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diff --git a/33695.txt b/33695.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85ae463 --- /dev/null +++ b/33695.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2420 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X Y Z *** + +***** This file should be named 33695.txt or 33695.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/6/9/33695/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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