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diff --git a/34732.txt b/34732.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..66bf965 --- /dev/null +++ b/34732.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9170 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Max Carrados, by Ernest Bramah + +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: Max Carrados + +Author: Ernest Bramah + +Release Date: December 23, 2010 [EBook #34732] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAX CARRADOS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Megan Miller and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + MAX CARRADOS + + + By + + Ernest Bramah + + + Methuen & Co., Ltd. + + 1914 + + + + + CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + THE COIN OF DIONYSIUS 1 + + THE KNIGHT'S CROSS SIGNAL PROBLEM 25 + + THE TRAGEDY AT BROOKBEND COTTAGE 66 + + THE CLEVER MRS STRAITHWAITE 99 + + THE LAST EXPLOIT OF HARRY THE ACTOR 138 + + THE TILLING SHAW MYSTERY 187 + + THE COMEDY AT FOUNTAIN COTTAGE 224 + + THE GAME PLAYED IN THE DARK 262 + + + + +MAX CARRADOS + + + + +THE COIN OF DIONYSIUS + + +It was eight o'clock at night and raining, scarcely a time when a +business so limited in its clientele as that of a coin dealer could hope +to attract any customer, but a light was still showing in the small shop +that bore over its window the name of Baxter, and in the even smaller +office at the back the proprietor himself sat reading the latest _Pall +Mall_. His enterprise seemed to be justified, for presently the door +bell gave its announcement, and throwing down his paper Mr Baxter went +forward. + +As a matter of fact the dealer had been expecting someone and his manner +as he passed into the shop was unmistakably suggestive of a caller of +importance. But at the first glance towards his visitor the excess of +deference melted out of his bearing, leaving the urbane, self-possessed +shopman in the presence of the casual customer. + +"Mr Baxter, I think?" said the latter. He had laid aside his dripping +umbrella and was unbuttoning overcoat and coat to reach an inner pocket. +"You hardly remember me, I suppose? Mr Carlyle--two years ago I took up +a case for you----" + +"To be sure. Mr Carlyle, the private detective----" + +"Inquiry agent," corrected Mr Carlyle precisely. + +"Well," smiled Mr Baxter, "for that matter I am a coin dealer and not an +antiquarian or a numismatist. Is there anything in that way that I can +do for you?" + +"Yes," replied his visitor; "it is my turn to consult you." He had taken +a small wash-leather bag from the inner pocket and now turned something +carefully out upon the counter. "What can you tell me about that?" + +The dealer gave the coin a moment's scrutiny. + +"There is no question about this," he replied. "It is a Sicilian +tetradrachm of Dionysius." + +"Yes, I know that--I have it on the label out of the cabinet. I can tell +you further that it's supposed to be one that Lord Seastoke gave two +hundred and fifty pounds for at the Brice sale in '94." + +"It seems to me that you can tell me more about it than I can tell you," +remarked Mr Baxter. "What is it that you really want to know?" + +"I want to know," replied Mr Carlyle, "whether it is genuine or not." + +"Has any doubt been cast upon it?" + +"Certain circumstances raised a suspicion--that is all." + +The dealer took another look at the tetradrachm through his magnifying +glass, holding it by the edge with the careful touch of an expert. Then +he shook his head slowly in a confession of ignorance. + +"Of course I could make a guess----" + +"No, don't," interrupted Mr Carlyle hastily. "An arrest hangs on it and +nothing short of certainty is any good to me." + +"Is that so, Mr Carlyle?" said Mr Baxter, with increased interest. +"Well, to be quite candid, the thing is out of my line. Now if it was a +rare Saxon penny or a doubtful noble I'd stake my reputation on my +opinion, but I do very little in the classical series." + +Mr Carlyle did not attempt to conceal his disappointment as he returned +the coin to the bag and replaced the bag in the inner pocket. + +"I had been relying on you," he grumbled reproachfully. "Where on earth +am I to go now?" + +"There is always the British Museum." + +"Ah, to be sure, thanks. But will anyone who can tell me be there now?" + +"Now? No fear!" replied Mr Baxter. "Go round in the morning----" + +"But I must know to-night," explained the visitor, reduced to despair +again. "To-morrow will be too late for the purpose." + +Mr Baxter did not hold out much encouragement in the circumstances. + +"You can scarcely expect to find anyone at business now," he remarked. +"I should have been gone these two hours myself only I happened to have +an appointment with an American millionaire who fixed his own time." +Something indistinguishable from a wink slid off Mr Baxter's right eye. +"Offmunson he's called, and a bright young pedigree-hunter has traced +his descent from Offa, King of Mercia. So he--quite naturally--wants a +set of Offas as a sort of collateral proof." + +"Very interesting," murmured Mr Carlyle, fidgeting with his watch. "I +should love an hour's chat with you about your millionaire +customers--some other time. Just now--look here, Baxter, can't you give +me a line of introduction to some dealer in this sort of thing who +happens to live in town? You must know dozens of experts." + +"Why, bless my soul, Mr Carlyle, I don't know a man of them away from +his business," said Mr Baxter, staring. "They may live in Park Lane or +they may live in Petticoat Lane for all I know. Besides, there aren't so +many experts as you seem to imagine. And the two best will very likely +quarrel over it. You've had to do with 'expert witnesses,' I suppose?" + +"I don't want a witness; there will be no need to give evidence. All I +want is an absolutely authoritative pronouncement that I can act on. Is +there no one who can really say whether the thing is genuine or not?" + +Mr Baxter's meaning silence became cynical in its implication as he +continued to look at his visitor across the counter. Then he relaxed. + +"Stay a bit; there is a man--an amateur--I remember hearing wonderful +things about some time ago. They say he really does know." + +"There you are," exclaimed Mr Carlyle, much relieved. "There always is +someone. Who is he?" + +"Funny name," replied Baxter. "Something Wynn or Wynn something." He +craned his neck to catch sight of an important motor car that was +drawing to the kerb before his window. "Wynn Carrados! You'll excuse me +now, Mr Carlyle, won't you? This looks like Mr Offmunson." + +Mr Carlyle hastily scribbled the name down on his cuff. + +"Wynn Carrados, right. Where does he live?" + +"Haven't the remotest idea," replied Baxter, referring the arrangement +of his tie to the judgment of the wall mirror. "I have never seen the +man myself. Now, Mr Carlyle, I'm sorry I can't do any more for you. You +won't mind, will you?" + +Mr Carlyle could not pretend to misunderstand. He enjoyed the +distinction of holding open the door for the transatlantic +representative of the line of Offa as he went out, and then made his way +through the muddy streets back to his office. There was only one way of +tracing a private individual at such short notice--through the pages of +the directories, and the gentleman did not flatter himself by a very +high estimate of his chances. + +Fortune favoured him, however. He very soon discovered a Wynn Carrados +living at Richmond, and, better still, further search failed to unearth +another. There was, apparently, only one householder at all events of +that name in the neighbourhood of London. He jotted down the address and +set out for Richmond. + +The house was some distance from the station, Mr Carlyle learned. He +took a taxicab and drove, dismissing the vehicle at the gate. He prided +himself on his power of observation and the accuracy of the deductions +which resulted from it--a detail of his business. "It's nothing more +than using one's eyes and putting two and two together," he would +modestly declare, when he wished to be deprecatory rather than +impressive, and by the time he had reached the front door of "The +Turrets" he had formed some opinion of the position and tastes of the +man who lived there. + +A man-servant admitted Mr Carlyle and took in his card--his private card +with the bare request for an interview that would not detain Mr Carrados +for ten minutes. Luck still favoured him; Mr Carrados was at home and +would see him at once. The servant, the hall through which they passed, +and the room into which he was shown, all contributed something to the +deductions which the quietly observant gentleman was half unconsciously +recording. + +"Mr Carlyle," announced the servant. + +The room was a library or study. The only occupant, a man of about +Carlyle's own age, had been using a typewriter up to the moment of his +visitor's entrance. He now turned and stood up with an expression of +formal courtesy. + +"It's very good of you to see me at this hour," apologized the caller. + +The conventional expression of Mr Carrados's face changed a little. + +"Surely my man has got your name wrong?" he exclaimed. "Isn't it Louis +Calling?" + +The visitor stopped short and his agreeable smile gave place to a sudden +flash of anger or annoyance. + +"No, sir," he replied stiffly. "My name is on the card which you have +before you." + +"I beg your pardon," said Mr Carrados, with perfect good-humour. "I +hadn't seen it. But I used to know a Calling some years ago--at St +Michael's." + +"St Michael's!" Mr Carlyle's features underwent another change, no less +instant and sweeping than before. "St Michael's! Wynn Carrados? Good +heavens! it isn't Max Wynn--old 'Winning' Wynn?" + +"A little older and a little fatter--yes," replied Carrados. "I _have_ +changed my name, you see." + +"Extraordinary thing meeting like this," said his visitor, dropping into +a chair and staring hard at Mr Carrados. "I have changed more than my +name. How did you recognize me?" + +"The voice," replied Carrados. "It took me back to that little +smoke-dried attic den of yours where we----" + +"My God!" exclaimed Carlyle bitterly, "don't remind me of what we were +going to do in those days." He looked round the well-furnished, handsome +room and recalled the other signs of wealth that he had noticed. "At all +events, you seem fairly comfortable, Wynn." + +"I am alternately envied and pitied," replied Carrados, with a placid +tolerance of circumstance that seemed characteristic of him. "Still, as +you say, I am fairly comfortable." + +"Envied, I can understand. But why are you pitied?" + +"Because I am blind," was the tranquil reply. + +"Blind!" exclaimed Mr Carlyle, using his own eyes superlatively. "Do you +mean--literally blind?" + +"Literally.... I was riding along a bridle-path through a wood about a +dozen years ago with a friend. He was in front. At one point a twig +sprang back--you know how easily a thing like that happens. It just +flicked my eye--nothing to think twice about." + +"And that blinded you?" + +"Yes, ultimately. It's called amaurosis." + +"I can scarcely believe it. You seem so sure and self-reliant. Your eyes +are full of expression--only a little quieter than they used to be. I +believe you were typing when I came.... Aren't you having me?" + +"You miss the dog and the stick?" smiled Carrados. "No; it's a fact." + +"What an awful infliction for you, Max. You were always such an +impulsive, reckless sort of fellow--never quiet. You must miss such a +fearful lot." + +"Has anyone else recognized you?" asked Carrados quietly. + +"Ah, that was the voice, you said," replied Carlyle. + +"Yes; but other people heard the voice as well. Only I had no +blundering, self-confident eyes to be hoodwinked." + +"That's a rum way of putting it," said Carlyle. "Are your ears never +hoodwinked, may I ask?" + +"Not now. Nor my fingers. Nor any of my other senses that have to look +out for themselves." + +"Well, well," murmured Mr Carlyle, cut short in his sympathetic +emotions. "I'm glad you take it so well. Of course, if you find it an +advantage to be blind, old man----" He stopped and reddened. "I beg your +pardon," he concluded stiffly. + +"Not an advantage perhaps," replied the other thoughtfully. "Still it +has compensations that one might not think of. A new world to explore, +new experiences, new powers awakening; strange new perceptions; life in +the fourth dimension. But why do you beg my pardon, Louis?" + +"I am an ex-solicitor, struck off in connexion with the falsifying of a +trust account, Mr Carrados," replied Carlyle, rising. + +"Sit down, Louis," said Carrados suavely. His face, even his incredibly +living eyes, beamed placid good-nature. "The chair on which you will +sit, the roof above you, all the comfortable surroundings to which you +have so amiably alluded, are the direct result of falsifying a trust +account. But do I call you 'Mr Carlyle' in consequence? Certainly not, +Louis." + +"I did not falsify the account," cried Carlyle hotly. He sat down, +however, and added more quietly: "But why do I tell you all this? I have +never spoken of it before." + +"Blindness invites confidence," replied Carrados. "We are out of the +running--human rivalry ceases to exist. Besides, why shouldn't you? In +my case the account _was_ falsified." + +"Of course that's all bunkum, Max," commented Carlyle. "Still, I +appreciate your motive." + +"Practically everything I possess was left to me by an American cousin, +on the condition that I took the name of Carrados. He made his fortune +by an ingenious conspiracy of doctoring the crop reports and unloading +favourably in consequence. And I need hardly remind you that the +receiver is equally guilty with the thief." + +"But twice as safe. I know something of that, Max.... Have you any idea +what my business is?" + +"You shall tell me," replied Carrados. + +"I run a private inquiry agency. When I lost my profession I had to do +something for a living. This occurred. I dropped my name, changed my +appearance and opened an office. I knew the legal side down to the +ground and I got a retired Scotland Yard man to organize the outside +work." + +"Excellent!" cried Carrados. "Do you unearth many murders?" + +"No," admitted Mr Carlyle; "our business lies mostly on the conventional +lines among divorce and defalcation." + +"That's a pity," remarked Carrados. "Do you know, Louis, I always had a +secret ambition to be a detective myself. I have even thought lately +that I might still be able to do something at it if the chance came my +way. That makes you smile?" + +"Well, certainly, the idea----" + +"Yes, the idea of a blind detective--the blind tracking the alert----" + +"Of course, as you say, certain faculties are no doubt quickened," Mr +Carlyle hastened to add considerately, "but, seriously, with the +exception of an artist, I don't suppose there is any man who is more +utterly dependent on his eyes." + +Whatever opinion Carrados might have held privately, his genial exterior +did not betray a shadow of dissent. For a full minute he continued to +smoke as though he derived an actual visual enjoyment from the blue +sprays that travelled and dispersed across the room. He had already +placed before his visitor a box containing cigars of a brand which that +gentleman keenly appreciated but generally regarded as unattainable, and +the matter-of-fact ease and certainty with which the blind man had +brought the box and put it before him had sent a questioning flicker +through Carlyle's mind. + +"You used to be rather fond of art yourself, Louis," he remarked +presently. "Give me your opinion of my latest purchase--the bronze lion +on the cabinet there." Then, as Carlyle's gaze went about the room, he +added quickly: "No, not that cabinet--the one on your left." + +Carlyle shot a sharp glance at his host as he got up, but Carrados's +expression was merely benignly complacent. Then he strolled across to +the figure. + +"Very nice," he admitted. "Late Flemish, isn't it?" + +"No. It is a copy of Vidal's 'Roaring lion.'" + +"Vidal?" + +"A French artist." The voice became indescribably flat. "He, also, had +the misfortune to be blind, by the way." + +"You old humbug, Max!" shrieked Carlyle, "you've been thinking that out +for the last five minutes." Then the unfortunate man bit his lip and +turned his back towards his host. + +"Do you remember how we used to pile it up on that obtuse ass Sanders +and then roast him?" asked Carrados, ignoring the half-smothered +exclamation with which the other man had recalled himself. + +"Yes," replied Carlyle quietly. "This is very good," he continued, +addressing himself to the bronze again. "How ever did he do it?" + +"With his hands." + +"Naturally. But, I mean, how did he study his model?" + +"Also with his hands. He called it 'seeing near.'" + +"Even with a lion--handled it?" + +"In such cases he required the services of a keeper, who brought the +animal to bay while Vidal exercised his own particular gifts.... You +don't feel inclined to put me on the track of a mystery, Louis?" + +Unable to regard this request as anything but one of old Max's +unquenchable pleasantries, Mr Carlyle was on the point of making a +suitable reply when a sudden thought caused him to smile knowingly. Up +to that point he had, indeed, completely forgotten the object of his +visit. Now that he remembered the doubtful Dionysius and Mr Baxter's +recommendation he immediately assumed that some mistake had been made. +Either Max was not the Wynn Carrados he had been seeking or else the +dealer had been misinformed; for although his host was wonderfully +expert in the face of his misfortune, it was inconceivable that he could +decide the genuineness of a coin without seeing it. The opportunity +seemed a good one of getting even with Carrados by taking him at his +word. + +"Yes," he accordingly replied, with crisp deliberation, as he recrossed +the room; "yes, I will, Max. Here is the clue to what seems to be a +rather remarkable fraud." He put the tetradrachm into his host's hand. +"What do you make of it?" + +For a few seconds Carrados handled the piece with the delicate +manipulation of his finger-tips while Carlyle looked on with a +self-appreciative grin. Then with equal gravity the blind man weighed +the coin in the balance of his hand. Finally he touched it with his +tongue. + +"Well?" demanded the other. + +"Of course I have not much to go on, and if I was more fully in your +confidence I might come to another conclusion----" + +"Yes, yes," interposed Carlyle, with amused encouragement. + +"Then I should advise you to arrest the parlourmaid, Nina Brun, +communicate with the police authorities of Padua for particulars of the +career of Helene Brunesi, and suggest to Lord Seastoke that he should +return to London to see what further depredations have been made in his +cabinet." + +Mr Carlyle's groping hand sought and found a chair, on to which he +dropped blankly. His eyes were unable to detach themselves for a single +moment from the very ordinary spectacle of Mr Carrados's mildly +benevolent face, while the sterilized ghost of his now forgotten +amusement still lingered about his features. + +"Good heavens!" he managed to articulate, "how do you know?" + +"Isn't that what you wanted of me?" asked Carrados suavely. + +"Don't humbug, Max," said Carlyle severely. "This is no joke." An +undefined mistrust of his own powers suddenly possessed him in the +presence of this mystery. "How do you come to know of Nina Brun and Lord +Seastoke?" + +"You are a detective, Louis," replied Carrados. "How does one know these +things? By using one's eyes and putting two and two together." + +Carlyle groaned and flung out an arm petulantly. + +"Is it all bunkum, Max? Do you really see all the time--though that +doesn't go very far towards explaining it." + +"Like Vidal, I see very well--at close quarters," replied Carrados, +lightly running a forefinger along the inscription on the tetradrachm. +"For longer range I keep another pair of eyes. Would you like to test +them?" + +Mr Carlyle's assent was not very gracious; it was, in fact, faintly +sulky. He was suffering the annoyance of feeling distinctly unimpressive +in his own department; but he was also curious. + +"The bell is just behind you, if you don't mind," said his host. +"Parkinson will appear. You might take note of him while he is in." + +The man who had admitted Mr Carlyle proved to be Parkinson. + +"This gentleman is Mr Carlyle, Parkinson," explained Carrados the moment +the man entered. "You will remember him for the future?" + +Parkinson's apologetic eye swept the visitor from head to foot, but so +lightly and swiftly that it conveyed to that gentleman the comparison +of being very deftly dusted. + +"I will endeavour to do so, sir," replied Parkinson, turning again to +his master. + +"I shall be at home to Mr Carlyle whenever he calls. That is all." + +"Very well, sir." + +"Now, Louis," remarked Mr Carrados briskly, when the door had closed +again, "you have had a good opportunity of studying Parkinson. What is +he like?" + +"In what way?" + +"I mean as a matter of description. I am a blind man--I haven't seen my +servant for twelve years--what idea can you give me of him? I asked you +to notice." + +"I know you did, but your Parkinson is the sort of man who has very +little about him to describe. He is the embodiment of the ordinary. His +height is about average----" + +"Five feet nine," murmured Carrados. "Slightly above the mean." + +"Scarcely noticeably so. Clean-shaven. Medium brown hair. No +particularly marked features. Dark eyes. Good teeth." + +"False," interposed Carrados. "The teeth--not the statement." + +"Possibly," admitted Mr Carlyle. "I am not a dental expert and I had no +opportunity of examining Mr Parkinson's mouth in detail. But what is +the drift of all this?" + +"His clothes?" + +"Oh, just the ordinary evening dress of a valet. There is not much room +for variety in that." + +"You noticed, in fact, nothing special by which Parkinson could be +identified?" + +"Well, he wore an unusually broad gold ring on the little finger of the +left hand." + +"But that is removable. And yet Parkinson has an ineradicable mole--a +small one, I admit--on his chin. And you a human sleuth-hound. Oh, +Louis!" + +"At all events," retorted Carlyle, writhing a little under this +good-humoured satire, although it was easy enough to see in it +Carrados's affectionate intention--"at all events, I dare say I can give +as good a description of Parkinson as he can give of me." + +"That is what we are going to test. Ring the bell again." + +"Seriously?" + +"Quite. I am trying my eyes against yours. If I can't give you fifty out +of a hundred I'll renounce my private detectorial ambition for ever." + +"It isn't quite the same," objected Carlyle, but he rang the bell. + +"Come in and close the door, Parkinson," said Carrados when the man +appeared. "Don't look at Mr Carlyle again--in fact, you had better stand +with your back towards him, he won't mind. Now describe to me his +appearance as you observed it." + +Parkinson tendered his respectful apologies to Mr Carlyle for the +liberty he was compelled to take, by the deferential quality of his +voice. + +"Mr Carlyle, sir, wears patent leather boots of about size seven and +very little used. There are five buttons, but on the left boot one +button--the third up--is missing, leaving loose threads and not the more +usual metal fastener. Mr Carlyle's trousers, sir, are of a dark +material, a dark grey line of about a quarter of an inch width on a +darker ground. The bottoms are turned permanently up and are, just now, +a little muddy, if I may say so." + +"Very muddy," interposed Mr Carlyle generously. "It is a wet night, +Parkinson." + +"Yes, sir; very unpleasant weather. If you will allow me, sir, I will +brush you in the hall. The mud is dry now, I notice. Then, sir," +continued Parkinson, reverting to the business in hand, "there are dark +green cashmere hose. A curb-pattern key-chain passes into the left-hand +trouser pocket." + +From the visitor's nether garments the photographic-eyed Parkinson +proceeded to higher ground, and with increasing wonder Mr Carlyle +listened to the faithful catalogue of his possessions. His +fetter-and-link albert of gold and platinum was minutely described. His +spotted blue ascot, with its gentlemanly pearl scarfpin, was set forth, +and the fact that the buttonhole in the left lapel of his morning coat +showed signs of use was duly noted. What Parkinson saw he recorded but +he made no deductions. A handkerchief carried in the cuff of the right +sleeve was simply that to him and not an indication that Mr Carlyle was, +indeed, left-handed. + +But a more delicate part of Parkinson's undertaking remained. He +approached it with a double cough. + +"As regards Mr Carlyle's personal appearance; sir----" + +"No, enough!" cried the gentleman concerned hastily. "I am more than +satisfied. You are a keen observer, Parkinson." + +"I have trained myself to suit my master's requirements, sir," replied +the man. He looked towards Mr Carrados, received a nod and withdrew. + +Mr Carlyle was the first to speak. + +"That man of yours would be worth five pounds a week to me, Max," he +remarked thoughtfully. "But, of course----" + +"I don't think that he would take it," replied Carrados, in a voice of +equally detached speculation. "He suits me very well. But you have the +chance of using his services--indirectly." + +"You still mean that--seriously?" + +"I notice in you a chronic disinclination to take me seriously, Louis. +It is really--to an Englishman--almost painful. Is there something +inherently comic about me or the atmosphere of The Turrets?" + +"No, my friend," replied Mr Carlyle, "but there is something +essentially prosperous. That is what points to the improbable. Now what +is it?" + +"It might be merely a whim, but it is more than that," replied Carrados. +"It is, well, partly vanity, partly _ennui_, partly"--certainly there +was something more nearly tragic in his voice than comic now--"partly +hope." + +Mr Carlyle was too tactful to pursue the subject. + +"Those are three tolerable motives," he acquiesced. "I'll do anything +you want, Max, on one condition." + +"Agreed. And it is?" + +"That you tell me how you knew so much of this affair." He tapped the +silver coin which lay on the table near them. "I am not easily +flabbergasted," he added. + +"You won't believe that there is nothing to explain--that it was purely +second-sight?" + +"No," replied Carlyle tersely; "I won't." + +"You are quite right. And yet the thing is very simple." + +"They always are--when you know," soliloquized the other. "That's what +makes them so confoundedly difficult when you don't." + +"Here is this one then. In Padua, which seems to be regaining its old +reputation as the birthplace of spurious antiques, by the way, there +lives an ingenious craftsman named Pietro Stelli. This simple soul, who +possesses a talent not inferior to that of Cavino at his best, has for +many years turned his hand to the not unprofitable occupation of +forging rare Greek and Roman coins. As a collector and student of +certain Greek colonials and a specialist in forgeries I have been +familiar with Stelli's workmanship for years. Latterly he seems to have +come under the influence of an international crook called--at the +moment--Dompierre, who soon saw a way of utilizing Stelli's genius on a +royal scale. Helene Brunesi, who in private life is--and really is, I +believe--Madame Dompierre, readily lent her services to the enterprise." + +"Quite so," nodded Mr Carlyle, as his host paused. + +"You see the whole sequence, of course?" + +"Not exactly--not in detail," confessed Mr Carlyle. + +"Dompierre's idea was to gain access to some of the most celebrated +cabinets of Europe and substitute Stelli's fabrications for the genuine +coins. The princely collection of rarities that he would thus amass +might be difficult to dispose of safely but I have no doubt that he had +matured his plans. Helene, in the person of Nina Bran, an Anglicised +French parlourmaid--a part which she fills to perfection--was to obtain +wax impressions of the most valuable pieces and to make the exchange +when the counterfeits reached her. In this way it was obviously hoped +that the fraud would not come to light until long after the real coins +had been sold, and I gather that she has already done her work +successfully in several houses. Then, impressed by her excellent +references and capable manner, my housekeeper engaged her, and for a few +weeks she went about her duties here. It was fatal to this detail of +the scheme, however, that I have the misfortune to be blind. I am told +that Helene has so innocently angelic a face as to disarm suspicion, but +I was incapable of being impressed and that good material was thrown +away. But one morning my material fingers--which, of course, knew +nothing of Helene's angelic face--discovered an unfamiliar touch about +the surface of my favourite Euclideas, and, although there was doubtless +nothing to be seen, my critical sense of smell reported that wax had +been recently pressed against it. I began to make discreet inquiries and +in the meantime my cabinets went to the local bank for safety. Helene +countered by receiving a telegram from Angiers, calling her to the +death-bed of her aged mother. The aged mother succumbed; duty compelled +Helene to remain at the side of her stricken patriarchal father, and +doubtless The Turrets was written off the syndicate's operations as a +bad debt." + +"Very interesting," admitted Mr Carlyle; "but at the risk of seeming +obtuse"--his manner had become delicately chastened--"I must say that I +fail to trace the inevitable connexion between Nina Brun and this +particular forgery--assuming that it is a forgery." + +"Set your mind at rest about that, Louis," replied Carrados. "It is a +forgery, and it is a forgery that none but Pietro Stelli could have +achieved. That is the essential connexion. Of course, there are +accessories. A private detective coming urgently to see me with a +notable tetradrachm in his pocket, which he announces to be the clue to +a remarkable fraud--well, really, Louis, one scarcely needs to be blind +to see through that." + +"And Lord Seastoke? I suppose you happened to discover that Nina Brun +had gone there?" + +"No, I cannot claim to have discovered that, or I should certainly have +warned him at once when I found out--only recently--about the gang. As a +matter of fact, the last information I had of Lord Seastoke was a line +in yesterday's _Morning Post_ to the effect that he was still at Cairo. +But many of these pieces----" He brushed his finger almost lovingly +across the vivid chariot race that embellished the reverse of the coin, +and broke off to remark: "You really ought to take up the subject, +Louis. You have no idea how useful it might prove to you some day." + +"I really think I must," replied Carlyle grimly. "Two hundred and fifty +pounds the original of this cost, I believe." + +"Cheap, too; it would make five hundred pounds in New York to-day. As I +was saying, many are literally unique. This gem by Kimon is--here is his +signature, you see; Peter is particularly good at lettering--and as I +handled the genuine tetradrachm about two years ago, when Lord Seastoke +exhibited it at a meeting of our society in Albemarle Street, there is +nothing at all wonderful in my being able to fix the locale of your +mystery. Indeed, I feel that I ought to apologize for it all being so +simple." + +"I think," remarked Mr Carlyle, critically examining the loose threads +on his left boot, "that the apology on that head would be more +appropriate from me." + + + + +THE KNIGHT'S CROSS SIGNAL PROBLEM + + +"Louis," exclaimed Mr Carrados, with the air of genial gaiety that +Carlyle had found so incongruous to his conception of a blind man, "you +have a mystery somewhere about you! I know it by your step." + +Nearly a month had passed since the incident of the false Dionysius had +led to the two men meeting. It was now December. Whatever Mr Carlyle's +step might indicate to the inner eye it betokened to the casual observer +the manner of a crisp, alert, self-possessed man of business. Carlyle, +in truth, betrayed nothing of the pessimism and despondency that had +marked him on the earlier occasion. + +"You have only yourself to thank that it is a very poor one," he +retorted. "If you hadn't held me to a hasty promise----" + +"To give me an option on the next case that baffled you, no matter what +it was----" + +"Just so. The consequence is that you get a very unsatisfactory affair +that has no special interest to an amateur and is only baffling because +it is--well----" + +"Well, baffling?" + +"Exactly, Max. Your would-be jest has discovered the proverbial truth. I +need hardly tell you that it is only the insoluble that is finally +baffling and this is very probably insoluble. You remember the awful +smash on the Central and Suburban at Knight's Cross Station a few weeks +ago?" + +"Yes," replied Carrados, with interest. "I read the whole ghastly +details at the time." + +"You read?" exclaimed his friend suspiciously. + +"I still use the familiar phrases," explained Carrados, with a smile. +"As a matter of fact, my secretary reads to me. I mark what I want to +hear and when he comes at ten o'clock we clear off the morning papers in +no time." + +"And how do you know what to mark?" demanded Mr Carlyle cunningly. + +Carrados's right hand, lying idly on the table, moved to a newspaper +near. He ran his finger along a column heading, his eyes still turned +towards his visitor. + +"'The Money Market. Continued from page 2. British Railways,'" he +announced. + +"Extraordinary," murmured Carlyle. + +"Not very," said Carrados. "If someone dipped a stick in treacle and +wrote 'Rats' across a marble slab you would probably be able to +distinguish what was there, blindfold." + +"Probably," admitted Mr Carlyle. "At all events we will not test the +experiment." + +"The difference to you of treacle on a marble background is scarcely +greater than that of printers' ink on newspaper to me. But anything +smaller than pica I do not read with comfort, and below long primer I +cannot read at all. Hence the secretary. Now the accident, Louis." + +"The accident: well, you remember all about that. An ordinary Central +and Suburban passenger train, non-stop at Knight's Cross, ran past the +signal and crashed into a crowded electric train that was just beginning +to move out. It was like sending a garden roller down a row of +handlights. Two carriages of the electric train were flattened out of +existence; the next two were broken up. For the first time on an English +railway there was a good stand-up smash between a heavy steam-engine and +a train of light cars, and it was 'bad for the coo.'" + +"Twenty-seven killed, forty something injured, eight died since," +commented Carrados. + +"That was bad for the Co.," said Carlyle. "Well, the main fact was plain +enough. The heavy train was in the wrong. But was the engine-driver +responsible? He claimed, and he claimed vehemently from the first and he +never varied one iota, that he had a 'clear' signal--that is to say, the +green light, it being dark. The signalman concerned was equally dogged +that he never pulled off the signal--that it was at 'danger' when the +accident happened and that it had been for five minutes before. +Obviously, they could not both be right." + +"Why, Louis?" asked Mr Carrados smoothly. + +"The signal must either have been up or down--red or green." + +"Did you ever notice the signals on the Great Northern Railway, Louis?" + +"Not particularly. Why?" + +"One winterly day, about the year when you and I were concerned in being +born, the engine-driver of a Scotch express received the 'clear' from a +signal near a little Huntingdon station called Abbots Ripton. He went on +and crashed into a goods train and into the thick of the smash a down +express mowed its way. Thirteen killed and the usual tale of injured. He +was positive that the signal gave him a 'clear'; the signalman was +equally confident that he had never pulled it off the 'danger.' Both +were right, and yet the signal was in working order. As I said, it was a +winterly day; it had been snowing hard and the snow froze and +accumulated on the upper edge of the signal arm until its weight bore it +down. That is a fact that no fiction writer dare have invented, but to +this day every signal on the Great Northern pivots from the centre of +the arm instead of from the end, in memory of that snowstorm." + +"That came out at the inquest, I presume?" said Mr Carlyle. "We have had +the Board of Trade inquiry and the inquest here and no explanation is +forthcoming. Everything was in perfect order. It rests between the word +of the signalman and the word of the engine-driver--not a jot of direct +evidence either way. Which is right?" + +"That is what you are going to find out, Louis?" suggested Carrados. + +"It is what I am being paid for finding out," admitted Mr Carlyle +frankly. "But so far we are just where the inquest left it, and, between +ourselves, I candidly can't see an inch in front of my face in the +matter." + +"Nor can I," said the blind man, with a rather wry smile. "Never mind. +The engine-driver is your client, of course?" + +"Yes," admitted Carlyle. "But how the deuce did you know?" + +"Let us say that your sympathies are enlisted on his behalf. The jury +were inclined to exonerate the signalman, weren't they? What has the +company done with your man?" + +"Both are suspended. Hutchins, the driver, hears that he may probably be +given charge of a lavatory at one of the stations. He is a decent, +bluff, short-spoken old chap, with his heart in his work. Just now +you'll find him at his worst--bitter and suspicious. The thought of +swabbing down a lavatory and taking pennies all day is poisoning him." + +"Naturally. Well, there we have honest Hutchins: taciturn, a little +touchy perhaps, grown grey in the service of the company, and +manifesting quite a bulldog-like devotion to his favourite 538." + +"Why, that actually was the number of his engine--how do you know it?" +demanded Carlyle sharply. + +"It was mentioned two or three times at the inquest, Louis," replied +Carrados mildly. + +"And you remembered--with no reason to?" + +"You can generally trust a blind man's memory, especially if he has +taken the trouble to develop it." + +"Then you will remember that Hutchins did not make a very good +impression at the time. He was surly and irritable under the ordeal. I +want you to see the case from all sides." + +"He called the signalman--Mead--a 'lying young dog,' across the room, I +believe. Now, Mead, what is he like? You have seen him, of course?" + +"Yes. He does not impress me favourably. He is glib, ingratiating, and +distinctly 'greasy.' He has a ready answer for everything almost before +the question is out of your mouth. He has thought of everything." + +"And now you are going to tell me something, Louis," said Carrados +encouragingly. + +Mr Carlyle laughed a little to cover an involuntary movement of +surprise. + +"There is a suggestive line that was not touched at the inquiries," he +admitted. "Hutchins has been a saving man all his life, and he has +received good wages. Among his class he is regarded as wealthy. I +daresay that he has five hundred pounds in the bank. He is a widower +with one daughter, a very nice-mannered girl of about twenty. Mead is a +young man, and he and the girl are sweethearts--have been informally +engaged for some time. But old Hutchins would not hear of it; he seems +to have taken a dislike to the signalman from the first and latterly he +had forbidden him to come to his house or his daughter to speak to him." + +"Excellent, Louis," cried Carrados in great delight. "We shall clear +your man in a blaze of red and green lights yet and hang the glib, +'greasy' signalman from his own signal-post." + +"It is a significant fact, seriously?" + +"It is absolutely convincing." + +"It may have been a slip, a mental lapse on Mead's part which he +discovered the moment it was too late, and then, being too cowardly to +admit his fault, and having so much at stake, he took care to make +detection impossible. It may have been that, but my idea is rather that +probably it was neither quite pure accident nor pure design. I can +imagine Mead meanly pluming himself over the fact that the life of this +man who stands in his way, and whom he must cordially dislike, lies in +his power. I can imagine the idea becoming an obsession as he dwells on +it. A dozen times with his hand on the lever he lets his mind explore +the possibilities of a moment's defection. Then one day he pulls the +signal off in sheer bravado--and hastily puts it at danger again. He may +have done it once or he may have done it oftener before he was caught in +a fatal moment of irresolution. The chances are about even that the +engine-driver would be killed. In any case he would be disgraced, for it +is easier on the face of it to believe that a man might run past a +danger signal in absentmindedness, without noticing it, than that a man +should pull off a signal and replace it without being conscious of his +actions." + +"The fireman was killed. Does your theory involve the certainty of the +fireman being killed, Louis?" + +"No," said Carlyle. "The fireman is a difficulty, but looking at it from +Mead's point of view--whether he has been guilty of an error or a +crime--it resolves itself into this: First, the fireman may be killed. +Second, he may not notice the signal at all. Third, in any case he will +loyally corroborate his driver and the good old jury will discount +that." + +Carrados smoked thoughtfully, his open, sightless eyes merely appearing +to be set in a tranquil gaze across the room. + +"It would not be an improbable explanation," he said presently. +"Ninety-nine men out of a hundred would say: 'People do not do these +things.' But you and I, who have in our different ways studied +criminology, know that they sometimes do, or else there would be no +curious crimes. What have you done on that line?" + +To anyone who could see, Mr Carlyle's expression conveyed an answer. + +"You are behind the scenes, Max. What was there for me to do? Still I +must do something for my money. Well, I have had a very close inquiry +made confidentially among the men. There might be a whisper of one of +them knowing more than had come out--a man restrained by friendship, or +enmity, or even grade jealousy. Nothing came of that. Then there was the +remote chance that some private person had noticed the signal without +attaching any importance to it then, one who would be able to identify +it still by something associated with the time. I went over the line +myself. Opposite the signal the line on one side is shut in by a high +blank wall; on the other side are houses, but coming below the butt-end +of a scullery the signal does not happen to be visible from any road or +from any window." + +"My poor Louis!" said Carrados, in friendly ridicule. "You were at the +end of your tether?" + +"I was," admitted Carlyle. "And now that you know the sort of job it is +I don't suppose that you are keen on wasting your time over it." + +"That would hardly be fair, would it?" said Carrados reasonably. "No, +Louis, I will take over your honest old driver and your greasy young +signalman and your fatal signal that cannot be seen from anywhere." + +"But it is an important point for you to remember, Max, that although +the signal cannot be seen from the box, if the mechanism had gone wrong, +or anyone tampered with the arm, the automatic indicator would at once +have told Mead that the green light was showing. Oh, I have gone very +thoroughly into the technical points, I assure you." + +"I must do so too," commented Mr Carrados gravely. + +"For that matter, if there is anything you want to know, I dare say +that I can tell you," suggested his visitor. "It might save your time." + +"True," acquiesced Carrados. "I should like to know whether anyone +belonging to the houses that bound the line there came of age or got +married on the twenty-sixth of November." + +Mr Carlyle looked across curiously at his host. + +"I really do not know, Max," he replied, in his crisp, precise way. +"What on earth has that got to do with it, may I inquire?" + +"The only explanation of the Pont St Lin swing-bridge disaster of '75 +was the reflection of a green bengal light on a cottage window." + +Mr Carlyle smiled his indulgence privately. + +"My dear chap, you mustn't let your retentive memory of obscure +happenings run away with you," he remarked wisely. "In nine cases out of +ten the obvious explanation is the true one. The difficulty, as here, +lies in proving it. Now, you would like to see these men?" + +"I expect so; in any case, I will see Hutchins first." + +"Both live in Holloway. Shall I ask Hutchins to come here to see +you--say to-morrow? He is doing nothing." + +"No," replied Carrados. "To-morrow I must call on my brokers and my time +may be filled up." + +"Quite right; you mustn't neglect your own affairs for +this--experiment," assented Carlyle. + +"Besides, I should prefer to drop in on Hutchins at his own home. Now, +Louis, enough of the honest old man for one night. I have a lovely thing +by Eumenes that I want to show you. To-day is--Tuesday. Come to dinner +on Sunday and pour the vials of your ridicule on my want of success." + +"That's an amiable way of putting it," replied Carlyle. "All right, I +will." + +Two hours later Carrados was again in his study, apparently, for a +wonder, sitting idle. Sometimes he smiled to himself, and once or twice +he laughed a little, but for the most part his pleasant, impassive face +reflected no emotion and he sat with his useless eyes tranquilly fixed +on an unseen distance. It was a fantastic caprice of the man to mock his +sightlessness by a parade of light, and under the soft brilliance of a +dozen electric brackets the room was as bright as day. At length he +stood up and rang the bell. + +"I suppose Mr Greatorex isn't still here by any chance, Parkinson?" he +asked, referring to his secretary. + +"I think not, sir, but I will ascertain," replied the man. + +"Never mind. Go to his room and bring me the last two files of _The +Times_. Now"--when he returned--"turn to the earliest you have there. +The date?" + +"November the second." + +"That will do. Find the Money Market; it will be in the Supplement. Now +look down the columns until you come to British Railways." + +"I have it, sir." + +"Central and Suburban. Read the closing price and the change." + +"Central and Suburban Ordinary, 66-1/2 - 67-1/2, fall 1/8. Preferred +Ordinary, 81 - 81-1/2, no change. Deferred Ordinary, 27-1/2 - 27-3/4, fall +1/4. That is all, sir." + +"Now take a paper about a week on. Read the Deferred only." + +"27 - 27-1/4, no change." + +"Another week." + +"29-1/2 - 30, rise 5/8." + +"Another." + +"31-1/2 - 32-1/2, rise 1." + +"Very good. Now on Tuesday the twenty-seventh November." + +"31-7/8 - 32-3/4, rise 1/2." + +"Yes. The next day." + +"24-1/2 - 23-1/2, fall 9." + +"Quite so, Parkinson. There had been an accident, you see." + +"Yes, sir. Very unpleasant accident. Jane knows a person whose sister's +young man has a cousin who had his arm torn off in it--torn off at the +socket, she says, sir. It seems to bring it home to one, sir." + +"That is all. Stay--in the paper you have, look down the first money +column and see if there is any reference to the Central and Suburban." + +"Yes, sir. 'City and Suburbans, which after their late depression on the +projected extension of the motor bus service, had been steadily +creeping up on the abandonment of the scheme, and as a result of their +own excellent traffic returns, suffered a heavy slump through the +lamentable accident of Thursday night. The Deferred in particular at one +time fell eleven points as it was felt that the possible dividend, with +which rumour has of late been busy, was now out of the question.'" + +"Yes; that is all. Now you can take the papers back. And let it be a +warning to you, Parkinson, not to invest your savings in speculative +railway deferreds." + +"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir, I will endeavour to remember." He lingered +for a moment as he shook the file of papers level. "I may say, sir, that +I have my eye on a small block of cottage property at Acton. But even +cottage property scarcely seems safe from legislative depredation now, +sir." + +The next day Mr Carrados called on his brokers in the city. It is to be +presumed that he got through his private business quicker than he +expected, for after leaving Austin Friars he continued his journey to +Holloway, where he found Hutchins at home and sitting morosely before +his kitchen fire. Rightly assuming that his luxuriant car would involve +him in a certain amount of public attention in Klondyke Street, the +blind man dismissed it some distance from the house, and walked the rest +of the way, guided by the almost imperceptible touch of Parkinson's arm. + +"Here is a gentleman to see you, father," explained Miss Hutchins, who +had come to the door. She divined the relative positions of the two +visitors at a glance. + +"Then why don't you take him into the parlour?" grumbled the ex-driver. +His face was a testimonial of hard work and general sobriety but at the +moment one might hazard from his voice and manner that he had been +drinking earlier in the day. + +"I don't think that the gentleman would be impressed by the difference +between our parlour and our kitchen," replied the girl quaintly, "and it +is warmer here." + +"What's the matter with the parlour now?" demanded her father sourly. +"It was good enough for your mother and me. It used to be good enough +for you." + +"There is nothing the matter with it, nor with the kitchen either." She +turned impassively to the two who had followed her along the narrow +passage. "Will you go in, sir?" + +"I don't want to see no gentleman," cried Hutchins noisily. +"Unless"--his manner suddenly changed to one of pitiable +anxiety--"unless you're from the Company, sir, to--to----" + +"No; I have come on Mr Carlyle's behalf," replied Carrados, walking to a +chair as though he moved by a kind of instinct. + +Hutchins laughed his wry contempt. + +"Mr Carlyle!" he reiterated; "Mr Carlyle! Fat lot of good he's been. +Why don't he _do_ something for his money?" + +"He has," replied Carrados, with imperturbable good-humour; "he has sent +me. Now, I want to ask you a few questions." + +"A few questions!" roared the irate man. "Why, blast it, I have done +nothing else but answer questions for a month. I didn't pay Mr Carlyle +to ask me questions; I can get enough of that for nixes. Why don't you +go and ask Mr Herbert Ananias Mead your few questions--then you might +find out something." + +There was a slight movement by the door and Carrados knew that the girl +had quietly left the room. + +"You saw that, sir?" demanded the father, diverted to a new line of +bitterness. "You saw that girl--my own daughter, that I've worked for +all her life?" + +"No," replied Carrados. + +"The girl that's just gone out--she's my daughter," explained Hutchins. + +"I know, but I did not see her. I see nothing. I am blind." + +"Blind!" exclaimed the old fellow, sitting up in startled wonderment. +"You mean it, sir? You walk all right and you look at me as if you saw +me. You're kidding surely." + +"No," smiled Carrados. "It's quite right." + +"Then it's a funny business, sir--you what are blind expecting to find +something that those with their eyes couldn't," ruminated Hutchins +sagely. + +"There are things that you can't see with your eyes, Hutchins." + +"Perhaps you are right, sir. Well, what is it you want to know?" + +"Light a cigar first," said the blind man, holding out his case and +waiting until the various sounds told him that his host was smoking +contentedly. "The train you were driving at the time of the accident was +the six-twenty-seven from Notcliff. It stopped everywhere until it +reached Lambeth Bridge, the chief London station of your line. There it +became something of an express, and leaving Lambeth Bridge at +seven-eleven, should not stop again until it fetched Swanstead on +Thames, eleven miles out, at seven-thirty-four. Then it stopped on and +off from Swanstead to Ingerfield, the terminus of that branch, which it +reached at eight-five." + +Hutchins nodded, and then, remembering, said: "That's right, sir." + +"That was your business all day--running between Notcliff and +Ingerfield?" + +"Yes, sir. Three journeys up and three down mostly." + +"With the same stops on all the down journeys?" + +"No. The seven-eleven is the only one that does a run from the Bridge to +Swanstead. You see, it is just on the close of the evening rush, as they +call it. A good many late business gentlemen living at Swanstead use +the seven-eleven regular. The other journeys we stop at every station to +Lambeth Bridge, and then here and there beyond." + +"There are, of course, other trains doing exactly the same journey--a +service, in fact?" + +"Yes, sir. About six." + +"And do any of those--say, during the rush--do any of those run non-stop +from Lambeth to Swanstead?" + +Hutchins reflected a moment. All the choler and restlessness had melted +out of the man's face. He was again the excellent artisan, slow but +capable and self-reliant. + +"That I couldn't definitely say, sir. Very few short-distance trains +pass the junction, but some of those may. A guide would show us in a +minute but I haven't got one." + +"Never mind. You said at the inquest that it was no uncommon thing for +you to be pulled up at the 'stop' signal east of Knight's Cross Station. +How often would that happen--only with the seven-eleven, mind." + +"Perhaps three times a week; perhaps twice." + +"The accident was on a Thursday. Have you noticed that you were pulled +up oftener on a Thursday than on any other day?" + +A smile crossed the driver's face at the question. + +"You don't happen to live at Swanstead yourself, sir?" he asked in +reply. + +"No," admitted Carrados. "Why?" + +"Well, sir, we were _always_ pulled up on Thursday; practically always, +you may say. It got to be quite a saying among those who used the train +regular; they used to look out for it." + +Carrados's sightless eyes had the one quality of concealing emotion +supremely. "Oh," he commented softly, "always; and it was quite a +saying, was it? And _why_ was it always so on Thursday?" + +"It had to do with the early closing, I'm told. The suburban traffic was +a bit different. By rights we ought to have been set back two minutes +for that day, but I suppose it wasn't thought worth while to alter us in +the time-table, so we most always had to wait outside Three Deep tunnel +for a west-bound electric to make good." + +"You were prepared for it then?" + +"Yes, sir, I was," said Hutchins, reddening at some recollection, "and +very down about it was one of the jury over that. But, mayhap once in +three months, I did get through even on a Thursday, and it's not for me +to question whether things are right or wrong just because they are not +what I may expect. The signals are my orders, sir--stop! go on! and it's +for me to obey, as you would a general on the field of battle. What +would happen otherwise! It was nonsense what they said about going +cautious; and the man who started it was a barber who didn't know the +difference between a 'distance' and a 'stop' signal down to the minute +they gave their verdict. My orders, sir, given me by that signal, was +'Go right ahead and keep to your running time!'" + +Carrados nodded a soothing assent. "That is all, I think," he remarked. + +"All!" exclaimed Hutchins in surprise. "Why, sir, you can't have got +much idea of it yet." + +"Quite enough. And I know it isn't pleasant for you to be taken along +the same ground over and over again." + +The man moved awkwardly in his chair and pulled nervously at his +grizzled beard. + +"You mustn't take any notice of what I said just now, sir," he +apologized. "You somehow make me feel that something may come of it; but +I've been badgered about and accused and cross-examined from one to +another of them these weeks till it's fairly made me bitter against +everything. And now they talk of putting me in a lavatory--me that has +been with the company for five and forty years and on the foot-plate +thirty-two--a man suspected of running past a danger signal." + +"You have had a rough time, Hutchins; you will have to exercise your +patience a little longer yet," said Carrados sympathetically. + +"You think something may come of it, sir? You think you will be able to +clear me? Believe me, sir, if you could give me something to look +forward to it might save me from----" He pulled himself up and shook his +head sorrowfully. "I've been near it," he added simply. + +Carrados reflected and took his resolution. + +"To-day is Wednesday. I think you may hope to hear something from your +general manager towards the middle of next week." + +"Good God, sir! You really mean that?" + +"In the interval show your good sense by behaving reasonably. Keep +civilly to yourself and don't talk. Above all"--he nodded towards a +quart jug that stood on the table between them, an incident that filled +the simple-minded engineer with boundless wonder when he recalled it +afterwards--"above all, leave that alone." + +Hutchins snatched up the vessel and brought it crashing down on the +hearthstone, his face shining with a set resolution. + +"I've done with it, sir. It was the bitterness and despair that drove me +to that. Now I can do without it." + +The door was hastily opened and Miss Hutchins looked anxiously from her +father to the visitors and back again. + +"Oh, whatever is the matter?" she exclaimed. "I heard a great crash." + +"This gentleman is going to clear me, Meg, my dear," blurted out the old +man irrepressibly. "And I've done with the drink for ever." + +"Hutchins! Hutchins!" said Carrados warningly. + +"My daughter, sir; you wouldn't have her not know?" pleaded Hutchins, +rather crest-fallen. "It won't go any further." + +Carrados laughed quietly to himself as he felt Margaret Hutchins's +startled and questioning eyes attempting to read his mind. He shook +hands with the engine-driver without further comment, however, and +walked out into the commonplace little street under Parkinson's +unobtrusive guidance. + +"Very nice of Miss Hutchins to go into half-mourning, Parkinson," he +remarked as they went along. "Thoughtful, and yet not ostentatious." + +"Yes, sir," agreed Parkinson, who had long ceased to wonder at his +master's perceptions. + +"The Romans, Parkinson, had a saying to the effect that gold carries no +smell. That is a pity sometimes. What jewellery did Miss Hutchins wear?" + +"Very little, sir. A plain gold brooch representing a merry-thought--the +merry-thought of a sparrow, I should say, sir. The only other article +was a smooth-backed gun-metal watch, suspended from a gun-metal bow." + +"Nothing showy or expensive, eh?" + +"Oh dear no, sir. Quite appropriate for a young person of her position." + +"Just what I should have expected." He slackened his pace. "We are +passing a hoarding, are we not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"We will stand here a moment. Read me the letterpress of the poster +before us." + +"This 'Oxo' one, sir?" + +"Yes." + +"'Oxo,' sir." + +Carrados was convulsed with silent laughter. Parkinson had infinitely +more dignity and conceded merely a tolerant recognition of the +ludicrous. + +"That was a bad shot, Parkinson," remarked his master when he could +speak. "We will try another." + +For three minutes, with scrupulous conscientiousness on the part of the +reader and every appearance of keen interest on the part of the hearer, +there were set forth the particulars of a sale by auction of superfluous +timber and builders' material. + +"That will do," said Carrados, when the last detail had been reached. +"We can be seen from the door of No. 107 still?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"No indication of anyone coming to us from there?" + +"No, sir." + +Carrados walked thoughtfully on again. In the Holloway Road they +rejoined the waiting motor car. "Lambeth Bridge Station," was the order +the driver received. + +From the station the car was sent on home and Parkinson was instructed +to take two first-class singles for Richmond, which could be reached by +changing at Stafford Road. The "evening rush" had not yet commenced and +they had no difficulty in finding an empty carriage when the train came +in. + +Parkinson was kept busy that journey describing what he saw at various +points between Lambeth Bridge and Knight's Cross. For a quarter of a +mile Carrados's demands on the eyes and the memory of his remarkable +servant were wide and incessant. Then his questions ceased. They had +passed the "stop" signal, east of Knight's Cross Station. + +The following afternoon they made the return journey as far as Knight's +Cross. This time, however, the surroundings failed to interest Carrados. +"We are going to look at some rooms," was the information he offered on +the subject, and an imperturbable "Yes, sir" had been the extent of +Parkinson's comment on the unusual proceeding. After leaving the station +they turned sharply along a road that ran parallel with the line, a dull +thoroughfare of substantial, elderly houses that were beginning to sink +into decrepitude. Here and there a corner residence displayed the brass +plate of a professional occupant, but for the most part they were given +up to the various branches of second-rate apartment letting. + +"The third house after the one with the flagstaff," said Carrados. + +Parkinson rang the bell, which was answered by a young servant, who took +an early opportunity of assuring them that she was not tidy as it was +rather early in the afternoon. She informed Carrados, in reply to his +inquiry, that Miss Chubb was at home, and showed them into a melancholy +little sitting-room to await her appearance. + +"I shall be 'almost' blind here, Parkinson," remarked Carrados, walking +about the room. "It saves explanation." + +"Very good, sir," replied Parkinson. + +Five minutes later, an interval suggesting that Miss Chubb also found it +rather early in the afternoon, Carrados was arranging to take rooms for +his attendant and himself for the short time that he would be in London, +seeing an oculist. + +"One bedroom, mine, must face north," he stipulated. "It has to do with +the light." + +Miss Chubb replied that she quite understood. Some gentlemen, she added, +had their requirements, others their fancies. She endeavoured to suit +all. The bedroom she had in view from the first _did_ face north. She +would not have known, only the last gentleman, curiously enough, had +made the same request. + +"A sufferer like myself?" inquired Carrados affably. + +Miss Chubb did not think so. In his case she regarded it merely as a +fancy. He had said that he could not sleep on any other side. She had +had to turn out of her own room to accommodate him, but if one kept an +apartment-house one had to be adaptable; and Mr Ghoosh was certainly +very liberal in his ideas. + +"Ghoosh? An Indian gentleman, I presume?" hazarded Carrados. + +It appeared that Mr Ghoosh was an Indian. Miss Chubb confided that at +first she had been rather perturbed at the idea of taking in "a black +man," as she confessed to regarding him. She reiterated, however, that +Mr Ghoosh proved to be "quite the gentleman." Five minutes of affability +put Carrados in full possession of Mr Ghoosh's manner of life and +movements--the dates of his arrival and departure, his solitariness and +his daily habits. + +"This would be the best bedroom," said Miss Chubb. + +It was a fair-sized room on the first floor. The window looked out on to +the roof of an outbuilding; beyond, the deep cutting of the railway +line. Opposite stood the dead wall that Mr Carlyle had spoken of. + +Carrados "looked" round the room with the discriminating glance that +sometimes proved so embarrassing to those who knew him. + +"I have to take a little daily exercise," he remarked, walking to the +window and running his hand up the woodwork. "You will not mind my +fixing a 'developer' here, Miss Chubb--a few small screws?" + +Miss Chubb thought not. Then she was sure not. Finally she ridiculed the +idea of minding with scorn. + +"If there is width enough," mused Carrados, spanning the upright +critically. "Do you happen to have a wooden foot-rule convenient?" + +"Well, to be sure!" exclaimed Miss Chubb, opening a rapid succession of +drawers until she produced the required article. "When we did out this +room after Mr Ghoosh, there was this very ruler among the things that he +hadn't thought worth taking. This is what you require, sir?" + +"Yes," replied Carrados, accepting it, "I think this is exactly what I +require." It was a common new white-wood rule, such as one might buy at +any small stationer's for a penny. He carelessly took off the width of +the upright, reading the figures with a touch; and then continued to run +a finger-tip delicately up and down the edges of the instrument. + +"Four and seven-eighths," was his unspoken conclusion. + +"I hope it will do, sir." + +"Admirably," replied Carrados. "But I haven't reached the end of my +requirements yet, Miss Chubb." + +"No, sir?" said the landlady, feeling that it would be a pleasure to +oblige so agreeable a gentleman, "what else might there be?" + +"Although I can see very little I like to have a light, but not any kind +of light. Gas I cannot do with. Do you think that you would be able to +find me an oil lamp?" + +"Certainly, sir. I got out a very nice brass lamp that I have specially +for Mr Ghoosh. He read a good deal of an evening and he preferred a +lamp." + +"That is very convenient. I suppose it is large enough to burn for a +whole evening?" + +"Yes, indeed. And very particular he was always to have it filled every +day." + +"A lamp without oil is not very useful," smiled Carrados, following her +towards another room, and absentmindedly slipping the foot-rule into his +pocket. + +Whatever Parkinson thought of the arrangement of going into second-rate +apartments in an obscure street it is to be inferred that his devotion +to his master was sufficient to overcome his private emotions as a +self-respecting "man." At all events, as they were approaching the +station he asked, and without a trace of feeling, whether there were any +orders for him with reference to the proposed migration. + +"None, Parkinson," replied his master. "We must be satisfied with our +present quarters." + +"I beg your pardon, sir," said Parkinson, with some constraint. "I +understood that you had taken the rooms for a week certain." + +"I am afraid that Miss Chubb will be under the same impression. +Unforeseen circumstances will prevent our going, however. Mr Greatorex +must write to-morrow, enclosing a cheque, with my regrets, and adding a +penny for this ruler which I seem to have brought away with me. It, at +least, is something for the money." + +Parkinson may be excused for not attempting to understand the course of +events. + +"Here is your train coming in, sir," he merely said. + +"We will let it go and wait for another. Is there a signal at either end +of the platform?" + +"Yes, sir; at the further end." + +"Let us walk towards it. Are there any of the porters or officials about +here?" + +"No, sir; none." + +"Take this ruler. I want you to go up the steps--there are steps up the +signal, by the way?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I want you to measure the glass of the lamp. Do not go up any higher +than is necessary, but if you have to stretch be careful not to mark on +the measurement with your nail, although the impulse is a natural one. +That has been done already." + +Parkinson looked apprehensively around and about. Fortunately the part +was a dark and unfrequented spot and everyone else was moving towards +the exit at the other end of the platform. Fortunately, also, the signal +was not a high one. + +"As near as I can judge on the rounded surface, the glass is four and +seven-eighths across," reported Parkinson. + +"Thank you," replied Carrados, returning the measure to his pocket, +"four and seven-eighths is quite near enough. Now we will take the next +train back." + +Sunday evening came, and with it Mr Carlyle to The Turrets at the +appointed hour. He brought to the situation a mind poised for any +eventuality and a trenchant eye. As the time went on and the +impenetrable Carrados made no allusion to the case, Carlyle's manner +inclined to a waggish commiseration of his host's position. Actually, he +said little, but the crisp precision of his voice when the path lay open +to a remark of any significance left little to be said. + +It was not until they had finished dinner and returned to the library +that Carrados gave the slightest hint of anything unusual being in the +air. His first indication of coming events was to remove the key from +the outside to the inside of the door. + +"What are you doing, Max?" demanded Mr Carlyle, his curiosity overcoming +the indirect attitude. + +"You have been very entertaining, Louis," replied his friend, "but +Parkinson should be back very soon now and it is as well to be prepared. +Do you happen to carry a revolver?" + +"Not when I come to dine with you, Max," replied Carlyle, with all the +aplomb he could muster. "Is it usual?" + +Carrados smiled affectionately at his guest's agile recovery and touched +the secret spring of a drawer in an antique bureau by his side. The +little hidden receptacle shot smoothly out, disclosing a pair of +dull-blued pistols. + +"To-night, at all events, it might be prudent," he replied, handing one +to Carlyle and putting the other into his own pocket. "Our man may be +here at any minute, and we do not know in what temper he will come." + +"Our man!" exclaimed Carlyle, craning forward in excitement. "Max! you +don't mean to say that you have got Mead to admit it?" + +"No one has admitted it," said Carrados. "And it is not Mead." + +"Not Mead.... Do you mean that Hutchins----?" + +"Neither Mead nor Hutchins. The man who tampered with the signal--for +Hutchins was right and a green light _was_ exhibited--is a young Indian +from Bengal. His name is Drishna and he lives at Swanstead." + +Mr Carlyle stared at his friend between sheer surprise and blank +incredulity. + +"You really mean this, Carrados?" he said. + +"My fatal reputation for humour!" smiled Carrados. "If I am wrong, +Louis, the next hour will expose it." + +"But why--why--why? The colossal villainy, the unparalleled audacity!" +Mr Carlyle lost himself among incredulous superlatives and could only +stare. + +"Chiefly to get himself out of a disastrous speculation," replied +Carrados, answering the question. "If there was another motive--or at +least an incentive--which I suspect, doubtless we shall hear of it." + +"All the same, Max, I don't think that you have treated me quite +fairly," protested Carlyle, getting over his first surprise and passing +to a sense of injury. "Here we are and I know nothing, absolutely +nothing, of the whole affair." + +"We both have our ideas of pleasantry, Louis," replied Carrados +genially. "But I dare say you are right and perhaps there is still time +to atone." In the fewest possible words he outlined the course of his +investigations. "And now you know all that is to be known until Drishna +arrives." + +"But will he come?" questioned Carlyle doubtfully. "He may be +suspicious." + +"Yes, he will be suspicious." + +"Then he will not come." + +"On the contrary, Louis, he will come because my letter will make him +suspicious. He _is_ coming; otherwise Parkinson would have telephoned +me at once and we should have had to take other measures." + +"What did you say, Max?" asked Carlyle curiously. + +"I wrote that I was anxious to discuss an Indo-Scythian inscription with +him, and sent my car in the hope that he would be able to oblige me." + +"But is he interested in Indo-Scythian inscriptions?" + +"I haven't the faintest idea," admitted Carrados, and Mr Carlyle was +throwing up his hands in despair when the sound of a motor car wheels +softly kissing the gravel surface of the drive outside brought him to +his feet. + +"By gad, you are right, Max!" he exclaimed, peeping through the +curtains. "There is a man inside." + +"Mr Drishna," announced Parkinson, a minute later. + +The visitor came into the room with leisurely self-possession that might +have been real or a desperate assumption. He was a slightly built young +man of about twenty-five, with black hair and eyes, a small, carefully +trained moustache, and a dark olive skin. His physiognomy was not +displeasing, but his expression had a harsh and supercilious tinge. In +attire he erred towards the immaculately spruce. + +"Mr Carrados?" he said inquiringly. + +Carrados, who had risen, bowed slightly without offering his hand. + +"This gentleman," he said, indicating his friend, "is Mr Carlyle, the +celebrated private detective." + +The Indian shot a very sharp glance at the object of this description. +Then he sat down. + +"You wrote me a letter, Mr Carrados," he remarked, in English that +scarcely betrayed any foreign origin, "a rather curious letter, I may +say. You asked me about an ancient inscription. I know nothing of +antiquities; but I thought, as you had sent, that it would be more +courteous if I came and explained this to you." + +"That was the object of my letter," replied Carrados. + +"You wished to see me?" said Drishna, unable to stand the ordeal of the +silence that Carrados imposed after his remark. + +"When you left Miss Chubb's house you left a ruler behind." One lay on +the desk by Carrados and he took it up as he spoke. + +"I don't understand what you are talking about," said Drishna guardedly. +"You are making some mistake." + +"The ruler was marked at four and seven-eighths inches--the measure of +the glass of the signal lamp outside." + +The unfortunate young man was unable to repress a start. His face lost +its healthy tone. Then, with a sudden impulse, he made a step forward +and snatched the object from Carrados's hand. + +"If it is mine I have a right to it," he exclaimed, snapping the ruler +in two and throwing it on to the back of the blazing fire. "It is +nothing." + +"Pardon me, I did not say that the one you have so impetuously disposed +of was yours. As a matter of fact, it was mine. Yours is--elsewhere." + +"Wherever it is you have no right to it if it is mine," panted Drishna, +with rising excitement. "You are a thief, Mr Carrados. I will not stay +any longer here." + +He jumped up and turned towards the door. Carlyle made a step forward, +but the precaution was unnecessary. + +"One moment, Mr Drishna," interposed Carrados, in his smoothest tones. +"It is a pity, after you have come so far, to leave without hearing of +my investigations in the neighbourhood of Shaftesbury Avenue." + +Drishna sat down again. + +"As you like," he muttered. "It does not interest me." + +"I wanted to obtain a lamp of a certain pattern," continued Carrados. +"It seemed to me that the simplest explanation would be to say that I +wanted it for a motor car. Naturally I went to Long Acre. At the first +shop I said: 'Wasn't it here that a friend of mine, an Indian gentleman, +recently had a lamp made with a green glass that was nearly five inches +across?' No, it was not there but they could make me one. At the next +shop the same; at the third, and fourth, and so on. Finally my +persistence was rewarded. I found the place where the lamp had been +made, and at the cost of ordering another I obtained all the details I +wanted. It was news to them, the shopman informed me, that in some parts +of India green was the danger colour and therefore tail lamps had to +show a green light. The incident made some impression on him and he +would be able to identify their customer--who paid in advance and gave +no address--among a thousand of his countrymen. Do I succeed in +interesting you, Mr Drishna?" + +"Do you?" replied Drishna, with a languid yawn. "Do I look interested?" + +"You must make allowance for my unfortunate blindness," apologized +Carrados, with grim irony. + +"Blindness!" exclaimed Drishna, dropping his affectation of unconcern as +though electrified by the word, "do you mean--really blind--that you do +not see me?" + +"Alas, no," admitted Carrados. + +The Indian withdrew his right hand from his coat pocket and with a +tragic gesture flung a heavy revolver down on the table between them. + +"I have had you covered all the time, Mr Carrados, and if I had wished +to go and you or your friend had raised a hand to stop me, it would have +been at the peril of your lives," he said, in a voice of melancholy +triumph. "But what is the use of defying fate, and who successfully +evades his destiny? A month ago I went to see one of our people who +reads the future and sought to know the course of certain events. 'You +need fear no human eye,' was the message given to me. Then she added: +'But when the sightless sees the unseen, make your peace with Yama.' And +I thought she spoke of the Great Hereafter!" + +"This amounts to an admission of your guilt," exclaimed Mr Carlyle +practically. + +"I bow to the decree of fate," replied Drishna. "And it is fitting to +the universal irony of existence that a blind man should be the +instrument. I don't imagine, Mr Carlyle," he added maliciously, "that +you, with your eyes, would ever have brought that result about." + +"You are a very cold-blooded young scoundrel, sir!" retorted Mr Carlyle. +"Good heavens! do you realize that you are responsible for the death of +scores of innocent men and women?" + +"Do _you_ realise, Mr Carlyle, that you and your Government and your +soldiers are responsible for the death of thousands of innocent men and +women in my country every day? If England was occupied by the Germans +who quartered an army and an administration with their wives and their +families and all their expensive paraphernalia on the unfortunate +country until the whole nation was reduced to the verge of famine, and +the appointment of every new official meant the callous death sentence +on a thousand men and women to pay his salary, then if you went to +Berlin and wrecked a train you would be hailed a patriot. What Boadicea +did and--and Samson, so have I. If they were heroes, so am I." + +"Well, upon my word!" cried the highly scandalized Carlyle, "what next! +Boadicea was a--er--semi-legendary person, whom we may possibly admire +at a distance. Personally, I do not profess to express an opinion. But +Samson, I would remind you, is a Biblical character. Samson was mocked +as an enemy. You, I do not doubt, have been entertained as a friend." + +"And haven't I been mocked and despised and sneered at every day of my +life here by your supercilious, superior, empty-headed men?" flashed +back Drishna, his eyes leaping into malignity and his voice trembling +with sudden passion. "Oh! how I hated them as I passed them in the +street and recognized by a thousand petty insults their lordly English +contempt for me as an inferior being--a nigger. How I longed with +Caligula that a nation had a single neck that I might destroy it at one +blow. I loathe you in your complacent hypocrisy, Mr Carlyle, despise and +utterly abominate you from an eminence of superiority that you can never +even understand." + +"I think we are getting rather away from the point, Mr Drishna," +interposed Carrados, with the impartiality of a judge. "Unless I am +misinformed, you are not so ungallant as to include everyone you have +met here in your execration?" + +"Ah, no," admitted Drishna, descending into a quite ingenuous frankness. +"Much as I hate your men I love your women. How is it possible that a +nation should be so divided--its men so dull-witted and offensive, its +women so quick, sympathetic and capable of appreciating?" + +"But a little expensive, too, at times?" suggested Carrados. + +Drishna sighed heavily. + +"Yes; it is incredible. It is the generosity of their large nature. My +allowance, though what most of you would call noble, has proved quite +inadequate. I was compelled to borrow money and the interest became +overwhelming. Bankruptcy was impracticable because I should have then +been recalled by my people, and much as I detest England a certain +reason made the thought of leaving it unbearable." + +"Connected with the Arcady Theatre?" + +"You know? Well, do not let us introduce the lady's name. In order to +restore myself I speculated on the Stock Exchange. My credit was good +through my father's position and the standing of the firm to which I am +attached. I heard on reliable authority, and very early, that the +Central and Suburban, and the Deferred especially, was safe to fall +heavily, through a motor bus amalgamation that was then a secret. I +opened a bear account and sold largely. The shares fell, but only +fractionally, and I waited. Then, unfortunately, they began to go up. +Adverse forces were at work and rumours were put about. I could not +stand the settlement, and in order to carry over an account I was +literally compelled to deal temporarily with some securities that were +not technically my own property." + +"Embezzlement, sir," commented Mr Carlyle icily. "But what is +embezzlement on the top of wholesale murder!" + +"That is what it is called. In my case, however, it was only to be +temporary. Unfortunately, the rise continued. Then, at the height of my +despair, I chanced to be returning to Swanstead rather earlier than +usual one evening, and the train was stopped at a certain signal to let +another pass. There was conversation in the carriage and I learned +certain details. One said that there would be an accident some day, and +so forth. In a flash--as by an inspiration--I saw how the circumstance +might be turned to account. A bad accident and the shares would +certainly fall and my position would be retrieved. I think Mr Carrados +has somehow learned the rest." + +"Max," said Mr Carlyle, with emotion, "is there any reason why you +should not send your man for a police officer and have this monster +arrested on his own confession without further delay?" + +"Pray do so, Mr Carrados," acquiesced Drishna. "I shall certainly be +hanged, but the speech I shall prepare will ring from one end of India +to the other; my memory will be venerated as that of a martyr; and the +emancipation of my motherland will be hastened by my sacrifice." + +"In other words," commented Carrados, "there will be disturbances at +half-a-dozen disaffected places, a few unfortunate police will be +clubbed to death, and possibly worse things may happen. That does not +suit us, Mr Drishna." + +"And how do you propose to prevent it?" asked Drishna, with cool +assurance. + +"It is very unpleasant being hanged on a dark winter morning; very cold, +very friendless, very inhuman. The long trial, the solitude and the +confinement, the thoughts of the long sleepless night before, the +hangman and the pinioning and the noosing of the rope, are apt to prey +on the imagination. Only a very stupid man can take hanging easily." + +"What do you want me to do instead, Mr Carrados?" asked Drishna +shrewdly. + +Carrados's hand closed on the weapon that still lay on the table between +them. Without a word he pushed it across. + +"I see," commented Drishna, with a short laugh and a gleaming eye. +"Shoot myself and hush it up to suit your purpose. Withhold my message +to save the exposures of a trial, and keep the flame from the torch of +insurrectionary freedom." + +"Also," interposed Carrados mildly, "to save your worthy people a good +deal of shame, and to save the lady who is nameless the unpleasant +necessity of relinquishing the house and the income which you have just +settled on her. She certainly would not then venerate your memory." + +"What is that?" + +"The transaction which you carried through was based on a felony and +could not be upheld. The firm you dealt with will go to the courts, and +the money, being directly traceable, will be held forfeit as no good +consideration passed." + +"Max!" cried Mr Carlyle hotly, "you are not going to let this scoundrel +cheat the gallows after all?" + +"The best use you can make of the gallows is to cheat it, Louis," +replied Carrados. "Have you ever reflected what human beings will think +of us a hundred years hence?" + +"Oh, of course I'm not really in favour of hanging," admitted Mr +Carlyle. + +"Nobody really is. But we go on hanging. Mr Drishna is a dangerous +animal who for the sake of pacific animals must cease to exist. Let his +barbarous exploit pass into oblivion with him. The disadvantages of +spreading it broadcast immeasurably outweigh the benefits." + +"I have considered," announced Drishna. "I will do as you wish." + +"Very well," said Carrados. "Here is some plain notepaper. You had +better write a letter to someone saying that the financial difficulties +in which you are involved make life unbearable." + +"But there are no financial difficulties--now." + +"That does not matter in the least. It will be put down to an +hallucination and taken as showing the state of your mind." + +"But what guarantee have we that he will not escape?" whispered Mr +Carlyle. + +"He cannot escape," replied Carrados tranquilly. "His identity is too +clear." + +"I have no intention of trying to escape," put in Drishna, as he wrote. +"You hardly imagine that I have not considered this eventuality, do +you?" + +"All the same," murmured the ex-lawyer, "I should like to have a jury +behind me. It is one thing to execute a man morally; it is another to do +it almost literally." + +"Is that all right?" asked Drishna, passing across the letter he had +written. + +Carrados smiled at this tribute to his perception. + +"Quite excellent," he replied courteously. "There is a train at +nine-forty. Will that suit you?" + +Drishna nodded and stood up. Mr Carlyle had a very uneasy feeling that +he ought to do something but could not suggest to himself what. + +The next moment he heard his friend heartily thanking the visitor for +the assistance he had been in the matter of the Indo-Scythian +inscription, as they walked across the hall together. Then a door +closed. + +"I believe that there is something positively uncanny about Max at +times," murmured the perturbed gentleman to himself. + + + + +THE TRAGEDY AT BROOKBEND COTTAGE + + +"Max," said Mr Carlyle, when Parkinson had closed the door behind him, +"this is Lieutenant Hollyer, whom you consented to see." + +"To hear," corrected Carrados, smiling straight into the healthy and +rather embarrassed face of the stranger before him. "Mr Hollyer knows of +my disability?" + +"Mr Carlyle told me," said the young man, "but, as a matter of fact, I +had heard of you before, Mr Carrados, from one of our men. It was in +connexion with the foundering of the _Ivan Saratov_." + +Carrados wagged his head in good-humoured resignation. + +"And the owners were sworn to inviolable secrecy!" he exclaimed. "Well, +it is inevitable, I suppose. Not another scuttling case, Mr Hollyer?" + +"No, mine is quite a private matter," replied the lieutenant. "My +sister, Mrs Creake--but Mr Carlyle would tell you better than I can. He +knows all about it." + +"No, no; Carlyle is a professional. Let me have it in the rough, Mr +Hollyer. My ears are my eyes, you know." + +"Very well, sir. I can tell you what there is to tell, right enough, but +I feel that when all's said and done it must sound very little to +another, although it seems important enough to me." + +"We have occasionally found trifles of significance ourselves," said +Carrados encouragingly. "Don't let that deter you." + +This was the essence of Lieutenant Hollyer's narrative: + +"I have a sister, Millicent, who is married to a man called Creake. She +is about twenty-eight now and he is at least fifteen years older. +Neither my mother (who has since died), nor I, cared very much about +Creake. We had nothing particular against him, except, perhaps, the +moderate disparity of age, but none of us appeared to have anything in +common. He was a dark, taciturn man, and his moody silence froze up +conversation. As a result, of course, we didn't see much of each other." + +"This, you must understand, was four or five years ago, Max," interposed +Mr Carlyle officiously. + +Carrados maintained an uncompromising silence. Mr Carlyle blew his nose +and contrived to impart a hurt significance into the operation. Then +Lieutenant Hollyer continued: + +"Millicent married Creake after a very short engagement. It was a +frightfully subdued wedding--more like a funeral to me. The man +professed to have no relations and apparently he had scarcely any +friends or business acquaintances. He was an agent for something or +other and had an office off Holborn. I suppose he made a living out of +it then, although we knew practically nothing of his private affairs, +but I gather that it has been going down since, and I suspect that for +the past few years they have been getting along almost entirely on +Millicent's little income. You would like the particulars of that?" + +"Please," assented Carrados. + +"When our father died about seven years ago, he left three thousand +pounds. It was invested in Canadian stock and brought in a little over a +hundred a year. By his will my mother was to have the income of that for +life and on her death it was to pass to Millicent, subject to the +payment of a lump sum of five hundred pounds to me. But my father +privately suggested to me that if I should have no particular use for +the money at the time, he would propose my letting Millicent have the +income of it until I did want it, as she would not be particularly well +off. You see, Mr Carrados, a great deal more had been spent on my +education and advancement than on her; I had my pay, and, of course, I +could look out for myself better than a girl could." + +"Quite so," agreed Carrados. + +"Therefore I did nothing about that," continued the lieutenant. "Three +years ago I was over again but I did not see much of them. They were +living in lodgings. That was the only time since the marriage that I +have seen them until last week. In the meanwhile our mother had died and +Millicent had been receiving her income. She wrote me several letters +at the time. Otherwise we did not correspond much, but about a year ago +she sent me their new address--Brookbend Cottage, Mulling Common--a +house that they had taken. When I got two months' leave I invited myself +there as a matter of course, fully expecting to stay most of my time +with them, but I made an excuse to get away after a week. The place was +dismal and unendurable, the whole life and atmosphere indescribably +depressing." He looked round with an instinct of caution, leaned forward +earnestly, and dropped his voice. "Mr Carrados, it is my absolute +conviction that Creake is only waiting for a favourable opportunity to +murder Millicent." + +"Go on," said Carrados quietly. "A week of the depressing surroundings +of Brookbend Cottage would not alone convince you of that, Mr Hollyer." + +"I am not so sure," declared Hollyer doubtfully. "There was a feeling of +suspicion and--before me--polite hatred that would have gone a good way +towards it. All the same there _was_ something more definite. Millicent +told me this the day after I went there. There is no doubt that a few +months ago Creake deliberately planned to poison her with some +weed-killer. She told me the circumstances in a rather distressed +moment, but afterwards she refused to speak of it again--even weakly +denied it--and, as a matter of fact, it was with the greatest difficulty +that I could get her at any time to talk about her husband or his +affairs. The gist of it was that she had the strongest suspicion that +Creake doctored a bottle of stout which he expected she would drink for +her supper when she was alone. The weed-killer, properly labelled, but +also in a beer bottle, was kept with other miscellaneous liquids in the +same cupboard as the beer but on a high shelf. When he found that it had +miscarried he poured away the mixture, washed out the bottle and put in +the dregs from another. There is no doubt in my mind that if he had come +back and found Millicent dead or dying he would have contrived it to +appear that she had made a mistake in the dark and drunk some of the +poison before she found out." + +"Yes," assented Carrados. "The open way; the safe way." + +"You must understand that they live in a very small style, Mr Carrados, +and Millicent is almost entirely in the man's power. The only servant +they have is a woman who comes in for a few hours every day. The house +is lonely and secluded. Creake is sometimes away for days and nights at +a time, and Millicent, either through pride or indifference, seems to +have dropped off all her old friends and to have made no others. He +might poison her, bury the body in the garden, and be a thousand miles +away before anyone began even to inquire about her. What am I to do, Mr +Carrados?" + +"He is less likely to try poison than some other means now," pondered +Carrados. "That having failed, his wife will always be on her guard. He +may know, or at least suspect, that others know. No.... The +common-sense precaution would be for your sister to leave the man, Mr +Hollyer. She will not?" + +"No," admitted Hollyer, "she will not. I at once urged that." The young +man struggled with some hesitation for a moment and then blurted out: +"The fact is, Mr Carrados, I don't understand Millicent. She is not the +girl she was. She hates Creake and treats him with a silent contempt +that eats into their lives like acid, and yet she is so jealous of him +that she will let nothing short of death part them. It is a horrible +life they lead. I stood it for a week and I must say, much as I dislike +my brother-in-law, that he has something to put up with. If only he got +into a passion like a man and killed her it wouldn't be altogether +incomprehensible." + +"That does not concern us," said Carrados. "In a game of this kind one +has to take sides and we have taken ours. It remains for us to see that +our side wins. You mentioned jealousy, Mr Hollyer. Have you any idea +whether Mrs Creake has real ground for it?" + +"I should have told you that," replied Lieutenant Hollyer. "I happened +to strike up with a newspaper man whose office is in the same block as +Creake's. When I mentioned the name he grinned. 'Creake,' he said, 'oh, +he's the man with the romantic typist, isn't he?' 'Well, he's my +brother-in-law,' I replied. 'What about the typist?' Then the chap shut +up like a knife. 'No, no,' he said, 'I didn't know he was married. I +don't want to get mixed up in anything of that sort. I only said that +he had a typist. Well, what of that? So have we; so has everyone.' There +was nothing more to be got out of him, but the remark and the grin +meant--well, about as usual, Mr Carrados." + +Carrados turned to his friend. + +"I suppose you know all about the typist by now, Louis?" + +"We have had her under efficient observation, Max," replied Mr Carlyle, +with severe dignity. + +"Is she unmarried?" + +"Yes; so far as ordinary repute goes, she is." + +"That is all that is essential for the moment. Mr Hollyer opens up three +excellent reasons why this man might wish to dispose of his wife. If we +accept the suggestion of poisoning--though we have only a jealous +woman's suspicion for it--we add to the wish the determination. Well, we +will go forward on that. Have you got a photograph of Mr Creake?" + +The lieutenant took out his pocket-book. + +"Mr Carlyle asked me for one. Here is the best I could get." + +Carrados rang the bell. + +"This, Parkinson," he said, when the man appeared, "is a photograph of a +Mr----What first name, by the way?" + +"Austin," put in Hollyer, who was following everything with a boyish +mixture of excitement and subdued importance. + +"--of a Mr Austin Creake. I may require you to recognize him." + +Parkinson glanced at the print and returned it to his master's hand. + +"May I inquire if it is a recent photograph of the gentleman, sir?" he +asked. + +"About six years ago," said the lieutenant, taking in this new actor in +the drama with frank curiosity. "But he is very little changed." + +"Thank you, sir. I will endeavour to remember Mr Creake, sir." + +Lieutenant Hollyer stood up as Parkinson left the room. The interview +seemed to be at an end. + +"Oh, there's one other matter," he remarked. "I am afraid that I did +rather an unfortunate thing while I was at Brookbend. It seemed to me +that as all Millicent's money would probably pass into Creake's hands +sooner or later I might as well have my five hundred pounds, if only to +help her with afterwards. So I broached the subject and said that I +should like to have it now as I had an opportunity for investing." + +"And you think?" + +"It may possibly influence Creake to act sooner than he otherwise might +have done. He may have got possession of the principal even and find it +very awkward to replace it." + +"So much the better. If your sister is going to be murdered it may as +well be done next week as next year so far as I am concerned. Excuse my +brutality, Mr Hollyer, but this is simply a case to me and I regard it +strategically. Now Mr Carlyle's organization can look after Mrs Creake +for a few weeks but it cannot look after her for ever. By increasing the +immediate risk we diminish the permanent risk." + +"I see," agreed Hollyer. "I'm awfully uneasy but I'm entirely in your +hands." + +"Then we will give Mr Creake every inducement and every opportunity to +get to work. Where are you staying now?" + +"Just now with some friends at St Albans." + +"That is too far." The inscrutable eyes retained their tranquil depth +but a new quality of quickening interest in the voice made Mr Carlyle +forget the weight and burden of his ruffled dignity. "Give me a few +minutes, please. The cigarettes are behind you, Mr Hollyer." The blind +man walked to the window and seemed to look out over the cypress-shaded +lawn. The lieutenant lit a cigarette and Mr Carlyle picked up _Punch_. +Then Carrados turned round again. + +"You are prepared to put your own arrangements aside?" he demanded of +his visitor. + +"Certainly." + +"Very well. I want you to go down now--straight from here--to Brookbend +Cottage. Tell your sister that your leave is unexpectedly cut short and +that you sail to-morrow." + +"The _Martian_?" + +"No, no; the _Martian_ doesn't sail. Look up the movements on your way +there and pick out a boat that does. Say you are transferred. Add that +you expect to be away only two or three months and that you really want +the five hundred pounds by the time of your return. Don't stay in the +house long, please." + +"I understand, sir." + +"St Albans is too far. Make your excuse and get away from there to-day. +Put up somewhere in town, where you will be in reach of the telephone. +Let Mr Carlyle and myself know where you are. Keep out of Creake's way. +I don't want actually to tie you down to the house, but we may require +your services. We will let you know at the first sign of anything doing +and if there is nothing to be done we must release you." + +"I don't mind that. Is there nothing more that I can do now?" + +"Nothing. In going to Mr Carlyle you have done the best thing possible; +you have put your sister into the care of the shrewdest man in London." +Whereat the object of this quite unexpected eulogy found himself +becoming covered with modest confusion. + +"Well, Max?" remarked Mr Carlyle tentatively when they were alone. + +"Well, Louis?" + +"Of course it wasn't worth while rubbing it in before young Hollyer, +but, as a matter of fact, every single man carries the life of any other +man--only one, mind you--in his hands, do what you will." + +"Provided he doesn't bungle," acquiesced Carrados. + +"Quite so." + +"And also that he is absolutely reckless of the consequences." + +"Of course." + +"Two rather large provisos. Creake is obviously susceptible to both. +Have you seen him?" + +"No. As I told you, I put a man on to report his habits in town. Then, +two days ago, as the case seemed to promise some interest--for he +certainly is deeply involved with the typist, Max, and the thing might +take a sensational turn any time--I went down to Mulling Common myself. +Although the house is lonely it is on the electric tram route. You know +the sort of market garden rurality that about a dozen miles out of +London offers--alternate bricks and cabbages. It was easy enough to get +to know about Creake locally. He mixes with no one there, goes into town +at irregular times but generally every day, and is reputed to be +devilish hard to get money out of. Finally I made the acquaintance of an +old fellow who used to do a day's gardening at Brookbend occasionally. +He has a cottage and a garden of his own with a greenhouse, and the +business cost me the price of a pound of tomatoes." + +"Was it--a profitable investment?" + +"As tomatoes, yes; as information, no. The old fellow had the fatal +disadvantage from our point of view of labouring under a grievance. A +few weeks ago Creake told him that he would not require him again as he +was going to do his own gardening in future." + +"That is something, Louis." + +"If only Creake was going to poison his wife with hyoscyamine and bury +her, instead of blowing her up with a dynamite cartridge and claiming +that it came in among the coal." + +"True, true. Still----" + +"However, the chatty old soul had a simple explanation for everything +that Creake did. Creake was mad. He had even seen him flying a kite in +his garden where it was bound to get wrecked among the trees. 'A lad of +ten would have known better,' he declared. And certainly the kite did +get wrecked, for I saw it hanging over the road myself. But that a sane +man should spend his time 'playing with a toy' was beyond him." + +"A good many men have been flying kites of various kinds lately," said +Carrados. "Is he interested in aviation?" + +"I dare say. He appears to have some knowledge of scientific subjects. +Now what do you want me to do, Max?" + +"Will you do it?" + +"Implicitly--subject to the usual reservations." + +"Keep your man on Creake in town and let me have his reports after you +have seen them. Lunch with me here now. 'Phone up to your office that +you are detained on unpleasant business and then give the deserving +Parkinson an afternoon off by looking after me while we take a motor run +round Mulling Common. If we have time we might go on to Brighton, feed +at the 'Ship,' and come back in the cool." + +"Amiable and thrice lucky mortal," sighed Mr Carlyle, his glance +wandering round the room. + +But, as it happened, Brighton did not figure in that day's itinerary. It +had been Carrados's intention merely to pass Brookbend Cottage on this +occasion, relying on his highly developed faculties, aided by Mr +Carlyle's description, to inform him of the surroundings. A hundred +yards before they reached the house he had given an order to his +chauffeur to drop into the lowest speed and they were leisurely drawing +past when a discovery by Mr Carlyle modified their plans. + +"By Jupiter!" that gentleman suddenly exclaimed, "there's a board up, +Max. The place is to be let." + +Carrados picked up the tube again. A couple of sentences passed and the +car stopped by the roadside, a score of paces past the limit of the +garden. Mr Carlyle took out his notebook and wrote down the address of a +firm of house agents. + +"You might raise the bonnet and have a look at the engines, Harris," +said Carrados. "We want to be occupied here for a few minutes." + +"This is sudden; Hollyer knew nothing of their leaving," remarked Mr +Carlyle. + +"Probably not for three months yet. All the same, Louis, we will go on +to the agents and get a card to view, whether we use it to-day or not." + +A thick hedge, in its summer dress effectively screening the house +beyond from public view, lay between the garden and the road. Above the +hedge showed an occasional shrub; at the corner nearest to the car a +chestnut flourished. The wooden gate, once white; which they had passed, +was grimed and rickety. The road itself was still the unpretentious +country lane that the advent of the electric car had found it. When +Carrados had taken in these details there seemed little else to notice. +He was on the point of giving Harris the order to go on when his ear +caught a trivial sound. + +"Someone is coming out of the house, Louis," he warned his friend. "It +may be Hollyer, but he ought to have gone by this time." + +"I don't hear anyone," replied the other, but as he spoke a door banged +noisily and Mr Carlyle slipped into another seat and ensconced himself +behind a copy of _The Globe_. + +"Creake himself," he whispered across the car, as a man appeared at the +gate. "Hollyer was right; he is hardly changed. Waiting for a car, I +suppose." + +But a car very soon swung past them from the direction in which Mr +Creake was looking and it did not interest him. For a minute or two +longer he continued to look expectantly along the road. Then he walked +slowly up the drive back to the house. + +"We will give him five or ten minutes," decided Carrados. "Harris is +behaving very naturally." + +Before even the shorter period had run out they were repaid. A +telegraph-boy cycled leisurely along the road, and, leaving his machine +at the gate, went up to the cottage. Evidently there was no reply, for +in less than a minute he was trundling past them back again. Round the +bend an approaching tram clanged its bell noisily, and, quickened by the +warning sound, Mr Creake again appeared, this time with a small +portmanteau in his hand. With a backward glance he hurried on towards +the next stopping-place, and, boarding the car as it slackened down, he +was carried out of their knowledge. + +"Very convenient of Mr Creake," remarked Carrados, with quiet +satisfaction. "We will now get the order and go over the house in his +absence. It might be useful to have a look at the wire as well." + +"It might, Max," acquiesced Mr Carlyle a little dryly. "But if it is, as +it probably is, in Creake's pocket, how do you propose to get it?" + +"By going to the post office, Louis." + +"Quite so. Have you ever tried to see a copy of a telegram addressed to +someone else?" + +"I don't think I have ever had occasion yet," admitted Carrados. "Have +you?" + +"In one or two cases I have perhaps been an accessory to the act. It is +generally a matter either of extreme delicacy or considerable +expenditure." + +"Then for Hollyer's sake we will hope for the former here." And Mr +Carlyle smiled darkly and hinted that he was content to wait for a +friendly revenge. + +A little later, having left the car at the beginning of the straggling +High Street, the two men called at the village post office. They had +already visited the house agent and obtained an order to view Brookbend +Cottage, declining, with some difficulty, the clerk's persistent offer +to accompany them. The reason was soon forthcoming. "As a matter of +fact," explained the young man, "the present tenant is under _our_ +notice to leave." + +"Unsatisfactory, eh?" said Carrados encouragingly. + +"He's a corker," admitted the clerk, responding to the friendly tone. +"Fifteen months and not a doit of rent have we had. That's why I should +have liked----" + +"We will make every allowance," replied Carrados. + +The post office occupied one side of a stationer's shop. It was not +without some inward trepidation that Mr Carlyle found himself committed +to the adventure. Carrados, on the other hand, was the personification +of bland unconcern. + +"You have just sent a telegram to Brookbend Cottage," he said to the +young lady behind the brasswork lattice. "We think it may have come +inaccurately and should like a repeat." He took out his purse. "What is +the fee?" + +The request was evidently not a common one. "Oh," said the girl +uncertainly, "wait a minute, please." She turned to a pile of telegram +duplicates behind the desk and ran a doubtful finger along the upper +sheets. "I think this is all right. You want it repeated?" + +"Please." Just a tinge of questioning surprise gave point to the +courteous tone. + +"It will be fourpence. If there is an error the amount will be +refunded." + +Carrados put down a coin and received his change. + +"Will it take long?" he inquired carelessly, as he pulled on his glove. + +"You will most likely get it within a quarter of an hour," she replied. + +"Now you've done it," commented Mr Carlyle, as they walked back to their +car. "How do you propose to get that telegram, Max?" + +"Ask for it," was the laconic explanation. + +And, stripping the artifice of any elaboration, he simply asked for it +and got it. The car, posted at a convenient bend in the road, gave him a +warning note as the telegraph-boy approached. Then Carrados took up a +convincing attitude with his hand on the gate while Mr Carlyle lent +himself to the semblance of a departing friend. That was the inevitable +impression when the boy rode up. + +"Creake, Brookbend Cottage?" inquired Carrados, holding out his hand, +and without a second thought the boy gave him the envelope and rode away +on the assurance that there would be no reply. + +"Some day, my friend," remarked Mr Carlyle, looking nervously towards +the unseen house, "your ingenuity will get you into a tight corner." + +"Then my ingenuity must get me out again," was the retort. "Let us have +our 'view' now. The telegram can wait." + +An untidy workwoman took their order and left them standing at the door. +Presently a lady whom they both knew to be Mrs Creake appeared. + +"You wish to see over the house?" she said, in a voice that was utterly +devoid of any interest. Then, without waiting for a reply, she turned to +the nearest door and threw it open. + +"This is the drawing-room," she said, standing aside. + +They walked into a sparsely furnished, damp-smelling room and made a +pretence of looking round, while Mrs Creake remained silent and aloof. + +"The dining-room," she continued, crossing the narrow hall and opening +another door. + +Mr Carlyle ventured a genial commonplace in the hope of inducing +conversation. The result was not encouraging. Doubtless they would have +gone through the house under the same frigid guidance had not Carrados +been at fault in a way that Mr Carlyle had never known him fail before. +In crossing the hall he stumbled over a mat and almost fell. + +"Pardon my clumsiness," he said to the lady. "I am, unfortunately, quite +blind. But," he added, with a smile, to turn off the mishap, "even a +blind man must have a house." + +The man who had eyes was surprised to see a flood of colour rush into +Mrs Creake's face. + +"Blind!" she exclaimed, "oh, I beg your pardon. Why did you not tell me? +You might have fallen." + +"I generally manage fairly well," he replied. "But, of course, in a +strange house----" + +She put her hand on his arm very lightly. + +"You must let me guide you, just a little," she said. + +The house, without being large, was full of passages and inconvenient +turnings. Carrados asked an occasional question and found Mrs Creake +quite amiable without effusion. Mr Carlyle followed them from room to +room in the hope, though scarcely the expectation, of learning something +that might be useful. + +"This is the last one. It is the largest bedroom," said their guide. +Only two of the upper rooms were fully furnished and Mr Carlyle at once +saw, as Carrados knew without seeing, that this was the one which the +Creakes occupied. + +"A very pleasant outlook," declared Mr Carlyle. + +"Oh, I suppose so," admitted the lady vaguely. The room, in fact, looked +over the leafy garden and the road beyond. It had a French window +opening on to a small balcony, and to this, under the strange influence +that always attracted him to light, Carrados walked. + +"I expect that there is a certain amount of repair needed?" he said, +after standing there a moment. + +"I am afraid there would be," she confessed. + +"I ask because there is a sheet of metal on the floor here," he +continued. "Now that, in an old house, spells dry rot to the wary +observer." + +"My husband said that the rain, which comes in a little under the +window, was rotting the boards there," she replied. "He put that down +recently. I had not noticed anything myself." + +It was the first time she had mentioned her husband; Mr Carlyle pricked +up his ears. + +"Ah, that is a less serious matter," said Carrados. "May I step out on +to the balcony?" + +"Oh yes, if you like to." Then, as he appeared to be fumbling at the +catch, "Let me open it for you." + +But the window was already open, and Carrados, facing the various points +of the compass, took in the bearings. + +"A sunny, sheltered corner," he remarked. "An ideal spot for a +deck-chair and a book." + +She shrugged her shoulders half contemptuously. + +"I dare say," she replied, "but I never use it." + +"Sometimes, surely," he persisted mildly. "It would be my favourite +retreat. But then----" + +"I was going to say that I had never even been out on it, but that would +not be quite true. It has two uses for me, both equally romantic; I +occasionally shake a duster from it, and when my husband returns late +without his latchkey he wakes me up and I come out here and drop him +mine." + +Further revelation of Mr Creake's nocturnal habits was cut off, greatly +to Mr Carlyle's annoyance, by a cough of unmistakable significance from +the foot of the stairs. They had heard a trade cart drive up to the +gate, a knock at the door, and the heavy-footed woman tramp along the +hall. + +"Excuse me a minute, please," said Mrs Creake. + +"Louis," said Carrados, in a sharp whisper, the moment they were alone, +"stand against the door." + +With extreme plausibility Mr Carlyle began to admire a picture so +situated that while he was there it was impossible to open the door more +than a few inches. From that position he observed his confederate go +through the curious procedure of kneeling down on the bedroom floor and +for a full minute pressing his ear to the sheet of metal that had +already engaged his attention. Then he rose to his feet, nodded, dusted +his trousers, and Mr Carlyle moved to a less equivocal position. + +"What a beautiful rose-tree grows up your balcony," remarked Carrados, +stepping into the room as Mrs Creake returned. "I suppose you are very +fond of gardening?" + +"I detest it," she replied. + +"But this _Glorie_, so carefully trained----?" + +"Is it?" she replied. "I think my husband was nailing it up recently." +By some strange fatality Carrados's most aimless remarks seemed to +involve the absent Mr Creake. "Do you care to see the garden?" + +The garden proved to be extensive and neglected. Behind the house was +chiefly orchard. In front, some semblance of order had been kept up; +here it was lawn and shrubbery, and the drive they had walked along. +Two things interested Carrados: the soil at the foot of the balcony, +which he declared on examination to be particularly suitable for roses, +and the fine chestnut-tree in the corner by the road. + +As they walked back to the car Mr Carlyle lamented that they had learned +so little of Creake's movements. + +"Perhaps the telegram will tell us something," suggested Carrados. "Read +it, Louis." + +Mr Carlyle cut open the envelope, glanced at the enclosure, and in spite +of his disappointment could not restrain a chuckle. + +"My poor Max," he explained, "you have put yourself to an amount of +ingenious trouble for nothing. Creake is evidently taking a few days' +holiday and prudently availed himself of the Meteorological Office +forecast before going. Listen: '_Immediate prospect for London warm and +settled. Further outlook cooler but fine._' Well, well; I did get a +pound of tomatoes for _my_ fourpence." + +"You certainly scored there, Louis," admitted Carrados, with humorous +appreciation. "I wonder," he added speculatively, "whether it is +Creake's peculiar taste usually to spend his week-end holiday in +London." + +"Eh?" exclaimed Mr Carlyle, looking at the words again, "by gad, that's +rum, Max. They go to Weston-super-Mare. Why on earth should he want to +know about London?" + +"I can make a guess, but before we are satisfied I must come here again. +Take another look at that kite, Louis. Are there a few yards of string +hanging loose from it?" + +"Yes, there are." + +"Rather thick string--unusually thick for the purpose?" + +"Yes; but how do you know?" + +As they drove home again Carrados explained, and Mr Carlyle sat aghast, +saying incredulously: "Good God, Max, is it possible?" + +An hour later he was satisfied that it was possible. In reply to his +inquiry someone in his office telephoned him the information that "they" +had left Paddington by the four-thirty for Weston. + +It was more than a week after his introduction to Carrados that +Lieutenant Hollyer had a summons to present himself at The Turrets +again. He found Mr Carlyle already there and the two friends awaiting +his arrival. + +"I stayed in all day after hearing from you this morning, Mr Carrados," +he said, shaking hands. "When I got your second message I was all ready +to walk straight out of the house. That's how I did it in the time. I +hope everything is all right?" + +"Excellent," replied Carrados. "You'd better have something before we +start. We probably have a long and perhaps an exciting night before us." + +"And certainly a wet one," assented the lieutenant. "It was thundering +over Mulling way as I came along." + +"That is why you are here," said his host. "We are waiting for a certain +message before we start, and in the meantime you may as well understand +what we expect to happen. As you saw, there is a thunderstorm coming on. +The Meteorological Office morning forecast predicted it for the whole of +London if the conditions remained. That was why I kept you in readiness. +Within an hour it is now inevitable that we shall experience a deluge. +Here and there damage will be done to trees and buildings; here and +there a person will probably be struck and killed." + +"Yes." + +"It is Mr Creake's intention that his wife should be among the victims." + +"I don't exactly follow," said Hollyer, looking from one man to the +other. "I quite admit that Creake would be immensely relieved if such a +thing did happen, but the chance is surely an absurdly remote one." + +"Yet unless we intervene it is precisely what a coroner's jury will +decide has happened. Do you know whether your brother-in-law has any +practical knowledge of electricity, Mr Hollyer?" + +"I cannot say. He was so reserved, and we really knew so little of +him----" + +"Yet in 1896 an Austin Creake contributed an article on 'Alternating +Currents' to the American _Scientific World_. That would argue a fairly +intimate acquaintanceship." + +"But do you mean that he is going to direct a flash of lightning?" + +"Only into the minds of the doctor who conducts the post-mortem, and +the coroner. This storm, the opportunity for which he has been waiting +for weeks, is merely the cloak to his act. The weapon which he has +planned to use--scarcely less powerful than lightning but much more +tractable--is the high voltage current of electricity that flows along +the tram wire at his gate." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Lieutenant Hollyer, as the sudden revelation struck him. + +"Some time between eleven o'clock to-night--about the hour when your +sister goes to bed--and one-thirty in the morning--the time up to which +he can rely on the current--Creake will throw a stone up at the balcony +window. Most of his preparation has long been made; it only remains for +him to connect up a short length to the window handle and a longer one +at the other end to tap the live wire. That done, he will wake his wife +in the way I have said. The moment she moves the catch of the +window--and he has carefully filed its parts to ensure perfect +contact--she will be electrocuted as effectually as if she sat in the +executioner's chair in Sing Sing prison." + +"But what are we doing here!" exclaimed Hollyer, starting to his feet, +pale and horrified. "It is past ten now and anything may happen." + +"Quite natural, Mr Hollyer," said Carrados reassuringly, "but you need +have no anxiety. Creake is being watched, the house is being watched, +and your sister is as safe as if she slept to-night in Windsor Castle. +Be assured that whatever happens he will not be allowed to complete his +scheme; but it is desirable to let him implicate himself to the fullest +limit. Your brother-in-law, Mr Hollyer, is a man with a peculiar +capacity for taking pains." + +"He is a damned cold-blooded scoundrel!" exclaimed the young officer +fiercely. "When I think of Millicent five years ago----" + +"Well, for that matter, an enlightened nation has decided that +electrocution is the most humane way of removing its superfluous +citizens," suggested Carrados mildly. "He is certainly an +ingenious-minded gentleman. It is his misfortune that in Mr Carlyle he +was fated to be opposed by an even subtler brain----" + +"No, no! Really, Max!" protested the embarrassed gentleman. + +"Mr Hollyer will be able to judge for himself when I tell him that it +was Mr Carlyle who first drew attention to the significance of the +abandoned kite," insisted Carrados firmly. "Then, of course, its object +became plain to me--as indeed to anyone. For ten minutes, perhaps, a +wire must be carried from the overhead line to the chestnut-tree. Creake +has everything in his favour, but it is just within possibility that the +driver of an inopportune tram might notice the appendage. What of that? +Why, for more than a week he has seen a derelict kite with its yards of +trailing string hanging in the tree. A very calculating mind, Mr +Hollyer. It would be interesting to know what line of action Mr Creake +has mapped out for himself afterwards. I expect he has half-a-dozen +artistic little touches up his sleeve. Possibly he would merely singe +his wife's hair, burn her feet with a red-hot poker, shiver the glass of +the French window, and be content with that to let well alone. You see, +lightning is so varied in its effects that whatever he did or did not do +would be right. He is in the impregnable position of the body showing +all the symptoms of death by lightning shock and nothing else but +lightning to account for it--a dilated eye, heart contracted in systole, +bloodless lungs shrunk to a third the normal weight, and all the rest of +it. When he has removed a few outward traces of his work Creake might +quite safely 'discover' his dead wife and rush off for the nearest +doctor. Or he may have decided to arrange a convincing alibi, and creep +away, leaving the discovery to another. We shall never know; he will +make no confession." + +"I wish it was well over," admitted Hollyer. "I'm not particularly +jumpy, but this gives me a touch of the creeps." + +"Three more hours at the worst, Lieutenant," said Carrados cheerfully. +"Ah-ha, something is coming through now." + +He went to the telephone and received a message from one quarter; then +made another connection and talked for a few minutes with someone else. + +"Everything working smoothly," he remarked between times over his +shoulder. "Your sister has gone to bed, Mr Hollyer." + +Then he turned to the house telephone and distributed his orders. + +"So we," he concluded, "must get up." + +By the time they were ready a large closed motor car was waiting. The +lieutenant thought he recognized Parkinson in the well-swathed form +beside the driver, but there was no temptation to linger for a second on +the steps. Already the stinging rain had lashed the drive into the +semblance of a frothy estuary; all round the lightning jagged its course +through the incessant tremulous glow of more distant lightning, while +the thunder only ceased its muttering to turn at close quarters and +crackle viciously. + +"One of the few things I regret missing," remarked Carrados tranquilly; +"but I hear a good deal of colour in it." + +The car slushed its way down to the gate, lurched a little heavily +across the dip into the road, and, steadying as it came upon the +straight, began to hum contentedly along the deserted highway. + +"We are not going direct?" suddenly inquired Hollyer, after they had +travelled perhaps half-a-dozen miles. The night was bewildering enough +but he had the sailor's gift for location. + +"No; through Hunscott Green and then by a field-path to the orchard at +the back," replied Carrados. "Keep a sharp look out for the man with the +lantern about here, Harris," he called through the tube. + +"Something flashing just ahead, sir," came the reply, and the car slowed +down and stopped. + +Carrados dropped the near window as a man in glistening waterproof +stepped from the shelter of a lich-gate and approached. + +"Inspector Beedel, sir," said the stranger, looking into the car. + +"Quite right, Inspector," said Carrados. "Get in." + +"I have a man with me, sir." + +"We can find room for him as well." + +"We are very wet." + +"So shall we all be soon." + +The lieutenant changed his seat and the two burly forms took places side +by side. In less than five minutes the car stopped again, this time in a +grassy country lane. + +"Now we have to face it," announced Carrados. "The inspector will show +us the way." + +The car slid round and disappeared into the night, while Beedel led the +party to a stile in the hedge. A couple of fields brought them to the +Brookbend boundary. There a figure stood out of the black foliage, +exchanged a few words with their guide and piloted them along the +shadows of the orchard to the back door of the house. + +"You will find a broken pane near the catch of the scullery window," +said the blind man. + +"Right, sir," replied the inspector. "I have it. Now who goes through?" + +"Mr Hollyer will open the door for us. I'm afraid you must take off +your boots and all wet things, Lieutenant. We cannot risk a single spot +inside." + +They waited until the back door opened, then each one divested himself +in a similar manner and passed into the kitchen, where the remains of a +fire still burned. The man from the orchard gathered together the +discarded garments and disappeared again. + +Carrados turned to the lieutenant. + +"A rather delicate job for you now, Mr Hollyer. I want you to go up to +your sister, wake her, and get her into another room with as little fuss +as possible. Tell her as much as you think fit and let her understand +that her very life depends on absolute stillness when she is alone. +Don't be unduly hurried, but not a glimmer of a light, please." + +Ten minutes passed by the measure of the battered old alarum on the +dresser shelf before the young man returned. + +"I've had rather a time of it," he reported, with a nervous laugh, "but +I think it will be all right now. She is in the spare room." + +"Then we will take our places. You and Parkinson come with me to the +bedroom. Inspector, you have your own arrangements. Mr Carlyle will be +with you." + +They dispersed silently about the house. Hollyer glanced apprehensively +at the door of the spare room as they passed it but within was as quiet +as the grave. Their room lay at the other end of the passage. + +"You may as well take your place in the bed now, Hollyer," directed +Carrados when they were inside and the door closed. "Keep well down +among the clothes. Creake has to get up on the balcony, you know, and he +will probably peep through the window, but he dare come no farther. Then +when he begins to throw up stones slip on this dressing-gown of your +sister's. I'll tell you what to do after." + +The next sixty minutes drew out into the longest hour that the +lieutenant had ever known. Occasionally he heard a whisper pass between +the two men who stood behind the window curtains, but he could see +nothing. Then Carrados threw a guarded remark in his direction. + +"He is in the garden now." + +Something scraped slightly against the outer wall. But the night was +full of wilder sounds, and in the house the furniture and the boards +creaked and sprung between the yawling of the wind among the chimneys, +the rattle of the thunder and the pelting of the rain. It was a time to +quicken the steadiest pulse, and when the crucial moment came, when a +pebble suddenly rang against the pane with a sound that the tense +waiting magnified into a shivering crash, Hollyer leapt from the bed on +the instant. + +"Easy, easy," warned Carrados feelingly. "We will wait for another +knock." He passed something across. "Here is a rubber glove. I have cut +the wire but you had better put it on. Stand just for a moment at the +window, move the catch so that it can blow open a little, and drop +immediately. Now." + +Another stone had rattled against the glass. For Hollyer to go through +his part was the work merely of seconds, and with a few touches Carrados +spread the dressing-gown to more effective disguise about the extended +form. But an unforeseen and in the circumstances rather horrible +interval followed, for Creake, in accordance with some detail of his +never-revealed plan, continued to shower missile after missile against +the panes until even the unimpressionable Parkinson shivered. + +"The last act," whispered Carrados, a moment after the throwing had +ceased. "He has gone round to the back. Keep as you are. We take cover +now." He pressed behind the arras of an extemporized wardrobe, and the +spirit of emptiness and desolation seemed once more to reign over the +lonely house. + +From half-a-dozen places of concealment ears were straining to catch the +first guiding sound. He moved very stealthily, burdened, perhaps, by +some strange scruple in the presence of the tragedy that he had not +feared to contrive, paused for a moment at the bedroom door, then opened +it very quietly, and in the fickle light read the consummation of his +hopes. + +"At last!" they heard the sharp whisper drawn from his relief. "At +last!" + +He took another step and two shadows seemed to fall upon him from +behind, one on either side. With primitive instinct a cry of terror and +surprise escaped him as he made a desperate movement to wrench himself +free, and for a short second he almost succeeded in dragging one hand +into a pocket. Then his wrists slowly came together and the handcuffs +closed. + +"I am Inspector Beedel," said the man on his right side. "You are +charged with the attempted murder of your wife, Millicent Creake." + +"You are mad," retorted the miserable creature, falling into a desperate +calmness. "She has been struck by lightning." + +"No, you blackguard, she hasn't," wrathfully exclaimed his +brother-in-law, jumping up. "Would you like to see her?" + +"I also have to warn you," continued the inspector impassively, "that +anything you say may be used as evidence against you." + +A startled cry from the farther end of the passage arrested their +attention. + +"Mr Carrados," called Hollyer, "oh, come at once." + +At the open door of the other bedroom stood the lieutenant, his eyes +still turned towards something in the room beyond, a little empty bottle +in his hand. + +"Dead!" he exclaimed tragically, with a sob, "with this beside her. Dead +just when she would have been free of the brute." + +The blind man passed into the room, sniffed the air, and laid a gentle +hand on the pulseless heart. + +"Yes," he replied. "That, Hollyer, does not always appeal to the woman, +strange to say." + + + + +THE CLEVER MRS STRAITHWAITE + + +Mr Carlyle had arrived at The Turrets in the very best possible spirits. +Everything about him, from his immaculate white spats to the choice +gardenia in his buttonhole, from the brisk decision with which he took +the front-door steps to the bustling importance with which he had +positively brushed Parkinson aside at the door of the library, +proclaimed consequence and the extremely good terms on which he stood +with himself. + +"Prepare yourself, Max," he exclaimed. "If I hinted at a case of +exceptional delicacy that will certainly interest you by its romantic +possibilities----?" + +"I should have the liveliest misgivings. Ten to one it would be a jewel +mystery," hazarded Carrados, as his friend paused with the point of his +communication withheld, after the manner of a quizzical youngster with a +promised bon-bon held behind his back. "If you made any more of it I +should reluctantly be forced to the conclusion that the case involved a +society scandal connected with a priceless pearl necklace." + +Mr Carlyle's face fell. + +"Then it _is_ in the papers, after all?" he said, with an air of +disappointment. + +"What is in the papers, Louis?" + +"Some hint of the fraudulent insurance of the Hon. Mrs Straithwaite's +pearl necklace," replied Carlyle. + +"Possibly," admitted Carrados. "But so far I have not come across it." + +Mr Carlyle stared at his friend, and marching up to the table brought +his hand down on it with an arresting slap. + +"Then what in the name of goodness are you talking about, may I ask?" he +demanded caustically. "If you know nothing of the Straithwaite affair, +Max, what other pearl necklace case are you referring to?" + +Carrados assumed the air of mild deprecation with which he frequently +apologized for a blind man venturing to make a discovery. + +"A philosopher once made the remark----" + +"Had it anything to do with Mrs Straithwaite's--the Hon. Mrs +Straithwaite's--pearl necklace? And let me warn you, Max, that I have +read a good deal both of Mill and Spencer at odd times." + +"It was neither Mill nor Spencer. He had a German name, so I will not +mention it. He made the observation, which, of course, we recognize as +an obvious commonplace when once it has been expressed, that in order to +have an accurate knowledge of what a man will do on any occasion it is +only necessary to study a single characteristic action of his." + +"Utterly impracticable," declared Mr Carlyle. + +"I therefore knew that when you spoke of a case of exceptional interest +to _me_, what you really meant, Louis, was a case of exceptional +interest to _you_." + +Mr Carlyle's sudden thoughtful silence seemed to admit that possibly +there might be something in the point. + +"By applying, almost unconsciously, the same useful rule, I became aware +that a mystery connected with a valuable pearl necklace and a beautiful +young society belle would appeal the most strongly to your romantic +imagination." + +"Romantic! I, romantic? Thirty-five and a private inquiry agent! You +are--positively feverish, Max." + +"Incurably romantic--or you would have got over it by now: the worst +kind." + +"Max, this may prove a most important and interesting case. Will you be +serious and discuss it?" + +"Jewel cases are rarely either important or interesting. Pearl necklace +mysteries, in nine cases out of ten, spring from the miasma of social +pretence and vapid competition and only concern people who do not matter +in the least. The only attractive thing about them is the name. They are +so barren of originality that a criminological Linnaeus could classify +them with absolute nicety. I'll tell you what, we'll draw up a set of +tables giving the solution to every possible pearl necklace case for the +next twenty-one years." + +"We will do any mortal thing you like, Max, if you will allow Parkinson +to administer a bromo-seltzer and then enable me to meet the officials +of the Direct Insurance without a blush." + +For three minutes Carrados picked his unerring way among the furniture +as he paced the room silently but with irresolution in his face. Twice +his hand went to a paper-covered book lying on his desk, and twice he +left it untouched. + +"Have you ever been in the lion-house at feeding-time, Louis?" he +demanded abruptly. + +"In the very remote past, possibly," admitted Mr Carlyle guardedly. + +"As the hour approaches it is impossible to interest the creatures with +any other suggestion than that of raw meat. You came a day too late, +Louis." He picked up the book and skimmed it adroitly into Mr Carlyle's +hands. "I have already scented the gore, and tasted in imagination the +joy of tearing choice morsels from other similarly obsessed animals." + +"'Catalogue des monnaies grecques et romaines,'" read the gentleman. +"'To be sold by auction at the Hotel Drouet, Paris, salle 8, April the +24th, 25th, etc.' H'm." He turned to the plates of photogravure +illustration which gave an air to the volume. "This is an event, I +suppose?" + +"It is the sort of dispersal we get about once in three years," replied +Carrados. "I seldom attend the little sales, but I save up and then have +a week's orgy." + +"And when do you go?" + +"To-day. By the afternoon boat--Folkestone. I have already taken rooms +at Mascot's. I'm sorry it has fallen so inopportunely, Louis." + +Mr Carlyle rose to the occasion with a display of extremely gentlemanly +feeling--which had the added merit of being quite genuine. + +"My dear chap, your regrets only serve to remind me how much I owe to +you already. _Bon voyage_, and the most desirable of Eu--Eu--well, +perhaps it would be safer to say, of Kimons, for your collection." + +"I suppose," pondered Carrados, "this insurance business might have led +to other profitable connexions?" + +"That is quite true," admitted his friend. "I have been trying for some +time--but do not think any more of it, Max." + +"What time is it?" demanded Carrados suddenly. + +"Eleven-twenty-five." + +"Good. Has any officious idiot had anyone arrested?" + +"No, it is only----" + +"Never mind. Do you know much of the case?" + +"Practically nothing as yet, unfortunately. I came----" + +"Excellent. Everything is on our side. Louis, I won't go this +afternoon--I will put off till the night boat from Dover. That will give +us nine hours." + +"Nine hours?" repeated the mystified Carlyle, scarcely daring to put +into thought the scandalous inference that Carrados's words conveyed. + +"Nine full hours. A pearl necklace case that cannot at least be left +straight after nine hours' work will require a column to itself in our +chart. Now, Louis, where does this Direct Insurance live?" + +Carlyle had allowed his blind friend to persuade him into--as they had +seemed at the beginning--many mad enterprises. But none had ever, in the +light of his own experience, seemed so foredoomed to failure as when, at +eleven-thirty, Carrados ordered his luggage to be on the platform of +Charing Cross Station at eight-fifty and then turned light-heartedly to +the task of elucidating the mystery of Mrs Straithwaite's pearl necklace +in the interval. + +The head office of the Direct and Intermediate Insurance Company proved +to be in Victoria Street. Thanks to Carrados's speediest car, they +entered the building as the clocks of Westminster were striking twelve, +but for the next twenty minutes they were consigned to the general +office while Mr Carlyle fumed and displayed his watch ostentatiously. At +last a clerk slid off his stool by the speaking-tube and approached +them. + +"Mr Carlyle?" he said. "The General Manager will see you now, but as he +has another appointment in ten minutes he will be glad if you will make +your business as short as possible. This way, please." + +Mr Carlyle bit his lip at the pompous formality of the message but he +was too experienced to waste any words about it and with a mere nod he +followed, guiding his friend until they reached the Manager's room. +But, though subservient to circumstance, he was far from being +negligible when he wished to create an impression. + +"Mr Carrados has been good enough to give us a consultation over this +small affair," he said, with just the necessary touches of deference and +condescension that it was impossible either to miss or to resent. +"Unfortunately he can do little more as he has to leave almost at once +to direct an important case in Paris." + +The General Manager conveyed little, either in his person or his manner, +of the brisk precision that his message seemed to promise. The name of +Carrados struck him as being somewhat familiar--something a little +removed from the routine of his business and a matter therefore that he +could unbend over. He continued to stand comfortably before his office +fire, making up by a tolerant benignity of his hard and bulbous eye for +the physical deprivation that his attitude entailed on his visitors. + +"Paris, egad?" he grunted. "Something in your line that France can take +from us since the days of--what's-his-name--Vidocq, eh? Clever fellow, +that, what? Wasn't it about him and the Purloined Letter?" + +Carrados smiled discreetly. + +"Capital, wasn't it?" he replied. "But there is something else that +Paris can learn from London, more in your way, sir. Often when I drop in +to see the principal of one of their chief houses or the head of a +Government department, we fall into an entertaining discussion of this +or that subject that may be on the tapis. 'Ah, monsieur,' I say, after +perhaps half-an-hour's conversation, 'it is very amiable of you and +sometimes I regret our insular methods, but it is not thus that great +businesses are formed. At home, if I call upon one of our princes of +industry--a railway director, a merchant, or the head of one of our +leading insurance companies--nothing will tempt him for a moment from +the stern outline of the business in hand. You are too complaisant; the +merest gossip takes advantage of you.'" + +"That's quite true," admitted the General Manager, occupying the +revolving chair at his desk and assuming a serious and very determined +expression. "Slackers, I call them. Now, Mr Carlyle, where are we in +this business?" + +"I have your letter of yesterday. We should naturally like all the +particulars you can give us." + +The Manager threw open a formidable-looking volume with an immense +display of energy, sharply flattened some typewritten pages that had +ventured to raise their heads, and lifted an impressive finger. + +"We start here, the 27th of January. On that day Karsfeld, the Princess +Street jeweller, y'know, who acted as our jewellery assessor, forwards a +proposal of the Hon. Mrs Straithwaite to insure a pearl necklace against +theft. Says that he has had an opportunity of examining it and passes it +at five thousand pounds. That business goes through in the ordinary way; +the premium is paid and the policy taken out. + +"A couple of months later Karsfeld has a little unpleasantness with us +and resigns. Resignation accepted. We have nothing against him, you +understand. At the same time there is an impression among the directors +that he has been perhaps a little too easy in his ways, a little +too--let us say, expansive, in some of his valuations and too +accommodating to his own clients in recommending to us business of +a--well--speculative basis; business that we do not care about and which +we now feel is foreign to our traditions as a firm. However"--the +General Manager threw apart his stubby hands as though he would shatter +any fabric of criminal intention that he might be supposed to be +insidiously constructing--"that is the extent of our animadversion +against Karsfeld. There are no irregularities and you may take it from +me that the man is all right." + +"You would propose accepting the fact that a five-thousand-pound +necklace was submitted to him?" suggested Mr Carlyle. + +"I should," acquiesced the Manager, with a weighty nod. "Still--this +brings us to April the third--this break, so to speak, occurring in our +routine, it seemed a good opportunity for us to assure ourselves on one +or two points. Mr Bellitzer--you know Bellitzer, of course; know _of_ +him, I should say--was appointed _vice_ Karsfeld and we wrote to certain +of our clients, asking them--as our policies entitled us to do--as a +matter of form to allow Mr Bellitzer to confirm the assessment of his +predecessor. Wrapped it up in silver paper, of course; said it would +certify the present value and be a guarantee that would save them some +formalities in case of ensuing claim, and so on. Among others, wrote to +the Hon. Mrs Straithwaite to that effect--April fourth. Here is her +reply of three days later. Sorry to disappoint us, but the necklace has +just been sent to her bank for custody as she is on the point of leaving +town. Also scarcely sees that it is necessary in her case as the +insurance was only taken so recently." + +"That is dated April the seventh?" inquired Mr Carlyle, busy with pencil +and pocket-book. + +"April seventh," repeated the Manager, noting this conscientiousness +with an approving glance and then turning to regard questioningly the +indifferent attitude of his other visitor. "That put us on our +guard--naturally. Wrote by return regretting the necessity and +suggesting that a line to her bankers, authorizing them to show us the +necklace, would meet the case and save her any personal trouble. +Interval of a week. Her reply, April sixteenth. Thursday last. +Circumstances have altered her plans and she has returned to London +sooner than she expected. Her jewel-case has been returned from the +bank, and will we send our man round--'our man,' Mr Carlyle!--on +Saturday morning not later than twelve, please." + +The Manager closed the record book, with a sweep of his hand cleared his +desk for revelations, and leaning forward in his chair fixed Mr Carlyle +with a pragmatic eye. + +"On Saturday Mr Bellitzer goes to Luneburg Mansions and the Hon. Mrs +Straithwaite shows him the necklace. He examines it carefully, assesses +its insurable value up to five thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds, +and reports us to that effect. But he reports something else, Mr +Carlyle. It is not the necklace that the lady had insured." + +"Not the necklace?" echoed Mr Carlyle. + +"No. In spite of the number of pearls and a general similarity there are +certain technical differences, well known to experts, that made the fact +indisputable. The Hon. Mrs Straithwaite has been guilty of +misrepresentation. Possibly she has no fraudulent intention. We are +willing to pay to find out. That's your business." + +Mr Carlyle made a final note and put away his book with an air of +decision that could not fail to inspire confidence. + +"To-morrow," he said, "we shall perhaps be able to report something." + +"Hope so," vouchsafed the Manager. "'Morning." + +From his position near the window, Carrados appeared to wake up to the +fact that the interview was over. + +"But so far," he remarked blandly, with his eyes towards the great man +in the chair, "you have told us nothing of the theft." + +The Manager regarded the speaker dumbly for a moment and then turned to +Mr Carlyle. + +"What does he mean?" he demanded pungently. + +But for once Mr Carlyle's self-possession had forsaken him. He +recognized that somehow Carrados had been guilty of an appalling lapse, +by which his reputation for prescience was wrecked in that quarter for +ever, and at the catastrophe his very ears began to exude embarrassment. + +In the awkward silence Carrados himself seemed to recognize that +something was amiss. + +"We appear to be at cross-purposes," he observed. "I inferred that the +disappearance of the necklace would be the essence of our +investigation." + +"Have I said a word about it disappearing?" demanded the Manager, with a +contempt-laden raucity that he made no pretence of softening. "You don't +seem to have grasped the simple facts about the case, Mr Carrados. +Really, I hardly think----Oh, come in!" + +There had been a knock at the door, then another. A clerk now entered +with an open telegram. + +"Mr Longworth wished you to see this at once, sir." + +"We may as well go," whispered Mr Carlyle with polite depression to his +colleague. + +"Here, wait a minute," said the Manager, who had been biting his +thumb-nail over the telegram. "No, not you"--to the lingering +clerk--"you clear." Much of the embarrassment that had troubled Mr +Carlyle a minute before seemed to have got into the Manager's system. "I +don't understand this," he confessed awkwardly. "It's from Bellitzer. He +wires: '_Have just heard alleged robbery Straithwaite pearls. Advise +strictest investigation._'" + +Mr Carlyle suddenly found it necessary to turn to the wall and consult a +highly coloured lithographic inducement to insure. Mr Carrados alone +remained to meet the Manager's constrained glance. + +"Still, _he_ tells us really nothing about the theft," he remarked +sociably. + +"No," admitted the Manager, experiencing some little difficulty with his +breathing, "he does not." + +"Well, we still hope to be able to report something to-morrow. +Good-bye." + +It was with an effort that Mr Carlyle straightened himself sufficiently +to take leave of the Manager. Several times in the corridor he stopped +to wipe his eyes. + +"Max, you unholy fraud," he said, when they were outside, "you knew all +the time." + +"No; I told you that I knew nothing of it," replied Carrados frankly. "I +am absolutely sincere." + +"Then all I can say is, that I see a good many things happen that I +don't believe in." + +Carrados's reply was to hold out a coin to a passing newsboy and to hand +the purchase to his friend who was already in the car. + +"There is a slang injunction to 'keep your eyes skinned.' That being out +of my power, I habitually 'keep my ears skinned.' You would be surprised +to know how very little you hear, Louis, and how much you miss. In the +last five minutes up there I have had three different newsboys' account +of this development." + +"By Jupiter, she hasn't waited long!" exclaimed Mr Carlyle, referring +eagerly to the headlines. "'PEARL NECKLACE SENSATION. SOCIETY LADY'S +L5000 TRINKET DISAPPEARS.' Things are moving. Where next, Max?" + +"It is now a quarter to one," replied Carrados, touching the fingers of +his watch. "We may as well lunch on the strength of this new turn. +Parkinson will have finished packing; I can telephone him to come to us +at Merrick's in case I require him. Buy all the papers, Louis, and we +will collate the points." + +The undoubted facts that survived a comparison were few and meagre, for +in each case a conscientious journalist had touched up a few vague or +doubtful details according to his own ideas of probability. All agreed +that on Tuesday evening--it was now Thursday--Mrs Straithwaite had +formed one of a party that had occupied a box at the new Metropolitan +Opera House to witness the performance of _La Pucella_, and that she had +been robbed of a set of pearls valued in round figures at five thousand +pounds. There agreement ended. One version represented the theft as +taking place at the theatre. Another asserted that at the last moment +the lady had decided not to wear the necklace that evening and that its +abstraction had been cleverly effected from the flat during her absence. +Into a third account came an ambiguous reference to Markhams, the +well-known jewellers, and a conjecture that their loss would certainly +be covered by insurance. + +Mr Carlyle, who had been picking out the salient points of the +narratives, threw down the last paper with an impatient shrug. + +"Why in heaven's name have we Markhams coming into it now?" he demanded. +"What have they to lose by it, Max? What do you make of the thing?" + +"There is the second genuine string--the one Bellitzer saw. That belongs +to someone." + +"By gad, that's true--only five days ago, too. But what does our lady +stand to make by that being stolen?" + +Carrados was staring into obscurity between an occasional moment of +attention to his cigarette or coffee. + +"By this time the lady probably stands to wish she was well out of it," +he replied thoughtfully. "Once you have set this sort of stone rolling +and it has got beyond you----" He shook his head. + +"It has become more intricate than you expected?" suggested Carlyle, in +order to afford his friend an opportunity of withdrawing. + +Carrados pierced the intention and smiled affectionately. + +"My dear Louis," he said, "one-fifth of the mystery is already solved." + +"One-fifth? How do you arrive at that?" + +"Because it is one-twenty-five and we started at eleven-thirty." + +He nodded to their waiter, who was standing three tables away, and paid +the bill. Then with perfect gravity he permitted Mr Carlyle to lead him +by the arm into the street, where their car was waiting, Parkinson +already there in attendance. + +"Sure I can be of no further use?" asked Carlyle. Carrados had +previously indicated that after lunch he would go on alone, but, because +he was largely sceptical of the outcome, the professional man felt +guiltily that he was deserting. "Say the word?" + +Carrados smiled and shook his head. Then he leaned across. + +"I am going to the opera house now; then, possibly, to talk to Markham a +little. If I have time I must find a man who knows the Straithwaites, +and after that I may look up Inspector Beedel if he is at the Yard. That +is as far as I can see yet, until I call at Luneburg Mansions. Come +round on the third anyway." + +"Dear old chap," murmured Mr Carlyle, as the car edged its way ahead +among the traffic. "Marvellous shots he makes!" + +In the meanwhile, at Luneburg Mansions, Mrs Straithwaite had been +passing anything but a pleasant day. She had awakened with a headache +and an overnight feeling that there was some unpleasantness to be gone +on with. That it did not amount to actual fear was due to the enormous +self-importance and the incredible ignorance which ruled the butterfly +brain of the young society beauty--for in spite of three years' +experience of married life Stephanie Straithwaite was as yet on the +enviable side of two and twenty. + +Anticipating an early visit from a particularly obnoxious sister-in-law, +she had remained in bed until after lunch in order to be able to deny +herself with the more conviction. Three journalists who would have +afforded her the mild excitement of being interviewed had called and +been in turn put off with polite regrets by her husband. The +objectionable sister-in-law postponed her visit until the afternoon and +for more than an hour Stephanie "suffered agonies." When the visitor had +left and the martyred hostess announced her intention of flying +immediately to the consoling society of her own bridge circle, +Straithwaite had advised her, with some significance, to wait for a +lead. The unhappy lady cast herself bodily down upon a couch and asked +whether she was to become a nun. Straithwaite merely shrugged his +shoulders and remembered a club engagement. Evidently there was no need +for him to become a monk: Stephanie followed him down the hall, arguing +and protesting. That was how they came jointly to encounter Carrados at +the door. + +"I have come from the Direct Insurance in the hope of being able to see +Mrs Straithwaite," he explained, when the door opened rather suddenly +before he had knocked. "My name is Carrados--Max Carrados." + +There was a moment of hesitation all round. Then Stephanie read +difficulties in the straightening lines of her husband's face and rose +joyfully to the occasion. + +"Oh yes; come in, Mr Carrados," she exclaimed graciously. "We are not +quite strangers, you know. You found out something for Aunt Pigs; I +forget what, but she was most frantically impressed." + +"Lady Poges," enlarged Straithwaite, who had stepped aside and was +watching the development with slow, calculating eyes. "But, I say, you +are blind, aren't you?" + +Carrados's smiling admission turned the edge of Mrs Straithwaite's +impulsive, "Teddy!" + +"But I get along all right," he added. "I left my man down in the car +and I found your door first shot, you see." + +The references reminded the velvet-eyed little mercenary that the man +before her had the reputation of being quite desirably rich, his queer +taste merely an eccentric hobby. The consideration made her resolve to +be quite her nicest possible, as she led the way to the drawing-room. +Then Teddy, too, had been horrid beyond words and must be made to suffer +in the readiest way that offered. + +"Teddy is just going out and I was to be left in solitary bereavement if +you had not appeared," she explained airily. "It wasn't very compy only +to come to see me on business by the way, Mr Carrados, but if those are +your only terms I must agree." + +Straithwaite, however, did not seem to have the least intention of +going. He had left his hat and stick in the hall and he now threw his +yellow gloves down on a table and took up a negligent position on the +arm of an easy-chair. + +"The thing is, where do we stand?" he remarked tentatively. + +"That is the attitude of the insurance company, I imagine," replied +Carrados. + +"I don't see that the company has any standing in the matter. We haven't +reported any loss to them and we are not making any claim, so far. That +ought to be enough." + +"I assume that they act on general inference," explained Carrados. "A +limited liability company is not subtle, Mrs Straithwaite. This one +knows that you have insured a five-thousand-pound pearl necklace with +it, and when it becomes a matter of common knowledge that you have had +one answering to that description stolen, it jumps to the conclusion +that they are one and the same." + +"But they aren't--worse luck," explained the hostess. "This was a string +that I let Markhams send me to see if I would keep." + +"The one that Bellitzer saw last Saturday?" + +"Yes," admitted Mrs Straithwaite quite simply. + +Straithwaite glanced sharply at Carrados and then turned his eyes with +lazy indifference to his wife. + +"My dear Stephanie, what are you thinking of?" he drawled. "Of course +those could not have been Markhams' pearls. Not knowing that you are +much too clever to do such a foolish thing, Mr Carrados will begin to +think that you have had fraudulent designs upon his company." + +Whether the tone was designed to exasperate or merely fell upon a +fertile soil, Stephanie threw a hateful little glance in his direction. + +"I don't care," she exclaimed recklessly; "I haven't the least little +objection in the world to Mr Carrados knowing exactly how it happened." + +Carrados put in an instinctive word of warning, even raised an arresting +hand, but the lady was much too excited, too voluble, to be denied. + +"It doesn't really matter in the least, Mr Carrados, because nothing +came of it," she explained. "There never were any real pearls to be +insured. It would have made no difference to the company, because I did +not regard this as an ordinary insurance from the first. It was to be a +loan." + +"A loan?" repeated Carrados. + +"Yes. I shall come into heaps and heaps of money in a few years' time +under Prin-Prin's will. Then I should pay back whatever had been +advanced." + +"But would it not have been better--simpler--to have borrowed purely on +the anticipation?" + +"We have," explained the lady eagerly. "We have borrowed from all sorts +of people, and both Teddy and I have signed heaps and heaps of papers, +until now no one will lend any more." + +The thing was too tragically grotesque to be laughed at. Carrados turned +his face from one to the other and by ear, and by even finer +perceptions, he focussed them in his mind--the delicate, feather-headed +beauty, with the heart of a cat and the irresponsibility of a kitten, +eye and mouth already hardening under the stress of her frantic life, +and, across the room, her debonair consort, whose lank pose and +nonchalant attitude towards the situation Carrados had not yet +categorized. + +Straithwaite's dry voice, with its habitual drawl, broke into his +reflection. + +"I don't suppose for a moment that you either know or care what this +means, my dear girl, but I will proceed to enlighten you. It means the +extreme probability that unless you can persuade Mr Carrados to hold his +tongue, you, and--without prejudice--I also, will get two years' hard. +And yet, with unconscious but consummate artistry, it seems to me that +you have perhaps done the trick; for, unless I am mistaken, Mr Carrados +will find himself unable to take advantage of your guileless confidence, +whereas he would otherwise have quite easily found out all he wanted." + +"That is the most utter nonsense, Teddy," cried Stephanie, with petulant +indignation. She turned to Carrados with the assurance of meeting +understanding. "We know Mr Justice Enderleigh very well indeed, and if +there was any bother I should not have the least difficulty in getting +him to take the case privately and in explaining everything to him. But +why should there be? Why indeed?" A brilliant little new idea possessed +her. "Do you know any of these insurance people at all intimately, Mr +Carrados?" + +"The General Manager and I are on terms that almost justify us in +addressing each other as 'silly ass,'" admitted Carrados. + +"There you see, Teddy, you needn't have been in a funk. Mr Carrados +would put everything right. Let me tell you exactly how I had arranged +it. I dare say you know that insurances are only too pleased to pay for +losses: it gives them an advertisement. Freddy Tantroy told me so, and +his father is a director of hundreds of companies. Only, of course, it +must be done quite regularly. Well, for months and months we had both +been most frightfully hard up, and, unfortunately, everyone else--at +least all our friends--seemed just as stony. I had been absolutely +racking my poor brain for an idea when I remembered papa's wedding +present. It was a string of pearls that he sent me from Vienna, only a +month before he died; not real, of course, because poor papa was always +quite utterly on the verge himself, but very good imitation and in +perfect taste. Otherwise I am sure papa would rather have sent a silver +penwiper, for although he had to live abroad because of what people +said, his taste was simply exquisite and he was most romantic in his +ideas. What do you say, Teddy?" + +"Nothing, dear; it was only my throat ticking." + +"I wore the pearls often and millions of people had seen them. Of course +our own people knew about them, but others took it for granted that +they were genuine for me to be wearing them. Teddy will tell you that I +was almost babbling in delirium, things were becoming so ghastly, when +an idea occurred. Tweety--she's a cousin of Teddy's, but quite an aged +person--has a whole coffer full of jewels that she never wears and I +knew that there was a necklace very like mine among them. She was going +almost immediately to Africa for some shooting, so I literally flew into +the wilds of Surrey and begged her on my knees to lend me her pearls for +the Lycester House dance. When I got back with them I stamped on the +clasp and took it at once to Karsfeld in Princess Street. I told him +they were only paste but I thought they were rather good and I wanted +them by the next day. And of course he looked at them, and then looked +again, and then asked me if I was certain they were imitation, and I +said, Well, we had never thought twice about it, because poor papa was +always rather chronic, only certainly he did occasionally have fabulous +streaks at the tables, and finally, like a great owl, Karsfeld said: + +"'I am happy to be able to congratulate you, madam. They are undoubtedly +Bombay pearls of very fine orient. They are certainly worth five +thousand pounds.'" + +From this point Mrs Straithwaite's narrative ran its slangy, obvious +course. The insurance effected--on the strict understanding of the lady +with herself that it was merely a novel form of loan, and after +satisfying her mind on Freddy Tantroy's authority that the Direct and +Intermediate could stand a temporary loss of five thousand pounds--the +genuine pearls were returned to the cousin in the wilds of Surrey and +Stephanie continued to wear the counterfeit. A decent interval was +allowed to intervene and the plot was on the point of maturity when the +company's request for a scrutiny fell like a thunderbolt. With many +touching appeals to Mr Carrados to picture her frantic distraction, with +appropriate little gestures of agony and despair, Stephanie described +her absolute prostration, her subsequent wild scramble through the jewel +stocks of London to find a substitute. The danger over, it became +increasingly necessary to act without delay, not only to anticipate +possible further curiosity on the part of the insurance, but in order to +secure the means with which to meet an impending obligation held over +them by an inflexibly obdurate Hebrew. + +The evening of the previous Tuesday was to be the time; the opera house, +during the performance of _La Pucella_, the place. Straithwaite, who was +not interested in that precise form of drama, would not be expected to +be present, but with a false moustache and a few other touches which his +experience as an amateur placed within his easy reach, he was to occupy +a stall, an end stall somewhere beneath his wife's box. At an agreed +signal Stephanie would jerk open the catch of the necklace, and as she +leaned forward the ornament would trickle off her neck and disappear +into the arena beneath. Straithwaite, the only one prepared for +anything happening, would have no difficulty in securing it. He would +look up quickly as if to identify the box, and with the jewels in his +hand walk deliberately out into the passage. Before anyone had quite +realized what was happening he would have left the house. + +Carrados turned his face from the woman to the man. + +"This scheme commended itself to you, Mr Straithwaite?" + +"Well, you see, Stephanie is so awfully clever that I took it for +granted that the thing would go all right." + +"And three days before, Bellitzer had already reported misrepresentation +and that two necklaces had been used!" + +"Yes," admitted Straithwaite, with an air of reluctant candour, "I had a +suspicion that Stephanie's native ingenuity rather fizzled there. You +know, Stephanie dear, there _is_ a difference, it seems, between Bombay +and Californian pearls." + +"The wretch!" exclaimed the girl, grinding her little teeth vengefully. +"And we gave him champagne!" + +"But nothing came of it; so it doesn't matter?" prompted Straithwaite. + +"Except that now Markhams' pearls have gone and they are hinting at all +manner of diabolical things," she wrathfully reminded him. + +"True," he confessed. "That is by way of a sequel, Mr Carrados. I will +endeavour to explain that part of the incident, for even yet Stephanie +seems unable to do me justice." + +He detached himself from the arm of the chair and lounged across the +room to another chair, where he took up exactly the same position. + +"On the fatal evening I duly made my way to the theatre--a little late, +so as to take my seat unobserved. After I had got the general hang I +glanced up occasionally until I caught Stephanie's eye, by which I knew +that she was there all right and concluded that everything was going +along quite jollily. According to arrangement, I was to cross the +theatre immediately the first curtain fell and standing opposite +Stephanie's box twist my watch chain until it was certain that she had +seen me. Then Stephanie was to fan herself three times with her +programme. Both, you will see, perfectly innocent operations, and yet +conveying to each other the intimation that all was well. Stephanie's +idea, of course. After that, I would return to my seat and Stephanie +would do her part at the first opportunity in Act II. + +"However, we never reached that. Towards the end of the first act +something white and noiseless slipped down and fell at my feet. For the +moment I thought they were the pearls gone wrong. Then I saw that it was +a glove--a lady's glove. Intuition whispered that it was Stephanie's +before I touched it. I picked it up and quietly got out. Down among the +fingers was a scrap of paper--the corner torn off a programme. On it +were pencilled words to this effect: + + "'Something quite unexpected. Can do nothing to-night. Go back + at once and wait. May return early. Frightfully worried.--S.'" + +"You kept the paper, of course?" + +"Yes. It is in my desk in the next room. Do you care to see it?" + +"Please." + +Straithwaite left the room and Stephanie flung herself into a charming +attitude of entreaty. + +"Mr Carrados, you will get them back for us, won't you? It would not +really matter, only I seem to have signed something and now Markhams +threaten to bring an action against us for culpable negligence in +leaving them in an empty flat." + +"You see," explained Straithwaite, coming back in time to catch the +drift of his wife's words, "except to a personal friend like yourself, +it is quite impossible to submit these clues. The first one alone would +raise embarrassing inquiries; the other is beyond explanation. +Consequently I have been obliged to concoct an imaginary burglary in our +absence and to drop the necklace case among the rhododendrons in the +garden at the back, for the police to find." + +"Deeper and deeper," commented Carrados. + +"Why, yes. Stephanie and I are finding that out, aren't we, dear? +However, here is the first note; also the glove. Of course I returned +immediately. It was Stephanie's strategy and I was under her orders. In +something less than half-an-hour I heard a motor car stop outside. Then +the bell here rang. + +"I think I have said that I was alone. I went to the door and found a +man who might have been anything standing there. He merely said: 'Mr +Straithwaite?' and on my nodding handed me a letter. I tore it open in +the hall and read it. Then I went into my room and read it again. This +is it: + + "'DEAR T.,--Absolutely ghastly. We simply must put off + to-night. Will explain that later. Now what do you think? + Bellitzer is here in the stalls and young K. D. has asked him + to join us at supper at the Savoy. It appears that the creature + is Something and I suppose the D.'s want to borrow off him. I + can't get out of it and I am literally quaking. Don't you see, + he will spot something? Send me the M. string at once and I + will change somehow before supper. I am scribbling this in the + dark. I have got the Willoughby's man to take it. Don't, don't + fail.--S.'" + +"It is ridiculous, preposterous," snapped Stephanie. "I never wrote a +word of it--or the other. There was I, sitting the whole evening. And +Teddy--oh, it is maddening!" + +"I took it into my room and looked at it closely," continued the +unruffled Straithwaite. "Even if I had any reason to doubt, the internal +evidence was convincing, but how could I doubt? It read like a +continuation of the previous message. The writing was reasonably like +Stephanie's under the circumstances, the envelope had obviously been +obtained from the box-office of the theatre and the paper itself was a +sheet of the programme. A corner was torn off; I put against it the +previous scrap and they exactly fitted." The gentleman shrugged his +shoulders, stretched his legs with deliberation and walked across the +room to look out of the window. "I made them up into a neat little +parcel and handed it over," he concluded. + +Carrados put down the two pieces of paper which he had been minutely +examining with his finger-tips and still holding the glove addressed his +small audience collectively. + +"The first and most obvious point is that whoever carried out the scheme +had more than a vague knowledge of your affairs, not only in general but +also relating to this--well, loan, Mrs Straithwaite." + +"Just what I have insisted," agreed Straithwaite. "You hear that, +Stephanie?" + +"But who is there?" pleaded Stephanie, with weary intonation. +"Absolutely no one in the wide world. Not a soul." + +"So one is liable to think offhand. Let us go further, however, merely +accounting for those who are in a position to have information. There +are the officials of the insurance company who suspect something; there +is Bellitzer, who perhaps knows a little more. There is the lady in +Surrey from whom the pearls were borrowed, a Mr Tantroy who seems to +have been consulted, and, finally, your own servants. All these people +have friends, or underlings, or observers. Suppose Mr Bellitzer's +confidential clerk happens to be the sweetheart of your maid?" + +"They would still know very little." + +"The arc of a circle may be very little, but, given that, it is possible +to construct the entire figure. Now your servants, Mrs Straithwaite? We +are accusing no one, of course." + +"There is the cook, Mullins. She displayed alarming influenza on Tuesday +morning, and although it was most frightfully inconvenient I packed her +off home without a moment's delay. I have a horror of the influ. Then +Fraser, the parlourmaid. She does my hair--I haven't really got a maid, +you know." + +"Peter," prompted Straithwaite. + +"Oh yes, Beta. She's a daily girl and helps in the kitchen. I have no +doubt she is capable of any villainy." + +"And all were out on Tuesday evening?" + +"Yes. Mullins gone home. Beta left early as there was no dinner, and I +told Fraser to take the evening after she had dressed me so that Teddy +could make up and get out without being seen." + +Carrados turned to his other witness. + +"The papers and the glove have been with you ever since?" + +"Yes, in my desk." + +"Locked?" + +"Yes." + +"And this glove, Mrs Straithwaite? There is no doubt that it is yours?" + +"I suppose not," she replied. "I never thought. I know that when I came +to leave the theatre one had vanished and Teddy had it here." + +"That was the first time you missed it?" + +"Yes." + +"But it might have gone earlier in the evening--mislaid or lost or +stolen?" + +"I remember taking them off in the box. I sat in the corner farthest +from the stage--the front row, of course--and I placed them on the +support." + +"Where anyone in the next box could abstract one without much difficulty +at a favourable moment." + +"That is quite likely. But we didn't see anyone in the next box." + +"I have half an idea that I caught sight of someone hanging back," +volunteered Straithwaite. + +"Thank you," said Carrados, turning towards him almost gratefully. "That +is most important--that you think you saw someone hanging back. Now the +other glove, Mrs Straithwaite; what became of that?" + +"An odd glove is not very much good, is it?" said Stephanie. "Certainly +I wore it coming back. I think I threw it down somewhere in here. +Probably it is still about. We are in a frantic muddle and nothing is +being done." + +The second glove was found on the floor in a corner. Carrados received +it and laid it with the other. + +"You use a very faint and characteristic scent, I notice, Mrs +Straithwaite," he observed. + +"Yes; it is rather sweet, isn't it? I don't know the name because it is +in Russian. A friend in the Embassy sent me some bottles from +Petersburg." + +"But on Tuesday you supplemented it with something stronger," he +continued, raising the gloves delicately one after the other to his +face. + +"Oh, eucalyptus; rather," she admitted. "I simply drenched my +handkerchief with it." + +"You have other gloves of the same pattern?" + +"Have I? Now let me think! Did you give them to me, Teddy?" + +"No," replied Straithwaite from the other end of the room. He had +lounged across to the window and his attitude detached him from the +discussion. "Didn't Whitstable?" he added shortly. + +"Of course. Then there are three pairs, Mr Carrados, because I never let +Bimbi lose more than that to me at once, poor boy." + +"I think you are rather tiring yourself out, Stephanie," warned her +husband. + +Carrados's attention seemed to leap to the voice; then he turned +courteously to his hostess. + +"I appreciate that you have had a trying time lately, Mrs Straithwaite," +he said. "Every moment I have been hoping to let you out of the +witness-box----" + +"Perhaps to-morrow----" began Straithwaite, recrossing the room. + +"Impossible; I leave town to-night," replied Carrados firmly. "You have +three pairs of these gloves, Mrs Straithwaite. Here is one. The other +two----?" + +"One pair I have not worn yet. The other--good gracious, I haven't been +out since Tuesday! I suppose it is in my glove-box." + +"I must see it, please." + +Straithwaite opened his mouth, but as his wife obediently rose to her +feet to comply he turned sharply away with the word unspoken. + +"These are they," she said, returning. + +"Mr Carrados and I will finish our investigation in my room," interposed +Straithwaite, with quiet assertiveness. "I should advise you to lie down +for half-an-hour, Stephanie, if you don't want to be a nervous wreck +to-morrow." + +"You must allow the culprit to endorse that good advice, Mrs +Straithwaite," added Carrados. He had been examining the second pair of +gloves as they spoke and he now handed them back again. "They are +undoubtedly of the same set," he admitted, with extinguished interest, +"and so our clue runs out." + +"I hope you don't mind," apologized Straithwaite, as he led his guest to +his own smoking-room. "Stephanie," he confided, becoming more cordial as +two doors separated them from the lady, "is a creature of nerves and +indiscretions. She forgets. To-night she will not sleep. To-morrow she +will suffer." Carrados divined the grin. "So shall I!" + +"On the contrary, pray accept my regrets," said the visitor. "Besides," +he continued, "there is nothing more for me to do here, I suppose...." + +"It is a mystery," admitted Straithwaite, with polite agreement. "Will +you try a cigarette?" + +"Thanks. Can you see if my car is below?" They exchanged cigarettes and +stood at the window lighting them. + +"There is one point, by the way, that may have some significance." +Carrados had begun to recross the room and stopped to pick up the two +fictitious messages. "You will have noticed that this is the outside +sheet of a programme. It is not the most suitable for the purpose; the +first inner sheet is more convenient to write on, but there the date +appears. You see the inference? The programme was obtained before----" + +"Perhaps. Well----?" for Carrados had broken off abruptly and was +listening. + +"You hear someone coming up the steps?" + +"It is the general stairway." + +"Mr Straithwaite, I don't know how far this has gone in other quarters. +We may only have a few seconds before we are interrupted." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that the man who is now on the stairs is a policeman or has worn +the uniform. If he stops at your door----" + +The heavy tread ceased. Then came the authoritative knock. + +"Wait," muttered Carrados, laying his hand impressively on +Straithwaite's tremulous arm. "I may recognize the voice." + +They heard the servant pass along the hall and the door unlatched; then +caught the jumble of a gruff inquiry. + +"Inspector Beedel of Scotland Yard!" The servant repassed their door on +her way to the drawing-room. "It is no good disguising the fact from +you, Mr Straithwaite, that you may no longer be at liberty. But I am. +_Is there anything you wish done?_" + +There was no time for deliberation. Straithwaite was indeed between the +unenviable alternatives of the familiar proverb, but, to do him justice, +his voice had lost scarcely a ripple of its usual sang-froid. + +"Thanks," he replied, taking a small stamped and addressed parcel from +his pocket, "you might drop this into some obscure pillar-box, if you +will." + +"The Markham necklace?" + +"Exactly. I was going out to post it when you came." + +"I am sure you were." + +"And if you could spare five minutes later--if I am here----" + +Carrados slid his cigarette-case under some papers on the desk. + +"I will call for that," he assented. "Let us say about half-past eight." + + * * * * * + +"I am still at large, you see, Mr Carrados; though after reflecting on +the studied formality of the inspector's business here, I imagine that +you will scarcely be surprised." + +"I have made it a habit," admitted Carrados, "never to be surprised." + +"However, I still want to cut a rather different figure in your eyes. +You regard me, Mr Carrados, either as a detected rogue or a repentant +ass?" + +"Another excellent rule is never to form deductions from uncertainties." + +Straithwaite made a gesture of mild impatience. + +"You only give me ten minutes. If I am to put my case before you, Mr +Carrados, we cannot fence with phrases.... To-day you have had an +exceptional opportunity of penetrating into our mode of life. You will, +I do not doubt, have summed up our perpetual indebtedness and the easy +credit that our connexion procures; Stephanie's social ambitions and +expensive popularity; her utterly extravagant incapacity to see any +other possible existence; and my tacit acquiescence. You will, I know, +have correctly gauged her irresponsible, neurotic temperament, and +judged the result of it in conflict with my own. What possibly has +escaped you, for in society one has to disguise these things, is that I +still love my wife. + +"When you dare not trust the soundness of your reins you do not try to +pull up a bolting horse. For three years I have endeavoured to guide +Stephanie round awkward comers with as little visible restraint as +possible. When we differ over any project upon which she has set her +heart Stephanie has one strong argument." + +"That you no longer love her?" + +"Well, perhaps; but more forcibly expressed. She rushes to the top of +the building--there are six floors, Mr Carrados, and we are on the +second--and climbing on to the banister she announces her intention of +throwing herself down into the basement. In the meanwhile I have +followed her and drag her back again. One day I shall stay where I am +and let her do as she intends." + +"I hope not," said Carrados gravely. + +"Oh, don't be concerned. She will then climb back herself. But it will +mark an epoch. It was by that threat that she obtained my acquiescence +to this scheme--that and the certainty that she would otherwise go on +without me. But I had no intention of allowing her to land herself--to +say nothing of us both--behind the bars of a prison if I could help it. +And, above all, I wished to cure her of her fatuous delusion that she is +clever, in the hope that she may then give up being foolish. + +"To fail her on the occasion was merely to postpone the attempt. I +conceived the idea of seeming to cooperate and at the same time +involving us in what appeared to be a clever counter-fraud. The thought +of the real loss will perhaps have a good effect; the publicity will +certainly prevent her from daring a second 'theft.' A sordid story, Mr +Carrados," he concluded. "Do not forget your cigarette-case in reality." + +The paternal shake of Carrados's head over the recital was neutralized +by his benevolent smile. + +"Yes, yes," he said. "I think we can classify you, Mr Straithwaite. One +point--the glove?" + +"That was an afterthought. I had arranged the whole story and the first +note was to be brought to me by an attendant. Then, on my way, in my +overcoat pocket I discovered a pair of Stephanie's gloves which she had +asked me to carry the day before. The suggestion flashed--how much more +convincing if I could arrange for her to seem to drop the writing in +that way. As she said, the next box _was_ empty; I merely took +possession of it for a few minutes and quietly drew across one of her +gloves. And that reminds me--of course there was nothing in it, but your +interest in them made me rather nervous." + +Carrados laughed outright. Then he stood up and held out his hand. + +"Good-night, Mr Straithwaite," he said, with real friendliness. "Let me +give you the quaker's advice: Don't attempt another conspiracy--but if +you do, don't produce a 'pair' of gloves of which one is still +suggestive of scent, and the other identifiable with eucalyptus!" + +"Oh----!" said Straithwaite. + +"Quite so. But at all hazard suppress a second pair that has the same +peculiarity. Think over what it must mean. Good-bye." + +Twelve minutes later Mr Carlyle was called to the telephone. + +"It is eight-fifty-five and I am at Charing Cross," said a voice he +knew. "If you want local colour contrive an excuse to be with Markham +when the first post arrives to-morrow." A few more words followed, and +an affectionate valediction. + +"One moment, my dear Max, one moment. Do I understand you to say that +you will post me on the report of the case from Dover?" + +"No, Louis," replied Carrados, with cryptic discrimination. "I only said +that I will post you on _a_ report of the case from Dover." + + + + +THE LAST EXPLOIT OF HARRY THE ACTOR + + +The one insignificant fact upon which turned the following incident in +the joint experiences of Mr Carlyle and Max Carrados was merely this: +that having called upon his friend just at the moment when the private +detective was on the point of leaving his office to go to the safe +deposit in Lucas Street, Piccadilly, the blind amateur accompanied him, +and for ten minutes amused himself by sitting quite quietly among the +palms in the centre of the circular hall while Mr Carlyle was occupied +with his deed-box in one of the little compartments provided for the +purpose. + +The Lucas Street depository was then (it has since been converted into a +picture palace) generally accepted as being one of the strongest places +in London. The front of the building was constructed to represent a +gigantic safe door, and under the colloquial designation of "The Safe" +the place had passed into a synonym for all that was secure and +impregnable. Half of the marketable securities in the west of London +were popularly reported to have seen the inside of its coffers at one +time or another, together with the same generous proportion of family +jewels. However exaggerated an estimate this might be, the substratum of +truth was solid and auriferous enough to dazzle the imagination. When +ordinary safes were being carried bodily away with impunity or +ingeniously fused open by the scientifically equipped cracksman, nervous +bond-holders turned with relief to the attractions of an establishment +whose modest claim was summed up in its telegraphic address: +"Impregnable." To it went also the jewel-case between the lady's social +engagements, and when in due course "the family" journeyed north--or +south, east or west--whenever, in short, the London house was closed, +its capacious storerooms received the plate-chest as an established +custom. Not a few traders also--jewellers, financiers, dealers in +pictures, antiques and costly bijouterie, for instance--constantly used +its facilities for any stock that they did not requite immediately to +hand. + +There was only one entrance to the place, an exaggerated keyhole, to +carry out the similitude of the safe-door alluded to. The ground floor +was occupied by the ordinary offices of the company; all the +strong-rooms and safes lay in the steel-cased basement. This was reached +both by a lift and by a flight of steps. In either case the visitor +found before him a grille of massive proportions. Behind its bars stood +a formidable commissionaire who never left his post, his sole duty being +to open and close the grille to arriving and departing clients. Beyond +this, a short passage led into the round central hall where Carrados was +waiting. From this part, other passages radiated off to the vaults and +strong-rooms, each one barred from the hall by a grille scarcely less +ponderous than the first one. The doors of the various private rooms put +at the disposal of the company's clients, and that of the manager's +office, filled the wall-space between the radiating passages. Everything +was very quiet, everything looked very bright, and everything seemed +hopelessly impregnable. + +"But I wonder?" ran Carrados's dubious reflection; as he reached this +point. + +"Sorry to have kept you so long, my dear Max," broke in Mr Carlyle's +crisp voice. He had emerged from his compartment and was crossing the +hall, deed-box in hand. "Another minute and I will be with you." + +Carrados smiled and nodded and resumed his former expression, which was +merely that of an uninterested gentleman waiting patiently for another. +It is something of an attainment to watch closely without betraying +undue curiosity, but others of the senses--hearing and smelling, for +instance--can be keenly engaged while the observer possibly has the +appearance of falling asleep. + +"Now," announced Mr Carlyle, returning briskly to his friend's chair, +and drawing on his grey suede gloves. + +"You are in no particular hurry?" + +"No," admitted the professional man, with the slowness of mild surprise. +"Not at all. What do you propose?" + +"It is very pleasant here," replied Carrados tranquilly. "Very cool and +restful with this armoured steel between us and the dust and scurry of +the hot July afternoon above. I propose remaining here for a few +minutes longer." + +"Certainly," agreed Mr Carlyle, taking the nearest chair and eyeing +Carrados as though he had a shrewd suspicion of something more than met +the ear. "I believe some very interesting people rent safes here. We may +encounter a bishop, or a winning jockey, or even a musical comedy +actress. Unfortunately it seems to be rather a slack time." + +"Two men came down while you were in your cubicle," remarked Carrados +casually. "The first took the lift. I imagine that he was a middle-aged, +rather portly man. He carried a stick, wore a silk hat, and used +spectacles for close sight. The other came by the stairway. I infer that +he arrived at the top immediately after the lift had gone. He ran down +the steps, so that the two were admitted at the same time, but the +second man, though the more active of the pair, hung back for a moment +in the passage and the portly one was the first to go to his safe." + +Mr Carlyle's knowing look expressed: "Go on, my friend; you are coming +to something." But he merely contributed an encouraging "Yes?" + +"When you emerged just now our second man quietly opened the door of his +pen a fraction. Doubtless he looked out. Then he closed it as quietly +again. You were not his man, Louis." + +"I am grateful," said Mr Carlyle expressively. "What next, Louis?" + +"That is all; they are still closeted." + +Both were silent for a moment. Mr Carlyle's feeling was one of +unconfessed perplexity. So far the incident was utterly trivial in his +eyes; but he knew that the trifles which appeared significant to Max had +a way of standing out like signposts when the time came to look back +over an episode. Carrados's sightless faculties seemed indeed to keep +him just a move ahead as the game progressed. + +"Is there really anything in it, Max?" he asked at length. + +"Who can say?" replied Carrados. "At least we may wait to see them go. +Those tin deed-boxes now. There is one to each safe, I think?" + +"Yes, so I imagine. The practice is to carry the box to your private +lair and there unlock it and do your business. Then you lock it up again +and take it back to your safe." + +"Steady! our first man," whispered Carrados hurriedly. "Here, look at +this with me." He opened a paper--a prospectus--which he pulled from his +pocket, and they affected to study its contents together. + +"You were about right, my friend," muttered Mr Carlyle, pointing to a +paragraph of assumed interest. "Hat, stick and spectacles. He is a +clean-shaven, pink-faced old boy. I believe--yes, I know the man by +sight. He is a bookmaker in a large way, I am told." + +"Here comes the other," whispered Carrados. + +The bookmaker passed across the hall, joined on his way by the manager +whose duty it was to counterlock the safe, and disappeared along one of +the passages. The second man sauntered up and down, waiting his turn. Mr +Carlyle reported his movements in an undertone and described him. He was +a younger man than the other, of medium height, and passably well +dressed in a quiet lounge suit, green Alpine hat and brown shoes. By the +time the detective had reached his wavy chestnut hair, large and rather +ragged moustache, and sandy, freckled complexion, the first man had +completed his business and was leaving the place. + +"It isn't an exchange lay, at all events," said Mr Carlyle. "His inner +case is only half the size of the other and couldn't possibly be +substituted." + +"Come up now," said Carrados, rising. "There is nothing more to be +learned down here." + +They requisitioned the lift and on the steps outside the gigantic +keyhole stood for a few minutes discussing an investment as a couple of +trustees or a lawyer and a client who were parting there might do. Fifty +yards away, a very large silk hat with a very curly brim marked the +progress of the bookmaker towards Piccadilly. + +The lift in the hall behind them swirled up again and the gate clashed. +The second man walked leisurely out and sauntered away without a +backward glance. + +"He has gone in the opposite direction," exclaimed Mr Carlyle, rather +blankly. "It isn't the 'lame goat' nor the 'follow-me-on,' nor even the +homely but efficacious sand-bag." + +"What colour were his eyes?" asked Carrados. + +"Upon my word, I never noticed," admitted the other. + +"Parkinson would have noticed," was the severe comment. + +"I am not Parkinson," retorted Mr Carlyle, with asperity, "and, strictly +as one dear friend to another, Max, permit me to add, that while +cherishing an unbounded admiration for your remarkable gifts, I have the +strongest suspicion that the whole incident is a ridiculous mare's nest, +bred in the fantastic imagination of an enthusiastic criminologist." + +Mr Carrados received this outburst with the utmost benignity. "Come and +have a coffee, Louis," he suggested. "Mehmed's is only a street away." + +Mehmed proved to be a cosmopolitan gentleman from Mocha whose shop +resembled a house from the outside and an Oriental divan when one was +within. A turbaned Arab placed cigarettes and cups of coffee spiced with +saffron before the customers, gave salaam and withdrew. + +"You know, my dear chap," continued Mr Carlyle, sipping his black coffee +and wondering privately whether it was really very good or very bad, +"speaking quite seriously, the one fishy detail--our ginger friend's +watching for the other to leave--may be open to a dozen very innocent +explanations." + +"So innocent that to-morrow I intend taking a safe myself." + +"You think that everything is all right?" + +"On the contrary, I am convinced that something is very wrong." + +"Then why----?" + +"I shall keep nothing there, but it will give me the _entree_. I should +advise you, Louis, in the first place to empty your safe with all +possible speed, and in the second to leave your business card on the +manager." + +Mr Carlyle pushed his cup away, convinced now that the coffee was really +very bad. + +"But, my dear Max, the place--'The Safe'--is impregnable!" + +"When I was in the States, three years ago, the head porter at one hotel +took pains to impress on me that the building was absolutely fireproof. +I at once had my things taken off to another hotel. Two weeks later the +first place was burnt out. It _was_ fireproof, I believe, but of course +the furniture and the fittings were not and the walls gave way." + +"Very ingenious," admitted Mr Carlyle, "but why did you really go? You +know you can't humbug me with your superhuman sixth sense, my friend." + +Carrados smiled pleasantly, thereby encouraging the watchful attendant +to draw near and replenish their tiny cups. + +"Perhaps," replied the blind man, "because so many careless people were +satisfied that it was fireproof." + +"Ah-ha, there you are--the greater the confidence the greater the risk. +But only if your self-confidence results in carelessness. Now do you +know how this place is secured, Max?" + +"I am told that they lock the door at night," replied Carrados, with +bland malice. + +"And hide the key under the mat to be ready for the first arrival in the +morning," crowed Mr Carlyle, in the same playful spirit. "Dear old chap! +Well, let me tell you----" + +"That force is out of the question. Quite so," admitted his friend. + +"That simplifies the argument. Let us consider fraud. There again the +precautions are so rigid that many people pronounce the forms a +nuisance. I confess that I do not. I regard them as a means of +protecting my own property and I cheerfully sign my name and give my +password, which the manager compares with his record-book before he +releases the first lock of my safe. The signature is burned before my +eyes in a sort of crucible there, the password is of my own choosing and +is written only in a book that no one but the manager ever sees, and my +key is the sole one in existence." + +"No duplicate or master-key?" + +"Neither. If a key is lost it takes a skilful mechanic half-a-day to cut +his way in. Then you must remember that clients of a safe-deposit are +not multitudinous. All are known more or less by sight to the officials +there, and a stranger would receive close attention. Now, Max, by what +combination of circumstances is a rogue to know my password, to be able +to forge my signature, to possess himself of my key, and to resemble me +personally? And, finally, how is he possibly to determine beforehand +whether there is anything in my safe to repay so elaborate a plant?" Mr +Carlyle concluded in triumph and was so carried away by the strength of +his position that he drank off the contents of his second cup before he +realized what he was doing. + +"At the hotel I just spoke of," replied Carrados, "there was an +attendant whose one duty in case of alarm was to secure three iron +doors. On the night of the fire he had a bad attack of toothache and +slipped away for just a quarter of an hour to have the thing out. There +was a most up-to-date system of automatic fire alarm; it had been tested +only the day before and the electrician, finding some part not +absolutely to his satisfaction, had taken it away and not had time to +replace it. The night watchman, it turned out, had received leave to +present himself a couple of hours later on that particular night, and +the hotel fireman, whose duties he took over, had missed being notified. +Lastly, there was a big riverside blaze at the same time and all the +engines were down at the other end of the city." + +Mr Carlyle committed himself to a dubious monosyllable. Carrados leaned +forward a little. + +"All these circumstances formed a coincidence of pure chance. Is it not +conceivable, Louis, that an even more remarkable series might be +brought about by design?" + +"Our tawny friend?" + +"Possibly. Only he was not really tawny." Mr Carlyle's easy attitude +suddenly stiffened into rigid attention. "He wore a false moustache." + +"He wore a false moustache!" repeated the amazed gentleman. "And you +cannot see! No, really, Max, this is beyond the limit!" + +"If only you would not trust your dear, blundering old eyes so +implicitly you would get nearer that limit yourself," retorted Carrados. +"The man carried a five-yard aura of spirit gum, emphasized by a warm, +perspiring skin. That inevitably suggested one thing. I looked for +further evidence of making-up and found it--these preparations all +smell. The hair you described was characteristically that of a wig--worn +long to hide the joining and made wavy to minimize the length. All these +things are trifles. As yet we have not gone beyond the initial stage of +suspicion. I will tell you another trifle. When this man retired to a +compartment with his deed-box, he never even opened it. Possibly it +contains a brick and a newspaper. He is only watching." + +"Watching the bookmaker." + +"True, but it may go far wider than that. Everything points to a plot of +careful elaboration. Still, if you are satisfied----" + +"I am quite satisfied," replied Mr Carlyle gallantly. "I regard 'The +Safe' almost as a national institution, and as such I have an implicit +faith in its precautions against every kind of force or fraud." So far +Mr Carlyle's attitude had been suggestive of a rock, but at this point +he took out his watch, hummed a little to pass the time, consulted his +watch again, and continued: "I am afraid that there were one or two +papers which I overlooked. It would perhaps save me coming again +to-morrow if I went back now----" + +"Quite so," acquiesced Carrados, with perfect gravity. "I will wait for +you." + +For twenty minutes he sat there, drinking an occasional tiny cup of +boiled coffee and to all appearance placidly enjoying the quaint +atmosphere which Mr Mehmed had contrived to transplant from the shore of +the Persian Gulf. + +At the end of that period Carlyle returned, politely effusive about the +time he had kept his friend waiting but otherwise bland and +unassailable. Anyone with eyes might have noticed that he carried a +parcel of about the same size and dimensions as the deed-box that fitted +his safe. + +The next day Carrados presented himself at the safe-deposit as an +intending renter. The manager showed him over the vaults and +strong-rooms, explaining the various precautions taken to render the +guile or force of man impotent: the strength of the chilled-steel walls, +the casing of electricity-resisting concrete, the stupendous isolation +of the whole inner fabric on metal pillars so that the watchman, while +inside the building, could walk above, below, and all round the outer +walls of what was really--although it bore no actual relationship to the +advertising device of the front--a monstrous safe; and, finally, the +arrangement which would enable the basement to be flooded with steam +within three minutes of an alarm. These details were public property. +"The Safe" was a showplace and its directors held that no harm could +come of displaying a strong hand. + +Accompanied by the observant eyes of Parkinson, Carrados gave an +adventurous but not a hopeful attention to these particulars. Submitting +the problem of the tawny man to his own ingenuity, he was constantly +putting before himself the question: How shall I set about robbing this +place? and he had already dismissed force as impracticable. Nor, when it +came to the consideration of fraud, did the simple but effective +safeguards which Mr Carlyle had specified seem to offer any loophole. + +"As I am blind I may as well sign in the book," he suggested, when the +manager passed to him a gummed slip for the purpose. The precaution +against one acquiring particulars of another client might well be deemed +superfluous in his case. + +But the manager did not fall into the trap. + +"It is our invariable rule in all cases, sir," he replied courteously. +"What word will you take?" Parkinson, it may be said, had been left in +the hall. + +"Suppose I happen to forget it? How do we proceed?" + +"In that case I am afraid that I might have to trouble you to establish +your identity," the manager explained. "It rarely happens." + +"Then we will say 'Conspiracy.'" + +The word was written down and the book closed. + +"Here is your key, sir. If you will allow me--your key-ring----" + +A week went by and Carrados was no nearer the absolute solution of the +problem he had set himself. He had, indeed, evolved several ways by +which the contents of the safes might be reached, some simple and +desperate, hanging on the razor-edge of chance to fall this way or that; +others more elaborate, safer on the whole, but more liable to break down +at some point of their ingenious intricacy. And setting aside complicity +on the part of the manager--a condition that Carrados had satisfied +himself did not exist--they all depended on a relaxation of the forms by +which security was assured. Carrados continued to have several occasions +to visit the safe during the week, and he "watched" with a quiet +persistence that was deadly in its scope. But from beginning to end +there was no indication of slackness in the business-like methods of the +place; nor during any of his visits did the "tawny man" appear in that +or any other disguise. Another week passed; Mr Carlyle was becoming +inexpressibly waggish, and Carrados himself, although he did not abate a +jot of his conviction, was compelled to bend to the realities of the +situation. The manager, with the obstinacy of a conscientious man who +had become obsessed with the pervading note of security, excused himself +from discussing abstract methods of fraud. Carrados was not in a +position to formulate a detailed charge; he withdrew from active +investigation, content to await his time. + +It came, to be precise, on a certain Friday morning, seventeen days +after his first visit to "The Safe." Returning late on the Thursday +night, he was informed that a man giving the name of Draycott had called +to see him. Apparently the matter had been of some importance to the +visitor for he had returned three hours later on the chance of finding +Mr Carrados in. Disappointed in this, he had left a note. Carrados cut +open the envelope and ran a finger along the following words:-- + + "DEAR SIR,--I have to-day consulted Mr Louis Carlyle, who + thinks that you would like to see me. I will call again in the + morning, say at nine o'clock. If this is too soon or otherwise + inconvenient I entreat you to leave a message fixing as early + an hour as possible. + Yours faithfully, + HERBERT DRAYCOTT." + + "_P.S._--I should add that I am the renter of a safe at the + Lucas Street depository. H. D." + +A description of Mr Draycott made it clear that he was not the West-End +bookmaker. The caller, the servant explained, was a thin, wiry, +keen-faced man. Carrados felt agreeably interested in this development, +which seemed to justify his suspicion of a plot. + +At five minutes to nine the next morning Mr Draycott again presented +himself. + +"Very good of you to see me so soon, sir," he apologized, on Carrados at +once receiving him. "I don't know much of English ways--I'm an +Australian--and I was afraid it might be too early." + +"You could have made it a couple of hours earlier as far as I am +concerned," replied Carrados. "Or you either for that matter, I +imagine," he added, "for I don't think that you slept much last night." + +"I didn't sleep at all last night," corrected Mr Draycott. "But it's +strange that you should have seen that. I understood from Mr Carlyle +that you--excuse me if I am mistaken, sir--but I understood that you +were blind." + +Carrados laughed his admission lightly. + +"Oh yes," he said. "But never mind that. What is the trouble?" + +"I'm afraid it means more than just trouble for me, Mr Carrados." The +man had steady, half-closed eyes, with the suggestion of depth which one +notices in the eyes of those whose business it is to look out over great +expanses of land or water; they were turned towards Carrados's face with +quiet resignation in their frankness now. "I'm afraid it spells +disaster. I am a working engineer from the Mount Magdalena district of +Coolgardie. I don't want to take up your time with outside details so I +will only say that about two years ago I had an opportunity of acquiring +a share in a very promising claim--gold, you understand, both reef and +alluvial. As the work went on I put more and more into the +undertaking--you couldn't call it a venture by that time. The results +were good, better than we had dared to expect, but from one cause and +another the expenses were terrible. We saw that it was a bigger thing +than we had bargained for and we admitted that we must get outside +help." + +So far Mr Draycott's narrative had proceeded smoothly enough under the +influence of the quiet despair that had come over the man. But at this +point a sudden recollection of his position swept him into a frenzy of +bitterness. + +"Oh, what the blazes is the good of going over all this again!" he broke +out. "What can you or anyone else do anyhow? I've been robbed, rooked, +cleared out of everything I possess," and tormented by recollections and +by the impotence of his rage the unfortunate engineer beat the oak table +with the back of his hand until his knuckles bled. + +Carrados waited until the fury had passed. + +"Continue, if you please, Mr Draycott," he said. "Just what you thought +it best to tell me is just what I want to know." + +"I'm sorry, sir," apologized the man, colouring under his tanned skin. +"I ought to be able to control myself better. But this business has +shaken me. Three times last night I looked down the barrel of my +revolver, and three times I threw it away.... Well, we arranged that I +should come to London to interest some financiers in the property. We +might have done it locally or in Perth, to be sure, but then, don't you +see, they would have wanted to get control. Six weeks ago I landed here. +I brought with me specimens of the quartz and good samples of extracted +gold, dust and nuggets, the clearing up of several weeks' working, about +two hundred and forty ounces in all. That includes the Magdalena +Lodestar, our lucky nugget, a lump weighing just under seven pounds of +pure gold. + +"I had seen an advertisement of this Lucas Street safe-deposit and it +seemed just the thing I wanted. Besides the gold, I had all the papers +to do with the claims--plans, reports, receipts, licences and so on. +Then when I cashed my letter of credit I had about one hundred and fifty +pounds in notes. Of course I could have left everything at a bank but it +was more convenient to have it, as it were, in my own safe, to get at +any time, and to have a private room that I could take any gentlemen to. +I hadn't a suspicion that anything could be wrong. Negotiations hung on +in several quarters--it's a bad time to do business here, I find. Then, +yesterday, I wanted something. I went to Lucas Street, as I had done +half-a-dozen times before, opened my safe, and had the inner case +carried to a room.... Mr Carrados, it was empty!" + +"Quite empty?" + +"No." He laughed bitterly. "At the bottom was a sheet of wrapper paper. +I recognized it as a piece I had left there in case I wanted to make up +a parcel. But for that I should have been convinced that I had somehow +opened the wrong safe. That was my first idea." + +"It cannot be done." + +"So I understand, sir. And, then, there was the paper with my name +written on it in the empty tin. I was dazed; it seemed impossible. I +think I stood there without moving for minutes--it was more like hours. +Then I closed the tin box again, took it back, locked up the safe and +came out." + +"Without notifying anything wrong?" + +"Yes, Mr Carrados." The steady blue eyes regarded him with pained +thoughtfulness. "You see, I reckoned it out in that time that it must be +someone about the place who had done it." + +"You were wrong," said Carrados. + +"So Mr Carlyle seemed to think. I only knew that the key had never been +out of my possession and I had told no one of the password. Well, it did +come over me rather like cold water down the neck, that there was I +alone in the strongest dungeon in London and not a living soul knew +where I was." + +"Possibly a sort of up-to-date Sweeney Todd's?" + +"I'd heard of such things in London," admitted Draycott. "Anyway, I got +out. It was a mistake; I see it now. Who is to believe me as it is--it +sounds a sort of unlikely tale. And how do they come to pick on me? to +know what I had? I don't drink, or open my mouth, or hell round. It +beats me." + +"They didn't pick on you--you picked on them," replied Carrados. "Never +mind how; you'll be believed all right. But as for getting anything +back----" The unfinished sentence confirmed Mr Draycott in his gloomiest +anticipations. + +"I have the numbers of the notes," he suggested, with an attempt at +hopefulness. "They can be stopped, I take it?" + +"Stopped? Yes," admitted Carrados. "And what does that amount to? The +banks and the police stations will be notified and every little +public-house between here and Land's End will change one for the +scribbling of 'John Jones' across the back. No, Mr Draycott, it's +awkward, I dare say, but you must make up your mind to wait until you +can get fresh supplies from home. Where are you staying?" + +Draycott hesitated. + +"I have been at the Abbotsford, in Bloomsbury, up to now," he said, with +some embarrassment. "The fact is, Mr Carrados, I think I ought to have +told you how I was placed before consulting you, because I--I see no +prospect of being able to pay my way. Knowing that I had plenty in the +safe, I had run it rather close. I went chiefly yesterday to get some +notes. I have a week's hotel bill in my pocket, and"--he glanced down +at his trousers--"I've ordered one or two other things unfortunately." + +"That will be a matter of time, doubtless," suggested the other +encouragingly. + +Instead of replying Draycott suddenly dropped his arms on to the table +and buried his face between them. A minute passed in silence. + +"It's no good, Mr Carrados," he said, when he was able to speak; "I +can't meet it. Say what you like, I simply can't tell those chaps that +I've lost everything we had and ask them to send me more. They couldn't +do it if I did. Understand, sir. The mine is a valuable one; we have the +greatest faith in it, but it has gone beyond our depth. The three of us +have put everything we own into it. While I am here they are doing +labourers' work for a wage, just to keep going ... waiting, oh, my God! +waiting for good news from me!" + +Carrados walked round the table to his desk and wrote. Then, without a +word, he held out a paper to his visitor. + +"What's this?" demanded Draycott, in bewilderment. "It's--it's a cheque +for a hundred pounds." + +"It will carry you on," explained Carrados imperturbably. "A man like +you isn't going to throw up the sponge for this set-back. Cable to your +partners that you require copies of all the papers at once. They'll +manage it, never fear. The gold ... must go. Write fully by the next +mail. Tell them everything and add that in spite of all you feel that +you are nearer success than ever." + +Mr Draycott folded the cheque with thoughtful deliberation and put it +carefully away in his pocket-book. + +"I don't know whether you've guessed as much, sir," he said in a queer +voice, "but I think that you've saved a man's life to-day. It's not the +money, it's the encouragement ... and faith. If you could see you'd know +better than I can say how I feel about it." + +Carrados laughed quietly. It always amused him to have people explain +how much more he would learn if he had eyes. + +"Then we'll go on to Lucas Street and give the manager the shock of his +life," was all he said. "Come, Mr Draycott, I have already rung up the +car." + +But, as it happened, another instrument had been destined to apply that +stimulating experience to the manager. As they stepped out of the car +opposite "The Safe" a taxicab drew up and Mr Carlyle's alert and cheery +voice hailed them. + +"A moment, Max," he called, turning to settle with his driver, a +transaction that he invested with an air of dignified urbanity which +almost made up for any small pecuniary disappointment that may have +accompanied it. "This is indeed fortunate. Let us compare notes for a +moment. I have just received an almost imploring message from the +manager to come at once. I assumed that it was the affair of our +colonial friend here, but he went on to mention Professor Holmfast +Bulge. Can it really be possible that he also has made a similar +discovery?" + +"What did the manager say?" asked Carrados. + +"He was practically incoherent, but I really think it must be so. What +have you done?" + +"Nothing," replied Carrados. He turned his back on "The Safe" and +appeared to be regarding the other side of the street. "There is a +tobacconist's shop directly opposite?" + +"There is." + +"What do they sell on the first floor?" + +"Possibly they sell 'Rubbo.' I hazard the suggestion from the legend +'Rub in Rubbo for Everything' which embellishes each window." + +"The windows are frosted?" + +"They are, to half-way up, mysterious man." + +Carrados walked back to his motor car. + +"While we are away, Parkinson, go across and buy a tin, bottle, box or +packet of 'Rubbo.'" + +"What is 'Rubbo,' Max?" chirped Mr Carlyle with insatiable curiosity. + +"So far we do not know. When Parkinson gets some, Louis, you shall be +the one to try it." + +They descended into the basement and were passed in by the +grille-keeper, whose manner betrayed a discreet consciousness of +something in the air. It was unnecessary to speculate why. In the +distance, muffled by the armoured passages, an authoritative voice +boomed like a sonorous bell heard under water. + +"What, however, are the facts?" it was demanding, with the causticity of +baffled helplessness. "I am assured that there is no other key in +existence; yet my safe has been unlocked. I am given to understand that +without the password it would be impossible for an unauthorized person +to tamper with my property. My password, deliberately chosen, is +'anthropophaginian,' sir. Is it one that is familiarly on the lips of +the criminal classes? But my safe is empty! What is the explanation? Who +are the guilty persons? What is being done? Where are the police?" + +"If you consider that the proper course to adopt is to stand on the +doorstep and beckon in the first constable who happens to pass, permit +me to say, sir, that I differ from you," retorted the distracted +manager. "You may rely on everything possible being done to clear up the +mystery. As I told you, I have already telephoned for a capable private +detective and for one of my directors." + +"But that is not enough," insisted the professor angrily. "Will one mere +private detective restore my L6000 Japanese 4-1/2 per cent. bearer +bonds? Is the return of my irreplaceable notes on 'Polyphyletic Bridal +Customs among the mid-Pleistocene Cave Men' to depend on a solitary +director? I demand that the police shall be called in--as many as are +available. Let Scotland Yard be set in motion. A searching inquiry must +be made. I have only been a user of your precious establishment for six +months, and this is the result." + +"There you hold the key of the mystery, Professor Bulge," interposed +Carrados quietly. + +"Who is this, sir?" demanded the exasperated professor at large. + +"Permit me," explained Mr Carlyle, with bland assurance. "I am Louis +Carlyle, of Bampton Street. This gentleman is Mr Max Carrados, the +eminent amateur specialist in crime." + +"I shall be thankful for any assistance towards elucidating this +appalling business," condescended the professor sonorously. "Let me put +you in possession of the facts----" + +"Perhaps if we went into your room," suggested Carrados to the manager, +"we should be less liable to interruption." + +"Quite so; quite so," boomed the professor, accepting the proposal on +everyone else's behalf. "The facts, sir, are these: I am the unfortunate +possessor of a safe here, in which, a few months ago, I deposited--among +less important matter--sixty bearer bonds of the Japanese Imperial +Loan--the bulk of my small fortune--and the manuscript of an important +projected work on 'Polyphyletic Bridal Customs among the mid-Pleistocene +Cave Men.' To-day I came to detach the coupons which fall due on the +fifteenth, to pay them into my bank a week in advance, in accordance +with my custom. What do I find? I find the safe locked and apparently +intact, as when I last saw it a month ago. But it is far from being +intact, sir. It has been opened; ransacked, cleared out. Not a single +bond; not a scrap of paper remains." + +It was obvious that the manager's temperature had been rising during the +latter part of this speech and now he boiled over. + +"Pardon my flatly contradicting you, Professor Bulge. You have again +referred to your visit here a month ago as your last. You will bear +witness of that, gentlemen. When I inform you that the professor had +access to his safe as recently as on Monday last you will recognize the +importance that the statement may assume." + +The professor glared across the room like an infuriated animal, a +comparison heightened by his notoriously hircine appearance. + +"How dare you contradict me, sir!" he cried, slapping the table sharply +with his open hand. "I was not here on Monday." + +The manager shrugged his shoulders coldly. + +"You forget that the attendants also saw you," he remarked. "Cannot we +trust our own eyes?" + +"A common assumption, yet not always a strictly reliable one," +insinuated Carrados softly. + +"I cannot be mistaken." + +"Then can you tell me, without looking, what colour Professor Bulge's +eyes are?" + +There was a curious and expectant silence for a minute. The professor +turned his back on the manager and the manager passed from +thoughtfulness to embarrassment. + +"I really do not know, Mr Carrados," he declared loftily at last. "I do +not refer to mere trifles like that." + +"Then you can be mistaken," replied Carrados mildly yet with decision. + +"But the ample hair, the venerable flowing beard, the prominent nose and +heavy eyebrows----" + +"These are just the striking points that are most easily counterfeited. +They 'take the eye.' If you would ensure yourself against deception, +learn rather to observe the eye itself, and particularly the spots on +it, the shape of the fingernails, the set of the ears. These things +cannot be simulated." + +"You seriously suggest that the man was not Professor Bulge--that he was +an impostor?" + +"The conclusion is inevitable. Where were you on Monday, Professor?" + +"I was on a short lecturing tour in the Midlands. On Saturday I was in +Nottingham. On Monday in Birmingham. I did not return to London until +yesterday." + +Carrados turned to the manager again and indicated Draycott, who so far +had remained in the background. + +"And this gentleman? Did he by any chance come here on Monday?" + +"He did not, Mr Carrados. But I gave him access to his safe on Tuesday +afternoon and again yesterday." + +Draycott shook his head sadly. + +"Yesterday I found it empty," he said. "And all Tuesday afternoon I was +at Brighton, trying to see a gentleman on business." + +The manager sat down very suddenly. + +"Good God, another!" he exclaimed faintly. + +"I am afraid the list is only beginning," said Carrados. "We must go +through your renters' book." + +The manager roused himself to protest. + +"That cannot be done. No one but myself or my deputy ever sees the book. +It would be--unprecedented." + +"The circumstances are unprecedented," replied Carrados. + +"If any difficulties are placed in the way of these gentlemen's +investigations, I shall make it my duty to bring the facts before the +Home Secretary," announced the professor; speaking up to the ceiling +with the voice of a brazen trumpet. + +Carrados raised a deprecating hand. + +"May I make a suggestion?" he remarked. "Now; I am blind. If, +therefore----?" + +"Very well," acquiesced the manager. "But I must request the others to +withdraw." + +For five minutes Carrados followed the list of safe-renters as the +manager read them to him. Sometimes he stopped the catalogue to reflect +a moment; now and then he brushed a finger-tip over a written signature +and compared it with another. Occasionally a password interested him. +But when the list came to an end he continued to look into space without +any sign of enlightenment. + +"So much is perfectly clear and yet so much is incredible," he mused. +"You insist that you alone have been in charge for the last six months?" + +"I have not been away a day this year." + +"Meals?" + +"I have my lunch sent in." + +"And this room could not be entered without your knowledge while you +were about the place?" + +"It is impossible. The door is fitted with a powerful spring and a +feather-touch self-acting lock. It cannot be left unlocked unless you +deliberately prop it open." + +"And, with your knowledge, no one has had an opportunity of having +access to this book?" + +"No," was the reply. + +Carrados stood up and began to put on his gloves. + +"Then I must decline to pursue my investigation any further," he said +icily. + +"Why?" stammered the manager. + +"Because I have positive reason for believing that you are deceiving +me." + +"Pray sit down, Mr Carrados. It is quite true that when you put the last +question to me a circumstance rushed into my mind which--so far as the +strict letter was concerned--might seem to demand 'Yes' instead of 'No.' +But not in the spirit of your inquiry. It would be absurd to attach any +importance to the incident I refer to." + +"That would be for me to judge." + +"You shall do so, Mr Carrados. I live at Windermere Mansions with my +sister. A few months ago she got to know a married couple who had +recently come to the opposite flat. The husband was a middle-aged, +scholarly man who spent most of his time in the British Museum. His +wife's tastes were different; she was much younger, brighter, gayer; a +mere girl in fact, one of the most charming and unaffected I have ever +met. My sister Amelia does not readily----" + +"Stop!" exclaimed Carrados. "A studious middle-aged man and a charming +young wife! Be as brief as possible. If there is any chance it may turn +on a matter of minutes at the ports. She came here, of course?" + +"Accompanied by her husband," replied the manager stiffly. "Mrs Scott +had travelled and she had a hobby of taking photographs wherever she +went. When my position accidentally came out one evening she was carried +away by the novel idea of adding views of a safe-deposit to her +collection--as enthusiastic as a child. There was no reason why she +should not; the place has often been taken for advertising purposes." + +"She came, and brought her camera--under your very nose!" + +"I do not know what you mean by 'under my very nose.' She came with her +husband one evening just about our closing time. She brought her camera, +of course--quite a small affair." + +"And contrived to be in here alone?" + +"I take exception to the word 'contrived.' It--it happened. I sent out +for some tea, and in the course----" + +"How long was she alone in here?" + +"Two or three minutes at the most. When I returned she was seated at my +desk. That was what I referred to. The little rogue had put on my +glasses and had got hold of a big book. We were great chums, and she +delighted to mock me. I confess that I was startled--merely +instinctively--to see that she had taken up this book, but the next +moment I saw that she had it upside down." + +"Clever! She couldn't get it away in time. And the camera, with +half-a-dozen of its specially sensitized films already snapped over the +last few pages, by her side!" + +"That child!" + +"Yes. She is twenty-seven and has kicked hats off tall men's heads in +every capital from Petersburg to Buenos Aires! Get through to Scotland +Yard and ask if Inspector Beedel can come up." + +The manager breathed heavily through his nose. + +"To call in the police and publish everything would ruin this +establishment--confidence would be gone. I cannot do it without further +authority." + +"Then the professor certainly will." + +"Before you came I rang up the only director who is at present in town +and gave him the facts as they then stood. Possibly he has arrived by +this. If you will accompany me to the boardroom we will see." + +They went up to the floor above, Mr Carlyle joining them on the way. + +"Excuse me a moment," said the manager. + +Parkinson, who had been having an improving conversation with the hall +porter on the subject of land values, approached. + +"I am sorry, sir," he reported, "but I was unable to procure any +'Rubbo.' The place appears to be shut up." + +"That is a pity; Mr Carlyle had set his heart on it." + +"Will you come this way, please?" said the manager, reappearing. + +In the boardroom they found a white-haired old gentleman who had obeyed +the manager's behest from a sense of duty, and then remained in a +distant corner of the empty room in the hope that he might be +overlooked. He was amiably helpless and appeared to be deeply aware of +it. + +"This is a very sad business, gentlemen," he said, in a whispering, +confiding voice. "I am informed that you recommend calling in the +Scotland Yard authorities. That would be a disastrous course for an +institution that depends on the implicit confidence of the public." + +"It is the only course," replied Carrados. + +"The name of Mr Carrados is well known to us in connexion with a +delicate case. Could you not carry this one through?" + +"It is impossible. A wide inquiry must be made. Every port will have to +be watched. The police alone can do that." He threw a little +significance into the next sentence. "I alone can put the police in the +right way of doing it." + +"And you will do that, Mr Carrados?" + +Carrados smiled engagingly. He knew exactly what constituted the great +attraction of his services. + +"My position is this," he explained. "So far my work has been entirely +amateur. In that capacity I have averted one or two crimes, remedied an +occasional injustice, and now and then been of service to my +professional friend, Louis Carlyle. But there is no reason at all why I +should serve a commercial firm in an ordinary affair of business for +nothing. For any information I should require a fee, a quite nominal fee +of, say, one hundred pounds." + +The director looked as though his faith in human nature had received a +rude blow. + +"A hundred pounds would be a very large initial fee for a small firm +like this, Mr Carrados," he remarked in a pained voice. + +"And that, of course, would be independent of Mr Carlyle's professional +charges," added Carrados. + +"Is that sum contingent on any specific performance?" inquired the +manager. + +"I do not mind making it conditional on my procuring for you, for the +police to act on, a photograph and a description of the thief." + +The two officials conferred apart for a moment. Then the manager +returned. + +"We will agree, Mr Carrados, on the understanding that these things are +to be in our hands within two days. Failing that----" + +"No, no!" cried Mr Carlyle indignantly, but Carrados good-humouredly put +him aside. + +"I will accept the condition in the same sporting spirit that inspires +it. Within forty-eight hours or no pay. The cheque, of course, to be +given immediately the goods are delivered?" + +"You may rely on that." + +Carrados took out his pocket-book, produced an envelope bearing an +American stamp, and from it extracted an unmounted print. + +"Here is the photograph," he announced. "The man is called Ulysses K. +Groom, but he is better known as 'Harry the Actor.' You will find the +description written on the back." + +Five minutes later, when they were alone, Mr Carlyle expressed his +opinion of the transaction. + +"You are an unmitigated humbug, Max," he said, "though an amiable one, I +admit. But purely for your own private amusement you spring these things +on people." + +"On the contrary," replied Carrados, "people spring these things on me." + +"Now this photograph. Why have I heard nothing of it before?" + +Carrados took out his watch and touched the fingers. + +"It is now three minutes to eleven. I received the photograph at twenty +past eight." + +"Even then, an hour ago you assured me that you had done nothing." + +"Nor had I--so far as result went. Until the keystone of the edifice was +wrung from the manager in his room, I was as far away from demonstrable +certainty as ever." + +"So am I--as yet," hinted Mr Carlyle. + +"I am coming to that, Louis. I turn over the whole thing to you. The man +has got two clear days' start and the chances are nine to one against +catching him. We know everything, and the case has no further interest +for me. But it is your business. Here is your material. + +"On that one occasion when the 'tawny' man crossed our path, I took from +the first a rather more serious view of his scope and intention than you +did. That same day I sent a cipher cable to Pierson of the New York +service. I asked for news of any man of such and such a +description--merely negative--who was known to have left the States; an +educated man, expert in the use of disguises, audacious in his +operations, and a specialist in 'dry' work among banks and +strong-rooms." + +"Why the States, Max?" + +"That was a sighting shot on my part. I argued that he must be an +English-speaking man. The smart and inventive turn of the modern Yank +has made him a specialist in ingenious devices, straight or crooked. +Unpickable locks and invincible lock-pickers, burglar-proof safes and +safe-specializing burglars, come equally from the States. So I tried a +very simple test. As we talked that day and the man walked past us, I +dropped the words 'New York'--or, rather, 'Noo Y'rk'--in his hearing." + +"I know you did. He neither turned nor stopped." + +"He was that much on his guard; but into his step there came--though +your poor old eyes could not see it, Louis--the 'psychological pause,' +an absolute arrest of perhaps a fifth of a second; just as it would have +done with you if the word 'London' had fallen on your ear in a distant +land. However, the whys and the wherefores don't matter. Here is the +essential story. + +"Eighteen months ago 'Harry the Actor' successfully looted the office +safe of M'Kenkie, J. F. Higgs & Co.; of Cleveland, Ohio. He had just +married a smart but very facile third-rate vaudeville actress--English +by origin--and wanted money for the honeymoon. He got about five hundred +pounds, and with that they came to Europe and stayed in London for some +months. That period is marked by the Congreave Square post office +burglary, you may remember. While studying such of the British +institutions as most appealed to him, the 'Actor's' attention became +fixed on this safe-deposit. Possibly the implied challenge contained in +its telegraphic address grew on him until it became a point of +professional honour with him to despoil it; at all events he was +presumedly attracted by an undertaking that promised not only glory but +very solid profit. The first part of the plot was, to the most skilful +criminal 'impersonator' in the States, mere skittles. Spreading over +those months he appeared at 'The Safe' in twelve different characters +and rented twelve safes of different sizes. At the same time he made a +thorough study of the methods of the place. As soon as possible he got +the keys back again into legitimate use, having made duplicates for his +own private ends, of course. Five he seems to have returned during his +first stay; one was received later, with profuse apologies, by +registered post; one was returned through a leading Berlin bank. Six +months ago he made a flying visit here, purely to work off two more. One +he kept from first to last, and the remaining couple he got in at the +beginning of his second long residence here, three or four months ago. + +"This brings us to the serious part of the cool enterprise. He had funds +from the Atlantic and South-Central Mail-car coup when he arrived here +last April. He appears to have set up three establishments; a home, in +the guise of an elderly scholar with a young wife, which, of course, was +next door to our friend the manager; an observation point, over which he +plastered the inscription 'Rub in Rubbo for Everything' as a reason for +being; and, somewhere else, a dressing-room with essential conditions of +two doors into different streets. + +"About six weeks ago he entered the last stage. Mrs Harry, with quite +ridiculous ease, got photographs of the necessary page or two of the +record-book. I don't doubt that for weeks before then everyone who +entered the place had been observed, but the photographs linked them up +with the actual men into whose hands the 'Actor's' old keys had +passed--gave their names and addresses, the numbers of their safes, +their passwords and signatures. The rest was easy." + +"Yes, by Jupiter; mere play for a man like that," agreed Mr Carlyle, +with professional admiration. "He could contrive a dozen different +occasions for studying the voice and manner and appearance of his +victims. How much has he cleared?" + +"We can only speculate as yet. I have put my hand on seven doubtful +callers on Monday and Tuesday last. Two others he had ignored for some +reason; the remaining two safes had not been allotted. There is one +point that raises an interesting speculation." + +"What is that, Max?" + +"The 'Actor' has one associate, a man known as 'Billy the Fondant,' but +beyond that--with the exception of his wife, of course--he does not +usually trust anyone. It is plain, however, that at least seven men must +latterly have been kept under close observation. It has occurred to +me----" + +"Yes, Max?" + +"I have wondered whether Harry has enlisted the innocent services of one +or other of our clever private inquiry offices." + +"Scarcely," smiled the professional. "It would hardly pass muster." + +"Oh, I don't know. Mrs Harry, in the character of a jealous wife or a +suspicious sweetheart, might reasonably----" + +Mr Carlyle's smile suddenly faded. + +"By Jupiter!" he exclaimed. "I remember----" + +"Yes, Louis?" prompted Carrados, with laughter in his voice. + +"I remember that I must telephone to a client before Beedel comes," +concluded Mr Carlyle, rising in some haste. + +At the door he almost ran into the subdued director, who was wringing +his hands in helpless protest at a new stroke of calamity. + +"Mr Carrados," wailed the poor old gentleman in a tremulous bleat, "Mr +Carrados, there is another now--Sir Benjamin Gump. He insists on seeing +me. You will not--you will not desert us?" + +"I should have to stay a week," replied Carrados briskly, "and I'm just +off now. There will be a procession. Mr Carlyle will support you, I am +sure." + +He nodded "Good-morning" straight into the eyes of each and found his +way out with the astonishing certainty of movement that made so many +forget his infirmity. Possibly he was not desirous of encountering +Draycott's embarrassed gratitude again, for in less than a minute they +heard the swirl of his departing car. + +"Never mind, my dear sir," Mr Carlyle assured his client, with +impenetrable complacency. "Never mind. _I_ will remain instead. Perhaps +I had better make myself known to Sir Benjamin at once." + +The director turned on him the pleading, trustful look of a cornered +dormouse. + +"He is in the basement," he whispered. "I shall be in the boardroom--if +necessary." + +Mr Carlyle had no difficulty in discovering the centre of interest in +the basement. Sir Benjamin was expansive and reserved, bewildered and +decisive, long-winded and short-tempered, each in turn and more or less +all at once. He had already demanded the attention of the manager, +Professor Bulge, Draycott and two underlings to his case and they were +now involved in a babel of inutile reiteration. The inquiry agent was at +once drawn into a circle of interrogation that he did his best to +satisfy impressively while himself learning the new facts. + +The latest development was sufficiently astonishing. Less than an hour +before Sir Benjamin had received a parcel by district messenger. It +contained a jewel-case which ought at that moment to have been securely +reposing in one of the deposit safes. Hastily snatching it open, the +recipient's incredible forebodings were realized. It was empty--empty of +jewels, that is to say, for, as if to add a sting to the blow, a neatly +inscribed card had been placed inside, and on it the agitated baronet +read the appropriate but at the moment rather gratuitous maxim: "Lay not +up for yourselves treasures upon earth----" + +The card was passed round and all eyes demanded the expert's +pronouncement. + +"'--where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and +steal.' H'm," read Mr Carlyle with weight. "This is a most important +clue, Sir Benjamin----" + +"Hey, what? What's that?" exclaimed a voice from the other side of the +hall. "Why, damme if I don't believe you've got another! Look at that, +gentlemen; look at that. What's on, I say? Here now, come; give me my +safe. I want to know where I am." + +It was the bookmaker who strode tempestuously in among them, flourishing +before their faces a replica of the card that was in Mr Carlyle's hand. + +"Well, upon my soul this is most extraordinary," exclaimed that +gentleman, comparing the two. "You have just received this, Mr--Mr +Berge, isn't it?" + +"That's right, Berge--'Iceberg' on the course. Thank the Lord Harry, I +can take my losses coolly enough, but this--this is a facer. Put into my +hand half-an-hour ago inside an envelope that ought to be here and as +safe as in the Bank of England. What's the game, I say? Here, Johnny, +hurry and let me into my safe." + +Discipline and method had for the moment gone by the board. There was no +suggestion of the boasted safeguards of the establishment. The manager +added his voice to that of the client, and when the attendant did not at +once appear he called again. + +"John, come and give Mr Berge access to his safe at once." + +"All right, sir," pleaded the harassed key-attendant; hurrying up with +the burden of his own distraction. "There's a silly fathead got in what +thinks this is a left-luggage office, so far as I can make out--a +foreigner." + +"Never mind that now," replied the manager severely. "Mr Berge's safe: +No. 01724." + +The attendant and Mr Berge went off together down one of the brilliant +colonnaded vistas. One or two of the others who had caught the words +glanced across and became aware of a strange figure that was drifting +indecisively towards them. He was obviously an elderly German tourist of +pronounced type--long-haired, spectacled, outrageously garbed and +involved in the mental abstraction of his philosophical race. One hand +was occupied with the manipulation of a pipe, as markedly Teutonic as +its owner; the other grasped a carpet-bag that would have ensured an +opening laugh to any low comedian. + +Quite impervious to the preoccupation of the group, the German made his +way up to them and picked out the manager. + +"This was a safety deposit, _nicht wahr_?" + +"Quite so," acquiesced the manager loftily, "but just now----" + +"Your fellow was dense of gomprehension." The eyes behind the clumsy +glasses wrinkled to a ponderous humour. "He forgot his own business. +Now this goot bag----" + +Brought into fuller prominence, the carpet-bag revealed further details +of its overburdened proportions. At one end a flannel shirt cuff +protruded in limp dejection; at the other an ancient collar, with the +grotesque attachment known as a "dickey," asserted its presence. No +wonder the manager frowned his annoyance. "The Safe" was in low enough +repute among its patrons at that moment without any burlesque interlude +to its tragic hour. + +"Yes, yes," he whispered, attempting to lead the would-be depositor +away, "but you are under a mistake. This is not----" + +"It was a safety deposit? Goot. Mine bag--I would deposit him in safety +till the time of mine train. _Ja?_" + +"_Nein, nein!_" almost hissed the agonized official. "Go away, sir, go +away! It isn't a cloakroom. John, let this gentleman out." + +The attendant and Mr Berge were returning from their quest. The inner +box had been opened and there was no need to ask the result. The +bookmaker was shaking his head like a baffled bull. + +"Gone, no effects," he shouted across the hall. "Lifted from 'The Safe,' +by crumb!" + +To those who knew nothing of the method and operation of the fraud it +seemed as if the financial security of the Capital was tottering. An +amazed silence fell, and in it they heard the great grille door of the +basement clang on the inopportune foreigner's departure. But, as if it +was impossible to stand still on that morning of dire happenings, he was +immediately succeeded by a dapper, keen-faced man in severe clerical +attire who had been let in as the intruder passed out. + +"Canon Petersham!" exclaimed the professor, going forward to greet him. + +"My dear Professor Bulge!" reciprocated the canon. "You here! A most +disquieting thing has happened to me. I must have my safe at once." He +divided his attention between the manager and the professor as he +monopolized them both. "A most disquieting and--and outrageous +circumstance. My safe, please--yes, yes, Rev. Henry Noakes Petersham. I +have just received by hand a box, a small box of no value but one that I +_thought_, yes, I am convinced that it was the one, a box that was used +to contain certain valuables of family interest which should at this +moment be in my safe here. No. 7436? Very likely, very likely. Yes, here +is my key. But not content with the disconcerting effect of that, +professor, the box contained--and I protest that it's a most unseemly +thing to quote _any_ text from the Bible in this way to a clergyman of +my position--well, here it is. 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon +earth----' Why, I have a dozen sermons of my own in my desk now on that +very verse. I'm particularly partial to the very needful lesson that it +teaches. And to apply it to _me_! It's monstrous!" + +"No. 7436, John," ordered the manager, with weary resignation. + +The attendant again led the way towards another armour-plated aisle. +Smartly turning a corner, he stumbled over something, bit a profane +exclamation in two, and looked back. + +"It's that bloomin' foreigner's old bag again," he explained across the +place in aggrieved apology. "He left it here after all." + +"Take it upstairs and throw it out when you've finished," said the +manager shortly. + +"Here, wait a minute," pondered John, in absent-minded familiarity. +"Wait a minute. This is a funny go. There's a label on that wasn't here +before. '_Why not look inside?_'" + +"'Why not look inside?'" repeated someone. + +"That's what it says." + +There was another puzzled silence. All were arrested by some intangible +suggestion of a deeper mystery than they had yet touched. One by one +they began to cross the hall with the conscious air of men who were not +curious but thought that they might as well see. + +"Why, curse my crumpet," suddenly exploded Mr Berge, "if that ain't the +same writing as these texts!" + +"By gad, but I believe you are right," assented Mr Carlyle. "Well, why +not look inside?" + +The attendant, from his stooping posture, took the verdict of the ring +of faces and in a trice tugged open the two buckles. The central +fastening was not locked, and yielded to a touch. The flannel shirt, +the weird collar and a few other garments in the nature of a +"top-dressing" were flung out and John's hand plunged deeper.... + +Harry the Actor had lived up to his dramatic instinct. Nothing was +wrapped up; nay, the rich booty had been deliberately opened out and +displayed, as it were, so that the overturning of the bag, when John the +keybearer in an access of riotous extravagance lifted it up and strewed +its contents broadcast on the floor, was like the looting of a +smuggler's den, or the realization of a speculator's dream, or the +bursting of an Aladdin's cave, or something incredibly lavish and +bizarre. Bank-notes fluttered down and lay about in all directions, +relays of sovereigns rolled away like so much dross, bonds and scrip for +thousands and tens of thousands clogged the downpouring stream of +jewellery and unset gems. A yellow stone the size of a four-pound weight +and twice as heavy dropped plump upon the canon's toes and sent him +hopping and grimacing to the wall. A ruby-hilted kris cut across the +manager's wrist as he strove to arrest the splendid rout. Still the +miraculous cornucopia deluged the ground, with its pattering, ringing, +bumping, crinkling, rolling, fluttering produce until, like the final +tableau of some spectacular ballet, it ended with a golden rain that +masked the details of the heap beneath a glittering veil of yellow sand. + +"My dust!" gasped Draycott. + +"My fivers, by golly!" ejaculated the bookmaker, initiating a plunge +among the spoil. + +"My Japanese bonds, coupons and all, and--yes, even the manuscript of my +work on 'Polyphyletic Bridal Customs among the mid-Pleistocene Cave +Men.' Hah!" Something approaching a cachinnation of delight closed the +professor's contribution to the pandemonium, and eyewitnesses afterwards +declared that for a moment the dignified scientist stood on one foot in +the opening movement of a can-can. + +"My wife's diamonds, thank heaven!" cried Sir Benjamin, with the air of +a schoolboy who was very well out of a swishing. + +"But what does it mean?" demanded the bewildered canon. "Here are my +family heirlooms--a few decent pearls, my grandfather's collection of +camei and other trifles--but who----?" + +"Perhaps this offers some explanation," suggested Mr Carlyle, unpinning +an envelope that had been secured to the lining of the bag. "It is +addressed 'To Seven Rich Sinners.' Shall I read it for you?" + +For some reason the response was not unanimous, but it was sufficient. +Mr Carlyle cut open the envelope. + + "MY DEAR FRIENDS,--Aren't you glad? Aren't you happy at this + moment? Ah yes; but not with the true joy of regeneration that + alone can bring lightness to the afflicted soul. Pause while + there is yet time. Cast off the burden of your sinful lusts, + for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole + world and lose his own soul? (Mark, chap. viii., v. 36.) + + "Oh, my friends, you have had an all-fired narrow squeak. Up + till the Friday in last week I held your wealth in the hollow + of my ungodly hand and rejoiced in my nefarious cunning, but on + that day as I with my guilty female accomplice stood listening + with worldly amusement to the testimony of a converted brother + at a meeting of the Salvation Army on Clapham Common, the + gospel light suddenly shone into our rebellious souls and then + and there we found salvation. Hallelujah! + + "What we have done to complete the unrighteous scheme upon + which we had laboured for months has only been for your own + good, dear friends that you are, though as yet divided from us + by your carnal lusts. Let this be a lesson to you. Sell all you + have and give it to the poor--through the organization of the + Salvation Army by preference--and thereby lay up for yourselves + treasures where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where + thieves do not break through and steal. (Matthew, chap, vi., v. + 20.) + + "Yours in good works, + + "PRIVATE HENRY, THE SALVATIONIST. + + "_P.S._ (in haste).--I may as well inform you that no crib is + really uncrackable, though the Cyrus J. Coy Co.'s Safe Deposit + on West 24th Street, N.Y., comes nearest the kernel. And even + that I could work to the bare rock if I took hold of the job + with both hands--that is to say I could have done in my sinful + days. As for you, I should recommend you to change your T. A. + to 'Peanut.' + + "U. K. G." + +"There sounds a streak of the old Adam in that postscript, Mr Carlyle," +whispered Inspector Beedel, who had just arrived in time to hear the +letter read. + + + + +THE TILLING SHAW MYSTERY + + +"I will see Miss George now," assented Carrados. Parkinson retired and +Greatorex looked round from his chair. The morning "clearing-up" was +still in progress. + +"Shall I go?" he inquired. + +"Not unless the lady desires it. I don't know her at all." + +The secretary was not unobservant and he had profited from his +association with Mr Carrados. Without more ado, he began to get his +papers quietly together. + +The door opened and a girl of about twenty came eagerly yet half +timorously into the room. Her eyes for a moment swept Carrados with an +anxious scrutiny. Then, with a slight shade of disappointment, she +noticed that they were not alone. + +"I have come direct from Oakshire to see you, Mr Carrados," she +announced, in a quick, nervous voice that was evidently the outcome of a +desperate resolution to be brave and explicit. "The matter is a +dreadfully important one to me and I should very much prefer to tell it +to you alone." + +There was no need for Carrados to turn towards his secretary; that +discriminating young gentleman was already on his way. Miss George +flashed him a shy look of thanks and filled in the moment with a timid +survey of the room. + +"Is it something that you think I can help you with?" + +"I had hoped so. I had heard in a roundabout way of your wonderful +power--ought I to tell you how--does it matter?" + +"Not in the least if it has nothing to do with the case," replied +Carrados. + +"When this dreadful thing happened I instinctively thought of you. I +felt sure that I ought to come and get you to help me at once. But I--I +have very little money, Mr Carrados, only a few pounds, and I am not so +childish as not to know that very clever men require large fees. Then +when I got here my heart sank, for I saw at once from your house and +position that what seemed little even to me would be ridiculous to +you--that if you did help me it would be purely out of kindness of heart +and generosity." + +"Suppose you tell me what the circumstances are," suggested Carrados +cautiously. Then, to afford an opening, he added: "You have recently +gone into mourning, I see." + +"See!" exclaimed the girl almost sharply. "Then you are not blind?" + +"Oh yes," he replied; "only I use the familiar expression, partly from +custom, partly because it sounds unnecessarily pedantic to say, 'I +deduce from certain observations.'" + +"I beg your pardon. I suppose I was startled not so much by the +expression as by your knowledge. I ought to have been prepared. But I am +already wasting your time and I came so determined to be business-like. +I got a copy of the local paper on the way, because I thought that the +account in it would be clearer to you than I could tell it. Shall I read +it?" + +"Please; if that was your intention." + +"It is _The Stinbridge Herald_," explained the girl, taking a closely +folded newspaper from the handbag which she carried. "Stinbridge is our +nearest town--about six miles from Tilling Shaw, where we live. This is +the account: + + "'MYSTERIOUS TRAGEDY AT TILLING + + "'WELL-KNOWN AGRICULTURALIST ATTEMPTS MURDER + AND COMMITS SUICIDE + + "'The districts of Great Tilling, Tilling Shaw and the + immediate neighbourhood were thrown into a state of unusual + excitement on Thursday last by the report of a tragedy in their + midst such as has rarely marked the annals of our law-abiding + country-side. + + "'A _Herald_ representative was early on the scene, and his + inquiries elucidated the fact that it was only too true that in + this case rumour had not exaggerated the circumstances, rather + the reverse indeed. + + "'On the afternoon of the day in question, Mr Frank Whitmarsh, + of High Barn, presented himself at Barony, the residence of his + uncle, Mr William Whitmarsh, with the intention of seeing him + in reference to a dispute that was pending between them. This + is understood to be connected with an alleged trespass in + pursuit of game, each relative claiming exclusive sporting + rights over a piece of water known as Hunstan Mere. + + "'On this occasion the elder gentleman was not at home and Mr + Frank Whitmarsh, after waiting for some time, departed, leaving + a message to the effect that he would return, and, according to + one report, "have it out with Uncle William," later in the + evening. + + "'This resolution he unfortunately kept. Returning about + eight-forty-five P.M. he found his uncle in and for some time + the two men remained together in the dining-room. What actually + passed between them has not yet transpired, but it is said that + for half-an-hour there had been nothing to indicate to the + other occupants of the house that anything unusual was in + progress when suddenly two shots rang out in rapid succession. + Mrs Lawrence, the housekeeper at Barony, and a servant were the + soonest on the spot, and, conquering the natural terror that + for a moment held them outside the now silent room, they + summoned up courage to throw open the door and to enter. The + first thing that met their eyes was the body of Mr Frank + Whitmarsh lying on the floor almost at their feet. In their + distressed state it was immediately assumed by the horrified + women that he was dead, or at least seriously wounded, but a + closer examination revealed the fact that the gentleman had + experienced an almost miraculous escape. At the time of the + tragedy he was wearing a large old-fashioned silver watch; and + in this the bullet intended for his heart was found, literally + embedded deep in the works. The second shot had, however, + effected its purpose, for at the other side of the room, still + seated at the table, was Mr William Whitmarsh, already quite + dead, with a terrible wound in his head and the weapon, a + large-bore revolver of obsolete pattern, lying at his feet. + + "'Mr Frank Whitmarsh subsequently explained that the shock of + the attack, and the dreadful appearance presented by his uncle + when, immediately afterwards, he turned his hand against + himself, must have caused him to faint. + + "'Readers of _The Herald_ will join in our expression of + sympathy for all members of the Whitmarsh family, and in our + congratulations to Mr Frank Whitmarsh on his providential + escape. + + "'The inquest is fixed for Monday and it is anticipated that + the funeral will take place on the following day.'" + +"That is all," concluded Miss George. + +"All that is in the paper," amended Carrados. + +"It is the same everywhere--'attempted murder and suicide'--that is what +everyone accepts as a matter of course," went on the girl quickly. "How +do they know that my father tried to kill Frank, or that he killed +himself? How can they know, Mr Carrados?" + +"Your father, Miss George?" + +"Yes. My name is Madeline Whitmarsh. At home everyone looks at me as if +I was an object of mingled pity and reproach. I thought that they might +know the name here, so I gave the first that came into my head. I think +it is a street I was directed along. Besides, I don't want it to be +known that I came to see you in any case." + +"Why?" + +Much of the girl's conscious nervousness had stiffened into an attitude +of unconscious hardness. Grief takes many forms, and whatever she had +been before, the tragic episode had left Miss Whitmarsh a little hurt +and cynical. + +"You are a man living in a town and can do as you like. I am a girl +living in the country and have therefore to do largely as my neighbours +like. For me to set up my opinion against popular feeling would +constitute no small offence; to question its justice would be held to be +adding outrageous insult to enormous injury." + +"So far I am unable to go beyond the newspaper account. On the face of +it, your father--with what provocation of course I do not know--did +attempt this Mr Frank Whitmarsh's life and then take his own. You imply +another version. What reason have you?" + +"That is the terrible part of it," exclaimed the girl, with rising +distress. "It was that which made me so afraid of coming to you, +although I felt that I must, for I dreaded that when you asked me for +proofs and I could give you none you would refuse to help me. We were +not even in time to hear him speak, and yet I know, _know_ with absolute +conviction, that my father would not have done this. There are things +that you cannot explain, Mr Carrados, and--well, there is an end of it." + +Her voice sank to an absent-minded whisper. + +"Everyone will condemn him now that he cannot defend himself, and yet he +could not even have had the revolver that was found at his feet." + +"What is that?" demanded Carrados sharply. "Do you mean that?" + +"Mean what?" she asked, with the blankness of one who has lost the +thread of her own thoughts. + +"What you said about the revolver--that your father could not have had +it?" + +"The revolver?" she repeated half wearily; "oh yes. It was a heavy, +old-fashioned affair. It had been lying in a drawer of his desk for more +than ten years because once a dog came into the orchard in broad +daylight light and worried half-a-dozen lambs before anyone could do +anything." + +"Yes, but why could he not have it on Thursday?" + +"I noticed that it was gone. After Frank had left in the afternoon I +went into the room where he had been waiting, to finish dusting. The +paper says the dining-room, but it was really papa's business-room and +no one else used it. Then when I was dusting the desk I saw that the +revolver was no longer there." + +"You had occasion to open the drawer?" + +"It is really a very old bureau and none of the drawers fit closely. +Dust lies on the ledges and you always have to open them a little to +dust properly. They were never kept locked." + +"Possibly your father had taken the revolver with him." + +"No. I had seen it there after he had gone. He rode to Stinbridge +immediately after lunch and did not return until nearly eight. After he +left I went to dust his room. It was then that I saw it. I was doing the +desk when Frank knocked and interrupted me. That is how I came to be +there twice." + +"But you said that you had no proof, Miss Whitmarsh," Carrados reminded +her, with deep seriousness. "Do you not recognize the importance--the +deadly importance--that this one shred of evidence may assume?" + +"Does it?" she replied simply. "I am afraid that I am rather dull just +now. All yesterday I was absolutely dazed; I could not do the most +ordinary things. I found myself looking at the clock for minutes +together, yet absolutely incapable of grasping what time it was. In the +same way I know that it struck me as being funny about the revolver but +I always had to give it up. It was as though everything was there but +things would not fit in." + +"You are sure, absolutely sure, that you saw the revolver there after +your father had left, and missed it before he returned?" + +"Oh yes," said the girl quickly; "I remember realizing how curious it +was at the time. Besides there is something else. I so often had things +to ask papa about when he was out of the house that I got into the way +of making little notes to remind me later. This morning I found on my +dressing-table one that I had written on Thursday afternoon." + +"About this weapon?" + +"Yes; to ask him what could have become of it." + +Carrados made a further inquiry, and this was Madeline Whitmarsh's +account of affairs existing between the two branches of the family: + +Until the time of William Whitmarsh, father of the William Whitmarsh +just deceased, the properties of Barony and High Barn had formed one +estate, descending from a William senior to a William junior down a +moderately long line of yeomen Whitmarshes. Through the influence of his +second wife this William senior divided the property, leaving Barony +with its four hundred acres of good land to William junior, and High +Barn, with which went three hundred acres of poor land, to his other +son, father of the Frank implicated in the recent tragedy. But though +divided, the two farms still had one common link. Beneath their growing +corn and varied pasturage lay, it was generally admitted, a seam of coal +at a depth and of a thickness that would render its working a paying +venture. Even in William the Divider's time, when the idea was new, +money in plenty would have been forthcoming, but he would have none of +it, and when he died his will contained a provision restraining either +son from mining or exploiting his land for mineral without the consent +and co-operation of the other. + +This restriction became a legacy of hate. The brothers were only +half-brothers and William having suffered unforgettably at the hands of +his step-mother had old scores to pay off. Quite comfortably prosperous +on his own rich farm, and quite satisfied with the excellent shooting +and the congenial life, he had not the slightest desire to increase his +wealth. He had the old dour, peasant-like instinct to cling to the house +and the land of his forefathers. From this position no argument moved +him. + +In the meanwhile, on the other side of the new boundary fence, Frank +senior was growing poorer year by year. To his periodical entreaties +that William would agree to shafts being sunk on High Barn he received +an emphatic "Never in my time!" The poor man argued, besought, +threatened and swore; the prosperous one shook his head and grinned. +Carrados did not need to hear the local saying: "Half brothers: whole +haters; like the Whitmarshes," to read the situation. + +"Of course I do not really understand the business part of it," said +Madeline, "and many people blamed poor papa, especially when Uncle Frank +drank himself to death. But I know that it was not mere obstinacy. He +loved the undisturbed, peaceful land just as it was, and his father had +wished it to remain the same. Collieries would bring swarms of strange +men into the neighbourhood, poachers and trespassers, he said. The smoke +and dust would ruin the land for miles round and drive away the game, +and in the end, if the work did not turn out profitable, we should all +be much worse off than before." + +"Does the restriction lapse now; will Mr Frank junior be able to mine?" + +"It will now lie with Frank and my brother William, just as it did +before with their fathers. I should expect Willie to be quite +favourable. He is more--modern." + +"You have not spoken of your brother." + +"I have two. Bob, the younger, is in Mexico," she explained; "and Willie +in Canada with an engineering firm. They did not get on very well with +papa and they went away." + +It did not require preternatural observation to deduce that the late +William Whitmarsh had been "a little difficult." + +"When Uncle Frank died, less than six months ago, Frank came back to +High Barn from South Africa. He had been away about two years." + +"Possibly he did not get on well with his father?" + +Madeline smiled sadly. + +"I am afraid that no two Whitmarsh men ever did get on well together," +she admitted. + +"Your father and young Frank, for instance?" + +"Their lands adjoin; there were always quarrels and disputes," she +replied. "Then Frank had his father's grievance over again." + +"He wished to mine?" + +"Yes. He told me that he had had experience of coal in Natal." + +"There was no absolute ostracism between you then? You were to some +extent friends?" + +"Scarcely." She appeared to reflect. "Acquaintances.... We met +occasionally, of course, at people's houses." + +"You did not visit High Barn?" + +"Oh no." + +"But there was no particular reason why you should not?" + +"Why do you ask me that?" she demanded quickly, and in a tone that was +quite incompatible with the simple inquiry. Then, recognizing the fact, +she added, with shamefaced penitence: "I beg your pardon, Mr Carrados. I +am afraid that my nerves have gone to pieces since Thursday. The most +ordinary things affect me inexplicably." + +"That is a common experience in such circumstances," said Carrados +reassuringly. "Where were you at the time of the tragedy?" + +"I was in my bedroom, which is rather high up, changing. I had driven +down to the village, to give an order, and had just returned. Mrs +Lawrence told me that she had been afraid there might be quarrelling, +but no one would ever have dreamed of this, and then came a loud shot +and then, after a few seconds, another not so loud, and we rushed to the +door--she and Mary first--and everything was absolutely still." + +"A loud shot _and then another not so loud_?" + +"Yes; I noticed that even at the time. I happened to speak to Mrs +Lawrence of it afterwards and then she also remembered that it had been +like that." + +Afterwards Carrados often recalled with grim pleasantry that the two +absolutely vital points in the fabric of circumstantial evidence that +was to exonerate her father and fasten the guilt upon another had +dropped from the girl's lips utterly by chance. But at the moment the +facts themselves monopolized his attention. + +"You are not disappointed that I can tell you so little?" she asked +timidly. + +"Scarcely," he replied. "A suicide who could not have had the weapon he +dies by, a victim who is miraculously preserved by an opportune watch, +and two shots from the same pistol that differ materially in volume, all +taken together do not admit of disappointment." + +"I am very stupid," she said. "I do not seem able to follow things. But +you will come and clear my father's name?" + +"I will come," he replied. "Beyond that who shall prophesy?" + +It had been arranged between them that the girl should return at once, +while Carrados would travel down to Great Tilling late that same +afternoon and put up at the local fishing inn. In the evening he would +call at Barony, where Madeline would accept him as a distant connexion +of the family. The arrangement was only for the benefit of the domestics +and any casual visitor who might be present, for there was no +possibility of a near relation being in attendance. Nor was there any +appreciable danger of either his name or person being recognized in +those parts, a consideration that seemed to have some weight with the +girl, for, more than once, she entreated him not to disclose to anyone +his real business there until he had arrived at a definite conclusion. + +It was nine o'clock, but still just light enough to distinguish the +prominent features of the landscape, when Carrados, accompanied by +Parkinson, reached Barony. The house, as described by the man-servant, +was a substantial grey stone building, very plain, very square, very +exposed to the four winds. It had not even a porch to break the flat +surface, and here and there in the line of its three solid storeys a +window had been built up by some frugal, tax-evading Whitmarsh of a +hundred years ago. + +"Sombre enough," commented Carrados, "but the connexion between +environment and crime is not yet capable of analysis. We get murders in +brand-new suburban villas and the virtues, light-heartedness and +good-fellowship, in moated granges. What should you say about it, eh, +Parkinson?" + +"I should say it was damp, sir," observed Parkinson, with his wisest +air. + +Madeline Whitmarsh herself opened the door. She took them down the long +flagged hall to the dining-room, a cheerful enough apartment whatever +its exterior might forebode. + +"I am glad you have come now, Mr Carrados," she said hurriedly, when the +door was closed. "Sergeant Brewster is here from Stinbridge police +station to make some arrangements for the inquest. It is to be held at +the schools here on Monday. He says that he must take the revolver with +him to produce. Do you want to see it before he goes?" + +"I should like to," replied Carrados. + +"Will you come into papa's room then? He is there." + +The sergeant was at the table, making notes in his pocket-book, when +they entered. An old-fashioned revolver lay before him. + +"This gentleman has come a long way on hearing about poor papa," said +the girl. "He would like to see the revolver before you take it, Mr +Brewster." + +"Good-evening, sir," said Brewster. "It's a bad business that brings us +here." + +Carrados "looked" round the room and returned the policeman's greeting. +Madeline hesitated for a moment, and then, picking up the weapon, put it +into the blind man's hand. + +"A bit out of date, sir," remarked Brewster, with a nod. "But in good +order yet, I find." + +"An early French make, I should say; one of Lefaucheux's probably," said +Carrados. "You have removed the cartridges?" + +"Why, yes," admitted the sergeant, producing a matchbox from his pocket. +"They're pin-fire, you see, and I'm not too fond of carrying a thing +like that loaded in my pocket as I'm riding a young horse." + +"Quite so," agreed Carrados, fingering the cartridges. "I wonder if you +happened to mark the order of these in the chambers?" + +"That was scarcely necessary, sir. Two, together, had been fired; the +other four had not." + +"I once knew a case--possibly I read of it--where a pack of cards lay on +the floor. It was a murder case and the guilt or innocence of an accused +man depended on the relative positions of the fifty-first and +fifty-second cards." + +"I think you must have read of that, sir," replied Brewster, +endeavouring to implicate first Miss Whitmarsh and then Parkinson in his +meaning smile. "However, this is straightforward enough." + +"Then, of course, you have not thought it worth while to look for +anything else?" + +"I have noted all the facts that have any bearing on the case. Were you +referring to any particular point, sir?" + +"I was only wondering," suggested Carrados, with apologetic mildness, +"whether you, or anyone, had happened to find a wad lying about +anywhere." + +The sergeant stroked his well-kept moustache to hide the smile that +insisted, however, on escaping through his eyes. + +"Scarcely, sir," he replied, with fine irony. "Bulleted revolver +cartridges contain no wad. You are thinking of a shot-gun, sir." + +"Oh," said Carrados, bending over the spent cartridge he was examining, +"that settles it, of course." + +"I think so, sir," assented the sergeant, courteously but with a quiet +enjoyment of the situation. "Well, miss, I'll be getting back now. I +think I have everything I want." + +"You will excuse me a few minutes?" said Miss Whitmarsh, and the two +callers were left alone. + +"Parkinson," said Carrados softly, as the door closed, "look round on +the floor. There is no wad lying within sight?" + +"No, sir." + +"Then take the lamp and look behind things. But if you find one don't +disturb it." + +For a minute strange and gigantic shadows chased one another across the +ceiling as Parkinson moved the table-lamp to and fro behind the +furniture. The man to whom blazing sunlight and the deepest shade were +as one sat with his eyes fixed tranquilly on the unseen wall before him. + +"There is a little pellet of paper here behind the couch, sir," +announced Parkinson. + +"Then put the lamp back." + +Together they drew the cumbrous old piece of furniture from the wall and +Carrados went behind. On hands and knees, with his face almost to the +floor, he appeared to be studying even the dust that lay there. Then +with a light, unerring touch he carefully picked up the thing that +Parkinson had found. Very gently he unrolled it, using his long, +delicate fingers so skilfully that even at the end the particles of dust +still clung here and there to the surface of the paper. + +"What do you make of it, Parkinson?" + +Parkinson submitted it to the judgment of a single sense. + +"A cigarette-paper to all appearance, sir. I can't say it's a kind that +I've had experience of. It doesn't seem to have any distinct watermark +but there is a half-inch of glossy paper along one edge." + +"Amber-tipped. Yes?" + +"Another edge is a little uneven; it appears to have been cut." + +"This edge opposite the mouthpiece. Yes, yes." + +"Patches are blackened, and little holes--like pinpricks--burned +through. In places it is scorched brown." + +"Anything else?" + +"I hope there is nothing I have failed to observe, sir," said Parkinson, +after a pause. + +Carrados's reply was a strangely irrelevant question. + +"What is the ceiling made of?" he demanded. + +"Oak boards, sir, with a heavy cross-beam." + +"Are there any plaster figures about the room?" + +"No, sir." + +"Or anything at all that is whitewashed?" + +"Nothing, sir." + +Carrados raised the scrap of tissue paper to his nose again, and for the +second time he touched it with his tongue. + +"Very interesting, Parkinson," he remarked, and Parkinson's responsive +"Yes, sir" was a model of discreet acquiescence. + +"I am sorry that I had to leave you," said Miss Whitmarsh, returning, +"but Mrs Lawrence is out and my father made a practice of offering +everyone refreshment." + +"Don't mention it," said Carrados. "We have not been idle. I came from +London to pick up a scrap of paper, lying on the floor of this room. +Well, here it is." He rolled the tissue into a pellet again and held it +before her eyes. + +"The wad!" she exclaimed eagerly. "Oh, that proves that I was right?" + +"Scarcely 'proves,' Miss Whitmarsh." + +"But it shows that one of the shots was a blank charge, as you suggested +this morning might have been the case." + +"Hardly even that." + +"What then?" she demanded, with her large dark eyes fixed in a curious +fascination on his inscrutable face. + +"That behind the couch we have found this scrap of powder-singed paper." + +There was a moment's silence. The girl turned away her head. + +"I am afraid that I am a little disappointed," she murmured. + +"Perhaps better now than later. I wished to warn you that we must prove +every inch of ground. Does your cousin Frank smoke cigarettes?" + +"I cannot say, Mr Carrados. You see ... I knew so little of him." + +"Quite so; there was just the chance. And your father?" + +"He never did. He despised them." + +"That is all I need ask you now. What time to-morrow shall I find you +in, Miss Whitmarsh? It is Sunday, you remember." + +"At any time. The curiosity I inspire doesn't tempt me to encounter my +friends, I can assure you," she replied, her face hardening at the +recollection. "But ... Mr Carrados----" + +"Yes?" + +"The inquest is on Monday afternoon.... I had a sort of desperate faith +that you would be able to vindicate papa." + +"By the time of the inquest, you mean?" + +"Yes. Otherwise----" + +"The verdict of a coroner's jury means nothing, Miss Whitmarsh. It is +the merest formality." + +"It means a very great deal to me. It haunts and oppresses me. If they +say--if it goes out--that papa is guilty of the attempt of murder, and +of suicide, I shall never raise my head again." + +Carrados had no desire to prolong a futile discussion. + +"Good-night," he said, holding out his hand. + +"Good-night, Mr Carrados." She detained him a moment, her voice vibrant +with quiet feeling. "I already owe you more than I can ever hope to +express. Your wonderful kindness----" + +"A strange case," moralized Carrados, as they walked out of the +quadrangular yard into the silent lane. "Instructive, but I more than +half wish I'd never heard of it." + +"The young lady seems grateful, sir," Parkinson ventured to suggest. + +"The young lady is the case, Parkinson," replied his master rather +grimly. + +A few score yards farther on a swing gate gave access to a field-path, +cutting off the corner that the high road made with the narrow lane. +This was their way, but instead of following the brown line of trodden +earth Carrados turned to the left and indicated the line of buildings +that formed the back of one side of the quadrangle they had passed +through. + +"We will investigate here," he said. "Can you see a way in?" + +Most of the buildings opened on to the yard, but at one end of the range +Parkinson discovered a door, secured only by a wooden latch. The place +beyond was impenetrably dark, but the sweet, dusty smell of hay, and, +from beyond, the occasional click of a horse's shoe on stone and the +rattle of a head-stall chain through the manger ring told them that they +were in the chaff-pen at the back of the stable. + +Carrados stretched out his hand and touched the wall with a single +finger. + +"We need go no farther," he remarked, and as they resumed their way +across the field he took out a handkerchief to wipe the taste of +whitewash off his tongue. + +Madeline had spoken of the gradual decay of High Barn, but Carrados was +hardly prepared for the poverty-stricken desolation which Parkinson +described as they approached the homestead on the following afternoon. +He had purposely selected a way that took them across many of young +Whitmarsh's ill-stocked fields, fields in which sedge and charlock wrote +an indictment of neglected drains and half-hearted tillage. On the land, +the gates and hedges had been broken and unkempt; the buildings, as they +passed through the farmyard, were empty and showed here and there a +skeletonry of bare rafters to the sky. + +"Starved," commented the blind man, as he read the signs. "The thirsty +owner and the hungry land: they couldn't both be fed." + +Although it was afternoon the bolts and locks of the front door had to +be unfastened in answer to their knock. When at last the door was opened +a shrivelled little old woman, rather wicked-looking in a comic way, +and rather begrimed, stood there. + +"Mr Frank Whitmarsh?" she replied to Carrados's polite inquiry; "oh yes, +he lives here. Frank," she called down the passage, "you're wanted." + +"What is it, mother?" responded a man's full, strong voice rather +lazily. + +"Come and see!" and the old creature ogled Carrados with her beady eyes +as though the situation constituted an excellent joke between them. + +There was the sound of a chair being moved and at the end of the passage +a tall man appeared in his shirt sleeves. + +"I am a stranger to you," explained Carrados, "but I am staying at the +Bridge Inn and I heard of your wonderful escape on Thursday. I was so +interested that I have taken the liberty of coming across to +congratulate you on it." + +"Oh, come in, come in," said Whitmarsh. "Yes ... it was a sort of +miracle, wasn't it?" + +He led the way back into the room he had come from, half kitchen, half +parlour. It at least had the virtue of an air of rude comfort, and some +of the pewter and china that ornamented its mantelpiece and dresser +would have rejoiced a collector's heart. + +"You find us a bit rough," apologized the young man, with something of +contempt towards his surroundings. "We weren't expecting visitors." + +"And I was hesitating to come because I thought that you would be +surrounded by your friends." + +This very ordinary remark seemed to afford Mrs Whitmarsh unbounded +entertainment and for quite a number of seconds she was convulsed with +silent amusement at the idea. + +"Shut up, mother," said her dutiful son. "Don't take any notice of her," +he remarked to his visitors, "she often goes on like that. The fact is," +he added, "we Whitmarshes aren't popular in these parts. Of course that +doesn't trouble me; I've seen too much of things. And, taken as a +boiling, the Whitmarshes deserve it." + +"Ah, wait till you touch the coal, my boy, then you'll see," put in the +old lady, with malicious triumph. + +"I reckon we'll show them then, eh, mother?" he responded bumptiously. +"Perhaps you've heard of that, Mr----?" + +"Carrados--Wynn Carrados. This is my man, Parkinson. I have to be +attended because my sight has failed me. Yes, I had heard something +about coal. Providence seems to be on your side just now, Mr Whitmarsh. +May I offer you a cigarette?" + +"Thanks, I don't mind for once in a way." + +"They're Turkish; quite innocuous, I believe." + +"Oh, it isn't that. I can smoke cutty with any man, I reckon, but the +paper affects my lips. I make my own and use a sort of paper with an end +that doesn't stick." + +"The paper is certainly a drawback sometimes," agreed Carrados. "I've +found that. Might I try one of yours?" + +They exchanged cigarettes and Whitmarsh returned to the subject of the +tragedy. + +"This has made a bit of a stir, I can tell you," he remarked, with +complacency. + +"I am sure it would. Well, it was the chief topic of conversation when I +was in London." + +"Is that a fact?" Avowedly indifferent to the opinion of his neighbours, +even Whitmarsh was not proof against the pronouncement of the +metropolis. "What do they say about it up there?" + +"I should be inclined to think that the interest centres round the +explanation you will give at the inquest of the cause of the quarrel." + +"There! What did I tell you?" exclaimed Mrs Whitmarsh. + +"Be quiet, mother. That's easily answered, Mr Carrados. There was a bit +of duck shooting that lay between our two places. But perhaps you saw +that in the papers?" + +"Yes," admitted Carrados, "I saw that. Frankly, the reason seemed +inadequate to so deadly a climax." + +"What did I say?" demanded the irrepressible dame. "They won't believe +it." + +The young man cast a wrathful look in his mother's direction and turned +again to the visitor. + +"That's because you don't know Uncle William. _Any_ reason was good +enough for him to quarrel over. Here, let me give you an instance. When +I went in on Thursday he was smoking a pipe. Well, after a bit I took +out a cigarette and lit it. I'm damned if he didn't turn round and start +on me for that. How does that strike you for one of your own family, Mr +Carrados?" + +"Unreasonable, I am bound to admit. I am afraid that I should have been +inclined to argue the point. What did you do, Mr Whitmarsh?" + +"I hadn't gone there to quarrel," replied the young man, half sulky at +the recollection. "It was his house. I threw it into the fireplace." + +"Very obliging," said Carrados. "But, if I may say so, it isn't so much +a matter of speculation why he should shoot you as why he should shoot +himself." + +"The gentleman seems friendly. Better ask his advice, Frank," put in the +old woman in a penetrating whisper. + +"Stow it, mother!" said Whitmarsh sharply. "Are you crazy? Her idea of a +coroner's inquest," he explained to Carrados, with easy contempt, "is +that I am being tried for murder. As a matter of fact, Uncle William was +a very passionate man, and, like many of that kind, he frequently went +beyond himself. I don't doubt that he was sure he'd killed me, for he +was a good shot and the force of the blow sent me backwards. He was a +very proud man too, in a way--wouldn't stand correction or any kind of +authority, and when he realized what he'd done and saw in a flash that +he would be tried and hanged for it, suicide seemed the easiest way out +of his difficulties, I suppose." + +"Yes; that sounds reasonable enough," admitted Carrados. + +"Then you don't think there will be any trouble, sir?" insinuated Mrs +Whitmarsh anxiously. + +Frank had already professed his indifference to local opinion, but +Carrados was conscious that both of them hung rather breathlessly on to +his reply. + +"Why, no," he declared weightily. "I should see no reason for +anticipating any. Unless," he added thoughtfully, "some clever lawyer +was instructed to insist that there must be more in the dispute than +appears on the surface." + +"Oh, them lawyers, them lawyers!" moaned the old lady in a panic. "They +can make you say anything." + +"They can't make me say anything." A cunning look came into his +complacent face. "And, besides, who's going to engage a lawyer?" + +"The family of the deceased gentleman might wish to do so." + +"Both of the sons are abroad and could not be back in time." + +"But is there not a daughter here? I understood so." + +Whitmarsh gave a short, unpleasant laugh and turned to look at his +mother. + +"Madeline won't. You may bet your bottom tikkie it's the last thing she +would want." + +The little old creature gazed admiringly at her big showy son and +responded with an appreciative grimace that made her look more +humorously rat-like than ever. + +"He! he! Missie won't," she tittered. "That would never do. He! he!" +Wink succeeded nod and meaning smile until she relapsed into a state of +quietness; and Parkinson, who had been fascinated by her contortions, +was unable to decide whether she was still laughing or had gone to +sleep. + +Carrados stayed a few more minutes and before they left he asked to see +the watch. + +"A unique memento, Mr Whitmarsh," he remarked, examining it. "I should +think this would become a family heirloom." + +"It's no good for anything else," said Whitmarsh practically. "A famous +time-keeper it was, too." + +"The fingers are both gone." + +"Yes; the glass was broken, of course, and they must have caught in the +cloth of my pocket and ripped off." + +"They naturally would; it was ten minutes past nine when the shot was +fired." + +The young man thought and then nodded. + +"About that," he agreed. + +"Nearer than 'about,' if your watch was correct. Very interesting, Mr +Whitmarsh. I am glad to have seen the watch that saved your life." + +Instead of returning to the inn Carrados directed Parkinson to take the +road to Barony. Madeline was at home, and from the sound of voices it +appeared that she had other visitors, but she came out to Carrados at +once, and at his request took him into the empty dining-room while +Parkinson stayed in the hall. + +"Yes?" she said eagerly. + +"I have come to tell you that I must throw up my brief," he said. "There +is nothing more to be done and I return to town to-night." + +"Oh!" she stammered helplessly. "I thought--I thought----" + +"Your cousin did not abstract the revolver when he was here on Thursday, +Miss Whitmarsh. He did not at his leisure fire a bullet into his own +watch to make it appear, later in the day, as if he had been attacked. +He did not reload the cartridge with a blank charge. He did not +deliberately shoot your father and then fire off the blank cartridge. He +_was_ attacked and the newspaper version is substantially correct. The +whole fabric so delicately suggested by inference and innuendo falls to +pieces." + +"Then you desert me, Mr Carrados?" she said, in a low, bitter voice. + +"I have seen the watch--the watch that saved Whitmarsh's life," he +continued, unmoved. "It would save it again if necessary. It indicates +ten minutes past nine--the time to a minute at which it is agreed the +shot was fired. By what prescience was he to know at what exact minute +his opportunity would occur?" + +"When I saw the watch on Thursday night the fingers were not there." + +"They are not, but the shaft remains. It is of an old-fashioned pattern +and it will only take the fingers in one position. That position +indicates ten minutes past nine." + +"Surely it would have been an easy matter to have altered that +afterwards?" + +"In this case fate has been curiously systematic, Miss Whitmarsh. The +bullet that shattered the works has so locked the action that it will +not move a fraction this way or that." + +"There is something more than this--something that I do not understand," +she persisted. "I think I have a right to know." + +"Since you insist, there is. There is the wad of the blank cartridge +that you fired in the outbuilding." + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, in the moment of startled undefence, "how do +you--how can you----" + +"You must leave the conjurer his few tricks for effect. Of course you +naturally would fire it where the precious pellet could not get +lost--the paper you steamed off the cigarette that Whitmarsh threw into +the empty fire-grate; and of course the place must be some distance from +the house or even that slight report might occasion remark." + +"Yes," she confessed, in a sudden abandonment to weary indifference, "it +has been useless. I was a fool to set my cleverness against yours. Now, +I suppose, Mr Carrados, you will have to hand me over to justice? + +"Well; why don't you say something?" she demanded impatiently, as he +offered no comment. + +"People frequently put me in this embarrassing position," he explained +diffidently, "and throw the responsibility on me. Now a number of years +ago a large and stately building was set up in London and it was +beautifully called 'The Royal Palace of Justice.' That was its official +name and that was what it was to be; but very soon people got into the +way of calling it the Law Courts, and to-day, if you asked a Londoner to +direct you to the Palace of Justice he would undoubtedly set you down as +a religious maniac. You see my difficulty?" + +"It is very strange," she said, intent upon her own reflections, "but I +do not feel a bit ashamed to you of what I have done. I do not even feel +afraid to tell you all about it, although of some of that I must +certainly be ashamed. Why is it?" + +"Because I am blind?" + +"Oh no," she replied very positively. + +Carrados smiled at her decision but he did not seek to explain that when +he could no longer see the faces of men the power was gradually given to +him of looking into their hearts, to which some in their turn--strong, +free spirits--instinctively responded. + +"There is such a thing as friendship at first sight," he suggested. + +"Why, yes; like quite old friends," she agreed. "It is a pity that I had +no very trusty friend, since my mother died when I was quite little. +Even my father has been--it is queer to think of it now--well, almost a +stranger to me really." + +She looked at Carrados's serene and kindly face and smiled. + +"It is a great relief to be able to talk like this, without the +necessity for lying," she remarked. "Did you know that I was engaged?" + +"No; you had not told me that." + +"Oh no, but you might have heard of it. He is a clergyman whom I met +last summer. But, of course, that is all over now." + +"You have broken it off?" + +"Circumstances have broken it off. The daughter of a man who had the +misfortune to be murdered might just possibly be tolerated as a vicar's +wife, but the daughter of a murderer and suicide--it is unthinkable! You +see, the requirements for the office are largely social, Mr Carrados." + +"Possibly your vicar may have other views." + +"Oh, he isn't a vicar yet, but he is rather well-connected, so it is +quite assured. And he would be dreadfully torn if the choice lay with +him. As it is, he will perhaps rather soon get over my absence. But, you +see, if we married he could never get over my presence; it would always +stand in the way of his preferment. I worked very hard to make it +possible, but it could not be." + +"You were even prepared to send an innocent man to the gallows?" + +"I think so, at one time," she admitted frankly. "But I scarcely thought +it would come to that. There are so many well-meaning people who always +get up petitions.... No, as I stand here looking at myself over there, I +feel that I couldn't quite have hanged Frank, no matter how much he +deserved it.... You are very shocked, Mr Carrados?" + +"Well," admitted Carrados, with pleasant impartiality, "I have seen the +young man, but the penalty, even with a reprieve, still seems to me a +little severe." + +"Yet how do you know, even now, that he is, as you say, an innocent +man?" + +"I don't," was the prompt admission. "I only know, in this astonishing +case, that so far as my investigation goes, he did not murder your +father by the act of his hand." + +"Not according to your Law Courts?" she suggested. "But in the great +Palace of Justice?... Well, you shall judge." + +She left his side, crossed the room, and stood by the square, ugly +window, looking out, but as blind as Carrados to the details of the +somnolent landscape. + +"I met Frank for the first time after I was at all grown-up about three +years ago, when I returned from boarding-school. I had not seen him +since I was a child, and I thought him very tall and manly. It seemed a +frightfully romantic thing in the circumstances to meet him +secretly--of course my thoughts flew to Romeo and Juliet. We put +impassioned letters for one another in a hollow tree that stood on the +boundary hedge. But presently I found out--gradually and incredulously +at first and then one night with a sudden terrible certainty--that my +ideas of romance were not his.... I had what is called, I believe, a +narrow escape. I was glad when he went abroad, for it was only my +self-conceit that had suffered. I was never in love with him: only in +love with the idea of being in love with him. + +"A few months ago Frank came back to High Barn. I tried never to meet +him anywhere, but one day he overtook me in the lanes. He said that he +had thought a lot about me while he was away, and would I marry him. I +told him that it was impossible in any case, and, besides, I was +engaged. He coolly replied that he knew. I was dumbfounded and asked him +what he meant. + +"Then he took out a packet of my letters that he had kept somewhere all +the time. He insisted on reading parts of them up and telling me what +this and that meant and what everyone would say it proved. I was +horrified at the construction that seemed capable of being put on my +foolish but innocent gush. I called him a coward and a blackguard and a +mean cur and a sneaking cad and everything I could think of in one long +breath, until I found myself faint and sick with excitement and the +nameless growing terror of it. + +"He only laughed and told me to think it over, and then walked on, +throwing the letters up into the air and catching them. + +"It isn't worth while going into all the times he met and threatened me. +I was to marry him or he would expose me. He would never allow me to +marry anyone else. And then finally he turned round and said that he +didn't really want to marry me at all; he only wanted to force father's +consent to start mining and this had seemed the easiest way." + +"That is what is called blackmail, Miss Whitmarsh; a word you don't seem +to have applied to him. The punishment ranges up to penal servitude for +life in extreme cases." + +"Yes, that is what it really was. He came on Thursday with the letters +in his pocket. That was his last threat when he could not move me. I can +guess what happened. He read the letters and proposed a bargain. And my +father, who was a very passionate man, and very proud in certain ways, +shot him as he thought, and then, in shame and in the madness of +despair, took his own life.... Now, Mr Carrados, you were to be my +judge." + +"I think," said the blind man, with a great pity in his voice, "that it +will be sufficient for you to come up for Judgment when called upon." + + * * * * * + +Three weeks later a registered letter bearing the Liverpool postmark was +delivered at The Turrets. After he had read it Carrados put it away in a +special drawer of his desk, and once or twice in after years, when his +work seemed rather barren, he took it out and read it. This is what it +contained: + + "DEAR MR CARRADOS,--Some time after you had left me that Sunday + afternoon, a man came in the dark to the door and asked for me. + I did not see his face for he kept in the shade, but his figure + was not very unlike that of your servant Parkinson. A packet + was put into my hands and he was gone without a word. From this + I imagine that perhaps you did not leave quite as soon as you + had intended. + + "Thank you very much indeed for the letters. I was glad to have + the miserable things, to drop them into the fire, and to see + them pass utterly out of my own and everybody else's life. I + wonder who else in the world would have done so much for a + forlorn creature who just flashed across a few days of his busy + life? and then I wonder who else could. + + "But there is something else for which I thank you now far, far + more, and that is for saving me from the blindness of my own + passionate folly. When I look back on the abyss of meanness, + treachery and guilt into which I would have wilfully cast + myself, and been condemned to live in all my life, I can + scarcely trust myself to write. + + "I will not say that I do not suffer now. I think I shall for + many years to come, but all the bitterness and I think all the + hardness have been drawn out. + + "You will see that I am writing from Liverpool. I have taken a + second-class passage to Canada and we sail to-night. Willie, + who returned to Barony last week, has lent me all the money I + shall need until I find work. Do not be apprehensive. It is not + with the vague uncertainty of an indifferent typist or a + downtrodden governess that I go, but as an efficient domestic + servant--a capable cook, housemaid or 'general,' as need be. It + sounds rather incredible at first, does it not, but such things + happen, and I shall get on very well. + + "Good-bye, Mr Carrados; I shall remember you very often and + very gratefully. + + "MADELINE WHITMARSH. + + "_P.S._--Yes, there is friendship at first sight." + + + + +THE COMEDY AT FOUNTAIN COTTAGE + + +Carrados had rung up Mr Carlyle soon after the inquiry agent had reached +his office in Bampton Street on a certain morning in April. Mr Carlyle's +face at once assumed its most amiable expression as he recognized his +friend's voice. + +"Yes, Max," he replied, in answer to the call, "I am here and at the top +of form, thanks. Glad to know that you are back from Trescoe. Is +there--anything?" + +"I have a couple of men coming in this evening whom you might like to +meet," explained Carrados. "Manoel the Zambesia explorer is one and the +other an East-End slum doctor who has seen a few things. Do you care to +come round to dinner?" + +"Delighted," warbled Mr Carlyle, without a moment's consideration. +"Charmed. Your usual hour, Max?" Then the smiling complacence of his +face suddenly changed and the wire conveyed an exclamation of annoyance. +"I am really very sorry, Max, but I have just remembered that I have an +engagement. I fear that I must deny myself after all." + +"Is it important?" + +"No," admitted Mr Carlyle. "Strictly speaking, it is not in the least +important; this is why I feel compelled to keep it. It is only to dine +with my niece. They have just got into an absurd doll's house of a +villa at Groat's Heath and I had promised to go there this evening." + +"Are they particular to a day?" + +There was a moment's hesitation before Mr Carlyle replied. + +"I am afraid so, now it is fixed," he said. "To you, Max, it will be +ridiculous or incomprehensible that a third to dinner--and he only a +middle-aged uncle--should make a straw of difference. But I know that in +their bijou way it will be a little domestic event to Elsie--an added +anxiety in giving the butcher an order, an extra course for dinner, +perhaps; a careful drilling of the one diminutive maid-servant, and she +is such a charming little woman--eh? Who, Max? No! No! I did not say the +maid-servant; if I did it is the fault of this telephone. Elsie is such +a delightful little creature that, upon my soul, it would be too bad to +fail her now." + +"Of course it would, you old humbug," agreed Carrados, with sympathetic +laughter in his voice. "Well, come to-morrow instead. I shall be alone." + +"Oh, besides, there is a special reason for going, which for the moment +I forgot," explained Mr Carlyle, after accepting the invitation. "Elsie +wishes for my advice with regard to her next-door neighbour. He is an +elderly man of retiring disposition and he makes a practice of throwing +kidneys over into her garden." + +"Kittens! Throwing kittens?" + +"No, no, Max. Kidneys. Stewed k-i-d-n-e-y-s. It is a little difficult to +explain plausibly over a badly vibrating telephone, I admit, but that is +what Elsie's letter assured me, and she adds that she is in despair." + +"At all events it makes the lady quite independent of the butcher, +Louis!" + +"I have no further particulars, Max. It may be a solitary diurnal +offering, or the sky may at times appear to rain kidneys. If it is a +mania the symptoms may even have become more pronounced and the man is +possibly showering beef-steaks across by this time. I will make full +inquiry and let you know." + +"Do," assented Carrados, in the same light-hearted spirit. "Mrs +Nickleby's neighbourly admirer expressed his feelings by throwing +cucumbers, you remember, but this man puts him completely in the shade." + +It had not got beyond the proportions of a jest to either of them when +they rang off--one of those whimsical occurrences in real life that +sound so fantastic in outline. Carrados did not give the matter another +thought until the next evening when his friend's arrival revived the +subject. + +"And the gentleman next door?" he inquired among his greetings. "Did the +customary offering arrive while you were there?" + +"No," admitted Mr Carlyle, beaming pleasantly upon all the familiar +appointments of the room, "it did not, Max. In fact, so diffident has +the mysterious philanthropist become, that no one at Fountain Cottage +has been able to catch sight of him lately, although I am told that +Scamp--Elsie's terrier--betrays a very self-conscious guilt and +suspiciously muddy paws every morning." + +"Fountain Cottage?" + +"That is the name of the toy villa." + +"Yes, but Fountain something, Groat's Heath--Fountain Court: wasn't that +where Metrobe----?" + +"Yes, yes, to be sure, Max. Metrobe the traveller, the writer and +scientist----" + +"Scientist!" + +"Well, he took up spiritualism or something, didn't he? At any rate, he +lived at Fountain Court, an old red-brick house in a large neglected +garden there, until his death a couple of years ago. Then, as Groat's +Heath had suddenly become a popular suburb with a tube railway, a land +company acquired the estate, the house was razed to the ground and in a +twinkling a colony of Noah's ark villas took its place. There is Metrobe +Road here, and Court Crescent there, and Mansion Drive and what not, and +Elsie's little place perpetuates another landmark." + +"I have Metrobe's last book there," said Carrados, nodding towards a +point on his shelves. "In fact he sent me a copy. 'The Flame beyond the +Dome' it is called--the queerest farrago of balderdash and metaphysics +imaginable. But what about the neighbour, Louis? Did you settle what we +might almost term 'his hash'?" + +"Oh, he is mad, of course. I advised her to make as little fuss about it +as possible, seeing that the man lives next door and might become +objectionable, but I framed a note for her to send which will probably +have a good effect." + +"Is he mad, Louis?" + +"Well, I don't say that he is strictly a lunatic, but there is obviously +a screw loose somewhere. He may carry indiscriminate benevolence towards +Yorkshire terriers to irrational lengths. Or he may be a food specialist +with a grievance. In effect he is mad on at least that one point. How +else are we to account for the circumstances?" + +"I was wondering," replied Carrados thoughtfully. + +"You suggest that he really may have a sane object?" + +"I suggest it--for the sake of argument. If he has a sane object, what +is it?" + +"That I leave to you, Max," retorted Mr Carlyle conclusively. "If he has +a sane object, pray what is it?" + +"For the sake of the argument I will tell you that in half-a-dozen +words, Louis," replied Carrados, with good-humoured tolerance. "If he is +not mad in the sense which you have defined, the answer stares us in the +face. His object is precisely that which he is achieving." + +Mr Carlyle looked inquiringly into the placid, unemotional face of his +blind friend, as if to read there whether, incredible as it might seem, +Max should be taking the thing seriously after all. + +"And what is that?" he asked cautiously. + +"In the first place he has produced the impression that he is eccentric +or irresponsible. That is sometimes useful in itself. Then what else has +he done?" + +"What else, Max?" replied Mr Carlyle, with some indignation. "Well, +whatever he wishes to achieve by it I can tell you one thing else that +he has done. He has so demoralized Scamp with his confounded kidneys +that Elsie's neatly arranged flower-beds--and she took Fountain Cottage +principally on account of an unusually large garden--are hopelessly +devastated. If she keeps the dog up, the garden is invaded night and day +by an army of peregrinating feline marauders that scent the booty from +afar. He has gained the everlasting annoyance of an otherwise charming +neighbour, Max. Can you tell me what he has achieved by that?" + +"The everlasting esteem of Scamp probably. Is he a good watch-dog, +Louis?" + +"Good heavens, Max!" exclaimed Mr Carlyle, coming to his feet as though +he had the intention of setting out for Groat's Heath then and there, +"is it possible that he is planning a burglary?" + +"Do they keep much of value about the house?" + +"No," admitted Mr Carlyle, sitting down again with considerable relief. +"No, they don't. Bellmark is not particularly well endowed with worldly +goods--in fact, between ourselves, Max, Elsie could have done very much +better from a strictly social point of view, but he is a thoroughly good +fellow and idolizes her. They have no silver worth speaking of, and for +the rest--well, just the ordinary petty cash of a frugal young couple." + +"Then he probably is not planning a burglary. I confess that the idea +did not appeal to me. If it is only that, why should he go to the +trouble of preparing this particular succulent dish to throw over his +neighbour's ground when cold liver would do quite as well?" + +"If it is not only that, why should he go to the trouble, Max?" + +"Because by that bait he produces the greatest disturbance of your +niece's garden." + +"And, if sane, why should he wish to do that?" + +"Because in those conditions he can the more easily obliterate his own +traces if he trespasses there at nights." + +"Well, upon my word, that's drawing a bow at a venture, Max. If it isn't +burglary, what motive could the man have for any such nocturnal +perambulation?" + +An expression of suave mischief came into Carrados's usually +imperturbable face. + +"Many imaginable motives surely, Louis. You are a man of the world. Why +not to meet a charming little woman----" + +"No, by gad!" exclaimed the scandalized uncle warmly; "I decline to +consider the remotest possibility of that explanation. Elsie----" + +"Certainly not," interposed Carrados, smothering his quiet laughter. +"The maid-servant, of course." + +Mr Carlyle reined in his indignation and recovered himself with his +usual adroitness. + +"But, you know, that is an atrocious libel, Max," he added. "I never +said such a thing. However, is it probable?" + +"No," admitted Carrados. "I don't think that in the circumstances it is +at all probable." + +"Then where are we, Max?" + +"A little further than we were at the beginning. Very little.... Are you +willing to give me a roving commission to investigate?" + +"Of course, Max, of course," assented Mr Carlyle heartily. "I--well, as +far as I was concerned, I regarded the matter as settled." + +Carrados turned to his desk and the ghost of a smile might possibly have +lurked about his face. He produced some stationery and indicated it to +his visitor. + +"You don't mind giving me a line of introduction to your niece?" + +"Pleasure," murmured Carlyle, taking up a pen. "What shall I say?" + +Carrados took the inquiry in its most literal sense and for reply he +dictated the following letter:-- + + "'MY DEAR ELSIE,'-- + +"If that is the way you usually address her," he parenthesized. + +"Quite so," acquiesced Mr Carlyle, writing. + + "'The bearer of this is Mr Carrados, of whom I have spoken to + you.' + +"You have spoken of me to her, I trust, Louis?" he put in. + +"I believe that I have casually referred to you," admitted the writer. + +"I felt sure you would have done. It makes the rest easier. + + "'He is not in the least mad although he frequently does things + which to the uninitiated appear more or less eccentric at the + moment. I think that you would be quite safe in complying with + any suggestion he may make. + + "'Your affectionate uncle, + + "'LOUIS CARLYLE.'" + +He accepted the envelope and put it away in a pocket-book that always +seemed extraordinarily thin for the amount of papers it contained. + +"I may call there to-morrow," he added. + +Neither again referred to the subject during the evening, but when +Parkinson came to the library a couple of hours after midnight to know +whether he would be required again, he found his master rather deeply +immersed in a book and a gap on the shelf where "The Flame beyond the +Dome" had formerly stood. + +It is not impossible that Mr Carlyle supplemented his brief note of +introduction with a more detailed communication that reached his niece +by the ordinary postal service at an earlier hour than the other. At all +events, when Mr Carrados presented himself at the toy villa on the +following afternoon he found Elsie Bellmark suspiciously disposed to +accept him and his rather gratuitous intervention among her suburban +troubles as a matter of course. + +When the car drew up at the bright green wooden gate of Fountain Cottage +another visitor, apparently a good-class working man, was standing on +the path of the trim front garden, lingering over a reluctant departure. +Carrados took sufficient time in alighting to allow the man to pass +through the gate before he himself entered. The last exchange of +sentences reached his ear. + +"I'm sure, marm, you won't find anyone to do the work at less." + +"I can quite believe that," replied a very fair young lady who stood +nearer the house, "but, you see, we do all the gardening ourselves, +thank you." + +Carrados made himself known and was taken into the daintily pretty +drawing-room that opened on to the lawn behind the house. + +"I do not need to ask if you are Mrs Bellmark," he had declared. + +"I have Uncle Louis's voice?" she divined readily. + +"The niece of his voice, so to speak," he admitted. "Voices mean a great +deal to me, Mrs Bellmark." + +"In recognizing and identifying people?" she suggested. + +"Oh, very much more than that. In recognizing and identifying their +moods--their thoughts even. There are subtle lines of trouble and the +deep rings of anxious care quite as patent to the ear as to the +sharpest eye sometimes." + +Elsie Bellmark shot a glance of curiously interested speculation to the +face that, in spite of its frank, open bearing, revealed so marvellously +little itself. + +"If I had any dreadful secret, I think that I should be a little afraid +to talk to you, Mr Carrados," she said, with a half-nervous laugh. + +"Then please do not have any dreadful secret," he replied, with quite +youthful gallantry. "I more than suspect that Louis has given you a very +transpontine idea of my tastes. I do not spend all my time tracking +murderers to their lairs, Mrs Bellmark, and I have never yet engaged in +a hand-to-hand encounter with a band of cut-throats." + +"He told us," she declared, the recital lifting her voice into a tone +that Carrados vowed to himself was wonderfully thrilling, "about this: +He said that you were once in a sort of lonely underground cellar near +the river with two desperate men whom you could send to penal servitude. +The police, who were to have been there at a certain time, had not +arrived, and you were alone. The men had heard that you were blind but +they could hardly believe it. They were discussing in whispers which +could not be overheard what would be the best thing to do, and they had +just agreed that if you really were blind they would risk the attempt to +murder you. Then, Louis said, at that very moment you took a pair of +scissors from your pocket, and coolly asking them why they did not have +a lamp down there, you actually snuffed the candle that stood on the +table before you. Is that true?" + +Carrados's mind leapt vividly back to the most desperate moment of his +existence, but his smile was gently deprecating as he replied: + +"I seem to recognize the touch of truth in the inclination to do +_anything_ rather than fight," he confessed. "But, although he never +suspects it, Louis really sees life through rose-coloured opera glasses. +Take the case of your quite commonplace neighbour----" + +"That is really what you came about?" she interposed shrewdly. + +"Frankly, it is," he replied. "I am more attracted by a turn of the odd +and grotesque than by the most elaborate tragedy. The fantastic conceit +of throwing stewed kidneys over into a neighbour's garden irresistibly +appealed to me. Louis, as I was saying, regards the man in the romantic +light of a humanitarian monomaniac or a demented food reformer. I take a +more subdued view and I think that his action, when rightly understood, +will prove to be something quite obviously natural." + +"Of course it is very ridiculous, but all the same it has been +desperately annoying," she confessed. "Still, it scarcely matters now. I +am only sorry that it should have been the cause of wasting your +valuable time, Mr Carrados." + +"My valuable time," he replied, "only seems valuable to me when I am, +as you would say, wasting it. But is the incident closed? Louis told me +that he had drafted you a letter of remonstrance. May I ask if it has +been effective?" + +Instead of replying at once she got up and walked to the long French +window and looked out over the garden where the fruit-trees that had +been spared from the older cultivation were rejoicing the eye with the +promise of their pink and white profusion. + +"I did not send it," she said slowly, turning to her visitor again. +"There is something that I did not tell Uncle Louis, because it would +only have distressed him without doing any good. We may be leaving here +very soon." + +"Just when you had begun to get it well in hand?" he said, in some +surprise. + +"It is a pity, is it not, but one cannot foresee these things. There is +no reason why you should not know the cause, since you have interested +yourself so far, Mr Carrados. In fact," she added, smiling away the +seriousness of the manner into which she had fallen, "I am not at all +sure that you do not know already." + +He shook his head and disclaimed any such prescience. + +"At all events you recognized that I was not exactly light-hearted," she +insisted. "Oh, you did not say that _I_ had dark rings under my eyes, I +know, but the cap fitted excellently.... It has to do with my husband's +business. He is with a firm of architects. It was a little venturesome +taking this house--we had been in apartments for two years--but Roy was +doing so well with his people and I was so enthusiastic for a garden +that we did--scarcely two months ago. Everything seemed quite assured. +Then came this thunderbolt. The partners--it is only a small firm, Mr +Carrados--required a little more capital in the business. Someone whom +they know is willing to put in two thousand pounds, but he stipulates +for a post with them as well. He, like my husband, is a draughtsman. +There is no need for the services of both and so----" + +"Is it settled?" + +"In effect, it is. They are as nice as can be about it but that does not +alter the facts. They declare that they would rather have Roy than the +new man and they have definitely offered to retain him if he can bring +in even one thousand pounds. I suppose they have some sort of +compunction about turning him adrift, for they have asked him to think +it over and let them know on Monday. Of course, that is the end of it. +It may be--I don't know--I don't like to think, how long before Roy gets +another position equally good. We must endeavour to get this house off +our hands and creep back to our three rooms. It is ... luck." + +Carrados had been listening to her wonderfully musical voice as another +man might have been drawn irresistibly to watch the piquant charm of her +delicate face. + +"Yes," he assented, almost to himself, "it is that strange, inexplicable +grouping of men and things that, under one name or another, we all +confess ... just luck." + +"Of course you will not mention this to Uncle Louis yet, Mr Carrados?" + +"If you do not wish it, certainly not." + +"I am sure that it would distress him. He is so soft-hearted, so kind, +in everything. Do you know, I found out that he had had an invitation to +dine somewhere and meet some quite important people on Tuesday. Yet he +came here instead, although most other men would have cried off, just +because he knew that we small people would have been disappointed." + +"Well, you can't expect me to see any self-denial in that," exclaimed +Carrados. "Why, I was one of them myself." + +Elsie Bellmark laughed outright at the expressive disgust of his tone. + +"I had no idea of that," she said. "Then there is another reason. Uncle +is not very well off, yet if he knew how Roy was situated he would make +an effort to arrange matters. He would, I am sure, even borrow himself +in order to lend us the money. That is a thing Roy and I are quite +agreed on. We will go back; we will go under, if it is to be; but we +will not borrow money, not even from Uncle Louis." + +Once, subsequently, Carrados suddenly asked Mr Carlyle whether he had +ever heard a woman's voice roll like a celestial kettle-drum. The +professional gentleman was vastly amused by the comparison, but he +admitted that he had not. + +"So that, you see," concluded Mrs Bellmark, "there is really nothing to +be done." + +"Oh, quite so; I am sure that you are right," assented her visitor +readily. "But in the meanwhile I do not see why the annoyance of your +next-door neighbour should be permitted to go on." + +"Of course: I have not told you that, and I could not explain it to +uncle," she said. "I am anxious not to do anything to put him out +because I have a hope--rather a faint one, certainly--that the man may +be willing to take over this house." + +It would be incorrect to say that Carrados pricked up his ears--if that +curious phenomenon has any physical manifestation--for the sympathetic +expression of his face did not vary a fraction. But into his mind there +came a gleam such as might inspire a patient digger who sees the first +speck of gold that justifies his faith in an unlikely claim. + +"Oh," he said, quite conversationally, "is there a chance of that?" + +"He undoubtedly did want it. It is very curious in a way. A few weeks +ago, before we were really settled, he came one afternoon, saying he had +heard that this house was to be let. Of course I told him that he was +too late, that we had already taken it for three years." + +"You were the first tenants?" + +"Yes. The house was scarcely ready when we signed the agreement. Then +this Mr Johns, or Jones--I am not sure which he said--went on in a +rather extraordinary way to persuade me to sublet it to him. He said +that the house was dear and I could get plenty, more convenient, at less +rent, and it was unhealthy, and the drains were bad, and that we should +be pestered by tramps and it was just the sort of house that burglars +picked on, only he had taken a sort of fancy to it and he would give me +a fifty-pound premium for the term." + +"Did he explain the motive for this rather eccentric partiality?" + +"I don't imagine that he did. He repeated several times that he was a +queer old fellow with his whims and fancies and that they often cost him +dear." + +"I think we all know that sort of old fellow," said Carrados. "It must +have been rather entertaining for you, Mrs Bellmark." + +"Yes, I suppose it was," she admitted. "The next thing we knew of him +was that he had taken the other house as soon as it was finished." + +"Then he would scarcely require this?" + +"I am afraid not." It was obvious that the situation was not disposed +of. "But he seems to have so little furniture there and to live so +solitarily," she explained, "that we have even wondered whether he might +not be there merely as a sort of caretaker." + +"And you have never heard where he came from or who he is?" + +"Only what the milkman told my servant--our chief source of local +information, Mr Carrados. He declares that the man used to be the butler +at a large house that stood here formerly, Fountain Court, and that his +name is neither Johns nor Jones. But very likely it is all a mistake." + +"If not, he is certainly attached to the soil," was her visitor's +rejoinder. "And, apropos of that, will you show me over your garden +before I go, Mrs Bellmark?" + +"With pleasure," she assented, rising also. "I will ring now and then I +can offer you tea when we have been round. That is, if you----?" + +"Thank you, I do," he replied. "And would you allow my man to go through +into the garden--in case I require him?" + +"Oh, certainly. You must tell me just what you want without thinking it +necessary to ask permission, Mr Carrados," she said, with a pretty air +of protection. "Shall Amy take a message?" + +He acquiesced and turned to the servant who had appeared in response to +the bell. + +"Will you go to the car and tell my man--Parkinson--that I require him +here. Say that he can bring his book; he will understand." + +"Yes, sir." + +They stepped out through the French window and sauntered across the +lawn. Before they had reached the other side Parkinson reported himself. + +"You had better stay here," said his master, indicating the sward +generally. "Mrs Bellmark will allow you to bring out a chair from the +drawing-room." + +"Thank you, sir; there is a rustic seat already provided," replied +Parkinson. + +He sat down with his back to the houses and opened the book that he had +brought. Let in among its pages was an ingeniously contrived mirror. + +When their promenade again brought them near the rustic seat Carrados +dropped a few steps behind. + +"He is watching you from one of the upper rooms, sir," fell from +Parkinson's lips as he sat there without raising his eyes from the page +before him. + +The blind man caught up to his hostess again. + +"You intended this lawn for croquet?" he asked. + +"No; not specially. It is too small, isn't it?" + +"Not necessarily. I think it is in about the proportion of four by five +all right. Given that, size does not really matter for an +unsophisticated game." + +To settle the point he began to pace the plot of ground, across and then +lengthways. Next, apparently dissatisfied with this rough measurement, +he applied himself to marking it off more exactly by means of his +walking-stick. Elsie Bellmark was by no means dull but the action sprang +so naturally from the conversation that it did not occur to her to look +for any deeper motive. + +"He has got a pair of field-glasses and is now at the window," +communicated Parkinson. + +"I am going out of sight," was the equally quiet response. "If he +becomes more anxious tell me afterwards." + +"It is quite all right," he reported, returning to Mrs Bellmark with the +satisfaction of bringing agreeable news. "It should make a splendid +little ground, but you may have to level up a few dips after the earth +has set." + +A chance reference to the kitchen garden by the visitor took them to a +more distant corner of the enclosure where the rear of Fountain Cottage +cut off the view from the next house windows. + +"We decided on this part for vegetables because it does not really +belong to the garden proper," she explained. "When they build farther on +this side we shall have to give it up very soon. And it would be a pity +if it was all in flowers." + +With the admirable spirit of the ordinary Englishwoman, she spoke of +the future as if there was no cloud to obscure its prosperous course. +She had frankly declared their position to her uncle's best friend +because in the circumstances it had seemed to be the simplest and most +straightforward thing to do; beyond that, there was no need to whine +about it. + +"It is a large garden," remarked Carrados. "And you really do all the +work of it yourselves?" + +"Yes; I think that is half the fun of a garden. Roy is out here early +and late and he does all the hard work. But how did you know? Did uncle +tell you?" + +"No; you told me yourself." + +"I? Really?" + +"Indirectly. You were scorning the proffered services of a horticultural +mercenary at the moment of my arrival." + +"Oh, I remember," she laughed. "It was Irons, of course. He is a great +nuisance, he is so stupidly persistent. For some weeks now he has been +coming time after time, trying to persuade me to engage him. Once when +we were all out he had actually got into the garden and was on the point +of beginning work when I returned. He said he saw the milkmen and the +grocers leaving samples at the door so he thought that he would too!" + +"A practical jester evidently. Is Mr Irons a local character?" + +"He said that he knew the ground and the conditions round about here +better than anyone else in Groat's Heath," she replied. "Modesty is not +among Mr Irons's handicaps. He said that he----How curious!" + +"What is, Mrs Bellmark?" + +"I never connected the two men before, but he said that he had been +gardener at Fountain Court for seven years." + +"Another family retainer who is evidently attached to the soil." + +"At all events they have not prospered equally, for while Mr Johns seems +able to take a nice house, poor Irons is willing to work for +half-a-crown a day, and I am told that all the other men charge four +shillings." + +They had paced the boundaries of the kitchen garden, and as there was +nothing more to be shown Elsie Bellmark led the way back to the +drawing-room. Parkinson was still engrossed in his book, the only change +being that his back was now turned towards the high paling of +clinker-built oak that separated the two gardens. + +"I will speak to my man," said Carrados, turning aside. + +"He hurried down and is looking through the fence, sir," reported the +watcher. + +"That will do then. You can return to the car." + +"I wonder if you would allow me to send you a small hawthorn-tree?" +inquired Carrados among his felicitations over the teacups five minutes +later. "I think it ought to be in every garden." + +"Thank you--but is it worth while?" replied Mrs Bellmark, with a touch +of restraint. As far as mere words went she had been willing to ignore +the menace of the future, but in the circumstances the offer seemed +singularly inept and she began to suspect that outside his peculiar +gifts the wonderful Mr Carrados might be a little bit obtuse after all. + +"Yes; I think it is," he replied, with quiet assurance. + +"In spite of----?" + +"I am not forgetting that unless your husband is prepared on Monday next +to invest one thousand pounds you contemplate leaving here." + +"Then I do not understand it, Mr Carrados." + +"And I am unable to explain as yet. But I brought you a note from Louis +Carlyle, Mrs Bellmark. You only glanced at it. Will you do me the favour +of reading me the last paragraph?" + +She picked up the letter from the table where it lay and complied with +cheerful good-humour. + +"There is some suggestion that you want me to accede to," she guessed +cunningly when she had read the last few words. + +"There are some three suggestions which I hope you will accede to," he +replied. "In the first place I want you to write to Mr Johns next +door--let him get the letter to-night--inquiring whether he is still +disposed to take this house." + +"I had thought of doing that shortly." + +"Then that is all right. Besides, he will ultimately decline." + +"Oh," she exclaimed--it would be difficult to say whether with relief or +disappointment--"do you think so? Then why----" + +"To keep him quiet in the meantime. Next I should like you to send a +little note to Mr Irons--your maid could deliver it also to-night, I +dare say?" + +"Irons! Irons the gardener?" + +"Yes," apologetically. "Only a line or two, you know. Just saying that, +after all, if he cares to come on Monday you can find him a few days' +work." + +"But in any circumstances I don't want him." + +"No; I can quite believe that you could do better. Still, it doesn't +matter, as he won't come, Mrs Bellmark; not for half-a-crown a day, +believe me. But the thought will tend to make Mr Irons less restive +also. Lastly, will you persuade your husband not to decline his firm's +offer until Monday?" + +"Very well, Mr Carrados," she said, after a moment's consideration. "You +are Uncle Louis's friend and therefore our friend. I will do what you +ask." + +"Thank you," said Carrados. "I shall endeavour not to disappoint you." + +"I shall not be disappointed because I have not dared to hope. And I +have nothing to expect because I am still completely in the dark." + +"I have been there for nearly twenty years, Mrs Bellmark." + +"Oh, I am sorry!" she cried impulsively. + +"So am I--occasionally," he replied. "Good-bye, Mrs Bellmark. You will +hear from me shortly, I hope. About the hawthorn, you know." + +It was, indeed, in something less than forty-eight hours that she heard +from him again. When Bellmark returned to his toy villa early on +Saturday afternoon Elsie met him almost at the gate with a telegram in +her hand. + +"I really think, Roy, that everyone we have to do with here goes mad," +she exclaimed, in tragi-humorous despair. "First it was Mr Johns or +Jones--if he is Johns or Jones--and then Irons who wanted to work here +for half of what he could get at heaps of places about, and now just +look at this wire that came from Mr Carrados half-an-hour ago." + +This was the message that he read: + + _Please procure sardine tin opener mariner's compass and bottle + of champagne. Shall arrive 6.45 bringing Crataegus + Coccinea._--CARRADOS. + +"Could anything be more absurd?" she demanded. + +"Sounds as though it was in code," speculated her husband. "Who's the +foreign gentleman he's bringing?" + +"Oh, that's a kind of special hawthorn--I looked it up. But a bottle of +champagne, and a compass, and a sardine tin opener! What possible +connexion is there between them?" + +"A very resourceful man might uncork a bottle of champagne with a +sardine tin opener," he suggested. + +"And find his way home afterwards by means of a mariner's compass?" she +retorted. "No, Roy dear, you are not a sleuth-hound. We had better have +our lunch." + +They lunched, but if the subject of Carrados had been tabooed the meal +would have been a silent one. + +"I have a compass on an old watch-chain somewhere," volunteered +Bellmark. + +"And I have a tin opener in the form of a bull's head," contributed +Elsie. + +"But we have no champagne, I suppose?" + +"How could we have, Roy? We never have had any. Shall you mind going +down to the shops for a bottle?" + +"You really think that we ought?" + +"Of course we must, Roy. We don't know what mightn't happen if we +didn't. Uncle Louis said that they once failed to stop a jewel robbery +because the jeweller neglected to wipe his shoes on the shop doormat, +as Mr Carrados had told him to do. Suppose Johns is a desperate +anarchist and he succeeded in blowing up Buckingham Palace because +we----" + +"All right. A small bottle, eh?" + +"No. A large one. Quite a large one. Don't you see how exciting it is +becoming?" + +"If you are excited already you don't need much champagne," argued her +husband. + +Nevertheless he strolled down to the leading wine-shop after lunch and +returned with his purchase modestly draped in the light summer overcoat +that he carried on his arm. Elsie Bellmark, who had quite abandoned her +previous unconcern, in the conviction that "something was going to +happen," spent the longest afternoon that she could remember, and even +Bellmark, in spite of his continual adjurations to her to "look at the +matter logically," smoked five cigarettes in place of his usual Saturday +afternoon pipe and neglected to do any gardening. + +At exactly six-forty-five a motor car was heard approaching. Elsie made +a desperate rally to become the self-possessed hostess again. Bellmark +was favourably impressed by such marked punctuality. Then a Regent +Street delivery van bowled past their window and Elsie almost wept. + +The suspense was not long, however. Less than five minutes later another +vehicle raised the dust of the quiet suburban road, and this time a +private car stopped at their gate. + +"Can you see any policemen inside?" whispered Elsie. + +Parkinson got down and opening the door took out a small tree which he +carried up to the porch and there deposited. Carrados followed. + +"At all events there isn't much wrong," said Bellmark. "He's smiling all +the time." + +"No, it isn't really a smile," explained Elsie; "it's his normal +expression." + +She went out into the hall just as the front door was opened. + +"It is the 'Scarlet-fruited thorn' of North America," Bellmark heard the +visitor remarking. "Both the flowers and the berries are wonderfully +good. Do you think that you would permit me to choose the spot for it, +Mrs Bellmark?" + +Bellmark joined them in the hall and was introduced. + +"We mustn't waste any time," he suggested. "There is very little light +left." + +"True," agreed Carrados. "And Coccinea requires deep digging." + +They walked through the house, and turning to the right passed into the +region of the vegetable garden. Carrados and Elsie led the way, the +blind man carrying the tree, while Bellmark went to his outhouse for the +required tools. + +"We will direct our operations from here," said Carrados, when they were +half-way along the walk. "You told me of a thin iron pipe that you had +traced to somewhere in the middle of the garden. We must locate the end +of it exactly." + +"My rosary!" sighed Elsie, with premonition of disaster, when she had +determined the spot as exactly as she could. "Oh, Mr Carrados!" + +"I am sorry, but it might be worse," said Carrados inflexibly. "We only +require to find the elbow-joint. Mr Bellmark will investigate with as +little disturbance as possible." + +For five minutes Bellmark made trials with a pointed iron. Then he +cleared away the soil of a small circle and at about a foot deep exposed +a broken inch pipe. + +"The fountain," announced Carrados, when he had examined it. "You have +the compass, Mr Bellmark?" + +"Rather a small one," admitted Bellmark. + +"Never mind, you are a mathematician. I want you to strike a line due +east." + +The reel and cord came into play and an adjustment was finally made from +the broken pipe to a position across the vegetable garden. + +"Now a point nine yards, nine feet and nine inches along it." + +"My onion bed!" cried Elsie tragically. + +"Yes; it is really serious this time," agreed Carrados. "I want a hole a +yard across, digging here. May we proceed?" + +Elsie remembered the words of her uncle's letter--or what she imagined +to be his letter--and possibly the preamble of selecting the spot had +impressed her. + +"Yes, I suppose so. Unless," she added hopefully, "the turnip bed will +do instead? They are not sown yet." + +"I am afraid that nowhere else in the garden will do," replied Carrados. + +Bellmark delineated the space and began to dig. After clearing to about +a foot deep he paused. + +"About deep enough, Mr Carrados?" he inquired. + +"Oh, dear no," replied the blind man. + +"I am two feet down," presently reported the digger. + +"Deeper!" was the uncompromising response. + +Another six inches were added and Bellmark stopped to rest. + +"A little more and it won't matter which way up we plant Coccinea," he +remarked. + +"That is the depth we are aiming for," replied Carrados. + +Elsie and her husband exchanged glances. Then Bellmark drove his spade +through another layer of earth. + +"Three feet," he announced, when he had cleared it. + +Carrados advanced to the very edge of the opening. + +"I think that if you would loosen another six inches with the fork we +might consider the ground prepared," he decided. + +Bellmark changed his tools and began to break up the soil. Presently the +steel prongs grated on some obstruction. + +"Gently," directed the blind watcher. "I think you will find a +half-pound cocoa tin at the end of your fork." + +"Well, how on earth you spotted that----!" was wrung from Bellmark +admiringly, as he cleared away the encrusting earth. "But I believe you +are about right." He threw up the object to his wife, who was risking a +catastrophe in her eagerness to miss no detail. "Anything in it besides +soil, Elsie?" + +"She cannot open it yet," remarked Carrados. "It is soldered down." + +"Oh, I say," protested Bellmark. + +"It is perfectly correct, Roy. The lid is soldered on." + +They looked at each other in varying degrees of wonder and speculation. +Only Carrados seemed quite untouched. + +"Now we may as well replace the earth," he remarked. + +"Fill it all up again?" asked Bellmark. + +"Yes; we have provided a thoroughly disintegrated subsoil. That is the +great thing. A depth of six inches is sufficient merely for the roots." + +There was only one remark passed during the operation. + +"I think I should plant the tree just over where the tin was," Carrados +suggested. "You might like to mark the exact spot." And there the +hawthorn was placed. + +Bellmark, usually the most careful and methodical of men, left the tools +where they were, in spite of a threatening shower. Strangely silent, +Elsie led the way back to the house and taking the men into the +drawing-room switched on the light. + +"I think you have a tin opener, Mrs Bellmark?" + +Elsie, who had been waiting for him to speak, almost jumped at the +simple inquiry. Then she went into the next room and returned with the +bull-headed utensil. + +"Here it is," she said, in a voice that would have amused her at any +other time. + +"Mr Bellmark will perhaps disclose our find." + +Bellmark put the soily tin down on Elsie's best table-cover without +eliciting a word of reproach, grasped it firmly with his left hand, and +worked the opener round the top. + +"Only paper!" he exclaimed, and without touching the contents he passed +the tin into Carrados's hands. + +The blind man dexterously twirled out a little roll that crinkled +pleasantly to the ear, and began counting the leaves with a steady +finger. + +"They're bank-notes!" whispered Elsie in an awestruck voice. She caught +sight of a further detail. "Bank-notes for a hundred pounds each. And +there are dozens of them!" + +"Fifty, there should be," dropped Carrados between his figures. +"Twenty-five, twenty-six----" + +"Good God," murmured Bellmark; "that's five thousand pounds!" + +"Fifty," concluded Carrados, straightening the edges of the sheaf. "It +is always satisfactory to find that one's calculations are exact." He +detached the upper ten notes and held them out. "Mrs Bellmark, will you +accept one thousand pounds as a full legal discharge of any claim that +you may have on this property?" + +"Me--I?" she stammered. "But I have no right to any in any +circumstances. It has nothing to do with us." + +"You have an unassailable moral right to a fair proportion, because +without you the real owners would never have seen a penny of it. As +regards your legal right"--he took out the thin pocket-book and +extracting a business-looking paper spread it open on the table before +them--"here is a document that concedes it. 'In consideration of the +valuable services rendered by Elsie Bellmark, etc., etc., in causing to +be discovered and voluntarily surrendering the sum of five thousand +pounds deposited and not relinquished by Alexis Metrobe, late of, etc., +etc., deceased, Messrs Binstead & Polegate, solicitors, of 77a Bedford +Row, acting on behalf of the administrator and next-of-kin of the said +etc., etc., do hereby'--well, that's what they do. Signed, witnessed and +stamped at Somerset House." + +"I suppose I shall wake presently," said Elsie dreamily. + +"It was for this moment that I ventured to suggest the third requirement +necessary to bring our enterprise to a successful end," said Carrados. + +"Oh, how thoughtful of you!" cried Elsie. "Roy, the champagne." + +Five minutes later Carrados was explaining to a small but enthralled +audience. + +"The late Alexis Metrobe was a man of peculiar character. After seeing a +good deal of the world and being many things, he finally embraced +spiritualism, and in common with some of its most pronounced adherents +he thenceforward abandoned what we should call 'the common-sense view.' + +"A few years ago, by the collation of the Book of Revelations, a set of +Zadkiel's Almanacs, and the complete works of Mrs Mary Baker Eddy, +Metrobe discovered that the end of the world would take place on the +tenth of October 1910. It therefore became a matter of urgent importance +in his mind to ensure pecuniary provision for himself for the time after +the catastrophe had taken place." + +"I don't understand," interrupted Elsie. "Did he expect to survive it?" + +"You cannot understand, Mrs Bellmark, because it is fundamentally +incomprehensible. We can only accept the fact by the light of cases +which occasionally obtain prominence. Metrobe did not expect to survive, +but he was firmly convinced that the currency of this world would be +equally useful in the spirit-land into which he expected to pass. This +view was encouraged by a lady medium at whose feet he sat. She kindly +offered to transmit to his banking account in the Hereafter, without +making any charge whatever, any sum that he cared to put into her hands +for the purpose. Metrobe accepted the idea but not the offer. His plan +was to deposit a considerable amount in a spot of which he alone had +knowledge, so that he could come and help himself to it as required." + +"But if the world had come to an end----?" + +"Only the material world, you must understand, Mrs Bellmark. The spirit +world, its exact impalpable counterpart, would continue as before and +Metrobe's hoard would be spiritually intact and available. That is the +prologue. + +"About a month ago there appeared a certain advertisement in a good many +papers. I noticed it at the time and three days ago I had only to refer +to my files to put my hand on it at once. It reads: + + "'Alexis Metrobe. Any servant or personal attendant of the late + Alexis Metrobe of Fountain Court, Groat's Heath, possessing + special knowledge of his habits and movements may hear of + something advantageous on applying to Binstead & Polegate, 77a + Bedford Row, W.C.' + +"The solicitors had, in fact, discovered that five thousand pounds' +worth of securities had been realized early in 1910. They readily +ascertained that Metrobe had drawn that amount in gold out of his bank +immediately after, and there the trace ended. He died six months later. +There was no hoard of gold and not a shred of paper to show where it had +gone, yet Metrobe lived very simply within his income. The house had +meanwhile been demolished but there was no hint or whisper of any lucky +find. + +"Two inquirers presented themselves at 77a Bedford Row. They were +informed of the circumstances and offered a reward, varying according to +the results, for information that would lead to the recovery of the +money. They are both described as thoughtful, slow-spoken men. Each +heard the story, shook his head, and departed. The first caller proved +to be John Foster, the ex-butler. On the following day Mr Irons, +formerly gardener at the Court, was the applicant. + +"I must now divert your attention into a side track. In the summer of +1910 Metrobe published a curious work entitled 'The Flame beyond the +Dome.' In the main it is an eschatological treatise, but at the end he +tacked on an epilogue, which he called 'The Fable of the Chameleon.' It +is even more curious than the rest and with reason, for under the guise +of a speculative essay he gives a cryptic account of the circumstances +of the five thousand pounds and, what is more important, details the +exact particulars of its disposal. His reason for so doing is +characteristic of the man. He was conscious by experience that he +possessed an utterly treacherous memory, and having had occasion to move +the treasure from one spot to another he feared that when the time came +his bemuddled shade would be unable to locate it. For future reference, +therefore, he embodied the details in his book, and to make sure that +plenty of copies should be in existence he circulated it by the only +means in his power--in other words, he gave a volume to everyone he knew +and to a good many people whom he didn't. + +"So far I have dealt with actualities. The final details are partly +speculative but they are essentially correct. Metrobe conveyed his gold +to Fountain Court, obtained a stout oak coffer for it, and selected a +spot _west_ of the fountain. He chose a favourable occasion for burying +it, but by some mischance Irons came on the scene. Metrobe explained the +incident by declaring that he was burying a favourite parrot. Irons +thought nothing particular about it then, although he related the fact +to the butler, and to others, in evidence of the general belief that +'the old cock was quite barmy.' But Metrobe himself was much disturbed +by the accident. A few days later he dug up the box. In pursuance of his +new plan he carried his gold to the Bank of England and changed it into +these notes. Then transferring the venue to one due _east_ of the +fountain, he buried them in this tin, satisfied that the small space it +occupied would baffle the search of anyone not in possession of the +exact location." + +"But, I say!" exclaimed Mr Bellmark. "Gold might remain gold, but what +imaginable use could be made of bank-notes after the end of the world?" + +"That is a point of view, no doubt. But Metrobe, in spite of his foreign +name, was a thorough Englishman. The world might come to an end, but he +was satisfied that somehow the Bank of England would ride through it all +right. I only suggest that. There is much that we can only guess." + +"That is all there is to know, Mr Carrados?" + +"Yes. Everything comes to an end, Mrs Bellmark. I sent my car away to +call for me at eight. Eight has struck. That is Harris announcing his +arrival." + +He stood up, but embarrassment and indecision marked the looks and +movements of the other two. + +"How can we possibly take all this money, though?" murmured Elsie, in +painful uncertainty. "It is entirely your undertaking, Mr Carrados. It +is the merest fiction bringing me into it at all." + +"Perhaps in the circumstances," suggested Bellmark nervously--"you +remember the circumstances, Elsie?--Mr Carrados would be willing to +regard it as a loan----" + +"No, no!" cried Elsie impulsively. "There must be no half measures. We +know that a thousand pounds would be nothing to Mr Carrados, and he +knows that a thousand pounds are everything to us." Her voice reminded +the blind man of the candle-snuffing recital. "We will take this great +gift, Mr Carrados, quite freely, and we will not spoil the generous +satisfaction that you must have in doing a wonderful and a splendid +service by trying to hedge our obligation." + +"But what can we ever do to thank Mr Carrados?" faltered Bellmark +mundanely. + +"Nothing," said Elsie simply. "That is it." + +"But I think that Mrs Bellmark has quite solved that," interposed +Carrados. + + + + +THE GAME PLAYED IN THE DARK + + +"It's a funny thing, sir," said Inspector Beedel, regarding Mr Carrados +with the pensive respect that he always extended towards the blind +amateur, "it's a funny thing, but nothing seems to go on abroad now but +what you'll find some trace of it here in London if you take the trouble +to look." + +"In the right quarter," contributed Carrados. + +"Why, yes," agreed the inspector. "But nothing comes of it nine times +out of ten, because it's no one's particular business to look here or +the thing's been taken up and finished from the other end. I don't mean +ordinary murders or single-handed burglaries, of course, but"--a modest +ring of professional pride betrayed the quiet enthusiast--"real +First-Class Crimes." + +"The State Antonio Five per cent. Bond Coupons?" suggested Carrados. + +"Ah, you are right, Mr Carrados." Beedel shook his head sadly, as though +perhaps on that occasion someone ought to have looked. "A man has a fit +in the inquiry office of the Agent-General for British Equatoria, and +two hundred and fifty thousand pounds' worth of faked securities is the +result in Mexico. Then look at that jade fylfot charm pawned for +one-and-three down at the Basin and the use that could have been made +of it in the Kharkov 'ritual murder' trial." + +"The West Hampstead Lost Memory puzzle and the Baripur bomb conspiracy +that might have been smothered if one had known." + +"Quite true, sir. And the three children of that Chicago +millionaire--Cyrus V. Bunting, wasn't it?--kidnapped in broad daylight +outside the New York Lyric and here, three weeks later, the dumb girl +who chalked the wall at Charing Cross. I remember reading once in a +financial article that every piece of foreign gold had a string from it +leading to Threadneedle Street. A figure of speech, sir, of course, but +apt enough, I don't doubt. Well, it seems to me that every big crime +done abroad leaves a finger-print here in London--if only, as you say, +we look in the right quarter." + +"And at the right moment," added Carrados. "The time is often the +present; the place the spot beneath our very noses. We take a step and +the chance has gone for ever." + +The inspector nodded and contributed a weighty monosyllable of +sympathetic agreement. The most prosaic of men in the pursuit of his +ordinary duties, it nevertheless subtly appealed to some half-dormant +streak of vanity to have his profession taken romantically when there +was no serious work on hand. + +"No; perhaps not 'for ever' in one case in a thousand, after all," +amended the blind man thoughtfully. "This perpetual duel between the Law +and the Criminal has sometimes appeared to me in the terms of a game of +cricket, inspector. Law is in the field; the Criminal at the wicket. If +Law makes a mistake--sends down a loose ball or drops a catch--the +Criminal scores a little or has another lease of life. But if _he_ makes +a mistake--if he lets a straight ball pass or spoons towards a steady +man--he is done for. His mistakes are fatal; those of the Law are only +temporary and retrievable." + +"Very good, sir," said Mr Beedel, rising--the conversation had taken +place in the study at The Turrets, where Beedel had found occasion to +present himself--"very apt indeed. I must remember that. Well, sir, I +only hope that this 'Guido the Razor' lot will send a catch in our +direction." + +The 'this' delicately marked Inspector Beedel's instinctive contempt for +Guido. As a craftsman he was compelled, on his reputation, to respect +him, and he had accordingly availed himself of Carrados's friendship for +a confabulation. As a man--he was a foreigner: worse, an Italian, and if +left to his own resources the inspector would have opposed to his +sinuous flexibility those rigid, essentially Britannia-metal, methods of +the Force that strike the impartial observer as so ponderous, so +amateurish and conventional, and, it must be admitted, often so +curiously and inexplicably successful. + +The offence that had circuitously brought "il Rasojo" and his "lot" +within the cognizance of Scotland Yard outlines the kind of story that +is discreetly hinted at by the society paragraphist of the day, +politely disbelieved by the astute reader, and then at last laid +indiscreetly bare in all its details by the inevitable princessly +"Recollections" of a generation later. It centred round an impending +royal marriage in Vienna, a certain jealous "Countess X." (here you have +the discretion of the paragrapher), and a document or two that might be +relied upon (the aristocratic biographer will impartially sum up the +contingencies) to play the deuce with the approaching nuptials. To +procure the evidence of these papers the Countess enlisted the services +of Guido, as reliable a scoundrel as she could probably have selected +for the commission. To a certain point--to the abstraction of the +papers, in fact--he succeeded, but it was with pursuit close upon his +heels. There was that disadvantage in employing a rogue to do work that +implicated roguery, for whatever moral right the Countess had to the +property, her accomplice had no legal right whatever to his liberty. On +half-a-dozen charges at least he could be arrested on sight in as many +capitals of Europe. He slipped out of Vienna by the Nordbahn with his +destination known, resourcefully stopped the express outside Czaslau and +got away across to Chrudim. By this time the game and the moves were +pretty well understood in more than one keenly interested quarter. +Diplomacy supplemented justice and the immediate history of Guido became +that of a fox hunted from covert to covert with all the familiar earths +stopped against him. From Pardubitz he passed on to Glatz, reached +Breslau and went down the Oder to Stettin. Out of the liberality of his +employer's advances he had ample funds to keep going, and he dropped and +rejoined his accomplices as the occasion ruled. A week's harrying found +him in Copenhagen, still with no time to spare, and he missed his +purpose there. He crossed to Malmo by ferry, took the connecting night +train to Stockholm and the same morning sailed down the Saltsjon, +ostensibly bound for Obo, intending to cross to Revel and so get back to +central Europe by the less frequented routes. But in this move again +luck was against him and receiving warning just in time, and by the +mysterious agency that had so far protected him, he contrived to be +dropped from the steamer by boat among the islands of the crowded +Archipelago, made his way to Helsingfors and within forty-eight hours +was back again on the Frihavnen with pursuit for the moment blinked and +a breathing-time to the good. + +To appreciate the exact significance of these wanderings it is necessary +to recall the conditions. Guido was not zigzagging a course about Europe +in an aimless search for the picturesque, still less inspired by any +love of the melodramatic. To him every step was vital, each tangent or +rebound the necessary outcome of his much-badgered plans. In his pocket +reposed the papers for which he had run grave risks. The price agreed +upon for the service was sufficiently lavish to make the risks worth +taking time after time; but in order to consummate the transaction it +was necessary that the booty should be put into his employer's hand. +Half-way across Europe that employer was waiting with such patience as +she could maintain, herself watched and shadowed at every step. The +Countess X. was sufficiently exalted to be personally immune from the +high-handed methods of her country's secret service, but every approach +to her was tapped. The problem was for Guido to earn a long enough +respite to enable him to communicate his position to the Countess and +for her to go or to reach him by a trusty hand. Then the whole fabric of +intrigue could fall to pieces, but so far Guido had been kept +successfully on the run and in the meanwhile time was pressing. + +"They lost him after the _Hutola_," Beedel reported, in explaining the +circumstances to Max Carrados. "Three days later they found that he'd +been back again in Copenhagen but by that time he'd flown. Now they're +without a trace except the inference of these 'Orange peach blossom' +agonies in _The Times_. But the Countess has gone hurriedly to Paris; +and Lafayard thinks it all points to London." + +"I suppose the Foreign Office is anxious to oblige just now?" + +"I expect so, sir," agreed Beedel, "but, of course, my instructions +don't come from that quarter. What appeals to _us_ is that it would be a +feather in our caps--they're still a little sore up at the Yard about +Hans the Piper." + +"Naturally," assented Carrados. "Well, I'll see what I can do if there +is real occasion. Let me know anything, and, if you see your chance +yourself, come round for a talk if you like on--to-day's Wednesday?--I +shall be in at any rate on Friday evening." + +Without being a precisian, the blind man was usually exact in such +matters. There are those who hold that an engagement must be kept at all +hazard: men who would miss a death-bed message in order to keep literal +faith with a beggar. Carrados took lower, if more substantial, ground. +"My word," he sometimes had occasion to remark, "is subject to +contingencies, like everything else about me. If I make a promise it is +conditional on nothing which seems more important arising to counteract +it. That, among men of sense, is understood." And, as it happened, +something did occur on this occasion. + +He was summoned to the telephone just before dinner on Friday evening to +receive a message personally. Greatorex, his secretary, had taken the +call, but came in to say that the caller would give him nothing beyond +his name--Brebner. The name was unknown to Carrados, but such incidents +were not uncommon, and he proceeded to comply. + +"Yes," he responded; "I am Max Carrados speaking. What is it?" + +"Oh, it is you, sir, is it? Mr Brickwill told me to get to you direct." + +"Well, you are all right. Brickwill? Are you the British Museum?" + +"Yes. I am Brebner in the Chaldean Art Department. They are in a great +stew here. We have just found out that someone has managed to get access +to the Second Inner Greek Room and looted some of the cabinets there. It +is all a mystery as yet." + +"What is missing?" asked Carrados. + +"So far we can only definitely speak of about six trays of Greek +coins--a hundred to a hundred and twenty, roughly." + +"Important?" + +The line conveyed a caustic bark of tragic amusement. + +"Why, yes, I should say so. The beggar seems to have known his business. +All fine specimens of the best period. Syracuse--Messana--Croton-- +Amphipolis. Eumenes--Evainetos--Kimons. The chief quite wept." + +Carrados groaned. There was not a piece among them that he had not +handled lovingly. + +"What are you doing?" he demanded. + +"Mr Brickwill has been to Scotland Yard, and, on advice, we are not +making it public as yet. We don't want a hint of it to be dropped +anywhere, if you don't mind, sir." + +"That will be all right." + +"It was for that reason that I was to speak with you personally. We are +notifying the chief dealers and likely collectors to whom the coins, or +some of them, may be offered at once if it is thought that we haven't +found it out yet. Judging from the expertness displayed in the +selection, we don't think that there is any danger of the lot being +sold to a pawnbroker or a metal-dealer, so that we are running very +little real risk in not advertising the loss." + +"Yes; probably it is as well," replied Carrados. "Is there anything that +Mr Brickwill wishes me to do?" + +"Only this, sir; if you are offered a suspicious lot of Greek coins, or +hear of them, would you have a look--I mean ascertain whether they are +likely to be ours, and if you think they are communicate with us and +Scotland Yard at once." + +"Certainly," replied the blind man. "Tell Mr Brickwill that he can rely +on me if any indication comes my way. Convey my regrets to him and tell +him that I feel the loss quite as a personal one.... I don't think that +you and I have met as yet, Mr Brebner?" + +"No, sir," said the voice diffidently, "but I have looked forward to the +pleasure. Perhaps this unfortunate business will bring me an +introduction." + +"You are very kind," was Carrados's acknowledgment of the compliment. +"Any time ... I was going to say that perhaps you don't know my +weakness, but I have spent many pleasant hours over your wonderful +collection. That ensures the personal element. Good-bye." + +Carrados was really disturbed by the loss although his concern was +tempered by the reflection that the coins would inevitably in the end +find their way back to the Museum. That their restitution might involve +ransom to the extent of several thousand pounds was the least poignant +detail of the situation. The one harrowing thought was that the booty +might, through stress or ignorance, find its way into the melting-pot. +That dreadful contingency, remote but insistent, was enough to affect +the appetite of the blind enthusiast. + +He was expecting Inspector Beedel, who would be full of his own case, +but he could not altogether dismiss the aspects of possibility that +Brebner's communication opened before his mind. He was still concerned +with the chances of destruction and a very indifferent companion for +Greatorex, who alone sat with him, when Parkinson presented himself. +Dinner was over but Carrados had remained rather longer than his custom, +smoking his mild Turkish cigarette in silence. + +"A lady wishes to see you, sir. She said you would not know her name, +but that her business would interest you." + +The form of message was sufficiently unusual to take the attention of +both men. + +"You don't know her, of course, Parkinson?" inquired his master. + +For just a second the immaculate Parkinson seemed tongue-tied. Then he +delivered himself in his most ceremonial strain. + +"I regret to say that I cannot claim the advantage, sir," he replied. + +"Better let me tackle her, sir," suggested Greatorex with easy +confidence. "It's probably a sub." + +The sportive offer was declined by a smile and a shake of the head. +Carrados turned to his attendant. + +"I shall be in the study, Parkinson. Show her there in three minutes. +You stay and have another cigarette, Greatorex. By that time she will +either have gone or have interested me." + +In three minutes' time Parkinson threw open the study door. + +"The lady, sir," he announced. + +Could he have seen, Carrados would have received the impression of a +plainly, almost dowdily, dressed young woman of buxom figure. She wore a +light veil, but it was ineffective in concealing the unattraction of the +face beneath. The features were swart and the upper lip darkened with +the more than incipient moustache of the southern brunette. Worse +remained, for a disfiguring rash had assailed patches of her skin. As +she entered she swept the room and its occupant with a quiet but +comprehensive survey. + +"Please take a chair, Madame. You wished to see me?" + +The ghost of a demure smile flickered about her mouth as she complied, +and in that moment her face seemed less uncomely. Her eye lingered for a +moment on a cabinet above the desk, and one might have noticed that her +eye was very bright. Then she replied. + +"You are Signor Carrados, in--in the person?" + +Carrados made his smiling admission and changed his position a +fraction--possibly to catch her curiously pitched voice the better. + +"The great collector of the antiquities?" + +"I do collect a little," he admitted guardedly. + +"You will forgive me, Signor, if my language is not altogether good. +When I live at Naples with my mother we let boardings, chiefly to +Inglish and Amerigans. I pick up the words, but since I marry and go to +live in Calabria my Inglish has gone all red--no, no, you say, rusty. +Yes, that is it; quite rusty." + +"It is excellent," said Carrados. "I am sure that we shall understand +one another perfectly." + +The lady shot a penetrating glance but the blind man's expression was +merely suave and courteous. Then she continued: + +"My husband is of name Ferraja--Michele Ferraja. We have a vineyard and +a little property near Forenzana." She paused to examine the tips of her +gloves for quite an appreciable moment. "Signor," she burst out, with +some vehemence, "the laws of my country are not good at all." + +"From what I hear on all sides," said Carrados, "I am afraid that your +country is not alone." + +"There is at Forenzana a poor labourer, Gian Verde of name," continued +the visitor, dashing volubly into her narrative. "He is one day digging +in the vineyard, the vineyard of my husband, when his spade strikes +itself upon an obstruction. 'Aha,' says Gian, 'what have we here?' and +he goes down upon his knees to see. It is an oil jar of red earth, +Signor, such as was anciently used, and in it is filled with silver +money. + +"Gian is poor but he is wise. Does he call upon the authorities? No, no; +he understands that they are all corrupt. He carries what he has found +to my husband for he knows him to be a man of great honour. + +"My husband also is of brief decision. His mind is made up. 'Gian,' he +says, 'keep your mouth shut. This will be to your ultimate profit.' Gian +understands, for he can trust my husband. He makes a sign of mutual +implication. Then he goes back to the spade digging. + +"My husband understands a little of these things but not enough. We go +to the collections of Messina and Naples and even Rome and there we see +other pieces of silver money, similar, and learn that they are of great +value. They are of different sizes but most would cover a lira and of +the thickness of two. On the one side imagine the great head of a pagan +deity; on the other--oh, so many things I cannot remember what." A +gesture of circumferential despair indicated the hopeless variety of +design. + +"A biga or quadriga of mules?" suggested Carrados. "An eagle carrying +off a hare, a figure flying with a wreath, a trophy of arms? Some of +those perhaps?" + +"_Si, si bene_," cried Madame Ferraja. "You understand, I perceive, +Signor. We are very cautious, for on every side is extortion and an +unjust law. See, it is even forbidden to take these things out of the +country, yet if we try to dispose of them at home they will be seized +and we punished, for they are _tesoro trovato_, what you call treasure +troven and belonging to the State--these coins which the industry of +Gian discovered and which had lain for so long in the ground of my +husband's vineyard." + +"So you brought them to England?" + +"_Si_, Signor. It is spoken of as a land of justice and rich nobility +who buy these things at the highest prices. Also my speaking a little of +the language would serve us here." + +"I suppose you have the coins for disposal then? You can show them to +me?" + +"My husband retains them. I will take you, but you must first give +_parola d'onore_ of an English Signor not to betray us, or to speak of +the circumstance to another." + +Carrados had already foreseen this eventuality and decided to accept it. +Whether a promise exacted on the plea of treasure trove would bind him +to respect the despoilers of the British Museum was a point for +subsequent consideration. Prudence demanded that he should investigate +the offer at once and to cavil over Madame Ferraja's conditions would be +fatal to that object. If the coins were, as there seemed little reason +to doubt, the proceeds of the robbery, a modest ransom might be the +safest way of preserving irreplaceable treasures, and in that case +Carrados could offer his services as the necessary intermediary. + +"I give you the promise you require, Madame," he accordingly declared. + +"It is sufficient," assented Madame. "I will now take you to the spot. +It is necessary that you alone should accompany me, for my husband is so +distraught in this country, where he understands not a word of what is +spoken, that his poor spirit would cry 'We are surrounded!' if he saw +two strangers approach the house. Oh, he is become most dreadful in his +anxiety, my husband. Imagine only, he keeps on the fire a cauldron of +molten lead and he would not hesitate to plunge into it this treasure +and obliterate its existence if he imagined himself endangered." + +"So," speculated Carrados inwardly. "A likely precaution for a simple +vine-grower of Calabria! Very well," he assented aloud, "I will go with +you alone. Where is the place?" + +Madame Ferraja searched in the ancient purse that she discovered in her +rusty handbag and produced a scrap of paper. + +"People do not understand sometimes my way of saying it," she explained. +"_Sette_, Herringbone----" + +"May I----?" said Carrados, stretching out his hand. He took the paper +and touched the writing with his finger-tips. "Oh yes, 7 Heronsbourne +Place. That is on the edge of Heronsbourne Park, is it not?" He +transferred the paper casually to his desk as he spoke and stood up. +"How did you come, Madame Ferraja?" + +Madame Ferraja followed the careless action with a discreet smile that +did not touch her voice. + +"By motor bus--first one then another, inquiring at every turning. Oh, +but it was interminable," sighed the lady. + +"My driver is off for the evening--I did not expect to be going out--but +I will 'phone up a taxi and it will be at the gate as soon as we are." +He despatched the message and then, turning to the house telephone, +switched on to Greatorex. + +"I'm just going round to Heronsbourne Park," he explained. "Don't stay, +Greatorex, but if anyone calls expecting to see me, they can say that I +don't anticipate being away more than an hour." + +Parkinson was hovering about the hall. With quite novel officiousness he +pressed upon his master a succession of articles that were not required. +Over this usually complacent attendant the unattractive features of +Madame Ferraja appeared to exercise a stealthy fascination, for a dozen +times the lady detected his eyes questioning her face and a dozen times +he looked guiltily away again. But his incongruities could not delay for +more than a few minutes the opening of the door. + +"I do not accompany you, sir?" he inquired, with the suggestion plainly +tendered in his voice that it would be much better if he did. + +"Not this time, Parkinson." + +"Very well, sir. Is there any particular address to which we can +telephone in case you are required, sir?" + +"Mr Greatorex has instructions." + +Parkinson stood aside, his resources exhausted. Madame Ferraja laughed a +little mockingly as they walked down the drive. + +"Your man-servant thinks I may eat you, Signor Carrados," she declared +vivaciously. + +Carrados, who held the key of his usually exact attendant's +perturbation--for he himself had recognized in Madame Ferraja the +angelic Nina Brun, of the Sicilian tetradrachm incident, from the moment +she opened her mouth--admitted to himself the humour of her audacity. +But it was not until half-an-hour later that enlightenment rewarded +Parkinson. Inspector Beedel had just arrived and was speaking with +Greatorex when the conscientious valet, who had been winnowing his +memory in solitude, broke in upon them, more distressed than either had +ever seen him in his life before, and with the breathless introduction: +"It was the ears, sir! I have her ears at last!" poured out his tale of +suspicion, recognition and his present fears. + +In the meanwhile the two objects of his concern had reached the gate as +the summoned taxicab drew up. + +"Seven Heronsbourne Place," called Carrados to the driver. + +"No, no," interposed the lady, with decision, "let him stop at the +beginning of the street. It is not far to walk. My husband would be on +the verge of distraction if he thought in the dark that it was the +arrival of the police;--who knows?" + +"Brackedge Road, opposite the end of Heronsbourne Place," amended +Carrados. + +Heronsbourne Place had the reputation, among those who were curious in +such matters, of being the most reclusive residential spot inside the +four-mile circle. To earn that distinction it was, needless to say, a +cul-de-sac. It bounded one side of Heronsbourne Park but did not at any +point of its length give access to that pleasance. It was entirely +devoted to unostentatious little houses, something between the villa and +the cottage, some detached and some in pairs, but all possessing the +endowment of larger, more umbrageous gardens than can generally be +secured within the radius. The local house agent described them as +"delightfully old-world" or "completely modernized" according to the +requirement of the applicant. + +The cab was dismissed at the corner and Madame Ferraja guided her +companion along the silent and deserted way. She had begun to talk with +renewed animation, but her ceaseless chatter only served to emphasize to +Carrados the one fact that it was contrived to disguise. + +"I am not causing you to miss the house with looking after me--No. 7, +Madame Ferraja?" he interposed. + +"No, certainly," she replied readily. "It is a little farther. The +numbers are from the other end. But we are there. _Ecco!_" + +She stopped at a gate and opened it, still guiding him. They passed into +a garden, moist and sweet-scented with the distillate odours of a dewy +evening. As she turned to relatch the gate the blind man endeavoured +politely to anticipate her. Between them his hat fell to the ground. + +"My clumsiness," he apologized, recovering it from the step. "My old +impulses and my present helplessness, alas, Madame Ferraja!" + +"One learns prudence by experience," said Madame sagely. She was +scarcely to know, poor lady, that even as she uttered this trite +aphorism, under cover of darkness and his hat, Mr Carrados had just +ruined his signet ring by blazoning a golden "7" upon her garden step to +establish its identity if need be. A cul-de-sac that numbered from the +closed end seemed to demand some investigation. + +"Seldom," he replied to her remark. "One goes on taking risks. So we are +there?" + +Madame Ferraja had opened the front door with a latchkey. She dropped +the latch and led Carrados forward along the narrow hall. The room they +entered was at the back of the house, and from the position of the road +it therefore overlooked the park. Again the door was locked behind them. + +"The celebrated Mr Carrados!" announced Madame Ferraja, with a sparkle +of triumph in her voice. She waved her hand towards a lean, dark man who +had stood beside the door as they entered. "My husband." + +"Beneath our poor roof in the most fraternal manner," commented the dark +man, in the same derisive spirit. "But it is wonderful." + +"The even more celebrated Monsieur Dompierre, unless I am mistaken?" +retorted Carrados blandly. "I bow on our first real meeting." + +"You knew!" exclaimed the Dompierre of the earlier incident +incredulously. "Stoker, you were right and I owe you a hundred lire. Who +recognized you, Nina?" + +"How should I know?" demanded the real Madame Dompierre crossly. "This +blind man himself, by chance." + +"You pay a poor compliment to your charming wife's personality to +imagine that one could forget her so soon," put in Carrados. "And you a +Frenchman, Dompierre!" + +"You knew, Monsieur Carrados," reiterated Dompierre, "and yet you +ventured here. You are either a fool or a hero." + +"An enthusiast--it is the same thing as both," interposed the lady. +"What did I tell you? What did it matter if he recognized? You see?" + +"Surely you exaggerate, Monsieur Dompierre," contributed Carrados. "I +may yet pay tribute to your industry. Perhaps I regret the circumstance +and the necessity but I am here to make the best of it. Let me see the +things Madame has spoken of, and then we can consider the detail of +their price, either for myself or on behalf of others." + +There was no immediate reply. From Dompierre came a saturnine chuckle +and from Madame Dompierre a titter that accompanied a grimace. For one +of the rare occasions in his life Carrados found himself wholly out of +touch with the atmosphere of the situation. Instinctively he turned his +face towards the other occupant of the room, the man addressed as +"Stoker," whom he knew to be standing near the window. + +"This unfortunate business _has_ brought me an introduction," said a +familiar voice. + +For one dreadful moment the universe stood still round Carrados. Then, +with the crash and grind of overwhelming mental tumult, the whole +strategy revealed itself, like the sections of a gigantic puzzle falling +into place before his eyes. + +There had been no robbery at the British Museum! That plausible +concoction was as fictitious as the intentionally transparent tale of +treasure trove. Carrados recognized now how ineffective the one device +would have been without the other in drawing him--how convincing the two +together--and while smarting at the humiliation of his plight he could +not restrain a dash of admiration at the ingenuity--the accurately +conjectured line of inference--of the plot. It was again the familiar +artifice of the cunning pitfall masked by the clumsily contrived trap +just beyond it. And straightway into it he had blundered! + +"And this," continued the same voice, "is Carrados, Max Carrados, upon +whose perspicuity a government--only the present government, let me in +justice say--depends to outwit the undesirable alien! My country; O my +country!" + +"Is it really Monsieur Carrados?" inquired Dompierre in polite sarcasm. +"Are you sure, Nina, that you have not brought a man from Scotland Yard +instead?" + +"_Basta!_ he is here; what more do you want? Do not mock the poor +sightless gentleman," answered Madame Dompierre, in doubtful sympathy. + +"That is exactly what I was wondering," ventured Carrados mildly. "I am +here--what more do you want? Perhaps you, Mr Stoker----?" + +"Excuse me. 'Stoker' is a mere colloquial appellation based on a +trifling incident of my career in connection with a disabled liner. The +title illustrates the childish weakness of the criminal classes for +nicknames, together with their pitiable baldness of invention. My real +name is Montmorency, Mr Carrados--Eustace Montmorency." + +"Thank you, Mr Montmorency," said Carrados gravely. "We are on opposite +sides of the table here to-night, but I should be proud to have been +with you in the stokehold of the _Benvenuto_." + +"That was pleasure," muttered the Englishman. "This is business." + +"Oh, quite so," agreed Carrados. "So far I am not exactly complaining. +But I think it is high time to be told--and I address myself to +you--why I have been decoyed here and what your purpose is." + +Mr Montmorency turned to his accomplice. + +"Dompierre," he remarked, with great clearness, "why the devil is Mr +Carrados kept standing?" + +"Ah, oh, heaven!" exclaimed Madame Dompierre with tragic resignation, +and flung herself down on a couch. + +"_Scusi_," grinned the lean man, and with burlesque grace he placed a +chair for their guest's acceptance. + +"Your curiosity is natural," continued Mr Montmorency, with a cold eye +towards Dompierre's antics, "although I really think that by this time +you ought to have guessed the truth. In fact, I don't doubt that you +have guessed, Mr Carrados, and that you are only endeavouring to gain +time. For that reason--because it will perhaps convince you that we have +nothing to fear--I don't mind obliging you." + +"Better hasten," murmured Dompierre uneasily. + +"Thank you, Bill," said the Englishman, with genial effrontery. "I won't +fail to report your intelligence to the Rasojo. Yes, Mr Carrados, as you +have already conjectured, it is the affair of the Countess X. to which +you owe this inconvenience. You will appreciate the compliment that +underlies your temporary seclusion, I am sure. When circumstances +favoured our plans and London became the inevitable place of meeting, +you and you alone stood in the way. We guessed that you would be +consulted and we frankly feared your intervention. You were consulted. +We know that Inspector Beedel visited you two days ago and he has no +other case in hand. Your quiescence for just three days had to be +obtained at any cost. So here you are." + +"I see," assented Carrados. "And having got me here, how do you propose +to keep me?" + +"Of course that detail has received consideration. In fact we secured +this furnished house solely with that in view. There are three courses +before us. The first, quite pleasant, hangs on your acquiescence. The +second, more drastic, comes into operation if you decline. The +third--but really, Mr Carrados, I hope you won't oblige me even to +discuss the third. You will understand that it is rather objectionable +for me to contemplate the necessity of two able-bodied men having to use +even the smallest amount of physical compulsion towards one who is blind +and helpless. I hope you will be reasonable and accept the inevitable." + +"The inevitable is the one thing that I invariably accept," replied +Carrados. "What does it involve?" + +"You will write a note to your secretary explaining that what you have +learned at 7 Heronsbourne Place makes it necessary for you to go +immediately abroad for a few days. By the way, Mr Carrados, although +this is Heronsbourne Place it is _not_ No. 7." + +"Dear, dear me," sighed the prisoner. "You seem to have had me at every +turn, Mr Montmorency." + +"An obvious precaution. The wider course of giving you a different +street altogether we rejected as being too risky in getting you here. +To continue: To give conviction to the message you will direct your man +Parkinson to follow by the first boat-train to-morrow, with all the +requirements for a short stay, and put up at Mascot's, as usual, +awaiting your arrival there." + +"Very convincing," agreed Carrados. "Where shall I be in reality?" + +"In a charming though rather isolated bungalow on the south coast. Your +wants will be attended to. There is a boat. You can row or fish. You +will be run down by motor car and brought back to your own gate. It's +really very pleasant for a few days. I've often stayed there myself." + +"Your recommendation carries weight. Suppose, for the sake of curiosity, +that I decline?" + +"You will still go there but your treatment will be commensurate with +your behaviour. The car to take you is at this moment waiting in a +convenient spot on the other side of the park. We shall go down the +garden at the back, cross the park, and put you into the car--anyway." + +"And if I resist?" + +The man whose pleasantry it had been to call himself Eustace Montmorency +shrugged his shoulders. + +"Don't be a fool," he said tolerantly. "You know who you are dealing +with and the kind of risks we run. If you call out or endanger us at a +critical point we shall not hesitate to silence you effectively." + +The blind man knew that it was no idle threat. In spite of the cloak of +humour and fantasy thrown over the proceedings, he was in the power of +coolly desperate men. The window was curtained and shuttered against +sight and sound, the door behind him locked. Possibly at that moment a +revolver threatened him; certainly weapons lay within reach of both his +keepers. + +"Tell me what to write," he asked, with capitulation in his voice. + +Dompierre twirled his mustachios in relieved approval. Madame laughed +from her place on the couch and picked up a book, watching Montmorency +over the cover of its pages. As for that gentleman, he masked his +satisfaction by the practical business of placing on the table before +Carrados the accessories of the letter. + +"Put into your own words the message that I outlined just now." + +"Perhaps to make it altogether natural I had better write on a page of +the notebook that I always use," suggested Carrados. + +"Do you wish to make it natural?" demanded Montmorency, with latent +suspicion. + +"If the miscarriage of your plan is to result in my head being +knocked--yes, I do," was the reply. + +"Good!" chuckled Dompierre, and sought to avoid Mr Montmorency's cold +glance by turning on the electric table-lamp for the blind man's +benefit. Madame Dompierre laughed shrilly. + +"Thank you, Monsieur," said Carrados, "you have done quite right. What +is light to you is warmth to me--heat, energy, inspiration. Now to +business." + +He took out the pocket-book he had spoken of and leisurely proceeded to +flatten it down upon the table before him. As his tranquil, pleasant +eyes ranged the room meanwhile it was hard to believe that the shutters +of an impenetrable darkness lay between them and the world. They rested +for a moment on the two accomplices who stood beyond the table, picked +out Madame Dompierre lolling on the sofa on his right, and measured the +proportions of the long, narrow room. They seemed to note the positions +of the window at the one end and the door almost at the other, and even +to take into account the single pendent electric light which up till +then had been the sole illuminant. + +"You prefer pencil?" asked Montmorency. + +"I generally use it for casual purposes. But not," he added, touching +the point critically, "like this." + +Alert for any sign of retaliation, they watched him take an +insignificant penknife from his pocket and begin to trim the pencil. Was +there in his mind any mad impulse to force conclusions with that puny +weapon? Dompierre worked his face into a fiercer expression and touched +reassuringly the handle of his knife. Montmorency looked on for a +moment, then, whistling softly to himself, turned his back on the table +and strolled towards the window, avoiding Madame Nina's pursuant eye. + +Then, with overwhelming suddenness, it came, and in its form altogether +unexpected. + +Carrados had been putting the last strokes to the pencil, whittling it +down upon the table. There had been no hasty movement, no violent act to +give them warning; only the little blade had pushed itself nearer and +nearer to the electric light cord lying there ... and suddenly and +instantly the room was plunged into absolute darkness. + +"To the door, Dom!" shouted Montmorency in a flash. "I am at the window. +Don't let him pass and we are all right." + +"I am here," responded Dompierre from the door. + +"He will not attempt to pass," came the quiet voice of Carrados from +across the room. "You are now all exactly where I want you. You are both +covered. If either moves an inch, I fire--and remember that I shoot by +sound, not sight." + +"But--but what does it mean?" stammered Montmorency, above the +despairing wail of Madame Dompierre. + +"It means that we are now on equal terms--three blind men in a dark +room. The numerical advantage that you possess is counterbalanced by the +fact that you are out of your element--I am in mine." + +"Dom," whispered Montmorency across the dark space, "strike a match. I +have none." + +"I would not, Dompierre, if I were you," advised Carrados, with a short +laugh. "It might be dangerous." At once his voice seemed to leap into a +passion. "Drop that matchbox," he cried. "You are standing on the brink +of your grave, you fool! Drop it, I say; let me hear it fall." + +A breath of thought--almost too short to call a pause--then a little +thud of surrender sounded from the carpet by the door. The two +conspirators seemed to hold their breath. + +"That is right." The placid voice once more resumed its sway. "Why +cannot things be agreeable? I hate to have to shout, but you seem far +from grasping the situation yet. Remember that I do not take the +slightest risk. Also please remember, Mr Montmorency, that the action +even of a hair-trigger automatic scrapes slightly as it comes up. I +remind you of that for your own good, because if you are so ill-advised +as to think of trying to pot me in the dark, that noise gives me a fifth +of a second start of you. Do you by any chance know Zinghi's in Mercer +Street?" + +"The shooting gallery?" asked Mr Montmorency a little sulkily. + +"The same. If you happen to come through this alive and are interested +you might ask Zinghi to show you a target of mine that he keeps. Seven +shots at twenty yards, the target indicated by four watches, none of +them so loud as the one you are wearing. He keeps it as a curiosity." + +"I wear no watch," muttered Dompierre, expressing his thought aloud. + +"No, Monsieur Dompierre, but you wear a heart, and that not on your +sleeve," said Carrados. "Just now it is quite as loud as Mr +Montmorency's watch. It is more central too--I shall not have to allow +any margin. That is right; breathe naturally"--for the unhappy Dompierre +had given a gasp of apprehension. "It does not make any difference to +me, and after a time holding one's breath becomes really painful." + +"Monsieur," declared Dompierre earnestly, "there was no intention of +submitting you to injury, I swear. This Englishman did but speak within +his hat. At the most extreme you would have been but bound and gagged. +Take care: killing is a dangerous game." + +"For you--not for me," was the bland rejoinder. "If you kill me you will +be hanged for it. If I kill you I shall be honourably acquitted. You can +imagine the scene--the sympathetic court--the recital of your +villainies--the story of my indignities. Then with stumbling feet and +groping hands the helpless blind man is led forward to give evidence. +Sensation! No, no, it isn't really fair but I can kill you both with +absolute certainty and Providence will be saddled with all the +responsibility. Please don't fidget with your feet, Monsieur Dompierre. +I know that you aren't moving but one is liable to make mistakes." + +"Before I die," said Montmorency--and for some reason laughed +unconvincingly in the dark--"before I die, Mr Carrados, I should really +like to know what has happened to the light. That, surely, isn't +Providence?" + +"Would it be ungenerous to suggest that you are trying to gain time? You +ought to know what has happened. But as it may satisfy you that I have +nothing to fear from delay, I don't mind telling you. In my hand was a +sharp knife--contemptible, you were satisfied, as a weapon; beneath my +nose the 'flex' of the electric lamp. It was only necessary for me to +draw the one across the other and the system was short-circuited. Every +lamp on that fuse is cut off and in the distributing-box in the hall you +will find a burned-out wire. You, perhaps--but Monsieur Dompierre's +experience in plating ought to have put him up to simple electricity." + +"How did you know that there is a distributing-box in the hall?" asked +Dompierre, with dull resentment. + +"My dear Dompierre, why beat the air with futile questions?" replied Max +Carrados. "What does it matter? Have it in the cellar if you like." + +"True," interposed Montmorency. "The only thing that need concern us +now----" + +"But it is in the hall--nine feet high," muttered Dompierre in +bitterness. "Yet he, this blind man----" + +"The only thing that need concern us," repeated the Englishman, severely +ignoring the interruption, "is what you intend doing in the end, Mr +Carrados?" + +"The end is a little difficult to foresee," was the admission. "So far, +I am all for maintaining the _status quo_. Will the first grey light of +morning find us still in this impasse? No, for between us we have +condemned the room to eternal darkness. Probably about daybreak +Dompierre will drop off to sleep and roll against the door. I, +unfortunately mistaking his intention, will send a bullet through---- +Pardon, Madame, I should have remembered--but pray don't move." + +"I protest, Monsieur----" + +"Don't protest; just sit still. Very likely it will be Mr Montmorency +who will fall off to sleep the first after all." + +"Then we will anticipate that difficulty," said the one in question, +speaking with renewed decision. "We will play the last hand with our +cards upon the table if you like. Nina, Mr Carrados will not injure you +whatever happens--be sure of that. When the moment comes you will +rise----" + +"One word," put in Carrados with determination. "My position is +precarious and I take no risks. As you say, I cannot injure Madame +Dompierre, and you two men are therefore my hostages for her good +behaviour. If she rises from the couch you, Dompierre, fall. If she +advances another step Mr Montmorency follows you." + +"Do nothing rash, _carissima_," urged her husband, with passionate +solicitude. "You might get hit in place of me. We will yet find a better +way." + +"You dare not, Mr Carrados!" flung out Montmorency, for the first time +beginning to show signs of wear in this duel of the temper. "He dare +not, Dompierre. In cold blood and unprovoked! No jury would acquit you!" + +"Another who fails to do you justice, Madame Nina," said the blind man, +with ironic gallantry. "The action might be a little high-handed, one +admits, but when you, appropriately clothed and in your right +complexion, stepped into the witness-box and I said: 'Gentlemen of the +jury, what is my crime? That I made Madame Dompierre a widow!' can you +doubt their gratitude and my acquittal? Truly my countrymen are not +all bats or monks, Madame." Dompierre was breathing with perfect freedom +now, while from the couch came the sounds of stifled emotion, but +whether the lady was involved in a paroxysm of sobs or of laughter it +might be difficult to swear. + + * * * * * + +It was perhaps an hour after the flourish of the introduction with which +Madame Dompierre had closed the door of the trap upon the blind man's +entrance. + +The minutes had passed but the situation remained unchanged, though the +ingenuity of certainly two of the occupants of the room had been +tormented into shreds to discover a means of turning it to their +advantage. So far the terrible omniscience of the blind man in the dark +and the respect for his markmanship with which his coolness had inspired +them, dominated the group. But one strong card yet remained to be +played, and at last the moment came upon which the conspirators had +pinned their despairing hopes. + +There was the sound of movement in the hall outside, not the first about +the house, but towards the new complication Carrados had been strangely +unobservant. True, Montmorency had talked rather loudly, to carry over +the dangerous moments. But now there came an unmistakable step and to +the accomplices it could only mean one thing. Montmorency was ready on +the instant. + +"Down, Dom!" he cried, "throw yourself down! Break in, Guido. Break in +the door. We are held up!" + +There was an immediate response. The door, under the pressure of a human +battering-ram, burst open with a crash. On the threshold the +intruders--four or five in number--stopped starkly for a moment, held in +astonishment by the extraordinary scene that the light from the hall, +and of their own bull's-eyes, revealed. + +Flat on their faces, to present the least possible surface to Carrados's +aim, Dompierre and Montmorency lay extended beside the window and behind +the door. On the couch, with her head buried beneath the cushions, +Madame Dompierre sought to shut out the sight and sound of violence. +Carrados--Carrados had not moved, but with arms resting on the table and +fingers placidly locked together he smiled benignly on the new arrivals. +His attitude, compared with the extravagance of those around him, gave +the impression of a complacent modern deity presiding over some +grotesque ceremonial of pagan worship. + +"So, Inspector, you could not wait for me, after all?" was his greeting. + + + + +THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + +Minor punctuation errors have been repaired. An inconsistency +in the spelling of Messina/Messana (pages 269 and 274) has been +retained. + +The following amendments have been made: + + Page 250--Carados amended to Carrados--""True," agreed + Carrados." + Page 251--urning amended to turning--"They walked through the + house, and turning to the right ..." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Max Carrados, by Ernest Bramah + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAX CARRADOS *** + +***** This file should be named 34732.txt or 34732.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/7/3/34732/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Megan Miller and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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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