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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of X Y Z, 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: X Y Z
+       A Detective Story
+
+Author: Anna Katharine Green
+
+Release Date: September 10, 2010 [EBook #33695]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X Y Z ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Julia Neufeld and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    X
+
+    Y
+
+    Z
+
+    A DETECTIVE STORY
+
+    BY
+
+    ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
+
+    AUTHOR OF "THE LEAVENWORTH CASE," "A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE," ETC.
+
+    NEW YORK
+
+    G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+    27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET
+
+    1883
+
+
+
+
+    COPYRIGHT BY
+    G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+    1883
+
+
+
+
+X. Y. Z.
+
+A STORY TOLD BY A DETECTIVE.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS RENDEZVOUS.
+
+
+Sometimes in the course of his experience, a detective, while engaged in
+ferreting out the mystery of one crime, runs inadvertently upon the clue
+to another. But rarely has this been done in a manner more unexpected or
+with attendant circumstances of greater interest than in the instance I
+am now about to relate.
+
+For some time the penetration of certain Washington officials had been
+baffled by the clever devices of a gang of counterfeiters who had
+inundated the western portion of Massachusetts with spurious Treasury
+notes. Some of the best talent of the Secret Service had been expended
+upon the matter, but with no favorable result, when, one day, notice
+was received at Washington that a number of suspicious-looking letters,
+addressed to the simple initials, X. Y. Z., Brandon, Mass., were being
+daily forwarded through the mails of that region; and it being deemed
+possible that a clue had at last been offered to the mystery in hand, I
+was sent northward to investigate.
+
+It was in the middle of June, 1881, and the weather was simply
+delightful. As I stepped from the cars at Brandon and looked up the long
+straight street with its double row of maple trees sparkling fresh and
+beautiful in the noonday sun, I thought I had never seen a prettier
+village or entered upon any enterprise with a lighter or more hopeful
+heart.
+
+Intent on my task, I went straight to the post-office, and after coming
+to an understanding with the postmaster, proceeded at once to look over
+the mail addressed to the mysterious X. Y. Z.
+
+I found it to consist entirely of letters. They were about a dozen in
+number, and were, with one exception, similar in general appearance and
+manner of direction, though inscribed in widely different handwritings,
+and posted from various New England towns. The exception to which I
+allude had these few extra words written in the lower left-hand corner
+of the envelope: "_To be kept till called for._" As I bundled up the
+letters preparatory to thrusting them back into the box, I noticed that
+the latter was the only one in a blue envelope, all the others being in
+the various shades of cream-color and buff.
+
+"Who is in the habit of calling for these letters?" I asked of the
+postmaster.
+
+"Well," said he, "I don't know his name. The fact is nobody knows him
+around here. He usually drives up in a buggy about nightfall, calls for
+letters addressed to X. Y. Z., and having got them, whips up his horse
+and is off again before one can say a word."
+
+"Describe him," said I.
+
+"Well, he is very lean and very lank. In appearance he is both green and
+awkward. His complexion is pale, almost sickly. Were it not for his eye,
+which is keen and twinkling, I should call him an extremely
+inoffensive-looking person."
+
+The type was not new to me. "I should like to see him," said I.
+
+"You will have to wait till nightfall, then," returned the postmaster.
+"He never comes till about dusk. Drop in here, say at seven o'clock, and
+I will see that you have the opportunity of handing him his mail."
+
+I nodded acquiescence to this and sauntered out of the enclosure devoted
+to the uses of the post-office. As I did so I ran against a young man
+who was hurriedly approaching from the other end of the store.
+
+"Your pardon," he cried; and I turned to look at him, so gentlemanly was
+his tone, and so easy the bow with which he accompanied this simple
+apology.
+
+He was standing before the window of the post-office, waiting for his
+mail; a good-looking, well-made young man, of a fine countenance, but
+with a restless eye, whose alert yet anxious expression I could not but
+note even in the casual glance I gave him. There appeared to be some
+difficulty in procuring him his mail, and each minute he was kept
+waiting seemed to increase his impatience almost beyond the bounds of
+endurance. I saw him lean forward and gasp out a hurried word to the
+postmaster, and was idly wondering over his anxiety and its probable
+causes, when I heard a hasty exclamation near me, and looking around,
+saw the postmaster himself beckoning to me from the door of the
+enclosure. I immediately hastened forward.
+
+"I don't know what it means," he whispered; "but here is a young man,
+different from any who have been here before, asking for a letter
+addressed to X. Y. Z."
+
+"A letter?" I repeated.
+
+"Yes, a letter."
+
+"Give him the whole batch and see what he does," I returned, drawing
+back where I could myself watch the result of my instructions. The
+postmaster did as I requested. In another moment I saw the young man
+start with amazement as a dozen letters were put in his hand. "These are
+not all for me!" he cried, but even as he made the exclamation, drew to
+one side, and with a look of mingled perplexity and concern, began
+opening them one after another, his expression deepening to amazement as
+he glanced at their contents. The one in the blue envelope, however,
+seemed to awaken quite different emotions. With an unconscious look of
+relief, he hastily read the short letter it contained, then with a quick
+gesture, folded it up and thrust it back into the envelope he held,
+together with the other letters, in his left hand.
+
+"There must be another X. Y. Z.," said he, approaching the window of the
+post-office and handing back all the letters he had received, with the
+exception of the one in the blue envelope, which with a quick movement
+he had separated from the rest and thrust into his coat-pocket. "I can
+lay claim to none of these." And with a repetition of his easy bow he
+turned away and hurriedly quitted the store, followed by the eyes of
+clerks and customers, to whom he was evidently as much of a stranger as
+he was to me. Without hesitation I went to the door and looked after
+him. He was just crossing the street to the tavern on the other side of
+the way. I saw him enter, felt that he was safe to remain there for a
+few minutes, and conscious of the great opportunity awaiting me,
+hastened back to the postmaster.
+
+"Well," cried I, in secret exultation, "our plan has worked admirably.
+Let me see the letters. As they have been opened, and through no fault
+of ours, a peep at them now in the cause of justice will harm none but
+the guilty."
+
+The postmaster demurred, but I soon overcame his scruples; and taking
+down the letters once more, hastily investigated their contents. I own
+that I was considerably disappointed at the result. In fact, I found
+nothing that pointed toward the counterfeiters; only in each letter a
+written address, together with fifty cents' worth of stamps.
+
+"Some common fraud," I exclaimed. "One of those cheap affairs where, for
+fifty cents enclosed, a piece of information calculated to insure
+fortune to the recipient is promised by return of mail."
+
+And disgusted with the whole affair I bundled up the letters, and was
+about to replace them in the box for the third time when I discovered
+that it still held a folded paper. Drawing this out, I opened it and
+started in fresh amazement. If I was not very much mistaken in the
+appearance of the letter in the blue envelope which I had seen the
+young man read with so much interest, this was certainly it. But how
+came it here? Had I not seen him thrust it back into its envelope and
+afterward put envelope and all into his pocket? But here was no
+envelope, and here was the letter. By what freak of necromancy had it
+been transferred from its legitimate quarters to this spot? I could not
+imagine. Suddenly I remembered that his hand had been full of the other
+letters when he put, or endeavored to put, this special one back into
+its envelope, and however unaccountable it may seem, it must be that
+from haste or agitation he had only succeeded in thrusting it between
+two letters instead of into the envelope, as he supposed. Whether or not
+this explanation be true, there was no doubt about my luck being in the
+ascendant. Mastering my satisfaction, I read these lines written in what
+appeared to be a disguised hand.
+
+     "All goes well. The time has come; every thing is in train, and
+     success is certain. Be in the shrubbery at the northeast corner
+     of the grounds at 9 P.M. precisely; you will be given a mask
+     and such other means as are necessary to insure you the
+     accomplishment of the end you have in view. He cannot hold out
+     against a surprise. The word, by which you will know your
+     friends, is
+                                                   COUNTERFEIT."
+
+"Ah, ha!" thought I, "this is more like it." And moved by a sudden
+impulse, I hastily copied the letter into my memorandum-book, and then
+returning to the original, scratched out with my penknife the word
+northeast and carefully substituting that of southwest put the letter
+back into the box, in the hope that when he came to consult the envelope
+in his pocket (as he would be sure to do sooner or later) he would miss
+its contents and return to the post-office in search of it.
+
+Nor was I mistaken. I had scarcely accomplished my task, when he
+reëntered the store, asked to see the letters he had returned, and
+finding amongst them the one he had lost, disappeared with it back to
+the tavern. "If he is surprised to read southwest this time instead of
+northeast, he will think his memory played him false in the first
+instance," cried I, in inward comment over my last doubtful stroke of
+policy; and turning to the postmaster, I asked him what place there was
+in the vicinity which could be said to possess grounds and a shrubbery.
+
+"There is but one," he returned, "Mr. Benson's. All the rest of the
+folks are too poor to indulge in any such gimcracks."
+
+"And who is Mr. Benson?"
+
+"Well, he is Mr. Benson, the richest man in these parts and the least
+liked as I take it. He came here from Boston two years ago and built a
+house fit for a king to live in. Why, nobody knows, for he seems to take
+no pleasure in it. His children do though, and that is all he cares for
+I suppose. Young Mr. Benson especially seems to be never tired of
+walking about the grounds, looking at the trees and tying up the vines.
+Miss Carrie is different; all she wants is company. But little of that
+has her father ever allowed her till this very day. He seems to think
+nobody is good enough to sit down in his parlors; and yet he don't sit
+there himself, the strange man! but is always shut up in his library or
+some other out-of-the-way place."
+
+"A busy man?"
+
+"I suppose so, but no one ever sees any thing he does."
+
+"Writes, perhaps?"
+
+"I don't know; he never talks about himself."
+
+"How did he get his money?"
+
+"That we don't know. It seems to accumulate without his help or
+interference. When he came here he was called rich, but to-day he is
+said to be worth three times what he was then."
+
+"Perhaps he speculates?"
+
+"If he does, it must be through his son, for he never leaves home
+himself."
+
+"Has two children, you say?"
+
+"Yes, a son and a daughter: a famous young man, the son; not so much
+liked, perhaps, as universally respected. He is too severe and reticent
+to be a favorite, but no one ever found him doing any thing unworthy of
+himself. He is the pride of the county, and if he were a bit suaver in
+manner might have been in Congress at this minute."
+
+"How old?"
+
+"Thirty, I should say."
+
+"And the girl?"
+
+"Twenty-five, perhaps."
+
+"A mother living?"
+
+"No; there were some strange stories of her having died a year or so
+before they came here, under circumstances of a somewhat distressing
+nature, but they themselves say nothing about it."
+
+"It seems to me they don't say much about any thing."
+
+"That's just it; they are the most reserved people you ever saw. It
+isn't from them we have heard there is another son floating somewhere
+about the world. They never speak of him, and what's more, they never
+write to him; as who should know better than myself?"
+
+An interruption here occurred, and I took the opportunity to saunter out
+into the crowd of idlers always to be found hanging around a country
+store at mail-time. My purpose was, as you may conceive, to pick up any
+stray bits of information that might be floating about concerning these
+Bensons. Not that I had as yet discovered any thing definite connecting
+this respectable family with the gang of counterfeiters upon whose
+track I had been placed; but business is business, and no clue, however
+slight or unpromising in its nature, is to be neglected when the way is
+as dark as that which lay before me. With an easy smile, therefore,
+calculated to allay apprehension and awaken confidence, I took my stand
+among these loungers. But I soon found that I need do nothing to start
+the wheel of gossip on the subject of the Bensons. It was already going,
+and that with a force and spirit that almost took my breath away.
+
+"A fancy ball!" were the first words I heard. "The Bensons give a fancy
+ball, when they never had three persons at a time in their house
+before!"
+
+"Yes, and what's more, they are going to have folks over from Clayton
+and Lawrence and Hollowell and devil knows where. It's to be a smash up,
+a regular fandango, with masks and all that kind of nonsense."
+
+"They say Miss Carrie teased her father till he had to give in in
+self-defence. It's her birthday or something like that, and she _would_
+have a party."
+
+"But such a party! who ever heard the like in a respectable town like
+this! It's wicked, that's what I call it, downright wicked to cover up
+the face God has given you and go strutting around in clothes a
+Christian man might well think borrowed from the Evil One if he had to
+wear them in any decent company. All wrong, I say, all wrong, and I am
+astonished at Mr. Benson. To keep his doors shut as he has, and then to
+open them in a burst to all sorts of folly. We are not invited at our
+house."
+
+"Nor we, nor we," shouted some half dozen.
+
+"And I don't know of any one in this town who is," cried a burly man,
+presumably a butcher by trade. "We are not good enough for the Bensons.
+They say he is even going to be mean enough to shut the gates and not
+let a soul inside who hasn't a ticket. And they are going to light up
+the grounds too!"
+
+"We can peep through the fence."
+
+"Much we will see that way. If you had said climb it--"
+
+"We can't climb it. Big John is going to be there and Tom Henshaw. They
+mean to keep their good times to themselves, just as they have kept
+every thing else. It's a queer set they are anyway, and the less we
+have to do with them the better."
+
+"I should like to see Hartley Benson in masquerade costume, I would."
+
+"Oh, he won't wear any of the fol-de-rol; he's too dignified." And with
+that there fell a sudden hush over the crowd, for which I was at a loss
+to account, till, upon looking up, I saw approaching on horseback, a
+young man in whom I had no difficulty in recognizing the subject of the
+last remark.
+
+Straight, slight, elegant in appearance, but with an undoubted reserve
+of manner apparent even at a distance, he rode up to where I stood, and
+casting a slight glance around, bowed almost imperceptibly, and
+alighted. A boy caught the bridle of his horse, and Mr. Benson, without
+a word or further look, passed quickly into the office, leaving a
+silence behind him that was not disturbed till he returned with what was
+evidently his noonday mail. Remounting his horse, he stopped a moment to
+speak to a man who had just come up, and I seized the opportunity to
+study his face. I did not like it. It was handsome without doubt; the
+features were regular, the complexion fair, the expression gentlemanly
+if not commanding; but I did not like it. It was too impenetrable
+perhaps; and to a detective anxious to probe a man for his motives, this
+is ever a most fatal defect. His smile was without sunshine; his glance
+was an inquiry, a rebuke, a sarcasm, every thing but a revelation. As he
+rode away he carried with him the thought of all, yet I doubt if the
+admiration he undoubtedly inspired, was in a single case mixed with any
+warmer feeling than that of pride in a fellow townsman they could not
+understand. "Ice," thought I; "ice in all but its transparency!" So much
+for Benson the son.
+
+The ball was to take place that very night; and the knowledge of this
+fact threw a different light over the letter I had read. The word _mask_
+had no longer any special significance, neither the word _counterfeit_,
+and yet such was the tenor of the note itself, and such the exaggerated
+nature of its phrases, I could not but feel that some plot of a
+reprehensible if not criminal nature was in the process of formation,
+which, as a rising young detective engaged in a mysterious and elusive
+search, it behooved me to know. And moved by this consideration, I
+turned to a new leaf in my memorandum-book, and put down in black and
+white the following facts thus summarily collected:
+
+"A mysterious family with a secret.
+
+"Rich, but with no visible means of wealth.
+
+"Secluded, with no apparent reason for the same.
+
+"A father who is a hermit.
+
+"A son who is impenetrable.
+
+"A daughter whose tastes are seldom gratified.
+
+"The strange fact of a ball being given by this family after years of
+reserve and non-intercourse with their neighbors.
+
+"The still stranger fact of it being a masquerade, a style of
+entertainment which, from its novelty and the opportunities it affords,
+makes this departure from ordinary rules seem marked and startling.
+
+"The discovery of a letter appointing a rendezvous between two persons
+of the male sex, in the grounds of the party giving this ball, in which
+the opportunities afforded by a masquerade are to be used for forwarding
+some long-cherished scheme."
+
+At the bottom of this I wrote a deduction:
+
+"Some connection between one or more members of this family giving the
+ball, and the person called to the rendezvous; the entertainment being
+used as a blind if not as a means."
+
+It was now four o'clock, five hours before the time of rendezvous. How
+should I employ the interval? A glance at the livery-stable hard by,
+determined me. Procuring a horse, I rode out on the road toward Mr.
+Benson's, for the purpose of reconnoitring the grounds; but as I
+proceeded I was seized by an intense desire to penetrate into the midst
+of this peculiar household, and judge for myself whether it was worth
+while to cherish any further suspicions in regard to this family. But
+how to effect such an entrance? What excuse could I give for my
+intrusion that would be likely to serve me on a day of such tumult and
+preoccupation? I looked up and down the road as if for inspiration. It
+did not come. Meanwhile, the huge trees that surrounded the house had
+loomed in sight, and presently the beauties of lawn and parterre began
+to appear beyond the high iron fence, through which I could catch now
+and then short glimpses of hurrying forms, as lanterns were hung on the
+trees and all things put in readiness for the evening's entertainment.
+Suddenly a thought struck me. If Mr. Benson was the man they said, he
+was not engaged in any of these arrangements. Mr. Benson was a hermit.
+Now what could I say that would interest a hermit? I racked my brains; a
+single idea came. It was daring in its nature, but what of that! The
+gate must be passed, Mr. Benson must be seen--or so my adventurous
+curiosity decided,--and to do it, something must be ventured. Taking out
+my card, which was simply inscribed with my name, I wrote on it,
+"_Business private and immediate_," and assuming my most gentlemanly and
+inoffensive manner, rode calmly through the gate to the front of the
+house. If I had been on foot I doubt if I would have been allowed to
+pass by the servant lounging about in that region, but the horse carried
+me through in more senses than one, and almost before I realized it, I
+found myself pausing before the portico, in full view of a dozen or more
+busy men and boys.
+
+Imitating the manner of Mr. Benson at the post-office, I jumped from my
+horse and threw the bridle to the boy nearest me. Instantly and before I
+could take a step, a servant issued from the open door, and with an
+expression of anxiety somewhat surprising under the circumstances, took
+his stand before me in a way to hinder my advance.
+
+"Mr. Benson does not receive visitors to-day," said he.
+
+"I am not a visitor," replied I; "I have business with Mr. Benson," and
+I handed him my card, which he looked at with a doubtful expression.
+
+"Mr. Benson's commands are not to be disobeyed," persisted the man. "My
+master sees no one to-day."
+
+"But this is an exceptional case," I urged, my curiosity rising at this
+unexpected opposition. "My business is important and concerns him. He
+cannot refuse to see me."
+
+The servant shook his head with what appeared to me to be an unnecessary
+expression of alarm, but nevertheless retreated a step, allowing me to
+enter. "I will call Mr. Hartley," cried he.
+
+But that was just what I did not wish. It was Benson the father I had
+come to see, and I was not to be baffled in this way.
+
+"Mr. Hartley won't do," said I, in my lowest but most determined
+accents. "If Mr. Benson is not ill, I must beg to be admitted to his
+presence." And stepping inside the small reception room at my right, I
+sat down on the first chair I came to.
+
+The man stood for a moment confounded at my pertinacity, then with a
+last scrutinizing look, that took in every detail of my person and
+apparel, drew slowly off, shaking his head and murmuring to himself.
+
+Meanwhile the mingled splendor and elegance of my surroundings were
+slowly making their impression upon me. The hall by which I had entered
+was spacious and imposing; the room in which I sat, a model of beauty in
+design and finish. I was allowing myself the luxury of studying its
+pictures and numerous works of art, when the sound of voices reached my
+ear from the next room. A man and woman were conversing there in
+smothered tones, but my senses are very acute, and I had no difficulty
+in overhearing what was said.
+
+"Oh, what an exciting day this has been!" cried the female voice. "I
+have wanted to ask you a dozen times what you think of it all. Will he
+succeed this time? Has he the nerve to embrace his opportunity, or what
+is more, the tact to make one? Failure now would be fatal. Father--"
+
+"Hush!" broke in the other voice, in a masculine tone of repressed
+intensity. "Do not forget that success depends upon your prudence. One
+whisper of what you are about, and the whole scheme is destroyed."
+
+"I will be careful; only do you think that all is going well and as we
+planned it?"
+
+"It will not be my fault if it does not," was the reply, uttered with an
+accent so sinister I was conscious of a violent surprise when, in the
+next instant, the other, with a burst of affectionate fervor, cried in
+an ardent tone:
+
+"Oh, how good you are, and what a comfort you are to me!"
+
+I was just pondering over the incongruity thus presented, when the
+servant returned with my card.
+
+"Mr. Benson wishes to know the nature of your business," said he, in a
+voice I was uncomfortably conscious must penetrate to the next room and
+awake its inmates to a knowledge of my proximity.
+
+"Let me have the card," said I; and taking it, I added to my words the
+simple phrase, "_On behalf of the Constable of the town_," remembering I
+had heard the postmaster say this position was held by his brother.
+"There," said I, "carry that back to your master."
+
+The servant took the card, glanced down at the words I had written,
+started and hastily drew back. "You had better come," said he, leading
+the way into the hall.
+
+I was only too glad to comply; in fact, escape from that room seemed
+imperative. But just as I was crossing the threshold, a sudden, quick
+cry, half joyful, half fearful, rose behind me, and turning, I met the
+eyes of a young lady peering upon me from a lifted _portière_, with an
+expression of mingled terror and longing that would have astonished me
+greatly, if it had not instantly disappeared at the first sight of my
+face.
+
+"Pardon me," she exclaimed, drawing back with an embarrassed movement
+into the room from which she had emerged. But soon recovering herself,
+she stepped hastily forward, and ignoring me, said to the servant at my
+side: "Jonas, who is this gentleman, and where are you taking him?"
+
+With a bow, Jonas replied: "He comes on business, miss, and Mr. Benson
+consents to see him."
+
+"But I thought my father had expressly commanded that no one was to be
+allowed to enter the library to-day," she exclaimed, but in a musing
+tone that asked for no response. And hastily as we passed down the hall,
+I could not escape the uneasy sense that her eager eyes were following
+us as we went.
+
+"Too much emotion for so small a matter, and a strange desire on the
+part of every one to keep Mr. Benson from being intruded upon to-day,"
+was my mental comment. And I was scarcely surprised when upon our
+arrival at the library door we found it locked. However, a knock,
+followed by a few whispered words on the part of the servant, served to
+arouse the hermit within, and with a quick turn of the key, the door
+flew back on its hinges, and the master of the house stood before me.
+
+It was a moment to be remembered: first, because the picture presented
+to my eyes was of a marked and impressive character; and secondly,
+because something in the expression of the gentleman before me showed
+that he had received a shock at my introduction which was not to be
+expected after the pains which had been taken to prepare his mind for my
+visit. He was a tall, remarkable-looking man, with a head already
+whitened, and a form which, if not bowed, had only retained its upright
+carriage by means of the indomitable will that betrayed itself in his
+eyes. Seen against the rich background of the stained-glass window that
+adorned one end of the apartment, his stern, furrowed face and eagerly
+repellant aspect imprinted itself upon me like a silhouette, while the
+strong emotion I could not but detect in his bearing, lent to the whole
+a poetic finish that made it a living picture which, as I have said, I
+have never been able to forget.
+
+"You have come from the constable of the town," said he, in a firm, hard
+tone, impressive as his look. "May I ask for what purpose?"
+
+Looking around, I saw the servant had disappeared. "Sir," said I,
+gathering up my courage, as I became convinced that in this case I had a
+thoroughly honest man to deal with, "you are going to give a fancy ball
+to-night. Such an event is a novelty in these parts, and arouses much
+curiosity. Some of the men about town have even been heard to threaten
+to leap the fences and steal a look at your company, whether you will or
+not. Mr. White wants to know whether you need any assistance in keeping
+the grounds clear of all but your legitimate guests; if so, he is ready
+to supply whatever force you may need."
+
+"Mr. White is very kind," returned Mr. Benson, in a voice which, despite
+his will-power, showed that his agitation had in some unaccountable way
+been increased by my communication. "I had not thought of any such
+contingency," he murmured, moving over to a window and looking out. "An
+invasion of rowdies would not be agreeable. They might even find their
+way into the house." He paused and cast a sudden look at me. "Who are
+you?" he abruptly asked.
+
+The question took me by surprise, but I answered bravely if not calmly:
+"I am a man who sometimes assists Mr. White in the performance of his
+duties, and in case you need it, will be the one to render you
+assistance to-night. A line to Mr. White, if you doubt me----"
+
+A wave of his meagre hand stopped me. "Do you think you could keep out
+of my house to-night, any one I did not wish to enter?" he asked.
+
+"I should at least like to try."
+
+"A ticket is given to every invited guest; but if men are going to climb
+the fences, tickets will amount to but little."
+
+"I will see that the fences are guarded," cried I, gratified at the
+prospect of being allowed upon the scene of action. "I can hinder any
+one from coming in that way, if----" Here I paused, conscious of
+something, I could hardly say what, that bade me be cautious and weigh
+my words well. "If you desire it and will give me the authority to act
+for you," I added in a somewhat more indifferent tone.
+
+"I do desire it," he replied shortly, moving over to the table and
+taking up a card. "Here is a ticket that will insure you entrance into
+the grounds; the rest you will manage without scandal. I do not want any
+disturbance, but if you see any one hanging about the house or peering
+into the windows or attempting to enter in any way except through the
+front door, you are to arrest them, no matter who they are. I have an
+especial reason for desiring my wishes attended to in this regard," he
+went on, not noticing the preoccupation that had seized me, "and will
+pay well if on the morrow I find that every thing has gone off according
+to my desires."
+
+"Money is a powerful incentive to duty," I rejoined, with marked
+emphasis, directing a sly glance at the mirror opposite, in whose depths
+I had but a moment before been startled by the sudden apparition of the
+pale and strongly agitated face of young Mr. Benson, who was peering
+from a door-way half hidden by a screen at our back. "I will be on hand
+to-night." And with what I meant to be a cynical look, I made my bow and
+disappeared from the room.
+
+As I expected, I was met at the front door by Mr. Hartley. "A word with
+you," said he. "Jonas tells me you are from the constable of the town.
+May I ask what has gone amiss that you come here to disturb my father on
+a day like this?"
+
+His tone was not unkind, his expression not without suavity. If I had
+not had imprinted on my memory the startling picture of his face as I
+had seen it an instant before in the mirror, I should have been tempted
+to believe in his goodness and integrity at this moment. As it was, I
+doubted him through and through, yet replied with frankness and showed
+him the ticket I had received from his father.
+
+"And you are going to make it your business to guard the grounds
+to-night?" he asked, gloomily glancing at the card in my hand as if he
+would like to annihilate it.
+
+"Yes," said I.
+
+He drew me into a small room half filled with plants.
+
+"Now," said he, "see here. Such a piece of interference is entirely
+uncalled for, and you have been alarming my father unnecessarily. There
+are no rowdies in this town, and if one or two of the villagers should
+get into the grounds, where is the harm? They cannot get into the house
+even if they wanted to, which they don't. I do not wish this, our first
+show of hospitality, to assume a hostile aspect, and whatever my
+father's expectations may be, I must request you to curtail your duties
+as much as possible and limit them to responding by your presence when
+called upon."
+
+"But your father has a right to expect the fullest obedience to his
+wishes," I protested. "He would not be satisfied if I should do no more
+than you request, and I cannot afford to disappoint him."
+
+He looked at me with a calculating eye, and I expected to see him put
+his hand in his pocket; but Hartley Benson played his cards better than
+that. "Very well," said he, "if you persist in regarding my father's
+wishes as paramount, I have nothing to say. Fulfil your duties as you
+conceive them, but don't look for my support if any foolish misadventure
+makes you ashamed of yourself." And drawing back, he motioned me out of
+the room.
+
+I felt I had received a check, and hurried out of the house. But
+scarcely had I entered upon the walk that led down to the gate, when I
+heard a light step behind me. Turning, I encountered the pretty daughter
+of the house, the youthful Miss Carrie.
+
+"Wait," she cried, allowing herself to display her emotion freely in
+face and bearing. "I have heard who you are from my brother," she
+continued, approaching me with a soft grace that at once put me upon my
+guard. "Now, tell me who are the rowdies that threaten to invade our
+grounds?"
+
+"I do not know their names, miss," I responded; "but they are a
+rough-looking set you would not like to see among your guests."
+
+"There are no very rough-looking men in our village," she declared; "you
+must be mistaken in regard to them. My father is nervous and easily
+alarmed. It was wrong to arouse his fears."
+
+I thought of that steady eye of his, of force sufficient to hold in awe
+a regiment of insurgents, and smiled at her opinion of my understanding.
+
+"Then you do not wish the grounds guarded," I said, in as indifferent a
+tone as I could assume.
+
+"I do not consider it necessary."
+
+"But I have already pledged myself to fulfil your father's commands."
+
+"I know," she said, drawing a step nearer, with a most enchanting smile.
+"And that was right under the circumstances; but we, his children, who
+may be presumed to know more of social matters than a recluse,--I,
+especially," she added, with a certain emphasis, "tell you it is not
+necessary. We fear the scandal it may cause; besides, some of the guests
+may choose to linger about the grounds under the trees, and would be
+rather startled at being arrested as intruders."
+
+"What, then, do you wish me to do?" I asked, leaning toward her, with an
+appearance of yielding.
+
+"To accept this money," she murmured, blushing, "and confine yourself
+to-night to remaining in the background unless called upon."
+
+This was a seconding of her brother's proposition with a vengeance.
+Taking the purse she handed me, I weighed it for a moment in my hand,
+and then slowly shook my head. "Impossible," I cried; "but"--and I fixed
+my eyes intently upon her countenance--"if there is any one in
+particular whom you desire me to ignore, I am ready to listen to a
+description of his person. It has always been my pleasure to accommodate
+myself as much as possible to the whims of the ladies."
+
+It was a bold stroke that might have cost me the game. Indeed, I half
+expected she would raise her voice and order some of the men about her
+to eject me from the grounds. But instead of that she remained for a
+moment blushing painfully, but surveying me with an unfaltering gaze
+that reminded me of her father's.
+
+"There _is_ a person," said she, in a low, restrained voice, "whom I am
+especially anxious should remain unmolested, whatever he may or may not
+be seen to do. He is a guest," she went on, a sudden pallor taking the
+place of her blushes, "and has a right to be here; but I doubt if he at
+once enters the house, and I even suspect he may choose to loiter awhile
+in the grounds before attempting to join the company. I ask you to allow
+him to do so."
+
+I bowed with an appearance of great respect. "Describe him," said I.
+
+For a moment she faltered, with a distressed look I found it difficult
+to understand. Then, with a sudden glance over my person, exclaimed:
+"Look in the glass when you get home and you will see the _fac-simile_
+of his form, though not of his face. He is fair, whereas you are dark."
+And with a haughty lift of her head calculated to rob me of any
+satisfaction I might have taken in her words, she stepped slowly back.
+
+I stopped her with a gesture. "Miss," said I, "take your purse before
+you go. Payment of any service I may render your father will come in
+time. This affair is between you and me, and I hope I am too much of a
+gentleman to accept money for accommodating a lady in so small a matter
+as this."
+
+But she shook her head. "Take it," said she, "and assure me that I may
+rely on you."
+
+"You may rely on me without the money," I replied, forcing the purse
+back into her hand.
+
+"Then I shall rest easy," she returned, and retreated with a lightsome
+air toward the house.
+
+The next moment I was on the highway with my thoughts. What did it all
+mean? Was it, then, a mere love affair across which I had foolishly
+stumbled, and was I busying myself unnecessarily about a rendezvous that
+might mean no more than an elopement from under a severe father's eye?
+Taking out the note which had led to all these efforts on my part, I
+read it for the third time.
+
+     "All goes well. The time has come; every thing is in train, and
+     success is certain. Be in the shrubbery at the northeast corner
+     of the grounds at 9 P.M. precisely; you will be given a mask
+     and such other means as are necessary to insure you the
+     accomplishment of the end you have in view. He cannot hold out
+     against a surprise. The word by which you will know your
+     friends is
+                                                   COUNTERFEIT."
+
+A love-letter of course; and I had been a fool to suppose it any thing
+else. The young people are to surprise the old gentleman in the presence
+of their friends. They have been secretly married perhaps, who knows,
+and take this method of obtaining a public reconciliation. But that word
+"_Counterfeit_," and the sinister tone of Hartley Benson as he said: "It
+shall not fail through lack of effort on my part!" Such a word and such
+a tone did not rightly tally with this theory. Few brothers take such
+interest in their sister's love affairs as to grow saturnine over them.
+There was, beneath all this, something which I had not yet penetrated.
+Meantime my duty led me to remain true to the one person of whose
+integrity of purpose I was most thoroughly convinced.
+
+Returning to the village, I hunted up Mr. White and acquainted him with
+what I had undertaken in his name; and then perceiving that the time was
+fast speeding by, strolled over to the tavern for my supper.
+
+The stranger was still there, walking up and down the sitting-room. He
+joined us at the table, but I observed he scarcely tasted his food, and
+both then and afterward manifested the same anxious suspense that had
+characterized his movements from the time of our first encounter.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+THE BLACK DOMINO.
+
+
+At half past eight I was at my post. The mysterious stranger, still
+under my direct surveillance, had already entered the grounds and taken
+his stand in the southwest corner of the shrubbery, thereby leaving me
+free to exercise my zeal in keeping the fences and gates free of
+intruders. At nine the guests were nearly if not all assembled; and
+promptly at the hour mentioned in the note so often referred to, I stole
+away from my post and hid myself amid the bushes that obscured the real
+place of rendezvous.
+
+It was a retired spot, eminently fitted for a secret meeting. The lamps,
+which had been hung in profusion through the grounds, had been
+studiously excluded from this quarter. Even the broad blaze of light
+that poured from the open doors and windows of the brilliantly
+illuminated mansion, sent no glimmer through the broad belt of
+evergreens that separated this retreat from the open lawn beyond. All
+was dark, all was mysterious, all was favorable to the daring plan I had
+undertaken. In silence I awaited the sound of approaching steps.
+
+My suspense was of short duration. In a few moments I heard a low rustle
+in the bushes near me, then a form appeared before my eyes, and a man's
+voice whispered:
+
+"Is there any one here?"
+
+My reply was to glide quietly into view.
+
+Instantly he spoke again, this time with more assurance.
+
+"Are you ready for a counterfeit?"
+
+"I am ready for any thing," I returned, in smothered tones, hoping by
+thus disguising my voice, to lure him into a revelation of the true
+purpose of this mysterious rendezvous.
+
+But instead of the explanations I expected, the person before me made a
+quick movement, and I felt a domino thrown over my shoulders.
+
+"Draw it about you well," he murmured; "there are lynx eyes in the crowd
+to-night." And while I mechanically obeyed, he bent down to my ear and
+earnestly continued: "Now listen, and be guided by my instructions. You
+will not be able to enter by the front door, as it is guarded, and you
+cannot pass without removing your mask. But the window on the left-hand
+balcony is at your service. It is open, and the man appointed to keep
+intruders away, has been bribed to let you pass. Once inside the house,
+join the company _sans céremonie_; and do not hesitate to converse with
+any one who addresses you by the countersign. Promptly at ten o'clock
+look around you for a domino in plain black. When you see him move,
+follow him, but with discretion, so that you may not seem to others to
+be following. Sooner or later he will pause and point to a closed door.
+Notice that door, and when your guide has disappeared, approach and
+enter it without fear or hesitation. You will find yourself in a small
+apartment connecting with the library.
+
+"There is but one thing more to say. If the wineglass you will observe
+on the library table smells of wine, you may know your father has had
+his nightly potion and gone to bed. But if it contains nothing more than
+a small white powder, you may be certain he has yet to return to the
+library, and that by waiting, you will have the long-wished-for
+opportunity of seeing him."
+
+And pausing for no reply, my strange companion suddenly thrust a mask
+into my hand and darted from the circle of trees that surrounded us.
+
+For a moment I stood dumbfounded at the position in which my
+recklessness had placed me. All the folly, the impertinence even, of the
+proceeding upon which I had entered, was revealed to me in its true
+colors, and I mentally inquired what could have induced me to thus
+hamper myself with the details of a mystery so entirely removed from the
+serious matter I had in charge. Resolved to abandon the affair, I made a
+hasty attempt to disengage myself from the domino in which I had been so
+unceremoniously enveloped. But invisible hands seemed to restrain me. A
+vivid remembrance of the tone in which these final instructions had been
+uttered returned to my mind, and while I recognized the voice as that of
+Hartley Benson, I also recognized the almost saturnine intensity of
+expression which had once before imbued his words with a significance
+both forcible and surprising. The secret, if a purely family one, was of
+no ordinary nature; and at the thought I felt my old interest revive.
+All the excuses with which I had hitherto silenced my conscience
+recurred to me with fresh force, and mechanically donning my mask, I
+prepared to follow out my guide's instructions to the last detail.
+
+The window to which I had been directed stood wide open. Through it came
+the murmur of music and the hum of gay voices. Visions of a motley crowd
+decked in grotesque costumes passed constantly before my eyes. Sight and
+sound combined to allure me. Hurrying to the window, I stepped
+carelessly in.
+
+A low guttural "Hugh!" at once greeted me. It was from a mask in full
+Indian costume, whom I saw leaning with a warrior's well-known dignity
+against the embrasure of the window by which I had entered. Giving him a
+scrutinizing glance, I came to the conclusion he was a young and not
+inelegant man; and impelled by a reasonable curiosity as to how I looked
+myself, I cast my eyes down upon my own person. I found my appearance
+sufficiently striking. The domino, in which I was wrapped was of a
+brilliant yellow hue, covered here and there with black figures
+representing all sorts of fantastic creatures, from hobgoblins of a
+terrible type, to merry Kate Greenaway silhouettes. "Humph!" thought I,
+"it seems I am not destined to glide unnoticed amid the crowd."
+
+The first person who approached me was a gay little shepherdess.
+
+"Ah, ha!" was the sportive exclamation with which she greeted me. "Here
+is one of my wandering sheep!" And with a laugh, she endeavored to hook
+me to her side by means of her silver crook.
+
+But this blithesome puppet possessed no interest for me. So with a growl
+and a bound I assured her I was nothing more than a wolf in sheep's
+clothing, and would eat her up if she did not run away; at which she
+gayly laughed and vanished, and for a moment I was left alone. But only
+for a moment. A masked lady, whom I had previously observed standing
+upright and solitary in a distant corner of the room, now approached,
+and taking me by the arm, led me eagerly to one side.
+
+"Oh, Joe!" she whispered, "is it you? How glad I am to have you here,
+and how I hope we are going to be happy at last!"
+
+Fearing to address a person seemingly so well acquainted with the young
+man whose place I had usurped, I merely pressed, with most perfidious
+duplicity, the little hand that was so confidingly clasped in mine. It
+seemed to satisfy her, for she launched at once into ardent speech.
+
+"Oh, Joe, I have been so anxious to have you with us once again! Hartley
+is a good brother, but he is not my old playmate. Then father will be so
+much happier if you only succeed in making him forget the past."
+
+Seeing by this that it was Miss Carrie Benson with whom I had to deal, I
+pressed the little hand again, and tenderly drew her closer to my side.
+That I felt all the time like a villain of the blackest dye, it is quite
+unnecessary for me to state.
+
+"Has Hartley told you just what you are to do?" was her next remark.
+"Father is very determined not to relent and has kept himself locked in
+his library all day, for fear you should force yourself upon his
+presence. I could never have gained his consent to give this ball if I
+had not first persuaded him it would serve as a means to keep you at a
+distance; that if you saw the house thronged with guests, natural
+modesty would restrain you from pushing yourself forward. I think he
+begins to distrust his own firmness. He fears he will melt at the sight
+of you. He has been failing this last year and--" A sudden choke stopped
+her voice.
+
+I was at once both touched and alarmed; touched at the grief which
+showed her motives to be pure and good, and alarmed at the position in
+which I had thrust myself to the apparent detriment of these same
+laudable motives. Moved by a desire to right matters, I ventured to
+speak:
+
+"And do you think," I whispered, in purposely smothered accents, "that
+if he sees me he will relent?"
+
+"I am sure of it. He yearns over you, Joe; and if he had not sworn never
+to speak to you again, he would have sent for you long ago. Hartley
+believes as well as I that the time for reconciliation has come."
+
+"And is Hartley," I ventured again, not without a secret fear of the
+consequences, "really anxious for reconciliation?"
+
+"Oh, Joe! can you doubt it? Has he not striven from the first to make
+father forget? Would he encourage you to come here to-night, furnish you
+with a disguise, and consent to act both as your champion and adviser,
+if he did not want to see you and father friends again? You don't
+understand Hartley; you never have. You would not have repelled his
+advances so long, if you had realized how truly he had forgiven every
+thing and forgotten it. Hartley has the pride of a person who has never
+done wrong himself. But even pride gives way before brotherly affection;
+and you have suffered so much and so long, poor Joe!"
+
+"So, so," thought I, "Joe is then the aggressor!" And for a moment, I
+longed to be the man I represented, if only to clasp this dear little
+sister in my arms and thank her for her goodness. "You are a darling," I
+faintly articulated, inwardly determined to rush forthwith into the
+garden, hand over my domino to the person for whom it was intended, and
+make my escape from a scene which I had so little right to enjoy. But
+at this instant an interruption occurred which robbed me of my
+companion, but kept me effectually in my place. A black domino swept by
+us, dragging Miss Benson from my side, while at the same time a harsh
+voice whispered in my ear:
+
+"To counterfeit wrong when one is right, necessarily opens one to
+misunderstanding."
+
+I started, recognizing in this mode of speech a _friend_, and therefore
+one from whom I could not escape without running the risk of awakening
+suspicion.
+
+"That is true," I returned, hoping by my abrupt replies to cut short
+this fresh colloquy and win a speedy release.
+
+But something in my answer roused the interest of the person at my side,
+and caused a display of emotion that led to quite an opposite result
+from what I desired.
+
+"You awaken a thousand conjectures in my mind by that reply," exclaimed
+my friend, edging me a little farther back from the crowd. "I have
+always had my doubts about--about--" he paused, hunting for the proper
+phrase--"about your having done what they said," he somewhat lamely
+concluded. "It was so unlike you. But now I begin to see the presence of
+a possibility that might perhaps explain much we never understood. Joe,
+my boy, you never said you were innocent, but----"
+
+"Who are you?" I asked boldly, peering into the twinkling eyes that
+shone upon me from his sedate mask. "In the discussion of such matters
+as these, it would be dreadful to make a mistake."
+
+"And don't you recognize your Uncle Joe?" he asked, with a certain
+plaintive reproach somewhat out of keeping with his costume of "potent,
+grave, and reverend signior." "I came over from Hollowell on purpose,
+because Carrie intimated that you were going to make one final effort to
+see your father. Edith is here too," he murmured, thrusting his face
+alarmingly near mine. "She would not stay away, though we were all
+afraid she might betray herself; her emotions are so quick. Poor child!
+_she_ never doubted you; and if my suspicions are correct----"
+
+"Edith?" I interrupted,--"Edith?" An Edith was the last person I
+desired to meet under these circumstances. "Where is she?" I tremulously
+inquired, starting aside in some dismay at the prospect of encountering
+this unknown quantity of love and devotion.
+
+But my companion, seizing me by the arm, drew me back. "She is not far
+away; of that you may be sure. But it will never do for you to try and
+hunt her up. You would not know her in her mask. Besides, if you remain
+still she will come to you."
+
+That was just what I feared, but upon looking round and seeing no
+suspicious-looking damsel anywhere near me, I concluded to waive my
+apprehensions on her account and proceed to the development of an idea
+that had been awakened by the old gentleman's words.
+
+"You are right," I acquiesced, edging, in my turn, toward the curtained
+recess of a window near by. "Let us wait here, and meantime you shall
+tell me what your suspicions are, for I feel the time has come for the
+truth to be made known, and who could better aid me in proclaiming it
+than you who have always stood my friend?"
+
+"That is true," he murmured, all eagerness at once. Then in a lower tone
+and with a significant gesture: "There _is_ something, then, which has
+never been made known? Edith was right when she said you did not steal
+the bonds out of your father's desk?"
+
+As he paused and looked me in the face, I was obliged to make some
+reply. I chose one of the non-committal sort.
+
+"Don't ask me!" I murmured, turning away with every appearance of
+profound agitation.
+
+He did not suspect the ruse.
+
+"But, my boy, I shall have to ask you; if I am to help you out of this
+scrape, I must know the truth. Yet if it is as I suspect, I can see why
+you should hesitate even now. You are a generous fellow, Joe, but even
+generosity can be carried past its proper limits."
+
+"Uncle," I exclaimed, leaning over him and whispering tremulously in his
+ear, "what are your suspicions? If I hear you give utterance to them,
+perhaps it will not be so hard for me to speak."
+
+He hesitated, looked all about us with a questioning glance, put his
+mouth to my ear, and whispered:
+
+"If I should use the name of Hartley in connection with what I have to
+say, would you be so very much surprised?"
+
+With a quick semblance of emotion, I drew back.
+
+"You think--" I tremulously commenced, and as suddenly broke off.
+
+"That it was he who did it, and that you, knowing how your father loved
+him and built his hopes upon him, bore the blame of it yourself."
+
+"Ha!" I exclaimed, with a deep breath as of relief. The suspicions of
+Uncle Joe were worth hearing.
+
+He seemed to be satisfied with the ejaculation, and with an increase of
+eagerness in his tone, went quickly on:
+
+"Am I not right, my boy? Is not this the secret of your whole conduct
+from that dreadful day to this?"
+
+"Don't ask me," I again pleaded, taking care, however, to draw a step
+nearer and exclaim in almost the same breath: "Why should you think it
+must necessarily have been one of us? What did _you_ know that you
+should be so positive it was either he or I who committed this
+dishonest action?"
+
+"What did I know? Why, what everybody else did. That your father,
+hearing a noise in his study one night, rose up quietly and slipped to
+the door of communication in time to hear a stealthy foot leave the room
+and proceed down the hall toward the apartment usually occupied by you
+and your brother; that, alarmed and filled with vague distrust, he at
+once lit the lamp, only to discover his desk had been forcibly broken
+into and a number of coupon bonds taken out; that, struck to the heart,
+he went immediately to the room where you and your brother lay, found
+him lying quiet, and to all appearance asleep, while you looked flushed
+and with difficulty met his eye; that without hesitation he thereupon
+accused you of theft, and began to search the apartment; that he found
+the bonds, as we both know, in a cupboard at the head of your bed, and
+when you were asked if you had put them there you remained silent, and
+neither then nor afterward made any denial of being the one who stole
+them."
+
+A mournful "Yes" was all the reply I ventured upon.
+
+"Now it never seemed to occur to your father to doubt your guilt. The
+open window and the burglar's jimmy found lying on the floor of the
+study, being only so many proofs, to his mind, of your deep calculation
+and great duplicity. But I could not help thinking, even on that
+horrible morning, that your face did not wear a look of guilt so much as
+it did that of firm and quiet resolution. But I was far from suspecting
+the truth, my boy, or I should never have allowed you to fall a victim
+to your father's curse, and be sent forth like a criminal from home and
+kindred. If only for Edith's sake I would have spoken--dear, trusting,
+faithful girl that she is!"
+
+"But--but--" I brokenly ejaculated, anxious to gain as much of the truth
+as was possible in the few minutes allotted me; "what has awakened your
+suspicions at this late day? Why should you doubt Hartley now, if you
+did not then?"
+
+"Well, I cannot really say. Perhaps Edith's persistent aversion to your
+brother has had something to do with it. Then he has grown cold and
+hard, while you have preserved your boyish freshness and affection. I--I
+don't like him, that is the truth; and with my dislike arose doubts,
+and--and--well, I cannot tell how it is, but I will believe you if you
+say he was the one to blame in this matter; and what is more, your
+father will believe you too; for he does not feel the same satisfaction
+in Hartley's irreproachable character that he used to, and--and--"
+
+A sudden movement in the crowd stopped him. A tall, graceful-looking
+woman clad entirely in white had just entered the room and seemed to be
+making her way toward us.
+
+"There is Edith!" he declared. "She is hunting for the yellow domino
+ornamented with black that she has been told conceals her lover. Shall I
+go and fetch her here, or will you wait until she spies you of her own
+accord?"
+
+"I will wait," I uneasily replied, edging nearer to the window with the
+determination of using it as a means of escape if my companion only gave
+me the chance. "See! she is in the hands of an old Jew, who seems to be
+greatly taken with the silver trimmings on her sleeves. Suppose you
+improve the opportunity to slip away," I laughingly suggested. "Lovers'
+meetings are not usually of an order to interest third parties."
+
+"Aren't they, you rogue!" retorted the old gentleman, giving me a jocose
+poke in the ribs. "Well, well, I suppose you are right. But you have not
+told me--"
+
+"I will tell you every thing in an hour," I hastily assured him. "I am
+going to meet my father in the library, and after he has heard the
+truth, you shall be admitted and all will be explained."
+
+"That is only fair," he replied. "Your father has the first rights, of
+course. But Joe, my boy, remember I am not over and above patient of
+disposition, and don't keep me waiting too long." And with an
+affectionate squeeze of my hand, he stepped out from the recess where we
+stood and made his way once more into the throng.
+
+No sooner had he left my side than I threw up the window. "Now is the
+time for the real Joe to appear upon the scene," was my mental
+decision. "I have done for him what he as a gentleman would probably
+never do for himself--pumped this old party and got every thing in trim
+for Hartley's discomfiture. But the courting business is another matter;
+also the interview with the outraged father in the library. That cannot
+be done by proxy; so here goes for a change of actors."
+
+And with reckless disregard of consequences, I prepared to jump from the
+window, when a sudden light flashed over the lawn beneath and I saw I
+was at least twelve feet from the ground.
+
+"Well," I exclaimed, drawing hastily back; "such a leap as that is too
+much to expect of any man!" And with the humiliating consciousness of
+being caught in a trap, I proceeded to close the window.
+
+"Joe!"
+
+'Twas a low whisper, but how thrilling! Turning, I greeted, with the
+show of fervor I considered necessary to the occasion, the white-veiled
+lady who had glided into my retreat.
+
+"Did you think I was never coming, Joe? Everybody who could get in my
+way certainly managed to do so. Then Hartley is so suspicious, and
+followed me with his eyes so persistently, I did not dare show my
+designs too plainly. It is only this minute he left my side. If you had
+been anywhere else I do not know as I should have succeeded even now in
+getting a word with you--oh!"
+
+This exclamation was called forth by a sudden movement that took place
+near us. The curtain was drawn back and a tall man dressed in a black
+domino glanced in, gave us a scrutinizing look, bowed, and dropped the
+curtain again.
+
+"Hartley," she whisperingly explained.
+
+I took her by the hand; there was no help for it; gesture and a
+lover-like demeanor must, in this case, supply the place of speech.
+
+"Hush!" she entreated. (Not that I had spoken.) "I dare not stay. When
+you have seen your father, perhaps I will have courage to join you; but
+now it would be better for me to go." And her eyes roamed toward the
+curtain, while the little hand I held in mine grew cold and slightly
+trembled.
+
+I pressed that little hand, but, as you may well believe, did not urge
+her to remain. Yet she did not seem in a hurry to depart, and I do not
+know what complications might have ensued, if another movement in the
+curtain had not reawakened her fears and caused her, notwithstanding her
+evident reluctance, to start quickly away.
+
+I did not linger long behind her. Scarcely had the curtain fallen from
+her hand than I stepped hastily forth. But alas for my hopes of escape!
+No sooner had I joined the group of merry-makers circling about the open
+door, than I felt a touch on my arm, and looking up, saw before me the
+Black Domino. The hour of ten had struck and my guide to the library was
+at hand. There was no alternative left me but to follow him.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+AN UNEXPECTED CALAMITY.
+
+
+Five minutes passed, during which I threaded more laughing groups and
+sauntered down more mysterious passage-ways than I would care to count.
+Still the mysterious Black Domino glided on before me, leading me from
+door to door till my patience was nearly exhausted, and I had well-nigh
+determined to give him the slip and make my way at once to the garden,
+and the no-doubt-by-this-time-highly-impatient Joe.
+
+But before I had the opportunity of carrying out this scheme, the
+ominous Black Domino paused, and carelessly pointing to a door at the
+termination of a narrow corridor, bowed, and hastily withdrew.
+
+"Now," said I, as soon as I found myself alone, "shall I proceed with
+this farce, or shall I end it? To go on means to interview Mr. Benson,
+acquaint him with what has come to my knowledge during the last half
+hour in which I have so successfully personified his son, and by these
+means perhaps awake him to the truth concerning this serious matter of
+Joseph's innocence or Hartley's guilt; while to stop now implies nothing
+more nor less than a full explanation with his son, a man of whose
+character, manners, and disposition I know little or nothing."
+
+Either alternative presented infinite difficulties, but of the two the
+former seemed to me more feasible and less embarrassing. At all events,
+in talking with Mr. Benson, I should not have the sensibilities of a
+lover to contend with, and however unfortunate in its results our
+interview might be, would be at the mercy of old blood instead of young,
+a point always to be considered in a case where one's presumption has
+been carried beyond the bounds of decorum.
+
+Unlocking the door, I stepped, as I had been told I should, into a small
+room adjoining the library. All around me were books. Even the door by
+which I had entered was laden with them, so that when it was closed, all
+vestige of the door itself disappeared. Across the opening into the
+library stood a screen, and it was not until I had pushed this somewhat
+aside that I was able to look into that room.
+
+My first glance assured me it was empty. Stark and bare of any occupant,
+the high-backed chairs loomed in the funereal gloom, while on the table,
+toward which I inadvertently glanced, stood a decanter with a solitary
+wineglass at its side. Instantly I remembered what had been told me
+concerning that glass, and stepping forward, I took it up and looked at
+it.
+
+Immediately I heard, or thought I heard, an exclamation uttered
+somewhere near me. But upon glancing up and down the room and perceiving
+no one, I concluded I was mistaken, and deliberately proceeded to
+examine the wineglass and assure myself that no wine had as yet been
+poured upon the powder I found in it. Satisfied at last that Mr. Benson
+had not yet taken his usual evening potion, I put the glass back and
+withdrew again to my retreat.
+
+I do not think another minute could have elapsed, before I heard a step
+in the room behind me. A door leading into an adjoining apartment had
+opened and Mr. Benson had come in. He passed immediately to the table,
+poured out the wine upon the powder, and drank it off without a moment's
+hesitation. I heard him sigh as he put the glass down.
+
+With a turn of my hand I slipped off both domino and mask, and prepared
+to announce my presence by tapping on the lintel of the door beside
+which I stood. But a sudden change in Mr. Benson's lofty figure startled
+me. He was swaying, and the arms which had fallen to his side were
+moving with a convulsive action that greatly alarmed me. But almost
+instantly he recovered himself, and paced with a steady step toward the
+hall door, which at that moment resounded with a short loud knock.
+
+"Who is there?" he asked, with every appearance of his usual sternness.
+
+"Hartley," was the reply.
+
+"Are you alone?" the old gentleman again queried, making a move as if to
+unlock the door.
+
+"Carrie is with me; no one else," came in smothered accents from
+without.
+
+Mr. Benson at once turned the key, but no sooner had he done so than he
+staggered back. For an instant or two of horror he stood oscillating
+from side to side, then his frame succumbed, and the terrified eyes of
+his children beheld his white head lying low, all movement and
+appearance of life gone from the form that but a moment before towered
+so proudly before them.
+
+With a shriek, the daughter flung herself down at his side, and even the
+cheek of Hartley Benson grew white as he leaned over his father's
+already inanimate body.
+
+"He is dead!" came in a wild cry from her lips. "See! he does not
+breathe. Oh! Hartley, what could have happened? Do you think that Joe--"
+
+"Hush!" he exclaimed, with a furtive glance around him. "He may be here;
+let me look. _If Joe has done this_--" He did not continue, but rose,
+and with a rapid tread began to cross the floor in my direction.
+
+In a flash I realized my situation. To be found by him now, without a
+domino, and in the position of listener, would be any thing but
+desirable. But I knew of no way of escape, or so for the moment it
+seemed. But great emergencies call forth sudden resources. In the quick
+look I inadvertently threw around me, I observed that the _portière_
+hanging between me and the library was gathered at one side in very
+heavy folds. If I could hide behind them perhaps I might elude the
+casual glance he would probably cast into my place of concealment. At
+all events it was worth trying, and at the thought I glided behind the
+curtain. I was not disappointed in my calculations. Arrived at the door,
+he looked in, perceived the domino lying in a heap on the floor, and
+immediately drew back with an exclamation of undoubted satisfaction.
+
+"He is gone," said he, crossing back to his sister's side. Then in a
+tone of mingled irony and bitterness, hard to describe, cried aloud with
+a glance toward the open door: "He has first killed his father and then
+fled. Fool that I was to think he could be trusted!"
+
+A horrified "Hartley!" burst from his sister's lips and a suppressed but
+equally vehement "Villain!" from mine; but neither of us had time for
+more, for almost at the same instant the room filled with frightened
+guests, among which I discerned the face and form of the old servant
+Jonas, and the flowing robes and the white garments of Uncle Joe and the
+graceful Edith.
+
+To describe the confusion that followed would be beyond my powers,
+especially as my attention was at the time not so much directed to the
+effect produced by this catastrophe, as to the man whom, from the moment
+Mr. Benson fell to the floor, I regarded as my lawful prey. He did not
+quake and lose his presence of mind in this terrible crisis. He was
+gifted with too much self-control to betray any unseemly agitation even
+over such a matter as his father's sudden death. Once only did I detect
+his lip tremble, and that was when an elderly gentleman (presumably a
+doctor) exclaimed after a careful examination of the fallen man:
+
+"This is no case of apoplexy, gentlemen!"
+
+Then indeed Mr. Hartley Benson shivered, and betrayed an emotion for
+which I considered myself as receiving a due explanation when, a few
+minutes later, I observed the same gentleman lay his hand upon the
+decanter and glass that stood on the table, and after raising them one
+after the other to his nose, slowly shake his head, and with a furtive
+look around him, lock them both in a small cupboard that opened over the
+mantel-piece.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+IN THE LIBRARY.
+
+
+Mr. Benson was really dead. The fact being announced, most of the guests
+withdrew. In ten minutes after he fell, the room was comparatively
+clear. Only the various members of the family, together with the
+gentleman I have already mentioned, remained behind; and, even of these,
+the two ladies were absent, they having followed the body into the
+adjoining room, where it had been reverently carried by the attached
+Jonas and another servant whose face I did not see.
+
+"A most unlooked-for catastrophe," burst from the lips of Uncle Joe.
+"Did you ever suspect he was a victim to heart disease?" he now asked,
+this time with looks directed toward the doctor.
+
+"No," came from that gentleman in a short, sharp way, which made Hartley
+Benson's pale face flush, though his eye did not waver from its steady
+solemn look toward the door through which his father's form had just
+been carried. "Mr. Benson was sound through and through a month ago. I
+know, because I examined him previous to his making his will. There was
+no heart disease then; that I am ready to take my oath upon."
+
+Hartley Benson's rigid look unfastened itself from the door and turned
+slowly toward the sombre face of the speaker, while Uncle Joe, with an
+increased expression of distress, looked slowly around as if he half
+hoped, half feared to behold his favorite nephew advance upon them from
+some shadowy corner.
+
+"My father consulted you, then?" said the former, in his slow, reserved
+way. "Did not that evince some suspicion of disease on his part?"
+
+"Possibly; a man in a despondent frame of mind will often imagine he has
+some deadly complaint or other. But he was quite sound; too sound, he
+seemed to think. Your father was not a happy man, Mr. Benson."
+
+There was meaning in the tone, and I was not surprised to observe
+Hartley draw back. "Why," said he, "do you think--"
+
+"I think nothing," broke in the doctor; "only"--and here he brought down
+his hand vigorously upon the table--"there has been prussic acid in the
+glass from which Mr. Benson drank this evening. The smell of bitter
+almonds is not to be mistaken."
+
+An interval of silent horror followed this announcement, then a vehement
+"Great Heaven!" broke from the lips of Uncle Joe, while Hartley Benson,
+growing more and more rigid in his bearing, fixed his eyes on the
+doctor's face and barely ejaculated:
+
+"Poison?"
+
+"I say this," continued the doctor, too intent upon his own theory to
+notice either the growth of a terrible fear on the face of Uncle Joe, or
+the equally remarkable expression of subdued expectation on that of the
+son, "because long experience has taught me the uselessness of trying to
+hide such a fact as suicide, and also because, being the coroner of the
+county, it is my duty to warn you that an investigation will have to
+take place which will require certain precautions on my part, such as
+the sealing up of his papers, etc."
+
+"That is true," came from the lips of both brother and son, over whom a
+visible change had passed at the word "suicide."
+
+"But I cannot think--" the former began in an agitated voice.
+
+"That my father would do such a deed," interposed the latter. "It does
+not seem probable, and yet he was a very wretched man, and grief will
+often drive the best of us to despair."
+
+Uncle Joe gave his nephew a strange look, but said no more. The doctor
+went quietly on:
+
+"I do not know what your father's troubles were, but that he committed
+suicide I greatly fear, unless it can be proved the acid was taken by
+mistake, a conclusion which does not seem probable, for from the smell
+of the decanter it is evident the acid was mixed with the wine, in which
+I now remember advising him to take the nightly powder I prescribed to
+him for quite a trivial disorder a few days ago. The only thing that
+puzzles me is, why, if he meditated death, he should have troubled
+himself to take this powder. And yet it is certain he did take it, for
+there is still some of the sediment of it remaining in the bottom of the
+glass."
+
+"He took the powder because it was already in the glass," broke in
+Hartley, in a heavy tone of voice. "My sister put it there before she
+went up stairs to dress. I think she was afraid he would forget it. My
+father was very careless about small matters."
+
+"He was careful enough not to poison any one else in the family," quoth
+the doctor. "There was scarcely a drop left in the decanter; he took the
+whole dose."
+
+"I beg your pardon, sirs, but is it suicide you are talking about?"
+cried a voice suddenly over their shoulders, making them all start.
+Jonas, the servant, had entered from the inner room, and unseen by all
+but myself, had been listening to the last few words as if his life
+depended upon what they had to say. "If it is, why I have a bit of an
+observation of my own to make that may help you to settle the matter."
+
+"You! What have you to say?" quoth the doctor, turning in surprise at
+the confident tone of voice in which the man spoke.
+
+"Not much, I am sure," cried Hartley, to whom the appearance at that
+moment of his father's old servant was evidently most unwelcome.
+
+"That is for you to judge, gentlemen. I can only tell you what I've
+seen, and that not ten minutes ago. Mr. Hartley, do you mind the man in
+the yellow dress that was flitting about the parlors all the evening?"
+
+"Good heavens!" burst in uncontrollable agitation from Uncle Joe; and he
+caught his nephew by the arm with a look that called back the old rigid
+expression to the latter's face.
+
+"Yes," was the quiet reply; "I remember seeing such a person."
+
+"Well, sirs, I don't know as you will think any thing of it, but a
+little while ago I was walking up and down the balcony outside there,
+when I happened to look into this room, and I saw that man in the yellow
+dress leaning over this very table, looking into the wineglass Miss
+Carrie had put there for master. He had it in his hand, and his head was
+down very close to it, but what he did to it or to the decanter either,
+I am sure, sirs, I don't know, for I was that frightened at seeing this
+spectre in the room master had kept locked all day, that I just slipped
+off the balcony and ran round the house to find Mr. Hartley. But you
+wasn't in the parlors, sir, nor Miss Carrie neither, and when I got to
+this room, there was master lying dead on the floor, and everybody
+crowding around him horror-struck."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated the doctor, looking at Uncle Joe, who had sunk in a
+heap into the arm-chair his nephew abstractedly pushed toward him.
+
+"You see, sirs," Jonas resumed, with great earnestness, "Mr. Benson, for
+some reason or other, had been very particular about keeping his own
+room to-day. The library door was locked as early as six this morning,
+and he would let no one in without first asking who was there. That's
+why I felt so dumbfoundered at seeing this yellow man in the room;
+besides----"
+
+But no sooner had the good man arrived at this point than he stopped,
+with a gasp, and after a quick look at Hartley, flushed, and drew back
+in a state of great agitation and embarrassment. Evidently a suspicion
+had just crossed the mind of this old and attached servant as to whom
+the Yellow Domino might be.
+
+"Well, well," cried the doctor, "go on; let us hear the rest."
+
+"I--I have nothing more to say," mumbled the man, while Hartley, with an
+equal display of embarrassment, motioned the discomfited servant to
+withdraw, and turned as if to hide his face over some papers on the
+table.
+
+"I think the man in the yellow domino had better be found," quoth the
+physician, dryly, glancing from Hartley to the departing form of the
+servant, with a sharp look. "At all events it would be well enough for
+us to know who he is."
+
+"I don't see--" began Uncle Joe, but stopped as he perceived the face of
+Hartley Benson slowly composing itself. Evidently he was as much
+interested as myself in observing what this not-easily-to-be-understood
+man would say and do in this sudden crisis.
+
+We were not long left in doubt.
+
+"Doctor," he began, in a slow, hesitating tone, well calculated to
+produce the effect he desired, "we unfortunately already know who wore a
+yellow domino this evening. My brother Joe----"
+
+"Hush!" implored his uncle, laying a hand on his nephew's arm with a
+quick look of distress not lost on the doctor.
+
+"Brother?" repeated the latter. "Pardon me, I did not know----Ah, but I
+do remember now to have heard that Mr. Benson had another son."
+
+The face of Hartley grew graver and graver. "My brother has been
+alienated from my father for some time, so you have never seen him here.
+But to-night he hoped, or made me think he hoped, to effect a
+reconciliation; so I managed, with my sister, to provide him with the
+domino necessary to insure him an entrance here. Indeed, I did more; I
+showed him a private door by which he could find his way into the
+library, never suspecting any harm could come of son and father meeting
+even in this surreptitious way. I--I loved my brother, and
+notwithstanding the past, had confidence in him. Nor can I think now he
+had any thing to do with the----" Here the voice of this inimitable
+actor broke in well-simulated distress. He sank on a chair and put his
+hands before his face.
+
+The doctor had no reason to doubt this man. He therefore surveyed him
+with a look of grave regard.
+
+"Mr. Benson," said he, "you have my profoundest sympathy. A tragedy like
+this in a family of such eminent respectability, is enough to overwhelm
+the stoutest heart. If your brother is here----"
+
+"Dr. Travis," broke in the other, rising and grasping the physician's
+hand with an appearance of manly impulse impressive in one usually so
+stern and self contained, "you are, or were, my father's friend; can you
+or will you be ours? Dreadful as it is to think, my father undoubtedly
+committed suicide. He had a great dread of this day. It is the
+anniversary of an occurrence harrowing for him to remember. My
+brother--you see I shall have to break the secrecy of years--was
+detected by him in the act of robbing his desk three years ago
+to-night, and upon each and every recurrence of the day, has returned to
+his father's house to beg for the forgiveness and restoration to favor
+which he lost by that deed of crime. Hitherto my father has been able to
+escape his importunities, by absence or the address of his servants, but
+to-day he seemed to have a premonition that his children were in league
+against him, notwithstanding Carrie's ruse of the ball, and the
+knowledge may have worked upon him to that extent that he preferred
+death to a sight of the son that had ruined his life and made him the
+hermit you have seen."
+
+The doctor fell into the trap laid for him with such diabolical art.
+
+"Perhaps; but if that is so, why is your brother not here? Only a few
+minutes could have elapsed between the time that Jonas saw him leaning
+over the table with the glass in his hand and the moment when you and
+your sister entered this room in face of your father's falling form. He
+must have been present, therefore, when your father came from his
+bedroom, if not when he drank the fatal glass; why, then, did he take
+such pains to escape, if actuated by no keener emotion than horror at a
+father's suicide?"
+
+"I do not know, I cannot say; but that he himself put the poison in the
+decanter I will not believe. A thief is not necessarily a parricide.
+Even if he were in great straits and needed the money my father's will
+undoubtedly leaves him, he would think twice before he ran the risk of
+making Carrie and myself his natural enemies. No, no, if my father has
+died from poison, it was through a mistake, or by the administration of
+his own hand, never by that of Joe Benson's."
+
+"Ah, and has anybody here present dared to charge _him_ with such a
+deed!"
+
+With a start both gentlemen turned; an accusing spirit stood before
+them.
+
+"Edith!" broke from Hartley's lips. "This is no place for you! Go back!
+go back!"
+
+"My place is where the name of Joseph Benson is uttered," she proudly
+answered, "whether the words be for good or evil. I am his betrothed
+wife as you know, and again I ask, who has dared to utter an
+insinuation, however light, that he, the tender son and generous
+brother, has had a criminal hand in his father's awful death?"
+
+"No one! no one!" essayed Hartley, taking her hand with a weak attempt
+at soothing. "I was but saying----"
+
+But she turned from him with a gesture of repugnance, and taking a step
+toward the doctor, looked him entreatingly in the face. "You have not
+been expressing doubts of Mr. Benson's youngest son, because he happened
+to wear a disguise and be present when Mr. Benson fell? You do not know
+Joe, sir; nobody in this town knows him. His own father was ignorant of
+his worth; but we know him, Uncle Joe and I, and we know he could never
+do a deed that could stamp him either as a dishonorable or a criminal
+man. If Mr. Benson has died from poison, I should as soon think _this_
+man had a hand in it as his poor exiled brother." And in a burst of
+uncontrollable wrath and indignation, she pointed, with a sudden
+gesture, at the startled Hartley.
+
+But that worthy, though evidently taken aback, was not to be caught so
+easily.
+
+"Edith, you forget yourself," said he, with studied self-possession.
+"The horrors of this dreadful occurrence have upset you. I do not wonder
+at it myself, but the doctor will not so readily understand you. Miss
+Underhill has been strangely attached to my brother," he went on,
+turning to the latter with an apologetic smile that made Uncle Joe grind
+his teeth in silent wrath. "They were engaged previous to the affair of
+which I have just made mention, and naturally she could never bring
+herself to consider him guilty of a crime which, once acknowledged, must
+necessarily act as a bar of separation between them. She calls him a
+martyr, a victim, an exile, any thing but what he actually is. Indeed,
+she seems really to believe in his innocence, while we,"--he paused and
+looked up at his sister Carrie who had entered the room,--"while we," he
+went on slowly and sadly, taking this new ally softly by the hand, "know
+only too well that the unhappy boy was in every respect guilty of the
+crime for which his father exiled him. But that is neither here nor
+there; the dreadful subject before us is not what he once did, but
+whether his being here to-night has had any thing to do with my
+father's death. I cannot think it has, and yet----"
+
+The subtle inflection of his voice spoke volumes. This great actor had
+evidently been driven to bay.
+
+"O Hartley!" came in a terrified cry from his sister; "what is this? You
+cannot think, they cannot think, Joe could do any thing so dreadful as
+that?" while over the face of Edith passed a look of despair, as she saw
+the countenance of the doctor slowly fill with the gloom of suspicion,
+and even the faithful Uncle Joe turn away as if he too had been touched
+by the blight of a secret doubt.
+
+"Ah, but I wish Joe were here himself!" she cried with startling
+emphasis. "He should speak, even if it brought ruin amongst us."
+
+But the doctor was a man not to be moved by so simple a thing as a
+woman's unreasoning emotion.
+
+"Yes, the Yellow Domino would be very welcome just now," he allowed,
+with grim decision.
+
+"That he is not here is the most damning fact of all," Hartley slowly
+observed. "He fled when he saw our father fall."
+
+"But he shall come back," Edith vehemently declared.
+
+"If he does, I shall need no further proof of his innocence," said Uncle
+Joe.
+
+"Nor I, so that he comes to-night," returned the doctor.
+
+"Then be satisfied, for here he is," I exclaimed from my retreat; and
+drawing the mask over my face, and hastily enveloping myself in the
+yellow domino, I stepped forth into full view of the crowd around the
+table.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+THE YELLOW DOMINO.
+
+
+A mingled sound of shrieks and exclamations greeted me.
+
+"Joe!" cried Edith, bounding forward.
+
+But I waved her back, and turned with a severe gesture toward Hartley
+Benson.
+
+"What are your reasons," I demanded, "for thinking the poisoning that
+has taken place here was the work of the Yellow Domino?"
+
+"Do you ask me?" he retorted, after a moment's pause, during which my
+voice echoed through the room, waking strange gleams of doubt on the
+faces of more than one person present. "You wish to dare me, then?" he
+hissed, coming a step nearer.
+
+"I wish to know what the Yellow Domino has done that you or any one
+should consider him as responsible for the tragedy that has here taken
+place," I steadily replied.
+
+"Are you not my brother, then?" he cried, in mingled rage and anxiety.
+"Was it not you I met under the evergreens and supplied with a yellow
+domino, in order to give you the opportunity of seeing our father
+to-night and effecting the reconciliation which you had so long desired?
+Are you not he who afterward followed me to this room and hid himself in
+the closet from which you have just come, all for the purpose, as you
+said, of throwing yourself at your father's feet and begging pardon for
+a past of which you had long ago repented? Or are you some reckless
+buffoon who has presumed to step into the domino my brother left behind
+him, and careless of the terrible trouble that has overwhelmed this
+family, come here with your criminal jests to puzzle and alarm us?"
+
+"I am the man to whom you gave the domino, if that is what you wish to
+know, Hartley Benson; and I am the man whom you led into the ambush of
+this closet, for such reasons as your own conscience must inform you. If
+the Yellow Domino put poison into Mr. Benson's wine, then upon me must
+lie the burden of the consequences, for I alone have worn the disguise
+of this mask from the moment we met under the evergreens till now, as I
+think may be proved by this gentleman you call Uncle Joe, and this lady
+you address as Edith."
+
+This mode of attack had the desired effect.
+
+"Who are you?" burst from Hartley's lips, now blanched to the color of
+clay. "Unmask him, doctor; let us see the man who dares to play us
+tricks on such a night as this!"
+
+"Wait!" cried I, motioning back not only the doctor, but Uncle Joe and
+the ladies--the whole group having started forward at Hartley's words.
+"Let us first make sure I am the Yellow Domino who has been paraded
+through the parlors this evening. Miss Benson, will you pardon me if I
+presume to ask you what were the words of salutation with which you
+greeted me to-night?"
+
+"Oh!" she cried, in a tremble of doubt and dismay, "I do not know as I
+can remember; something about being glad to see you, I believe, and my
+hope that your plans for the evening might succeed."
+
+"To which," said I, "I made no audible reply, but pressed your hand in
+mine, with the certainty you were a _friend_ though you had not used the
+word 'Counterfeit.'"
+
+"Yes, yes," she returned, blushing and wildly disturbed, as she had
+reason to be.
+
+"And you, Uncle Joe," I went on; "what were your words? How did you
+greet the man you had been told was your erring nephew?"
+
+"I said: 'To counterfeit wrong when one is right, necessarily opens one
+to a misunderstanding.'"
+
+"To which ambiguous phrase I answered, as you will remember, with a
+simple, 'That is true,' a reply by the way that seemed to arouse your
+curiosity and lead to strange revelations."
+
+"God defend us!" cried Uncle Joe.
+
+The exclamation was enough. I turned to the trembling Edith.
+
+"I shall not attempt," said I, "to repeat or ask you to repeat any
+conversation which may have passed between us, for you will remember it
+was too quickly interrupted by Mr. Benson for us to succeed in uttering
+more than a dozen or so words. However, you will do me the kindness to
+acknowledge your belief that I am the man who stood with you behind the
+parlor curtains an hour ago."
+
+"I will," she replied, with a haughty lift of her head that spoke more
+loudly than her blushes.
+
+"It only remains, then, for Mr. Benson to assure himself I am the person
+who followed him to the closet. I know of no better way of his doing
+this than to ask him if he remembers the injunctions which he was
+pleased to give me, when he bestowed upon me this domino."
+
+"No,--that is,--whatever they were, they were given to the man I
+supposed to be my brother."
+
+"Ha, then; it was to your _brother_," I rejoined, "you gave that hint
+about the glass I would find on the library table; saying that if it did
+not smell of wine I would know your father had not had his nightly
+potion and would yet come to the library to drink it;--an intimation, as
+all will acknowledge, which could have but the one result of leading me
+to go to the table and take up the glass and look into it in the
+suspicious manner which has been reported to you."
+
+He was caught in his own toils and saw it. Muttering a deep curse, he
+drew back, while a startled "Humph!" broke from the doctor, followed by
+a quick, "Is that true? Did you tell him that, Mr. Benson?"
+
+For reply the now thoroughly alarmed villain leaped at my throat. "Off
+with that toggery! Let us see your face! I shall and will know who you
+are."
+
+But I resisted for another moment while I added: "It is, then,
+established to your satisfaction that I am really the man who has worn
+the yellow domino this evening. Very well, now look at me, one and all,
+and say if you think I am likely to be a person to destroy Mr. Benson."
+And with a quick gesture I threw aside my mask, and yielded the fatal
+yellow domino to the impatient hands of Mr. Hartley Benson.
+
+The result was a cry of astonishment from those to whom the face thus
+revealed was a strange one, and a curse deep and loud from him to whom
+the shock of that moment's surprise must have been nearly overwhelming.
+
+"Villain!" he shrieked, losing his self-possession in a sudden burst of
+fury; "spy! informer! I understand it all now. You have been set over
+me by my brother. Instructed by him, you have dared to enter this house,
+worm yourself into its secrets, and by a deviltry only equalled by your
+presumption, taken advantage of your position to poison my father and
+fling the dreadful consequences of your crime in the faces of his
+mourning family. It was a plot well laid; but it is foiled, sir, foiled,
+as you will see when I have you committed to prison to-morrow."
+
+"Mr. Benson," I returned, shaking him loose as I would a feather, "this
+is all very well; but in your haste and surprise you have made a slight
+mistake. You call me a spy; so I am; but a spy backed by the United
+States Government is not a man to be put lightly into prison. I am a
+detective, sir, connected at present with the Secret Service at
+Washington. My business is to ferret out crime and recognize a rogue
+under any disguise and in the exercise of any vile or deceptive
+practices." And I looked him steadily in the face.
+
+Then indeed his cheek turned livid, and the eye which had hitherto
+preserved its steadiness sought the floor.
+
+"A detective!" murmured Miss Carrie, shrinking back from the cringing
+form of the brother whom, but a few hours before, she had deemed every
+thing that was noble and kind.
+
+"A detective!" echoed Edith, brightening like a rose in the sunshine.
+
+"In government employ!" repeated Uncle Joe, honoring me with a stare
+that was almost comic in its mingled awe and surprise.
+
+"Yes," I rejoined; "if any one doubts me, I have papers with me to
+establish my identity. By what means I find myself in this place, a
+witness of Mr. Benson's death and the repository of certain family
+secrets, it is not necessary for me to inform you. It is enough that I
+am here, have been here for a good hour, posted behind that curtain;
+that I heard Jonas' exclamation as he withdrew from the balcony, saw Mr.
+Benson come in from his bedroom, drink his glass of wine, and afterward
+fall at the feet of his son and daughter; and that having been here, and
+the witness of all this, I can swear that if Mr. Benson drank poison
+from yonder decanter, he drank poison that was put into it before either
+he or the Yellow Domino entered this room. Who put it there, it is for
+you to determine; my duty is done for to-night." And with a bow I
+withdrew from the group about me and crossed to the door.
+
+But Miss Carrie's voice, rising in mingled shame and appeal, stopped me.
+"Don't go," said she; "not at least until you tell me where my brother
+Joseph is. Is he in this town, or has he planned this deception from a
+distance? I--I am an orphan, sir, who at one blow has lost not only a
+dearly beloved father but, as I fear, a brother too, in whom, up to this
+hour, I have had every confidence. Tell me, then, if any support is left
+for a most unhappy girl, or whether I must give up all hopes of even my
+brother Joe's sympathy and protection."
+
+"Your brother Joe," I replied, "has had nothing to do with my appearance
+here. He and I are perfect strangers; but if he is a tall,
+broad-shouldered, young man, shaped something like myself, but with a
+ruddy cheek and light curling hair, I can tell you I saw such a person
+enter the shrubbery at the southwest corner of the garden an hour or so
+ago."
+
+"No, he is here!" came in startling accents over my shoulders. And with
+a quick leap Joe Benson sprang by me and stood handsome, tall, and
+commanding in the centre of the room. "Hartley! Carrie! Edith! what is
+this I hear? My father stricken down, my father dying or dead, and I
+left to wander up and down through the shrubbery, while you knelt at his
+bedside and received his parting blessing? Is this the recompense you
+promised me, Hartley? this your sisterly devotion, Carrie? this your
+love and attention to my interests, Edith?"
+
+"O Joe, dear Joe, do not blame us!" Carrie made haste to reply. "We
+thought you were here. A man _was_ here, that man behind you, simulating
+you in every regard, and to him we gave the domino, and from him we have
+learned----"
+
+"What?" sprang in thundering tones from the young giant's throat as he
+wheeled on his heel and confronted me.
+
+"That your brother Hartley is a villain," I declared, looking him
+steadily in the eye.
+
+"God!" was his only exclamation as he turned slowly back and glanced
+toward his trembling brother.
+
+"Sir," said I, taking a step toward Uncle Joe, who, between his
+eagerness to embrace the new-comer and his dread of the consequences of
+this unexpected meeting, stood oscillating from one side to the other in
+a manner ridiculous enough to see, "what do you think of the propriety
+of uttering aloud and here, the suspicions which you were good enough to
+whisper into my ears an hour ago? Do you see any reason for altering
+your opinion as to which of the two sons of Mr. Benson invaded his desk
+and appropriated the bonds afterward found in their common apartment,
+when you survey the downfallen crest of the one and compare it with the
+unfaltering look of the other?"
+
+"No," he returned, roused into sudden energy by the start given by
+Hartley. And advancing between the brothers, he looked first at one and
+then at the other with a long, solemn gaze that called out the color on
+Hartley's pale cheek and made the crest of Joe rise still higher in
+manly pride and assertion. "Joe," said he, "for three years now your
+life has lain under a shadow. Accused by your father of a dreadful
+crime, you have resolutely refused to exonerate yourself,
+notwithstanding the fact that a dear young girl waited patiently for the
+establishment of your innocence in order to marry you. To your family
+this silence meant guilt, but to me and mine it has told only a tale of
+self-renunciation and devotion. Joe, was I right in this? was Edith
+right? The father you so loved, and feared to grieve, is dead. Speak,
+then: Did you or did you not take the bonds that were found in the
+cupboard at the head of your bed three years ago to-night? The future
+welfare, not only of this faithful child but of the helpless sister,
+who, despite her belief in your guilt, has clung to you with unwavering
+devotion, depends upon your reply."
+
+"Let my brother speak," was the young man's answer, given in a steady
+and nobly restrained tone.
+
+"Your brother will not speak," his uncle returned. "Don't you see you
+must answer for yourself? Say, then: Are you the guilty man your father
+thought you, or are you not? Let us hear, Joe."
+
+"I am not!" avowed the young man, bowing his head in a sort of noble
+shame that must have sent a pang of anguish through the heart of his
+brother.
+
+"Oh, I knew it, I knew it!" came from Edith's lips in a joyous cry, as
+she bounded to his side and seized him by one hand, just as his sister
+grasped the other in a burst of shame and contrition that showed how far
+she was removed from any participation in the evil machinations of her
+elder brother.
+
+The sight seemed to goad Hartley Benson to madness. Looking from one to
+the other, he uttered a cry that yet rings in my memory: "Carrie! Edith!
+do you both forsake me, and all because of a word which any villain
+might have uttered? Is this the truth and constancy of women? Is this
+what I had a right to expect from a sister, a--a friend? Carrie, you at
+least always gave me your trust,--will you take it away because a
+juggling spy and a recreant brother have combined to destroy me?"
+
+But beyond a wistful look and a solemn shake of the head, Carrie made no
+response, while Edith, with her eyes fixed on the agitated countenance
+of her lover, did not even seem to hear the words of pleading that were
+addressed to her.
+
+The shock of the disappointment was too much for Hartley Benson.
+Clenching his hand upon his breast, he gave one groan of anguish and
+despair and sank into a chair, inert and helpless. But before we could
+any of us take a step toward him, before the eyes of the doctor and mine
+could meet in mutual understanding, he had bounded again to his feet,
+and in a burst of desperation seized the chair in which he sat, and held
+it high above his head.
+
+"Fools! dotards!" he exclaimed, his eyes rolling in frenzy from face to
+face, but lingering longest on mine, as if there he read the true secret
+of his overthrow, as well as the promise of his future doom. "You think
+it is all over with me; that there is nothing left for you to do but to
+stand still and watch how I take my defeat. But I am a man who never
+acknowledges defeat. There is still a word I have to say that will make
+things a little more even between us. Listen for it, you. It will not be
+long in coming, and when you hear it, let my brother declare how much
+enjoyment he will ever get out of his victory."
+
+And whirling the chair about his head, he plunged through our midst
+into the hall without.
+
+For an instant we stood stupefied, then Carrie Benson's voice rose in
+one long, thrilling cry, and with a bound she rushed toward the door. I
+put out my hand to stop her, but it was not necessary. Before she could
+cross the threshold the sudden, sharp detonation of a pistol-shot was
+heard in the hall, and we knew that the last dreadful word of that
+night's tragedy had been spoken.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The true secret of Hartley Benson's action in this matter was never
+discovered. That he planned his father's violent death, no one who was
+present at the above interview ever doubted. That he went further than
+that, and laid his plans in such a manner that the blame, if blame
+ensued, should fall upon his innocent brother, was equally plain,
+especially after the acknowledgment we received from Jonas, that he went
+out on the balcony and looked in the window at the special instigation
+of his young master. But why this arch villain, either at his own risk
+or at that of the man he hated, felt himself driven to such a revolting
+crime, will never be known; unless, indeed, the solution be found in his
+undoubted passion for the beautiful Edith, and in the accumulated
+pressure of certain secret debts for whose liquidation he dared not
+apply to his father.
+
+I never revealed to this family the true nature of the motives which
+actuated me in my performance of the part I played that fatal night. It
+was supposed by Miss Carrie and the rest, that I was but obeying
+instructions given me by Mr. Benson; and I never undeceived them. I was
+too much ashamed of the curiosity which was the mainspring of my action
+to publish each and every particular of my conduct abroad; though I
+could not but congratulate myself upon its results when, some time
+afterward, I read of the marriage of Joe and Edith.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The counterfeiters were discovered and taken, but not by me.
+
+                     FINIS.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's notes:
+
+Punctuation has been standardised.
+
+Page 92 replaced "repositor" with "repository" (a witness of Mr.
+Benson's death and the repository of certain family secrets)
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of X Y Z, by Anna Katharine Green
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of X Y Z, 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: X Y Z
+       A Detective Story
+
+Author: Anna Katharine Green
+
+Release Date: September 10, 2010 [EBook #33695]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X Y Z ***
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+
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+</pre>
+
+
+
+<p>
+<a href="#X_Y_Z"><b>X. Y. Z.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#I"><b>I.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#II"><b>II.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#III"><b>III.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#IV"><b>IV.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#V"><b>V.</b></a><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<h1>X Y Z</h1>
+
+<h3>A DETECTIVE STORY</h3>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>ANNA KATHARINE GREEN</h2>
+
+<div class='center'>AUTHOR OF "THE LEAVENWORTH CASE," "A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE," ETC.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+NEW YORK<br />
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS<br />
+
+27 &amp; 29 WEST 23D STREET<br />
+
+1883</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>COPYRIGHT BY<br />
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS<br />
+1883<br /></div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="X_Y_Z" id="X_Y_Z"></a>X. Y. Z.</h2>
+
+<div class='center'>A STORY TOLD BY A DETECTIVE.</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE MYSTERIOUS RENDEZVOUS.</h4>
+
+<p>Sometimes in the course of his experience,
+a detective, while engaged in
+ferreting out the mystery of one crime, runs
+inadvertently upon the clue to another. But
+rarely has this been done in a manner more
+unexpected or with attendant circumstances of
+greater interest than in the instance I am now
+about to relate.</p>
+
+<p>For some time the penetration of certain
+Washington officials had been baffled by the
+clever devices of a gang of counterfeiters who
+had inundated the western portion of Massachusetts
+with spurious Treasury notes. Some
+of the best talent of the Secret Service had been
+expended upon the matter, but with no favorable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+result, when, one day, notice was received
+at Washington that a number of suspicious-looking
+letters, addressed to the simple initials,
+X. Y. Z., Brandon, Mass., were being daily
+forwarded through the mails of that region;
+and it being deemed possible that a clue had at
+last been offered to the mystery in hand, I was
+sent northward to investigate.</p>
+
+<p>It was in the middle of June, 1881, and the
+weather was simply delightful. As I stepped
+from the cars at Brandon and looked up the
+long straight street with its double row of
+maple trees sparkling fresh and beautiful in the
+noonday sun, I thought I had never seen a
+prettier village or entered upon any enterprise
+with a lighter or more hopeful heart.</p>
+
+<p>Intent on my task, I went straight to the
+post-office, and after coming to an understanding
+with the postmaster, proceeded at once to
+look over the mail addressed to the mysterious
+X. Y. Z.</p>
+
+<p>I found it to consist entirely of letters. They
+were about a dozen in number, and were, with
+one exception, similar in general appearance
+and manner of direction, though inscribed in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+widely different handwritings, and posted from
+various New England towns. The exception
+to which I allude had these few extra words
+written in the lower left-hand corner of the
+envelope: "<i>To be kept till called for.</i>" As I
+bundled up the letters preparatory to thrusting
+them back into the box, I noticed that the latter
+was the only one in a blue envelope, all the
+others being in the various shades of cream-color
+and buff.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is in the habit of calling for these
+letters?" I asked of the postmaster.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said he, "I don't know his name.
+The fact is nobody knows him around here.
+He usually drives up in a buggy about nightfall,
+calls for letters addressed to X. Y. Z., and
+having got them, whips up his horse and is off
+again before one can say a word."</p>
+
+<p>"Describe him," said I.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he is very lean and very lank. In
+appearance he is both green and awkward. His
+complexion is pale, almost sickly. Were it
+not for his eye, which is keen and twinkling, I
+should call him an extremely inoffensive-looking
+person."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The type was not new to me. "I should like
+to see him," said I.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have to wait till nightfall, then,"
+returned the postmaster. "He never comes
+till about dusk. Drop in here, say at seven
+o'clock, and I will see that you have the opportunity
+of handing him his mail."</p>
+
+<p>I nodded acquiescence to this and sauntered
+out of the enclosure devoted to the uses of the
+post-office. As I did so I ran against a young
+man who was hurriedly approaching from the
+other end of the store.</p>
+
+<p>"Your pardon," he cried; and I turned to
+look at him, so gentlemanly was his tone, and
+so easy the bow with which he accompanied
+this simple apology.</p>
+
+<p>He was standing before the window of the
+post-office, waiting for his mail; a good-looking,
+well-made young man, of a fine countenance,
+but with a restless eye, whose alert yet
+anxious expression I could not but note even in
+the casual glance I gave him. There appeared
+to be some difficulty in procuring him his
+mail, and each minute he was kept waiting
+seemed to increase his impatience almost beyond<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+the bounds of endurance. I saw him lean
+forward and gasp out a hurried word to the
+postmaster, and was idly wondering over his
+anxiety and its probable causes, when I heard
+a hasty exclamation near me, and looking
+around, saw the postmaster himself beckoning
+to me from the door of the enclosure. I immediately
+hastened forward.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what it means," he whispered;
+"but here is a young man, different from any
+who have been here before, asking for a letter
+addressed to X. Y. Z."</p>
+
+<p>"A letter?" I repeated.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a letter."</p>
+
+<p>"Give him the whole batch and see what he
+does," I returned, drawing back where I could
+myself watch the result of my instructions. The
+postmaster did as I requested. In another
+moment I saw the young man start with amazement
+as a dozen letters were put in his hand.
+"These are not all for me!" he cried, but even
+as he made the exclamation, drew to one side,
+and with a look of mingled perplexity and
+concern, began opening them one after another,
+his expression deepening to amazement as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+glanced at their contents. The one in the blue
+envelope, however, seemed to awaken quite
+different emotions. With an unconscious look
+of relief, he hastily read the short letter it contained,
+then with a quick gesture, folded it up
+and thrust it back into the envelope he held,
+together with the other letters, in his left hand.</p>
+
+<p>"There must be another X. Y. Z.," said he,
+approaching the window of the post-office and
+handing back all the letters he had received, with
+the exception of the one in the blue envelope,
+which with a quick movement he had separated
+from the rest and thrust into his coat-pocket.
+"I can lay claim to none of these." And with
+a repetition of his easy bow he turned away and
+hurriedly quitted the store, followed by the eyes
+of clerks and customers, to whom he was evidently
+as much of a stranger as he was to me.
+Without hesitation I went to the door and looked
+after him. He was just crossing the street to
+the tavern on the other side of the way. I saw
+him enter, felt that he was safe to remain there
+for a few minutes, and conscious of the great
+opportunity awaiting me, hastened back to the
+postmaster.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well," cried I, in secret exultation, "our
+plan has worked admirably. Let me see the
+letters. As they have been opened, and through
+no fault of ours, a peep at them now in the cause
+of justice will harm none but the guilty."</p>
+
+<p>The postmaster demurred, but I soon overcame
+his scruples; and taking down the letters
+once more, hastily investigated their contents.
+I own that I was considerably disappointed at
+the result. In fact, I found nothing that pointed
+toward the counterfeiters; only in each letter
+a written address, together with fifty cents'
+worth of stamps.</p>
+
+<p>"Some common fraud," I exclaimed. "One
+of those cheap affairs where, for fifty cents enclosed,
+a piece of information calculated to insure
+fortune to the recipient is promised by return
+of mail."</p>
+
+<p>And disgusted with the whole affair I bundled
+up the letters, and was about to replace them in
+the box for the third time when I discovered
+that it still held a folded paper. Drawing this
+out, I opened it and started in fresh amazement.
+If I was not very much mistaken in the
+appearance of the letter in the blue envelope<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
+which I had seen the young man read with so
+much interest, this was certainly it. But how
+came it here? Had I not seen him thrust it
+back into its envelope and afterward put envelope
+and all into his pocket? But here was no
+envelope, and here was the letter. By what freak
+of necromancy had it been transferred from its
+legitimate quarters to this spot? I could not
+imagine. Suddenly I remembered that his hand
+had been full of the other letters when he put,
+or endeavored to put, this special one back into
+its envelope, and however unaccountable it may
+seem, it must be that from haste or agitation he
+had only succeeded in thrusting it between two
+letters instead of into the envelope, as he supposed.
+Whether or not this explanation be true,
+there was no doubt about my luck being in the
+ascendant. Mastering my satisfaction, I read
+these lines written in what appeared to be a
+disguised hand.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class="nb">"All goes well. The time has come; every
+thing is in train, and success is certain. Be in
+the shrubbery at the northeast corner of the
+grounds at 9 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> precisely; you will be given
+a mask and such other means as are necessary
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>to insure you the accomplishment of the end you
+have in view. He cannot hold out against a
+surprise. The word, by which you will know
+your friends, is</p>
+
+<p class="right nt"><span class="smcap">Counterfeit."</span><br />
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Ah, ha!" thought I, "this is more like it."
+And moved by a sudden impulse, I hastily
+copied the letter into my memorandum-book,
+and then returning to the original, scratched out
+with my penknife the word northeast and carefully
+substituting that of southwest put the letter
+back into the box, in the hope that when he
+came to consult the envelope in his pocket (as
+he would be sure to do sooner or later) he
+would miss its contents and return to the post-office
+in search of it.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was I mistaken. I had scarcely accomplished
+my task, when he reëntered the store,
+asked to see the letters he had returned, and
+finding amongst them the one he had lost,
+disappeared with it back to the tavern. "If he
+is surprised to read southwest this time instead
+of northeast, he will think his memory played
+him false in the first instance," cried I, in inward
+comment over my last doubtful stroke of policy;
+and turning to the postmaster, I asked him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+what place there was in the vicinity which
+could be said to possess grounds and a shrubbery.</p>
+
+<p>"There is but one," he returned, "Mr. Benson's.
+All the rest of the folks are too poor to
+indulge in any such gimcracks."</p>
+
+<p>"And who is Mr. Benson?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he is Mr. Benson, the richest man in
+these parts and the least liked as I take it. He
+came here from Boston two years ago and
+built a house fit for a king to live in. Why,
+nobody knows, for he seems to take no pleasure
+in it. His children do though, and that is all
+he cares for I suppose. Young Mr. Benson
+especially seems to be never tired of walking
+about the grounds, looking at the trees and
+tying up the vines. Miss Carrie is different;
+all she wants is company. But little of that has
+her father ever allowed her till this very day.
+He seems to think nobody is good enough
+to sit down in his parlors; and yet he don't
+sit there himself, the strange man! but is
+always shut up in his library or some other out-of-the-way
+place."</p>
+
+<p>"A busy man?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I suppose so, but no one ever sees any
+thing he does."</p>
+
+<p>"Writes, perhaps?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; he never talks about himself."</p>
+
+<p>"How did he get his money?"</p>
+
+<p>"That we don't know. It seems to accumulate
+without his help or interference. When he
+came here he was called rich, but to-day he
+is said to be worth three times what he was
+then."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he speculates?"</p>
+
+<p>"If he does, it must be through his son, for
+he never leaves home himself."</p>
+
+<p>"Has two children, you say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a son and a daughter: a famous young
+man, the son; not so much liked, perhaps, as
+universally respected. He is too severe and
+reticent to be a favorite, but no one ever found
+him doing any thing unworthy of himself. He
+is the pride of the county, and if he were a bit
+suaver in manner might have been in Congress
+at this minute."</p>
+
+<p>"How old?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thirty, I should say."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And the girl?"</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty-five, perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"A mother living?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; there were some strange stories of her
+having died a year or so before they came here,
+under circumstances of a somewhat distressing
+nature, but they themselves say nothing
+about it."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me they don't say much about
+any thing."</p>
+
+<p>"That's just it; they are the most reserved
+people you ever saw. It isn't from them we
+have heard there is another son floating somewhere
+about the world. They never speak of
+him, and what's more, they never write to him;
+as who should know better than myself?"</p>
+
+<p>An interruption here occurred, and I took the
+opportunity to saunter out into the crowd of
+idlers always to be found hanging around a
+country store at mail-time. My purpose was,
+as you may conceive, to pick up any stray bits
+of information that might be floating about concerning
+these Bensons. Not that I had as yet
+discovered any thing definite connecting this respectable
+family with the gang of counterfeiters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+upon whose track I had been placed; but business
+is business, and no clue, however slight or
+unpromising in its nature, is to be neglected
+when the way is as dark as that which lay before
+me. With an easy smile, therefore, calculated
+to allay apprehension and awaken confidence, I
+took my stand among these loungers. But I soon
+found that I need do nothing to start the wheel
+of gossip on the subject of the Bensons. It was
+already going, and that with a force and spirit
+that almost took my breath away.</p>
+
+<p>"A fancy ball!" were the first words I heard.
+"The Bensons give a fancy ball, when they never
+had three persons at a time in their house
+before!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and what's more, they are going to
+have folks over from Clayton and Lawrence and
+Hollowell and devil knows where. It's to be a
+smash up, a regular fandango, with masks and
+all that kind of nonsense."</p>
+
+<p>"They say Miss Carrie teased her father till
+he had to give in in self-defence. It's her birthday
+or something like that, and she <i>would</i> have
+a party."</p>
+
+<p>"But such a party! who ever heard the like in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+a respectable town like this! It's wicked, that's
+what I call it, downright wicked to cover up the
+face God has given you and go strutting around
+in clothes a Christian man might well think borrowed
+from the Evil One if he had to wear them
+in any decent company. All wrong, I say, all
+wrong, and I am astonished at Mr. Benson. To
+keep his doors shut as he has, and then to open
+them in a burst to all sorts of folly. We are not
+invited at our house."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor we, nor we," shouted some half dozen.</p>
+
+<p>"And I don't know of any one in this town
+who is," cried a burly man, presumably a butcher
+by trade. "We are not good enough for the
+Bensons. They say he is even going to be
+mean enough to shut the gates and not let a
+soul inside who hasn't a ticket. And they are
+going to light up the grounds too!"</p>
+
+<p>"We can peep through the fence."</p>
+
+<p>"Much we will see that way. If you had said
+climb it&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We can't climb it. Big John is going to be
+there and Tom Henshaw. They mean to keep
+their good times to themselves, just as they have
+kept every thing else. It's a queer set they are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+anyway, and the less we have to do with them
+the better."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to see Hartley Benson in masquerade
+costume, I would."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he won't wear any of the fol-de-rol; he's
+too dignified." And with that there fell a sudden
+hush over the crowd, for which I was at a
+loss to account, till, upon looking up, I saw approaching
+on horseback, a young man in whom
+I had no difficulty in recognizing the subject of
+the last remark.</p>
+
+<p>Straight, slight, elegant in appearance, but
+with an undoubted reserve of manner apparent
+even at a distance, he rode up to where I stood,
+and casting a slight glance around, bowed almost
+imperceptibly, and alighted. A boy caught the
+bridle of his horse, and Mr. Benson, without a
+word or further look, passed quickly into the
+office, leaving a silence behind him that was not
+disturbed till he returned with what was evidently
+his noonday mail. Remounting his horse,
+he stopped a moment to speak to a man who
+had just come up, and I seized the opportunity
+to study his face. I did not like it. It was
+handsome without doubt; the features were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+regular, the complexion fair, the expression gentlemanly
+if not commanding; but I did not like
+it. It was too impenetrable perhaps; and to a
+detective anxious to probe a man for his motives,
+this is ever a most fatal defect. His smile was
+without sunshine; his glance was an inquiry, a
+rebuke, a sarcasm, every thing but a revelation.
+As he rode away he carried with him the thought
+of all, yet I doubt if the admiration he undoubtedly
+inspired, was in a single case mixed with
+any warmer feeling than that of pride in a fellow
+townsman they could not understand.
+"Ice," thought I; "ice in all but its transparency!"
+So much for Benson the son.</p>
+
+<p>The ball was to take place that very night;
+and the knowledge of this fact threw a different
+light over the letter I had read. The word <i>mask</i>
+had no longer any special significance, neither the
+word <i>counterfeit</i>, and yet such was the tenor of
+the note itself, and such the exaggerated nature
+of its phrases, I could not but feel that some
+plot of a reprehensible if not criminal nature
+was in the process of formation, which, as a rising
+young detective engaged in a mysterious and
+elusive search, it behooved me to know. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+moved by this consideration, I turned to a new
+leaf in my memorandum-book, and put down in
+black and white the following facts thus summarily
+collected:</p>
+
+<p>"A mysterious family with a secret.</p>
+
+<p>"Rich, but with no visible means of wealth.</p>
+
+<p>"Secluded, with no apparent reason for the
+same.</p>
+
+<p>"A father who is a hermit.</p>
+
+<p>"A son who is impenetrable.</p>
+
+<p>"A daughter whose tastes are seldom gratified.</p>
+
+<p>"The strange fact of a ball being given by this
+family after years of reserve and non-intercourse
+with their neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>"The still stranger fact of it being a masquerade,
+a style of entertainment which, from its
+novelty and the opportunities it affords, makes
+this departure from ordinary rules seem marked
+and startling.</p>
+
+<p>"The discovery of a letter appointing a rendezvous
+between two persons of the male sex,
+in the grounds of the party giving this ball, in
+which the opportunities afforded by a masquerade
+are to be used for forwarding some long-cherished
+scheme."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At the bottom of this I wrote a deduction:</p>
+
+<p>"Some connection between one or more
+members of this family giving the ball, and the
+person called to the rendezvous; the entertainment
+being used as a blind if not as a means."</p>
+
+<p>It was now four o'clock, five hours before the
+time of rendezvous. How should I employ the
+interval? A glance at the livery-stable hard by,
+determined me. Procuring a horse, I rode out
+on the road toward Mr. Benson's, for the purpose
+of reconnoitring the grounds; but as I proceeded
+I was seized by an intense desire to
+penetrate into the midst of this peculiar household,
+and judge for myself whether it was worth
+while to cherish any further suspicions in regard
+to this family. But how to effect such an
+entrance? What excuse could I give for my
+intrusion that would be likely to serve me on a
+day of such tumult and preoccupation? I looked
+up and down the road as if for inspiration. It did
+not come. Meanwhile, the huge trees that surrounded
+the house had loomed in sight, and
+presently the beauties of lawn and parterre
+began to appear beyond the high iron fence,
+through which I could catch now and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+short glimpses of hurrying forms, as lanterns
+were hung on the trees and all things put in
+readiness for the evening's entertainment. Suddenly
+a thought struck me. If Mr. Benson was
+the man they said, he was not engaged in any
+of these arrangements. Mr. Benson was a
+hermit. Now what could I say that would
+interest a hermit? I racked my brains; a
+single idea came. It was daring in its nature,
+but what of that! The gate must be passed,
+Mr. Benson must be seen&mdash;or so my adventurous
+curiosity decided,&mdash;and to do it, something
+must be ventured. Taking out my card, which
+was simply inscribed with my name, I wrote
+on it, "<i>Business private and immediate</i>," and
+assuming my most gentlemanly and inoffensive
+manner, rode calmly through the gate to the
+front of the house. If I had been on foot I
+doubt if I would have been allowed to pass by
+the servant lounging about in that region, but
+the horse carried me through in more senses
+than one, and almost before I realized it, I found
+myself pausing before the portico, in full view of
+a dozen or more busy men and boys.</p>
+
+<p>Imitating the manner of Mr. Benson at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+post-office, I jumped from my horse and threw
+the bridle to the boy nearest me. Instantly and
+before I could take a step, a servant issued from
+the open door, and with an expression of anxiety
+somewhat surprising under the circumstances,
+took his stand before me in a way to hinder my
+advance.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Benson does not receive visitors to-day,"
+said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not a visitor," replied I; "I have business
+with Mr. Benson," and I handed him my
+card, which he looked at with a doubtful expression.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Benson's commands are not to be disobeyed,"
+persisted the man. "My master sees
+no one to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"But this is an exceptional case," I urged, my
+curiosity rising at this unexpected opposition.
+"My business is important and concerns him.
+He cannot refuse to see me."</p>
+
+<p>The servant shook his head with what
+appeared to me to be an unnecessary expression
+of alarm, but nevertheless retreated a step,
+allowing me to enter. "I will call Mr. Hartley,"
+cried he.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But that was just what I did not wish. It was
+Benson the father I had come to see, and I was
+not to be baffled in this way.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Hartley won't do," said I, in my lowest
+but most determined accents. "If Mr. Benson
+is not ill, I must beg to be admitted to his
+presence." And stepping inside the small reception
+room at my right, I sat down on the
+first chair I came to.</p>
+
+<p>The man stood for a moment confounded at
+my pertinacity, then with a last scrutinizing look,
+that took in every detail of my person and apparel,
+drew slowly off, shaking his head and
+murmuring to himself.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the mingled splendor and elegance
+of my surroundings were slowly making their
+impression upon me. The hall by which I had
+entered was spacious and imposing; the room
+in which I sat, a model of beauty in design and
+finish. I was allowing myself the luxury of
+studying its pictures and numerous works of
+art, when the sound of voices reached my ear
+from the next room. A man and woman were
+conversing there in smothered tones, but my
+senses are very acute, and I had no difficulty in
+overhearing what was said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what an exciting day this has been!" cried
+the female voice. "I have wanted to ask you
+a dozen times what you think of it all. Will
+he succeed this time? Has he the nerve to
+embrace his opportunity, or what is more, the
+tact to make one? Failure now would be fatal.
+Father&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" broke in the other voice, in a masculine
+tone of repressed intensity. "Do not
+forget that success depends upon your prudence.
+One whisper of what you are about, and the
+whole scheme is destroyed."</p>
+
+<p>"I will be careful; only do you think that all
+is going well and as we planned it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will not be my fault if it does not," was the
+reply, uttered with an accent so sinister I was
+conscious of a violent surprise when, in the next
+instant, the other, with a burst of affectionate
+fervor, cried in an ardent tone:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how good you are, and what a comfort
+you are to me!"</p>
+
+<p>I was just pondering over the incongruity
+thus presented, when the servant returned with
+my card.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Benson wishes to know the nature of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+your business," said he, in a voice I was uncomfortably
+conscious must penetrate to the
+next room and awake its inmates to a knowledge
+of my proximity.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me have the card," said I; and taking it,
+I added to my words the simple phrase, "<i>On
+behalf of the Constable of the town</i>," remembering
+I had heard the postmaster say this position
+was held by his brother. "There," said I,
+"carry that back to your master."</p>
+
+<p>The servant took the card, glanced down at
+the words I had written, started and hastily
+drew back. "You had better come," said he,
+leading the way into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>I was only too glad to comply; in fact, escape
+from that room seemed imperative. But just
+as I was crossing the threshold, a sudden, quick
+cry, half joyful, half fearful, rose behind me, and
+turning, I met the eyes of a young lady peering
+upon me from a lifted <i>portière</i>, with an expression
+of mingled terror and longing that would
+have astonished me greatly, if it had not instantly
+disappeared at the first sight of my face.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," she exclaimed, drawing back
+with an embarrassed movement into the room<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+from which she had emerged. But soon recovering
+herself, she stepped hastily forward,
+and ignoring me, said to the servant at my side:
+"Jonas, who is this gentleman, and where are
+you taking him?"</p>
+
+<p>With a bow, Jonas replied: "He comes on
+business, miss, and Mr. Benson consents to see
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought my father had expressly commanded
+that no one was to be allowed to enter
+the library to-day," she exclaimed, but in a
+musing tone that asked for no response. And
+hastily as we passed down the hall, I could not
+escape the uneasy sense that her eager eyes
+were following us as we went.</p>
+
+<p>"Too much emotion for so small a matter,
+and a strange desire on the part of every one to
+keep Mr. Benson from being intruded upon to-day,"
+was my mental comment. And I was
+scarcely surprised when upon our arrival at the
+library door we found it locked. However, a
+knock, followed by a few whispered words on
+the part of the servant, served to arouse the
+hermit within, and with a quick turn of the key,
+the door flew back on its hinges, and the master
+of the house stood before me.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was a moment to be remembered: first,
+because the picture presented to my eyes was
+of a marked and impressive character; and
+secondly, because something in the expression
+of the gentleman before me showed that he had
+received a shock at my introduction which was
+not to be expected after the pains which had
+been taken to prepare his mind for my visit.
+He was a tall, remarkable-looking man, with a
+head already whitened, and a form which, if not
+bowed, had only retained its upright carriage by
+means of the indomitable will that betrayed
+itself in his eyes. Seen against the rich background
+of the stained-glass window that
+adorned one end of the apartment, his stern,
+furrowed face and eagerly repellant aspect imprinted
+itself upon me like a silhouette, while
+the strong emotion I could not but detect in his
+bearing, lent to the whole a poetic finish that
+made it a living picture which, as I have said, I
+have never been able to forget.</p>
+
+<p>"You have come from the constable of the
+town," said he, in a firm, hard tone, impressive
+as his look. "May I ask for what purpose?"</p>
+
+<p>Looking around, I saw the servant had disappeared.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+"Sir," said I, gathering up my
+courage, as I became convinced that in this
+case I had a thoroughly honest man to deal
+with, "you are going to give a fancy ball to-night.
+Such an event is a novelty in these
+parts, and arouses much curiosity. Some of
+the men about town have even been heard to
+threaten to leap the fences and steal a look at
+your company, whether you will or not. Mr.
+White wants to know whether you need any
+assistance in keeping the grounds clear of all
+but your legitimate guests; if so, he is ready
+to supply whatever force you may need."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. White is very kind," returned Mr. Benson,
+in a voice which, despite his will-power,
+showed that his agitation had in some unaccountable
+way been increased by my communication.
+"I had not thought of any such contingency,"
+he murmured, moving over to a window
+and looking out. "An invasion of rowdies would
+not be agreeable. They might even find their
+way into the house." He paused and cast a
+sudden look at me. "Who are you?" he
+abruptly asked.</p>
+
+<p>The question took me by surprise, but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+answered bravely if not calmly: "I am a man
+who sometimes assists Mr. White in the performance
+of his duties, and in case you need it,
+will be the one to render you assistance to-night.
+A line to Mr. White, if you doubt
+me&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>A wave of his meagre hand stopped me.
+"Do you think you could keep out of my house
+to-night, any one I did not wish to enter?" he
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I should at least like to try."</p>
+
+<p>"A ticket is given to every invited guest;
+but if men are going to climb the fences, tickets
+will amount to but little."</p>
+
+<p>"I will see that the fences are guarded," cried
+I, gratified at the prospect of being allowed
+upon the scene of action. "I can hinder any
+one from coming in that way, if&mdash;&mdash;" Here I
+paused, conscious of something, I could hardly
+say what, that bade me be cautious and weigh
+my words well. "If you desire it and will give
+me the authority to act for you," I added in a
+somewhat more indifferent tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I do desire it," he replied shortly, moving
+over to the table and taking up a card. "Here<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+is a ticket that will insure you entrance into the
+grounds; the rest you will manage without
+scandal. I do not want any disturbance, but if
+you see any one hanging about the house or
+peering into the windows or attempting to enter
+in any way except through the front door, you
+are to arrest them, no matter who they are. I
+have an especial reason for desiring my wishes
+attended to in this regard," he went on, not
+noticing the preoccupation that had seized me,
+"and will pay well if on the morrow I find that
+every thing has gone off according to my
+desires."</p>
+
+<p>"Money is a powerful incentive to duty," I
+rejoined, with marked emphasis, directing a sly
+glance at the mirror opposite, in whose depths I
+had but a moment before been startled by the
+sudden apparition of the pale and strongly
+agitated face of young Mr. Benson, who was
+peering from a door-way half hidden by a screen
+at our back. "I will be on hand to-night."
+And with what I meant to be a cynical look, I
+made my bow and disappeared from the room.</p>
+
+<p>As I expected, I was met at the front door by
+Mr. Hartley. "A word with you," said he.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+"Jonas tells me you are from the constable of
+the town. May I ask what has gone amiss
+that you come here to disturb my father on
+a day like this?"</p>
+
+<p>His tone was not unkind, his expression not
+without suavity. If I had not had imprinted on
+my memory the startling picture of his face as I
+had seen it an instant before in the mirror, I
+should have been tempted to believe in his
+goodness and integrity at this moment. As it
+was, I doubted him through and through, yet
+replied with frankness and showed him the
+ticket I had received from his father.</p>
+
+<p>"And you are going to make it your business
+to guard the grounds to-night?" he asked,
+gloomily glancing at the card in my hand as if
+he would like to annihilate it.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said I.</p>
+
+<p>He drew me into a small room half filled with
+plants.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said he, "see here. Such a piece
+of interference is entirely uncalled for, and you
+have been alarming my father unnecessarily.
+There are no rowdies in this town, and if one
+or two of the villagers should get into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+grounds, where is the harm? They cannot get
+into the house even if they wanted to, which
+they don't. I do not wish this, our first show
+of hospitality, to assume a hostile aspect, and
+whatever my father's expectations may be, I
+must request you to curtail your duties as much
+as possible and limit them to responding by
+your presence when called upon."</p>
+
+<p>"But your father has a right to expect the
+fullest obedience to his wishes," I protested.
+"He would not be satisfied if I should do no
+more than you request, and I cannot afford to
+disappoint him."</p>
+
+<p>He looked at me with a calculating eye, and
+I expected to see him put his hand in his pocket;
+but Hartley Benson played his cards better
+than that. "Very well," said he, "if you persist
+in regarding my father's wishes as paramount,
+I have nothing to say. Fulfil your duties as
+you conceive them, but don't look for my support
+if any foolish misadventure makes you
+ashamed of yourself." And drawing back, he
+motioned me out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>I felt I had received a check, and hurried out
+of the house. But scarcely had I entered upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+the walk that led down to the gate, when I
+heard a light step behind me. Turning, I
+encountered the pretty daughter of the house,
+the youthful Miss Carrie.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait," she cried, allowing herself to display
+her emotion freely in face and bearing. "I
+have heard who you are from my brother," she
+continued, approaching me with a soft grace
+that at once put me upon my guard. "Now,
+tell me who are the rowdies that threaten to
+invade our grounds?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know their names, miss," I responded;
+"but they are a rough-looking set
+you would not like to see among your guests."</p>
+
+<p>"There are no very rough-looking men in
+our village," she declared; "you must be mistaken
+in regard to them. My father is nervous
+and easily alarmed. It was wrong to arouse
+his fears."</p>
+
+<p>I thought of that steady eye of his, of force
+sufficient to hold in awe a regiment of insurgents,
+and smiled at her opinion of my understanding.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you do not wish the grounds guarded,"
+I said, in as indifferent a tone as I could assume.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I do not consider it necessary."</p>
+
+<p>"But I have already pledged myself to fulfil
+your father's commands."</p>
+
+<p>"I know," she said, drawing a step nearer,
+with a most enchanting smile. "And that was
+right under the circumstances; but we, his
+children, who may be presumed to know more
+of social matters than a recluse,&mdash;I, especially,"
+she added, with a certain emphasis, "tell you it
+is not necessary. We fear the scandal it may
+cause; besides, some of the guests may choose
+to linger about the grounds under the trees,
+and would be rather startled at being arrested
+as intruders."</p>
+
+<p>"What, then, do you wish me to do?" I asked,
+leaning toward her, with an appearance of
+yielding.</p>
+
+<p>"To accept this money," she murmured,
+blushing, "and confine yourself to-night to remaining
+in the background unless called upon."</p>
+
+<p>This was a seconding of her brother's proposition
+with a vengeance. Taking the purse she
+handed me, I weighed it for a moment in my
+hand, and then slowly shook my head. "Impossible,"
+I cried; "but"&mdash;and I fixed my eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+intently upon her countenance&mdash;"if there is any
+one in particular whom you desire me to ignore,
+I am ready to listen to a description of his
+person. It has always been my pleasure to
+accommodate myself as much as possible to the
+whims of the ladies."</p>
+
+<p>It was a bold stroke that might have cost me
+the game. Indeed, I half expected she would
+raise her voice and order some of the men
+about her to eject me from the grounds. But
+instead of that she remained for a moment blushing
+painfully, but surveying me with an unfaltering
+gaze that reminded me of her father's.</p>
+
+<p>"There <i>is</i> a person," said she, in a low, restrained
+voice, "whom I am especially anxious
+should remain unmolested, whatever he may or
+may not be seen to do. He is a guest," she
+went on, a sudden pallor taking the place of her
+blushes, "and has a right to be here; but I
+doubt if he at once enters the house, and I even
+suspect he may choose to loiter awhile in the
+grounds before attempting to join the company.
+I ask you to allow him to do so."</p>
+
+<p>I bowed with an appearance of great respect.
+"Describe him," said I.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>For a moment she faltered, with a distressed
+look I found it difficult to understand. Then,
+with a sudden glance over my person, exclaimed:
+"Look in the glass when you get home and
+you will see the <i>fac-simile</i> of his form, though
+not of his face. He is fair, whereas you are
+dark." And with a haughty lift of her head calculated
+to rob me of any satisfaction I might
+have taken in her words, she stepped slowly
+back.</p>
+
+<p>I stopped her with a gesture. "Miss," said
+I, "take your purse before you go. Payment
+of any service I may render your father will
+come in time. This affair is between you and
+me, and I hope I am too much of a gentleman
+to accept money for accommodating a lady in
+so small a matter as this."</p>
+
+<p>But she shook her head. "Take it," said
+she, "and assure me that I may rely on you."</p>
+
+<p>"You may rely on me without the money,"
+I replied, forcing the purse back into her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall rest easy," she returned, and
+retreated with a lightsome air toward the house.</p>
+
+<p>The next moment I was on the highway with
+my thoughts. What did it all mean? Was it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+then, a mere love affair across which I had
+foolishly stumbled, and was I busying myself
+unnecessarily about a rendezvous that might
+mean no more than an elopement from under a
+severe father's eye? Taking out the note which
+had led to all these efforts on my part, I read it
+for the third time.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class="nb">"All goes well. The time has come; every
+thing is in train, and success is certain. Be in
+the shrubbery at the northeast corner of the
+grounds at 9 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> precisely; you will be given
+a mask and such other means as are necessary
+to insure you the accomplishment of the end
+you have in view. He cannot hold out against
+a surprise. The word by which you will know
+your friends is</p>
+
+<p class="right nt"><span class="smcap">Counterfeit."</span><br />
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>A love-letter of course; and I had been a
+fool to suppose it any thing else. The young
+people are to surprise the old gentleman in the
+presence of their friends. They have been
+secretly married perhaps, who knows, and take
+this method of obtaining a public reconciliation.
+But that word "<i>Counterfeit</i>," and the
+sinister tone of Hartley Benson as he said:
+"It shall not fail through lack of effort on my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+part!" Such a word and such a tone did not
+rightly tally with this theory. Few brothers
+take such interest in their sister's love affairs as
+to grow saturnine over them. There was,
+beneath all this, something which I had not yet
+penetrated. Meantime my duty led me to remain
+true to the one person of whose integrity
+of purpose I was most thoroughly convinced.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the village, I hunted up Mr.
+White and acquainted him with what I had
+undertaken in his name; and then perceiving
+that the time was fast speeding by, strolled over
+to the tavern for my supper.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger was still there, walking up and
+down the sitting-room. He joined us at the
+table, but I observed he scarcely tasted his food,
+and both then and afterward manifested the same
+anxious suspense that had characterized his
+movements from the time of our first encounter.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE BLACK DOMINO.</h4>
+
+
+<p>At half past eight I was at my post. The
+mysterious stranger, still under my direct
+surveillance, had already entered the grounds
+and taken his stand in the southwest corner of
+the shrubbery, thereby leaving me free to exercise
+my zeal in keeping the fences and gates
+free of intruders. At nine the guests were
+nearly if not all assembled; and promptly at the
+hour mentioned in the note so often referred to,
+I stole away from my post and hid myself amid
+the bushes that obscured the real place of rendezvous.</p>
+
+<p>It was a retired spot, eminently fitted for a
+secret meeting. The lamps, which had been
+hung in profusion through the grounds, had
+been studiously excluded from this quarter.
+Even the broad blaze of light that poured from
+the open doors and windows of the brilliantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+illuminated mansion, sent no glimmer through
+the broad belt of evergreens that separated this
+retreat from the open lawn beyond. All was
+dark, all was mysterious, all was favorable to the
+daring plan I had undertaken. In silence I
+awaited the sound of approaching steps.</p>
+
+<p>My suspense was of short duration. In a few
+moments I heard a low rustle in the bushes near
+me, then a form appeared before my eyes, and
+a man's voice whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Is there any one here?"</p>
+
+<p>My reply was to glide quietly into view.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly he spoke again, this time with more
+assurance.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you ready for a counterfeit?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready for any thing," I returned, in
+smothered tones, hoping by thus disguising my
+voice, to lure him into a revelation of the true
+purpose of this mysterious rendezvous.</p>
+
+<p>But instead of the explanations I expected,
+the person before me made a quick movement,
+and I felt a domino thrown over my shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"Draw it about you well," he murmured;
+"there are lynx eyes in the crowd to-night."
+And while I mechanically obeyed, he bent down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+to my ear and earnestly continued: "Now
+listen, and be guided by my instructions. You
+will not be able to enter by the front door, as it
+is guarded, and you cannot pass without removing
+your mask. But the window on the left-hand
+balcony is at your service. It is open, and
+the man appointed to keep intruders away, has
+been bribed to let you pass. Once inside the
+house, join the company <i>sans céremonie</i>; and do
+not hesitate to converse with any one who
+addresses you by the countersign. Promptly
+at ten o'clock look around you for a domino in
+plain black. When you see him move, follow
+him, but with discretion, so that you may not
+seem to others to be following. Sooner or later
+he will pause and point to a closed door. Notice
+that door, and when your guide has disappeared,
+approach and enter it without fear or hesitation.
+You will find yourself in a small apartment connecting
+with the library.</p>
+
+<p>"There is but one thing more to say. If the
+wineglass you will observe on the library table
+smells of wine, you may know your father has
+had his nightly potion and gone to bed. But
+if it contains nothing more than a small white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+powder, you may be certain he has yet to return
+to the library, and that by waiting, you will have
+the long-wished-for opportunity of seeing him."</p>
+
+<p>And pausing for no reply, my strange companion
+suddenly thrust a mask into my hand
+and darted from the circle of trees that surrounded
+us.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment I stood dumbfounded at the
+position in which my recklessness had placed
+me. All the folly, the impertinence even, of the
+proceeding upon which I had entered, was revealed
+to me in its true colors, and I mentally
+inquired what could have induced me to thus
+hamper myself with the details of a mystery so
+entirely removed from the serious matter I had
+in charge. Resolved to abandon the affair, I
+made a hasty attempt to disengage myself from
+the domino in which I had been so unceremoniously
+enveloped. But invisible hands
+seemed to restrain me. A vivid remembrance
+of the tone in which these final instructions had
+been uttered returned to my mind, and while I
+recognized the voice as that of Hartley Benson,
+I also recognized the almost saturnine intensity
+of expression which had once before imbued his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+words with a significance both forcible and surprising.
+The secret, if a purely family one, was
+of no ordinary nature; and at the thought I felt
+my old interest revive. All the excuses with
+which I had hitherto silenced my conscience
+recurred to me with fresh force, and mechanically
+donning my mask, I prepared to follow out my
+guide's instructions to the last detail.</p>
+
+<p>The window to which I had been directed
+stood wide open. Through it came the murmur
+of music and the hum of gay voices. Visions of
+a motley crowd decked in grotesque costumes
+passed constantly before my eyes. Sight and
+sound combined to allure me. Hurrying to the
+window, I stepped carelessly in.</p>
+
+<p>A low guttural "Hugh!" at once greeted me.
+It was from a mask in full Indian costume, whom
+I saw leaning with a warrior's well-known dignity
+against the embrasure of the window by
+which I had entered. Giving him a scrutinizing
+glance, I came to the conclusion he was a young
+and not inelegant man; and impelled by a
+reasonable curiosity as to how I looked myself,
+I cast my eyes down upon my own person. I
+found my appearance sufficiently striking. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+domino, in which I was wrapped was of a brilliant
+yellow hue, covered here and there with
+black figures representing all sorts of fantastic
+creatures, from hobgoblins of a terrible type, to
+merry Kate Greenaway silhouettes. "Humph!"
+thought I, "it seems I am not destined to glide
+unnoticed amid the crowd."</p>
+
+<p>The first person who approached me was a
+gay little shepherdess.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, ha!" was the sportive exclamation with
+which she greeted me. "Here is one of my
+wandering sheep!" And with a laugh, she endeavored
+to hook me to her side by means of
+her silver crook.</p>
+
+<p>But this blithesome puppet possessed no interest
+for me. So with a growl and a bound I
+assured her I was nothing more than a wolf in
+sheep's clothing, and would eat her up if she
+did not run away; at which she gayly laughed
+and vanished, and for a moment I was left alone.
+But only for a moment. A masked lady, whom
+I had previously observed standing upright and
+solitary in a distant corner of the room, now approached,
+and taking me by the arm, led me
+eagerly to one side.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Joe!" she whispered, "is it you? How
+glad I am to have you here, and how I hope we
+are going to be happy at last!"</p>
+
+<p>Fearing to address a person seemingly so
+well acquainted with the young man whose
+place I had usurped, I merely pressed, with most
+perfidious duplicity, the little hand that was so
+confidingly clasped in mine. It seemed to
+satisfy her, for she launched at once into ardent
+speech.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Joe, I have been so anxious to have
+you with us once again! Hartley is a good
+brother, but he is not my old playmate. Then
+father will be so much happier if you only
+succeed in making him forget the past."</p>
+
+<p>Seeing by this that it was Miss Carrie Benson
+with whom I had to deal, I pressed the little
+hand again, and tenderly drew her closer to my
+side. That I felt all the time like a villain of the
+blackest dye, it is quite unnecessary for me to
+state.</p>
+
+<p>"Has Hartley told you just what you are to
+do?" was her next remark. "Father is very
+determined not to relent and has kept himself
+locked in his library all day, for fear you should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+force yourself upon his presence. I could never
+have gained his consent to give this ball if I had
+not first persuaded him it would serve as a
+means to keep you at a distance; that if you
+saw the house thronged with guests, natural
+modesty would restrain you from pushing yourself
+forward. I think he begins to distrust his
+own firmness. He fears he will melt at the
+sight of you. He has been failing this last
+year and&mdash;" A sudden choke stopped her
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>I was at once both touched and alarmed;
+touched at the grief which showed her motives
+to be pure and good, and alarmed at the position
+in which I had thrust myself to the apparent
+detriment of these same laudable motives.
+Moved by a desire to right matters, I ventured
+to speak:</p>
+
+<p>"And do you think," I whispered, in purposely
+smothered accents, "that if he sees me he will
+relent?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure of it. He yearns over you, Joe;
+and if he had not sworn never to speak to you
+again, he would have sent for you long ago.
+Hartley believes as well as I that the time for
+reconciliation has come."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And is Hartley," I ventured again, not without
+a secret fear of the consequences, "really
+anxious for reconciliation?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Joe! can you doubt it? Has he not
+striven from the first to make father forget?
+Would he encourage you to come here to-night,
+furnish you with a disguise, and consent to act
+both as your champion and adviser, if he did not
+want to see you and father friends again? You
+don't understand Hartley; you never have.
+You would not have repelled his advances so
+long, if you had realized how truly he had forgiven
+every thing and forgotten it. Hartley has the
+pride of a person who has never done wrong
+himself. But even pride gives way before
+brotherly affection; and you have suffered so
+much and so long, poor Joe!"</p>
+
+<p>"So, so," thought I, "Joe is then the aggressor!"
+And for a moment, I longed to be the man
+I represented, if only to clasp this dear little sister
+in my arms and thank her for her goodness.
+"You are a darling," I faintly articulated, inwardly
+determined to rush forthwith into the garden,
+hand over my domino to the person for whom
+it was intended, and make my escape from a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+scene which I had so little right to enjoy. But
+at this instant an interruption occurred which
+robbed me of my companion, but kept me effectually
+in my place. A black domino swept by
+us, dragging Miss Benson from my side, while
+at the same time a harsh voice whispered in my
+ear:</p>
+
+<p>"To counterfeit wrong when one is right,
+necessarily opens one to misunderstanding."</p>
+
+<p>I started, recognizing in this mode of speech
+a <i>friend</i>, and therefore one from whom I could
+not escape without running the risk of awakening
+suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>"That is true," I returned, hoping by my
+abrupt replies to cut short this fresh colloquy
+and win a speedy release.</p>
+
+<p>But something in my answer roused the interest
+of the person at my side, and caused a
+display of emotion that led to quite an opposite
+result from what I desired.</p>
+
+<p>"You awaken a thousand conjectures in my
+mind by that reply," exclaimed my friend, edging
+me a little farther back from the crowd. "I
+have always had my doubts about&mdash;about&mdash;"
+he paused, hunting for the proper phrase&mdash;"about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+your having done what they said," he
+somewhat lamely concluded. "It was so unlike
+you. But now I begin to see the presence
+of a possibility that might perhaps explain much
+we never understood. Joe, my boy, you never
+said you were innocent, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" I asked boldly, peering into
+the twinkling eyes that shone upon me from his
+sedate mask. "In the discussion of such matters
+as these, it would be dreadful to make a
+mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"And don't you recognize your Uncle Joe?"
+he asked, with a certain plaintive reproach somewhat
+out of keeping with his costume of "potent,
+grave, and reverend signior." "I came over
+from Hollowell on purpose, because Carrie intimated
+that you were going to make one final
+effort to see your father. Edith is here too," he
+murmured, thrusting his face alarmingly near
+mine. "She would not stay away, though we
+were all afraid she might betray herself; her
+emotions are so quick. Poor child! <i>she</i> never
+doubted you; and if my suspicions are correct&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Edith?" I interrupted,&mdash;"Edith?" An Edith<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+was the last person I desired to meet under these
+circumstances. "Where is she?" I tremulously
+inquired, starting aside in some dismay at the
+prospect of encountering this unknown quantity
+of love and devotion.</p>
+
+<p>But my companion, seizing me by the arm,
+drew me back. "She is not far away; of that
+you may be sure. But it will never do for you
+to try and hunt her up. You would not know
+her in her mask. Besides, if you remain still
+she will come to you."</p>
+
+<p>That was just what I feared, but upon looking
+round and seeing no suspicious-looking damsel
+anywhere near me, I concluded to waive my
+apprehensions on her account and proceed to
+the development of an idea that had been
+awakened by the old gentleman's words.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right," I acquiesced, edging, in my
+turn, toward the curtained recess of a window
+near by. "Let us wait here, and meantime you
+shall tell me what your suspicions are, for I feel
+the time has come for the truth to be made
+known, and who could better aid me in proclaiming
+it than you who have always stood my
+friend?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That is true," he murmured, all eagerness
+at once. Then in a lower tone and with a significant
+gesture: "There <i>is</i> something, then,
+which has never been made known? Edith
+was right when she said you did not steal the
+bonds out of your father's desk?"</p>
+
+<p>As he paused and looked me in the face, I
+was obliged to make some reply. I chose one
+of the non-committal sort.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't ask me!" I murmured, turning away
+with every appearance of profound agitation.</p>
+
+<p>He did not suspect the ruse.</p>
+
+<p>"But, my boy, I shall have to ask you; if I
+am to help you out of this scrape, I must know
+the truth. Yet if it is as I suspect, I can see
+why you should hesitate even now. You are a
+generous fellow, Joe, but even generosity can be
+carried past its proper limits."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle," I exclaimed, leaning over him and
+whispering tremulously in his ear, "what are
+your suspicions? If I hear you give utterance
+to them, perhaps it will not be so hard for me
+to speak."</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated, looked all about us with a
+questioning glance, put his mouth to my ear,
+and whispered:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"If I should use the name of Hartley in connection
+with what I have to say, would you be
+so very much surprised?"</p>
+
+<p>With a quick semblance of emotion, I drew
+back.</p>
+
+<p>"You think&mdash;" I tremulously commenced,
+and as suddenly broke off.</p>
+
+<p>"That it was he who did it, and that you,
+knowing how your father loved him and built
+his hopes upon him, bore the blame of it yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" I exclaimed, with a deep breath as of
+relief. The suspicions of Uncle Joe were worth
+hearing.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed to be satisfied with the ejaculation,
+and with an increase of eagerness in his
+tone, went quickly on:</p>
+
+<p>"Am I not right, my boy? Is not this the
+secret of your whole conduct from that dreadful
+day to this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't ask me," I again pleaded, taking care,
+however, to draw a step nearer and exclaim in
+almost the same breath: "Why should you
+think it must necessarily have been one of us?
+What did <i>you</i> know that you should be so positive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+it was either he or I who committed this
+dishonest action?"</p>
+
+<p>"What did I know? Why, what everybody
+else did. That your father, hearing a noise in
+his study one night, rose up quietly and slipped
+to the door of communication in time to hear a
+stealthy foot leave the room and proceed down
+the hall toward the apartment usually occupied
+by you and your brother; that, alarmed and
+filled with vague distrust, he at once lit the
+lamp, only to discover his desk had been forcibly
+broken into and a number of coupon bonds
+taken out; that, struck to the heart, he went
+immediately to the room where you and your
+brother lay, found him lying quiet, and to all
+appearance asleep, while you looked flushed
+and with difficulty met his eye; that without
+hesitation he thereupon accused you of theft,
+and began to search the apartment; that he
+found the bonds, as we both know, in a cupboard
+at the head of your bed, and when you
+were asked if you had put them there you
+remained silent, and neither then nor afterward
+made any denial of being the one who stole
+them."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A mournful "Yes" was all the reply I ventured
+upon.</p>
+
+<p>"Now it never seemed to occur to your
+father to doubt your guilt. The open window
+and the burglar's jimmy found lying on the floor
+of the study, being only so many proofs, to his
+mind, of your deep calculation and great duplicity.
+But I could not help thinking, even on
+that horrible morning, that your face did not
+wear a look of guilt so much as it did that of
+firm and quiet resolution. But I was far from
+suspecting the truth, my boy, or I should never
+have allowed you to fall a victim to your father's
+curse, and be sent forth like a criminal from
+home and kindred. If only for Edith's sake I
+would have spoken&mdash;dear, trusting, faithful girl
+that she is!"</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;but&mdash;" I brokenly ejaculated, anxious
+to gain as much of the truth as was possible in
+the few minutes allotted me; "what has awakened
+your suspicions at this late day? Why
+should you doubt Hartley now, if you did not
+then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I cannot really say. Perhaps Edith's
+persistent aversion to your brother has had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+something to do with it. Then he has grown
+cold and hard, while you have preserved your
+boyish freshness and affection. I&mdash;I don't like
+him, that is the truth; and with my dislike
+arose doubts, and&mdash;and&mdash;well, I cannot tell how
+it is, but I will believe you if you say he was
+the one to blame in this matter; and what is
+more, your father will believe you too; for he
+does not feel the same satisfaction in Hartley's
+irreproachable character that he used to, and&mdash;and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>A sudden movement in the crowd stopped
+him. A tall, graceful-looking woman clad entirely
+in white had just entered the room and
+seemed to be making her way toward us.</p>
+
+<p>"There is Edith!" he declared. "She is
+hunting for the yellow domino ornamented with
+black that she has been told conceals her lover.
+Shall I go and fetch her here, or will you wait
+until she spies you of her own accord?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will wait," I uneasily replied, edging
+nearer to the window with the determination of
+using it as a means of escape if my companion
+only gave me the chance. "See! she is in the
+hands of an old Jew, who seems to be greatly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+taken with the silver trimmings on her sleeves.
+Suppose you improve the opportunity to slip
+away," I laughingly suggested. "Lovers'
+meetings are not usually of an order to interest
+third parties."</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't they, you rogue!" retorted the old
+gentleman, giving me a jocose poke in the ribs.
+"Well, well, I suppose you are right. But you
+have not told me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you every thing in an hour," I
+hastily assured him. "I am going to meet my
+father in the library, and after he has heard the
+truth, you shall be admitted and all will be
+explained."</p>
+
+<p>"That is only fair," he replied. "Your father
+has the first rights, of course. But Joe, my
+boy, remember I am not over and above patient
+of disposition, and don't keep me waiting too
+long." And with an affectionate squeeze of my
+hand, he stepped out from the recess where we
+stood and made his way once more into the
+throng.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had he left my side than I threw
+up the window. "Now is the time for the real
+Joe to appear upon the scene," was my mental<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+decision. "I have done for him what he as a
+gentleman would probably never do for himself&mdash;pumped
+this old party and got every thing in
+trim for Hartley's discomfiture. But the courting
+business is another matter; also the interview
+with the outraged father in the library.
+That cannot be done by proxy; so here goes
+for a change of actors."</p>
+
+<p>And with reckless disregard of consequences,
+I prepared to jump from the window, when
+a sudden light flashed over the lawn beneath
+and I saw I was at least twelve feet from the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," I exclaimed, drawing hastily back;
+"such a leap as that is too much to expect of
+any man!" And with the humiliating consciousness
+of being caught in a trap, I proceeded
+to close the window.</p>
+
+<p>"Joe!"</p>
+
+<p>'Twas a low whisper, but how thrilling!
+Turning, I greeted, with the show of fervor I
+considered necessary to the occasion, the white-veiled
+lady who had glided into my retreat.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you think I was never coming, Joe?
+Everybody who could get in my way certainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+managed to do so. Then Hartley is so suspicious,
+and followed me with his eyes so persistently,
+I did not dare show my designs too
+plainly. It is only this minute he left my side.
+If you had been anywhere else I do not know
+as I should have succeeded even now in getting
+a word with you&mdash;oh!"</p>
+
+<p>This exclamation was called forth by a sudden
+movement that took place near us. The curtain
+was drawn back and a tall man dressed in
+a black domino glanced in, gave us a scrutinizing
+look, bowed, and dropped the curtain
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Hartley," she whisperingly explained.</p>
+
+<p>I took her by the hand; there was no help
+for it; gesture and a lover-like demeanor must,
+in this case, supply the place of speech.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" she entreated. (Not that I had
+spoken.) "I dare not stay. When you have
+seen your father, perhaps I will have courage
+to join you; but now it would be better for me
+to go." And her eyes roamed toward the curtain,
+while the little hand I held in mine grew
+cold and slightly trembled.</p>
+
+<p>I pressed that little hand, but, as you may well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+believe, did not urge her to remain. Yet she
+did not seem in a hurry to depart, and I do not
+know what complications might have ensued, if
+another movement in the curtain had not reawakened
+her fears and caused her, notwithstanding
+her evident reluctance, to start quickly
+away.</p>
+
+<p>I did not linger long behind her. Scarcely
+had the curtain fallen from her hand than I
+stepped hastily forth. But alas for my hopes of
+escape! No sooner had I joined the group of
+merry-makers circling about the open door, than
+I felt a touch on my arm, and looking up, saw
+before me the Black Domino. The hour of ten
+had struck and my guide to the library was at
+hand. There was no alternative left me but
+to follow him.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h2>
+
+<h4>AN UNEXPECTED CALAMITY.</h4>
+
+
+<p>Five minutes passed, during which I
+threaded more laughing groups and sauntered
+down more mysterious passage-ways than
+I would care to count. Still the mysterious
+Black Domino glided on before me, leading me
+from door to door till my patience was nearly
+exhausted, and I had well-nigh determined to
+give him the slip and make my way at once to
+the garden, and the no-doubt-by-this-time-highly-impatient
+Joe.</p>
+
+<p>But before I had the opportunity of carrying
+out this scheme, the ominous Black Domino
+paused, and carelessly pointing to a door at the
+termination of a narrow corridor, bowed, and
+hastily withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said I, as soon as I found myself
+alone, "shall I proceed with this farce, or shall
+I end it? To go on means to interview Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+Benson, acquaint him with what has come to my
+knowledge during the last half hour in which I
+have so successfully personified his son, and by
+these means perhaps awake him to the truth
+concerning this serious matter of Joseph's innocence
+or Hartley's guilt; while to stop now
+implies nothing more nor less than a full explanation
+with his son, a man of whose character,
+manners, and disposition I know little or
+nothing."</p>
+
+<p>Either alternative presented infinite difficulties,
+but of the two the former seemed to me
+more feasible and less embarrassing. At all
+events, in talking with Mr. Benson, I should not
+have the sensibilities of a lover to contend with,
+and however unfortunate in its results our interview
+might be, would be at the mercy of old
+blood instead of young, a point always to be
+considered in a case where one's presumption
+has been carried beyond the bounds of decorum.</p>
+
+<p>Unlocking the door, I stepped, as I had been
+told I should, into a small room adjoining the
+library. All around me were books. Even the
+door by which I had entered was laden with
+them, so that when it was closed, all vestige of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+the door itself disappeared. Across the opening
+into the library stood a screen, and it was
+not until I had pushed this somewhat aside that
+I was able to look into that room.</p>
+
+<p>My first glance assured me it was empty.
+Stark and bare of any occupant, the high-backed
+chairs loomed in the funereal gloom, while on
+the table, toward which I inadvertently glanced,
+stood a decanter with a solitary wineglass at its
+side. Instantly I remembered what had been
+told me concerning that glass, and stepping forward,
+I took it up and looked at it.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately I heard, or thought I heard, an
+exclamation uttered somewhere near me. But
+upon glancing up and down the room and perceiving
+no one, I concluded I was mistaken, and
+deliberately proceeded to examine the wineglass
+and assure myself that no wine had as yet
+been poured upon the powder I found in it.
+Satisfied at last that Mr. Benson had not yet
+taken his usual evening potion, I put the glass
+back and withdrew again to my retreat.</p>
+
+<p>I do not think another minute could have
+elapsed, before I heard a step in the room behind
+me. A door leading into an adjoining apartment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+had opened and Mr. Benson had come in.
+He passed immediately to the table, poured out
+the wine upon the powder, and drank it off without
+a moment's hesitation. I heard him sigh as
+he put the glass down.</p>
+
+<p>With a turn of my hand I slipped off both
+domino and mask, and prepared to announce
+my presence by tapping on the lintel of the door
+beside which I stood. But a sudden change in
+Mr. Benson's lofty figure startled me. He was
+swaying, and the arms which had fallen to his
+side were moving with a convulsive action that
+greatly alarmed me. But almost instantly he
+recovered himself, and paced with a steady step
+toward the hall door, which at that moment resounded
+with a short loud knock.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is there?" he asked, with every
+appearance of his usual sternness.</p>
+
+<p>"Hartley," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you alone?" the old gentleman again
+queried, making a move as if to unlock the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Carrie is with me; no one else," came in
+smothered accents from without.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Benson at once turned the key, but no
+sooner had he done so than he staggered back.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+For an instant or two of horror he stood oscillating
+from side to side, then his frame succumbed,
+and the terrified eyes of his children
+beheld his white head lying low, all movement
+and appearance of life gone from the form that
+but a moment before towered so proudly before
+them.</p>
+
+<p>With a shriek, the daughter flung herself down
+at his side, and even the cheek of Hartley
+Benson grew white as he leaned over his father's
+already inanimate body.</p>
+
+<p>"He is dead!" came in a wild cry from her
+lips. "See! he does not breathe. Oh! Hartley,
+what could have happened? Do you think
+that Joe&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" he exclaimed, with a furtive glance
+around him. "He may be here; let me look.
+<i>If Joe has done this</i>&mdash;" He did not continue,
+but rose, and with a rapid tread began to cross
+the floor in my direction.</p>
+
+<p>In a flash I realized my situation. To be
+found by him now, without a domino, and in the
+position of listener, would be any thing but
+desirable. But I knew of no way of escape, or
+so for the moment it seemed. But great emergencies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+call forth sudden resources. In the
+quick look I inadvertently threw around me, I
+observed that the <i>portière</i> hanging between me
+and the library was gathered at one side in very
+heavy folds. If I could hide behind them perhaps
+I might elude the casual glance he would
+probably cast into my place of concealment. At
+all events it was worth trying, and at the thought
+I glided behind the curtain. I was not disappointed
+in my calculations. Arrived at the
+door, he looked in, perceived the domino lying
+in a heap on the floor, and immediately drew
+back with an exclamation of undoubted satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"He is gone," said he, crossing back to his
+sister's side. Then in a tone of mingled irony
+and bitterness, hard to describe, cried aloud with
+a glance toward the open door: "He has first
+killed his father and then fled. Fool that I
+was to think he could be trusted!"</p>
+
+<p>A horrified "Hartley!" burst from his sister's
+lips and a suppressed but equally vehement
+"Villain!" from mine; but neither of us had
+time for more, for almost at the same instant
+the room filled with frightened guests, among<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+which I discerned the face and form of the old
+servant Jonas, and the flowing robes and the
+white garments of Uncle Joe and the graceful
+Edith.</p>
+
+<p>To describe the confusion that followed would
+be beyond my powers, especially as my attention
+was at the time not so much directed to the
+effect produced by this catastrophe, as to the
+man whom, from the moment Mr. Benson fell to
+the floor, I regarded as my lawful prey. He
+did not quake and lose his presence of mind in
+this terrible crisis. He was gifted with too much
+self-control to betray any unseemly agitation
+even over such a matter as his father's sudden
+death. Once only did I detect his lip tremble,
+and that was when an elderly gentleman (presumably
+a doctor) exclaimed after a careful
+examination of the fallen man:</p>
+
+<p>"This is no case of apoplexy, gentlemen!"</p>
+
+<p>Then indeed Mr. Hartley Benson shivered,
+and betrayed an emotion for which I considered
+myself as receiving a due explanation when, a
+few minutes later, I observed the same gentleman
+lay his hand upon the decanter and glass
+that stood on the table, and after raising them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+one after the other to his nose, slowly shake
+his head, and with a furtive look around him,
+lock them both in a small cupboard that opened
+over the mantel-piece.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h2>
+
+<h4>IN THE LIBRARY.</h4>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Benson was really dead. The fact
+being announced, most of the guests
+withdrew. In ten minutes after he fell, the
+room was comparatively clear. Only the various
+members of the family, together with the gentleman
+I have already mentioned, remained
+behind; and, even of these, the two ladies were
+absent, they having followed the body into the
+adjoining room, where it had been reverently
+carried by the attached Jonas and another servant
+whose face I did not see.</p>
+
+<p>"A most unlooked-for catastrophe," burst
+from the lips of Uncle Joe. "Did you ever
+suspect he was a victim to heart disease?" he
+now asked, this time with looks directed toward
+the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>"No," came from that gentleman in a short,
+sharp way, which made Hartley Benson's pale<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+face flush, though his eye did not waver from
+its steady solemn look toward the door through
+which his father's form had just been carried.
+"Mr. Benson was sound through and through a
+month ago. I know, because I examined him
+previous to his making his will. There was no
+heart disease then; that I am ready to take my
+oath upon."</p>
+
+<p>Hartley Benson's rigid look unfastened itself
+from the door and turned slowly toward the
+sombre face of the speaker, while Uncle Joe,
+with an increased expression of distress, looked
+slowly around as if he half hoped, half feared to
+behold his favorite nephew advance upon them
+from some shadowy corner.</p>
+
+<p>"My father consulted you, then?" said the
+former, in his slow, reserved way. "Did not
+that evince some suspicion of disease on his
+part?"</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly; a man in a despondent frame of
+mind will often imagine he has some deadly
+complaint or other. But he was quite sound;
+too sound, he seemed to think. Your father
+was not a happy man, Mr. Benson."</p>
+
+<p>There was meaning in the tone, and I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+not surprised to observe Hartley draw back.
+"Why," said he, "do you think&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I think nothing," broke in the doctor;
+"only"&mdash;and here he brought down his hand
+vigorously upon the table&mdash;"there has been
+prussic acid in the glass from which Mr. Benson
+drank this evening. The smell of bitter almonds
+is not to be mistaken."</p>
+
+<p>An interval of silent horror followed this announcement,
+then a vehement "Great Heaven!"
+broke from the lips of Uncle Joe, while Hartley
+Benson, growing more and more rigid in his
+bearing, fixed his eyes on the doctor's face and
+barely ejaculated:</p>
+
+<p>"Poison?"</p>
+
+<p>"I say this," continued the doctor, too intent
+upon his own theory to notice either the growth
+of a terrible fear on the face of Uncle Joe,
+or the equally remarkable expression of subdued
+expectation on that of the son, "because
+long experience has taught me the uselessness
+of trying to hide such a fact as suicide, and also
+because, being the coroner of the county, it is
+my duty to warn you that an investigation will
+have to take place which will require certain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+precautions on my part, such as the sealing up
+of his papers, etc."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true," came from the lips of both
+brother and son, over whom a visible change
+had passed at the word "suicide."</p>
+
+<p>"But I cannot think&mdash;" the former began in
+an agitated voice.</p>
+
+<p>"That my father would do such a deed,"
+interposed the latter. "It does not seem probable,
+and yet he was a very wretched man, and
+grief will often drive the best of us to despair."</p>
+
+<p>Uncle Joe gave his nephew a strange look,
+but said no more. The doctor went quietly on:</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know what your father's troubles
+were, but that he committed suicide I greatly
+fear, unless it can be proved the acid was taken
+by mistake, a conclusion which does not seem
+probable, for from the smell of the decanter it
+is evident the acid was mixed with the wine, in
+which I now remember advising him to take
+the nightly powder I prescribed to him for quite
+a trivial disorder a few days ago. The only
+thing that puzzles me is, why, if he meditated
+death, he should have troubled himself to take
+this powder. And yet it is certain he did take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+it, for there is still some of the sediment of it
+remaining in the bottom of the glass."</p>
+
+<p>"He took the powder because it was already
+in the glass," broke in Hartley, in a heavy tone
+of voice. "My sister put it there before she
+went up stairs to dress. I think she was afraid
+he would forget it. My father was very careless
+about small matters."</p>
+
+<p>"He was careful enough not to poison any
+one else in the family," quoth the doctor.
+"There was scarcely a drop left in the decanter;
+he took the whole dose."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, sirs, but is it suicide
+you are talking about?" cried a voice suddenly
+over their shoulders, making them all start.
+Jonas, the servant, had entered from the inner
+room, and unseen by all but myself, had been
+listening to the last few words as if his life
+depended upon what they had to say. "If it
+is, why I have a bit of an observation of my
+own to make that may help you to settle the
+matter."</p>
+
+<p>"You! What have you to say?" quoth
+the doctor, turning in surprise at the confident
+tone of voice in which the man spoke.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not much, I am sure," cried Hartley, to
+whom the appearance at that moment of his
+father's old servant was evidently most unwelcome.</p>
+
+<p>"That is for you to judge, gentlemen. I can
+only tell you what I've seen, and that not ten
+minutes ago. Mr. Hartley, do you mind the
+man in the yellow dress that was flitting about
+the parlors all the evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens!" burst in uncontrollable
+agitation from Uncle Joe; and he caught his
+nephew by the arm with a look that called
+back the old rigid expression to the latter's
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," was the quiet reply; "I remember
+seeing such a person."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sirs, I don't know as you will think
+any thing of it, but a little while ago I was
+walking up and down the balcony outside
+there, when I happened to look into this room,
+and I saw that man in the yellow dress leaning
+over this very table, looking into the wineglass
+Miss Carrie had put there for master.
+He had it in his hand, and his head was down
+very close to it, but what he did to it or to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+decanter either, I am sure, sirs, I don't know,
+for I was that frightened at seeing this spectre
+in the room master had kept locked all day,
+that I just slipped off the balcony and ran
+round the house to find Mr. Hartley. But you
+wasn't in the parlors, sir, nor Miss Carrie
+neither, and when I got to this room, there
+was master lying dead on the floor, and everybody
+crowding around him horror-struck."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" ejaculated the doctor, looking at
+Uncle Joe, who had sunk in a heap into the
+arm-chair his nephew abstractedly pushed toward
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, sirs," Jonas resumed, with great
+earnestness, "Mr. Benson, for some reason or
+other, had been very particular about keeping
+his own room to-day. The library door was
+locked as early as six this morning, and he
+would let no one in without first asking who
+was there. That's why I felt so dumbfoundered
+at seeing this yellow man in the room;
+besides&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But no sooner had the good man arrived at
+this point than he stopped, with a gasp, and
+after a quick look at Hartley, flushed, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+drew back in a state of great agitation and
+embarrassment. Evidently a suspicion had
+just crossed the mind of this old and attached
+servant as to whom the Yellow Domino might
+be.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," cried the doctor, "go on; let
+us hear the rest."</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I have nothing more to say," mumbled
+the man, while Hartley, with an equal display
+of embarrassment, motioned the discomfited
+servant to withdraw, and turned as if to hide
+his face over some papers on the table.</p>
+
+<p>"I think the man in the yellow domino had
+better be found," quoth the physician, dryly,
+glancing from Hartley to the departing form
+of the servant, with a sharp look. "At all
+events it would be well enough for us to know
+who he is."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see&mdash;" began Uncle Joe, but stopped
+as he perceived the face of Hartley Benson
+slowly composing itself. Evidently he was as
+much interested as myself in observing what
+this not-easily-to-be-understood man would
+say and do in this sudden crisis.</p>
+
+<p>We were not long left in doubt.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Doctor," he began, in a slow, hesitating
+tone, well calculated to produce the effect he
+desired, "we unfortunately already know who
+wore a yellow domino this evening. My brother
+Joe&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" implored his uncle, laying a hand
+on his nephew's arm with a quick look of
+distress not lost on the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>"Brother?" repeated the latter. "Pardon
+me, I did not know&mdash;&mdash;Ah, but I do remember
+now to have heard that Mr. Benson had
+another son."</p>
+
+<p>The face of Hartley grew graver and graver.
+"My brother has been alienated from my
+father for some time, so you have never seen
+him here. But to-night he hoped, or made me
+think he hoped, to effect a reconciliation; so I
+managed, with my sister, to provide him with
+the domino necessary to insure him an entrance
+here. Indeed, I did more; I showed him a
+private door by which he could find his way
+into the library, never suspecting any harm
+could come of son and father meeting even in
+this surreptitious way. I&mdash;I loved my brother,
+and notwithstanding the past, had confidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+in him. Nor can I think now he had any thing
+to do with the&mdash;&mdash;" Here the voice of this
+inimitable actor broke in well-simulated distress.
+He sank on a chair and put his hands
+before his face.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor had no reason to doubt this man.
+He therefore surveyed him with a look of grave
+regard.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Benson," said he, "you have my profoundest
+sympathy. A tragedy like this in a
+family of such eminent respectability, is enough
+to overwhelm the stoutest heart. If your brother
+is here&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Travis," broke in the other, rising and
+grasping the physician's hand with an appearance
+of manly impulse impressive in one usually
+so stern and self contained, "you are, or
+were, my father's friend; can you or will you
+be ours? Dreadful as it is to think, my father
+undoubtedly committed suicide. He had a
+great dread of this day. It is the anniversary
+of an occurrence harrowing for him to remember.
+My brother&mdash;you see I shall have to
+break the secrecy of years&mdash;was detected by
+him in the act of robbing his desk three years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+ago to-night, and upon each and every recurrence
+of the day, has returned to his father's
+house to beg for the forgiveness and restoration
+to favor which he lost by that deed of crime.
+Hitherto my father has been able to escape his
+importunities, by absence or the address of his
+servants, but to-day he seemed to have a premonition
+that his children were in league against
+him, notwithstanding Carrie's ruse of the ball,
+and the knowledge may have worked upon him
+to that extent that he preferred death to a sight
+of the son that had ruined his life and made
+him the hermit you have seen."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor fell into the trap laid for him with
+such diabolical art.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps; but if that is so, why is your
+brother not here? Only a few minutes could
+have elapsed between the time that Jonas saw
+him leaning over the table with the glass in his
+hand and the moment when you and your
+sister entered this room in face of your father's
+falling form. He must have been present,
+therefore, when your father came from his bedroom,
+if not when he drank the fatal glass; why,
+then, did he take such pains to escape, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+actuated by no keener emotion than horror at a
+father's suicide?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know, I cannot say; but that he
+himself put the poison in the decanter I will not
+believe. A thief is not necessarily a parricide.
+Even if he were in great straits and needed
+the money my father's will undoubtedly leaves
+him, he would think twice before he ran the
+risk of making Carrie and myself his natural
+enemies. No, no, if my father has died from
+poison, it was through a mistake, or by the
+administration of his own hand, never by that
+of Joe Benson's."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, and has anybody here present dared to
+charge <i>him</i> with such a deed!"</p>
+
+<p>With a start both gentlemen turned; an
+accusing spirit stood before them.</p>
+
+<p>"Edith!" broke from Hartley's lips. "This
+is no place for you! Go back! go back!"</p>
+
+<p>"My place is where the name of Joseph Benson
+is uttered," she proudly answered, "whether
+the words be for good or evil. I am his
+betrothed wife as you know, and again I ask,
+who has dared to utter an insinuation, however
+light, that he, the tender son and generous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+brother, has had a criminal hand in his father's
+awful death?"</p>
+
+<p>"No one! no one!" essayed Hartley, taking
+her hand with a weak attempt at soothing. "I
+was but saying&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But she turned from him with a gesture of
+repugnance, and taking a step toward the doctor,
+looked him entreatingly in the face. "You
+have not been expressing doubts of Mr. Benson's
+youngest son, because he happened to
+wear a disguise and be present when Mr. Benson
+fell? You do not know Joe, sir; nobody
+in this town knows him. His own father was
+ignorant of his worth; but we know him,
+Uncle Joe and I, and we know he could never
+do a deed that could stamp him either as a
+dishonorable or a criminal man. If Mr. Benson
+has died from poison, I should as soon think
+<i>this</i> man had a hand in it as his poor exiled
+brother." And in a burst of uncontrollable
+wrath and indignation, she pointed, with a sudden
+gesture, at the startled Hartley.</p>
+
+<p>But that worthy, though evidently taken
+aback, was not to be caught so easily.</p>
+
+<p>"Edith, you forget yourself," said he, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+studied self-possession. "The horrors of this
+dreadful occurrence have upset you. I do not
+wonder at it myself, but the doctor will not so
+readily understand you. Miss Underhill has
+been strangely attached to my brother," he
+went on, turning to the latter with an apologetic
+smile that made Uncle Joe grind his teeth in
+silent wrath. "They were engaged previous to
+the affair of which I have just made mention,
+and naturally she could never bring herself to
+consider him guilty of a crime which, once
+acknowledged, must necessarily act as a bar of
+separation between them. She calls him a
+martyr, a victim, an exile, any thing but what
+he actually is. Indeed, she seems really to
+believe in his innocence, while we,"&mdash;he
+paused and looked up at his sister Carrie who
+had entered the room,&mdash;"while we," he went on
+slowly and sadly, taking this new ally softly by
+the hand, "know only too well that the unhappy
+boy was in every respect guilty of the crime for
+which his father exiled him. But that is neither
+here nor there; the dreadful subject before us
+is not what he once did, but whether his being
+here to-night has had any thing to do with my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+father's death. I cannot think it has, and
+yet&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The subtle inflection of his voice spoke
+volumes. This great actor had evidently been
+driven to bay.</p>
+
+<p>"O Hartley!" came in a terrified cry from
+his sister; "what is this? You cannot think,
+they cannot think, Joe could do any thing so
+dreadful as that?" while over the face of
+Edith passed a look of despair, as she saw the
+countenance of the doctor slowly fill with the
+gloom of suspicion, and even the faithful Uncle
+Joe turn away as if he too had been touched
+by the blight of a secret doubt.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but I wish Joe were here himself!" she
+cried with startling emphasis. "He should
+speak, even if it brought ruin amongst us."</p>
+
+<p>But the doctor was a man not to be moved
+by so simple a thing as a woman's unreasoning
+emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the Yellow Domino would be very
+welcome just now," he allowed, with grim decision.</p>
+
+<p>"That he is not here is the most damning
+fact of all," Hartley slowly observed. "He fled
+when he saw our father fall."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But he shall come back," Edith vehemently
+declared.</p>
+
+<p>"If he does, I shall need no further proof of
+his innocence," said Uncle Joe.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I, so that he comes to-night," returned
+the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>"Then be satisfied, for here he is," I exclaimed
+from my retreat; and drawing the mask over
+my face, and hastily enveloping myself in the
+yellow domino, I stepped forth into full view
+of the crowd around the table.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE YELLOW DOMINO.</h4>
+
+
+<p>A mingled sound of shrieks and exclamations
+greeted me.</p>
+
+<p>"Joe!" cried Edith, bounding forward.</p>
+
+<p>But I waved her back, and turned with a
+severe gesture toward Hartley Benson.</p>
+
+<p>"What are your reasons," I demanded, "for
+thinking the poisoning that has taken place
+here was the work of the Yellow Domino?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you ask me?" he retorted, after a
+moment's pause, during which my voice
+echoed through the room, waking strange
+gleams of doubt on the faces of more than
+one person present. "You wish to dare me,
+then?" he hissed, coming a step nearer.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to know what the Yellow Domino
+has done that you or any one should consider
+him as responsible for the tragedy that has
+here taken place," I steadily replied.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Are you not my brother, then?" he cried,
+in mingled rage and anxiety. "Was it not you
+I met under the evergreens and supplied with
+a yellow domino, in order to give you the
+opportunity of seeing our father to-night and
+effecting the reconciliation which you had so
+long desired? Are you not he who afterward
+followed me to this room and hid himself in the
+closet from which you have just come, all for
+the purpose, as you said, of throwing yourself
+at your father's feet and begging pardon for a
+past of which you had long ago repented? Or
+are you some reckless buffoon who has presumed
+to step into the domino my brother left
+behind him, and careless of the terrible trouble
+that has overwhelmed this family, come here
+with your criminal jests to puzzle and alarm
+us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am the man to whom you gave the
+domino, if that is what you wish to know,
+Hartley Benson; and I am the man whom
+you led into the ambush of this closet, for such
+reasons as your own conscience must inform
+you. If the Yellow Domino put poison into
+Mr. Benson's wine, then upon me must lie the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+burden of the consequences, for I alone have
+worn the disguise of this mask from the
+moment we met under the evergreens till
+now, as I think may be proved by this gentleman
+you call Uncle Joe, and this lady you
+address as Edith."</p>
+
+<p>This mode of attack had the desired effect.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" burst from Hartley's lips,
+now blanched to the color of clay. "Unmask
+him, doctor; let us see the man who dares to
+play us tricks on such a night as this!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait!" cried I, motioning back not only the
+doctor, but Uncle Joe and the ladies&mdash;the whole
+group having started forward at Hartley's words.
+"Let us first make sure I am the Yellow
+Domino who has been paraded through the
+parlors this evening. Miss Benson, will you
+pardon me if I presume to ask you what were
+the words of salutation with which you greeted
+me to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" she cried, in a tremble of doubt and
+dismay, "I do not know as I can remember;
+something about being glad to see you, I
+believe, and my hope that your plans for the
+evening might succeed."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"To which," said I, "I made no audible
+reply, but pressed your hand in mine, with the
+certainty you were a <i>friend</i> though you had
+not used the word 'Counterfeit.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," she returned, blushing and wildly
+disturbed, as she had reason to be.</p>
+
+<p>"And you, Uncle Joe," I went on; "what
+were your words? How did you greet the man
+you had been told was your erring nephew?"</p>
+
+<p>"I said: 'To counterfeit wrong when one is
+right, necessarily opens one to a misunderstanding.'"</p>
+
+<p>"To which ambiguous phrase I answered,
+as you will remember, with a simple, 'That is
+true,' a reply by the way that seemed to arouse
+your curiosity and lead to strange revelations."</p>
+
+<p>"God defend us!" cried Uncle Joe.</p>
+
+<p>The exclamation was enough. I turned to
+the trembling Edith.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not attempt," said I, "to repeat or
+ask you to repeat any conversation which may
+have passed between us, for you will remember
+it was too quickly interrupted by Mr. Benson
+for us to succeed in uttering more than a dozen
+or so words. However, you will do me the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+kindness to acknowledge your belief that I am
+the man who stood with you behind the parlor
+curtains an hour ago."</p>
+
+<p>"I will," she replied, with a haughty lift of
+her head that spoke more loudly than her
+blushes.</p>
+
+<p>"It only remains, then, for Mr. Benson to assure
+himself I am the person who followed him
+to the closet. I know of no better way of his
+doing this than to ask him if he remembers the
+injunctions which he was pleased to give me,
+when he bestowed upon me this domino."</p>
+
+<p>"No,&mdash;that is,&mdash;whatever they were, they
+were given to the man I supposed to be my
+brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha, then; it was to your <i>brother</i>," I rejoined,
+"you gave that hint about the glass I
+would find on the library table; saying that if
+it did not smell of wine I would know your
+father had not had his nightly potion and
+would yet come to the library to drink it;&mdash;an
+intimation, as all will acknowledge, which
+could have but the one result of leading me to
+go to the table and take up the glass and look into
+it in the suspicious manner which has been reported
+to you."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He was caught in his own toils and saw it.
+Muttering a deep curse, he drew back, while a
+startled "Humph!" broke from the doctor, followed
+by a quick, "Is that true? Did you tell
+him that, Mr. Benson?"</p>
+
+<p>For reply the now thoroughly alarmed villain
+leaped at my throat. "Off with that toggery!
+Let us see your face! I shall and will know
+who you are."</p>
+
+<p>But I resisted for another moment while I
+added: "It is, then, established to your satisfaction
+that I am really the man who has worn the
+yellow domino this evening. Very well, now
+look at me, one and all, and say if you think I
+am likely to be a person to destroy Mr. Benson."
+And with a quick gesture I threw aside
+my mask, and yielded the fatal yellow domino
+to the impatient hands of Mr. Hartley Benson.</p>
+
+<p>The result was a cry of astonishment from those
+to whom the face thus revealed was a strange
+one, and a curse deep and loud from him to
+whom the shock of that moment's surprise must
+have been nearly overwhelming.</p>
+
+<p>"Villain!" he shrieked, losing his self-possession
+in a sudden burst of fury; "spy! informer!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+I understand it all now. You have been set
+over me by my brother. Instructed by him, you
+have dared to enter this house, worm yourself
+into its secrets, and by a deviltry only equalled
+by your presumption, taken advantage of your
+position to poison my father and fling the dreadful
+consequences of your crime in the faces of
+his mourning family. It was a plot well laid;
+but it is foiled, sir, foiled, as you will see when I
+have you committed to prison to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Benson," I returned, shaking him loose
+as I would a feather, "this is all very well; but
+in your haste and surprise you have made a
+slight mistake. You call me a spy; so I am;
+but a spy backed by the United States Government
+is not a man to be put lightly into prison.
+I am a detective, sir, connected at present with
+the Secret Service at Washington. My business
+is to ferret out crime and recognize a rogue
+under any disguise and in the exercise of any
+vile or deceptive practices." And I looked him
+steadily in the face.</p>
+
+<p>Then indeed his cheek turned livid, and the
+eye which had hitherto preserved its steadiness
+sought the floor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A detective!" murmured Miss Carrie, shrinking
+back from the cringing form of the brother
+whom, but a few hours before, she had deemed
+every thing that was noble and kind.</p>
+
+<p>"A detective!" echoed Edith, brightening like
+a rose in the sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>"In government employ!" repeated Uncle
+Joe, honoring me with a stare that was almost
+comic in its mingled awe and surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," I rejoined; "if any one doubts me,
+I have papers with me to establish my identity.
+By what means I find myself in this
+place, a witness of Mr. Benson's death and the
+<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'repositor'">repository</ins> of certain family secrets, it is not necessary
+for me to inform you. It is enough that
+I am here, have been here for a good hour,
+posted behind that curtain; that I heard Jonas'
+exclamation as he withdrew from the balcony,
+saw Mr. Benson come in from his bedroom,
+drink his glass of wine, and afterward fall at the
+feet of his son and daughter; and that having
+been here, and the witness of all this, I can swear
+that if Mr. Benson drank poison from yonder
+decanter, he drank poison that was put into
+it before either he or the Yellow Domino entered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+this room. Who put it there, it is for you to
+determine; my duty is done for to-night." And
+with a bow I withdrew from the group about
+me and crossed to the door.</p>
+
+<p>But Miss Carrie's voice, rising in mingled
+shame and appeal, stopped me. "Don't go,"
+said she; "not at least until you tell me where
+my brother Joseph is. Is he in this town, or
+has he planned this deception from a distance?
+I&mdash;I am an orphan, sir, who at one blow has
+lost not only a dearly beloved father but, as I
+fear, a brother too, in whom, up to this hour,
+I have had every confidence. Tell me, then, if
+any support is left for a most unhappy girl, or
+whether I must give up all hopes of even my
+brother Joe's sympathy and protection."</p>
+
+<p>"Your brother Joe," I replied, "has had
+nothing to do with my appearance here. He
+and I are perfect strangers; but if he is a tall,
+broad-shouldered, young man, shaped something
+like myself, but with a ruddy cheek and light
+curling hair, I can tell you I saw such a person
+enter the shrubbery at the southwest corner of
+the garden an hour or so ago."</p>
+
+<p>"No, he is here!" came in startling accents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+over my shoulders. And with a quick leap
+Joe Benson sprang by me and stood handsome,
+tall, and commanding in the centre of the room.
+"Hartley! Carrie! Edith! what is this I hear?
+My father stricken down, my father dying or
+dead, and I left to wander up and down through
+the shrubbery, while you knelt at his bedside
+and received his parting blessing? Is this the
+recompense you promised me, Hartley? this
+your sisterly devotion, Carrie? this your love
+and attention to my interests, Edith?"</p>
+
+<p>"O Joe, dear Joe, do not blame us!" Carrie
+made haste to reply. "We thought you were
+here. A man <i>was</i> here, that man behind you,
+simulating you in every regard, and to him we
+gave the domino, and from him we have
+learned&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What?" sprang in thundering tones from
+the young giant's throat as he wheeled on his
+heel and confronted me.</p>
+
+<p>"That your brother Hartley is a villain," I
+declared, looking him steadily in the eye.</p>
+
+<p>"God!" was his only exclamation as he turned
+slowly back and glanced toward his trembling
+brother.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said I, taking a step toward Uncle
+Joe, who, between his eagerness to embrace the
+new-comer and his dread of the consequences
+of this unexpected meeting, stood oscillating
+from one side to the other in a manner ridiculous
+enough to see, "what do you think of
+the propriety of uttering aloud and here, the
+suspicions which you were good enough to
+whisper into my ears an hour ago? Do you see
+any reason for altering your opinion as to which
+of the two sons of Mr. Benson invaded his desk
+and appropriated the bonds afterward found in
+their common apartment, when you survey the
+downfallen crest of the one and compare it with
+the unfaltering look of the other?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," he returned, roused into sudden energy
+by the start given by Hartley. And advancing
+between the brothers, he looked first at
+one and then at the other with a long, solemn
+gaze that called out the color on Hartley's pale
+cheek and made the crest of Joe rise still higher
+in manly pride and assertion. "Joe," said
+he, "for three years now your life has lain
+under a shadow. Accused by your father of a
+dreadful crime, you have resolutely refused to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+exonerate yourself, notwithstanding the fact
+that a dear young girl waited patiently for the
+establishment of your innocence in order to
+marry you. To your family this silence meant
+guilt, but to me and mine it has told only a tale
+of self-renunciation and devotion. Joe, was I
+right in this? was Edith right? The father
+you so loved, and feared to grieve, is dead.
+Speak, then: Did you or did you not take the
+bonds that were found in the cupboard at the
+head of your bed three years ago to-night? The
+future welfare, not only of this faithful child but
+of the helpless sister, who, despite her belief in
+your guilt, has clung to you with unwavering
+devotion, depends upon your reply."</p>
+
+<p>"Let my brother speak," was the young
+man's answer, given in a steady and nobly
+restrained tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Your brother will not speak," his uncle
+returned. "Don't you see you must answer
+for yourself? Say, then: Are you the guilty man
+your father thought you, or are you not? Let
+us hear, Joe."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not!" avowed the young man, bowing
+his head in a sort of noble shame that must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+have sent a pang of anguish through the heart
+of his brother.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I knew it, I knew it!" came from Edith's
+lips in a joyous cry, as she bounded to his side
+and seized him by one hand, just as his sister
+grasped the other in a burst of shame and
+contrition that showed how far she was removed
+from any participation in the evil machinations
+of her elder brother.</p>
+
+<p>The sight seemed to goad Hartley Benson to
+madness. Looking from one to the other, he
+uttered a cry that yet rings in my memory:
+"Carrie! Edith! do you both forsake me, and
+all because of a word which any villain might
+have uttered? Is this the truth and constancy
+of women? Is this what I had a right to expect
+from a sister, a&mdash;a friend? Carrie, you at
+least always gave me your trust,&mdash;will you take
+it away because a juggling spy and a recreant
+brother have combined to destroy me?"</p>
+
+<p>But beyond a wistful look and a solemn
+shake of the head, Carrie made no response,
+while Edith, with her eyes fixed on the agitated
+countenance of her lover, did not even seem to
+hear the words of pleading that were addressed
+to her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The shock of the disappointment was too
+much for Hartley Benson. Clenching his hand
+upon his breast, he gave one groan of anguish
+and despair and sank into a chair, inert and
+helpless. But before we could any of us take a
+step toward him, before the eyes of the doctor
+and mine could meet in mutual understanding,
+he had bounded again to his feet, and in a burst
+of desperation seized the chair in which he sat,
+and held it high above his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Fools! dotards!" he exclaimed, his eyes
+rolling in frenzy from face to face, but lingering
+longest on mine, as if there he read the true
+secret of his overthrow, as well as the promise
+of his future doom. "You think it is all over
+with me; that there is nothing left for you to
+do but to stand still and watch how I take my
+defeat. But I am a man who never acknowledges
+defeat. There is still a word I have to
+say that will make things a little more even
+between us. Listen for it, you. It will not be
+long in coming, and when you hear it, let my
+brother declare how much enjoyment he will
+ever get out of his victory."</p>
+
+<p>And whirling the chair about his head, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+plunged through our midst into the hall
+without.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant we stood stupefied, then
+Carrie Benson's voice rose in one long, thrilling
+cry, and with a bound she rushed toward the
+door. I put out my hand to stop her, but it
+was not necessary. Before she could cross the
+threshold the sudden, sharp detonation of a
+pistol-shot was heard in the hall, and we knew
+that the last dreadful word of that night's
+tragedy had been spoken.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The true secret of Hartley Benson's action in
+this matter was never discovered. That he
+planned his father's violent death, no one who
+was present at the above interview ever doubted.
+That he went further than that, and laid his
+plans in such a manner that the blame, if blame
+ensued, should fall upon his innocent brother,
+was equally plain, especially after the acknowledgment
+we received from Jonas, that he went
+out on the balcony and looked in the window
+at the special instigation of his young master.
+But why this arch villain, either at his own risk
+or at that of the man he hated, felt himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+driven to such a revolting crime, will never be
+known; unless, indeed, the solution be found
+in his undoubted passion for the beautiful Edith,
+and in the accumulated pressure of certain
+secret debts for whose liquidation he dared not
+apply to his father.</p>
+
+<p>I never revealed to this family the true
+nature of the motives which actuated me in my
+performance of the part I played that fatal
+night. It was supposed by Miss Carrie and the
+rest, that I was but obeying instructions given
+me by Mr. Benson; and I never undeceived
+them. I was too much ashamed of the curiosity
+which was the mainspring of my action to publish
+each and every particular of my conduct
+abroad; though I could not but congratulate
+myself upon its results when, some time afterward,
+I read of the marriage of Joe and Edith.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The counterfeiters were discovered and taken,
+but not by me.</p>
+
+<h4>
+FINIS.<br />
+</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> <p>Punctuation has been standardised.</p>
+
+<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of X Y Z, by Anna Katharine Green
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of X Y Z, 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: X Y Z
+       A Detective Story
+
+Author: Anna Katharine Green
+
+Release Date: September 10, 2010 [EBook #33695]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X Y Z ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Julia Neufeld and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    X
+
+    Y
+
+    Z
+
+    A DETECTIVE STORY
+
+    BY
+
+    ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
+
+    AUTHOR OF "THE LEAVENWORTH CASE," "A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE," ETC.
+
+    NEW YORK
+
+    G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+    27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET
+
+    1883
+
+
+
+
+    COPYRIGHT BY
+    G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+    1883
+
+
+
+
+X. Y. Z.
+
+A STORY TOLD BY A DETECTIVE.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS RENDEZVOUS.
+
+
+Sometimes in the course of his experience, a detective, while engaged in
+ferreting out the mystery of one crime, runs inadvertently upon the clue
+to another. But rarely has this been done in a manner more unexpected or
+with attendant circumstances of greater interest than in the instance I
+am now about to relate.
+
+For some time the penetration of certain Washington officials had been
+baffled by the clever devices of a gang of counterfeiters who had
+inundated the western portion of Massachusetts with spurious Treasury
+notes. Some of the best talent of the Secret Service had been expended
+upon the matter, but with no favorable result, when, one day, notice
+was received at Washington that a number of suspicious-looking letters,
+addressed to the simple initials, X. Y. Z., Brandon, Mass., were being
+daily forwarded through the mails of that region; and it being deemed
+possible that a clue had at last been offered to the mystery in hand, I
+was sent northward to investigate.
+
+It was in the middle of June, 1881, and the weather was simply
+delightful. As I stepped from the cars at Brandon and looked up the long
+straight street with its double row of maple trees sparkling fresh and
+beautiful in the noonday sun, I thought I had never seen a prettier
+village or entered upon any enterprise with a lighter or more hopeful
+heart.
+
+Intent on my task, I went straight to the post-office, and after coming
+to an understanding with the postmaster, proceeded at once to look over
+the mail addressed to the mysterious X. Y. Z.
+
+I found it to consist entirely of letters. They were about a dozen in
+number, and were, with one exception, similar in general appearance and
+manner of direction, though inscribed in widely different handwritings,
+and posted from various New England towns. The exception to which I
+allude had these few extra words written in the lower left-hand corner
+of the envelope: "_To be kept till called for._" As I bundled up the
+letters preparatory to thrusting them back into the box, I noticed that
+the latter was the only one in a blue envelope, all the others being in
+the various shades of cream-color and buff.
+
+"Who is in the habit of calling for these letters?" I asked of the
+postmaster.
+
+"Well," said he, "I don't know his name. The fact is nobody knows him
+around here. He usually drives up in a buggy about nightfall, calls for
+letters addressed to X. Y. Z., and having got them, whips up his horse
+and is off again before one can say a word."
+
+"Describe him," said I.
+
+"Well, he is very lean and very lank. In appearance he is both green and
+awkward. His complexion is pale, almost sickly. Were it not for his eye,
+which is keen and twinkling, I should call him an extremely
+inoffensive-looking person."
+
+The type was not new to me. "I should like to see him," said I.
+
+"You will have to wait till nightfall, then," returned the postmaster.
+"He never comes till about dusk. Drop in here, say at seven o'clock, and
+I will see that you have the opportunity of handing him his mail."
+
+I nodded acquiescence to this and sauntered out of the enclosure devoted
+to the uses of the post-office. As I did so I ran against a young man
+who was hurriedly approaching from the other end of the store.
+
+"Your pardon," he cried; and I turned to look at him, so gentlemanly was
+his tone, and so easy the bow with which he accompanied this simple
+apology.
+
+He was standing before the window of the post-office, waiting for his
+mail; a good-looking, well-made young man, of a fine countenance, but
+with a restless eye, whose alert yet anxious expression I could not but
+note even in the casual glance I gave him. There appeared to be some
+difficulty in procuring him his mail, and each minute he was kept
+waiting seemed to increase his impatience almost beyond the bounds of
+endurance. I saw him lean forward and gasp out a hurried word to the
+postmaster, and was idly wondering over his anxiety and its probable
+causes, when I heard a hasty exclamation near me, and looking around,
+saw the postmaster himself beckoning to me from the door of the
+enclosure. I immediately hastened forward.
+
+"I don't know what it means," he whispered; "but here is a young man,
+different from any who have been here before, asking for a letter
+addressed to X. Y. Z."
+
+"A letter?" I repeated.
+
+"Yes, a letter."
+
+"Give him the whole batch and see what he does," I returned, drawing
+back where I could myself watch the result of my instructions. The
+postmaster did as I requested. In another moment I saw the young man
+start with amazement as a dozen letters were put in his hand. "These are
+not all for me!" he cried, but even as he made the exclamation, drew to
+one side, and with a look of mingled perplexity and concern, began
+opening them one after another, his expression deepening to amazement as
+he glanced at their contents. The one in the blue envelope, however,
+seemed to awaken quite different emotions. With an unconscious look of
+relief, he hastily read the short letter it contained, then with a quick
+gesture, folded it up and thrust it back into the envelope he held,
+together with the other letters, in his left hand.
+
+"There must be another X. Y. Z.," said he, approaching the window of the
+post-office and handing back all the letters he had received, with the
+exception of the one in the blue envelope, which with a quick movement
+he had separated from the rest and thrust into his coat-pocket. "I can
+lay claim to none of these." And with a repetition of his easy bow he
+turned away and hurriedly quitted the store, followed by the eyes of
+clerks and customers, to whom he was evidently as much of a stranger as
+he was to me. Without hesitation I went to the door and looked after
+him. He was just crossing the street to the tavern on the other side of
+the way. I saw him enter, felt that he was safe to remain there for a
+few minutes, and conscious of the great opportunity awaiting me,
+hastened back to the postmaster.
+
+"Well," cried I, in secret exultation, "our plan has worked admirably.
+Let me see the letters. As they have been opened, and through no fault
+of ours, a peep at them now in the cause of justice will harm none but
+the guilty."
+
+The postmaster demurred, but I soon overcame his scruples; and taking
+down the letters once more, hastily investigated their contents. I own
+that I was considerably disappointed at the result. In fact, I found
+nothing that pointed toward the counterfeiters; only in each letter a
+written address, together with fifty cents' worth of stamps.
+
+"Some common fraud," I exclaimed. "One of those cheap affairs where, for
+fifty cents enclosed, a piece of information calculated to insure
+fortune to the recipient is promised by return of mail."
+
+And disgusted with the whole affair I bundled up the letters, and was
+about to replace them in the box for the third time when I discovered
+that it still held a folded paper. Drawing this out, I opened it and
+started in fresh amazement. If I was not very much mistaken in the
+appearance of the letter in the blue envelope which I had seen the
+young man read with so much interest, this was certainly it. But how
+came it here? Had I not seen him thrust it back into its envelope and
+afterward put envelope and all into his pocket? But here was no
+envelope, and here was the letter. By what freak of necromancy had it
+been transferred from its legitimate quarters to this spot? I could not
+imagine. Suddenly I remembered that his hand had been full of the other
+letters when he put, or endeavored to put, this special one back into
+its envelope, and however unaccountable it may seem, it must be that
+from haste or agitation he had only succeeded in thrusting it between
+two letters instead of into the envelope, as he supposed. Whether or not
+this explanation be true, there was no doubt about my luck being in the
+ascendant. Mastering my satisfaction, I read these lines written in what
+appeared to be a disguised hand.
+
+     "All goes well. The time has come; every thing is in train, and
+     success is certain. Be in the shrubbery at the northeast corner
+     of the grounds at 9 P.M. precisely; you will be given a mask
+     and such other means as are necessary to insure you the
+     accomplishment of the end you have in view. He cannot hold out
+     against a surprise. The word, by which you will know your
+     friends, is
+                                                   COUNTERFEIT."
+
+"Ah, ha!" thought I, "this is more like it." And moved by a sudden
+impulse, I hastily copied the letter into my memorandum-book, and then
+returning to the original, scratched out with my penknife the word
+northeast and carefully substituting that of southwest put the letter
+back into the box, in the hope that when he came to consult the envelope
+in his pocket (as he would be sure to do sooner or later) he would miss
+its contents and return to the post-office in search of it.
+
+Nor was I mistaken. I had scarcely accomplished my task, when he
+re-entered the store, asked to see the letters he had returned, and
+finding amongst them the one he had lost, disappeared with it back to
+the tavern. "If he is surprised to read southwest this time instead of
+northeast, he will think his memory played him false in the first
+instance," cried I, in inward comment over my last doubtful stroke of
+policy; and turning to the postmaster, I asked him what place there was
+in the vicinity which could be said to possess grounds and a shrubbery.
+
+"There is but one," he returned, "Mr. Benson's. All the rest of the
+folks are too poor to indulge in any such gimcracks."
+
+"And who is Mr. Benson?"
+
+"Well, he is Mr. Benson, the richest man in these parts and the least
+liked as I take it. He came here from Boston two years ago and built a
+house fit for a king to live in. Why, nobody knows, for he seems to take
+no pleasure in it. His children do though, and that is all he cares for
+I suppose. Young Mr. Benson especially seems to be never tired of
+walking about the grounds, looking at the trees and tying up the vines.
+Miss Carrie is different; all she wants is company. But little of that
+has her father ever allowed her till this very day. He seems to think
+nobody is good enough to sit down in his parlors; and yet he don't sit
+there himself, the strange man! but is always shut up in his library or
+some other out-of-the-way place."
+
+"A busy man?"
+
+"I suppose so, but no one ever sees any thing he does."
+
+"Writes, perhaps?"
+
+"I don't know; he never talks about himself."
+
+"How did he get his money?"
+
+"That we don't know. It seems to accumulate without his help or
+interference. When he came here he was called rich, but to-day he is
+said to be worth three times what he was then."
+
+"Perhaps he speculates?"
+
+"If he does, it must be through his son, for he never leaves home
+himself."
+
+"Has two children, you say?"
+
+"Yes, a son and a daughter: a famous young man, the son; not so much
+liked, perhaps, as universally respected. He is too severe and reticent
+to be a favorite, but no one ever found him doing any thing unworthy of
+himself. He is the pride of the county, and if he were a bit suaver in
+manner might have been in Congress at this minute."
+
+"How old?"
+
+"Thirty, I should say."
+
+"And the girl?"
+
+"Twenty-five, perhaps."
+
+"A mother living?"
+
+"No; there were some strange stories of her having died a year or so
+before they came here, under circumstances of a somewhat distressing
+nature, but they themselves say nothing about it."
+
+"It seems to me they don't say much about any thing."
+
+"That's just it; they are the most reserved people you ever saw. It
+isn't from them we have heard there is another son floating somewhere
+about the world. They never speak of him, and what's more, they never
+write to him; as who should know better than myself?"
+
+An interruption here occurred, and I took the opportunity to saunter out
+into the crowd of idlers always to be found hanging around a country
+store at mail-time. My purpose was, as you may conceive, to pick up any
+stray bits of information that might be floating about concerning these
+Bensons. Not that I had as yet discovered any thing definite connecting
+this respectable family with the gang of counterfeiters upon whose
+track I had been placed; but business is business, and no clue, however
+slight or unpromising in its nature, is to be neglected when the way is
+as dark as that which lay before me. With an easy smile, therefore,
+calculated to allay apprehension and awaken confidence, I took my stand
+among these loungers. But I soon found that I need do nothing to start
+the wheel of gossip on the subject of the Bensons. It was already going,
+and that with a force and spirit that almost took my breath away.
+
+"A fancy ball!" were the first words I heard. "The Bensons give a fancy
+ball, when they never had three persons at a time in their house
+before!"
+
+"Yes, and what's more, they are going to have folks over from Clayton
+and Lawrence and Hollowell and devil knows where. It's to be a smash up,
+a regular fandango, with masks and all that kind of nonsense."
+
+"They say Miss Carrie teased her father till he had to give in in
+self-defence. It's her birthday or something like that, and she _would_
+have a party."
+
+"But such a party! who ever heard the like in a respectable town like
+this! It's wicked, that's what I call it, downright wicked to cover up
+the face God has given you and go strutting around in clothes a
+Christian man might well think borrowed from the Evil One if he had to
+wear them in any decent company. All wrong, I say, all wrong, and I am
+astonished at Mr. Benson. To keep his doors shut as he has, and then to
+open them in a burst to all sorts of folly. We are not invited at our
+house."
+
+"Nor we, nor we," shouted some half dozen.
+
+"And I don't know of any one in this town who is," cried a burly man,
+presumably a butcher by trade. "We are not good enough for the Bensons.
+They say he is even going to be mean enough to shut the gates and not
+let a soul inside who hasn't a ticket. And they are going to light up
+the grounds too!"
+
+"We can peep through the fence."
+
+"Much we will see that way. If you had said climb it--"
+
+"We can't climb it. Big John is going to be there and Tom Henshaw. They
+mean to keep their good times to themselves, just as they have kept
+every thing else. It's a queer set they are anyway, and the less we
+have to do with them the better."
+
+"I should like to see Hartley Benson in masquerade costume, I would."
+
+"Oh, he won't wear any of the fol-de-rol; he's too dignified." And with
+that there fell a sudden hush over the crowd, for which I was at a loss
+to account, till, upon looking up, I saw approaching on horseback, a
+young man in whom I had no difficulty in recognizing the subject of the
+last remark.
+
+Straight, slight, elegant in appearance, but with an undoubted reserve
+of manner apparent even at a distance, he rode up to where I stood, and
+casting a slight glance around, bowed almost imperceptibly, and
+alighted. A boy caught the bridle of his horse, and Mr. Benson, without
+a word or further look, passed quickly into the office, leaving a
+silence behind him that was not disturbed till he returned with what was
+evidently his noonday mail. Remounting his horse, he stopped a moment to
+speak to a man who had just come up, and I seized the opportunity to
+study his face. I did not like it. It was handsome without doubt; the
+features were regular, the complexion fair, the expression gentlemanly
+if not commanding; but I did not like it. It was too impenetrable
+perhaps; and to a detective anxious to probe a man for his motives, this
+is ever a most fatal defect. His smile was without sunshine; his glance
+was an inquiry, a rebuke, a sarcasm, every thing but a revelation. As he
+rode away he carried with him the thought of all, yet I doubt if the
+admiration he undoubtedly inspired, was in a single case mixed with any
+warmer feeling than that of pride in a fellow townsman they could not
+understand. "Ice," thought I; "ice in all but its transparency!" So much
+for Benson the son.
+
+The ball was to take place that very night; and the knowledge of this
+fact threw a different light over the letter I had read. The word _mask_
+had no longer any special significance, neither the word _counterfeit_,
+and yet such was the tenor of the note itself, and such the exaggerated
+nature of its phrases, I could not but feel that some plot of a
+reprehensible if not criminal nature was in the process of formation,
+which, as a rising young detective engaged in a mysterious and elusive
+search, it behooved me to know. And moved by this consideration, I
+turned to a new leaf in my memorandum-book, and put down in black and
+white the following facts thus summarily collected:
+
+"A mysterious family with a secret.
+
+"Rich, but with no visible means of wealth.
+
+"Secluded, with no apparent reason for the same.
+
+"A father who is a hermit.
+
+"A son who is impenetrable.
+
+"A daughter whose tastes are seldom gratified.
+
+"The strange fact of a ball being given by this family after years of
+reserve and non-intercourse with their neighbors.
+
+"The still stranger fact of it being a masquerade, a style of
+entertainment which, from its novelty and the opportunities it affords,
+makes this departure from ordinary rules seem marked and startling.
+
+"The discovery of a letter appointing a rendezvous between two persons
+of the male sex, in the grounds of the party giving this ball, in which
+the opportunities afforded by a masquerade are to be used for forwarding
+some long-cherished scheme."
+
+At the bottom of this I wrote a deduction:
+
+"Some connection between one or more members of this family giving the
+ball, and the person called to the rendezvous; the entertainment being
+used as a blind if not as a means."
+
+It was now four o'clock, five hours before the time of rendezvous. How
+should I employ the interval? A glance at the livery-stable hard by,
+determined me. Procuring a horse, I rode out on the road toward Mr.
+Benson's, for the purpose of reconnoitring the grounds; but as I
+proceeded I was seized by an intense desire to penetrate into the midst
+of this peculiar household, and judge for myself whether it was worth
+while to cherish any further suspicions in regard to this family. But
+how to effect such an entrance? What excuse could I give for my
+intrusion that would be likely to serve me on a day of such tumult and
+preoccupation? I looked up and down the road as if for inspiration. It
+did not come. Meanwhile, the huge trees that surrounded the house had
+loomed in sight, and presently the beauties of lawn and parterre began
+to appear beyond the high iron fence, through which I could catch now
+and then short glimpses of hurrying forms, as lanterns were hung on the
+trees and all things put in readiness for the evening's entertainment.
+Suddenly a thought struck me. If Mr. Benson was the man they said, he
+was not engaged in any of these arrangements. Mr. Benson was a hermit.
+Now what could I say that would interest a hermit? I racked my brains; a
+single idea came. It was daring in its nature, but what of that! The
+gate must be passed, Mr. Benson must be seen--or so my adventurous
+curiosity decided,--and to do it, something must be ventured. Taking out
+my card, which was simply inscribed with my name, I wrote on it,
+"_Business private and immediate_," and assuming my most gentlemanly and
+inoffensive manner, rode calmly through the gate to the front of the
+house. If I had been on foot I doubt if I would have been allowed to
+pass by the servant lounging about in that region, but the horse carried
+me through in more senses than one, and almost before I realized it, I
+found myself pausing before the portico, in full view of a dozen or more
+busy men and boys.
+
+Imitating the manner of Mr. Benson at the post-office, I jumped from my
+horse and threw the bridle to the boy nearest me. Instantly and before I
+could take a step, a servant issued from the open door, and with an
+expression of anxiety somewhat surprising under the circumstances, took
+his stand before me in a way to hinder my advance.
+
+"Mr. Benson does not receive visitors to-day," said he.
+
+"I am not a visitor," replied I; "I have business with Mr. Benson," and
+I handed him my card, which he looked at with a doubtful expression.
+
+"Mr. Benson's commands are not to be disobeyed," persisted the man. "My
+master sees no one to-day."
+
+"But this is an exceptional case," I urged, my curiosity rising at this
+unexpected opposition. "My business is important and concerns him. He
+cannot refuse to see me."
+
+The servant shook his head with what appeared to me to be an unnecessary
+expression of alarm, but nevertheless retreated a step, allowing me to
+enter. "I will call Mr. Hartley," cried he.
+
+But that was just what I did not wish. It was Benson the father I had
+come to see, and I was not to be baffled in this way.
+
+"Mr. Hartley won't do," said I, in my lowest but most determined
+accents. "If Mr. Benson is not ill, I must beg to be admitted to his
+presence." And stepping inside the small reception room at my right, I
+sat down on the first chair I came to.
+
+The man stood for a moment confounded at my pertinacity, then with a
+last scrutinizing look, that took in every detail of my person and
+apparel, drew slowly off, shaking his head and murmuring to himself.
+
+Meanwhile the mingled splendor and elegance of my surroundings were
+slowly making their impression upon me. The hall by which I had entered
+was spacious and imposing; the room in which I sat, a model of beauty in
+design and finish. I was allowing myself the luxury of studying its
+pictures and numerous works of art, when the sound of voices reached my
+ear from the next room. A man and woman were conversing there in
+smothered tones, but my senses are very acute, and I had no difficulty
+in overhearing what was said.
+
+"Oh, what an exciting day this has been!" cried the female voice. "I
+have wanted to ask you a dozen times what you think of it all. Will he
+succeed this time? Has he the nerve to embrace his opportunity, or what
+is more, the tact to make one? Failure now would be fatal. Father--"
+
+"Hush!" broke in the other voice, in a masculine tone of repressed
+intensity. "Do not forget that success depends upon your prudence. One
+whisper of what you are about, and the whole scheme is destroyed."
+
+"I will be careful; only do you think that all is going well and as we
+planned it?"
+
+"It will not be my fault if it does not," was the reply, uttered with an
+accent so sinister I was conscious of a violent surprise when, in the
+next instant, the other, with a burst of affectionate fervor, cried in
+an ardent tone:
+
+"Oh, how good you are, and what a comfort you are to me!"
+
+I was just pondering over the incongruity thus presented, when the
+servant returned with my card.
+
+"Mr. Benson wishes to know the nature of your business," said he, in a
+voice I was uncomfortably conscious must penetrate to the next room and
+awake its inmates to a knowledge of my proximity.
+
+"Let me have the card," said I; and taking it, I added to my words the
+simple phrase, "_On behalf of the Constable of the town_," remembering I
+had heard the postmaster say this position was held by his brother.
+"There," said I, "carry that back to your master."
+
+The servant took the card, glanced down at the words I had written,
+started and hastily drew back. "You had better come," said he, leading
+the way into the hall.
+
+I was only too glad to comply; in fact, escape from that room seemed
+imperative. But just as I was crossing the threshold, a sudden, quick
+cry, half joyful, half fearful, rose behind me, and turning, I met the
+eyes of a young lady peering upon me from a lifted _portiere_, with an
+expression of mingled terror and longing that would have astonished me
+greatly, if it had not instantly disappeared at the first sight of my
+face.
+
+"Pardon me," she exclaimed, drawing back with an embarrassed movement
+into the room from which she had emerged. But soon recovering herself,
+she stepped hastily forward, and ignoring me, said to the servant at my
+side: "Jonas, who is this gentleman, and where are you taking him?"
+
+With a bow, Jonas replied: "He comes on business, miss, and Mr. Benson
+consents to see him."
+
+"But I thought my father had expressly commanded that no one was to be
+allowed to enter the library to-day," she exclaimed, but in a musing
+tone that asked for no response. And hastily as we passed down the hall,
+I could not escape the uneasy sense that her eager eyes were following
+us as we went.
+
+"Too much emotion for so small a matter, and a strange desire on the
+part of every one to keep Mr. Benson from being intruded upon to-day,"
+was my mental comment. And I was scarcely surprised when upon our
+arrival at the library door we found it locked. However, a knock,
+followed by a few whispered words on the part of the servant, served to
+arouse the hermit within, and with a quick turn of the key, the door
+flew back on its hinges, and the master of the house stood before me.
+
+It was a moment to be remembered: first, because the picture presented
+to my eyes was of a marked and impressive character; and secondly,
+because something in the expression of the gentleman before me showed
+that he had received a shock at my introduction which was not to be
+expected after the pains which had been taken to prepare his mind for my
+visit. He was a tall, remarkable-looking man, with a head already
+whitened, and a form which, if not bowed, had only retained its upright
+carriage by means of the indomitable will that betrayed itself in his
+eyes. Seen against the rich background of the stained-glass window that
+adorned one end of the apartment, his stern, furrowed face and eagerly
+repellant aspect imprinted itself upon me like a silhouette, while the
+strong emotion I could not but detect in his bearing, lent to the whole
+a poetic finish that made it a living picture which, as I have said, I
+have never been able to forget.
+
+"You have come from the constable of the town," said he, in a firm, hard
+tone, impressive as his look. "May I ask for what purpose?"
+
+Looking around, I saw the servant had disappeared. "Sir," said I,
+gathering up my courage, as I became convinced that in this case I had a
+thoroughly honest man to deal with, "you are going to give a fancy ball
+to-night. Such an event is a novelty in these parts, and arouses much
+curiosity. Some of the men about town have even been heard to threaten
+to leap the fences and steal a look at your company, whether you will or
+not. Mr. White wants to know whether you need any assistance in keeping
+the grounds clear of all but your legitimate guests; if so, he is ready
+to supply whatever force you may need."
+
+"Mr. White is very kind," returned Mr. Benson, in a voice which, despite
+his will-power, showed that his agitation had in some unaccountable way
+been increased by my communication. "I had not thought of any such
+contingency," he murmured, moving over to a window and looking out. "An
+invasion of rowdies would not be agreeable. They might even find their
+way into the house." He paused and cast a sudden look at me. "Who are
+you?" he abruptly asked.
+
+The question took me by surprise, but I answered bravely if not calmly:
+"I am a man who sometimes assists Mr. White in the performance of his
+duties, and in case you need it, will be the one to render you
+assistance to-night. A line to Mr. White, if you doubt me----"
+
+A wave of his meagre hand stopped me. "Do you think you could keep out
+of my house to-night, any one I did not wish to enter?" he asked.
+
+"I should at least like to try."
+
+"A ticket is given to every invited guest; but if men are going to climb
+the fences, tickets will amount to but little."
+
+"I will see that the fences are guarded," cried I, gratified at the
+prospect of being allowed upon the scene of action. "I can hinder any
+one from coming in that way, if----" Here I paused, conscious of
+something, I could hardly say what, that bade me be cautious and weigh
+my words well. "If you desire it and will give me the authority to act
+for you," I added in a somewhat more indifferent tone.
+
+"I do desire it," he replied shortly, moving over to the table and
+taking up a card. "Here is a ticket that will insure you entrance into
+the grounds; the rest you will manage without scandal. I do not want any
+disturbance, but if you see any one hanging about the house or peering
+into the windows or attempting to enter in any way except through the
+front door, you are to arrest them, no matter who they are. I have an
+especial reason for desiring my wishes attended to in this regard," he
+went on, not noticing the preoccupation that had seized me, "and will
+pay well if on the morrow I find that every thing has gone off according
+to my desires."
+
+"Money is a powerful incentive to duty," I rejoined, with marked
+emphasis, directing a sly glance at the mirror opposite, in whose depths
+I had but a moment before been startled by the sudden apparition of the
+pale and strongly agitated face of young Mr. Benson, who was peering
+from a door-way half hidden by a screen at our back. "I will be on hand
+to-night." And with what I meant to be a cynical look, I made my bow and
+disappeared from the room.
+
+As I expected, I was met at the front door by Mr. Hartley. "A word with
+you," said he. "Jonas tells me you are from the constable of the town.
+May I ask what has gone amiss that you come here to disturb my father on
+a day like this?"
+
+His tone was not unkind, his expression not without suavity. If I had
+not had imprinted on my memory the startling picture of his face as I
+had seen it an instant before in the mirror, I should have been tempted
+to believe in his goodness and integrity at this moment. As it was, I
+doubted him through and through, yet replied with frankness and showed
+him the ticket I had received from his father.
+
+"And you are going to make it your business to guard the grounds
+to-night?" he asked, gloomily glancing at the card in my hand as if he
+would like to annihilate it.
+
+"Yes," said I.
+
+He drew me into a small room half filled with plants.
+
+"Now," said he, "see here. Such a piece of interference is entirely
+uncalled for, and you have been alarming my father unnecessarily. There
+are no rowdies in this town, and if one or two of the villagers should
+get into the grounds, where is the harm? They cannot get into the house
+even if they wanted to, which they don't. I do not wish this, our first
+show of hospitality, to assume a hostile aspect, and whatever my
+father's expectations may be, I must request you to curtail your duties
+as much as possible and limit them to responding by your presence when
+called upon."
+
+"But your father has a right to expect the fullest obedience to his
+wishes," I protested. "He would not be satisfied if I should do no more
+than you request, and I cannot afford to disappoint him."
+
+He looked at me with a calculating eye, and I expected to see him put
+his hand in his pocket; but Hartley Benson played his cards better than
+that. "Very well," said he, "if you persist in regarding my father's
+wishes as paramount, I have nothing to say. Fulfil your duties as you
+conceive them, but don't look for my support if any foolish misadventure
+makes you ashamed of yourself." And drawing back, he motioned me out of
+the room.
+
+I felt I had received a check, and hurried out of the house. But
+scarcely had I entered upon the walk that led down to the gate, when I
+heard a light step behind me. Turning, I encountered the pretty daughter
+of the house, the youthful Miss Carrie.
+
+"Wait," she cried, allowing herself to display her emotion freely in
+face and bearing. "I have heard who you are from my brother," she
+continued, approaching me with a soft grace that at once put me upon my
+guard. "Now, tell me who are the rowdies that threaten to invade our
+grounds?"
+
+"I do not know their names, miss," I responded; "but they are a
+rough-looking set you would not like to see among your guests."
+
+"There are no very rough-looking men in our village," she declared; "you
+must be mistaken in regard to them. My father is nervous and easily
+alarmed. It was wrong to arouse his fears."
+
+I thought of that steady eye of his, of force sufficient to hold in awe
+a regiment of insurgents, and smiled at her opinion of my understanding.
+
+"Then you do not wish the grounds guarded," I said, in as indifferent a
+tone as I could assume.
+
+"I do not consider it necessary."
+
+"But I have already pledged myself to fulfil your father's commands."
+
+"I know," she said, drawing a step nearer, with a most enchanting smile.
+"And that was right under the circumstances; but we, his children, who
+may be presumed to know more of social matters than a recluse,--I,
+especially," she added, with a certain emphasis, "tell you it is not
+necessary. We fear the scandal it may cause; besides, some of the guests
+may choose to linger about the grounds under the trees, and would be
+rather startled at being arrested as intruders."
+
+"What, then, do you wish me to do?" I asked, leaning toward her, with an
+appearance of yielding.
+
+"To accept this money," she murmured, blushing, "and confine yourself
+to-night to remaining in the background unless called upon."
+
+This was a seconding of her brother's proposition with a vengeance.
+Taking the purse she handed me, I weighed it for a moment in my hand,
+and then slowly shook my head. "Impossible," I cried; "but"--and I fixed
+my eyes intently upon her countenance--"if there is any one in
+particular whom you desire me to ignore, I am ready to listen to a
+description of his person. It has always been my pleasure to accommodate
+myself as much as possible to the whims of the ladies."
+
+It was a bold stroke that might have cost me the game. Indeed, I half
+expected she would raise her voice and order some of the men about her
+to eject me from the grounds. But instead of that she remained for a
+moment blushing painfully, but surveying me with an unfaltering gaze
+that reminded me of her father's.
+
+"There _is_ a person," said she, in a low, restrained voice, "whom I am
+especially anxious should remain unmolested, whatever he may or may not
+be seen to do. He is a guest," she went on, a sudden pallor taking the
+place of her blushes, "and has a right to be here; but I doubt if he at
+once enters the house, and I even suspect he may choose to loiter awhile
+in the grounds before attempting to join the company. I ask you to allow
+him to do so."
+
+I bowed with an appearance of great respect. "Describe him," said I.
+
+For a moment she faltered, with a distressed look I found it difficult
+to understand. Then, with a sudden glance over my person, exclaimed:
+"Look in the glass when you get home and you will see the _fac-simile_
+of his form, though not of his face. He is fair, whereas you are dark."
+And with a haughty lift of her head calculated to rob me of any
+satisfaction I might have taken in her words, she stepped slowly back.
+
+I stopped her with a gesture. "Miss," said I, "take your purse before
+you go. Payment of any service I may render your father will come in
+time. This affair is between you and me, and I hope I am too much of a
+gentleman to accept money for accommodating a lady in so small a matter
+as this."
+
+But she shook her head. "Take it," said she, "and assure me that I may
+rely on you."
+
+"You may rely on me without the money," I replied, forcing the purse
+back into her hand.
+
+"Then I shall rest easy," she returned, and retreated with a lightsome
+air toward the house.
+
+The next moment I was on the highway with my thoughts. What did it all
+mean? Was it, then, a mere love affair across which I had foolishly
+stumbled, and was I busying myself unnecessarily about a rendezvous that
+might mean no more than an elopement from under a severe father's eye?
+Taking out the note which had led to all these efforts on my part, I
+read it for the third time.
+
+     "All goes well. The time has come; every thing is in train, and
+     success is certain. Be in the shrubbery at the northeast corner
+     of the grounds at 9 P.M. precisely; you will be given a mask
+     and such other means as are necessary to insure you the
+     accomplishment of the end you have in view. He cannot hold out
+     against a surprise. The word by which you will know your
+     friends is
+                                                   COUNTERFEIT."
+
+A love-letter of course; and I had been a fool to suppose it any thing
+else. The young people are to surprise the old gentleman in the presence
+of their friends. They have been secretly married perhaps, who knows,
+and take this method of obtaining a public reconciliation. But that word
+"_Counterfeit_," and the sinister tone of Hartley Benson as he said: "It
+shall not fail through lack of effort on my part!" Such a word and such
+a tone did not rightly tally with this theory. Few brothers take such
+interest in their sister's love affairs as to grow saturnine over them.
+There was, beneath all this, something which I had not yet penetrated.
+Meantime my duty led me to remain true to the one person of whose
+integrity of purpose I was most thoroughly convinced.
+
+Returning to the village, I hunted up Mr. White and acquainted him with
+what I had undertaken in his name; and then perceiving that the time was
+fast speeding by, strolled over to the tavern for my supper.
+
+The stranger was still there, walking up and down the sitting-room. He
+joined us at the table, but I observed he scarcely tasted his food, and
+both then and afterward manifested the same anxious suspense that had
+characterized his movements from the time of our first encounter.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+THE BLACK DOMINO.
+
+
+At half past eight I was at my post. The mysterious stranger, still
+under my direct surveillance, had already entered the grounds and taken
+his stand in the southwest corner of the shrubbery, thereby leaving me
+free to exercise my zeal in keeping the fences and gates free of
+intruders. At nine the guests were nearly if not all assembled; and
+promptly at the hour mentioned in the note so often referred to, I stole
+away from my post and hid myself amid the bushes that obscured the real
+place of rendezvous.
+
+It was a retired spot, eminently fitted for a secret meeting. The lamps,
+which had been hung in profusion through the grounds, had been
+studiously excluded from this quarter. Even the broad blaze of light
+that poured from the open doors and windows of the brilliantly
+illuminated mansion, sent no glimmer through the broad belt of
+evergreens that separated this retreat from the open lawn beyond. All
+was dark, all was mysterious, all was favorable to the daring plan I had
+undertaken. In silence I awaited the sound of approaching steps.
+
+My suspense was of short duration. In a few moments I heard a low rustle
+in the bushes near me, then a form appeared before my eyes, and a man's
+voice whispered:
+
+"Is there any one here?"
+
+My reply was to glide quietly into view.
+
+Instantly he spoke again, this time with more assurance.
+
+"Are you ready for a counterfeit?"
+
+"I am ready for any thing," I returned, in smothered tones, hoping by
+thus disguising my voice, to lure him into a revelation of the true
+purpose of this mysterious rendezvous.
+
+But instead of the explanations I expected, the person before me made a
+quick movement, and I felt a domino thrown over my shoulders.
+
+"Draw it about you well," he murmured; "there are lynx eyes in the crowd
+to-night." And while I mechanically obeyed, he bent down to my ear and
+earnestly continued: "Now listen, and be guided by my instructions. You
+will not be able to enter by the front door, as it is guarded, and you
+cannot pass without removing your mask. But the window on the left-hand
+balcony is at your service. It is open, and the man appointed to keep
+intruders away, has been bribed to let you pass. Once inside the house,
+join the company _sans ceremonie_; and do not hesitate to converse with
+any one who addresses you by the countersign. Promptly at ten o'clock
+look around you for a domino in plain black. When you see him move,
+follow him, but with discretion, so that you may not seem to others to
+be following. Sooner or later he will pause and point to a closed door.
+Notice that door, and when your guide has disappeared, approach and
+enter it without fear or hesitation. You will find yourself in a small
+apartment connecting with the library.
+
+"There is but one thing more to say. If the wineglass you will observe
+on the library table smells of wine, you may know your father has had
+his nightly potion and gone to bed. But if it contains nothing more than
+a small white powder, you may be certain he has yet to return to the
+library, and that by waiting, you will have the long-wished-for
+opportunity of seeing him."
+
+And pausing for no reply, my strange companion suddenly thrust a mask
+into my hand and darted from the circle of trees that surrounded us.
+
+For a moment I stood dumbfounded at the position in which my
+recklessness had placed me. All the folly, the impertinence even, of the
+proceeding upon which I had entered, was revealed to me in its true
+colors, and I mentally inquired what could have induced me to thus
+hamper myself with the details of a mystery so entirely removed from the
+serious matter I had in charge. Resolved to abandon the affair, I made a
+hasty attempt to disengage myself from the domino in which I had been so
+unceremoniously enveloped. But invisible hands seemed to restrain me. A
+vivid remembrance of the tone in which these final instructions had been
+uttered returned to my mind, and while I recognized the voice as that of
+Hartley Benson, I also recognized the almost saturnine intensity of
+expression which had once before imbued his words with a significance
+both forcible and surprising. The secret, if a purely family one, was of
+no ordinary nature; and at the thought I felt my old interest revive.
+All the excuses with which I had hitherto silenced my conscience
+recurred to me with fresh force, and mechanically donning my mask, I
+prepared to follow out my guide's instructions to the last detail.
+
+The window to which I had been directed stood wide open. Through it came
+the murmur of music and the hum of gay voices. Visions of a motley crowd
+decked in grotesque costumes passed constantly before my eyes. Sight and
+sound combined to allure me. Hurrying to the window, I stepped
+carelessly in.
+
+A low guttural "Hugh!" at once greeted me. It was from a mask in full
+Indian costume, whom I saw leaning with a warrior's well-known dignity
+against the embrasure of the window by which I had entered. Giving him a
+scrutinizing glance, I came to the conclusion he was a young and not
+inelegant man; and impelled by a reasonable curiosity as to how I looked
+myself, I cast my eyes down upon my own person. I found my appearance
+sufficiently striking. The domino, in which I was wrapped was of a
+brilliant yellow hue, covered here and there with black figures
+representing all sorts of fantastic creatures, from hobgoblins of a
+terrible type, to merry Kate Greenaway silhouettes. "Humph!" thought I,
+"it seems I am not destined to glide unnoticed amid the crowd."
+
+The first person who approached me was a gay little shepherdess.
+
+"Ah, ha!" was the sportive exclamation with which she greeted me. "Here
+is one of my wandering sheep!" And with a laugh, she endeavored to hook
+me to her side by means of her silver crook.
+
+But this blithesome puppet possessed no interest for me. So with a growl
+and a bound I assured her I was nothing more than a wolf in sheep's
+clothing, and would eat her up if she did not run away; at which she
+gayly laughed and vanished, and for a moment I was left alone. But only
+for a moment. A masked lady, whom I had previously observed standing
+upright and solitary in a distant corner of the room, now approached,
+and taking me by the arm, led me eagerly to one side.
+
+"Oh, Joe!" she whispered, "is it you? How glad I am to have you here,
+and how I hope we are going to be happy at last!"
+
+Fearing to address a person seemingly so well acquainted with the young
+man whose place I had usurped, I merely pressed, with most perfidious
+duplicity, the little hand that was so confidingly clasped in mine. It
+seemed to satisfy her, for she launched at once into ardent speech.
+
+"Oh, Joe, I have been so anxious to have you with us once again! Hartley
+is a good brother, but he is not my old playmate. Then father will be so
+much happier if you only succeed in making him forget the past."
+
+Seeing by this that it was Miss Carrie Benson with whom I had to deal, I
+pressed the little hand again, and tenderly drew her closer to my side.
+That I felt all the time like a villain of the blackest dye, it is quite
+unnecessary for me to state.
+
+"Has Hartley told you just what you are to do?" was her next remark.
+"Father is very determined not to relent and has kept himself locked in
+his library all day, for fear you should force yourself upon his
+presence. I could never have gained his consent to give this ball if I
+had not first persuaded him it would serve as a means to keep you at a
+distance; that if you saw the house thronged with guests, natural
+modesty would restrain you from pushing yourself forward. I think he
+begins to distrust his own firmness. He fears he will melt at the sight
+of you. He has been failing this last year and--" A sudden choke stopped
+her voice.
+
+I was at once both touched and alarmed; touched at the grief which
+showed her motives to be pure and good, and alarmed at the position in
+which I had thrust myself to the apparent detriment of these same
+laudable motives. Moved by a desire to right matters, I ventured to
+speak:
+
+"And do you think," I whispered, in purposely smothered accents, "that
+if he sees me he will relent?"
+
+"I am sure of it. He yearns over you, Joe; and if he had not sworn never
+to speak to you again, he would have sent for you long ago. Hartley
+believes as well as I that the time for reconciliation has come."
+
+"And is Hartley," I ventured again, not without a secret fear of the
+consequences, "really anxious for reconciliation?"
+
+"Oh, Joe! can you doubt it? Has he not striven from the first to make
+father forget? Would he encourage you to come here to-night, furnish you
+with a disguise, and consent to act both as your champion and adviser,
+if he did not want to see you and father friends again? You don't
+understand Hartley; you never have. You would not have repelled his
+advances so long, if you had realized how truly he had forgiven every
+thing and forgotten it. Hartley has the pride of a person who has never
+done wrong himself. But even pride gives way before brotherly affection;
+and you have suffered so much and so long, poor Joe!"
+
+"So, so," thought I, "Joe is then the aggressor!" And for a moment, I
+longed to be the man I represented, if only to clasp this dear little
+sister in my arms and thank her for her goodness. "You are a darling," I
+faintly articulated, inwardly determined to rush forthwith into the
+garden, hand over my domino to the person for whom it was intended, and
+make my escape from a scene which I had so little right to enjoy. But
+at this instant an interruption occurred which robbed me of my
+companion, but kept me effectually in my place. A black domino swept by
+us, dragging Miss Benson from my side, while at the same time a harsh
+voice whispered in my ear:
+
+"To counterfeit wrong when one is right, necessarily opens one to
+misunderstanding."
+
+I started, recognizing in this mode of speech a _friend_, and therefore
+one from whom I could not escape without running the risk of awakening
+suspicion.
+
+"That is true," I returned, hoping by my abrupt replies to cut short
+this fresh colloquy and win a speedy release.
+
+But something in my answer roused the interest of the person at my side,
+and caused a display of emotion that led to quite an opposite result
+from what I desired.
+
+"You awaken a thousand conjectures in my mind by that reply," exclaimed
+my friend, edging me a little farther back from the crowd. "I have
+always had my doubts about--about--" he paused, hunting for the proper
+phrase--"about your having done what they said," he somewhat lamely
+concluded. "It was so unlike you. But now I begin to see the presence of
+a possibility that might perhaps explain much we never understood. Joe,
+my boy, you never said you were innocent, but----"
+
+"Who are you?" I asked boldly, peering into the twinkling eyes that
+shone upon me from his sedate mask. "In the discussion of such matters
+as these, it would be dreadful to make a mistake."
+
+"And don't you recognize your Uncle Joe?" he asked, with a certain
+plaintive reproach somewhat out of keeping with his costume of "potent,
+grave, and reverend signior." "I came over from Hollowell on purpose,
+because Carrie intimated that you were going to make one final effort to
+see your father. Edith is here too," he murmured, thrusting his face
+alarmingly near mine. "She would not stay away, though we were all
+afraid she might betray herself; her emotions are so quick. Poor child!
+_she_ never doubted you; and if my suspicions are correct----"
+
+"Edith?" I interrupted,--"Edith?" An Edith was the last person I
+desired to meet under these circumstances. "Where is she?" I tremulously
+inquired, starting aside in some dismay at the prospect of encountering
+this unknown quantity of love and devotion.
+
+But my companion, seizing me by the arm, drew me back. "She is not far
+away; of that you may be sure. But it will never do for you to try and
+hunt her up. You would not know her in her mask. Besides, if you remain
+still she will come to you."
+
+That was just what I feared, but upon looking round and seeing no
+suspicious-looking damsel anywhere near me, I concluded to waive my
+apprehensions on her account and proceed to the development of an idea
+that had been awakened by the old gentleman's words.
+
+"You are right," I acquiesced, edging, in my turn, toward the curtained
+recess of a window near by. "Let us wait here, and meantime you shall
+tell me what your suspicions are, for I feel the time has come for the
+truth to be made known, and who could better aid me in proclaiming it
+than you who have always stood my friend?"
+
+"That is true," he murmured, all eagerness at once. Then in a lower tone
+and with a significant gesture: "There _is_ something, then, which has
+never been made known? Edith was right when she said you did not steal
+the bonds out of your father's desk?"
+
+As he paused and looked me in the face, I was obliged to make some
+reply. I chose one of the non-committal sort.
+
+"Don't ask me!" I murmured, turning away with every appearance of
+profound agitation.
+
+He did not suspect the ruse.
+
+"But, my boy, I shall have to ask you; if I am to help you out of this
+scrape, I must know the truth. Yet if it is as I suspect, I can see why
+you should hesitate even now. You are a generous fellow, Joe, but even
+generosity can be carried past its proper limits."
+
+"Uncle," I exclaimed, leaning over him and whispering tremulously in his
+ear, "what are your suspicions? If I hear you give utterance to them,
+perhaps it will not be so hard for me to speak."
+
+He hesitated, looked all about us with a questioning glance, put his
+mouth to my ear, and whispered:
+
+"If I should use the name of Hartley in connection with what I have to
+say, would you be so very much surprised?"
+
+With a quick semblance of emotion, I drew back.
+
+"You think--" I tremulously commenced, and as suddenly broke off.
+
+"That it was he who did it, and that you, knowing how your father loved
+him and built his hopes upon him, bore the blame of it yourself."
+
+"Ha!" I exclaimed, with a deep breath as of relief. The suspicions of
+Uncle Joe were worth hearing.
+
+He seemed to be satisfied with the ejaculation, and with an increase of
+eagerness in his tone, went quickly on:
+
+"Am I not right, my boy? Is not this the secret of your whole conduct
+from that dreadful day to this?"
+
+"Don't ask me," I again pleaded, taking care, however, to draw a step
+nearer and exclaim in almost the same breath: "Why should you think it
+must necessarily have been one of us? What did _you_ know that you
+should be so positive it was either he or I who committed this
+dishonest action?"
+
+"What did I know? Why, what everybody else did. That your father,
+hearing a noise in his study one night, rose up quietly and slipped to
+the door of communication in time to hear a stealthy foot leave the room
+and proceed down the hall toward the apartment usually occupied by you
+and your brother; that, alarmed and filled with vague distrust, he at
+once lit the lamp, only to discover his desk had been forcibly broken
+into and a number of coupon bonds taken out; that, struck to the heart,
+he went immediately to the room where you and your brother lay, found
+him lying quiet, and to all appearance asleep, while you looked flushed
+and with difficulty met his eye; that without hesitation he thereupon
+accused you of theft, and began to search the apartment; that he found
+the bonds, as we both know, in a cupboard at the head of your bed, and
+when you were asked if you had put them there you remained silent, and
+neither then nor afterward made any denial of being the one who stole
+them."
+
+A mournful "Yes" was all the reply I ventured upon.
+
+"Now it never seemed to occur to your father to doubt your guilt. The
+open window and the burglar's jimmy found lying on the floor of the
+study, being only so many proofs, to his mind, of your deep calculation
+and great duplicity. But I could not help thinking, even on that
+horrible morning, that your face did not wear a look of guilt so much as
+it did that of firm and quiet resolution. But I was far from suspecting
+the truth, my boy, or I should never have allowed you to fall a victim
+to your father's curse, and be sent forth like a criminal from home and
+kindred. If only for Edith's sake I would have spoken--dear, trusting,
+faithful girl that she is!"
+
+"But--but--" I brokenly ejaculated, anxious to gain as much of the truth
+as was possible in the few minutes allotted me; "what has awakened your
+suspicions at this late day? Why should you doubt Hartley now, if you
+did not then?"
+
+"Well, I cannot really say. Perhaps Edith's persistent aversion to your
+brother has had something to do with it. Then he has grown cold and
+hard, while you have preserved your boyish freshness and affection. I--I
+don't like him, that is the truth; and with my dislike arose doubts,
+and--and--well, I cannot tell how it is, but I will believe you if you
+say he was the one to blame in this matter; and what is more, your
+father will believe you too; for he does not feel the same satisfaction
+in Hartley's irreproachable character that he used to, and--and--"
+
+A sudden movement in the crowd stopped him. A tall, graceful-looking
+woman clad entirely in white had just entered the room and seemed to be
+making her way toward us.
+
+"There is Edith!" he declared. "She is hunting for the yellow domino
+ornamented with black that she has been told conceals her lover. Shall I
+go and fetch her here, or will you wait until she spies you of her own
+accord?"
+
+"I will wait," I uneasily replied, edging nearer to the window with the
+determination of using it as a means of escape if my companion only gave
+me the chance. "See! she is in the hands of an old Jew, who seems to be
+greatly taken with the silver trimmings on her sleeves. Suppose you
+improve the opportunity to slip away," I laughingly suggested. "Lovers'
+meetings are not usually of an order to interest third parties."
+
+"Aren't they, you rogue!" retorted the old gentleman, giving me a jocose
+poke in the ribs. "Well, well, I suppose you are right. But you have not
+told me--"
+
+"I will tell you every thing in an hour," I hastily assured him. "I am
+going to meet my father in the library, and after he has heard the
+truth, you shall be admitted and all will be explained."
+
+"That is only fair," he replied. "Your father has the first rights, of
+course. But Joe, my boy, remember I am not over and above patient of
+disposition, and don't keep me waiting too long." And with an
+affectionate squeeze of my hand, he stepped out from the recess where we
+stood and made his way once more into the throng.
+
+No sooner had he left my side than I threw up the window. "Now is the
+time for the real Joe to appear upon the scene," was my mental
+decision. "I have done for him what he as a gentleman would probably
+never do for himself--pumped this old party and got every thing in trim
+for Hartley's discomfiture. But the courting business is another matter;
+also the interview with the outraged father in the library. That cannot
+be done by proxy; so here goes for a change of actors."
+
+And with reckless disregard of consequences, I prepared to jump from the
+window, when a sudden light flashed over the lawn beneath and I saw I
+was at least twelve feet from the ground.
+
+"Well," I exclaimed, drawing hastily back; "such a leap as that is too
+much to expect of any man!" And with the humiliating consciousness of
+being caught in a trap, I proceeded to close the window.
+
+"Joe!"
+
+'Twas a low whisper, but how thrilling! Turning, I greeted, with the
+show of fervor I considered necessary to the occasion, the white-veiled
+lady who had glided into my retreat.
+
+"Did you think I was never coming, Joe? Everybody who could get in my
+way certainly managed to do so. Then Hartley is so suspicious, and
+followed me with his eyes so persistently, I did not dare show my
+designs too plainly. It is only this minute he left my side. If you had
+been anywhere else I do not know as I should have succeeded even now in
+getting a word with you--oh!"
+
+This exclamation was called forth by a sudden movement that took place
+near us. The curtain was drawn back and a tall man dressed in a black
+domino glanced in, gave us a scrutinizing look, bowed, and dropped the
+curtain again.
+
+"Hartley," she whisperingly explained.
+
+I took her by the hand; there was no help for it; gesture and a
+lover-like demeanor must, in this case, supply the place of speech.
+
+"Hush!" she entreated. (Not that I had spoken.) "I dare not stay. When
+you have seen your father, perhaps I will have courage to join you; but
+now it would be better for me to go." And her eyes roamed toward the
+curtain, while the little hand I held in mine grew cold and slightly
+trembled.
+
+I pressed that little hand, but, as you may well believe, did not urge
+her to remain. Yet she did not seem in a hurry to depart, and I do not
+know what complications might have ensued, if another movement in the
+curtain had not reawakened her fears and caused her, notwithstanding her
+evident reluctance, to start quickly away.
+
+I did not linger long behind her. Scarcely had the curtain fallen from
+her hand than I stepped hastily forth. But alas for my hopes of escape!
+No sooner had I joined the group of merry-makers circling about the open
+door, than I felt a touch on my arm, and looking up, saw before me the
+Black Domino. The hour of ten had struck and my guide to the library was
+at hand. There was no alternative left me but to follow him.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+AN UNEXPECTED CALAMITY.
+
+
+Five minutes passed, during which I threaded more laughing groups and
+sauntered down more mysterious passage-ways than I would care to count.
+Still the mysterious Black Domino glided on before me, leading me from
+door to door till my patience was nearly exhausted, and I had well-nigh
+determined to give him the slip and make my way at once to the garden,
+and the no-doubt-by-this-time-highly-impatient Joe.
+
+But before I had the opportunity of carrying out this scheme, the
+ominous Black Domino paused, and carelessly pointing to a door at the
+termination of a narrow corridor, bowed, and hastily withdrew.
+
+"Now," said I, as soon as I found myself alone, "shall I proceed with
+this farce, or shall I end it? To go on means to interview Mr. Benson,
+acquaint him with what has come to my knowledge during the last half
+hour in which I have so successfully personified his son, and by these
+means perhaps awake him to the truth concerning this serious matter of
+Joseph's innocence or Hartley's guilt; while to stop now implies nothing
+more nor less than a full explanation with his son, a man of whose
+character, manners, and disposition I know little or nothing."
+
+Either alternative presented infinite difficulties, but of the two the
+former seemed to me more feasible and less embarrassing. At all events,
+in talking with Mr. Benson, I should not have the sensibilities of a
+lover to contend with, and however unfortunate in its results our
+interview might be, would be at the mercy of old blood instead of young,
+a point always to be considered in a case where one's presumption has
+been carried beyond the bounds of decorum.
+
+Unlocking the door, I stepped, as I had been told I should, into a small
+room adjoining the library. All around me were books. Even the door by
+which I had entered was laden with them, so that when it was closed, all
+vestige of the door itself disappeared. Across the opening into the
+library stood a screen, and it was not until I had pushed this somewhat
+aside that I was able to look into that room.
+
+My first glance assured me it was empty. Stark and bare of any occupant,
+the high-backed chairs loomed in the funereal gloom, while on the table,
+toward which I inadvertently glanced, stood a decanter with a solitary
+wineglass at its side. Instantly I remembered what had been told me
+concerning that glass, and stepping forward, I took it up and looked at
+it.
+
+Immediately I heard, or thought I heard, an exclamation uttered
+somewhere near me. But upon glancing up and down the room and perceiving
+no one, I concluded I was mistaken, and deliberately proceeded to
+examine the wineglass and assure myself that no wine had as yet been
+poured upon the powder I found in it. Satisfied at last that Mr. Benson
+had not yet taken his usual evening potion, I put the glass back and
+withdrew again to my retreat.
+
+I do not think another minute could have elapsed, before I heard a step
+in the room behind me. A door leading into an adjoining apartment had
+opened and Mr. Benson had come in. He passed immediately to the table,
+poured out the wine upon the powder, and drank it off without a moment's
+hesitation. I heard him sigh as he put the glass down.
+
+With a turn of my hand I slipped off both domino and mask, and prepared
+to announce my presence by tapping on the lintel of the door beside
+which I stood. But a sudden change in Mr. Benson's lofty figure startled
+me. He was swaying, and the arms which had fallen to his side were
+moving with a convulsive action that greatly alarmed me. But almost
+instantly he recovered himself, and paced with a steady step toward the
+hall door, which at that moment resounded with a short loud knock.
+
+"Who is there?" he asked, with every appearance of his usual sternness.
+
+"Hartley," was the reply.
+
+"Are you alone?" the old gentleman again queried, making a move as if to
+unlock the door.
+
+"Carrie is with me; no one else," came in smothered accents from
+without.
+
+Mr. Benson at once turned the key, but no sooner had he done so than he
+staggered back. For an instant or two of horror he stood oscillating
+from side to side, then his frame succumbed, and the terrified eyes of
+his children beheld his white head lying low, all movement and
+appearance of life gone from the form that but a moment before towered
+so proudly before them.
+
+With a shriek, the daughter flung herself down at his side, and even the
+cheek of Hartley Benson grew white as he leaned over his father's
+already inanimate body.
+
+"He is dead!" came in a wild cry from her lips. "See! he does not
+breathe. Oh! Hartley, what could have happened? Do you think that Joe--"
+
+"Hush!" he exclaimed, with a furtive glance around him. "He may be here;
+let me look. _If Joe has done this_--" He did not continue, but rose,
+and with a rapid tread began to cross the floor in my direction.
+
+In a flash I realized my situation. To be found by him now, without a
+domino, and in the position of listener, would be any thing but
+desirable. But I knew of no way of escape, or so for the moment it
+seemed. But great emergencies call forth sudden resources. In the quick
+look I inadvertently threw around me, I observed that the _portiere_
+hanging between me and the library was gathered at one side in very
+heavy folds. If I could hide behind them perhaps I might elude the
+casual glance he would probably cast into my place of concealment. At
+all events it was worth trying, and at the thought I glided behind the
+curtain. I was not disappointed in my calculations. Arrived at the door,
+he looked in, perceived the domino lying in a heap on the floor, and
+immediately drew back with an exclamation of undoubted satisfaction.
+
+"He is gone," said he, crossing back to his sister's side. Then in a
+tone of mingled irony and bitterness, hard to describe, cried aloud with
+a glance toward the open door: "He has first killed his father and then
+fled. Fool that I was to think he could be trusted!"
+
+A horrified "Hartley!" burst from his sister's lips and a suppressed but
+equally vehement "Villain!" from mine; but neither of us had time for
+more, for almost at the same instant the room filled with frightened
+guests, among which I discerned the face and form of the old servant
+Jonas, and the flowing robes and the white garments of Uncle Joe and the
+graceful Edith.
+
+To describe the confusion that followed would be beyond my powers,
+especially as my attention was at the time not so much directed to the
+effect produced by this catastrophe, as to the man whom, from the moment
+Mr. Benson fell to the floor, I regarded as my lawful prey. He did not
+quake and lose his presence of mind in this terrible crisis. He was
+gifted with too much self-control to betray any unseemly agitation even
+over such a matter as his father's sudden death. Once only did I detect
+his lip tremble, and that was when an elderly gentleman (presumably a
+doctor) exclaimed after a careful examination of the fallen man:
+
+"This is no case of apoplexy, gentlemen!"
+
+Then indeed Mr. Hartley Benson shivered, and betrayed an emotion for
+which I considered myself as receiving a due explanation when, a few
+minutes later, I observed the same gentleman lay his hand upon the
+decanter and glass that stood on the table, and after raising them one
+after the other to his nose, slowly shake his head, and with a furtive
+look around him, lock them both in a small cupboard that opened over the
+mantel-piece.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+IN THE LIBRARY.
+
+
+Mr. Benson was really dead. The fact being announced, most of the guests
+withdrew. In ten minutes after he fell, the room was comparatively
+clear. Only the various members of the family, together with the
+gentleman I have already mentioned, remained behind; and, even of these,
+the two ladies were absent, they having followed the body into the
+adjoining room, where it had been reverently carried by the attached
+Jonas and another servant whose face I did not see.
+
+"A most unlooked-for catastrophe," burst from the lips of Uncle Joe.
+"Did you ever suspect he was a victim to heart disease?" he now asked,
+this time with looks directed toward the doctor.
+
+"No," came from that gentleman in a short, sharp way, which made Hartley
+Benson's pale face flush, though his eye did not waver from its steady
+solemn look toward the door through which his father's form had just
+been carried. "Mr. Benson was sound through and through a month ago. I
+know, because I examined him previous to his making his will. There was
+no heart disease then; that I am ready to take my oath upon."
+
+Hartley Benson's rigid look unfastened itself from the door and turned
+slowly toward the sombre face of the speaker, while Uncle Joe, with an
+increased expression of distress, looked slowly around as if he half
+hoped, half feared to behold his favorite nephew advance upon them from
+some shadowy corner.
+
+"My father consulted you, then?" said the former, in his slow, reserved
+way. "Did not that evince some suspicion of disease on his part?"
+
+"Possibly; a man in a despondent frame of mind will often imagine he has
+some deadly complaint or other. But he was quite sound; too sound, he
+seemed to think. Your father was not a happy man, Mr. Benson."
+
+There was meaning in the tone, and I was not surprised to observe
+Hartley draw back. "Why," said he, "do you think--"
+
+"I think nothing," broke in the doctor; "only"--and here he brought down
+his hand vigorously upon the table--"there has been prussic acid in the
+glass from which Mr. Benson drank this evening. The smell of bitter
+almonds is not to be mistaken."
+
+An interval of silent horror followed this announcement, then a vehement
+"Great Heaven!" broke from the lips of Uncle Joe, while Hartley Benson,
+growing more and more rigid in his bearing, fixed his eyes on the
+doctor's face and barely ejaculated:
+
+"Poison?"
+
+"I say this," continued the doctor, too intent upon his own theory to
+notice either the growth of a terrible fear on the face of Uncle Joe, or
+the equally remarkable expression of subdued expectation on that of the
+son, "because long experience has taught me the uselessness of trying to
+hide such a fact as suicide, and also because, being the coroner of the
+county, it is my duty to warn you that an investigation will have to
+take place which will require certain precautions on my part, such as
+the sealing up of his papers, etc."
+
+"That is true," came from the lips of both brother and son, over whom a
+visible change had passed at the word "suicide."
+
+"But I cannot think--" the former began in an agitated voice.
+
+"That my father would do such a deed," interposed the latter. "It does
+not seem probable, and yet he was a very wretched man, and grief will
+often drive the best of us to despair."
+
+Uncle Joe gave his nephew a strange look, but said no more. The doctor
+went quietly on:
+
+"I do not know what your father's troubles were, but that he committed
+suicide I greatly fear, unless it can be proved the acid was taken by
+mistake, a conclusion which does not seem probable, for from the smell
+of the decanter it is evident the acid was mixed with the wine, in which
+I now remember advising him to take the nightly powder I prescribed to
+him for quite a trivial disorder a few days ago. The only thing that
+puzzles me is, why, if he meditated death, he should have troubled
+himself to take this powder. And yet it is certain he did take it, for
+there is still some of the sediment of it remaining in the bottom of the
+glass."
+
+"He took the powder because it was already in the glass," broke in
+Hartley, in a heavy tone of voice. "My sister put it there before she
+went up stairs to dress. I think she was afraid he would forget it. My
+father was very careless about small matters."
+
+"He was careful enough not to poison any one else in the family," quoth
+the doctor. "There was scarcely a drop left in the decanter; he took the
+whole dose."
+
+"I beg your pardon, sirs, but is it suicide you are talking about?"
+cried a voice suddenly over their shoulders, making them all start.
+Jonas, the servant, had entered from the inner room, and unseen by all
+but myself, had been listening to the last few words as if his life
+depended upon what they had to say. "If it is, why I have a bit of an
+observation of my own to make that may help you to settle the matter."
+
+"You! What have you to say?" quoth the doctor, turning in surprise at
+the confident tone of voice in which the man spoke.
+
+"Not much, I am sure," cried Hartley, to whom the appearance at that
+moment of his father's old servant was evidently most unwelcome.
+
+"That is for you to judge, gentlemen. I can only tell you what I've
+seen, and that not ten minutes ago. Mr. Hartley, do you mind the man in
+the yellow dress that was flitting about the parlors all the evening?"
+
+"Good heavens!" burst in uncontrollable agitation from Uncle Joe; and he
+caught his nephew by the arm with a look that called back the old rigid
+expression to the latter's face.
+
+"Yes," was the quiet reply; "I remember seeing such a person."
+
+"Well, sirs, I don't know as you will think any thing of it, but a
+little while ago I was walking up and down the balcony outside there,
+when I happened to look into this room, and I saw that man in the yellow
+dress leaning over this very table, looking into the wineglass Miss
+Carrie had put there for master. He had it in his hand, and his head was
+down very close to it, but what he did to it or to the decanter either,
+I am sure, sirs, I don't know, for I was that frightened at seeing this
+spectre in the room master had kept locked all day, that I just slipped
+off the balcony and ran round the house to find Mr. Hartley. But you
+wasn't in the parlors, sir, nor Miss Carrie neither, and when I got to
+this room, there was master lying dead on the floor, and everybody
+crowding around him horror-struck."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated the doctor, looking at Uncle Joe, who had sunk in a
+heap into the arm-chair his nephew abstractedly pushed toward him.
+
+"You see, sirs," Jonas resumed, with great earnestness, "Mr. Benson, for
+some reason or other, had been very particular about keeping his own
+room to-day. The library door was locked as early as six this morning,
+and he would let no one in without first asking who was there. That's
+why I felt so dumbfoundered at seeing this yellow man in the room;
+besides----"
+
+But no sooner had the good man arrived at this point than he stopped,
+with a gasp, and after a quick look at Hartley, flushed, and drew back
+in a state of great agitation and embarrassment. Evidently a suspicion
+had just crossed the mind of this old and attached servant as to whom
+the Yellow Domino might be.
+
+"Well, well," cried the doctor, "go on; let us hear the rest."
+
+"I--I have nothing more to say," mumbled the man, while Hartley, with an
+equal display of embarrassment, motioned the discomfited servant to
+withdraw, and turned as if to hide his face over some papers on the
+table.
+
+"I think the man in the yellow domino had better be found," quoth the
+physician, dryly, glancing from Hartley to the departing form of the
+servant, with a sharp look. "At all events it would be well enough for
+us to know who he is."
+
+"I don't see--" began Uncle Joe, but stopped as he perceived the face of
+Hartley Benson slowly composing itself. Evidently he was as much
+interested as myself in observing what this not-easily-to-be-understood
+man would say and do in this sudden crisis.
+
+We were not long left in doubt.
+
+"Doctor," he began, in a slow, hesitating tone, well calculated to
+produce the effect he desired, "we unfortunately already know who wore a
+yellow domino this evening. My brother Joe----"
+
+"Hush!" implored his uncle, laying a hand on his nephew's arm with a
+quick look of distress not lost on the doctor.
+
+"Brother?" repeated the latter. "Pardon me, I did not know----Ah, but I
+do remember now to have heard that Mr. Benson had another son."
+
+The face of Hartley grew graver and graver. "My brother has been
+alienated from my father for some time, so you have never seen him here.
+But to-night he hoped, or made me think he hoped, to effect a
+reconciliation; so I managed, with my sister, to provide him with the
+domino necessary to insure him an entrance here. Indeed, I did more; I
+showed him a private door by which he could find his way into the
+library, never suspecting any harm could come of son and father meeting
+even in this surreptitious way. I--I loved my brother, and
+notwithstanding the past, had confidence in him. Nor can I think now he
+had any thing to do with the----" Here the voice of this inimitable
+actor broke in well-simulated distress. He sank on a chair and put his
+hands before his face.
+
+The doctor had no reason to doubt this man. He therefore surveyed him
+with a look of grave regard.
+
+"Mr. Benson," said he, "you have my profoundest sympathy. A tragedy like
+this in a family of such eminent respectability, is enough to overwhelm
+the stoutest heart. If your brother is here----"
+
+"Dr. Travis," broke in the other, rising and grasping the physician's
+hand with an appearance of manly impulse impressive in one usually so
+stern and self contained, "you are, or were, my father's friend; can you
+or will you be ours? Dreadful as it is to think, my father undoubtedly
+committed suicide. He had a great dread of this day. It is the
+anniversary of an occurrence harrowing for him to remember. My
+brother--you see I shall have to break the secrecy of years--was
+detected by him in the act of robbing his desk three years ago
+to-night, and upon each and every recurrence of the day, has returned to
+his father's house to beg for the forgiveness and restoration to favor
+which he lost by that deed of crime. Hitherto my father has been able to
+escape his importunities, by absence or the address of his servants, but
+to-day he seemed to have a premonition that his children were in league
+against him, notwithstanding Carrie's ruse of the ball, and the
+knowledge may have worked upon him to that extent that he preferred
+death to a sight of the son that had ruined his life and made him the
+hermit you have seen."
+
+The doctor fell into the trap laid for him with such diabolical art.
+
+"Perhaps; but if that is so, why is your brother not here? Only a few
+minutes could have elapsed between the time that Jonas saw him leaning
+over the table with the glass in his hand and the moment when you and
+your sister entered this room in face of your father's falling form. He
+must have been present, therefore, when your father came from his
+bedroom, if not when he drank the fatal glass; why, then, did he take
+such pains to escape, if actuated by no keener emotion than horror at a
+father's suicide?"
+
+"I do not know, I cannot say; but that he himself put the poison in the
+decanter I will not believe. A thief is not necessarily a parricide.
+Even if he were in great straits and needed the money my father's will
+undoubtedly leaves him, he would think twice before he ran the risk of
+making Carrie and myself his natural enemies. No, no, if my father has
+died from poison, it was through a mistake, or by the administration of
+his own hand, never by that of Joe Benson's."
+
+"Ah, and has anybody here present dared to charge _him_ with such a
+deed!"
+
+With a start both gentlemen turned; an accusing spirit stood before
+them.
+
+"Edith!" broke from Hartley's lips. "This is no place for you! Go back!
+go back!"
+
+"My place is where the name of Joseph Benson is uttered," she proudly
+answered, "whether the words be for good or evil. I am his betrothed
+wife as you know, and again I ask, who has dared to utter an
+insinuation, however light, that he, the tender son and generous
+brother, has had a criminal hand in his father's awful death?"
+
+"No one! no one!" essayed Hartley, taking her hand with a weak attempt
+at soothing. "I was but saying----"
+
+But she turned from him with a gesture of repugnance, and taking a step
+toward the doctor, looked him entreatingly in the face. "You have not
+been expressing doubts of Mr. Benson's youngest son, because he happened
+to wear a disguise and be present when Mr. Benson fell? You do not know
+Joe, sir; nobody in this town knows him. His own father was ignorant of
+his worth; but we know him, Uncle Joe and I, and we know he could never
+do a deed that could stamp him either as a dishonorable or a criminal
+man. If Mr. Benson has died from poison, I should as soon think _this_
+man had a hand in it as his poor exiled brother." And in a burst of
+uncontrollable wrath and indignation, she pointed, with a sudden
+gesture, at the startled Hartley.
+
+But that worthy, though evidently taken aback, was not to be caught so
+easily.
+
+"Edith, you forget yourself," said he, with studied self-possession.
+"The horrors of this dreadful occurrence have upset you. I do not wonder
+at it myself, but the doctor will not so readily understand you. Miss
+Underhill has been strangely attached to my brother," he went on,
+turning to the latter with an apologetic smile that made Uncle Joe grind
+his teeth in silent wrath. "They were engaged previous to the affair of
+which I have just made mention, and naturally she could never bring
+herself to consider him guilty of a crime which, once acknowledged, must
+necessarily act as a bar of separation between them. She calls him a
+martyr, a victim, an exile, any thing but what he actually is. Indeed,
+she seems really to believe in his innocence, while we,"--he paused and
+looked up at his sister Carrie who had entered the room,--"while we," he
+went on slowly and sadly, taking this new ally softly by the hand, "know
+only too well that the unhappy boy was in every respect guilty of the
+crime for which his father exiled him. But that is neither here nor
+there; the dreadful subject before us is not what he once did, but
+whether his being here to-night has had any thing to do with my
+father's death. I cannot think it has, and yet----"
+
+The subtle inflection of his voice spoke volumes. This great actor had
+evidently been driven to bay.
+
+"O Hartley!" came in a terrified cry from his sister; "what is this? You
+cannot think, they cannot think, Joe could do any thing so dreadful as
+that?" while over the face of Edith passed a look of despair, as she saw
+the countenance of the doctor slowly fill with the gloom of suspicion,
+and even the faithful Uncle Joe turn away as if he too had been touched
+by the blight of a secret doubt.
+
+"Ah, but I wish Joe were here himself!" she cried with startling
+emphasis. "He should speak, even if it brought ruin amongst us."
+
+But the doctor was a man not to be moved by so simple a thing as a
+woman's unreasoning emotion.
+
+"Yes, the Yellow Domino would be very welcome just now," he allowed,
+with grim decision.
+
+"That he is not here is the most damning fact of all," Hartley slowly
+observed. "He fled when he saw our father fall."
+
+"But he shall come back," Edith vehemently declared.
+
+"If he does, I shall need no further proof of his innocence," said Uncle
+Joe.
+
+"Nor I, so that he comes to-night," returned the doctor.
+
+"Then be satisfied, for here he is," I exclaimed from my retreat; and
+drawing the mask over my face, and hastily enveloping myself in the
+yellow domino, I stepped forth into full view of the crowd around the
+table.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+THE YELLOW DOMINO.
+
+
+A mingled sound of shrieks and exclamations greeted me.
+
+"Joe!" cried Edith, bounding forward.
+
+But I waved her back, and turned with a severe gesture toward Hartley
+Benson.
+
+"What are your reasons," I demanded, "for thinking the poisoning that
+has taken place here was the work of the Yellow Domino?"
+
+"Do you ask me?" he retorted, after a moment's pause, during which my
+voice echoed through the room, waking strange gleams of doubt on the
+faces of more than one person present. "You wish to dare me, then?" he
+hissed, coming a step nearer.
+
+"I wish to know what the Yellow Domino has done that you or any one
+should consider him as responsible for the tragedy that has here taken
+place," I steadily replied.
+
+"Are you not my brother, then?" he cried, in mingled rage and anxiety.
+"Was it not you I met under the evergreens and supplied with a yellow
+domino, in order to give you the opportunity of seeing our father
+to-night and effecting the reconciliation which you had so long desired?
+Are you not he who afterward followed me to this room and hid himself in
+the closet from which you have just come, all for the purpose, as you
+said, of throwing yourself at your father's feet and begging pardon for
+a past of which you had long ago repented? Or are you some reckless
+buffoon who has presumed to step into the domino my brother left behind
+him, and careless of the terrible trouble that has overwhelmed this
+family, come here with your criminal jests to puzzle and alarm us?"
+
+"I am the man to whom you gave the domino, if that is what you wish to
+know, Hartley Benson; and I am the man whom you led into the ambush of
+this closet, for such reasons as your own conscience must inform you. If
+the Yellow Domino put poison into Mr. Benson's wine, then upon me must
+lie the burden of the consequences, for I alone have worn the disguise
+of this mask from the moment we met under the evergreens till now, as I
+think may be proved by this gentleman you call Uncle Joe, and this lady
+you address as Edith."
+
+This mode of attack had the desired effect.
+
+"Who are you?" burst from Hartley's lips, now blanched to the color of
+clay. "Unmask him, doctor; let us see the man who dares to play us
+tricks on such a night as this!"
+
+"Wait!" cried I, motioning back not only the doctor, but Uncle Joe and
+the ladies--the whole group having started forward at Hartley's words.
+"Let us first make sure I am the Yellow Domino who has been paraded
+through the parlors this evening. Miss Benson, will you pardon me if I
+presume to ask you what were the words of salutation with which you
+greeted me to-night?"
+
+"Oh!" she cried, in a tremble of doubt and dismay, "I do not know as I
+can remember; something about being glad to see you, I believe, and my
+hope that your plans for the evening might succeed."
+
+"To which," said I, "I made no audible reply, but pressed your hand in
+mine, with the certainty you were a _friend_ though you had not used the
+word 'Counterfeit.'"
+
+"Yes, yes," she returned, blushing and wildly disturbed, as she had
+reason to be.
+
+"And you, Uncle Joe," I went on; "what were your words? How did you
+greet the man you had been told was your erring nephew?"
+
+"I said: 'To counterfeit wrong when one is right, necessarily opens one
+to a misunderstanding.'"
+
+"To which ambiguous phrase I answered, as you will remember, with a
+simple, 'That is true,' a reply by the way that seemed to arouse your
+curiosity and lead to strange revelations."
+
+"God defend us!" cried Uncle Joe.
+
+The exclamation was enough. I turned to the trembling Edith.
+
+"I shall not attempt," said I, "to repeat or ask you to repeat any
+conversation which may have passed between us, for you will remember it
+was too quickly interrupted by Mr. Benson for us to succeed in uttering
+more than a dozen or so words. However, you will do me the kindness to
+acknowledge your belief that I am the man who stood with you behind the
+parlor curtains an hour ago."
+
+"I will," she replied, with a haughty lift of her head that spoke more
+loudly than her blushes.
+
+"It only remains, then, for Mr. Benson to assure himself I am the person
+who followed him to the closet. I know of no better way of his doing
+this than to ask him if he remembers the injunctions which he was
+pleased to give me, when he bestowed upon me this domino."
+
+"No,--that is,--whatever they were, they were given to the man I
+supposed to be my brother."
+
+"Ha, then; it was to your _brother_," I rejoined, "you gave that hint
+about the glass I would find on the library table; saying that if it did
+not smell of wine I would know your father had not had his nightly
+potion and would yet come to the library to drink it;--an intimation, as
+all will acknowledge, which could have but the one result of leading me
+to go to the table and take up the glass and look into it in the
+suspicious manner which has been reported to you."
+
+He was caught in his own toils and saw it. Muttering a deep curse, he
+drew back, while a startled "Humph!" broke from the doctor, followed by
+a quick, "Is that true? Did you tell him that, Mr. Benson?"
+
+For reply the now thoroughly alarmed villain leaped at my throat. "Off
+with that toggery! Let us see your face! I shall and will know who you
+are."
+
+But I resisted for another moment while I added: "It is, then,
+established to your satisfaction that I am really the man who has worn
+the yellow domino this evening. Very well, now look at me, one and all,
+and say if you think I am likely to be a person to destroy Mr. Benson."
+And with a quick gesture I threw aside my mask, and yielded the fatal
+yellow domino to the impatient hands of Mr. Hartley Benson.
+
+The result was a cry of astonishment from those to whom the face thus
+revealed was a strange one, and a curse deep and loud from him to whom
+the shock of that moment's surprise must have been nearly overwhelming.
+
+"Villain!" he shrieked, losing his self-possession in a sudden burst of
+fury; "spy! informer! I understand it all now. You have been set over
+me by my brother. Instructed by him, you have dared to enter this house,
+worm yourself into its secrets, and by a deviltry only equalled by your
+presumption, taken advantage of your position to poison my father and
+fling the dreadful consequences of your crime in the faces of his
+mourning family. It was a plot well laid; but it is foiled, sir, foiled,
+as you will see when I have you committed to prison to-morrow."
+
+"Mr. Benson," I returned, shaking him loose as I would a feather, "this
+is all very well; but in your haste and surprise you have made a slight
+mistake. You call me a spy; so I am; but a spy backed by the United
+States Government is not a man to be put lightly into prison. I am a
+detective, sir, connected at present with the Secret Service at
+Washington. My business is to ferret out crime and recognize a rogue
+under any disguise and in the exercise of any vile or deceptive
+practices." And I looked him steadily in the face.
+
+Then indeed his cheek turned livid, and the eye which had hitherto
+preserved its steadiness sought the floor.
+
+"A detective!" murmured Miss Carrie, shrinking back from the cringing
+form of the brother whom, but a few hours before, she had deemed every
+thing that was noble and kind.
+
+"A detective!" echoed Edith, brightening like a rose in the sunshine.
+
+"In government employ!" repeated Uncle Joe, honoring me with a stare
+that was almost comic in its mingled awe and surprise.
+
+"Yes," I rejoined; "if any one doubts me, I have papers with me to
+establish my identity. By what means I find myself in this place, a
+witness of Mr. Benson's death and the repository of certain family
+secrets, it is not necessary for me to inform you. It is enough that I
+am here, have been here for a good hour, posted behind that curtain;
+that I heard Jonas' exclamation as he withdrew from the balcony, saw Mr.
+Benson come in from his bedroom, drink his glass of wine, and afterward
+fall at the feet of his son and daughter; and that having been here, and
+the witness of all this, I can swear that if Mr. Benson drank poison
+from yonder decanter, he drank poison that was put into it before either
+he or the Yellow Domino entered this room. Who put it there, it is for
+you to determine; my duty is done for to-night." And with a bow I
+withdrew from the group about me and crossed to the door.
+
+But Miss Carrie's voice, rising in mingled shame and appeal, stopped me.
+"Don't go," said she; "not at least until you tell me where my brother
+Joseph is. Is he in this town, or has he planned this deception from a
+distance? I--I am an orphan, sir, who at one blow has lost not only a
+dearly beloved father but, as I fear, a brother too, in whom, up to this
+hour, I have had every confidence. Tell me, then, if any support is left
+for a most unhappy girl, or whether I must give up all hopes of even my
+brother Joe's sympathy and protection."
+
+"Your brother Joe," I replied, "has had nothing to do with my appearance
+here. He and I are perfect strangers; but if he is a tall,
+broad-shouldered, young man, shaped something like myself, but with a
+ruddy cheek and light curling hair, I can tell you I saw such a person
+enter the shrubbery at the southwest corner of the garden an hour or so
+ago."
+
+"No, he is here!" came in startling accents over my shoulders. And with
+a quick leap Joe Benson sprang by me and stood handsome, tall, and
+commanding in the centre of the room. "Hartley! Carrie! Edith! what is
+this I hear? My father stricken down, my father dying or dead, and I
+left to wander up and down through the shrubbery, while you knelt at his
+bedside and received his parting blessing? Is this the recompense you
+promised me, Hartley? this your sisterly devotion, Carrie? this your
+love and attention to my interests, Edith?"
+
+"O Joe, dear Joe, do not blame us!" Carrie made haste to reply. "We
+thought you were here. A man _was_ here, that man behind you, simulating
+you in every regard, and to him we gave the domino, and from him we have
+learned----"
+
+"What?" sprang in thundering tones from the young giant's throat as he
+wheeled on his heel and confronted me.
+
+"That your brother Hartley is a villain," I declared, looking him
+steadily in the eye.
+
+"God!" was his only exclamation as he turned slowly back and glanced
+toward his trembling brother.
+
+"Sir," said I, taking a step toward Uncle Joe, who, between his
+eagerness to embrace the new-comer and his dread of the consequences of
+this unexpected meeting, stood oscillating from one side to the other in
+a manner ridiculous enough to see, "what do you think of the propriety
+of uttering aloud and here, the suspicions which you were good enough to
+whisper into my ears an hour ago? Do you see any reason for altering
+your opinion as to which of the two sons of Mr. Benson invaded his desk
+and appropriated the bonds afterward found in their common apartment,
+when you survey the downfallen crest of the one and compare it with the
+unfaltering look of the other?"
+
+"No," he returned, roused into sudden energy by the start given by
+Hartley. And advancing between the brothers, he looked first at one and
+then at the other with a long, solemn gaze that called out the color on
+Hartley's pale cheek and made the crest of Joe rise still higher in
+manly pride and assertion. "Joe," said he, "for three years now your
+life has lain under a shadow. Accused by your father of a dreadful
+crime, you have resolutely refused to exonerate yourself,
+notwithstanding the fact that a dear young girl waited patiently for the
+establishment of your innocence in order to marry you. To your family
+this silence meant guilt, but to me and mine it has told only a tale of
+self-renunciation and devotion. Joe, was I right in this? was Edith
+right? The father you so loved, and feared to grieve, is dead. Speak,
+then: Did you or did you not take the bonds that were found in the
+cupboard at the head of your bed three years ago to-night? The future
+welfare, not only of this faithful child but of the helpless sister,
+who, despite her belief in your guilt, has clung to you with unwavering
+devotion, depends upon your reply."
+
+"Let my brother speak," was the young man's answer, given in a steady
+and nobly restrained tone.
+
+"Your brother will not speak," his uncle returned. "Don't you see you
+must answer for yourself? Say, then: Are you the guilty man your father
+thought you, or are you not? Let us hear, Joe."
+
+"I am not!" avowed the young man, bowing his head in a sort of noble
+shame that must have sent a pang of anguish through the heart of his
+brother.
+
+"Oh, I knew it, I knew it!" came from Edith's lips in a joyous cry, as
+she bounded to his side and seized him by one hand, just as his sister
+grasped the other in a burst of shame and contrition that showed how far
+she was removed from any participation in the evil machinations of her
+elder brother.
+
+The sight seemed to goad Hartley Benson to madness. Looking from one to
+the other, he uttered a cry that yet rings in my memory: "Carrie! Edith!
+do you both forsake me, and all because of a word which any villain
+might have uttered? Is this the truth and constancy of women? Is this
+what I had a right to expect from a sister, a--a friend? Carrie, you at
+least always gave me your trust,--will you take it away because a
+juggling spy and a recreant brother have combined to destroy me?"
+
+But beyond a wistful look and a solemn shake of the head, Carrie made no
+response, while Edith, with her eyes fixed on the agitated countenance
+of her lover, did not even seem to hear the words of pleading that were
+addressed to her.
+
+The shock of the disappointment was too much for Hartley Benson.
+Clenching his hand upon his breast, he gave one groan of anguish and
+despair and sank into a chair, inert and helpless. But before we could
+any of us take a step toward him, before the eyes of the doctor and mine
+could meet in mutual understanding, he had bounded again to his feet,
+and in a burst of desperation seized the chair in which he sat, and held
+it high above his head.
+
+"Fools! dotards!" he exclaimed, his eyes rolling in frenzy from face to
+face, but lingering longest on mine, as if there he read the true secret
+of his overthrow, as well as the promise of his future doom. "You think
+it is all over with me; that there is nothing left for you to do but to
+stand still and watch how I take my defeat. But I am a man who never
+acknowledges defeat. There is still a word I have to say that will make
+things a little more even between us. Listen for it, you. It will not be
+long in coming, and when you hear it, let my brother declare how much
+enjoyment he will ever get out of his victory."
+
+And whirling the chair about his head, he plunged through our midst
+into the hall without.
+
+For an instant we stood stupefied, then Carrie Benson's voice rose in
+one long, thrilling cry, and with a bound she rushed toward the door. I
+put out my hand to stop her, but it was not necessary. Before she could
+cross the threshold the sudden, sharp detonation of a pistol-shot was
+heard in the hall, and we knew that the last dreadful word of that
+night's tragedy had been spoken.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The true secret of Hartley Benson's action in this matter was never
+discovered. That he planned his father's violent death, no one who was
+present at the above interview ever doubted. That he went further than
+that, and laid his plans in such a manner that the blame, if blame
+ensued, should fall upon his innocent brother, was equally plain,
+especially after the acknowledgment we received from Jonas, that he went
+out on the balcony and looked in the window at the special instigation
+of his young master. But why this arch villain, either at his own risk
+or at that of the man he hated, felt himself driven to such a revolting
+crime, will never be known; unless, indeed, the solution be found in his
+undoubted passion for the beautiful Edith, and in the accumulated
+pressure of certain secret debts for whose liquidation he dared not
+apply to his father.
+
+I never revealed to this family the true nature of the motives which
+actuated me in my performance of the part I played that fatal night. It
+was supposed by Miss Carrie and the rest, that I was but obeying
+instructions given me by Mr. Benson; and I never undeceived them. I was
+too much ashamed of the curiosity which was the mainspring of my action
+to publish each and every particular of my conduct abroad; though I
+could not but congratulate myself upon its results when, some time
+afterward, I read of the marriage of Joe and Edith.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The counterfeiters were discovered and taken, but not by me.
+
+                     FINIS.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's notes:
+
+Punctuation has been standardised.
+
+Page 92 replaced "repositor" with "repository" (a witness of Mr.
+Benson's death and the repository of certain family secrets)
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of X Y Z, by Anna Katharine Green
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