance phrases which have fallen from the lips of our severely injured +friend. Because his end seems in some regards to mirror that of the +widow, have you allowed a remembrance of the words she made use of in +the face of death to influence your good judgment as to the identity of +Mr. Orcutt with her assassin?" + +The face of Mr. Gryce assumed its grimmest aspect. + +"Do you think this catastrophe was necessary to draw my attention to Mr. +Orcutt? To a man acquainted with the extraordinary coincidence that +marked the discovery of Mrs. Clemmens' murder, the mystery must be that +Mr. Orcutt has gone unsuspected for so long." And assuming an +argumentative air, he asked: + +"Were either of you two gentlemen present at the conversation I have +mentioned as taking place on the court-house steps the morning Mrs. +Clemmens was murdered?" + +"I was," said the District Attorney. + +"You remember, then, the hunchback who was so free with his views?" + +"Most certainly." + +"And know, perhaps, who that hunchback was?" + +"Yes." + +"You will not be surprised, then, if I recall to you the special +incidents of that hour. A group of lawyers, among them Mr. Orcutt, are +amusing themselves with an off-hand chat concerning criminals and the +clumsy way in which, as a rule, they plan and execute their crimes. All +seem to agree that a murder is usually followed by detection, when +suddenly a stranger speaks and tells them that the true way to make a +success of the crime is to choose a thoroughfare for the scene of +tragedy, and employ a weapon that has been picked up on the spot. What +happens? Within five minutes after this piece of gratuitous information, +or as soon as Mr. Orcutt can cross the street, Mrs. Clemmens is found +lying in her blood, struck down by a stick of wood picked up from her +own hearth-stone. Is this chance? If so, 'tis a very curious one." + +"I don't deny it," said Doctor Tredwell. + +"I believe you never did deny it," quickly retorted the detective. "Am I +not right in saying that it struck you so forcibly at the time as to +lead you into supposing some collusion between the hunchback and the +murderer?" + +"It certainly did," admitted the coroner. + +"Very well," proceeded Mr. Gryce. "Now as there could have been no +collusion between these parties, the hunchback being no other person +than myself, what are we to think of this murder? That it was a +coincidence, or an actual result of the hunchback's words?" + +Dr. Tredwell and Mr. Ferris were both silent. + +"Sirs," continued Mr. Gryce, feeling, perhaps, that perfect openness was +necessary in order to win entire confidence, "I am not given to boasting +or to a too-free expression of my opinion, but if I had been ignorant of +this affair, and one of my men had come to me and said: 'A mysterious +murder has just taken place, marked by this extraordinary feature, that +it is a precise reproduction of a supposable case of crime which has +just been discussed by a group of indifferent persons in the public +street,' and then had asked me where to look for the assassin, I should +have said: 'Search for that man who heard the discussion through, was +among the first to leave the group, and was the first to show himself +upon the scene of murder.' To be sure, when Byrd did come to me with +this story, I was silent, for the man who fulfilled these conditions was +Mr. Orcutt." + +"Then," said Mr. Ferris, "you mean to say that you would have suspected +Mr. Orcutt of this crime long ago if he had not been a man of such +position and eminence?" + +"Undoubtedly," was Mr. Gryce's reply. + +If the expression was unequivocal, his air was still more so. Shocked +and disturbed, both gentlemen fell back. The detective at once advanced +and opened the door. + +It was time. Mr. Byrd had been tapping upon it for some minutes, and now +hastily came in. His face told the nature of his errand before he +spoke. + +"I am sorry to be obliged to inform you----" he began. + +"Mr. Orcutt is dead?" quickly interposed Mr. Ferris. + +The young detective solemnly bowed. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +IN THE PRISON. + + The jury passing on the prisoner's life, + May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two + Guiltier than him they try. + --MEASURE FOR MEASURE. + + Such welcome and unwelcome things at once + 'Tis hard to reconcile. --MACBETH. + + +MR. MANSELL sat in his cell, the prey of gloomy and perturbed thought. +He knew Mr. Orcutt was dead; he had been told of it early in the morning +by his jailer, but of the circumstances which attended that death he +knew nothing, save that the lawyer had been struck by a limb falling +from a tree in his own garden. + +The few moments during which the court had met for the purpose of +re-adjournment had added but little to his enlightenment. A marked +reserve had characterized the whole proceedings; and though an +indefinable instinct had told him that in some mysterious way his cause +had been helped rather than injured by this calamity to his counsel, he +found no one ready to volunteer those explanations which his great +interest in the matter certainly demanded. The hour, therefore, which he +spent in solitude upon his return to prison was one of great anxiety, +and it was quite a welcome relief when the cell door opened and the +keeper ushered in a strange gentleman. Supposing it to be the new +counsel he had chosen at haphazard from a list of names that had been +offered him, Mr. Mansell rose. But a second glance assured him he had +made a mistake in supposing this person to be a lawyer, and stepping +back he awaited his approach with mingled curiosity and reserve. + +The stranger, who seemed to be perfectly at home in the narrow quarters +in which he found himself, advanced with a frank air. + +"My name is Gryce," said he, "and I am a detective. The District +Attorney, who, as you know, has been placed in a very embarrassing +situation by the events of the last two days, has accepted my services +in connection with those of the two men already employed by him, in the +hope that my greater experience may assist him in determining which, of +all the persons who have been accused, or who have accused themselves, +of murdering Mrs. Clemmens, is the actual perpetrator of that deed. Do +you require any further assurance of my being in the confidence of Mr. +Ferris than the fact that I am here, and in full liberty to talk with +you?" + +"No," returned the other, after a short but close study of his visitor. + +"Very well, then," continued the detective, with a comfortable air of +ease, "I will speak to the point; and the first thing I will say is, +that upon looking at the evidence against you, and hearing what I have +heard from various sources since I came to town, I know you are not the +man who killed Mrs. Clemmens. To be sure, you have declined to explain +certain points, but I think you can explain them, and if you will only +inform me----" + +"Pardon me," interrupted Mr. Mansell, gravely; "but you say you are a +detective. Now, I have no information to give a detective." + +"Are you sure?" was the imperturbable query. + +"Quite," was the quick reply. + +"You are then determined upon going to the scaffold, whether or no?" +remarked Mr. Gryce, somewhat grimly. + +"Yes, if to escape it I must confide in a detective." + +"Then you do wrong," declared the other; "as I will immediately proceed +to show you. Mr. Mansell, you are, of course, aware of the manner of Mr. +Orcutt's death?" + +"I know he was struck by a falling limb." + +"Do you know what he was doing when this occurred?" + +"No." + +"He was escorting Miss Dare down to the gate." + +The prisoner, whose countenance had brightened at the mention of his +lawyer, turned a deadly white at this. + +"And--and was Miss Dare hurt?" he asked. + +The detective shook his head. + +"Then why do you tell me this?" + +"Because it has much to do with the occasion of my coming here, Mr. +Mansell," proceeded Mr. Gryce, in that tone of completely understanding +himself which he knew so well how to assume with men of the prisoner's +stamp. "I am going to speak to you without circumlocution or disguise. I +am going to put your position before you just as it is. You are on trial +for a murder of which not only yourself, but another man, was suspected. +Why are you on trial instead of him? Because you were reticent in regard +to certain matters which common-sense would say you ought to be able to +explain. Why were you reticent? There can be but one answer. Because you +feared to implicate another person, for whose happiness and honor you +had more regard than for your own. Who was that other person? The woman +who stood up in court yesterday and declared she had herself committed +this crime. What is the conclusion? You believe, and have always +believed, Miss Dare to be the assassin of Mrs. Clemmens." + +The prisoner, whose pallor had increased with every word the detective +uttered, leaped to his feet at this last sentence. + +"You have no right to say that!" he vehemently asseverated. "What do you +know of my thoughts or my beliefs? Do I carry my convictions on my +sleeve? I am not the man to betray my ideas or feelings to the world." + +Mr. Gryce smiled. To be sure, this expression of silent complacency was +directed to the grating of the window overhead, but it was none the less +effectual on that account. Mr. Mansell, despite his self-command, began +to look uneasy. + +"Prove your words!" he cried. "Show that these have been my +convictions!" + +"Very well," returned Mr. Gryce. "Why were you so long silent about the +ring? Because you did not wish to compromise Miss Dare by declaring she +did not return it to you, as she had said. Why did you try to stop her +in the midst of her testimony yesterday? Because you saw it was going to +end in confession. Finally, why did you throw aside your defence, and +instead of proclaiming yourself guilty, simply tell how you were able to +reach Monteith Quarry Station in ninety minutes? Because you feared her +guilt would be confirmed if her statements were investigated, and were +willing to sacrifice every thing but the truth in order to save her." + +"You give me credit for a great deal of generosity," coldly replied the +prisoner. "After the evidence brought against me by the prosecution, I +should think my guilt would be accepted as proved the moment I showed +that I had not left Mrs. Clemmens' house at the time she was believed to +be murdered." + +"And so it would," responded Mr. Gryce, "if the prosecution had not seen +reason to believe that the moment of Mrs. Clemmens' death has been put +too early. We now think she was not struck till some time after twelve, +instead of five minutes before." + +"Indeed?" said Mr. Mansell, with stern self-control. + +Mr. Gryce, whose carelessly roving eye told little of the close study +with which he was honoring the man before him, nodded with grave +decision. + +"You could add very much to our convictions on this point," he observed, +"by telling what it was you saw or heard in Mrs. Clemmens' house at the +moment you fled from it so abruptly." + +"How do you know I fled from it abruptly?" + +"You were seen. The fact has not appeared in court, but a witness we +might name perceived you flying from your aunt's door to the swamp as if +your life depended upon the speed you made." + +"And with that fact added to all the rest you have against me, you say +you believe me innocent?" exclaimed Mr. Mansell. + +"Yes; for I have also said I believe Mrs. Clemmens not to have been +assaulted till after the hour of noon. You fled from the door at +precisely five minutes before it." + +The uneasiness of Mr. Mansell's face increased, till it amounted to +agitation. + +"And may I ask," said he, "what has happened to make you believe she was +not struck at the moment hitherto supposed?" + +"Ah, now," replied the detective, "we come down to facts." And leaning +with a confidential air toward the prisoner, he quietly said: "Your +counsel has died, for one thing." + +Astonished as much by the tone as the tenor of these words, Mr. Mansell +drew back from his visitor in some distrust. Seeing it, Mr. Gryce edged +still farther forward, and calmly continued: + +"If no one has told you the particulars of Mr. Orcutt's death, you +probably do not know why Miss Dare was at his house last evening?" + +The look of the prisoner was sufficient reply. + +"She went there," resumed Mr. Gryce, with composure, "to tell him that +her whole evidence against you had been given under the belief that you +were guilty of the crime with which you had been charged; that by a +trick of my fellow-detectives, Hickory and Byrd, she had been deceived +into thinking you had actually admitted your guilt to her; and that she +had only been undeceived after she had uttered the perjury with which +she sought to save you yesterday morning." + +"Perjury?" escaped involuntarily from Craik Mansell's lips. + +"Yes," repeated the detective, "perjury. Miss Dare lied when she said +she had been to Mrs. Clemmens' cottage on the morning of the murder. She +was not there, nor did she lift her hand against the widow's life. That +tale she told to escape telling another which she thought would insure +your doom." + +"You have been talking to Miss Dare?" suggested the prisoner, with +subdued sarcasm. + +"I have been talking to my two men," was the unmoved retort, "to Hickory +and to Byrd, and they not only confirm this statement of hers in regard +to the deception they played upon her, but say enough to show she could +not have been guilty of the crime, because at that time she honestly +believed you to be so." + +"I do not understand you," cried the prisoner, in a voice that, despite +his marked self-control, showed the presence of genuine emotion. + +Mr. Gryce at once went into particulars. He was anxious to have Craik +Mansell's mind disabused of the notion that Imogene had committed this +crime, since upon that notion he believed his unfortunate reticence to +rest. He therefore gave him a full relation of the scene in the hut, +together with all its consequences. + +Mr. Mansell listened like a man in a dream. Some fact in the past +evidently made this story incredible to him. + +Seeing it, Mr. Gryce did not wait to hear his comments, but upon +finishing his account, exclaimed, with a confident air: + +"Such testimony is conclusive. It is impossible to consider Miss Dare +guilty, after an insight of this kind into the real state of her mind. +Even she has seen the uselessness of persisting in her self-accusation, +and, as I have already told you, went to Mr. Orcutt's house in order to +explain to him her past conduct, and ask his advice for the future. She +learned something else before her interview with Mr. Orcutt ended," +continued the detective, impressively. "She learned that she had not +only been mistaken in supposing you had admitted your guilt, but that +you could not have been guilty, because you had always believed her to +be so. It has been a mutual case of suspicion, you see, and argues +innocence on the part of you both. Or so it seems to the prosecution. +How does it seem to you?" + +"Would it help my cause to say?" + +"It would help your cause to tell what sent you so abruptly from Mrs. +Clemmens' house the morning she was murdered." + +"I do not see how," returned the prisoner. + +The glance of Mr. Gryce settled confidentially on his right hand where +it lay outspread upon his ample knee. + +"Mr. Mansell," he inquired, "have you no curiosity to know any details +of the accident by which you have unexpectedly been deprived of a +counsel?" + +Evidently surprised at this sudden change of subject, Craik replied: + +"If I had not hoped you would understand my anxiety and presently +relieve it, I could not have shown you as much patience as I have." + +"Very well," rejoined Mr. Gryce, altering his manner with a suddenness +that evidently alarmed his listener. "Mr. Orcutt did not die immediately +after he was struck down. He lived some hours; lived to say some words +that have materially changed the suspicions of persons interested in the +case he was defending." + +"Mr. Orcutt?" + +The tone was one of surprise. Mr. Gryce's little finger seemed to take +note of it, for it tapped the leg beneath it in quite an emphatic manner +as he continued: "It was in answer to a question put to him by Miss +Dare. To the surprise of every one, she had not left him from the moment +they were mutually relieved from the weight of the fallen limb, but had +stood over him for hours, watching for him to rouse from his +insensibility. When he did, she appealed to him in a way that showed she +expected a reply, to tell her who it was that killed the Widow +Clemmens." + +"And did Mr. Orcutt know?" was Mansell's half-agitated, half-incredulous +query. + +"His answer seemed to show that he did. Mr. Mansell, have you ever had +any doubts of Mr. Orcutt?" + +"Doubts?" + +"Doubts as to his integrity, good-heartedness, or desire to serve you?" + +"No." + +"You will, then, be greatly surprised," Mr. Gryce went on, with +increased gravity, "when I tell you that Mr. Orcutt's reply to Miss +Dare's question was such as to draw attention to himself as the assassin +of Widow Clemmens, and that his words and the circumstances under which +they were uttered have so impressed Mr. Ferris, that the question now +agitating his mind is not, 'Is Craik Mansell innocent, but was his +counsel, Tremont Orcutt, guilty?'" + +The excited look which had appeared on the face of Mansell at the +beginning of this speech, changed to one of strong disgust. + +"This is too much!" he cried. "I am not a fool to be caught by any such +make-believe as this! Mr. Orcutt thought to be an assassin? You might as +well say that people accuse Judge Evans of killing the Widow Clemmens." + +Mr. Gryce, who had perhaps stretched a point when he so unequivocally +declared his complete confidence in the innocence of the man before him, +tapped his leg quite affectionately at this burst of natural +indignation, and counted off another point in favor of the prisoner. His +words, however, were dry as sarcasm could make them. + +"No," said he, "for people know that Judge Evans was without the +opportunity for committing this murder, while every one remembers how +Mr. Orcutt went to the widow's house and came out again with tidings of +her death." + +The prisoner's lip curled disdainfully. + +"And do you expect me to believe you regard this as a groundwork for +suspicion? I should have given you credit for more penetration, sir." + +"Then you do not think Mr. Orcutt knew what he was saying when, in +answer to Miss Dare's appeal for him to tell who the murderer was, he +answered: 'Blood will have blood!' and drew attention to his own violent +end?" + +"Did Mr. Orcutt say that?" + +"He did." + +"Very well, a man whose whole mind has for some time been engrossed with +defending another man accused of murder, might say any thing while in a +state of delirium." + +Mr. Gryce uttered his favorite "Humph!" and gave his leg another pat, +but added, gravely enough: "Miss Dare believes his words to be those of +confession." + +"You say Miss Dare once believed me to have confessed." + +"But," persisted the detective, "Miss Dare is not alone in her opinion. +Men in whose judgment you must rely, find it difficult to explain the +words of Mr. Orcutt by means of any other theory than that he is himself +the perpetrator of that crime for which you are yourself being tried." + +"I find it difficult to believe that possible," quietly returned the +prisoner. "What!" he suddenly exclaimed; "suspect a man of Mr. Orcutt's +abilities and standing of a hideous crime--the very crime, too, with +which his client is charged, and in defence of whom he has brought all +his skill to bear! The idea is preposterous, unheard of!" + +"I acknowledge that," dryly assented Mr. Gryce; "but it has been my +experience to find that it is the preposterous things which happen." + +For a minute the prisoner stared at the speaker incredulously; then he +cried: + +"You really appear to be in earnest." + +"I was never more so in my life," was Mr. Gryce's rejoinder. + +Drawing back, Craik Mansell looked at the detective with an emotion that +had almost the character of hope. Presently he said: + +"If you do distrust Mr. Orcutt, you must have weightier reasons for it +than any you have given me. What are they? You must be willing I should +know, or you would not have gone as far with me as you have." + +"You are right," Gryce assured him. "A case so complicated as this calls +for unusual measures. Mr. Ferris, feeling the gravity of his position, +allows me to take you into our confidence, in the hope that you will be +able to help us out of our difficulty." + +"I help you! You'd better release me first." + +"That will come in time." + +"_If_ I help you?" + +"Whether you help or not, if we can satisfy ourselves and the world that +Mr. Orcutt's words were a confession. You may hasten that conviction." + +"How?" + +"By clearing up the mystery of your flight from Mrs. Clemmens' house." + +The keen eyes of the prisoner fell; all his old distrust seemed on the +point of returning. + +"That would not help you at all," said he. + +"_I_ should like to be the judge," said Mr. Gryce. + +The prisoner shook his head. + +"My word must go for it," said he. + +The detective had been the hero of too many such scenes to be easily +discouraged. Bowing as if accepting this conclusion from the prisoner, +he quietly proceeded with the recital he had planned. With a frankness +certainly unusual to him, he gave the prisoner a full account of Mr. +Orcutt's last hours, and the interview which had followed between +himself and Miss Dare. To this he added his own reasons for doubting the +lawyer, and, while admitting he saw no motive for the deed, gave it as +his serious opinion, that the motive would be found if once he could get +at the secret of Mr. Orcutt's real connection with the deceased. He was +so eloquent, and so manifestly in earnest, Mr. Mansell's eye brightened +in spite of himself, and when the detective ceased he looked up with an +expression which convinced Mr. Gryce that half the battle was won. He +accordingly said, in a tone of great confidence: + +"A knowledge of what went on in Mrs. Clemmens' house before he went to +it would be of great help to us. With that for a start, all may be +learned. I therefore put it to you for the last time whether it would +not be best for you to explain yourself on this point. I am sure you +will not regret it." + +"Sir," said Mansell, with undisturbed composure, "if your purpose is to +fix this crime on Mr. Orcutt, I must insist upon your taking my word +that I have no information to give you that can in any way affect him." + +"You could give us information, then, that would affect Miss Dare?" was +the quick retort. "Now, I say," the astute detective declared, as the +prisoner gave an almost imperceptible start, "that whatever your +information is, Miss Dare is not guilty." + +"You say it!" exclaimed the prisoner. "What does your opinion amount to +if you haven't heard the evidence against her?" + +"There is no evidence against her but what is purely circumstantial." + +"How do you know that?" + +"Because she is innocent. Circumstantial evidence may exist alike +against the innocent and the guilty; real evidence only against the +guilty. I mean to say that as I am firmly convinced Miss Dare once +regarded you as guilty of this crime, I must be equally convinced she +didn't commit it herself. This is unanswerable." + +"You have stated that before." + +"I know it; but I want you to see the force of it; because, once +convinced with me that Miss Dare is innocent, you will be willing to +tell all you know, even what apparently implicates her." + +Silence answered this remark. + +"You didn't _see_ her strike the blow?" + +Mansell roused indignantly. + +"No, of course not!" he cried. + +"You did not see her with your aunt that moment you fled from the house +immediately before the murder!" + +"I didn't _see_ her." + +That emphasis, unconscious, perhaps, was fatal. Gryce, who never lost +any thing, darted on this small gleam of advantage as a hungry pike +darts upon an innocent minnow. + +"But you thought you heard her," he cried; "her voice, or her laugh, or +perhaps merely the rustle of her dress in another room?" + +"No," said Mansell, "I didn't _hear_ her." + +"Of course not," was the instantaneous reply. "But something said or +done by somebody--a something which amounts to nothing as +evidence--gives you to understand she was there, and so you hold your +tongue for fear of compromising her." + +"Amounts to nothing as evidence?" echoed Mansell. "How do you know +that?" + +"Because Miss Dare was not in the house with your aunt at that time. +Miss Dare was in Professor Darling's observatory, a mile or so away." + +"Does she say that?" + +"We will _prove_ that." + +Aroused, excited, the prisoner turned his flashing blue eyes on the +detective. + +"I should be glad to have you," he said. + +"But you must first tell me in what room you were when you received this +intimation of Miss Dare's presence?" + +"I was in no room; I was on the stone step outside of the dining-room +door. I did not go into the house at all that morning, as I believe I +have already told Mr. Ferris." + +"_Very_ good! It will all be simpler than I thought. You came up to the +house and went away again without coming in; ran away, I may say, taking +the direction of the swamp." + +The prisoner did not deny it. + +"You remember all the incidents of that short flight?" + +The prisoner's lip curled. + +"Remember leaping the fence and stumbling a trifle when you came down?" + +"Yes." + +"Very well; now tell me how could Miss Dare see you do that from Mrs. +Clemmens' house?" + +"Did Miss Dare tell you she saw me trip after I jumped the fence?" + +"She did." + +"And yet was in Professor Darling's observatory, a mile or so away?" + +"Yes." + +A satirical laugh broke from the prisoner. + +"I think," said he, "that instead of my telling you how she could have +seen this from Mrs. Clemmens' house, you should tell me how she could +have seen it from Professor Darling's observatory." + +"That is easy enough. She was looking through a telescope." + +"What?" + +"At the moment you were turning from Mrs. Clemmens' door, Miss Dare, +perched in the top of Professor Darling's house, was looking in that +very direction through a telescope." + +"I--I would like to believe that story," said the prisoner, with +suppressed emotion. "It would----" + +"What?" urged the detective, calmly. + +"Make a new man of me," finished Mansell, with a momentary burst of +feeling. + +"Well, then, call up your memories of the way your aunt's house is +situated. Recall the hour, and acknowledge that, if Miss Dare was with +her, she must have been in the dining-room." + +"There is no doubt about that." + +"Now, how many windows has the dining-room?" + +"One." + +"How situated?" + +"It is on the same side as the door." + +"There is none, then, which looks down to that place where you leaped +the fence?" + +"No." + +"How account for her seeing that little incident, then, of your +stumbling?" + +"She might have come to the door, stepped out, and so seen me." + +"Humph! I see you have an answer for every thing." + +Craik Mansell was silent. + +A look of admiration slowly spread itself over the detective's face. + +"We must probe the matter a little deeper," said he. "I see I have a +hard head to deal with." And, bringing his glance a little nearer to the +prisoner, he remarked: + +"If she had been standing there you could not have turned round without +seeing her?" + +"No." + +"Now, did you see her standing there?" + +"No." + +"Yet you turned round?" + +"I did?" + +"Miss Dare says so." + +The prisoner struck his forehead with his hand. + +"And it _is_ so," he cried. "I remember now that some vague desire to +know the time made me turn to look at the church clock. Go on. Tell me +more that Miss Dare saw." + +His manner was so changed--his eye burned so brightly--the detective +gave himself a tap of decided self-gratulation. + +"She saw you hurry over the bog, stop at the entrance of the wood, take +a look at your watch, and plunge with renewed speed into the forest." + +"It is so. It is so. And, to have seen that, she must have had the aid +of a telescope." + +"Then she describes your appearance. She says you had your pants turned +up at the ankles, and carried your coat on your left arm." + +"_Left_ arm?" + +"Yes." + +"I think I had it on my right." + +"It was on the arm toward her, she declares. If she was in the +observatory, it was your left side that she saw." + +"Yes, yes; but the coat was over the other arm. I remember using my left +hand in vaulting over the fence when I came up to the house." + +"It is a vital point," said Mr. Gryce, with a quietness that concealed +his real anxiety and chagrin. "If the coat was on the arm _toward_ her, +the fact of its being on the right----" + +"Wait!" exclaimed Mr. Mansell, with an air of sudden relief. "I +recollect now that I changed it from one arm to the other after I +vaulted the fence. It was just at the moment I turned to come back to +the side door, and, as she does not pretend to have seen me till after I +left the door, of course the coat was, as she says, on my left arm." + +"I thought you could explain it," returned Mr. Gryce, with an air of +easy confidence. "But what do you mean when you say that you changed it +at the moment you turned to come back to the side door? Didn't you go at +once to the dining-room door from the swamp?" + +"No. I had gone to the front door on my former visit, and was going to +it this time; but when I got to the corner of the house I saw the tramp +coming into the gate, and not wishing to encounter any one, turned round +and came back to the dining-room door." + +"I see. And it was then you heard----" + +"What I heard," completed the prisoner, grimly. + +"Mr. Mansell," said the other, "are you not sufficiently convinced by +this time that Miss Dare was not with Mrs. Clemmens, but in the +observatory of Professor Darling's house, to tell me what that was?" + +"Answer me a question and I will reply. Can the entrance of the woods be +seen from the position which she declares herself to have occupied?" + +"It can. Not two hours ago I tried the experiment myself, using the same +telescope and kneeling in the same place where she did. I found I could +not only trace the spot where you paused, but could detect quite readily +every movement of my man Hickory, whom I had previously placed there to +go through the motions. I should not have come here if I had not made +myself certain on that point." + +Yet the prisoner hesitated. + +"I not only made myself sure of that," resumed Mr. Gryce, "but I also +tried if I could see as much with my naked eye from Mrs. Clemmens' side +door. I found I could not, and my sight is very good." + +"Enough," said Mansell; "hard as it is to explain, I must believe Miss +Dare was not where I thought her." + +"Then you will tell me what you heard?" + +"Yes; for in it may lie the key to this mystery, though how, I cannot +see, and doubt if you can. I am all the more ready to do it," he +pursued, "because I can now understand how she came to think me guilty, +and, thinking so, conducted herself as she has done from the beginning +of my trial. All but the fact of her denouncing herself yesterday; that +I cannot comprehend." + +"A woman in love can do any thing," quoth Mr. Gryce. Then admonished by +the flush of the prisoner's cheek that he was treading on dangerous +ground, he quickly added: "But she will explain all that herself some +day. Let us hear what you have to tell me." + +Craik Mansell drooped his head and his brow became gloomy. + +"Sir," said he, "it is unnecessary for me to state that your surmise in +regard to my past convictions is true. If Miss Dare was not with my aunt +just before the murder, I certainly had reasons for thinking she was. To +be sure, I did not see her or hear her voice, but I heard my aunt +address her distinctly and by name." + +"You did?" Mr. Gryce's interest in the tattoo he was playing on his knee +became intense. + +"Yes. It was just as I pushed the door ajar. The words were these: 'You +think you are going to marry him, Imogene Dare; but I tell you you +_never shall_, not while _I_ live.'" + +"Humph!" broke involuntarily from the detective's lips, and, though his +face betrayed nothing of the shock this communication occasioned him, +his fingers stopped an instant in their restless play. + +Mr. Mansell saw it and cast him an anxious look. The detective instantly +smiled with great unconcern. "Go on," said he, "what else did you hear?" + +"Nothing else. In the mood in which I was this very plain intimation +that Miss Dare had sought my aunt, had pleaded with her for me and +failed, struck me as sufficient. I did not wait to hear more, but +hurried away in a state of passion that was little short of frenzy. To +leave the place and return to my work was now my one wish. When I found, +then, that by running I might catch the train at Monteith, I ran, and so +unconsciously laid myself open to suspicion." + +"I see," murmured the detective; "I see." + +"Not that I suspected any evil then," pursued Mr. Mansell, earnestly. "I +was only conscious of disappointment and a desire to escape from my own +thoughts. It was not till next day----" + +"Yes--yes," interrupted Mr. Gryce, abstractedly, "but your aunt's words! +She said: 'You think you are going to marry him, Imogene Dare; but you +never shall, not while I live.' Yet Imogene Dare was not there. Let us +solve that problem." + +"You think you can?" + +"I think I must." + +"How? how?" + +The detective did not answer. He was buried in profound thought. +Suddenly he exclaimed: + +"It is, as you say, the key-note to the tragedy. It must be solved." But +the glance he dived deep into space seemed to echo that "How? how?" of +the prisoner, with a gloomy persistence that promised little for an +immediate answer to the enigma before them. It occurred to Mansell to +offer a suggestion. + +"There is but one way _I_ can explain it," said he. "My aunt was +speaking to herself. She was deaf and lived alone. Such people often +indulge in soliloquizing." + +The slap which Mr. Gryce gave his thigh must have made it tingle for a +good half-hour. + +"There," he cried, "who says extraordinary measures are not useful at +times? You've hit the very explanation. Of course she was speaking to +herself. She was just the woman to do it. Imogene Dare was in her +thoughts, so she addressed Imogene Dare. If you had opened the door you +would have seen her standing there alone, venting her thoughts into +empty space." + +"I wish I had," said the prisoner. + +Mr. Gryce became exceedingly animated. "Well, that's settled," said he. +"Imogene Dare was not there, save in Mrs. Clemmens' imagination. And now +for the conclusion. She said: 'You think you are going to marry him, +Imogene Dare; but you never shall, not while I live.' That shows her +mind was running on you." + +"It shows more than that. It shows that, if Miss Dare was not with her +then, she must have been there earlier in the day. For, when I left my +aunt the day before, she was in entire ignorance of my attachment to +Miss Dare, and the hopes it had led to." + +"Say that again," cried Gryce. + +Mr. Mansell repeated himself, adding: "That would account for the ring +being found on my aunt's dining-room floor----" + +But Mr. Gryce waved that question aside. + +"What I want to make sure of is that your aunt had not been informed of +your wishes as concerned Miss Dare." + +"Unless Miss Dare was there in the early morning and told her herself." + +"There were no neighbors to betray you?" + +"There wasn't a neighbor who knew any thing about the matter." + +The detective's eye brightened till it vied in brilliancy with the stray +gleam of sunshine which had found its way to the cell through the narrow +grating over their heads. + +"A clue!" he murmured; "I have received a clue," and rose as if to +leave. + +The prisoner, startled, rose also. + +"A clue to what?" he cried. + +But Mr. Gryce was not the man to answer such a question. + +"You shall hear soon. Enough that you have given me an idea that may +eventually lead to the clearing up of this mystery, if not to your own +acquittal from a false charge of murder." + +"And Miss Dare?" + +"Is under no charge, and never will be." + +"And Mr. Orcutt?" + +"Wait," said Mr. Gryce--"wait." + + + + +XLI. + +A LINK SUPPLIED. + + Upon his bloody finger he doth wear + A precious ring. + --TITUS ANDRONICUS. + + Make me to see it; or at the least so prove it, + That the probation bear no hinge nor loop + To hang a doubt on. + --OTHELLO. + + +MR. GRYCE did not believe that Imogene Dare had visited Mrs. Clemmens +before the assault, or, indeed, had held any communication with her. +Therefore, when Mansell declared that he had never told his aunt of the +attachment between himself and this young lady, the astute detective at +once drew the conclusion that the widow had never known of that +attachment, and consequently that the words which the prisoner had +overheard must have referred, not to himself, as he supposed, but to +some other man, and, if to some other man--why to the only one with whom +Miss Dare's name was at that time associated; in other words, to Mr. +Orcutt! + +Now it was not easy to measure the importance of a conclusion like this. +For whilst there would have been nothing peculiar in this solitary +woman, with the few thousands in the bank, boasting of her power to +separate her nephew from the lady of his choice, there was every thing +that was significant in her using the same language in regard to Miss +Dare and Mr. Orcutt. Nothing but the existence of some unsuspected bond +between herself and the great lawyer could have accounted, first, for +her feeling on the subject of his marriage; and, secondly, for the +threat of interference contained in her very emphatic words,--a bond +which, while evidently not that of love, was still of a nature to give +her control over his destiny, and make her, in spite of her lonely +condition, the selfish and determined arbitrator of his fate. + +What was that bond? A secret shared between them? The knowledge on her +part of some fact in Mr. Orcutt's past life, which, if revealed, might +serve as an impediment to his marriage? In consideration that the great +mystery to be solved was what motive Mr. Orcutt could have had for +killing this woman, an answer to this question was manifestly of the +first importance. + +But before proceeding to take any measures to insure one, Mr. Gryce sat +down and seriously asked himself whether there was any known fact, +circumstantial or otherwise, which refused to fit into the theory that +Mr. Orcutt actually committed this crime with his own hand, and at the +time he was seen to cross the street and enter Mrs. Clemmens' house. +For, whereas the most complete chain of circumstantial evidence does not +necessarily prove the suspected party to be guilty of a crime, the +least break in it is fatal to his conviction. And Mr. Gryce wished to be +as fair to the memory of Mr. Orcutt as he would have been to the living +man. + +Beginning, therefore, with the earliest incidents of the fatal day, he +called up, first, the letter which the widow had commenced but never +lived to finish. It was a suggestive epistle. It was addressed to her +most intimate friend, and showed in the few lines written a certain +foreboding or apprehension of death remarkable under the circumstances. +Mr. Gryce recalled one of its expressions. "There are so many," wrote +she, "to whom my death would be more than welcome." So many! Many is a +strong word; many means more than one, more than two; many means _three_ +at least. Now where were the three? Hildreth, of course, was one, +Mansell might very properly be another, but who was the third? To Mr. +Gryce, but one name suggested itself in reply. So far, then, his theory +stood firm. Now what was the next fact known? The milkman stopped with +his milk; that was at half-past eleven. He had to wait a few minutes, +from which it was concluded she was up-stairs when he rapped. Was it at +this time she was interrupted in her letter-writing? If so, she probably +did not go back to it, for when Mr. Hildreth called, some fifteen +minutes later, she was on the spot to open the door. Their interview was +short; it was also stormy. Medicine was the last thing she stood in need +of; besides, her mind was evidently preoccupied. Showing him the door, +she goes back to her work, and, being deaf, does not notice that he does +not leave the house as she expected. Consequently her thoughts go on +unhindered, and, her condition being one of anger, she mutters aloud and +bitterly to herself as she flits from dining-room to kitchen in her +labor of serving up her dinner. The words she made use of have been +overheard, and here another point appears. For, whereas her temper must +have been disturbed by the demand which had been made upon her the day +before by her favorite relative and heir, her expressions of wrath at +this moment were not levelled against him, but against a young lady who +is said to have been a stranger to her, her language being: "You think +you are going to marry him, Imogene Dare; but I tell you you never +shall, not while I live." Her chief grievance, then, and the one thing +uppermost in her thoughts, even at a time when she felt that there were +many who desired her death, lay in this fact that a young and beautiful +woman had manifested, as she supposed, a wish to marry Mr. Orcutt, the +word _him_ which she had used, necessarily referring to the lawyer, as +she knew nothing of Imogene's passion for her nephew. + +But this is not the only point into which it is necessary to inquire. +For to believe Mr. Orcutt guilty of this crime one must also believe +that all the other persons who had been accused of it were truthful in +the explanations which they gave of the events which had seemingly +connected them with it. Now, were they? Take the occurrences of that +critical moment when the clock stood at five minutes to twelve. If Mr. +Hildreth is to be believed, he was at that instant in the widow's front +hall musing on his disappointment and arranging his plans for the +future; the tramp, if those who profess to have watched him are to be +believed, was on the kitchen portico; Craik Mansell on the dining-room +door-step; Imogene Dare before her telescope in Professor Darling's +observatory. Mr. Hildreth, with two doors closed between him and the +back of the house, knew nothing of what was said or done there, but the +tramp heard loud talking, and Craik Mansell the actual voice of the +widow raised in words which were calculated to mislead him into thinking +she was engaged in angry altercation with the woman he loved. What do +all three do, then? Mr. Hildreth remains where he is; the tramp skulks +away through the front gate; Craik Mansell rushes back to the woods. And +Imogene Dare? She has turned her telescope toward Mrs. Clemmens' +cottage, and, being on the side of the dining-room door, sees the flying +form of Craik Mansell, and marks it till it disappears from her sight. +Is there any thing contradictory in these various statements? No. Every +thing, on the contrary, that is reconcilable. + +Let us proceed then. What happens a few minutes later? Mr. Hildreth, +tired of seclusion and anxious to catch the train, opens the front door +and steps out. The tramp, skulking round some other back door, does not +see him; Imogene, with her eye on Craik Mansell, now vanishing into the +woods, does not see him; nobody sees him. He goes, and the widow for a +short interval is as much alone as she believed herself to be a minute +or two before when three men stood, unseen by each other, at each of the +three doors of her house. What does she do now? + +Why, she finishes preparing her dinner, and then, observing that the +clock is slow, proceeds to set it right. Fatal task! Before she has had +an opportunity to finish it, the front door has opened again, Mr. Orcutt +has come in, and, tempted perhaps by her defenceless position, catches +up a stick of wood from the fireplace and, with one blow, strikes her +down at his feet, and rushes forth again with tidings of her death. + +Now, is there any thing in all _this_ that is contradictory? No; there +is only something left out. In the whole of this description of what +went on in the widow's house, there has been no mention made of the +ring--the ring which it is conceded was either in Craik Mansell's or +Imogene Dare's possession the evening before the murder, and which was +found on the dining-room floor within ten minutes after the assault took +place. If Mrs. Clemmens' exclamations are to be taken as an attempt to +describe her murderer, then this ring must have been on the hand which +was raised against her, and how could that have been if the hand was +that of Mr. Orcutt? Unimportant as it seemed, the discovery of this +ring on the floor, taken with the exclamations of the widow, make a +break in the chain that is fatal to Mr. Gryce's theory. Yet does it? The +consternation displayed by Mr. Orcutt when Imogene claimed the ring and +put it on her finger may have had a deeper significance than was thought +at the time. Was there any way in which he could have come into +possession of it before she did? and could it have been that he had had +it on his hand when he struck the blow? Mr. Gryce bent all his energies +to inquire. + +First, where was the ring when the lovers parted in the wood the day +before the murder? Evidently in Mr. Mansell's coat-pocket. Imogene had +put it there, and Imogene had left it there. But Mansell did not know it +was there, so took no pains to look after its safety. It accordingly +slipped out; but when? Not while he slept, or it would have been found +in the hut. Not while he took the path to his aunt's house, or it would +have been found in the lane, or, at best, on the dining-room door-step. +When, then? Mr. Gryce could think of but one instant, and that was when +the young man threw his coat from one arm to the other at the corner of +the house toward the street. If it rolled out then it would have been +under an impetus, and, as the coat was flung from the right arm to the +left, the ring would have flown in the direction of the gate and fallen, +perhaps, directly on the walk in front of the house. If it had, its +presence in the dining-room seemed to show it had been carried there by +Mr. Orcutt, since he was the next person who went into the house. + +But did it fall there? Mr. Gryce took the only available means to find +out. + +Sending for Horace Byrd, he said to him: + +"You were on the court-house steps when Mr. Orcutt left and crossed over +to the widow's house?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Were you watching him? Could you describe his manner as he entered the +house; how he opened the gate; or whether he stopped to look about him +before going in?" + +"No, sir," returned Byrd; "my eyes may have been on him, but I don't +remember any thing especial that he did." + +Somewhat disappointed, Mr. Gryce went to the District Attorney and put +to him the same question. The answer he received from him was different. +With a gloomy contraction of his brow, Mr. Ferris said: + +"Yes, I remember his look and appearance very well. He stepped briskly, +as he always did, and carried his head---- Wait!" he suddenly exclaimed, +giving the detective a look in which excitement and decision were +strangely blended. "You think Mr. Orcutt committed this crime; that he +left us standing on the court-house steps and crossed the street to Mrs. +Clemmens' house with the deliberate intention of killing her, and +leaving the burden of his guilt to be shouldered by the tramp. Now, you +have called up a memory to me that convinces me this could not have +been. Had he had any such infernal design in his breast he would not +have been likely to have stopped as he did to pick up something which he +saw lying on the walk in front of Mrs. Clemmens' house." + +"And did Mr. Orcutt do that?" inquired Mr. Gryce, with admirable +self-control. + +"Yes, I remember it now distinctly. It was just as he entered the gate. +A man meditating a murder of this sort would not be likely to notice a +pin lying in his path, much less pause to pick it up." + +"How if it were a diamond ring?" + +"A diamond ring?" + +"Mr. Ferris," said the detective, gravely, "you have just supplied a +very important link in the chain of evidence against Mr. Orcutt. The +question is, how could the diamond ring which Miss Dare is believed to +have dropped into Mr. Mansell's coat-pocket have been carried into Mrs. +Clemmens' house without the agency of either herself or Mr. Mansell? I +think you have just shown." And the able detective, in a few brief +sentences, explained the situation to Mr. Ferris, together with the +circumstances of Mansell's flight, as gleaned by him in his conversation +with the prisoner. + +The District Attorney was sincerely dismayed. The guilt of the renowned +lawyer was certainly assuming positive proportions. Yet, true to his +friendship for Mr. Orcutt, he made one final effort to controvert the +arguments of the detective, and quietly said: + +"You profess to explain how the ring might have been carried into Mrs. +Clemmens' house, but how do you account for the widow having used an +exclamation which seems to signify it was _on_ the hand which she saw +lifted against her life?" + +"By the fact that it was on that hand." + +"Do you think that probable if the hand was Mr. Orcutt's?" + +"Perfectly so. Where else would he be likely to put it in the +preoccupied state of mind in which he was? In his pocket? The tramp +might have done that, but not the gentleman." + +Mr. Ferris looked at the detective with almost an expression of fear. + +"And how came it to be on the floor if Mr. Orcutt put it on his finger?" + +"By the most natural process in the world. The ring made for Miss Dare's +third finger was too large for Mr. Orcutt's little finger, and so +slipped off when he dropped the stick of wood from his hand." + +"And he left it lying where it fell?" + +"He probably did not notice its loss. If, as I suppose, he had picked it +up and placed it on his finger, mechanically, its absence at such a +moment would not be observed. Besides, what clue could he suppose a +diamond ring he had never seen before, and which he had had on his +finger but an instant, would offer in a case like this?" + +"You reason close," said the District Attorney; "too close," he added, +as he recalled, with painful distinctness, the look and attitude of Mr. +Orcutt at the time this ring was first brought into public notice, and +realized that so might a man comport himself who, conscious of this +ring's association with the crime he had just secretly perpetrated, sees +it claimed and put on the finger of the woman he loves. + +Mr. Gryce, with his usual intuition, seemed to follow the thoughts of +the District Attorney. + +"If our surmises are correct," he remarked, "it was a grim moment for +the lawyer when, secure in his immunity from suspicion, he saw Miss Dare +come upon the scene with eager inquiries concerning this murder. To you, +who had not the clue, it looked as if he feared she was not as innocent +as she should be; but, if you will recall the situation now, I think you +will see that his agitation can only be explained by his apprehension of +her intuitions and an alarm lest her interest sprang from some +mysterious doubt of himself." + +Mr. Ferris shook his head with a gloomy air, but did not respond. + +"Miss Dare tells me," the detective resumed, "that his first act upon +their meeting again at his house was to offer himself to her in +marriage. Now you, or any one else, would say this was to show he did +not mistrust her, but I say it was to find out if she mistrusted him." + +Still Mr. Ferris remained silent. + +"The same reasoning will apply to what followed," continued Mr. Gryce. +"You cannot reconcile the thought of his guilt with his taking the case +of Mansell and doing all he could to secure his acquittal. But you will +find it easier to do so when I tell you that, without taking into +consideration any spark of sympathy which he might feel for the man +falsely accused of his crime, he knew from Imogene's lips that she would +not survive the condemnation of her lover, and that, besides this, his +only hope of winning her for his wife lay in the gratitude he might +awaken in her if he succeeded in saving his rival." + +"You are making him out a great villain," murmured Mr. Ferris, bitterly. + +"And was not that the language of his own countenance as he lay dying?" +inquired the detective. + +Mr. Ferris could not say No. He had himself been too deeply impressed by +the sinister look he had observed on the face of his dying friend. He +therefore confined himself to remarking, not without sarcasm: + +"And now for the motive of this hideous crime--for I suppose your +ingenuity has discovered one before this." + +"It will be found in his love for Miss Dare," returned the detective; +"but just how I am not prepared to-day to say." + +"His love for Miss Dare? What had this plain and homespun Mrs. Clemmens +to do with his love for Miss Dare?" + +"She was an interference." + +"How?" + +"Ah, that, sir, is the question." + +"So then you do not know?" + +Mr. Gryce was obliged to shake his head. + +The District Attorney drew himself up. "Mr. Gryce," said he, "the charge +which has been made against this eminent man demands the very strongest +proof in order to substantiate it. The motive, especially, must be shown +to have been such as to offer a complete excuse for suspecting him. No +trivial or imaginary reason for his wishing this woman out of the world +will answer in his case. You must prove that her death was absolutely +necessary to the success of his dearest hopes, or your reasoning will +only awaken distrust in the minds of all who hear it. The fame of a man +like Mr. Orcutt is not to be destroyed by a passing word of delirium, or +a specious display of circumstantial evidence such as you evolve from +the presence of the ring on the scene of murder." + +"I know it," allowed Mr. Gryce, "and that is why I have asked for a +week." + +"Then you still believe you can find such a motive?" + +The smile which Mr. Gryce bestowed upon the favored object then honored +by his gaze haunted the District Attorney for the rest of the week. + + + + +XLII. + +CONSULTATIONS. + + That he should die is worthy policy; + But yet we want a color for his death; + 'Tis meet he be condemned by course of law. + --HENRY VI. + + +MR. GRYCE was perfectly aware that the task before him was a difficult +one. To be himself convinced that Mr. Orcutt had been in possession of a +motive sufficient to account for, if not excuse, this horrible crime was +one thing; to find out that motive and make it apparent to the world was +another. But he was not discouraged. Summoning his two subordinates, he +laid the matter before them. + +"I am convinced," said he, "that Mrs. Clemmens was a more important +person to Mr. Orcutt than her plain appearance and humble manner of life +would suggest. Do either of you know whether Mr. Orcutt's name has ever +been associated with any private scandal, the knowledge of which might +have given her power over him?" + +"I do not think he was that kind of a man," said Byrd. "Since morning I +have put myself in the way of such persons as I saw disposed to converse +about him, and though I have been astonished to find how many there are +who say they never quite liked or altogether trusted this famous +lawyer, I have heard nothing said in any way derogatory to his private +character. Indeed, I believe, as far as the ladies were concerned, he +was particularly reserved. Though a bachelor, he showed no disposition +to marry, and until Miss Dare appeared on the scene was not known to be +even attentive to one of her sex." + +"Some one, however, I forget who, told me that for a short time he was +sweet on a certain Miss Pratt," remarked Hickory. + +"Pratt? Where have I heard that name?" murmured Byrd to himself. + +"But nothing came of it," Hickory continued. "She was not over and above +smart they say, and though pretty enough, did not hold his fancy. Some +folks declare she was so disappointed she left town." + +"Pratt, Pratt!" repeated Byrd to himself. "Ah! I know now," he suddenly +exclaimed. "While I stood around amongst the crowd, the morning Mrs. +Clemmens was murdered, I remember overhearing some one say how hard she +was on the Pratt girl." + +"Humph!" ejaculated Mr. Gryce. "The widow was hard on any one Mr. Orcutt +chose to admire." + +"I don't understand it," said Byrd. + +"Nor I," rejoined Mr. Gryce; "but I intend to before the week is out." +Then abruptly: "When did Mrs. Clemmens come to this town?" + +"Fifteen years ago," replied Byrd. + +"And Orcutt--when did he first put in an appearance here?" + +"At very much the same time, I believe." + +"Humph! And did they seem to be friends at that time?" + +"Some say Yes, some say No." + +"Where did he come from--have you learned?" + +"From some place in Nebraska, I believe." + +"And she?" + +"Why, she came from some place in Nebraska too!" + +"The _same_ place?" + +"That we must find out." + +Mr. Gryce mused for a minute; then he observed: + +"Mr. Orcutt was renowned in his profession. Do you know any thing about +his career--whether he brought a reputation for ability with him, or +whether his fame was entirely made in this place?" + +"I think it was made here. Indeed, I have heard that it was in this +court he pleaded his first case. Don't you know more about it, Hickory?" + +"Yes; Mr. Ferris told me this morning that Orcutt had not opened a +law-book when he came to this town. That he was a country schoolmaster +in some uncivilized district out West, and would never have been any +thing more, perhaps, if the son of old Stephen Orcutt had not died, and +thus made a vacancy in the law-office here which he was immediately sent +for to fill." + +"Stephen Orcutt? He was the uncle of this man, wasn't he?" + +"Yes." + +"And quite a lawyer too?" + +"Yes, but nothing like Tremont B. _He_ was successful from the start. +Had a natural aptitude, I suppose--must have had, to pick up the +profession in the way he did." + +"Boys," cried Mr. Gryce, after another short ruminative pause, "the +secret we want to know is of long standing; indeed, I should not be +surprised if it were connected with his life out West. I will tell you +why I think so. For ten years Mrs. Clemmens has been known to put money +in the bank regularly every week. Now, where did she get that money? +From Mr. Orcutt, of course. What for? In payment for the dinner he +usually took with her? No, in payment of her silence concerning a past +he desired kept secret." + +"But they have been here fifteen years and she has only received money +for ten." + +"She has only put money in the bank for ten; she may have been paid +before that and may not. I do not suppose he was in a condition to be +very lavish at the outset of his career." + +"You advise us, then, to see what we can make out of his early life out +West?" + +"Yes; and I will see what I can make out of hers. The link which +connects the two will be found. Mr. Orcutt did not say: 'It was all for +you, Imogene,' for nothing." + +And, dismissing the two young men, Mr. Gryce proceeded to the house of +Mr. Orcutt, where he entered upon an examination of such papers and +documents as were open to his inspection, in the hope of discovering +some allusion to the deceased lawyer's early history. But he was not +successful. Neither did a like inspection of the widow's letters bring +any new facts to light. The only result which seemed to follow these +efforts was an increased certainty on his part that some dangerous +secret lurked in a past that was so determinedly hidden from the world, +and resorting to the only expedient now left to him, he resolved to +consult Miss Firman, as being the only person who professed to have had +any acquaintance with Mrs. Clemmens before she came to Sibley. To be +sure, she had already been questioned by the coroner, but Mr. Gryce was +a man who had always found that the dryest well could be made to yield a +drop or two more of water if the bucket was dropped by a dexterous hand. +He accordingly prepared himself for a trip to Utica. + + + + +XLIII. + +MRS. FIRMAN. + + Hark! she speaks. I will set down what comes from her.... + Heaven knows what she has known.--MACBETH. + + +"MISS FIRMAN, I believe?" The staid, pleasant-faced lady whom we know, +but who is looking older and considerably more careworn than when we saw +her at the coroner's inquest, rose from her chair in her own cozy +sitting-room, and surveyed her visitor curiously. "I am Mr. Gryce," the +genial voice went on. "Perhaps the name is not familiar?" + +"I never heard it before," was the short but not ungracious reply. + +"Well, then, let me explain," said he. "You are a relative of the Mrs. +Clemmens who was so foully murdered in Sibley, are you not? Pardon me, +but I see you are; your expression speaks for itself." How he could have +seen her expression was a mystery to Miss Firman, for his eyes, if not +attention, were seemingly fixed upon some object in quite a different +portion of the room. "You must, therefore," he pursued, "be in a state +of great anxiety to know who her murderer was. Now, I am in that same +state, madam; we are, therefore, in sympathy, you see." + +The respectful smile and peculiar intonation with which these last words +were uttered, robbed them of their familiarity and allowed Miss Firman +to perceive his true character. + +"You are a detective," said she, and as he did not deny it, she went on: +"You say I must be anxious to know who my cousin's murderer was. Has +Craik Mansell, then, been acquitted?" + +"A verdict has not been given," said the other. "His trial has been +adjourned in order to give him an opportunity to choose a new counsel." + +Miss Firman motioned her visitor to be seated, and at once took a chair +herself. + +"What do you want with me?" she asked, with characteristic bluntness. + +The detective was silent. It was but for a moment, but in that moment he +seemed to read to the bottom of this woman's mind. + +"Well," said he, "I will tell you. You believe Craik Mansell to be +innocent?" + +"I do," she returned. + +"Very well; so do I." + +"Let me shake hands with you," was her abrupt remark. And without a +smile she reached forth her hand, which he took with equal gravity. + +This ceremony over, he remarked, with a cheerful mien: + +"We are fortunately not in a court of law, and so can talk freely +together. Why do you think Mansell innocent? I am sure the evidence has +not been much in his favor." + +"Why do _you_ think him innocent?" was the brisk retort. + +"I have talked with him." + +"Ah!" + +"I have talked with Miss Dare." + +A different "Ah!" this time. + +"And I was present when Mr. Orcutt breathed his last." + +The look she gave was like cold water on Mr. Gryce's secretly growing +hopes. + +"What has that to do with it?" she wonderingly exclaimed. + +The detective took another tone. + +"You did not know Mr. Orcutt then?" he inquired. + +"I had not that honor," was the formal reply. + +"You have never, then, visited your cousin in Sibley?" + +"Yes, I was there once; but that did not give me an acquaintance with +Mr. Orcutt." + +"Yet he went almost every day to her house." + +"And he came while I was there, but _that_ did not give me an +acquaintance with him." + +"He was reserved, then, in his manners, uncommunicative, possibly +morose?" + +"He was just what I would expect such a gentleman to be at the table +with women like my cousin and myself." + +"Not morose, then; only reserved." + +"Exactly," the short, quick bow of the amiable spinster seemed to +assert. + +Mr. Gryce drew a deep breath. This well seemed to be destitute of even a +drop of moisture. + +"Why do you ask me about Mr. Orcutt? Has his death in any way affected +young Mansell's prospects?" + +"That is what I want to find out," declared Mr. Gryce. Then, without +giving her time for another question, said: "Where did Mrs. Clemmens +first make the acquaintance of Mr. Orcutt? Wasn't it in some town out +West?" + +"Out West? Not to my knowledge, sir. I always supposed she saw him first +in Sibley." + +This well was certainly very dry. + +"Yet you are not positive that this is so, are you?" pursued the patient +detective. "She came from Nebraska, and so did he; now, why may they not +have known each other there?" + +"I did not know that he came from Nebraska." + +"She has never talked about him then?" + +"Never." + +Mr. Gryce drew another deep breath and let down his bucket again. + +"I thought your cousin spent her childhood in Toledo?" + +"She did, sir." + +"How came she to go to Nebraska then?" + +"Well, she was left an orphan and had to look out for herself. A +situation in some way opened to her in Nebraska, and she went there to +take it." + +"A situation at what?" + +"As waitress in some hotel." + +"Humph! And was she still a waitress when she married?" + +"Yes, I think so, but I am not sure about it or any thing else in +connection with her at that time. The subject was so painful we never +discussed it." + +"Why painful?" + +"She lost her husband so soon." + +"But you can tell me the name of the town in which this hotel was, can +you not?" + +"It was called Swanson then, but that was fifteen years ago. Its name +may have been changed since." + +Swanson! This was something to learn, but not much. Mr. Gryce returned +to his first question. "You have not told me," said he, "why _you_ +believe Craik Mansell to be innocent?" + +"Well," replied she, "_I_ believe Craik Mansell to be innocent because +he is the son of his mother. I think I know _him_ pretty well, but I am +certain I knew _her_. She was a woman who would go through fire and +water to attain a purpose she thought right, but who would stop in the +midst of any project the moment she felt the least doubt of its being +just or wise. Craik has his mother's forehead and eyes, and no one will +ever make me believe he has not her principles also." + +"I coincide with you, madam," remarked the attentive detective. + +"I hope the jury will," was her energetic response. + +He bowed and was about to attempt another question, when an interruption +occurred. Miss Firman was called from the room, and Mr. Gryce found +himself left for a few moments alone. His thoughts, as he awaited her +return, were far from cheerful, for he saw a long and tedious line of +inquiry opening before him in the West, which, if it did not end in +failure, promised to exhaust not only a week, but possibly many months, +before certainty of any kind could be obtained. With Miss Dare on the +verge of a fever, and Mansell in a position calling for the utmost nerve +and self-control, this prospect looked any thing but attractive to the +benevolent detective; and, carried away by his impatience, he was about +to give utterance to an angry ejaculation against the man he believed to +be the author of all this mischief, when he suddenly heard a voice +raised from some unknown quarter near by, saying in strange tones he was +positive did not proceed from Miss Firman: + +"Was it Clemmens or was it Orcutt? Clemmens or Orcutt? I cannot +remember." + +Naturally excited and aroused, Mr. Gryce rose and looked about him. A +door stood ajar at his back. Hastening toward it, he was about to lay +his hand on the knob when Miss Firman returned. + +"Oh, I beg you," she entreated. "That is my mother's room, and she is +not at all well." + +"I was going to her assistance," asserted the detective, with grave +composure. "She has just uttered a cry." + +"Oh, you don't say so!" exclaimed the unsuspicious spinster, and +hurrying forward, she threw open the door herself. Mr. Gryce +benevolently followed. "Why, she is asleep," protested Miss Firman, +turning on the detective with a suspicious look. + +Mr. Gryce, with a glance toward the bed he saw before him, bowed with +seeming perplexity. + +"She certainly appears to be," said he, "and yet I am positive she spoke +but an instant ago; I can even tell you the words she used." + +"What were they?" asked the spinster, with something like a look of +concern. + +"She said: 'Was it Clemmens or was it Orcutt? Clemmens or Orcutt? I +cannot remember.'" + +"You don't say so! Poor ma! She was dreaming. Come into the other room +and I will explain." + +And leading the way back to the apartment they had left, she motioned +him again toward a chair, and then said: + +"Ma has always been a very hale and active woman for her years; but this +murder seems to have shaken her. To speak the truth, sir, she has not +been quite right in her mind since the day I told her of it; and I often +detect her murmuring words similar to those you have just heard." + +"Humph! And does she often use his name?" + +"Whose name?" + +"Mr. Orcutt's." + +"Why, yes; but not with any understanding of whom she is speaking." + +"Are you _sure_?" inquired Mr. Gryce, with that peculiar impressiveness +he used on great occasions. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean," returned the detective, dryly, "that I believe your mother +does know what she is talking about when she links the name of Mr. +Orcutt with that of your cousin who was murdered. They belong together; +Mr. Orcutt was her murderer." + +"_Mr. Orcutt?_" + +"Hush!" cried Mr. Gryce, "you will wake up your mother." + +And, adapting himself to this emergency as to all others, he talked with +the astounded and incredulous woman before him till she was in a +condition not only to listen to his explanations, but to discuss the +problem of a crime so seemingly without motive. He then said, with easy +assurance: + +"Your mother does not know that Mr. Orcutt is dead?" + +"No, sir." + +"She does not even know he was counsel for Craik Mansell in the trial +now going on." + +"How do you know that?" inquired Miss Firman, grimly. + +"Because I do not believe you have even told her that Craik Mansell was +on trial." + +"Sir, you are a magician." + +"Have you, madam?" + +"No, sir, I have not." + +"Very good; what _does_ she know about Mr. Orcutt, then; and why should +she connect his name with Mrs. Clemmens?" + +"She knows he was her boarder, and that he was the first one to discover +she had been murdered." + +"That is not enough to account for her frequent repetition of his name." + +"You think not?" + +"I am sure not. Cannot your mother have some memories connected with his +name of which you are ignorant?" + +"No, sir; we have lived together in this house for twenty-five years, +and have never had a thought we have not shared together. Ma could not +have known any thing about him or Mary Ann which I did not. The words +she has just spoken sprang from mental confusion. She is almost like a +child sometimes." + +Mr. Gryce smiled. If the cream-jug he happened to be gazing at on a tray +near by had been full of cream, I am far from certain it would not have +turned sour on the spot. + +"I grant the mental confusion," said he; "but why should she confuse +those two names in preference to all others?" And, with quiet +persistence, he remarked again: "She may be recalling some old fact of +years ago. Was there never a time, even while you lived here together, +when she could have received some confidence from Mrs. Clemmens----" + +"Mary Ann, Mary Ann!" came in querulous accents from the other room, "I +wish you had not told me; Emily would be a better one to know your +secret." + +It was a startling interruption to come just at that moment The two +surprised listeners glanced toward each other, and Miss Firman colored. + +"That sounds as if your surmise was true," she dryly observed. + +"Let us make an experiment," said he, and motioned her to re-enter her +mother's room, which she did with a precipitation that showed her +composure had been sorely shaken by these unexpected occurrences. + +He followed her without ceremony. + +The old lady lay as before in a condition between sleeping and waking, +and did not move as they came in. Mr. Gryce at once withdrew out of +sight, and, with finger on his lip, put himself in the attitude of +waiting. Miss Firman, surprised, and possibly curious, took her stand +at the foot of the bed. + +A few minutes passed thus, during which a strange dreariness seemed to +settle upon the room; then the old lady spoke again, this time repeating +the words he had first heard, but in a tone which betrayed an increased +perplexity. + +"_Was_ it Clemmens or _was_ it Orcutt? I wish somebody would tell me." + +Instantly Mr. Gryce, with his soft tread, drew near to the old lady's +side, and, leaning over her, murmured gently: + +"I think it was Orcutt." + +Instantly the old lady breathed a deep sigh and moved. + +"Then her name was Mrs. Orcutt," said she, "and I thought you always +called her Clemmens." + +Miss Firman, recoiling, stared at Mr. Gryce, on whose cheek a faint spot +of red had appeared--a most unusual token of emotion with him. + +"Did she say it was Mrs. Orcutt," he pursued, in the even tones he had +before used. + +"She said----" But here the old lady opened her eyes, and, seeing her +daughter standing at the foot of her bed, turned away with a peevish +air, and restlessly pushed her hand under the pillow. + +Mr. Gryce at once bent nearer. + +"She said----" he suggested, with careful gentleness. + +But the old lady made no answer. Her hand seemed to have touched some +object for which she was seeking, and she was evidently oblivious to all +else. Miss Firman came around and touched Mr. Gryce on the shoulder. + +"It is useless," said she; "she is awake now, and you won't hear any +thing more; come!" + +And she drew the reluctant detective back again into the other room. + +"What does it all mean?" she asked, sinking into a chair. + +Mr. Gryce did not answer. He had a question of his own to put. + +"Why did your mother put her hand under her pillow?" he asked. + +"I don't know, unless it was to see if her big envelope was there." + +"Her big envelope?" + +"Yes; for weeks now, ever since she took to her bed, she has kept a +paper in a big envelope under her pillow. What is in it I don't know, +for she never seems to hear me when I inquire." + +"And have you no curiosity to find out?" + +"No, sir. Why should I? It might easily be my father's old letters +sealed up, or, for that matter, be nothing more than a piece of blank +paper. My mother is not herself, as I have said before." + +"I should like a peep at the contents of that envelope," he declared. + +"You?" + +"Is there any name written on the outside?" + +"No." + +"It would not be violating any one's rights, then, if you opened it." + +"Only my mother's, sir." + +"You say she is not in her right mind?" + +"All the more reason why I should respect her whims and caprices." + +"Wouldn't you open it if she were dead?" + +"Yes." + +"Will it be very different then from what it is now? A father's letters! +a blank piece of paper! What harm would there be in looking at them?" + +"My mother would know it if I took them away. It might excite and injure +her." + +"Put another envelope in the place of this one, with a piece of paper +folded up in it." + +"It would be a trick." + +"I know it; but if Craik Mansell can be saved even by a trick, I should +think you would be willing to venture on one." + +"Craik Mansell? What has he got to do with the papers under my mother's +pillow?" + +"I cannot say that he has any thing to do with them; but if he has--if, +for instance, that envelope should contain, not a piece of blank paper, +or even the letters of your father, but such a document, say, as a +certificate of marriage----" + +"A certificate of marriage?" + +"Yes, between Mrs. Clemmens and Mr. Orcutt, it would not take much +perspicacity to prophesy an acquittal for Craik Mansell." + +"Mary Ann the wife of Mr. Orcutt! Oh, that is impossible!" exclaimed the +agitated spinster. But even while making this determined statement, she +turned a look full of curiosity and excitement toward the door which +separated them from her mother's apartment. + +Mr. Gryce smiled in his wise way. + +"Less improbable things than that have been found to be true in this +topsy-turvy world," said he. "Mrs. Clemmens might very well have been +Mrs. Orcutt." + +"Do you really think so?" she asked; and yielding with sudden +impetuosity to the curiosity of the moment, she at once dashed from his +side and disappeared in her mother's room. Mr. Gryce's smile took on an +aspect of triumph. + +It was some few moments before she returned, but when she did, her +countenance was flushed with emotion. + +"I have it," she murmured, taking out a packet from under her apron and +tearing it open with trembling fingers. + +A number of closely written sheets fell out. + + + + +XLIV. + +THE WIDOW CLEMMENS. + + Discovered + The secret that so long had hovered + Upon the misty verge of Truth.--LONGFELLOW. + + +"WELL, and what have you to say?" It was Mr. Ferris who spoke. The week +which Mr. Gryce had demanded for his inquiries had fully elapsed, and +the three detectives stood before him ready with their report. + +It was Mr. Gryce who replied. + +"Sir," said he, "our opinions have not been changed by the discoveries +which we have made. It was Mr. Orcutt who killed Mrs. Clemmens, and for +the reason already stated that she stood in the way of his marrying Miss +Dare. Mrs. Clemmens was his wife." + +"His _wife_?" + +"Yes, sir; and, what is more, she has been so for years; before either +of them came to Sibley, in fact." + +The District Attorney looked stunned. + +"It was while they lived West," said Byrd. "He was a poor school-master, +and she a waitress in some hotel. She was pretty then, and he thought he +loved her. At all events, he induced her to marry him, and then kept it +secret because he was afraid she would lose her place at the hotel, +where she was getting very good wages. You see, he had the makings in +him of a villain even then." + +"And was it a real marriage?" + +"There is a record of it," said Hickory. + +"And did he never acknowledge it?" + +"Not openly," answered Byrd. "The commonness of the woman seemed to +revolt him after he was married to her, and when in a month or so he +received the summons East, which opened up before him the career of a +lawyer, he determined to drop her and start afresh. He accordingly left +town without notifying her, and actually succeeded in reaching the +railway depot twenty miles away before he was stopped. But here, a delay +occurring in the departure of the train, she was enabled to overtake +him, and a stormy scene ensued. What its exact nature was, we, of +course, cannot say, but from the results it is evident that he told her +his prospects had changed, and with them his tastes and requirements; +that she was not the woman he thought her, and that he could not and +would not take her East with him as his wife: while she, on her side, +displayed full as much spirit as he, and replied that if he could desert +her like this he wasn't the kind of a man she could live with, and that +he could go if he wished; only that he must acknowledge her claims upon +him by giving her a yearly stipend, according to his income and success. +At all events, some such compromise was effected, for he came East and +she went back to Swanson. She did not stay there long, however; for the +next we know she was in Sibley, where she set up her own little +house-keeping arrangements under his very eye. More than that, she +prevailed upon him to visit her daily, and even to take a meal at her +house, her sense of justice seeming to be satisfied if he showed her +this little attention and gave to no other woman the place he denied +her. It was the weakness shown in this last requirement that doubtless +led to her death. She would stand any thing but a rival. He knew this, +and preferred crime to the loss of the woman he loved." + +"You speak very knowingly," said Mr. Ferris. "May I ask where you +received your information?" + +It was Mr. Gryce who answered. + +"From letters. Mrs. Clemmens was one of those women who delight in +putting their feelings on paper. Fortunately for us, such women are not +rare. See here!" And he pulled out before the District Attorney a pile +of old letters in the widow's well-known handwriting. + +"Where did you find these?" asked Mr. Ferris. + +"Well," said Mr. Gryce, "I found them in rather a curious place. They +were in the keeping of old Mrs. Firman, Miss Firman's mother. Mrs. +Clemmens, or, rather, Mrs. Orcutt, got frightened some two years ago at +the disappearance of her marriage certificate from the place where she +had always kept it hidden, and, thinking that Mr. Orcutt was planning to +throw her off, she resolved to provide herself with a confidante capable +of standing by her in case she wished to assert her rights. She chose +old Mrs. Firman. Why, when her daughter would have been so much more +suitable for the purpose, it is hard to tell; possibly the widow's pride +revolted from telling a woman of her own years the indignities she had +suffered. However that may be, it was to the old lady she told her story +and gave these letters--letters which, as you will see, are not written +to any special person, but are rather the separate leaves of a journal +which she kept to show the state of her feelings from time to time." + +"And this?" inquired Mr. Ferris, taking up a sheet of paper written in a +different handwriting from the rest. + +"This is an attempt on the part of the old lady to put on paper the +story which had been told her. She evidently thought herself too old to +be entrusted with a secret so important, and, fearing loss of memory, or +perhaps sudden death, took this means of explaining how she came into +possession of her cousin's letters. 'T was a wise precaution. Without it +we would have missed the clue to the widow's journal. For the old lady's +brain gave way when she heard of the widow's death, and had it not been +for a special stroke of good-luck on my part, we might have remained +some time longer in ignorance of what very valuable papers she secretly +held in her possession." + +"I will read the letters," said Mr. Ferris. + +Seeing from his look that he only waited their departure to do so, Mr. +Gryce and his subordinates arose. + +"I think you will find them satisfactory," drawled Hickory. + +"If you do not," said Mr. Gryce, "then give a look at this telegram. It +is from Swanson, and notifies us that a record of a marriage between +Benjamin Orcutt--Mr. Orcutt's middle name was Benjamin--and Mary Mansell +can be found in the old town books." + +Mr. Ferris took the telegram, the shade of sorrow settling heavier and +heavier on his brow. + +"I see," said he, "I have got to accept your conclusions. Well, there +are those among the living who will be greatly relieved by these +discoveries. I will try and think of that." + +Yet, after the detectives were gone, and he sat down in solitude before +these evidences of his friend's perfidy, it was many long and dreary +moments before he could summon up courage to peruse them. But when he +did, he found in them all that Mr. Gryce had promised. As my readers may +feel some interest to know how the seeming widow bore the daily trial of +her life, I will give a few extracts from these letters. The first bears +date of fourteen years back, and was written after she came to Sibley: + + "NOVEMBER 8, 1867.--In the same town! Within a + stone's throw of the court-house, where, they tell + me, his business will soon take him almost every + day! Isn't it a triumph? and am I not to be + congratulated upon my bravery in coming here? He + hasn't seen me yet, but I have seen _him_. I crept + out of the house at nightfall on purpose. He was + sauntering down the street and he looked--it makes + my blood boil to think of it--he looked _happy_." + + "NOVEMBER 10, 1867.--Clemmens, Clemmens--that is + my name, and I have taken the title of widow. What + a fate for a woman with a husband in the next + street! He saw _me_ to-day. I met him in the open + square, and I looked him right in the face. How he + did quail! It just does me good to think of it! + Perk and haughty as he is, he grew as white as a + sheet when he saw me, and though he tried to put + on airs and carry it off with a high hand, he + failed, just as I knew he would when he came to + meet me on even ground. Oh, I'll have my way now, + and if I choose to stay in this place where I can + keep my eye on him, he won't dare to say No. The + only thing I fear is that he will do me a secret + mischief some day. His look was just murderous + when he left me." + + "FEBRUARY 24, 1868.--Can I stand it? I ask myself + that question every morning when I get up. Can I + stand it? To sit all alone in my little narrow + room and know that he is going about as gay as you + please with people who wouldn't look at me twice. + It's awful hard; but it would be worse still to be + where I couldn't see what he was up to. Then I + should imagine all sorts of things. No, I will + just grit my teeth and bear it. I'll get used to + it after a while." + + "OCTOBER 7, 1868.--If he says he never loved me he + lies. He did, or why did he marry me? I never + asked him to. He teased me into it, saying my + saucy ways had bewitched him. A month after, it + was common ways, rude ways, such ways as he + wouldn't have in a wife. That's the kind of man he + is." + + "MAY 11, 1869.--One thing I will say of him. He + don't pay no heed to women. He's too busy, I + guess. He don't seem to think of any thing but to + get along, and he does get along remarkable. I'm + awful proud of him. He's taken to defending + criminals lately. They almost all get off." + + "OCTOBER 5, 1870.--He pays me but a pittance. How + can I look like any thing, or hold my head up with + the ladies here if I cannot get enough together to + buy me a new fall hat. I _will_ not go to church + looking like a farmer's wife, if I haven't any + education or any manners. I'm as good as anybody + here if they but knew it, and deserve to dress as + well. He _must_ give me more money." + + "NOVEMBER 2, 1870.--No, he sha'n't give me a cent + more. If I can't go to church I will stay at home. + He sha'n't say I stood in his way of becoming a + great man. He _is_ too good for me. I saw it + to-day when he got up in the court to speak. I was + there with a thick veil over my face, for I was + determined to know whether he was as smart as + folks say or not. And he just is! Oh, how + beautiful he did look, and how everybody held + their breaths while he was speaking! I felt like + jumping up and saying: 'This is my husband; we + were married three years ago.' Wouldn't I have + raised a rumpus if I had! I guess the poor man he + was pleading for would not have been remembered + very long after that. My husband! the thought + makes me laugh. No other woman can call him that, + anyhow. He is mine, _mine_, _mine_, and I mean he + shall stay so." + + "JANUARY 9, 1871.--I feel awful blue to-night. I + have been thinking about those Hildreths. How they + would like to have me dead! And so would Tremont, + though he don't say nothing. I like to call him + Tremont; it makes me feel as if he belonged to me. + What if that wicked Gouverneur Hildreth should + know I lived so much alone? I don't believe he + would stop at killing me! And my husband! He is + equal to telling him I have no protector. Oh, what + a dreadful wickedness it is in me to put that down + on paper! It isn't so--it isn't so; my husband + wouldn't do me any harm if he could. If ever I'm + found dead in my bed, it will be the work of that + Toledo man and of nobody else." + + "MARCH 2, 1872.--I hope I am going to have some + comfort now. Tremont has begun to pay me more + money. He _had_ to. He isn't a poor man any more, + and when he moves into his big house, I am going + to move into a certain little cottage I have + found, just around the corner. If I can't have no + other pleasures, I will at least have a kitchen I + can call my own, and a parlor too. What if there + don't no company come to it; they would if they + _knew_. I've just heard from Adelaide; she says + Craik is getting to be a big boy, and is so + smart." + + "JUNE 10, 1872.--What's the use of having a home? + I declare I feel just like breaking down and + crying. I don't want company: if women folks, + they're always talking about their husbands and + children; and if men, they're always saying: 'My + wife's this, and my wife's that.' But I do want + _him_. It's my right; what if I couldn't say three + words to him that was agreeable, I could look at + him and think: 'This splendid gentleman is my + husband, I ain't so much alone in the world as + folks think.' I'll put on my bonnet and run down + the street. Perhaps I'll see him sitting in the + club-house window!" + + "EVENING.--I hate him. He has a hard, cruel, + wicked heart. When I got to the club-house window + he was sitting there, so I just went walking by, + and he saw me and came out and hustled me away + with terrible words, saying he wouldn't have me + hanging round where he was; that I had promised + not to bother him, and that I must keep my word, + or he would see me--he didn't say where, but it's + easy enough to guess. So--so! he thinks he'll put + an end to my coming to see him, does he? Well, + perhaps he can; but if he does, he shall pay for + it by coming to see me. I'll not sit day in and + day out alone without the glimpse of a face I + love, not while I have a husband in the same town + with me. He shall come, if it is only for a moment + each day, or I'll dare every thing and tell the + world I am his wife." + + "JUNE 16, 1872.--He had to consent! Meek as I have + been, he knows it won't do to rouse me too much. + So to-day he came in to dinner, and he had to + acknowledge it was a good one. Oh, how I did feel + when I saw his face on the other side of the + table! I didn't know whether I hated him or loved + him. But I am sure now I hated him, for he + scarcely spoke to me all the time he was eating, + and when he was through, he went away just as a + stranger would have done. He means to act like a + boarder, and, goodness me, he's welcome to if he + isn't going to act like a husband! The hard, + selfish---- Oh, oh, I love him!" + + "AUGUST 5, 1872.--It is no use; I'll never be a + happy woman. Tremont has been in so regularly to + dinner lately, and shown me such a kind face, I + thought I would venture upon a little familiarity. + It was only to lay my hand upon his arm, but it + made him very angry, and I thought he would strike + me. Am I then actually hateful to him? or is he so + proud he cannot bear the thought of my having the + right to touch him? I looked in the glass when he + went out. I _am_ plain and homespun, that's a + fact. Even my red cheeks are gone, and the dimples + which once took his fancy. I shall never lay the + tip of a finger on him again." + + "FEBRUARY 13, 1873.--What shall I cook for him + to-day? Some thing that he likes. It is my only + pleasure, to see how he does enjoy my meals. I + should think they would choke him; they do me + sometimes. But men are made of iron--ambitious + men, anyhow. Little they care what suffering they + cause, so long as they have a good time and get + all the praises they want. _He_ gets them more and + more every day. He will soon be as far above me as + if I had married the President himself. Oh, + sometimes when I think of it and remember he is my + own husband, I just feel as if some awful fate was + preparing for him or me!" + + "JUNE 7, 1873.--Would he send for me if he was + dying? No. He hates me; he hates me." + + "SEPTEMBER 8, 1874.--Craik was here to-day; he is + just going North to earn a few dollars in the + logging business. What a keen eye he has for a boy + of his years! I shouldn't wonder if he made a + powerful smart man some day. If he's only good, + too, and kind to his women-folks, I sha'n't mind. + But a smart man who is all for himself is an awful + trial to those who love him. Don't I know? Haven't + I suffered? Craik must never be like him." + + "DECEMBER 21, 1875.--One thousand dollars. That's + a nice little sum to have put away in the bank. So + much I get out of my husband's fame, anyhow. I + think I will make my will, for I want Craik to + have what I leave. He's a fine lad." + + "FEBRUARY 19, 1876.--I was thinking the other day, + suppose I did die suddenly. It would be dreadful + to have the name of Clemmens put on my tombstone! + But it would be. Tremont would never let the truth + be known, if he had to rifle my dead body for my + marriage certificate. What shall I do, then? Tell + anybody who I am? It seems just as if I couldn't. + Either the whole world must know it, or just + himself and me alone. Oh, I wish I had never been + born!" + + "JUNE 17, 1876.--Why wasn't I made handsome and + fine and nice? Think where I would be if I was! + I'd be in that big house of his, curtesying to all + the grand folks as go there. I went to see it last + night. It was dark as pitch in the streets, and I + went into the gate and all around the house. I + walked upon the piazza too, and rubbed my hand + along the window-ledges and up and down the doors. + It's mighty nice, all of it, and there sha'n't lie + a square inch on that whole ground that my foot + sha'n't go over. I wish I could get inside the + house once." + + "JULY 1, 1876.--I have done it. I went to see Mr. + Orcutt's sister. I had a right. Isn't he away, and + isn't he my boarder, and didn't I want to know + when he was coming home? She's a soft, + good-natured piece, and let me peek into the + library without saying a word. What a room it is! + I just felt like I'd been struck when I saw it and + spied his chair setting there and all those books + heaped around and the fine things on the + mantel-shelf and the pictures on the walls. What + would I do in such a place as that? I could keep + it clean, but so could any gal he might hire. Oh, + me! Oh, me! I wish he'd given me a chance. Perhaps + if he had loved me I might have learned to be + quiet and nice like that silly sister of his." + + "JANUARY 12, 1877.--Some women would take a heap + of delight in having folks know they were the wife + of a great man, but I find lots of pleasure in + being so without folks knowing it. If I lived in + his big house and was called Mrs. Orcutt, why, he + would have nothing to be afraid of and might do as + he pleased; but now he has to do what _I_ please. + Sometimes, when I sit down of an evening in my + little sitting-room to sew, I think how this + famous man whom everybody is afraid of has to come + and go just as humble me wants him to; and it + makes me hug myself with pride. It's as if I had a + string tied round his little finger, which I can + pull now and then. I don't pull it much; but I do + sometimes." + + "MARCH 30, 1877.--Gouverneur Hildreth is dead. I + shall never be his victim, at any rate. Shall I + ever be the victim of anybody? I don't feel as if + I cared now. For one kiss I would sell my life and + die happy. + + "There is a young Gouverneur, but it will be years + before he will be old enough to make me afraid of + him." + + "NOVEMBER 16, 1878.--I should think that Tremont + would be lonely in that big house of his. If he + had a heart he would. They say he reads all the + time. How can folks pore so over books? I can't. + I'd rather sit in my chair and think. What story + in all the books is equal to mine?" + + "APRIL 23, 1879.--I am growing very settled in my + ways. Now that Tremont comes in almost every day, + I'm satisfied not to see any other company. My + house affairs keep me busy too. I like to have it + all nice for him. I believe I could almost be + happy if he'd only smile once in a while when he + meets my eye. But he never does. Oh, well, we all + have our crosses, and he's a very great man." + + "JANUARY 18, 1880.--He went to a ball last night. + What does it mean? He never seemed to care for + things like that. Is there any girl he is after?" + + "FEBRUARY 6, 1880.--Oh, he has been riding with a + lady, has he? It was in the next town, and he + thought I wouldn't hear. But there's little he + does that I don't know about; let him make himself + sure of that. I even know her name; it is Selina + Pratt. If he goes with her again, look out for a + disturbance. I'll not stand his making love to + another woman." + + "MAY 26, 1880.--My marriage certificate is + missing. Can it be that Tremont has taken it? I + have looked all through the desk where I have kept + it for so many years, but I cannot find it. He was + left alone in the house a few minutes the other + day. Could he have taken the chance to rob me of + the only proof I have that we are man and wife? If + he has he is a villain at heart, and is capable of + doing any thing, even of marrying this Pratt girl + who he _has_ taken riding again. The worst is that + I dare not accuse him of having my certificate; + for if he didn't take it and should find out it is + gone, he'd throw me off just as quick as if he + had. What shall I do then? Something. He shall + _never_ marry another woman while I live." + + "MAY 30, 1880.--The Pratt girl is gone. If he + cared for her it was only for a week, like an old + love I could mention. I think I feel safe again, + only I am convinced some one ought to know my + secret besides myself. Shall it be Emily? No. I'd + rather tell her mother." + + "JUNE 9TH, 1880.--I am going to Utica. I shall + take these letters with me. Perhaps I shall leave + them. For the last time, then, let me say 'I am + the lawful wife of Tremont Benjamin Orcutt, the + lawyer, who lives in Sibley, New York.' We were + married in Swanson, Nevada, on the 3d of July, + 1867, by a travelling minister, named George + Sinclair. + + "MARY ANN ORCUTT, Sibley, N. Y." + + + + +XLV. + +MR. GRYCE SAYS GOOD-BYE. + + There still are many rainbows in your sky.--BYRON. + + +"HELEN?" + +"Yes, Imogene." + +"What noise is that? The people seem to be shouting down the street. +What does it mean?" + +Helen Richmond--whom we better know as Helen Darling--looked at the +worn, fever-flushed countenance of her friend, and for a moment was +silent; then she whispered: + +"I have not dared to tell you before, you seemed so ill; but I can tell +you now, because joyful news never hurts. The people shout because the +long and tedious trial of an innocent man has come to an end. Craik +Mansell was acquitted from the charge of murder this morning." + +"Acquitted! O Helen!" + +"Yes, dear. Since you have been ill, very strange and solemn revelations +have come to light. Mr. Orcutt----" + +"Ah!" cried Imogene, rising up in the great arm-chair in which she was +half-sitting and half-reclining. "I know what you are going to say. I +was with Mr. Orcutt when he died. I heard him myself declare that fate +had spoken in his death. I believe Mr. Orcutt to have been the murderer +of Mrs. Clemmens, Helen." + +"Yes, there can be no doubt about that," was the reply. + +"It has been proved then?" + +"Yes." + +Moved to the depths of her being, Imogene covered her face with her +hands. Presently she murmured: + +"I do not understand it. Why should such a great man as he have desired +the death of a woman like her? He said it was all for my sake. What did +he mean, Helen?" + +"Don't you know?" questioned the other, anxiously. + +"How should I? It is the mystery of mysteries to me." + +"Ah, then you did not suspect that she was his wife?" + +"His wife!" Imogene rose in horror. + +"Yes," repeated the little bride with decision. "She was his lawfully +wedded wife. They were married as long ago as when we were little +children." + +"Married! And he dared to approach me with words of love! Dared to offer +himself to me as a husband while his hands were still wet with the +life-blood of his wife! O the horror of it! The amazing wickedness and +presumption of it!" + +"He is dead," whispered the gentle little lady at her side. + +With a sigh of suppressed feeling, Imogene sank back. + +"I must not think of him," she cried. "I am not strong enough. I must +think only of Craik. He has been acquitted, you say--acquitted." + +"Yes, and the whole town is rejoicing." + +A smile, exquisite as it was rare, swept like a sunbeam over Imogene's +lips. + +"And I rejoice with the rest," she cried. Then, as if she felt all +speech to be a mockery, she remained for a long time silent, gazing with +ever-deepening expression into the space before her, till Helen did not +know whether the awe she felt creeping over her sprang from admiration +of her companion's suddenly awakened beauty or from a recognition of the +depths of that companion's emotions. At last Imogene spoke: + +"How came Mr. Mansell to be _acquitted_? Mr. Gryce did not tell me to +look for any such reinstatement as that. The most he bade me expect was +that Mr. Ferris would decline to prosecute Mr. Mansell any further, in +which event he would be discharged." + +"I know," said Helen, "but Mr. Mansell was not satisfied with that. He +demanded a verdict from the jury. So Mr. Ferris, with great generosity, +asked the Judge to recommend the jury to bring in a verdict of +acquittal, and when the Judge hesitated to do this, the foreman of the +jury himself rose, and intimated that he thought the jury were ready +with their verdict. The Judge took advantage of this, and the result was +a triumphant acquittal." + +"O Helen, Helen!" + +"That was just an hour ago," cried the little lady, brightly, "but the +people are not through shouting yet. There has been a great excitement +in town these last few days." + +"And I knew nothing of it!" exclaimed Imogene. Suddenly she looked at +Helen. "How did you hear about what took place in the court-room +to-day?" she asked. + +"Mr. Byrd told me." + +"Ah, Mr. Byrd?" + +"He came to leave a good-bye for you. He goes home this afternoon." + +"I should like to have seen Mr. Byrd," said Imogene. + +"Would you?" queried the little lady, quietly shaking her head. "I don't +know; I think it is just as well you did not see him," said she. + +But she made no such demur when a little while later Mr. Gryce was +announced. The fatherly old gentleman had evidently been in that house +before, and Mrs. Richmond was not the woman to withstand a man like him. + +He came immediately into the room where Imogene was sitting. Evidently +he thought as Helen did, that good news never hurts. + +"Well!" he cried, taking her trembling hand in his, with his most +expressive smile. "What did I tell you? Didn't I say that if you would +only trust me all would come right? And it has, don't you see? Right as +a trivet." + +"Yes," she returned; "and I never can find words with which to express +my gratitude. You have saved two lives, Mr. Gryce: his--and mine." + +"Pooh! pooh!" cried the detective, good-humoredly. "You mustn't think +too much of any thing I have done. It was the falling limb that did the +business. If Mr. Orcutt's conscience had not been awakened by the stroke +of death, I don't know where we should have been to-day. Affairs were +beginning to look pretty dark for Mansell." + +Imogene shuddered. + +"But I haven't come here to call up unpleasant memories," he continued. +"I have come to wish you joy and a happy convalescence." And leaning +toward her, he said, with a complete change of voice: "You know, I +suppose, why Mr. Mansell presumed to think _you_ guilty of this crime?" + +"No," she murmured, wearily; "unless it was because the ring he believed +me to have retained was found on the scene of murder." + +"Bah!" cried Mr. Gryce, "he had a much better reason than that." + +And with the air of one who wishes to clear up all misunderstandings, he +told her the words which her lover had overheard Mrs. Clemmens say when +he came up to her dining-room door. + +The effect on Imogene was very great. Hoping to hide it, she turned away +her face, showing in this struggle with herself something of the +strength of her old days. Mr. Gryce watched her with interest. + +"It is very strange," was her first remark. "I had such reasons for +thinking him guilty; he such good cause for thinking me so. What wonder +we doubted each other. And yet I can never forgive myself for doubting +him; I can sooner forgive him for doubting me. If you see him----" + +"If _I_ see him?" interrupted the detective, with a smile. + +"Yes," said she. "If you see him tell him that Imogene Dare thanks him +for his noble conduct toward one he believed to be stained by so +despicable a crime, and assure him that I think he was much more +justified in his suspicions than I was in mine, for there were +weaknesses in my character which he had ample opportunities for +observing, while all that I knew of him was to his credit." + +"Miss Dare," suggested the detective, "couldn't you tell him this much +better yourself?" + +"I shall not have the opportunity," she said. + +"And why?" he inquired. + +"Mr. Mansell and I have met for the last time. A woman who has stained +herself by such declarations as I made use of in court the last time I +was called to the stand has created a barrier between herself and all +earthly friendship. Even he for whom I perjured myself so basely cannot +overleap the gulf I dug between us two that day." + +"But that is hard," said Mr. Gryce. + +"My life _is_ hard," she answered. + +The wise old man, who had seen so much of life and who knew the human +heart so well, smiled, but did not reply. He turned instead to another +subject. + +"Well," he declared, "the great case is over! Sibley, satisfied with +having made its mark in the world, will now rest in peace. I quit the +place with some reluctance myself. 'Tis a mighty pretty spot to do +business in." + +"You are going?" she asked. + +"Immediately," was the reply. "We detectives don't have much time to +rest." Then, as he saw how deep a shadow lay upon her brow, added, +confidentially: "Miss Dare, we all have occasions for great regret. Look +at me now. Honest as I hold myself to be, I cannot blind myself to the +fact that I am the possible instigator of this crime. If I had not shown +Mr. Orcutt how a man like himself might perpetrate a murder without +rousing suspicion, he might never have summoned up courage to attempt +it. For a detective with a conscience, that is a hard thought to bear." + +"But you were ignorant of what you were doing," she protested. "You had +no idea there was any one present who was meditating crime." + +"True; but a detective shouldn't be ignorant. He ought to know men; he +has opportunity enough to learn them. But I won't be caught again. Never +in any company, not if it is composed of the highest dignitaries in the +land, will I ever tell again how a crime of any kind can be perpetrated +without risk. One always runs the chance of encountering an Orcutt." + +Imogene turned pale. "Do not speak of him," she cried. "I want to forget +that such a man ever lived." + +Mr. Gryce smiled again. + +"It is the best thing you can do," said he. "Begin a new life, my child; +begin a new life." + +And with this fatherly advice, he said good-bye, and she saw his wise, +kind face no more. + +The hour that followed was a dreary one for Imogene. Her joy at knowing +Craik Mansell was released could not blind her to the realization of her +own ruined life. Indeed she seemed to feel it now as never before; and +as the slow minutes passed, and she saw in fancy the strong figure of +Mansell surrounded by congratulating admirers and friends, the full +loneliness of her position swept over her, and she knew not whether to +be thankful or not to the fever for having spared her blighted and +dishonored life. + +Mrs. Richmond, seeing her so absorbed, made no attempt at consolation. +She only listened, and when a step was heard, arose and went out, +leaving the door open behind her. + +And Imogene mused on, sinking deeper and deeper into melancholy, till +the tears, which for so long a time had been dried at their source, +welled up to her eyes and fell slowly down her cheeks. Their touch +seemed to rouse her. Starting erect, she looked quickly around as if to +see if anybody was observing her. But the room seems quite empty, and +she is about to sink back again with a sigh when her eyes fall on the +door-way and she becomes transfixed. A sturdy form is standing there! A +manly, eager form in whose beaming eyes and tender smile shine a love +and a purpose which open out before her quite a different future from +that which her fancy had been so ruthlessly picturing. + + +THE END. + + + + +PUBLICATIONS OF G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. + + + =THE LEAVENWORTH CASE.= A Lawyer's Story. By ANNA + KATHERINE GREEN. 16mo, paper, 60 cents; cloth, $1.00. + + "In one respect at least, 'The Leavenworth Case' + is the peer of Gaboriau's best efforts--the + wonderful skill with which the author draws the + reader, now this way, now that, in the search for + the perpetrator of the mysterious crime with which + the story begins, and deludes him until he reaches + almost the last page."--_New Haven Palladium._ + + "Wilkie Collins, in his best period, never + invented a more ingeniously constructed plot, nor + held the reader in such suspense until the final + denouement. The most blase novel-reader will be + unable to put aside 'The Leavenworth Case' until + he has read the last sentence and mastered the + mystery which has baffled him from the + beginning."--_N. Y. Express._ + + "She has proved herself as well able to write an + interesting story of mysterious crime as any man + living."--_The Academy, (London.)_ + + "She has worked up a _cause celebre_ with a + fertility of device and ingenuity of treatment + hardly second to Wilkie Collins or Edgar Allen + Poe."--_Christian Union._ + + "We have read no story for a long time which has + had so much of the Wilkie Collins, and Edgar Allen + Poe flavor of reality in the + telling."--_Congregationalist._ + + "We do not propose to give the plot of the work, + however, but merely to say that it is one of the + most ingenious of the kind we have ever + read."--_Buffalo Express._ + + "This is the sort of book to be eagerly read and + thoroughly enjoyed."--_St. Paul Pioneer._ + + "A new novel by a new writer, which enchains our + attention from the very first sentence of the + first page, is a pleasant surprise. * * * Told + with a force and power that indicate great + dramatic talent in the writer."--_St. Louis Post._ + + "Its interest is undoubted and it is thoroughly + well sustained."--_N. Y. Evening Post._ + + "The story is developed with great skill and shows + ingenuity of the highest order."--_Troy Times._ + + "A story of mystery and crime and is here narrated + with an artistic skill which inevitably holds the + interest of the reader, even to the point of the + highest tension, to the close of the last chapter. + * * * A real marvel of fiction."--_Davenport + Gazette._ + + + =A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE.= By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN. + 16mo, paper, 50 cents, cloth, $1.00. + + "The plot is marked with striking originality, and + the story is narrated with a vigor and power + rarely met in modern novels. It is deeply + interesting from beginning to end, and holds the + reader entranced from the moment the first page is + read until the last sentence is reached. It is, in + fact, a revelation in American romance-writing, + and we heartily commend it to the + public."--_Baltimore Gazette._ + + "Catches the fancy and chains the interest of the + reader to such a degree that he is unwilling to + lay it down until every page is + devoured."--_Toledo Journal._ + + "The author has chosen a department of fiction + where only the best writers succeed, but she has + shown herself capable of sustaining her role with + wonderful vigor."--_Boston Evening Traveller._ + + "It is an ingenious plot, admirably worked up, and + told so straightforward as to be wholly + pleasing."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._ + + "One of the best police detective stories written + in America."--_Hartford Courant._ + + "Wilkie Collins would not be ashamed of the + construction of this story. * * * It keeps + the reader's close attention from first to + last."--_N. Y. Evening Post._ + + "A most ingenious and absorbingly interesting + story. The readers are held spell-bound till the + last page."--_Cincinnati Commercial._ + + "Ingenious in construction, powerful in dramatic + interest, and artistic in development."--_Boston + Gazette._ + + "A most intensely interesting work of fiction. The + story is developed with skill, and the work + written in a strong, powerful style."--_Augusta + (Me.) Farmer._ + + "The plot is new and sparkling, and the story is + carried to its denouement with an ingenuity and + brightness of manner that makes it impossible to + lay the volume down until completed. * * * It is a + marvel of fiction."--_Columbus Sunday Capital._ + + "The plot is very ingenious. * * * The interest in + the tale is remarkably well sustained until its + conclusion, and the mystery which envelopes the + principal character is concealed with a great deal + of artistic skill. * * * Shows a spirit of patient + research that speaks well for the industry of the + writer, and an analytical faculty rarely seen in a + woman."--_Boston Courier._ + + + =X. Y. Z.= A Detective Story. By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN. 16mo, + paper, 25 cents. + + "Well written and extremely exciting and + captivating. * * * She is a perfect genius in the + construction of a plot."--_N. Y. Commercial + Advertiser._ + + "Will keep the sleepiest reader wide-awake from + title to finis."--_Boston Transcript._ + + "An extremely interesting story, * * * the + development of the plot is kept well in hand, and + the denouement is as dramatic as any that could be + desired."--_Albany Argus._ + + + =THE DEFENCE OF THE BRIDE=, and Other Poems. By ANNA + KATHARINE GREEN. Sq. 16mo, flex. cloth, $1.00. + + "Written with a spirit and force that are + impressive."--_Congregationalist._ + + + + +PUBLICATIONS OF G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. + + +BAYARD TAYLOR'S NOVELS. + + I. =Hannah Thurston.= A STORY OF AMERICAN LIFE + 12mo. Household edition, $1.50 + + "If Bayard Taylor has not placed himself, as we + are half inclined to suspect, in the front rank of + novelists, he has produced a very remarkable + book--a really original story, admirably told, + crowded with life-like characters full of delicate + and subtle sympathies, with ideas the most + opposite to his own, and lighted up throughout + with that playful humor which suggests always + wisdom rather than mere fun."--_London Spectator._ + + II. =John Godfrey's Fortunes.= RELATED BY HIMSELF + 12mo. Household edition, $1.50 + + "'John Godfrey's Fortunes,' without being + melodramatic or morbid, is one of the most + fascinating novels which we have ever read. Its + portraiture of American social life, though not + flattering, is eminently truthful; its delineation + of character is delicate and natural; its English, + though sometimes careless, is singularly grateful + and pleasant."--_Cleveland Leader._ + + III. =The Story of Kennett.= 12mo. Household + edition, $1.50 + + "Mr. Bayard Taylor's book is _delightful and + refreshing reading_, and great rest after the + crowded artistic effects and the conventional + interests of even the better kind of English + novels."--_London Spectator._ + + "As a picture of rural life, we think this novel + of Mr. Taylor's excels any of his previous + productions."--_N. Y. Evening Post._ + + "A tale of absorbing interest."--_Syracuse + Standard._ + + + IV. =Joseph and his Friend.= A STORY OF PENNSYLVANIA + 12mo. Household edition, $1.50 + + "In Bayard Taylor's happiest vein."--_Buffalo + Express._ + + "By far the best novel of the season."--_Cleveland + Leader._ + + V. =Beauty and the Beast= and =Tales of Home=. 12mo + Household edition, $1.50 + + +Bayard Taylor's Complete Works. + + =The Complete Works of Bayard Taylor.= In sixteen + volumes. Household edition, $24.00 + + =The Travels=, separate, eleven volumes. Household + edition, $16.50 + + The Novels, separate, five volumes, boards. + Cedarcroft edition, $6.25 + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +The original text had page v before pages iii and iv. This was +rearranged in this edition. The List of Illustrations now follows the +Table of Contents. + +The text uses both "vail" and "veil," "depot" and "depot." + +Obvious punctuation errors were corrected. + +Page 17, "have'nt" changed to "haven't" (that haven't much) + +Page 29, "vengance" changed to "vengeance" (May the vengeance of Heaven) + +Page 138, "yon" changed to "you" (you would be likely) + +Page 140, "notwithstandingt he" changed to "notwithstanding the" +(notwithstanding the humiliating) + +Page 221, "infinitesmal" changed to "infinitesimal" (an infinitesimal +chip from) + +Page 227, "obstancy" changed to "obstinacy" (selfishness and obstinacy) + +Page 235, "Ferrris" changed to "Ferris" (cried Mr. Ferris, looking) + +Page 267, "where" changed to "were" (you were when you) + +Page 288, "desparing" changed to "despairing" (The despairing influence) + +Page 326, "a" changed to "at" (I am boarding at present) + +Page 402, "band" changed to "hand" (lay his hand upon) + +Page 410, "unneccessary" changed to "unnecessary" (an unnecessary +display) + +Page 417, "his" changed to "is" (he is trying his influence) + +Page 431, "disegarded" changed to "disregarded" (it shall be +disregarded) + +Page 462, "Sueh" changed to "Such" (Such--as--Gouvernour) + +Page 526, "thumselves" changed to "themselves" (are amusing themselves) + +Page 552, "sor" changed to "for" (promised little for an) + +Page 558, "most" changed to "must" (one must also believe) + +Page 565, "Gyrce" changed to "Gryce" (Mr. Gryce, with his usual) + +Page 591, "surbordinates" changed to "subordinates" (his subordinates +arose) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAND AND RING*** + + +******* This file should be named 31681.txt or 31681.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/6/8/31681 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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