diff options
Diffstat (limited to '35304-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 35304-8.txt | 9021 |
1 files changed, 9021 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/35304-8.txt b/35304-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd711d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/35304-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9021 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Stroke, by Lawrence L. Lynch + +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: The Last Stroke + a detective story + +Author: Lawrence L. Lynch + +Release Date: February 17, 2011 [EBook #35304] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STROKE *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +THE LAST STROKE + +_A DETECTIVE STORY_ + +BY LAWRENCE L. LYNCH + +(E. MURDOCH VAN DEVENTER) + +_Author of_ "_No Proof_," "_Moina_," _&c., &c._ + +LONDON: +WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED, +WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C. +NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE +CHAPTER I. +SOMETHING WRONG 1 + +CHAPTER II. +FOUND 12 + +CHAPTER III. +NEMESIS 28 + +CHAPTER IV. +FERRARS 39 + +CHAPTER V. +IN CONSULTATION 52 + +CHAPTER VI. +"WHICH?" 64 + +CHAPTER VII. +RENUNCIATION 75 + +CHAPTER VIII. +TRICKERY 90 + +CHAPTER IX. +A LETTER 101 + +CHAPTER X. +THIS HELPS ME 117 + +CHAPTER XI. +DETAILS 127 + +CHAPTER XII. +"FERRISS-GRANT" 135 + +CHAPTER XIII. +THE "LAKE COUNTY HERALD" 148 + +CHAPTER XIV. +A GHOST 157 + +CHAPTER XV. +REBELLION 175 + +CHAPTER XVI. +"OUT OF REACH" 185 + +CHAPTER XVII. +RUTH GLIDDEN 196 + +CHAPTER XVIII. +SUDDEN FLITTINGS 208 + +CHAPTER XIX. +THROUGH THE MAIL 221 + +CHAPTER XX. +A WOMAN'S HEART 237 + +CHAPTER XXI. +"QUARRELSOME HARRY" 250 + +CHAPTER XXII. +IN NUMBER NINE 269 + +CHAPTER XXIII. +TWO INTERVIEWS 279 + +CHAPTER XXIV. +MRS. GASTON LATHAM 292 + +CHAPTER XXV. +THE LAST STROKE 301 + + + + +THE LAST STROKE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +SOMETHING WRONG. + + +It was a May morning in Glenville. Pretty, picturesque Glenville, low +lying by the lake shore, with the waters of the lake surging to meet it, +or coyly receding from it, on the one side, and the green-clad hills +rising gradually and gently on the other, ending in a belt of trees at +the very horizon's edge. + +There is little movement in the quiet streets of the town at half-past +eight o'clock in the morning, save for the youngsters who, walking, +running, leaping, sauntering or waiting idly, one for another, are, or +should be, on their way to the school-house which stands upon the very +southernmost outskirts of the town, and a little way up the hilly +slope, at a reasonably safe remove from the willow-fringed lake shore. + +The Glenville school-house was one of the earliest public buildings +erected in the village, and it had been "located" in what was +confidently expected to be the centre of the place. But the new and +late-coming impetus, which had changed the hamlet of half a hundred +dwellings to one of twenty times that number, and made of it a quiet and +not too fashionable little summer resort, had carried the business of +the place northward, and its residences still farther north, thus +leaving this seat of learning aloof from, and quite above the newer +town, in isolated and lofty dignity, surrounded by trees; in the +outskirts, in fact, of a second belt of wood, which girdled the lake +shore, even as the further and loftier fringe of timber outlined the +hilltops at the edge of the eastern horizon and far away. + +"Les call 'er the 'cademy?" suggested Elias Robbins, one of the builders +of the school-house, and an early settler of Glenville. "What's to +hinder?" + +"Nothin'," declared John Rote, the village oracle. "'Twill sound +first-rate." + +They were standing outside the building, just completed and resplendent +in two coats of yellow paint, and they were just from the labour of +putting in, "hangin'" the new bell. + +All of masculine Glenville was present, and the other sex was not +without representation. + +"Suits me down ter the ground!" commented a third citizen; and no doubt +it would have suited the majority, but when Parson Ryder was consulted, +he smiled genially and shook his head. + +"It won't do, I'm afraid, Elias," he said. "We're only a village as yet, +you see, and we can't even dub it the High School, except from a +geographical point of view. However, we are bound to grow, and our +titles will come with the growth." + +The growth, after a time, began; but it was only a summer growth; and +the school-house was still a village school-house with its master and +one under, or primary, teacher; and to-day there was a frisking group of +the smaller youngsters rushing about the school-yard, while the first +bell rang out, and half a dozen of the older pupils clustered about the +girlish under-teacher full of questions and wonder; for Johnny Robbins, +whose turn it was to ring the bell this week, after watching the clock, +and the path up the hill, alternately, until the time for the first bell +had come, and was actually twenty seconds past, had reluctantly but +firmly seized the rope and began to pull. + +"'Taint no use, Miss Grant; I'll have to do it. He told me not to wait +for nothin', never, when 'twas half-past eight, and so"--cling, clang, +cling--"I'm bound"--cling--"ter do it!" Clang. "You see"--cling--"even +if he aint here----" Clang, clang, clang. + +The boy pulled lustily at the rope for about half as long as usual, and +then he stopped. + +"You don't s'pose that clock c'ud be wrong, do yo', Miss Grant? Mr. +Brierly's never been later'n quarter past before." + +Miss Grant turned her wistful and somewhat anxious eyes toward the +eastern horizon, and rested a hand upon the shoulder of a tall girl at +her side. + +"He may be ill, Johnny," she said, reluctantly, "or his watch may be +wrong. He's sure to come in time for morning song service. Come, Meta, +let us go in and look at those fractions." + +Five--ten--fifteen minutes passed and the two heads bent still over book +and slate. Twenty minutes, and Johnny's head appeared at the door, half +a dozen others behind it. + +"Has he come, Johnny?" + +"No'm; sha'n't I go an' see----" + +But Miss Grant arose, stopping him with a gesture. "He would laugh at +us, Johnny." Then, with another look at the anxious faces, "wait until +nine o'clock, at least." + +Johnny and his followers went sullenly back to the porch, and Meta's lip +began to quiver. + +"Somethin's happened to him, Miss Grant," she whimpered; "I know +somethin' has happened!" + +"Nonsense," said Miss Grant. But she went to the window and called to a +little girl at play upon the green. + +"Nellie Fry! Come here, dear." + +Nellie Fry, an a, b, c student, came running in, her yellow locks flying +straight out behind her. + +"What is it, Miss Grant?" + +"Nellie, did you see Mr. Brierly at breakfast?" + +"Yes'm!" + +"And--quite well?" + +"Why--I guess so. He talked just like he does always, and asked the +blessin'. He--he ate a lot, too--for him. I 'member ma speakin' of it." + +"You remember, Nellie." + +Miss Grant kissed the child and walked to her desk, bending over her +roll call, and seeming busy over it until the clock upon the opposite +wall struck the hour of nine, and Johnny's face appeared at the door, +simultaneously with the last stroke. + +"Sh'll I ring, Miss Grant?" + +"Yes." The girl spoke with sudden decision. "Ring the bell, and then go +at once to Mrs. Fry's house, and ask if anything has happened to detain +Mr. Brierly. Don't loiter, Johnny." + +There was an unwonted flush now upon the girl's usually pale cheeks, +and sudden energy in her step and voice. + +The school building contained but two rooms, beside the large hall, and +the cloak rooms upon either side; and as the scholars trooped in, taking +their respective places with more than their usual readiness, but with +unusual bustle and exchange of whispers and inquiring looks, the slender +girl went once more to the entrance and looked up and down the path from +the village. + +There was no one in sight, and she turned and put her hand upon the +swaying bell-rope. + +"Stop it, Johnny! There's surely something wrong! Go, now, and ask after +Mr. Brierly. He must be ill!" + +"He'd 'a sent word, sure," said the boy, with conviction, as he snatched +his hat from its nail. But Miss Grant only waved him away and entered +the south room, where the elder pupils were now, for the most part, +assembled. + +"Girls and boys," she said, the colour still burning in her cheeks, +"something has delayed Mr. Brierly. I hope it will be for a short time +only. In the meantime, until we know--know what to expect, you will, of +course, keep your places and take up your studies. I am sure I can trust +you to be as quiet and studious as if your teacher was here; and while +we wait, and I begin my lessons, I shall set no monitor over you. I am +sure you will not need one." + +The pupils of Charles Brierly were ruled by gentleness and love, and +they were loyal to so mild a ruler. With low whispers and words of +acquiescence, they took up their books, and Miss Grant went back to her +more restless small people, leaving the connecting door between the +north and south rooms open. + +Mrs. Fry's cottage was in the heart of the village, and upon the +hillside, but Johnny stayed for nothing, running hither, hat in hand, +and returning panting, and with a troubled face. + +"Miss Grant," he panted, bursting into her presence with scant ceremony, +"he aint there! Mrs. Fry says he came to school before eight o'clock. He +went out while she was combin' Nellie's hair, an' she aint seen him +since!" + +Hilda Grant walked slowly down from her little platform, and advanced, +with a waving movement, until she stood in the doorway between the two +rooms. The colour had all faded from her face, and she put a hand +against the door-pane as if to steady herself, and seemed to control or +compose herself with an effort. + +"Boys--children--have any of you seen Mr. Brierly this morning?" + +For a moment there was an utter silence in the school-room. Then, +slowly, and with a sheepish shuffling movement, a stolid-faced boy made +his way out from one of the side seats in Miss Grant's room, and came +toward her without speaking. He was meanly dressed in garments +ill-matched and worse fitting; his arms were abnormally long, his +shoulders rounded and stooping, and his eyes were at once dull and +furtive. He was the largest pupil, and the dullest, in Miss Grant's +charge, and as he came toward her, still silent, but with his mouth half +open, some of the little ones tittered audibly. + +"Silence!" said the teacher, sternly. "Peter, come here." Her tone grew +suddenly gentle. "Have you seen Mr. Brierly this morning?" + +"Uh hum!" The boy stopped short and hung his head. + +"That's good news, Peter. Tell me where you saw him." + +"Down there," nodding toward the lake. + +"At the--lake?" + +"Yep!" + +"How long ago, Peter?" + +"'Fore school--hour, maybe." + +"How far away, Peter?" + +"Big ways. Most by Injun Hill." + +"Ah! and what was he doing?" + +"Set on ground--lookin'." + +"Miss Grant!" broke in the boy Johnny. "He was goin' to shoot at a +mark; I guess he's got a new target down there, an' him an' some of the +boys shoots there, you know. Gracious!" his eyes suddenly widening, +"Dy'u s'pose he's got hurt, anyway?" + +Miss Grant turned quickly toward the simpleton. + +"Peter, you are sure it was this morning that you saw Mr. Brierly?" + +"Uh hum." + +"And, was he alone?" + +"Uh hum." + +"Who else did you see down there, Peter?" + +The boy lifted his arm, shielding his eyes with it as if expecting a +blow. + +"I bet some one's tried ter hit him!" commented Johnny. + +"Hush, Johnny! Peter, what is it? Did some one frighten you?" + +The boy wagged his head. + +"Who was it?" + +"N--Nothin'--" Peter began to whimper. + +"You must answer me, Peter; was any one else by the lake? Whom else did +you see?" + +"A--a--ghost!" blubbered the boy, and this was all she could gain from +him. + +And now the children began to whisper, and some of the elder to suggest +possibilities. + +"Maybe he's met a tramp." + +"P'r'aps he's sprained his ankle!" + +"P'r'aps he's falled into the lake, teacher," piped a six-year-old. + +"Poh!" retorted a small boy. "He kin swim like--anything." + +"Children, be silent!" A look of annoyance had suddenly relaxed the +strained, set look of the under teacher's white face as she recalled, at +the moment, how she had heard Mr. Samuel Doran--president of the board +of school directors--ask Mr. Brierly to drop in at his office that +morning to look at some specimen school books. That was the evening +before, and, doubtless, he was there now. + +Miss Grant bit her lip, vexed at her folly and fright. But after a +moment's reflection she turned again to Johnny Robbins, saying: + +"Johnny, will you go back as far as Mr. Doran's house? Go to the office +door, and if Mr. Brierly is there, as I think he will be, ask him if he +would like me to hear his classes until he is at liberty." + +Again the ready messenger caught up his flapping straw hat, while a +little flutter of relief ran through the school, and Miss Grant went +back to her desk, the look of vexation still upon her face. + +Five minutes' brisk trotting brought the boy to Mr. Doran's door, which +was much nearer than the Fry homestead, and less than five minutes found +him again at the school-house door. + +"Miss Grant," he cried, excitedly, "he wa'n't there, nor haint been; an' +Mr. Doran's startin' right out, with two or three other men, to hunt +him. He says there's somethin' wrong about it." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +FOUND. + + +"I suppose it's all right," said Samuel Doran, as he walked toward the +school-house, followed by three or four of the villagers, "called" +because of their nearness, rather than "chosen"; "but Brierly's +certainly the last man to let any ordinary matter keep him from his +post. We'll hear what Miss Grant has to say." + +Miss Grant met the group at the gate, and when she had told them all she +had to tell, ending with the testimony of the boy Peter, and the +suggestion concerning the target-shooting. + +"Sho!" broke in one of the men, as she was about to express her personal +opinion and her fears, "that's the top an' bottom of the hull business! +Brierly's regularly took with ashootin' at a mark. I've been out with +him two or three evenin's of late. He's just got int'rusted, and forgot +ter look at his watch. We'll find him safe enough som'e'res along the +bank; let's cut across the woods." + +"He must have heard the bell," objected Mr. Doran, "but, of course, if +Peter Kramer saw him down there, that's our way. Don't be anxious, Miss +Grant; probably Hopkins is right." + +The road which they followed for some distance ran a somewhat devious +course through the wood, which one entered very soon after leaving the +school-house. It ran along the hillside, near its base, but still +somewhat above the stretch of ground, fully a hundred yards in width, +between it and the lake shore. + +Above the road, to eastward, the wooded growth climbed the gentle upward +slope, growing, as it seemed, more and more dense and shadowy as it +mounted. But between the road and the river the trees grew less densely, +with numerous sunny openings, but with much undergrowth, here and there, +of hazel and sumach, wild vines, and along the border of the lake the +low overhanging scrub willow. + +For more than a fourth of a mile the four men followed the road, walking +in couples, and not far apart, and contenting themselves with an +occasional "hallo, Brierly," and with peering into the openings through +which they could see the lake shore as they passed along. + +A little further on, however, a bit of rising ground cut off all sight +of the lake for a short distance. It was an oblong mound, so shapely, so +evenly proportioned that it had became known as the Indian Mound, and +was believed to have been the work of the aborigines, a prehistoric +fortification, or burial place. + +As they came opposite this mound, the man Hopkins stopped, saying: + +"Hadn't a couple of us fellers better go round the mound on t'other +side? Course, if he's on the bank, an' all right, he'd ort to hear +us--but----" + +"Yes," broke in the leader, who had been silent and very grave for some +moments. "Go that way, Hopkins, and we'll keep to the road and meet you +at the further end of the mound." + +They separated silently, and for some moments Mr. Doran and his +companions walked on, still silent, then-- + +"We ought to have brought that simpleton along," Doran said, as if +meditating. "The Kramers live only a quarter of a mile beyond the mound, +and it must have been near here--Stop!" + +He drew his companions back from the track, as a pony's head appeared +around a curve of the road; and then, as a black shetland and low +phaeton came in sight, he stepped forward again, and took off his hat. + +He was squarely in the middle of the road, and the lady in the little +phaeton pulled up her pony and met his gaze with a look of mute inquiry. +She was a small, fair woman, with pale, regular features and large blue +eyes. She was dressed in mourning, and, beyond a doubt, was not a native +of Glenville. + +"Excuse my haste, ma'am," said Doran, coming to the side of the phaeton. +"I'm James Doran, owner of the stable where this horse belongs, and we +are out in search of our schoolmaster. Have you seen a tall young man +along this road anywhere?" + +The lady was silent a moment, then--"Was he a fair young man?" she +asked, slowly. + +"Yes, tall and fair." + +The lady gathered up her reins. + +"I passed such a person," she said, "when I drove out of town shortly +after breakfast. He was going south, as I was. It must have been +somewhere not far from this place." + +"And--did you see his face?" + +"No; the pony was fresh then, and I was intent upon him." + +She lifted the reins, and then turned as if to speak again when the man +who had been a silent witness of the little dialogue came a step nearer. + +"I s'pose you hav'n't heard any noise--a pistol shot--nor anythin' like +that, have ye, ma'am?" + +"Mercy! No, indeed! Why, what has happened?" + +Before either could answer, there came a shout from the direction of the +lake shore. + +"Doran, come--quick!" + +They were directly opposite the mound, at its central or highest point, +and, turning swiftly, James Doran saw the man Hopkins at the top of it, +waving his arms frantically. + +"Is he found?" called Doran, moving toward him. + +"Yes. He's hurt!" + +With the words Hopkins disappeared behind the knoll, but Doran was near +enough to see that the man's face was scared and pale. He turned and +called sharply to the lady, who had taken up her whip and was driving +on. + +"Madam, stop! There's a man hurt. Wait there a moment; we may need your +horse." The last words were uttered as he ran up the mound, his +companions close at his heels. And the lady checked the willing pony +once more with a look half reluctant, wholly troubled. + +"What a position," she said to herself, impatiently. "These villagers +are not diffident, upon my word." + +A few moments only had passed when approaching footsteps and the sound +of quick panting breaths caused her to turn her head, and she saw James +Doran running swiftly toward her, pale faced, and too full of anxiety +to be observant of the courtesies. + +"You must let me drive back to town with you, madam," he panted, +springing into the little vehicle with a force that tried its springs +and wrought havoc with the voluminous folds of the lady's gown. "We must +have the doctor, and--the coroner, too, I fear--at once!" + +He put out his hand for the reins, but she anticipated the movement and +struck the pony a sharp and sudden blow that sent him galloping townward +at the top of his speed, the reins still in her two small, +perfectly-gloved hands. + +For a few moments no word was spoken; then, without turning her eyes +from the road, she asked: + +"What is it?" + +"Death, I'm afraid!" + +"What! Not suicide?" + +"Never. An accident, of course." + +"How horrible!" The small hands tightened their grasp upon the reins, +and no other word was spoken until they were passing the school-house, +when she asked-- + +"Who was it?" + +"Charles Brierly, our head teacher, and a good man." + +Miss Grant was standing at one of the front windows and she leaned +anxiously out as the little trap darted past. + +"We can't stop," said Doran, as much to himself as to his companion. "I +must have the pony, ma'am. Where can I leave you?" + +"Anywhere here. Is there anything--any message I can deliver? I am a +stranger, but I understand the need of haste. Ought not those pupils to +be sent home?" + +He put his hand upon the reins. "Stop him," he said. "You are quick to +think, madam. Will you take a message to the school-house--to Miss +Grant?" + +"Surely." + +They had passed the school-house and as the pony stopped, Doran sprang +out and offered his hand, which she scarcely touched in alighting. + +"What shall I say?" she asked as she sprang down. + +"See Miss Grant. Tell her privately that Mr. Brierly has met with an +accident, and that the children must be sent home quietly and at once. +At once, mind." + +"I understand." She turned away with a quick, nervous movement, but he +stopped her. + +"One moment. Your name, please? Your evidence may be wanted." + +"By whom?" + +"By the coroner; to corroborate our story." + +"I see. I am Mrs. Jamieson; at the Glenville House." + +She turned from him with the last word, and walked swiftly back toward +the school-house. + +Hilda Grant was still at the window. She had made no attempt to listen +to recitations, or even to call the roll; and she hastened out, at sight +of the slight black robed figure entering the school yard, her big grey +eyes full of the question her lips refused to frame. + +They met at the foot of the steps, and Mrs. Jamieson spoke at once, as +if in reply, to the wordless inquiry in the other's face. + +"I am Mrs. Jamieson," she said, speaking low, mindful of the curious +faces peering out from two windows, on either side of the open door. "I +was stopped by Mr.--" + +"Mr. Doran?" + +"Yes. He wished me to tell you that the teacher, Mr. ----" + +"Brierly?" + +"Yes; that he has met with an accident; and that you had better close +the school, and send the children home quietly, and at once." + +"Oh!" Suddenly the woman's small figure swayed; she threw out a hand as +if for support and, before the half-dazed girl before her could reach +her, she sank weakly upon the lowest step. "Oh!" she sighed again. "I +did not realise--I--I believe I am frightened!" And then, as Miss Grant +bent over her, she added weakly: "Don't mind me. I--I'll rest here a +moment. Send away your pupils; I only need rest." + +When the wondering children had passed out from the school-rooms, and +were scattering, in slow-moving, eagerly-talking groups, Hilda Grant +stood for a moment beside her desk, rigid and with all the anguish of +her soul revealed, in this instant of solitude, upon her face. + +"He is dead!" she murmured. "I know it, I feel it! He is dead." Her +voice, even to herself, sounded hard and strange. She lifted a cold hand +to her eyes, but there were no tears there; and then suddenly she +remembered her guest. + +A moment later, Mrs. Jamieson, walking weakly up the steps, met her +coming from the school-room with a glass of water in her hand, which she +proffered silently. + +The stranger drank it eagerly. "Thank you," she said. "It is what I +need. May I come inside for a little?" + +Hilda led the way in silence, and, when her visitor was seated, came and +sat down opposite her. "Will you tell me what you can?" she asked +hesitatingly. + +"Willingly. Only it is so little. I have been for some time a guest at +the Glenville House, seeking to recover here in your pure air and +country quiet, from the effects of sorrow and a long illness. I have +driven about these hills and along the lake shore almost daily." + +"I have seen you," said Hilda, "as you drove past more than once." + +"And did you see me this morning?" + +"No." + +"Still, I passed this spot at eight o'clock; I think, perhaps, earlier. +My physician has cautioned me against long drives, and this morning I +did not go quite so far as usual, because yesterday I went too far. I +had turned my pony toward home just beyond that pretty mill where the +little streams join the lake, and was driving slowly homeward when this +Mr. Doran--is not that right?--this Mr. Doran stopped me to ask if I had +seen a man, a tall, fair man----" + +"And had you?" + +"I told him yes; and in a moment some one appeared at the top of the +Indian Mound, and called out that the man was found." + +"How--tell me how?" + +Mrs. Jamieson drew back a little and looked into the girl's face with +strange intentness. + +"I--I fear he was a friend of yours," she said in a strangely hesitating +manner, her eyes swiftly scanning the pale face. + +"You fear! Why do you fear? Tell me. You say he is injured. Tell me +all--the worst!" + +Still the small, erect, black-clad figure drew back, a look of sudden +understanding and apprehension dawning in her face. She moved her lips, +but no sound came from them. + +"Tell me!" cried the girl again. "In mercy--oh, don't you understand?" + +"Yes, I understand now." The lady drew weakly back in the seat and +seemed to be compelling her own eyes and lips to steadiness. + +"Listen! We must be calm--both of us. I--I am not strong; I dare not +give way. Yes, yes; this is all I can tell you. The man, Mr. Doran, +asked me to wait in the road with the pony. He came back soon, and said +that we must find the doctor and the coroner at once; there had been an +accident, and the man--the one for whom they searched--was dead, he +feared." + +She sprang suddenly to her feet. + +"You must not faint. If you do, I--I cannot help you; I am not strong +enough." + +"I shall not faint," replied Hilda Grant, in a hard strange voice, and +she, too, arose quickly, and went with straight swift steps through the +open door between the two rooms and out of sight. + +Mrs. Jamieson stood looking after her for a moment, as if in doubt and +wonder; then she put up an unsteady hand and drew down the gauze veil +folded back from her close-fitting mourning bonnet. + +"How strange!" she whispered. "She turns from me as if--and yet I had to +tell her! Ugh! I cannot stay here alone. I shall break down, too, and I +must not. I must not. Here, and alone!" + +A moment she stood irresolute, then walking slowly she went out of the +school-room, down the stone steps, and through the gate, townward, +slowly at first, and then her pace increasing, and a look of +apprehension growing in her eyes. + +"Oh," she murmured as she hurried on, "what a horrible morning!" And +then she started hysterically as the shriek of the incoming fast mail +train struck her ears. "Oh, how nervous this has made me," she murmured, +and drew a sigh of relief as she paused unsteadily at the door of her +hotel. + +For fully fifteen minutes after Hilda Grant had reached the empty +solitude of her own school-room she stood crouched against the near +wall, her hands clenched and hanging straight at her side, her eyes +fixed on space. Then, with eyes still tearless, but with dry sobs +breaking from her throat, she tottered to her seat before the desk, and +let her face fall forward upon her arms, moaning from time to time like +some hurt animal, and so heedless of all about her that she did not +hear a light step in the hall without, nor the approach of the man who +paused in the doorway to gaze at her in troubled surprise. + +He was a tall and slender young fellow, with a handsome face, an eye +clear, frank, and keen, and a mouth which, but for the moustache which +shadowed it, might have been pronounced too strong for beauty. + +A moment he stood looking with growing pity upon the grieving woman, and +then he turned and silently tip-toed across the room and to the outer +door. Standing there he seemed to ponder, and then, softly stepping back +to the vacant platform, he seated himself in the teacher's chair and +idly opened the first of the volumes scattered over the desk, smiling as +he read the name, Charles Brierly, written across the fly-leaf. + +"Poor old Charley," he said to himself, as he closed the book. "I wonder +how he enjoys his pedagogic venture, the absurd fellow," and then by +some strange instinct he lifted his eyes to the clock on the opposite +wall, and the strangeness of the situation seemed to strike him with +sudden force and brought him to his feet. + +What did it mean! This silent school-room! These empty desks and +scattered books! Where were the pupils? the teacher? And why was that +brown-tressed head with its hidden face bowed down in that other room, +in an agony of sorrow? + +Half a dozen quick strides brought him again to the door of +communication, and this time his strong, firm footsteps were heard, and +the bowed head lifted itself wearily, and the eyes of the two met, each +questioning the other. + +"I beg your pardon," spoke a rich, strong voice. "May I ask where I +shall find Mr. Brierly?" + +Slowly, as if fascinated, the girl came toward him, a look almost of +terror in her face. + +"Who are you?" she faltered. + +"I am Robert Brierly. I had hoped to find my brother here at his post. +Will you tell me----" + +But the sudden cry from her lips checked him, and the pent-up tears +burst forth as Hilda Grant, her heart wrung with pity, flung herself +down upon the low platform, and sitting there with her face bent upon +her sleeves, sobbed out her own sorrow in her heartbreak of sympathy for +the grief that must soon overwhelm him and strike the happy light from +his face. + +Sobs choked her utterance, and the young man stood near her, uncertain, +anxious, and troubled, until from the direction of the town the sound of +flying wheels smote their ears, and Hilda sprang to her feet with a +sharp cry. + +"I must tell you; you must bear it as well as I. Hark! they are going +to him; you must go too!" She turned toward the window, swayed heavily, +and was caught in his arms. + +It was a brief swoon, but when she opened her eyes and looked about her, +the sound of the flying wheels was dying away in the distance, +southward. + +He had found the pail of pure spring water, and applied some of it to +her hands and temples with the quickness and ease of a woman, and he now +held a glass to her lips. + +She drank feverishly, put a hand before her eyes, raised herself with an +effort, and seemed to struggle mutely for self-control. Then she turned +toward him. + +"I am Hilda Grant," she said, brokenly. + +"My brother's friend! My sister that is to be!" + +"No, no; not now. Something has happened. You should have gone with +those men--with the doctor. They are going to bring him back." + +"Miss Grant, sister!" His hands had closed firmly upon her wrists, and +his voice was firm. "You must tell me the worst, quick. Don't seek to +spare me; think of him! What is it?" + +"He--he went from home early, with his pistol, they say, to shoot at a +target. He is dead!" + +"Dead! Charley dead! Quick! Where is he? I must see, I must. Oh! there +must be some horrible mistake." + +He sprang toward the door, but she was before him. + +"Go this way. Here is his wheel. Take it. Go south--the lake shore--the +Indian Mound." + +A moment later a young man with pallid face, set mouth and tragic eyes +was flying toward the Indian Mound upon a swift wheel, and in the +school-room, prone upon the floor, a girl lay in a death-like swoon. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +NEMESIS. + + +"Mr. Brierly, are you strong enough to bear a second shock? I must +confer with you before--before we remove the body." + +It was Doctor Barnes who thus addressed Robert Brierly, who, after the +first sight of the outstretched figure upon the lake shore, and the +first shock of horror and anguish, had turned away from the group +hovering about the doctor, as he knelt beside the dead, to face his +grief alone. + +Doctor Barnes, besides being a skilled physician, possessed three other +qualities necessary to a successful career in medicine--he was prompt to +act, practical and humane. + +Robert Brierly was leaning against a tall tree, his back toward that +group by the water's edge, and his face pressed against the tree's +rugged trunk. He lifted his head as the doctor spoke, and turned a +white, set face toward him. The look in his dark eyes was assurance +sufficient that he was ready to listen and still able to manfully endure +another blow. + +The two men moved a few steps away, and then the doctor said: + +"I must be brief. You know, do you not, the theory, that of these men, +as to the cause of this calamity?" + +"It was an accident, of course." + +"They make it that, or suicide." + +"Never! Impossible! My brother was a God-fearing man, a happy man." + +"Still, there is a bullet-hole just where self-inflicted wounds are +oftenest made." + +Brierly groaned aloud. "Still," he persisted, "I will never believe it." + +"You need not." Doctor Barnes sank his voice to a yet lower pitch. "Mr. +Brierly, there is a second bullet-wound in the back!" + +"The back! And that means----" + +"It means murder, without a doubt. No huntsman could so mistake his mark +in this open woodland, along the lake. Besides, hunting is not allowed +so near the village. Wait," as the young man was about to speak, "we +have no time to discuss motives now, or the possible assassin. What I +wish to know is, do you want this fact known now--at once?" + +"I--I fear I don't understand. Would you have my brother's name----" + +"Stop, man! Knowing that these men have already jumped at a theory, the +thought occurred to me that the work of the officers might be made +easier if we let the theory of accident stand." + +He broke off, looking keenly at the other. He was a good judge of faces, +and in that of Robert Brierly he had not been deceived. + +The young man's form grew suddenly erect and tense, his eye keen and +resolute. + +"You are right!" he said, with sudden energy, as he caught at the +other's hand. "They must not be enlightened yet." + +"Then, the sooner we are back where we can guard this secret, the safer +it will be. Come. This is hard for you, Mr. Brierly, I know, and I could +say much. But words, no matter how sincerely sympathetic, cannot lighten +such a blow as this. I admire your strength, your fortitude, under such +a shock. Will you let me add that any service I can render as physician, +as man, or as friend, is yours for the asking?" + +The doctor hesitated a moment, then held out his hand, and the four +watchers beside the body exchanged quick glances of surprise upon seeing +the two men grasp hands, silently and with solemn faces, and then turn, +still silently, back to the place where the body lay. + +"Don't touch that pistol, Doran," the doctor spoke, in his capacity of +coroner. + +"Certainly not, Doc. I wanted to feel, if I could, whether those side +chambers had been discharged or not. You see," he added, rising to his +feet, "when we saw this, we knew what we had to do, and it has been +'hands off.' We've only used our eyes so far forth." + +"And that I wish to do now with more calmness," said Robert Brierly, +coming close to the body and kneeling beside it. + +It lay less than six feet from the very water's edge, the body of a +tall, slender young man, with a delicate, high-bred face that had been +fair when living, and was now marble-white, save for the blood-stains +upon the right temple, where the bullet had entered. The hair, of that +soft blonde colour, seen oftenest upon the heads of children, and rarely +upon adults, was thick and fine, and long enough to frame the handsome +face in close half rings that no barber's skill could ever subdue or +make straight. The hands were long, slender, and soft as a woman's; the +feet small and arched, and the form beneath the loose outlines of the +blue flannel fatigue suit in which it was clad, while slender and full +of grace, was well built and not lacking in muscle. + +It lay as it had fallen, upon its side, and with one arm thrown out and +one limb, the left, drawn up. Not far from the outstretched right arm +and hand lay the pistol, a six-shooter, which the brother at once +recognised, with two of the six chambers empty, a fact which Mr. Doran +had just discovered, and was now holding in reserve. + +The doctor, upon his discovery of the second bullet-wound, had at once +flung his own handkerchief over the prostrate head, and called for the +carriage robe from his own phaeton, which, fortunately for the wind and +legs of the black pony, had stood ready at his office door, and was now +in waiting, the horse tethered to a tree at the edge of the wood not far +away. + +This lap robe Robert Brierly reverently drew away as he knelt beside the +still form, and thus, for some moments remained, turning his gaze from +right to left, from the great tree which grew close at the motionless +feet, and between the group and the water's edge, its branches spreading +out above them and forming a canopy over the body to a dead stump some +distance away, where a small target leaned, its rings of white and black +and red showing how often a steady hand had sent the ball, close and +closer, until the bull's eye was pierced at last. + +No word was uttered as he knelt there, and before he arose he placed a +hand upon the dead man's shoulder with an impulsive caressing motion, +and bending down, kissed the cold temple just above the crimson +death-mark. Then, slowly, reverently, he drew the covering once more +over the body and arose. + +"That was a vow," he said to the doctor, who stood close beside him. +"Where is--ah!" He turned toward the group of men who, when he knelt, +had withdrawn to a respectful distance. + +"Which of you suggested that he had fallen--tripped?" + +Doran came forward and silently pointed to the foot of the tree, where, +trailing across the grass, and past the dead man's feet, was a tendril +of wild ivy entangled and broken. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Brierly. "You saw that too?" + +"It was the first thing I did see," said the other, coming to his side, +"when I looked about me. It's a very clear case, Mr. Brierly. +Target-shooting has been quite a pastime here lately. And see! There +couldn't be a better place to stand and shoot at that target, than right +against that tree, braced against it. It's the right distance and all. +He must have stood there, and when he hit the bull's eye, he made a +quick forward step, caught his foot in that vine and tripped. A man will +naturally throw out his arm in falling so, especially the right one, +and in doing that, somehow as he lunged forward it happened." + +"Yes," murmured Brierly, "it is a very simple theory. It--it might have +happened so." + +"There wasn't any other way it could happen," muttered one of Doran's +companions. And at that moment the wheels of an approaching vehicle were +heard, and all turned to look toward the long black hearse, divested of +its plumes, and with two or three thick blankets upon its velvet floor. + +It was the doctor who superintended the lifting of the body, keeping the +head covered, and when the hearse drove slowly away with its pathetic +burden, he turned to Doran. + +"I'll drive Mr. Brierly back to town, Doran," he said, "if you don't +mind taking his wheel in charge;" and scarcely waiting for Doran's +willing assent, he took Richard Brierly's arm and led him toward his +phaeton. + +The young man had picked up his brother's hat, as they lifted the body +from the ground, and he now carried it in his hand, laying it gently +upon his knees as he took his seat. + +When the doctor had taken his place and picked up the reins he leaned +out and looked about him. Two or three horsemen were riding into the +wood toward them, and a carriage had halted at the side of the road, +while a group of schoolboys, headed by Johnny, the bell ringer, were +hurrying down the slope toward the water's edge. + +"They're beginning to gather," the physician said, grimly. "Well, it's +human nature, and your brother had a host of friends, Mr. Brierly." + +Robert Brierly set his lips and averted his face for a moment. + +"Doran," called the doctor. "Come here, will you." + +Doran, who had begun to push the shining wheel up the slope, placed it +carefully against a tree and came toward them, the doctor meanwhile +turning to Brierly. + +"Mr. Brierly, you are a stranger here. Will you let me arrange for you?" + +The other nodded, and then said huskily: "But it hurts to take him to an +undertaker's!" + +"He shall not be taken there," and the doctor turned to Doran, now +standing at the wheel. + +"Mr. Doran, will you take my keys and ride ahead as fast as possible? +Tell the undertaker, as you pass, to drive to my house. Then go on and +open it. We will put the body in the private office. Do not remonstrate, +Mr. Brierly. It is only what I would wish another to do for me and mine +in a like affliction." And this was the rule by which this man lived his +life, and because of which death had no terrors. + +"I am a bachelor, you must know," the doctor said, as they drove slowly +in the wake of the hearse. "And I have made my home and established my +office in a cosy cottage near the village proper. It will save you the +ordeal of strange eyes, and many questions, perhaps, if you will be my +guest for a day or two, at least." + +Robert Brierly turned and looked this friend in need full in the face +for a moment; then he lifted his hand to brush a sudden moisture from +his eye. + +"I accept all your kindness," he said, huskily, "for I see that you are +as sincere as you are kind." + +When the body of Charles Brierly had been carried in and placed as it +must remain until the inquest was at an end, and when the crowd of +sorrowing, anxious and curious people had dispersed, the doctor, who was +masterful at need, making Doran his lieutenant, arranged for the +securing of a jury; and, after giving some quiet instructions, sent him +away, saying: + +"Tell the people it is not yet determined how or when we shall hold the +inquiry. Miss Grant, who must be a witness, will hardly be able to +appear at once, I fear," for, after looking to his guest's bodily +comfort, the doctor had left him to be alone with his grief for a little +while, and had paid a flying visit to Hilda Grant, who lived nearly +three blocks away. + +When at length the little house was quiet, and when the doctor and his +heavy-hearted companion had made a pretence of partaking of luncheon, +the former, having shut and locked the door upon the elderly African who +served him, drew his chair close to that of his guest, and said: + +"Are you willing to take counsel with me, Mr. Brierly? And are you quite +fit and ready to talk about what is most important?" + +"I am most anxious for your advice, and for information." + +"Then, let us lose no time; there is much to be done." + +"Doctor," Robert Brierly bent toward the other and placed a hand upon +his knee. "There are emergencies which bring men together and reveal +them, each to each, in a flash, as it were. I cannot feel that you know +me really; but I know you, and would trust you with my dearest +possession, or my most dangerous secret. You will be frank with me, I +know, if you speak at all; and I want you to tell me something." + +"What is it?" + +"You have told me how, in your opinion, my poor brother really met his +death. Will you put yourself in my place, and tell me how you would act +in this horrible emergency? What is the first thing you would do?" + +The doctor's answer came after a moment's grave thought. + +"I am, I think, a Christian," he said, gravely, "but I think--bah! I +know that I would make my life's work to find out the truth about that +murder, for that it was a murder, I solemnly believe." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FERRARS. + + +Robert Brierly caught his breath. + +"And your reason?" he gasped, "for you have a reason other than the mere +fact of the bullet-wound in the neck." + +"I have seen just such deeds in the wild west and I know how they are +done. But this is also professional knowledge. Besides, man, call reason +to your aid! Oh, I expect too much. The hurt is too fresh, you can only +feel now, but the man shot by accident, be it by his own hand or that of +another, is not shot twice." + +"Good heavens, no!" + +"But when one who creeps upon his victim unawares, shoots him from +behind, and, as he falls, fearing the work is not completed, shoots +again, the victim, as you must see, receives the wound further to the +front as the body falls forward and partially turns in falling. Do you +see? Do you comprehend?" + +"Yes." Brierly shuddered. + +"Brierly, this talk is hurting you cruelly. Let us drop details, or +postpone them." + +"Not the essential ones. I must bear what I must. Go on, doctor. I quite +agree with you. It looks like a murder, and we must--I must know the +truth--must find the one who did the deed. Doctor, advise me." + +"About----" + +"How to begin, no time should be lost." + +"That means a good detective, as soon as possible. Do you chance to know +any of these gentry?" + +"I----No, indeed! I suppose a telegram to the chief of police----" + +"Allow me," broke in Doctor Barnes. "May I make a suggestion?" + +"Anything. I seem unable to think." + +"And no wonder! I know the right man for you if he is in Chicago. You +see, I was in hospital practice for several years, and have also had my +share of prison experience. While thus employed I met a man named +Ferrars, an Englishman, who for some years has spent the greater part of +his time in this country, in Chicago, in fact. There's a mystery and a +romance attached to the man, or his history. He's not connected with +any of the city offices, but he is one of three retired +detectives--retired, that is, from regular work--who work together at +need when they feel a case to be worth their efforts. I think a case +like this will be certain to attract Ferrars." + +"And he is your choice of the three?" + +The doctor smiled. "The others are married," he said, "and not so ready +to go far afield as is Ferrars." + +"You think him skilful?" + +"None better." + +"Then, do you know his address?" + +Brierly got up and began to walk about, his eyes beginning to glow with +the excitement so long suppressed. "Because we can't get him here too +soon." + +"I agree with you. And now one thing more. To give him every advantage +he should not be known, and the inquest should not begin until he is +here." + +"Can that be managed?" + +"I think so." + +Brierly was now nervously eager. He seemed to have shaken off the stupor +which at first had seemed to seize upon and hold him, and his questions +and suggestions came thick and fast. It ended, of course, in his putting +himself into the doctor's hands, and accepting his plans and suggestions +entirely. And very soon, Dr. Barnes, having given his factotum distinct +instructions as regarded visitors, and inquiries, had set off, his +medicine case carried ostentatiously in his hand, not for the telegraph +office, but for the cottage, close by, where Hilda Grant found a home. + +It was a small, neatly-kept cottage, and Mrs. Marcy, a gentle, kindly +widow, and the young teacher were its only occupants. + +The widow met him at the door, her face anxious, her voice the merest +whisper. + +"Doctor, tell me; do you think she will really be ill?" + +"Why no, Mrs. Marcy; at least not for long. It has been a shock, of +course; a great shock. But she----" + +"Ah, doctor, she is heart-broken. I--I think I surely may tell you. It +will help you to understand. They were engaged, and for a little while, +such a pitiful little while it seems now, they have been so happy." + +The doctor was silent a moment, his eyes turned away. + +"And now," went on the good woman, "she will be lonelier than ever. You +know she was very lonely here at first. She has no relatives nearer than +a cousin anywhere in the world, to her knowledge. And he has never been +to see her. He lives in Chicago, too, not so far away." + +"Yes, surely he ought to visit her now, really. Just ask her if I may +come up, Mrs. Marcy. I--I'm glad you told me of this. Thank you. It will +help me." + +Ten minutes later Doctor Barnes was hastening toward the telegraph +office, where he sent away this singular and wordy message: + + + "Frank Ferrars, No. ... Street, Chicago-- + + "Your cousin, Miss Hilda Grant, is ill, and in trouble. It is a + case in which you are needed as much as I. Come, if possible, by + first evening train. + + "WALTER BARNES." + + +"That will fetch him," he mused, as he hastened homeward. "Ferrars never +breaks a promise, though I little expected to have to remind him of it +within the year." + +"Well," began Brierly, when he entered his own door. "Have you seen her? +Was she willing?" + +"Willing and anxious. She is a brave and sensible little woman. She will +do her part, and she has never for one moment believed in the theory of +an accident." + +"And she will receive me?" + +"This evening. She insists that we hold our council there, in her +presence. At first I objected, on account of her weakness, but she is +right in her belief that we should be most secure there, and Ferrars +should not be seen abroad to-night. We will have to take Mrs. Marcy into +our confidence, in part at least, but she can be trusted. We will all be +observed, more or less, for a few days. But, of course, I shall put +Ferrars up for the night. That will be the thing to do after he has +spent a short evening with his cousin." + +Brierly once more began his restless pacing to and fro, turning +presently to compare his watch with the doctor's Dutch clock. + +"It will be the longest three hours I ever passed," he said, and a great +sigh broke from his lips. + +But, before the first hour had passed, a boy from the telegraph office +handed in a blue envelope, and the doctor hastily broke the seal and +read-- + + + "Be with you at 6.20. + + "FERRARS." + + +When the first suburban train for the evening halted, puffing, at the +village station, Doctor Barnes waiting upon the platform, saw a man of +medium height and square English build step down from the smoking car +and look indifferently about him. + +There was the usual throng of gaping and curious villagers, and some of +them heard the stranger say, as he advanced toward the doctor, who +waited with his small medicine case in his hand-- + +"Pardon me; is this doctor--doctor Barnes?" And when the doctor nodded +he asked quickly, "How is she?" + +"Still unnerved and weak. We have had a terrible shock, for all of us." + +When the two men had left the crowd of curious loungers behind them the +doctor said-- + +"It is awfully good of you, Ferrars, to come so promptly at my call. Of +course, I could not explain over the wires. But, you understand." + +"I understand that you needed me, and as I'm good for very little, save +in one capacity, I, of course, supposed there was a case for me. The +evening paper, however, gave me--or so I fancy--a hint of the business. +Is it the young schoolmaster?" + +The doctor started. It seemed impossible that the news had already found +its way into print. + +"Some one has made haste," he said, scornfully. + +"Some one always does in these cases, and the _Journal_ has a 'special +correspondent' in every town and village in the country almost. It was +only a few lines." He glanced askance at his companion as he spoke. "And +it was reported an accident or suicide." + +"It was a murder!" + +"I thought so." + +"You--why?" + +"'The victim was found,' so says the paper, 'face downward, or nearly +so.' 'Fallen forward,' those were the words. Was that the case?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, did you ever see or hear of a suicide who had fallen directly +forward and face downward, supposing him to have shot himself?" + +"No, no." + +"On the other hand, have you ever noted that a man taken unawares, shot +from the side, or rear, falls forward? If shot standing, that is. It is +only when he receives a face charge that he falls backward." + +"I had not thought of that, and yet it looks simple and rational +enough," and then, while they walked down the quiet street running +parallel with Main, and upon which Mrs. Marcy's cottage stood, the +doctor told the story of the morning, briefly but clearly, adding, at +the end, "In telling this much, I am telling you actually all that I +know." + +"All--concerning Miss Grant, too?" + +"Everything." + +The doctor did not lift his eyes from the path before them, and again +the detective shot a side glance from the corner of his eye, and the +shadow of a smile crossed his face. + +"How does it happen that this brother is here so--I was about to +say--opportunely?" + +"He told me that he came by appointment, but on an earlier train than he +had at first intended to take, to pass Sunday with his brother." + +"Now see," mused Ferrars, "what little things, done or left undone, +shape or shorten our lives! If he had telegraphed to his brother +announcing his earlier arrival, there would have been no target +practice, but a walk to the station instead." + +The doctor sighed, and for a few moments walked on in silence. Then, as +they neared the cottage he almost stopped short and turned toward the +detective. + +"I'm afraid you will think me a sad bungler, Ferrars. I should have told +you at once that Robert Brierly awaits us at Mrs. Marcy's cottage." + +"Robert Brierly? Is that his name? I wonder if he can be the Robert +Brierly who has helped to make one of our morning papers so bright and +breezy. A rising young journalist, in fact. But it's probably another of +the name." + +"I don't know. He has not spoken of himself. Will it suit you to meet +him at once?" + +"We don't often get the chance to begin as would best suit us, we +hunters of our kind. I would have preferred to go first to the scene of +the death, but I suppose the ground has been trampled over and over, +and, besides, I don't want to advertise myself until I am better +informed at least. Go on, we will let our meeting come as it will." + +But things seldom went on as they would for long, when Frank Ferrars was +seeking his way toward a truth or fact. They found Mrs. Marcy at the +door, and she at once led them to the upper room which looked out upon +the side and rear of the little lawn, and was screened from inlookers, +as well as from the sun's rays, by tall cherry trees at the side, and +thick and clinging morning glory vines at the back. + +"You'll be quite safe from intrusion here," she murmured, and left them +as she had received them at the door. + +If Doctor Barnes had feared for his patient's strength, and dreaded the +effect upon her of the coming interview, he was soon convinced that he +had misjudged the courage and will power of this slight, soft-eyed, +low-voiced and unassertive young woman. She was very pale, and her eyes +looked out from their dark circles like wells of grief. But no tears +fell from them, and the low pathetic voice did not falter when she said, +after the formal presentation, and before either of the others had +spoken: + +"I have asked to be present at this interview, Mr. Ferrars, and am told +that it rests with you whether I am admitted to your confidences. +Charles Brierly is my betrothed, and I would to God I had yielded to his +wish and married him a week ago. Then no one could have shut me out from +ought that concerns him, living or dead. In the sight of heaven he is my +husband, for we promised each other eternal faithfulness with our hands +clasped above his mother's Bible." + +Francis Ferrars was a singular mixture of sternness and gentleness, of +quick decision at need and of patient considerateness, and he now took +one of the cold little hands between his own, and gently but firmly led +her to the cosy chair from which she had arisen. + +"You have proved your right to be here, and no one will dispute it. We +may need your active help soon, as much as we need and desire your +counsel and your closer knowledge of the dead man now." + +In moments of intense feeling conventionalities fall away from us and +strong soul speaks to strong soul. While they awaited the coming of the +doctor and Francis Ferrars, Hilda Grant and Robert Brierly had been +unable to break through the constraint which seemed to each to be the +mental attitude of the other, and then, too, both were engrossed with +the same thought, the coming of the detective, and the possibilities +this suggested, for underlying the grievous sorrow of both brother and +sweetheart lay the thought, the silent appeal for justice as inherent in +our poor human nature as is humanity itself. + +But Hilda's sudden claim, her prayer for recognition struck down the +barrier of strangeness and the selfishness of sorrow, than which +sometimes nothing can be more exclusive, in the mind and heart of Robert +Brierly, and he came swiftly to her side, as she sank back, pallid and +panting, upon her cushions. + +"Miss Grant, my sister; no other claim is so strong as yours. It was to +meet you, to know you, that I set out for this place to-day. In my poor +brother's last letter--you shall read it soon--he said, 'I am going to +give you something precious, Rob; a sister. It is to meet her that I +have asked you to come just now.' I claim that sister, and need her now +if never before. Don't look upon me as a stranger, but as Charlie's +brother, and yours." He placed his hand over hers as it rested weakly +upon the arm of her chair, and as it turned and the chill little fingers +closed upon his own, he held it for a moment and then, releasing it +gently, drew a seat beside her and turned toward the detective. + +"Mr. Ferrars, your friend has assured me that I may hope for your aid. +Is that so?" + +"When I have heard all that you can tell me, I will answer," replied +Ferrars. "If I see a hope or chance of unravelling what now looks like +a mystery--should it be proved a mystery--I will give you my promise, +and my services." + +He had seated himself almost opposite Hilda Grant, and while he quietly +studied her face, he addressed the doctor. + +"Tell me," he said, "all you know and have been told by others, and be +sure you omit not the least detail." + +Beginning with the appearance of Mr. Doran at his office door, with the +panting and perspiring black pony, the doctor detailed their drive and +his first sight of the victim, reviewing his examination of the body in +detail, while the detective listened attentively and somewhat to the +surprise of the others, without interruption, until the narrator had +reached the point when, accompanied by Brierly, he had followed the +hearse, with its pitiful burden, back to the village. Then Ferrars +interposed. + +"A moment, please," taking from an inner pocket a broad, flat +letter-case and selecting from it a printed card, which, with a pencil, +he held out to the doctor. "Be so good," he said, "as to sketch upon the +blank back of this the spot where you found the dead man, the mound in +full, with the road indicated, above and beyond it. I remember you used +to be skilful at sketching things." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +IN CONSULTATION. + + +When the doctor had completed his hasty sketch, he returned the card +upon which it was made, to the detective and silently awaited his +comment. + +"It is very helpful," said Ferrars. "It would seem, then, that just +opposite the mound the lake makes an inward curve?" + +"Yes." + +"And that the centre of the mound corresponds to the central or nearest +point of the curve?" + +The doctor nodded assent. + +"Now am I right in thinking that anything occurring at this central +point would be unseen from the road?" + +"Quite right. The mound rises higher than the road, and its length shuts +off the view at either end, that and the line of the road, which curves +away from the lake at the north end, and runs in an almost straight +direction for some distance at the other." + +"I see." And again for a moment Ferrars consulted the sketch. Then-- + +"Did you measure the distance between the target and the spot where the +body was found?" + +"No. It was the usual distance for practice, I should think." + +"It was rather a long range," interposed Brierly. "I am something of a +shot myself and I noticed that." + +Again the detective pondered over the sketch. + +"By this time I dare say," he said presently, "there will be any number +of curious people in the wood and about that spot." + +"I doubt it," replied Doctor Barnes. "I thought of that, and spoke to +Doran. Mr. Brierly was so well liked by all that it only needed a word +to keep the men and boys from doing anything that might hinder a +thorough investigation. Two men are upon the road just below the +school-house to turn back the thoughtless curious ones. It was Doran's +foresight," added the honest physician. "I suppose you will wish to +explore the wood near the mound?" + +Ferrars laid aside the sketch. "As the coroner," he said, "you can help +me. Of course, you can have no doubt as to the nature of the shooting. +There could be no mistake." + +"None. The shot at the back could not have been self-inflicted." + +"Then if you can rely upon your constables and this man Doran, let them +make a quiet inquiry up and down the wood road in search of any one who +may have driven over it between the hours of----" + +"Eight and ten o'clock," said Hilda Grant. "He," meaning her late +friend, "left his boarding place at eight o'clock, or near it, and he +was found shortly before ten." + +Her speech was low and hesitating, but it did not falter. + +"Thank you," said the detective, and turned again to the doctor. + +"Next," said he, "if you can find a trusty man, who will find out for us +if any boat or boats have been seen about the lake shore during those +hours, it will be another step in the right direction. And now, you have +told me that you suspect no one; that there is no clue whatever." He +glanced from one to the other. "Still we are told that very often by +those who should know best, but who were not trained to such searching. +To begin, I must know something, Mr. Brierly, about your brother and his +past. Is he your only brother?" + +"Yes. We lost a sister ten years ago, a mere child. There were no other +children." + +"And--your parents?" + +"Are both dead." + +"Ah! Mr. Brierly, give me, if you please, a sketch of your life and of +your brother's, dating, let us say, from the time of your father's +death." + +If the request was unexpected or unwelcome to Robert Brierly he made no +sign, but began at once. + +"If I do not go into details sufficiently, Mr. Ferrars," he said, by way +of preamble, "you will, of course, interrogate me." + +The detective nodded, and Brierly went on. + +"My father was an Episcopalian clergyman, and, at the time of his death, +we were living in one of the wealthy suburbs of Chicago, where he had +held a charge for ten years, and where we remained for six years after +he gave up the pulpit. Being in comfortable circumstances, we found it a +most pleasant place of residence. My sister's death brought us our first +sorrow, and it was soon followed by the loss of our mother. We continued +to live, however, in the old home until my brother and I were ready to +go to college, and then my father shut up the house and went abroad with +a party of congenial friends. My father was not a business man, and the +man to whom he had confided the management of his affairs misarranged +them during his absence, to what extent we never fully knew until after +my father's death, when we found ourselves, after all was settled, with +something like fifteen thousand dollars each, and our educations. My +brother had already begun to prepare for the ministry, and I had decided +early to follow the career of a journalist." + +"Are you the elder?" asked the detective. + +"Yes." Brierly paused for further comment, but none came, and he +resumed. "It had been the intention of my father that my brother and I +should make the tour of the two continents when our studies were at an +end; that is, our school days. He had made this same journey in his +youth, and he had even mapped out routes for us, and told us of certain +strange and little explored places which we must not miss, such as the +rock temples of Kylas in Central India, and various wonders of Egypt. It +was a favourite project of his. 'It will leave you less money, boys,' he +used to say, 'but it will give what can never be taken from you. When a +man knows his own world, he is better fitted for the next.' And so, +after much discussion we determined to make the journey. Indeed, to +Charley it began to seem a pilgrimage, in which love, duty, and pleasure +intermingled." + +He paused, and Hilda turned away her face as a long sighing breath +escaped his lips. + +"Shortly after our return I took up journalistic work in serious +earnest, and my brother, having been ordained, was about to accept a +charge when he met with an accident which was followed by a long +illness. When he arose from this, his physicians would not hear of his +assuming the labours of a pastor over a large and active suburban +church, and, as my brother could not bear to be altogether idle, and the +country was thought to be the place for him, it ended in his coming +here, to take charge of the little school. He was inordinately fond of +children, and a born instructor, so it seemed to me. He was pleased with +the beauty of the place and the quiet of it, from the first, and he was +not long in finding his greatest happiness here." + +His voice sank, and he turned a face in which gratitude and sorrow +blended, upon the girl who suddenly covered her own with her trembling +hands. + +But the detective, with a new look of intentness upon his face, and +without a moment's pause, asked quickly. + +"Then you have been in this place before, of course?" + +"No, I have not. For the first three months Charley was very willing to +come to me, in the city. Then came a very busy time for me and he came +twice, somewhat reluctantly, I thought. Six months ago I was sent to +New Mexico to do some special work, and returned to the city on Tuesday +last." His voice broke, and he got up and walked to the window farthest +from the group. + +While he had been speaking, Ferrars had scribbled aimlessly and a stroke +at a time, as it seemed, upon the margin of the printed side of the card +which bore the sketch made by Doctor Barnes; and now, while Hilda's face +was again turned away, the young man at the window still stood with his +back towards all in the room, he pushed the card from the edge of the +table, and shot a significant glance toward the doctor. + +Picking up the card, Doctor Barnes glanced at it carelessly, and then +replaced it upon the table, having read these words-- + +"I wish to speak with her alone. Make it a professional necessity." + +As Brierly turned toward them once more the detective turned to the +young girl. "I would like to hear something from you, Miss Grant, if you +find yourself equal to it." + +Hilda set her lips in firm lines, and after a moment said steadily-- + +"I am quite at your service." + +"One minute." The doctor arose and addressed himself to the detective. + +"I feel sure that it will be best for Miss Grant that she talk with you +alone. As her physician, I will caution her against putting too great a +restraint upon herself, upon her feelings. While you talk with her, +Ferrars, Mr. Brierly and I will go back to my quarters, unless you bid +us come back." + +"I do not," interposed the detective. "I will join you soon, and if need +be, you can then return, doctor." + +At first it seemed as if Hilda were about to remonstrate. But she caught +the look of intelligence that flashed from his eyes to hers, and she sat +in silence while Doctor Barnes explained the route to his cottage and +murmured a low good-bye, while Brierly took her hand and bent over her +with a kind adieu. + +"I may see you to-morrow," he whispered. "You will let me come, sister?" +The last word breathed close to her ear. + +Her lips moved soundlessly, but he read her eager consent in her timid +return of his hand clasp and the look in her sad, grey eyes, and +followed the doctor from the room. + +When Frank Ferrars had closed the door behind the two men, he wasted no +time in useless words, but, seating himself opposite the girl, and so +close that he could catch, if need be, her faintest whisper, he began, +his own tones low and touched with sympathy-- + +"Miss Grant," he said, "I already feel assured that you know how many +things must be considered before we can ever begin such a search as I +foresee before me. Of course it may happen that before the end of the +coroner's inquest some clue or key to the situation may have developed. +But, if I have heard all, or, rather, if there has not been some +important fact or feature overlooked, we must go behind the scenes for +our data, our hints and possible clues. Do you comprehend me?" + +Hilda Grant had drawn herself erect, and was listening intently with her +clear eyes fixed upon his face, and she seemed with her whole soul to be +studying this man, while, with her ears she took in and comprehended his +every word. + +"You mean," she answered slowly, "that there may be something in himself +or some event or fact in his past, or that of his family, which has +brought about this?" She turned away her face. She could not put the +awful fact into words. + +"I knew you would understand me, and it is not to his past alone that I +must look for help, but to others." + +"Do you mean mine?" + +"Yes. You do understand!" + +There was a look of relief in his eyes. His lips took on a gentler +curve. "I see that you are going to help me." + +"If it is in my power, I surely am. Where shall we begin?" + +"Tell me all that you can about Charles Brierly, all that he has told +you about himself. Will it be too hard?" + +"No matter." She drew herself more erect. "I think if you will let me +tell my own story briefly, and then fill it out at need, by +interrogation, it will be easiest for me." + +"And best for me. Thank you." He leaned back and rested his hands upon +the arms of his chair. + +"I am ready to hear you," he said, and withdrew his full gaze from her +face, letting his eyelids fall and sitting thus with half-closed eyes. + +"Of course," she began, "it was only natural, or so it appeared to me, +that we should become friends soon, meeting, as we must, daily, and +being so constantly brought together, as upper and under teachers in +this little village school. He never seemed really strange to me, and we +seemed thrown upon each other for society, for the young people of the +village held aloof, because of our newness, and our position, I suppose, +and the people of the hotels and boarding-houses found, naturally, a +set, or sets, by themselves. I grew up in what you might call a +religious atmosphere, and when I knew that he was a minister of the +gospel, I felt at once full confidence in him and met his friendly +advances quite frankly. I think we understood each other very soon. You +perhaps have not been told that he filled a vacancy, taking the place of +a young man who was called away because of his mother's illness, and who +did not return, giving up the school at her request. It was in April, a +year ago, that he--Charlie--took up the work, coming back, as I did, +after the summer vacation. It was after that that he began telling me +about himself a little; to speak often of his brother, who was, to his +eyes, a model of young manhood and greatly his intellectual superior." + +She paused a moment, and then with a little proud lifting of her rounded +chin, resumed-- + +"I was not quite willing to agree as to the superiority; for Charles +Brierly was as bright, as talented and promising a young man, as good +and as modest as any I ever knew or hope to know, and I have met some +who rank high as pastors and orators." + +"I can well believe you," he said, with his eyes upon her face, and his +voice was sincere and full of sympathy. + +"We were not engaged until quite recently. Although we both, I think, +understood ourselves and each other long before. And now, what more can +I say? He has told me much of his school days, of his student life, and, +of course, of his brother's also. In fact, without meaning it, he has +taught me to stand somewhat in awe of this highly fastidious, faultless +and much-beloved brother, but I have heard of no family quarrel, no +enemy, no unpleasant episode of any sort. For himself, he told me, and I +believe his lightest word, that he never cared for any other woman; had +never been much in women's society, in fact, owing to his almost +constant study and travel. Here in the village all was his friends; his +pupils were all his adorers, young and old alike were his admirers, and +he had room in his heart for all. No hand in Glenville was ever raised +against him, I am sure." + +"You think then that it was perhaps an accident, a mistake?" He was +eyeing her keenly from beneath his drooping lashes. + +"No!" She sprang suddenly to her feet and stood erect before him. "No, +Mr. Ferrars, I do not! I cannot. I was never in my life superstitious. I +do not believe it is superstition that compels me to feel that Charles +Brierly was murdered of intent, and by an enemy, an enemy who has +stalked him unawares, for money perhaps, and who has planned cunningly, +and hid his traces well." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"WHICH?" + + +"Give me a few moments of your time, doctor, after your guest has +retired for the night." + +For more than two hours after his parting with Hilda Grant, Ferrars had +talked, first with Robert Brierly alone, and then with the doctor as a +third party. At the end, the three had gone together to look upon the +face of the dead, and now, as the doctor nodded over his shoulders and +silently followed, or, rather, guided Brierly from the room and toward +his sleeping apartment, the detective turned back, and when they were +out of hearing, removed the covering from the still face, and taking a +lamp from the table near, stood looking down upon the dead. + +"No," he murmured at last, as he replaced the lamp and turned back to +the side of the bier. "You never earned such a fate. You must have lived +and died a good man; an honest man, and yet----" He turned quickly at +the sound of the opening door. "Doctor, come here and tell me how your +keen eyes and worldly intelligence weighed, measured and gauged this man +who lies here with that look, that inscrutable look they all wear once +they have seen the mystery unveiled. What manner of man did you find +him?" + +Doctor Barnes came closer and gazed reverently down upon the dead face. + +"There lies a man who could better afford to face the mystery suddenly, +without warning, than you or I or any other living man I know. A good +man, a true Christian gentleman I honestly believe, too modest perhaps +to ever claim and hold his true place in this grasping world. That he +should be struck down by the hand of an assassin is past belief, and +yet----" He paused abruptly and bent down to replace the covering over +the still, handsome face. + +"And yet," repeated the detective, "do you really think that this man +was murdered?" + +"Ferrars!" Both men were moving away from the side of the bier, one on +either hand, and, as they came together at its foot, the speaker put a +hand upon the shoulder of the detective. "To-morrow I hope you will +thoroughly overlook the wood road beyond the school house, the lake +shore, from the village to the knoll or mound; and the thin strip of +wood between, and then tell me if you think it possible for any one, +however stupid or erratic of aim, to shoot by accident a man standing in +that place. There is no spot from which a bullet could have been fired +whence a man could not have been seen perfectly by that figure by the +lake side. The trees are so scattered, the bushes so low, the view up +and down so open. It's impossible!" + +"That is your fixed opinion?" + +"It is. Nothing but actual proof to the contrary would change it." + +When they had passed from the room and the doctor had softly closed the +door, leaving the dead alone in the silence and the shaded lamp-light, +they paused again, face to face, in the outer office. + +"Have you any suggestions as regards the inquest, Ferrars?" asked the +one. + +"I have been thinking about that foolish lad, the one who saw poor +Brierly in the wood. Could you get him here before the inquiry? We might +be able to learn more in this way. You know the lad, of course?" + +"Of course. There will be very little to be got from him. But I'll have +him here for you." + +"Do so. And the lady, the one who drove the pony; you will call her, I +suppose?" + +"Certainly." + +"That is all, I think. If you can drive me to the spot very early, +before we breakfast even, I would like it. You need not stop for me. I +can find my way back, prefer to, in fact. You say it is not far?" + +"Little more than half a mile from the school-house." + +"Then--good night, doctor." + +Doctor Barnes occupied a six-room cottage with a mansard, and he had +fitted up the room originally meant to be a sitting-room, for his own +sleeping apartment. It was at the front of the main cottage, and back of +it was the inner office where the body lay, the outer office being in a +wing built out from this rear room and opening conveniently outward, in +view of the front entrance, and very close to a little side gate. A +porch fitted snugly into the angle made by the former sitting-room and +this outer office, and both of these rooms could be entered from this +convenient porch. Robert Brierly occupied the room opposite that +assigned the detective with the width of the hall between them, and the +doctor, although Ferrars did not know this, had camped down in his outer +office. + +Half an hour after he had parted from the doctor, Frank Ferrars, as he +was called by his nearest and most familiar friends, opened the door +upon the corner porch and stepped noiselessly out. When he believed +that he had found an unusual case--and he cared for no others--he +seldom slept until he had thought out some plan of work, adopted some +theory, or evolved a possibility, or, as he whimsically termed it, a +"stepping stone" toward clearer knowledge. + +He had answered the doctor's summons with little thought of what it +might mean, or lead to, and simply because it was from "Walt." Barnes. +Then he had heard the doctor's brief story with some surprise, and an +inclination to think it might end, after all, in a case of accidental +shooting, or self-inflicted death. But when he looked into the woeful +eyes of lovely Hilda Grant, and clasped the hand of the dead man's +brother, the case took on a new interest. Here was no commonplace +village maiden hysterical and forlorn, no youth breathing out dramatic +vows of vengeance upon an unknown foe. At once his heart went out to +them, his sympathy was theirs, and the sympathy of Francis Ferrars was +of a very select nature indeed. + +And thus he had looked at the beautiful refined face of the dead man, a +face that told of gentleness, sweetness, loyalty, all manifest in the +calm dignity of death. Not a strong face, as his brother's face was +strong, but manly with the true Christian manliness, and strong with the +strength of truth. Looking upon this face, all thought of +self-destruction forsook the detective, and he stood, after that first +long gaze, vowed to right this deadly wrong in the only way left to a +mortal. + +But how strange that such a man, in such a place, should be snatched out +of life by the hand of an assassin! He must think over it, and he could +think best when passing slowly along some quiet by-way or street. So he +closed his door softly, and all unconscious that he was observed from +the window of the outer office, he vaulted across the low fence, +striking noiselessly upon the soft turf on the further side; and, after +a moment of hesitation, turned the corner and went down Main Street. + +Past the shops, the fine new church, the two hotels, one new and one +old. Past the little park and around it to the street, terraced and tree +planted, where the more pretentious dwellings and several modish new +houses, built for the summer boarder, stood. It was a balmy night. Every +star seemed out, and there was a moon, bright, but on the wane. + +Ferrars walked slowly upon the soft turf, avoiding the boards and stones +of the walks and street crossings. Now and then he paused to look at +some fair garden, lovely in the moonlight, or up at the stars, and once, +at least, at a window, open to the breezes of night and revealing that +which sent Ferrars homeward presently with a question on his lips. He +paced the length of the terraced street, and passed by the cottage +where Hilda Grant waked and wept perchance, and as he re-entered his +room silently and shadow-like, he said to himself-- + +"Is it fate or Providence that prompts us to these reasonless acts? I +may be wrong, I may be mistaken, but I could almost believe that I have +found my first clue." + +And yet he had heard nothing, and yet all he had seen was a woman's +shadow, reflected fitfully by the waning moon, as she paced her room to +and fro, to and fro, like some restless or tormented animal, and now and +then lifted her arms aloft in despair? in malediction? in triumph? in +entreaty?--which? + +In spite of his brief rest, if rest it was, Ferrars was astir before +sunrise: but, even so, he found the doctor awake before him, and his +horse in waiting at the side gate. + +They drove swiftly and were soon within sight of the Indian Mound. + +"Show me first the place where the body was found," Ferrars had said to +his guide as they set out, and when the two stood at this spot, which +some one had marked with two small stakes, and the doctor had answered +some brief questions regarding the road through the fringe of wood, the +mound, and the formation of the lake shore further south or away from +the town, the detective announced his wish to be left alone to pursue +his work in his own way. + +"Your guest will be astir early if I am not much mistaken," he said. +"And you have Miss Grant to look after, and may be wanted for a dozen +reasons before I return. I can easily walk back, and think you will see +me at the breakfast hour, which you must on no account delay." + +Two hours later, and just as the doctor's man had announced breakfast, +the detective returned, and at once joined the two in the dining-room. + +He said nothing of his morning excursion, but the doctor's quick eye +noted his look of gravity, and a certain preoccupation of manner which +Ferrars did not attempt to hide. Before the meal was ended Doctor Barnes +was convinced that something was puzzling the detective, and troubling +him not a little. + +After breakfast, and while Brierly was for the moment absent from the +porch where they had seated themselves with their cigars, Ferrars +asked-- + +"Where does the lady live who drove Mr. Doran's black pony yesterday. Is +it at an hotel?" + +"It is at the Glenville, an aristocratic family hotel on the terrace. +She is a Mrs. Jamieson." + +"Do you know her?" + +"She sent for me once to prescribe for some small ailment not long ago." + +"Has she been summoned?" + +"She will be." + +"If there was any one in the woods, or approaching the mound by the road +from the south, she should have seen them, or him; even a boat might +have been seen through the trees for some distance southward, could it +not?" + +"Yes. For two miles from the town the lake is visible from the wood +road. Ah! here comes Doran and our constable." + +For half an hour the doctor was busy with Doran, the constable, and a +number of other men who had or wished to have some small part to play in +this second act of the tragedy, the end of which no one could foresee. +Then, having dispatched them on their various missions, the doctor set +out to inquire after the welfare of Hilda Grant; and Robert Brierly, who +could not endure his suspense and sorrow in complete inaction, asked +permission to accompany him, thus leaving the detective, who was quite +in the mood for a little solitude just then, in possession of the porch, +three wicker chairs and his cigar. + +But not for long. Before he had smoked and wrinkled his brows, as was +his habit when things were not developing to his liking, and pondered +ten minutes alone, he heard the click of the front gate, and turned in +his chair to see a lady, petite, graceful, and dressed in mourning, +coming toward him with quick, light steps. She was looking straight at +him as she came, but as he rose at her approach, she stopped short, and +standing a few steps from the porch, said crisply-- + +"Your pardon. I have made a mistake. I am looking for Doctor Barnes." + +"He has gone out for a short time only. Will you be seated, madam, and +wait?" + +She advanced a step and stopped irresolute. + +"I suppose I must, unless," coming close to the lower step, "unless you +can tell me, sir, what I wish to know." + +"If it is a question of medicine, madam, I fear----" + +"It is not," she broke in, her voice dropping to a lower note. "It is +about the--the inquiry or examination into the death of the poor young +man who--but you know, of course." + +"I have heard. The inquest is held at one o'clock." + +"Ah! And do you know if the--the witnesses have been notified as yet?" + +"They are being summoned now. As the doctor's guest I have but lately +heard him sending out the papers." + +"Oh, indeed!" The lady put a tiny foot upon the step as if to mount, and +then withdrew it. "I think, if I may leave a message with you, sir," she +said, "I will not wait." + +"Most certainly," he replied. + +"I chanced to be driving through the wood yesterday when the body was +discovered near the Indian Mound, and am told that I shall be wanted as +a witness. I do not understand why." + +"Possibly a mere form, which is nevertheless essential." + +"I had engaged to go out with a yachting party," she went on, "and +before I withdraw from the excursion I wish to be sure that I shall +really be required. My name is Mrs. Jamieson, and----" + +"Then I can assure you, Mrs. Jamieson, that you are, or will be wanted, +at least. My friend has sent a summons to a Mrs. Jamieson of the +Glenville House." + +"That is myself," the lady said, and turned to go. "Of course then I +must be at hand." + +She nodded slightly and went away, going with a less appearance of haste +down the street and so from his sight. + +When she was no longer visible the detective resumed his seat, and +relighted his cigar, making, as he did so, this very unprofessional +comment-- + +"I hate to lose sight of a pretty woman, until I am sure of the colour +of her eyes." + +And yet Francis Ferrars had never been called, in any sense, a "ladies' +man." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +RENUNCIATION. + + +Ferrars had predicted that nothing would be gained by the inquest, and +the result proved him a prophet. + +Peter Kramer, the poor half-wit who had given the first clue to the +whereabouts of the murdered man, was found, and his confidence won by +much coaxing, and more sweets and shining pennies, the only coin which +Peter would ever recognise as such. But the result was small. Asked had +he seen the teacher, the reply was, "Yep." Asked where, "Most by Injun +hill." Asked what doing, "Settin' down." + +"Had he heard the pistol fired?" asked the doctor. + +"Un! Uh! Heard nawthin." + +"And whom did you see, Peter, besides the teacher?" + +Again the look of affright in the dull eyes, the arm lifted as in +self-protection, and the only word they could coax from his lips was, +"Ghost!" uttered in evident fear and trembling. + +And this was repeated at the inquest. This, and no more, from Peter. + +Mrs. Fry, Charles Brierly's landlady, told how the dead man had appeared +at breakfast, and her testimony did not accord with the statement of her +little daughter. + +"Miss Grant has told me of my little girl's mistake," she said. "Mr. +Brierly was down-stairs unusually early that morning, and he did not +look quite as well as usual. He looked worried, in fact, and ate little. +He was always a small eater, and I said something about his eating even +less than usual, I can't recall the exact words. Nellie of course, did +not observe his worried look, as I did, and quoted me wrong. Mr. Brierly +left the house at once after leaving the table. I did not think of it at +first, but it came to me this morning that as he did not carry any books +with him, he must of course have meant to come back for them, and----" +She paused. + +"And, of course," suggested the coroner, "he must have had his pistol +upon his person when he came down to breakfast? Is that your meaning?" + +"Yes, sir." + +The weapon, found near the dead man's hand as it had doubtless fallen +from it, was there in evidence, as it had been picked up with two of the +chambers empty. + +That it was not a case of murder for plunder was proven, or so they +thought, by the fact that the dead man's watch was found upon his +person; his pockets containing a small sum of money, pencils, knives, +note book, a small picture case, closed with a spring, and containing +Hilda Grant's picture, and a letter from his brother. + +Hilda Grant's brief testimony did not agree with that of Mrs. Fry. + +"She saw her lover, alive, for the last time on the evening before his +death. He was in good spirits, and if there was anything troubling him +he gave no sign of it. He was by nature quiet and rather reserved," she +said. + +"Yes, she knew his habit of sometimes going to the lake shore beyond the +town to practice at target-shooting, but when he did not appear at his +post at nine o'clock, she never thought to send to the lake shore at +first, because he usually returned from his morning exercise before nine +o'clock; and so her first thought had been to send to Mrs. Fry's." + +When the doctor and Robert were about to leave the scene of the murder, +among other instructions given to Doran had been this: + +"Don't say anything in town about Mr. Brierly's arrival; you know how +curious our people are, and we would have a lot of our curiosity lovers +hovering around my place to see and hear and ask questions. Just caution +the others, will you?" + +Doran held an acknowledged leadership over the men with whom he +consorted, and the group willingly preserved silence. Later, when Doctor +Barnes explained to Ferrars how he had kept the curious away from his +door, and from Brierly, he thought the detective's gratification because +of this rather strange, just at first, and in excess of the cause. + +"You couldn't have done a better thing," Ferrars had declared. "It's +more than I had ventured to hope. Keep Brierly's identity as close as +possible until the inquest is called, and then hold it back, and do not +put him on the stand until the last." + +After Mrs. Fry, the boy Peter and Hilda Grant had been questioned, +Samuel Doran took the witness chair, telling of his summons from Miss +Grant, of the separation of the group at the Indian Mound, of his +meeting with Mrs. Jamieson, of the discovery made by his two companions +and of all that followed. And then Mrs. Jamieson was called. + +She had entered the place accompanied by an acquaintance from the +Glenville, and they had taken, from choice, as it seemed to them, seats +in the rear of the jury, and somewhat aloof from the place where Hilda +Grant, Mrs. Marcy, and Mrs. Fry sat. Robert Brierly would have taken his +place beside Hilda, but the detective interposed. + +"Owing to the precautions of the doctor and Mr. Doran, the fact of your +relationship has not leaked out. It appears that Mrs. Fry was not +informed of your coming until the evening before, or Thursday evening, +and she seems to be a very discreet woman. After the inquest you will be +free to devote yourself to Miss Grant. Until then, it is my whim, if you +like, to keep you incog." + +Of course Brierly acquiesced, but more than once he found himself +wondering why this should seem to Ferrars needful. + +Mrs. Jamieson came quietly to the witnesses' chair, and took her place. +There was a little stir as she came forward, for, while she had been for +some weeks in Glenville, and had driven much about its pretty country +roads and lanes, she had gone, for the most part, more or less closely +veiled in fleecy gauzes of black or white. Afoot she was seldom seen +beyond the grounds about the family hotel. + +To-day, however, the lady had chosen to wear a Parisian looking gown of +dull black silk and a tiny capote of the same material rested upon her +blonde and abundant hair, while only the filmiest of white illusion +veiled, but did not hide, the pretty face from which the blue eyes +looked out and about her, gravely but with perfect self-possession. + +She told of her morning drive, and while so doing, Ferrars, sitting a +little in the rear of the coroner, slipped into his palm a small card +closely written upon both sides. Upon one side was written, "Use these +as random shots." + +And when she spoke of the man whom she had seen going into the wood near +the mound, the doctor interposed his first question. + +"Can you describe the person at all? His dress, his bearing?" + +"Not distinctly," she replied. "He was going from me and his face, of +course, I could not see. In fact, as I have before stated, my pony was +fresh, and required my attention. Besides, there was really no reason +why I should look a second time at the back of a strange person whom I +passed at some little distance. As I seem to recall the figure now, it +was that of a rather tall, fair-haired man. I can say no more." + +"And at what hour was this?" + +"It must have been nearing eight o'clock, I fancy, although being out +for pleasure I took little notice of the hour." + +No further interruptions were made until she had finished the story of +the morning's experience, of her meeting with Doran and the others, of +the drive to the village, and of her message to Miss Grant. + +"Did you know Miss Grant?" + +"Only as I had seen her at church, and upon the street or in the +school-yard. We had never met, prior to that morning." + +"And Charles Brierly? Did you know him?" + +"Only by sight. I know few people in Glenville outside of my ho--of the +Glenville House." + +Both the doctor and Ferrars noted the unfinished word broken off at the +first syllable. To the one it was a riddle; to the other it told +something which he might find useful later on. + +"Mrs. Jamieson," resumed the coroner, after consulting the detective's +card, "how far did you drive yesterday before you turned about upon the +wood road?" + +For a moment the lady seemed to be questioning her memory. Then she +replied. + +"The distance in miles, or fractions of miles, I could not give. I +turned the pony about, I remember, at the place where the road curves +toward the lake, at the old mill, near the opening of the wood." + +"Ah, then you could see, of course, for some distance up and down the +lake shore?" + +"I could!" + +There was a hint of surprise in her coldly courteous reply. + +"And at that point did you see anything, any one in the wood, or along +the lake?" + +"I certainly saw no person. But--yes, I do remember that there was a +boat at the water's edge, not far from the place where I turned +homeward. It was a little beyond, or north of me." + +"Did you observe whether there were oars in the boat?" + +"I saw none, I am quite sure," the lady replied, and this ended her part +in the inquiry. + +But now there were some youthful, eager and valuable new witnesses, and +their combined testimony amounted to this: + +When the body of their beloved teacher had been brought home and the +first hour of excitement had passed, three boys, who had been among +Charles Brierly's brightest and most mischief loving and adventurous +pupils, had set out, a full hour in advance of the elder exploring +party, and had followed the lake shore and the wood road, one closely +skirting the lake shore, another running through the sparse timber and +undergrowth about half way up the shallow slope, and the third trotting +down the road beyond; the three keeping pretty nearly parallel, until +the discovery, by the lad upon the shore, of the boat drawn out of the +water, and in the shade of a tree. This had brought the others down to +the lake and then caused them to go hastily back. Meeting the party of +men, who were not far behind them, the boys had turned back with them, +and now there was a crowd of witnesses to corroborate the story of the +boat. + +It stood, they all affirmed, in the shade of a spreading tree, so as +that no sun rays had beaten upon it, and its sides were still damp from +recent contact with the water, while it stood entirely upon the land. +Two oars, also showing signs of contact with the lake, were in the +little boat, blade ends down, and it was evident that its late occupant +had disembarked in haste, for, while the stake by which the boat had +been secured, stood scarcely three feet away, and the chain and padlock +lay over the edge of the little craft, there had been no effort to +secure it, and the oars had the look of having been hastily shipped and +left thus without further care. + +When the matter of the boat had been fully investigated, the coroner and +Ferrars conferred together for some moments, and during these moments +Mrs. Jamieson and her companion exchanged some whispered words. + +Through some mistake, it would seem, these two had been given places +which, while aloof from the strange men, and almost in the rear of the +jurors, brought them facing the open door of the inner room, where, in +full view, the shrouded body of the murdered man lay, and from the first +the eyes of the two seemed held and fascinated by the sight of the long, +still figure outlined under the white covering. + +"Is it possible," whispered the lady witness, "that we must sit here +until the end, face to face with that!" She was trembling slightly, as +she spoke. "It is making me nervous." + +"And no wonder," murmured her friend. "But it must be almost over. I--I +confess to some curiosity. This is such a new and unusual sensation, to +be here, you know." + +"Ugh!" + +Mrs. Jamieson turned away, for the coroner was speaking. + +"There is one point," he said, "upon which our witnesses differ, and +that is the mental condition of the deceased during the twenty-four +hours preceding his death. Another witness will now speak upon this +matter. Mr. Robert Brierly, the brother of Charles Brierly, will now +testify." + +As Robert Brierly came out from the rather secluded place he had +heretofore occupied, at the suggestion of the detective, all eyes were +fixed upon him. There could be no doubt of his relationship to the +deceased. It was the same face, but darker and stronger; the same tall +form, but broader and more athletic. The eyes of this man were darker +and more resolute than those of his dead brother; his hair was browner, +too, and where the face of the one had been full of kindliness and +gentle dignity, that of this other was strong, spirited and resolute. +But, beyond a doubt, these two were brothers. + +There was a stir as Brierly made his way forward, paused before the +coroner and faced the jury; and then, as his eyes fell upon the two +figures in the rear of that body he made a sudden step forward. + +"Doctor!" he called quickly, "you are needed here! A lady has fainted!" + +For a moment all was forgotten, save the white face that had fallen back +upon her friend's shoulder, and that seemed even whiter because of the +black garments, and beneath the halo of fair blonde hair. + +"It was that," explained the friend, who proved to be a Mrs. Arthur, +pointing toward the shrouded figure in the inner room. "She has been +growing more and more nervous for some time." + +Robert Brierly was the first at her side, but, as the doctor took his +place and he drew back a pace, a hand touched his arm. + +"Step aside," whispered Ferrars, "where she cannot see you." And without +comprehending but answering a look in the detective's eye, he obeyed. + +Mrs. Jamieson did not at once recover, and the doctor and Ferrars +carried her across the hall and into the room lately occupied by +Brierly. As Mrs. Arthur followed them, it seemed to her that the +detective, whom of course she did not know as such, was assuming the +leadership, and that half a dozen quick words were spoken by him to the +doctor, across her friend's drooping head. + +"She must be removed immediately," said the doctor a moment after. "Let +some one find a carriage or phĉton at once." Then, as Ferrars did not +move from his place beside the bed where they had placed the unconscious +woman, he strode to the chamber door, said a word or two to Doran, who +had followed them as far as the door, and came back to his place beside +the bed. + +Before Mrs. Jamieson had opened her eyes a low wagonette was at the +door, and when the lady became conscious and had been raised and given a +stimulating draught, she was lifted again by Ferrars and Doctor Barnes +and carried to the waiting vehicle, followed by Mrs. Arthur. + +"Kindly take the place beside the driver, madam," directed the doctor. +"My friend will go with the lady and assist her; it will be best. It is +possible that she may faint again." And so they drove away, Mrs. Arthur +beside Doran, the driver; and Mrs. Jamieson, still pallid and tremulous, +leaning upon the supporting shoulder of Ferrars, silent and with closed +eyes. + +As he lifted her from the wagonette, and assisted her up the steps and +within the door, however, the lady seemed to recover herself with an +effort. She had crossed the threshold supported by Ferrars on the one +side, and leaning upon her friend's arm upon the other, and at the door +of the reception room she turned, saying faintly: + +"Let me rest here first. Before we go upstairs, I mean." Then, +withdrawing her hand from her friend's arm, she seemed to steady +herself, and standing more erect, turned to Ferrars. + +"I must not trouble you longer, now, sir. You have been most kind." Her +voice faltered, she paused a moment, and then held out her hand. "I +should like very much to hear the outcome," she hesitated. + +"With your permission," the detective replied quickly, "I will call to +ask after your welfare, and to inform you if I can." He turned to go, +but she made a movement toward him. + +"That poor girl," she said, "I pity her so. Do you know her well, sir?" +She was quite herself now, but her voice was still weak and tremulous. + +"You have not heard, I see, that she is my cousin." + +"No. I would like to call upon her. Will you ask her if I may?" He +nodded and she added quickly, "And call, if you please, to-morrow." + +Robert Brierly told his story almost without interruption; all that he +knew of his brother's life in the village; of his own; of his coming +earlier than he was expected, and of his firm belief that his brother +had been made the victim of foul play. Possibly killed by mistake, +because of some fancied resemblance; for his life, which had been like +an open book to all his friends, held no secrets, no "episodes," and +enemies he never had one. In short, he could throw no light upon the +mystery of his brother's death. Rather, his story made that death seem +more mysterious than at first because of the possibilities that it +rendered at least probable. + +But this evidence had its effect upon a somewhat bucolic jury. That +Charles Brierly had been shot by another hand than his own had been very +clearly demonstrated, for his brother would have no doubt whatever left +upon this point; while he little knew how much the judicious whispers +and hints uttered in the right places, and with apparent intent of +confidence and secrecy, had to do with the shaping of the verdict, which +was as follows: + + + "We, the jury, find that the deceased, Charles Brierly, died from a + bullet wound, fired, according to our belief, by mistake or + accident, and at the hands of some person unknown." + + +And now came the question of proof. + +"It must be cleared up," said Robert Brierly to the detective. "I am +not a rich man, Mr. Ferrars, but all that I have shall be spent at need +to bring the truth to light. For I can never rest until I have learned +it. It is my duty to my dead brother, father, mother--all." + +And late that night, alone in his room he looked out upon the stars hung +low upon the eastern horizon and murmured-- + +"Ah, Ruth, Ruth, we were far enough asunder before, and now--Ah, it was +well to have left you your freedom, for now the gulf is widening; it may +soon, it will soon be impassable." And he sighed heavily, as a strong +man sighs when the tears are very near his eyes and the pain close to +his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +TRICKERY. + + +As was quite natural, the three men, thrown so strangely and +unexpectedly together at the doctor's cottage, sat up late after the +inquest, and discussed the strange death of Charles Brierly in all its +bearings. As a result of this they slept somewhat late, except the +detective, who let himself out of the house at sunrise, and lighting a +cigar, set off for a short walk, up one certain street, and down +another. He walked slowly, and looked indolently absorbed in his cigar. +But it was a very observant eye that noted, from under the peak of his +English cap, the streets, the houses, and the very few stray people whom +he passed. It was not the people, though, in whom he was chiefly +interested. Ferrars was intently studying the topography of the town, at +least of that portion of it which he was then traversing with such +seeming aimlessness. + +From the doctor's cottage he had sauntered north for several blocks, +crossed over, until he reached the upper or terraced street, and +followed it until he had reached the southern edge of the village and +was in sight of the school-house not far beyond. Turning here he crossed +a street or two, and was nearing the house where the dead school teacher +had lived, when he saw the front door of the house open, and a woman +come out and hasten away in the direction in which he was moving. She +hurried on like one intent upon some absorbing errand, and, knowing the +house as the late home of Charles Brierly, and the woman as its +mistress, Ferrars quickened his steps that he might keep her in sight, +and when she turned the corner leading directly to the doctor's cottage +he further increased his speed, feeling instinctively that her errand, +whatever its nature, would take her there. + +He was not far behind her now, and he saw the doctor standing alone upon +the side porch, saw the woman enter at the side gate, and the meeting of +the two. + +Mrs. Fry, with her back towards him, was making excited gestures, and +the face of the doctor, visible above her head, changed from a look of +mild wonder to such sudden anxiety and amazement that the detective +halted at the gate, hesitating, and was seen at that instant by the +doctor, who beckoned him on with a look of relief. + +"Look here, Ferrars," he began, and then turned to assure himself that +Brierly had not arisen, and was not observing them from the office +window. "Come this way a few steps," moving away from the porch and +halting where the shadow of the wing hid them from view from within the +main dwelling. "And now, Mrs. Fry, please tell Mr. Grant what you had +begun to tell me. I want his opinion on it. He's not a bad lawyer." + +"A good detective'd be the right thing, I think," declared the woman. +"It's about Mr. Brierly's room, sir. He had a small bedroom, and another +opening out from it, where he used to read and study. You know how they +were, doctor!" + +The doctor nodded silently. + +"Well, last night, you remember, when you brought this gentleman and his +brother to my place to look at the rooms. You or he decided not to go up +then, but told me to close the rooms, and he would come +to-morrow--to-day--that would be." + +"Yes, yes!" said the doctor, impatiently, "we remember all that, Mrs. +Fry." + +"Well, I'd had the rooms locked ever since I heard that he was dead." +Mrs. Fry was growing somewhat hazy as to her pronouns. "And I had the +key in my pocket. Then, well, after a while I lit the lamp in the +sittin' room so's it wouldn't seem so gloomy in the house, and went out +and sat on my side stoop, and after a little my neighbour on that side, +Mrs. Robson, came acrost the lawn--there aint no fence between, ye +know--and we talked for some time, and my little girl fell asleep with +her head in my lap." + +"Don't be too long with the story," broke in the doctor. "I don't want +it to spoil Mr. Brierly's breakfast, for he needs it badly." + +"Yes, sir. Well, just about that time--it must have been half-past +eight, I guess--and there was plenty of folks all along the street, a +boy came running across the lawn and right up to me. + +"'If you please,' he says, touching his hat rim, 'Mr. Brierly, down to +the doctor's, forgot to get the key to his brother's room, and he sent +me to get it for him.' I s'pose I was foolish. I felt hurt, thinkin' he +couldn't trust me with his brother's things, an' so I jest hands out the +key and no questions asked." + +A look of sudden alertness shot from the eyes of the detective, and he +arrested the doctor's evident impatience by a quick shake of the head +unperceived by the woman, who was addressing her narrative to the +doctor, as was natural. + +"I s'pose," she went on, "that I shouldn't a' done it, but I didn't +scent anything wrong then. Mrs. Robson went home in a few minutes, and +then I roused my little girl up and took her in and put her to bed. She +was asleep again a'most as soon as her head touched the pillow, and the +night was so pleasant-like that I threw my shawl on my shoulders and +went out onto the front stoop. I felt sort o' lonesome in the house all +alone." + +"Of course," commented Ferrars, seeing the dread of their criticism or +displeasure that was manifest in her face as she paused and looked from +one to the other. "One naturally would in your place." + +"Yes, I suppose so," she went on, reassured. "Well, I hadn't been out +there two minutes when that same boy came running up the walk, all out +of breath, and says, sort of panting between words, 'Ma'am, the lady +that lives next the engine-house by the corner stopped me just now an' +asked me to come back here an' beg you to come down there quick! Her +little boy's got himself burned awful!'" + +"Ah! I see!" Ferrars spoke low, as if to himself, and his face wore the +look of one who is beginning to understand a riddle. "You went, of +course?" + +"Yes, I went." + +"Go on with the story, please. Tell it all as you have begun. Let us +have the details," and he again nodded toward the doctor, who was +regarding him with profound surprise, and put a finger to his lip. + +"My sister-in-law lives in the house by the engine-house," Mrs. Fry +hurried on, "and knowing how careless she is about keepin' things in the +house against such times, I ran back into my bedroom and got a bottle of +camphor and a roll of cotton batt. 'Run ahead, boy,' I says to the boy, +'an' tell her I am coming; I must lock up my doors and winders.' 'She's +in an awful hurry,' he says, 'cryin' fit to kill. I'll set right down +here and watch your house, ma'am; I can do no good there.' The boy spoke +so honest, and Mary's boy is such a dear little fellow, that I jest lost +my head complete, and ran off down the sidewalk. At the corner I looked +back. The boy was sittin' on the doorstep, an' I heard him whistlin'; +someway it made me feel quite easy. But when I got to the house and +found them all in the sitting-room, and Neddy not hurt at all, but sound +asleep on the floor, I was so took back that I just dropped down on a +chair and acted like a wild woman. Instead of rushin' back that very +minute, I sat there and told how I had been tricked, and scolded about +that boy, an' vowed I'd have him well punished, and so on, until Mary +reminded me that I'd better get back home and see if the house was all +right, or if 'twas only a boy's trick." + +"It looked like one, surely," was the detective's easy comment. + +"That's what Mr. Jones said. He's my neighbour. He was just going home, +and we overtook him. Mary told him about the boy and he laughed and said +that some boys had played that sort of trick last summer two or three +times, sending people running across the town on some such fool's +errand. He thought maybe 'twas some boy that I had offended some way; +and then I thought about how crisp I was about givin' the boy Mr. +Brierly's key, and it made me feel sort of easier. But Mr. Jones went in +with us when we got to my house. We looked all around downstairs and +everything was all right. Nellie was fast asleep still, and not a thing +had been disturbed. Then we went upstairs, 'just for form's sake,' Mr. +Jones said, and looked in all the bedrooms, and even tried Mr. Brierly's +door. Everything seemed right, and so Mr. Jones and Mary went away, and +I went to bed. But someway I couldn't sleep sound. I felt provoked and +angry about that boy, and the more I thought of him, of his being a +stranger and all, the uneasier I got. Then I began to imagine I heard +queer sounds, and creaking doors, and, right on the heels of all that, +came a loud slam that waked Nellie, and made me skip right out of bed." + +"A shutter, of course," said the doctor, as she paused for breath. + +"Yes, a shutter, and I knew well that every shutter on my house was +either shut tight or locked open. I look to that every night, as soon +as it's lamp-lighting time; them downstairs I shut, them upstairs I +open, sometimes. I knew where that slammin' shutter was by the sound, +and it set me to dressing quick. I had opened the shutters on Mr. +Brierly's windows that very afternoon, thinking the rooms would not seem +quite so dreary and lonesome when his brother came to look through 'em +and they was locked open, I knew well! All the same, it was them +shutters, or one of 'em, that was clattering then, and I knew it." + +"Were you alone in the house, you and your little girl?" asked Ferrars. + +"All alone, yes, sir; and I took Nellie with me and went out into the +hall----" + +"You mean downstairs?" + +"Yes, sir. We sleep downstairs. Now, I thought I had seen that +everything was right when Mr. Jones and Mary was with me, but when we +went into that hall--Doctor--" turning again toward that gentlemen, for +she had addressed her later remarks to Ferrars,--"I guess you may +remember a shelf just at the foot of the stairs. It's right behind the +door, when it stands open, and that's why we hadn't seen it, or I hadn't +before. Well, I always set the lamp for Mr. Brierly's room--his bedroom +lamp, that is--on that shelf for him every morning, as soon as it had +been filled for the night's burning; and the morning he was killed I +had put it there as usual, and it had been there ever since. It was +there when Mr. Brierly and you two gentlemen called, after the inquest." + +A queer little sound escaped the detective's throat, and again he +checked the doctor's impatience with that slight movement of the head. + +"I don't call myself brave," the woman went on, "but I caught Nellie by +the hand--I was carrying my bedroom lamp--and ran up the stairs and +straight to Mr. Brierly's door. I don't know what made me do it, but I +stooped down to look through the keyhole, and there in the door was the +very key I had given to that boy to take to Mr. Brierly's brother." + +"What did you do?" asked the doctor, breathlessly. + +"I set down my lamp very softly, told Nellie in a whisper not to make a +noise, and then very carefully tried the key. It turned in the lock. I +didn't dare go in, but I locked the door, left the key in it, and went +downstairs and out at the front door. I went around the house and stood +under the window of that room. The side window shutter that I had +fastened back was swinging loose. I went back to the sitting-room, +locking the front door and the doors from the hall into the front room +and sitting-room, taking out the key of the front door, and leaving the +other keys in the locks, on my side. Then I lit the big lamp, pulled +down the curtains, fixed the side door so I could open it quick, and set +the big dinner bell close by it. I made Nellie lie down on the lounge +with her clothes on, and there I sat till morning. Before daylight I +went into the kitchen and moved about very softly to get myself a cup of +coffee, and a bite of breakfast for Nellie. I had been careful not to +let her see how I was scared, and she went sound asleep right away. As +soon as I thought you would be up I awoke my little girl, and left her +sitting upon the side stoop, while I came here to you. Mr. Brierly's +brother ought to be first to enter that room, and--if there was anyone +there last night--they're there yet." + +"What room is that which I ought to enter, Mrs. Fry?" said a voice +behind them, and turning, all together, they saw Robert Brierly standing +at the edge of the porch where it joined the wall of the doctor's room. + +"I was afraid of this," muttered Doctor Barnes. But the detective seemed +in nowise disconcerted. Neither did he seem inclined to listen, or allow +Brierly to listen to a repetition of Mrs. Fry's story. + +"You are here just in time, Mr. Brierly," he said, briskly. "Mrs. Fry +believes that someone has paid a visit to your brother's room during the +night, and as she says, you are the one who should investigate, and I +think it ought to be done at once, if you feel up to it." + +"I'll be with you in a moment," replied Brierly, promptly, and he went +indoors by way of the French windows which had given him egress. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A LETTER. + + +As Robert Brierly entered the house, the detective, now taking the lead +as a matter of course, turned toward Mrs. Fry. + +"I see that you are anxious to get back home," he said to her. "And it +is as well that you go back in advance of us, for people are beginning +to move about. Wait for us at the side door." And then, as the woman +hastened away, he turned toward the doctor. "You need not feel uneasy +because of your guest, Doc.," he said, with his rare and fine smile. +"There are times when the physical man is in subjection to the spiritual +man, or the will power within him, if you like that better. Brierly has +already endured a severe mental strain, I grant, but he's not at the end +of his endurance yet. In fact, if he's the journalist, and I begin to +think so, he knows how to sustain mental strain long and steadily. You +don't fancy he could be persuaded to wait for meat and drink now, do +you?" + +"My soul, man!" exclaimed Doctor Barnes, "how you do read a man's +thoughts! No! Brierly wouldn't stop for anything now. Nor you, either, +for that matter, What do you make of this?" + +"I can tell you better in an hour from now, I hope. Here's Brierly. Now +then, gentlemen, try and look as if this was merely a morning walk. We +don't want to excite the curiosity of the neighbours." + +There seemed little need of this caution, for they saw no one as they +crossed to the quiet street in which Mrs. Fry lived. But Ferrars, who +had fallen behind the others, had an observant eye upon all within +range, as if, as the doctor afterward declared, he held the very town +itself under suspicion. + +Mrs. Fry awaited them at the side door, and unlocked the one leading to +the front hall and stairway at once. + +"I hope one of you has got a pistol," she said, nervously, as they +approached the stairs. + +"There's no one up there, Mrs. Fry," replied Ferrars. "Never fear." But +Mrs. Fry was not so positive. She closed the sitting-room door, all but +the merest crack, and stood ready to clap it entirely shut at the first +sound of attack and defence from the room above. + +Meantime Robert Brierly, who had led the way upstairs, placed a firm +hand upon the key, turned it and softly opened the door. Then, for a +moment, all three stood still at the threshold, gazing within. + +It was Francis Ferrars who spoke the first word, with his hand upon +Robert Brierly's shoulder, and his voice little more than a whisper. + +"Go inside, Brierly, quickly and quietly." He gave the shoulder under +his hand a quick, light, forward pressure, and instinctively, as it +seemed, Brierly stepped across the threshold with the other two close at +his heels, and, the moment they were inside the room, Ferrars turned and +silently withdrew the key from the outer side, closed the door +cautiously, and relocked it from within. + +"We will do well to dispense with Mrs. Fry, at least for the present," +he said, coolly. "It's plain enough there has been mischief here. Mr. +Brierly, you saw this room last night, for a moment." + +Robert Brierly, who had dropped weakly upon a chair, stopped him with a +movement of the hand. + +"Mr. Ferrars," he said, "I realise the importance of a right beginning +here, and if you will undertake this case--I am not a rich man, you +understand--all I have is at your disposal. I could hardly bear to have +my brother's rooms searched by strange hands in my absence, but will it +not be wise that you should take the lead, and begin as you deem best?" + +"Yes," replied the detective, "but your assistance will be helpful." + +"Mrs. Fry is coming upstairs," broke in the doctor, who had been +standing near the door. + +Ferrars sprang across the room, turned the key, and put his head out +through the smallest possible opening in the door. + +"There's no one here, Mrs. Fry; and nothing missing, that we have +observed. It was, no doubt, a boyish trick." + +He smiled amiably at the somewhat surprised woman. + +"When Mr. Brierly has had time to look about a bit he will of course +report to you." And he closed the door in the good woman's astonished +face. "Better make no confidants until we know what we have to confide," +he said, turning back to survey the room afresh. "Now let us have more +light here." + +The room in which they were was dimly lighted, for the outer blinds of +its three windows had been closed, and all the light afforded them came +from the one nearest the front corner, where half the shutter was +swinging loosely at the will of the morning breeze. This light, however, +enabled them to see that the room was in some confusion, or rather, +that it was not in the same neat order in which they had seen it on the +previous day. + +The writing desk, which later Mrs. Fry declared to have been closed, was +now open, and a portion of the contents of its usually neatly arranged +pigeon-holes was scattered upon the leaf. + +"This," said Brierly, as they approached it, "was closed when I saw it +last night." + +"I remember," Ferrars nodded, and sat down in the revolving chair before +the desk, and, without touching anything, ran his eye carefully over the +scattered papers, examined the pigeon-holes, the locks, and even the +fine coating of dust. + +Upon a round table near the front window were some scattered books, +mostly of reference, a pile of unruled manuscript tablets, and a little +heap of written sheets. There was a set of bookshelves above the +writing-desk, and a wire rack near it was filled with newspapers and +magazines. + +When Ferrars had carefully noted the appearance of the desk and its +contents, he swung slowly around in the swivel chair and gazed all about +him without rising. He had noted the books above him with a thoughtful +gaze, and he now fixed that same speculative glance upon those upon the +table. Then he got up. + +"Oblige me by not so much as touching this desk yet," he said, and +crossed to the table. "Your brother was a magazinist, Mr. Brierly?" he +queried. + +"Yes," replied Brierly. + +Ferrars turned toward the inner room which the others had not yet +approached. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed suddenly, and then, in an altered tone, "Here is Mrs. +Fry's missing lamp." + +His two companions came to the door of the room, where Ferrars was now +looking down at the pillows of the bed. + +"Brierly," asked Ferrars, as they paused in the doorway, "what had your +brother with him in the way of valuables, to your knowledge?" + +The young man, who had been looking sharply about the room like one who +seeks something which should be there, started slightly. + +"Why, he had a somewhat odd and valuable watch, which was given him by +our father upon our setting out for Europe. It was like this," and he +produced a very beautiful specimen of the watchmaker's art, and held it +out for inspection. "He also had a ring set with a fine opal, that was +once our mother's, and a locket with her monogram. There were also some +odd trifles that he had picked up abroad, saying that they would become +his future wife, no doubt." + +"And you think these were still in his possession?" + +"I do. In writing of Miss Grant not long ago he mentioned as a proof of +her refinement and womanly delicacy that she would accept no gifts from +him other than books or flowers." + +"I think," said Ferrars, gravely, "that we had better have Mrs. Fry in +here now, and I want you to do the talking, Brierly. Doctor, if you +would ask her to come up, I'll post Mr. Brierly, meantime." + +The doctor turned the key in the lock and then hesitated. "I dare say I +will not be needed here longer?" + +"You!" Ferrars turned upon him quickly. "Is there anything urgent +outside?" + +"Not especially so--only----" + +"Only you fancy yourself _de trop_? If you can spare us the time, we +want you right here, doctor. Eh, Mr. Brierly?" + +"By all means." + +"Then of course I am at your disposal," and the doctor went out in +search of Mrs. Fry. + +"I wish there were more men with his combined delicacy and good sense," +grumbled Ferrars, and then he began to explain to Brierly what was +wanted from Mrs. Fry. + +When that good woman entered, Ferrars was seated by the furthest +window, and Robert Brierly met her at the door. + +"Mrs. Fry," he began, "will you kindly look about you, without, of +course, disturbing or changing things, and tell us if you see anything +that has changed? If you miss anything, or if anything in your opinion, +has been tampered with? Look through both rooms carefully, and then give +us your opinion." + +Mrs. Fry, who had been expecting just such a summons and who fully +realised the gravity of the occasion, stood still in her place near the +door and looked slowly about her; then she began to walk about the room. +Once or twice Brierly, prompted by a glance from the detective, had to +warn her against putting a finger upon some object, but she went about +with firmly closed lips until she had reached the little sleeping room. +Then-- + +"Well, I declare!" she broke out. "If they haven't even been at the +bed!" + +Brierly started forward, but Ferrars held up a warning finger. + +"And there's that lamp!" she went on, "with the chimney all smoked! +Somebody's been carrying it around burning full tilt." + +By this time Ferrars was so close beside Brierly that he could breathe a +low word in his ear, from time to time, unnoted by the woman as she went +peering about. + +"You are sure the bed has been disturbed?" Brierly asked. + +"Certain of it!" + +"And can you guess why?" + +"Well, he always kept his pistol under the bolster." + +The men started and looked at each other. "What an oversight," murmured +the doctor. + +"Do you mean," went on the enquiry, "that it was there yesterday morning +when you made the bed?" + +"I can't say, sir. The fact is, I was awfully afraid of the thing, and +when I told him I was, he put it clear under the bolster with his own +hand, and said it should stay there, instead of on top, as it used to be +at first." + +"You don't mean that he left it there during the day?" + +"Yes, sir! This one. You see he had two. The one he used to practise +with--the one they found--was different. This one was bigger and +different somehow, and not like any pistol I ever saw. He told me 'twas +a foreign weapon." + +"She is right," said Brierly. "My brother brought a pair of duelling +pistols from Paris. They were elaborately finished. He gave me one of +them." He looked anxiously toward the crushed and displaced pillows. +"Shall we not look," he asked, "and find out if anything is there? Will +you look, Mr. Ferrars? Or did you?" + +Ferrars moved forward. "No, I did not look," he said. "But the weapon is +not there; I could almost swear to it. Come--see, all of you." + +With a quick light hand he removed the pillows, turned back the sheets +and lifted the bolster. There was nothing beneath it, save the +impression where the weapon had laid upon the mattress. + +The detective turned toward Mrs. Fry. "You are sure it was here +usually?" he questioned. + +"I have lifted that bolster carefully every day, and have always seen +it," she declared. "When I wanted to turn the mattress he always took +away the pistol himself." + +Ferrars turned away from the bed, and Brierly resumed his rôle of +questioner. + +"What else do you miss or find disturbed, Mrs. Fry?" + +She went back to the outer room after a last slow glance about the +chamber. + +"There is the lamp, of course," she began. "That was taken from the +shelf to give them light. Then the writing-desk has been opened, as you +see, and the things on that table have been disturbed, the books shoved +about, and the papers moved. I think," going slowly toward the article, +"that even the waste basket and the paper holder have been rummaged." + +"And do you miss anything here?" + +Mrs. Fry shook her head. "I don't s'pose you've searched the +writing-desk yet?" she ventured. + +"Not yet. And is that all you observe, Mrs. Fry? The bed, the lamp, the +desk, table, rack, and basket?" + +She went back to the table and pointed out with extended forefinger a +couple of burned matches, one upon a corner of the table, one upon the +floor almost beneath it. + +"They lit that lamp there!" she said. "And they brought their own +matches. I never use those 'parlour matches,' as they call 'em!" She +bent her head to look closer at the polished surface of the table, and +then walked to the open window, where the shutter still swung in the +breeze. "It has been awful dusty since yesterday, seems to me, for this +time of year. That boy's left his finger prints on this window, as +well's on the table there." + +"Don't touch them!" It was Ferrars who spoke and so sharply that the +woman turned suddenly, but not soon enough to note the swift gesture +which directed his exclamation. + +"Of course we may rely upon you to keep the fact that my brother's rooms +have been entered in this manner from every one, for the present. It +may be very important that we do not let it be known beyond the four of +us. You have not seen or spoken with any one as yet, I think you said?" + +"I haven't, and I won't. I'd do more than that for the sake of your +brother, Mr. Brierly, and you've only to tell me what I can do." + +"I intend to examine my brother's papers now, Mrs. Fry, before I leave +the house, and if we should need you again we will let you know." And +Mrs. Fry withdrew, puzzled and wondering much, but with her lips tightly +set over the secret she must and would help to preserve. + +"She'll keep silent, never fear," said the doctor as the door closed +behind her. "And now, Brierly, I must remind you that you will need all +your strength, and that I don't like your colour this morning. If you +must investigate at once, get it over, for you, even more than Ferrars +or I, need your morning coffee and steak." + +"That is true," agreed Ferrars. "Brierly, let me ask two questions, and +then oblige me by leaving certain marks, which I will point out to you, +just as you find them." + +"Your questions." Brierly had already seated himself before his +brother's desk. + +"I have an idea that this old oak writing-desk was not selected by our +friend, Mrs. Fry. Am I right?" + +"It is my brother's desk; bought for its compact and portable +qualities." + +"Good! Now, where did your brother usually keep these keepsakes and bits +of foreign jewellery?" + +"In one of these drawers. He kept them in a lacquered Japanese box." + +"Look for them. And, before you begin, oblige me by not touching that +letter file above the desk, nor the desk top just below it." + +The letter file held only a few bits of paper, apparently notes and +memoranda; and upon the flat top of the desk was a bronze ink well, a +pen tray, a thin layer of dust and nothing more, except a tiny scrap of +paper hardly as big as a thumb nail, which lay directly beneath the +letter file. Brierly cast a wandering glance over the desk top and file +and set about his task. + +There was quite a litter of papers, letters mostly, together with some +loose sheets that contained figures, dates, or something begun and cast +aside. Below some of the pigeon holes, letters lay as if hastily pulled +out, and from one of these little receptacles three or four envelopes +protruded, half out, half in--one, a square white envelope, projecting +beyond the others. These Brierly pulled forth, and turning them over in +his hand, scrutinised their superscriptions. Then slowly he took the +square white wrapper from among the others, and drew out the letter it +contained. As he began to scan the page of closely lined writing he +started, frowned, flushed hotly, and then with a look of fierce anger he +thrust the sheet back into its envelope, and turned toward the +detective. + +"Take that!" he said with a curl of the lip. "Unless I am greatly at +fault, it's a document in the case." + +Ferrars took the letter from him, and asked, as he thrust it into the +pocket of his loose coat without so much as glancing at it, "Do you mind +my running over the papers in this rack, Brierly? and looking into the +waste basket?" + +"Do it, by all means," was the reply as Brierly pulled open the topmost +drawer; and then for some time there was silence, save for the rustle of +paper or the rasping of a hinge or turning knob. + +When Brierly had finished his silent search of the two drawers, he +approached the detective with a small lacquered box in his hand. + +"The watch and the foreign jewels are gone," he said, holding out the +open box. "And what do you think of this? Here are my mother's +keepsakes, wrapped in tissue paper, and labelled in my brother's hand, +'Mementos. From my mother.' The thief has spared these." + +The detective, who was now seated beside the table, holding a folded +newspaper in his hand, took the box, looked at the tiny packet within, +nodded and passed it silently to the doctor. + +"And now," went on Robert Brierly, and there was a new ring of +resolution and menace in his voice. "I turn the rooms and all they +contain over to you, Mr. Ferrars, and I await your opinion, when you +have read that letter in your pocket." + +Ferrars drew forth the envelope and looked at it for the first time. It +was only a fragment, for a large corner of its face was missing, the +corner, in fact, which should have borne the postage stamp and the +postmaster's seal. + +Without a word he held this side towards the two men, extending it first +to one, and then to the other. + +"You see!" he said, and then to Brierly. "Was it your brother's habit to +tear his letters open in such a reckless manner?" + +"No. He was almost dainty in all his ways." + +"Is there another letter in that desk torn as this is?" + +Without a word Brierly took the letter and went back to the desk, +catching the letters from their pigeon holes by the handful. + +"I understand," he said, when he came back to them. "No, there is not a +torn envelope there." + +"Then," said the detective, "I think I may venture to give an opinion +even before I look at this letter." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THIS HELPS ME. + + +The three men were now standing grouped about the table with its +scattered books and manuscripts, and Ferrars bent toward Robert Brierly, +putting a hand upon his shoulder. + +"Brierly," he said, "sit down; this thing is using up your strength. I +will tell you what I think of all this, and then we must lock up this +place for a little while just as it is." And as Brierly obediently +dropped into the chair which the doctor quickly placed beside him, the +detective resumed. + +"Since yesterday half a dozen theories have suggested themselves to my +mind as possible explanations of this very daring murder, for I am now +fully convinced that it is nothing less; but I make it a rule never to +accept, much less announce, a belief, until I have established at least +a reasonable series of corroborative circumstances. This I have not +done entirely to my satisfaction, and so we will not go into the theory +of the case, but will see what facts we have established; and fact +number one, to my mind, is this: Your brother, Mr. Brierly, was most +certainly shot down with malice aforethought. He could not have shot +himself, and no one, in that open place, could have killed him by +accident. He may have been entirely unaware of it, but he had an enemy; +and the deed of yesterday was planned, I believe, long ago, and studied +carefully in every detail." + +Robert Brierly flushed and paled. He opened his lips as if to speak, but +the detective's eyes were steadfastly turned away, and he resumed almost +at once. + +"I blame myself that I did not establish myself here last night, as I at +first thought of doing. But it is too late for useless regret. And now, +about this boy. Have you, either of you, a thought, a suspicion, as to +his identity?" + +The doctor shook his head. + +"You can't suspect one of the pupils, surely?" hazarded Brierly. + +"Be sure that Mrs. Fry knows every pupil in Glenville, by sight, at +least; and this lad was a stranger, remember. It was a clever lad who +first secured the key to these rooms and then decoyed Mrs. Fry half way +across the town perhaps. How long must it have taken her, Doc, to go and +come, in haste?" + +"Quite half an hour, I should think." + +"Well, we will assure ourselves of that later. Now we will suppose that +this strange boy was acquainted with these rooms to some extent, and +that he was, I fully believe. When Mrs. Fry is out of sight--and we +know, from her story, that he was careful that she should be before he +left his station upon the front porch--he slips indoors and evidently +knows where to look for a lamp, which he does not light until he is +inside this room." And Ferrars put a finger upon the match remarked upon +by Mrs. Fry. "Now, as Mrs. Fry observed, there has been quite a film of +dust in the air for the past twenty-four hours, so that, in spite of the +good woman's tidy ways, it has accumulated upon this dark and shining +wood." And he put down his finger and called their attention to its +prints upon the table at his side. + +"When we entered this room," he went on, "and I took it upon myself to +look at that window with the swinging blind, under pretence of opening +the shutters, I first noted that the visitor had left us a clue to his +identity--several clues, indeed. Before seeing these I had thought that +the boy was only an advance guard for some one else, but I see I was +wrong. It was the boy, and a very keen and clever boy, who entered here +alone. See upon this table, upon the window sills, and upon the desk, +the prints of one, two, and sometimes all four, small slender fingers." + +Ferrars paused a moment, while they examined the dust prints, faint but +yet clear, upon the dark wood, and making lines of clearer colour upon +the painted brown of the window sills. + +"And what," asked Brierly, speaking for the first time since the +detective began his explanation--"what was his real object?" + +"His real object! Ah, I see you have been observant, and if I am not +much mistaken he has left something; but the things he took were taken +solely to cover up the real reason of his coming. Mr. Charles Brierly's +pistol, his watch, and the foreign bijouterie were so little wanted by +this remarkable boy that he will no doubt get rid of them in some way at +the first opportunity. All but one thing." + +"And that?" asked Brierly, breathlessly. + +Ferrars walked over to the writing-desk and signed them to follow. +"Observe that letter file!" he said. "There is not much upon it, bills +for school books, two or three circulars, and so on, but observe that +this file hangs over the top of the desk, so that anything falling from +it would touch just here. He moistened the tip of a forefinger, and, +touching with it a small bit of paper lying upon the top of the desk and +just below the letter file, he lifted it deftly, and they all saw +beneath it the dust of the previous day upon the polished surface. + +"This," said Ferrars, holding out the bit of paper upon the palm of his +hand, "was torn from something pulled from this file since Mrs. Fry +dusted the furniture here yesterday morning, after Charles Brierly left +the house. See, as the paper was pulled from the file this bit came off, +because it was attached at the corner, as you see. It is a fragment from +a newspaper. If it had been a letter the paper would not have parted so +readily; it would merely have torn through." + +It was, indeed, a tiny scrap of newspaper, not of the best quality, and +not half an inch from the smoothly-cut corner to the ragged edge, where +the file had perforated it. + +"The slip of printed paper from which this was torn," said Ferrars, "was +the one thing which was taken from this room because it was wanted! The +rest were merely carried away as a blind." + +"But," asked the doctor, "why did he make this search among the books +and papers?" + +"To find perhaps this very thing," replied Ferrars. "But his first and +most important errand was this." He drew forth the letter given into his +hands by Robert Brierly, and held it toward them. "Witness the thing +itself. It bears no post-mark, it never did bear one, and it is thrust +into the most conspicuous place, doubtless, after some looking about, in +search of a better. I do not know its contents but I guess." + +A gesture from Brierly cut short his speech. "Read it, both of you," he +said, with something like a groan. "And tell me what it means." + +Ferrars drew forth the sheet of note paper and slowly unfolded it. For a +moment he scrutinised the page with a frown, and then began to read-- + + + "Mr. Charles Brierly: I don't know why I should be drawn into your + love affair any further, and I have said my last word about your + friend, Miss G----. One would think that the proofs you have + already had would be more than enough. She is not the first woman, + with a pretty face and an innocent way, who has fooled and tricked + a man. Why don't you ask her and have it out? You'll find she can + scratch as well as the rest of her sex. One word more, when you + have had it out with her, beware! Especially if she weeps and + forgives you. Remember the 'woman scorned.' + + "Don't write me again. I shall not answer any more questions. And, + remember your promise, don't let her dream that you ever heard of + me. I shall feel safer. So good-bye and good luck. Yours, J. B." + + +Ferrars folded up this strange letter slowly, saying: + +"This document has no date and no post office address." He held it in +his hand for a moment in silence, looking at it thoughtfully, then. "I +should like to retain this," he said, looking at Brierly, "as one of the +documents in the case." And as Brierly silently bowed his assent, he +added: "Have you formed an opinion concerning this letter?" + +"I believe it is a shameful trick," declared Robert Brierly, hotly. "An +attempt on the part of some person or persons to injure Miss Grant, who +stands to me as a sister henceforth. If I am any judge of womankind, she +is as good as she is lovely, and I believe that she mourns my brother's +awful death as only a good, true and loving woman can. I wish you could +and would say the same, Mr. Ferrars." + +"I can say that you have said the only right and manly thing, in my +opinion. You don't want to know what I think, however, but what can be +done? And, first, this affair must be kept between ourselves. This +letter makes it all the more important. If it has been put here to +mislead justice and to make trouble, perfect silence regarding it will +be the most baffling and perplexing course we can pursue. And it may +lead to some further manifestation. The word must go out at once that +Mr. Brierly has desired these rooms closed for the present, with +everything to remain untouched. Meantime I consider that we have got our +hands upon some strong clues, if we can find the way to develop them +aright. Don't ask me anything more now, gentlemen. I want time to study +over this morning's discoveries, and Mr. Brierly, it is time you +breakfasted." + +At this moment there came a quick tap at the door, and Mrs. Fry's voice +was heard without. At a signal from Ferrars, Doctor Barnes opened the +door. + +"Gentlemen," began the little woman in eager explanation, "I don't want +to interrupt." + +"We are just going," said the doctor politely. + +"Oh, well, I got to thinking, after I went downstairs, and it came into +my mind that I didn't see Miss Grant's picture on the top of the +writing-desk up here. Mr. Brierly had had it three weeks or so, and he +showed it to me himself and says, 'Mrs. Fry, this picture is in its +proper place here in my room. You and Nellie both know and love Miss +Grant, and so I may tell you that she is to be my wife some day, God +willing.'" The woman's voice broke at the last word, and Robert Brierly +made a quick stride back toward the desk. But Ferrars said, +unconcernedly, "Thank you, Mrs. Fry; we shall find it in the desk, I +fancy," and then he explained to her Mr. Brierly's desire that the rooms +remain closed to all curious visitors until further notice, adding that +they would close the outside blinds and be downstairs directly; then, +shutting the door upon the woman's retreating form, and softly turning +the key in the lock again, Ferrars went to the desk, and, catching back +Brierly's extended hand, said, "Wait!" + +He came closer to the desk and bent to scan at the top shelf. + +"Look," he said after a moment, "do you see that line, close to the +back, where the dust is not quite so apparent? The picture has been +taken from there." He took hold of the back and pulled the desk from the +wall a few inches. + +"Ah," he exclaimed, "I thought so!" and dropping upon one knee he drew +out two pieces of cardboard. "I thought so," he repeated as he arose, +and there was a steely gleam in his eyes as he held out to view the two +halves of a fine picture of Hilda Grant, torn across the middle as if by +a firm and vindictive hand. "This helps me," he said, with a touch of +triumph in his voice. "It helps me more than all the rest." + +He made a movement as if to put the picture together with the letter +which he had put down upon the desk-top, into a capacious inner pocket, +and then suddenly withdrew his hand and bestowed them elsewhere, for, +thrust into that safe side pocket, so convenient and capacious, was a +folded newspaper, from which a "clipping" had been carefully cut, a +paper which he had found in the rack near the desk, and had secreted, as +he thought, unseen, at his earliest opportunity. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +DETAILS. + + +During the day that followed the discoveries in Mrs. Fry's upper +chamber, Mr. Ferrars did a variety of things that surprised the brother +of Charles Brierly; yes, and the doctor as well, and he said some things +that seemed quite incomprehensible. For the detective was somewhat given +to half-uttered soliloquy when he knew himself among "safe" people, and +could therefore afford to relax his guard. Likewise he failed to say the +things which Brierly, at least, expected, and much desired to hear. + +His first movement after the three had breakfasted, was to ask for the +keys of the cottage chambers, for they had been handed over to Brierly +somewhat ostentatiously in the presence of Mrs. Fry and at the foot of +the cottage stairs, by the doctor. + +"I want to spend another half-hour in those rooms," he said, "and to so +leave them that I shall know at once if a human foot has so much as +crossed the threshold." + +This was all the explanation he chose to make then or upon his return. + +Indeed, when he came back he spent all of the remaining time until high +noon, smoking alone upon the doctor's neat lawn and along the shady side +of the house, excusing himself and guarding against possible intrusion, +by remarking that he felt the need of a little solitary self-communion. + +At luncheon the question of the burial was discussed, and afterward +Brierly announced his intentions to call upon Miss Grant, if the doctor +thought her able to receive him. + +"I have told Mrs. Marcy to keep the gossips out," Doctor Barnes said +gravely, "she's too sensitive, Miss Grant I mean, to hear unfeeling or +curious discussions of the case. But a friend who is in sympathy--that's +another thing. She'll be better with such company than alone." + +When Brierly had set out, the detective threw away his after-dinner +cigar. + +"Were you called to see the little lady who was taken ill here +yesterday, after the close of the inquest?" he asked carelessly. "I +forgot to inquire, in my desire to keep Brierly occupied." + +The doctor shook his head. "I fancy she only needed time to recover +from the effect of her gruesome position. It was a blunder, putting her +in plain sight of that shrouded corpse. Those little blue-eyed women are +masses of nerves and fine sensibilities--often. I don't see how it came +about." + +"If you mean the 'blunder' of putting those ladies where they were, it +was I who blundered. I arranged to place them there." + +"You!" the doctor's eyes opened wide in astonishment. "Then I retract. +It was I who have blundered." + +"Um--I am not so sure," Ferrars replied slowly, and then the subject as +by mutual consent was ignored between them. Ferrars, who seemed for the +time at least to have done his thinking, wrote several letters at the +doctor's desk, and then prepared to go out. + +"I asked permission to call and inquire after Mrs. Jamieson's health, +yesterday," he said to the doctor, "and as she has not required your +services she may be able to receive me now." + +"There is another Esculapius in Glenville," reminded Doctor Barnes. + +"So I have heard; but the lady is a person of good taste. She would have +called you in if any one." He bowed and went out with a gleam of humour +in his eyes. + +"It's sometimes hard to guess what Ferrars means when he speaks with +that queer look and tone," mused the doctor. "And who would have thought +he would care or think of a formal call like this just now! And yet, +that little woman is pretty enough to attract a man, I'm sure; and a +detective may be as susceptible, I suppose, as another." + +Ferrars waited for a few moments in the reception-room of the Glenville +House, and was then conducted to the pretty suite occupied by Mrs. +Jamieson. He found her half reclining in a long, low chair, with her +friend, Mrs. Arthur, still in attendance. She wore a soft, loose robe of +black, with billowy gauze-like ruffles, and floating ribbons of the same +sable hue, relieved only by a knot of purple wood violets at her throat. +Her face was very pale and her eyes, with their changing lights of +greyish green and glinting blue, looking larger and deeper than usual +because of the dark shadows beneath them, and the waves of her plentiful +fair hair falling low and loose upon her forehead. + +She welcomed her visitor with a faint half smile, and thanked him again +for his kindness of the previous day. She blamed herself for her want of +nerve and courage. She inquired after Miss Grant and expressed her +sympathy for the bereaved girl, and her desire to see her again, to +know her, and serve her if possible; she had shown herself so brave, yet +so womanly that day--and then the little lady told of her encounter with +Miss Grant in the unfortunate character of messenger or bearer of bad +news. She was glad there would be no lack of staunch friends to support +the sweet girl in her time of need and trouble, and she finished by +sending a pretty message to Hilda, and then without further question or +comment concerning the murder or the progress of the case, she let the +talk slip into the hands of her friend, and leaned back in her chair +like one too weak for further effort, seeing which Ferrars soon +withdrew. + +"You will not consider this an example of my usual hospitality, I +trust," Mrs. Jamieson said, as he bent over her chair to say farewell. +"I fear I was not wise in refusing to let them call a physician, but I +do dread being in the hands of a doctor. I shall be pleased to hear how +this sad case progresses, Mr. Grant, and by the bye, has anything new +occurred since the inquest? Any new witnesses or discoveries of any +sort?" + +But Ferrars shook his head, and murmuring something about time being +short, and not taxing her good nature and strength further, he bowed +low, and went away. + +"It's very good of her," he mused, as he went, "to take such kindly +interest in my supposed relative, Miss Grant. But she certainly showed +scant interest in the chief actor in the drama, my friend Brierly." + +The candles had just been lighted that evening, and Ferrars was once +more waiting at the doctor's desk, while Brierly, pale and heavy-eyed, +lounged by the long window near, when Dr. Barnes came in, hat in hand. + +"As you felt some interest in Mrs. Jamieson's selection of a physician +this morning," the latter said, "I will inform you that I have just been +summoned to see that lady, professionally, of course," he added, as if +by an afterthought, and smiling slightly. + +"Thank you. Mrs. Jamieson has vindicated my belief in her good +judgment," replied Ferrars, and then he wheeled about in his chair, and +put out a detaining hand. + +"Don't think I doubt your reserve, doctor," he went on, "when I ask you +to avoid or evade, if needful, any discussion of this affair of ours. +That is, avoid giving any information, be it ever so trivial." He shot a +quick glance toward Brierly, and met the doctor's eye for one swift, +momentary glance. + +"My visit will be purely professional, and doubtless brief," was the +reply, as the speaker passed from the room, and Ferrars smiled, knowing +that his friend understood the meaning behind the half jesting words. + +A moment later Robert Brierly arose, yawned, and crossed the room to +take up his hat. + +"This inaction is horrible," he said, drearily. "I must get out. I wish +I had walked down with Barnes. Won't you come out with me, Mr. Ferrars?" + +The detective dipped his pen in the sand-box, and arose quickly. Then +when he had found his hat, and had lowered the light over the writing +table, he put a hand upon the other's shoulder. + +"I'll go out with you, of course, Brierly," he said, and there was a +world of sympathy, as well as complete understanding in his tone. "But +first, I want to ask you to show yourself as little as possible upon the +streets, for a few days to come at least, and then only in the company +of the doctor or myself, and not to go out evenings at all unless +similarly attended. It will be irksome, I know, but I believe it +important, and I must ask this of you, too, without explanation, for the +present at least." + +The young man looked at him for a moment, earnestly and in silence. + +"Do you ask this for reasons personal to myself, or because it seems to +you to be for the interest of the investigation?" he asked slowly. + +Ferrars smiled. "You're as able to take care of yourself as any man I +know, Brierly," he said, with frank conviction. "It's for the interest +of the case that we--and especially you--keep ourselves as much aloof as +possible from questions and curiosity. There is another reason which I +cannot give just yet." + +"As you will. I have put myself and my brother's vindication in your +hands, Mr. Ferrars, and I shall do nothing, be sure, to hinder your +progress." As they passed out Brierly paused under the shadow of the +porch. "May I ask if you have put the same embargo upon Miss Grant?" he +questioned. + +"I have, yes. Glenville must know what we wish it to know, and not a +syllable more." + +"Ah! I like that." + +"Why?" + +"Because it sounds as if you had really found the end of your thread +here." + +"Oh, yes. The beginning is here. Not of the case, mind; only of the +clues. But heaven only knows where it may lead us before we find the +end." + +"What matters," said the brother of Charles Brierly, with a heavy sigh, +"so long as it brings us to the truth!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"FERRISS-GRANT." + + +On the fourth day after Charles Brierly's untimely death, his body was +taken to the city and laid beside his parents in the beautiful cemetery +where love and grief had already prepared for him and his, a place of +final rest. + +News of the burial had been sent ahead, and a crowd of friends had +assembled at the home of their father's oldest friend and family lawyer, +where the body was received as that of a son, and the last rites of +affection and respect were performed by the venerable rector who had +seen the brothers grow from boys to men. + +Doctor Barnes and Hilda Grant, with Mrs. Marcy as chaperone, accompanied +the sad-hearted brother upon this journey, and they were somewhat +surprised when Ferrars, whom they had thought must go with them in his +character of sole relative to the young lady, explained that his +presence in Glenville just then was essential to the success of the work +he had been called there to do. + +"There are so many little things which I want to learn," he said. "In +fact, I must know Glenville much better before I can go far in my +search, and during your absence I can find the time for making many new +acquaintances, and I mean to begin by cultivating your friend Doran, +doctor." + +They were gone three days, and when they returned they were but a party +of three. "Poor Charlie Brierly," as his friends in the city had already +begun to call the dead, lay in his last, quiet earthly home, and Robert +had remained in the city. + +"To settle up his brother's affairs, and put the matter of his death +into the hands of the detectives." At least this is what Mr. Doran +informed one of the loungers who, seeing the return of the doctor and +the two ladies, had remarked upon Brierly's absence. + +"Of course he'll have to come back here," Doran had further added. "He +ain't touched the things in his brother's rooms yet, they say. But +they'll wait better than the other business." + +"Umph!" the villager sniffed. "He's let three days slip by without +makin' much of a stir. Why on earth ain't they had one o' them fellers +down here long before this? They ain't seemed to hurry much." + +"Well, you see, at first 'twas more than half believed that the shooting +must have been by accident; and then, this is just between you and me, +Jones; didn't you ever think that even after that jury's verdict, and +the doctor's testimony, they, Doc. and the brother, might have wanted to +make sure, by a sort of private and more thorough investigation of the +wound, eh?" + +"By crackey! Now that you speak of it, I heard Mason say't they was up +an' movin' round at the doctor's that livelong night! Yes, sir, I reckon +you've hit it!" + +"My!" mused Samuel Doran as he moved away from the gossip. "They bite at +my yarns like babies on a teethin' ring. Doc. knows his fellow critters, +sure enough, and my work's laid out for me, I guess." + +For Doran, after due consultation, and upon the doctor's voucher, had +been taken a little way into the confidence of the three men, and +Ferrars began to foresee in him a reliable helper. + +The above brief conversation took place between Doran and Mr. Jones, +professional depôt-lounger and occasional worker at odd jobs, while the +doctor was putting Hilda and Mrs. Marcy into a waiting carriage, and +when he had seen it drive away up town, Doran came forward and +addressed him in a tone quite audible to the bystanders. + +"You see, I didn't forget the carriage, Doc. Hope Miss Grant ain't none +the worse for her sad sort of journey." And then as the two walked away +from the platform together, and he saw the doctor's eyes glancing from +side to side, Doran went on. "Looking for Mr. Grant, Doc.? Well, I guess +you won't see him; not before supper-time, anyhow. Fact is, I guess he's +sort of fancy struck on that pretty-faced widow down at the Glenville +House, and he's taken her out behind my greys this afternoon. I don't +know as I blame him any; she is a dainty little wid." + +The doctor stared at him in amazement at his first words, and then broke +into a hearty laugh over the last. + +"Upon my word, Doran, you will be able to write a new dictionary of +abbreviations some day! Doran's Original! A dainty wid. is very good in +its way; only, is she a 'wid.'?" + +"That's what they say at the Glenville. Widow and rich." + +At the next corner Doran halted. "Have to tear myself away," he said, +amiably. "See you later," and the two men separated. + +"Well, old man, how have you fared during the lull in your business?" +asked Doctor Barnes, as his man came to meet him. "You don't look +overworked." + +"I ain't been, neither, sah. Your Mr. Grant or Ferrars, I ain't rightly +got his name, I guess, sir, he 'pears ter like the cooks down to the +Glenville better than me. I ain't had no bother with him since you left, +sir, 'cept to make up his bed." + +"I know. He has found some friends there, I fancy, Jude. Any news or +messages?" and the doctor became at once absorbed in his neglected +business. + +Ferrars made his appearance at "supper time" as Doran had described the +evening meal, and the two men had much to discuss. When Jude had placed +the last dishes and retired, the detective, who thus far had been +listening to the doctor's account of the journey and the sad funeral +obsequies, looked up and said: "I suppose you have heard of my +wanderings, doctor, and how I have forsaken poor Jude? The fact is, I +have found plenty of leisure, and Mrs. Jamieson, when one comes to know +her a little, is a very ab--interesting woman. The sort of woman, in +fact, whose society I now and then enjoy. I have not neglected my duty, +however, but there is absolutely nothing new. And, by the bye, I must +see Miss Grant this evening; after that, if you are at liberty, we must +have a talk. I have decided upon a change of plan, of which you must +know." + +He had left a note for Miss Grant, which advised her of his intended +call as soon as she should have become rested and refreshed. He was glad +to find her so strong and so composed, and he came at once to the +business in hand. + +"Miss Grant," he began, "as I said in my note, I have something to +propose to you which has presented itself to me as the best course +during your absence; and, to begin, let me ask, have you still full +confidence in me as a detective, and as a man whom you may trust?" + +She lifted her fine clear eyes to his face and kept them there while she +replied. + +"I felt that I could trust you, Mr. Ferrars, when we first met. There +has been no change in that feeling unless it may be the change to a +larger measure of trust and confidence." + +"Thank you." And now the cool detective flushed like a schoolboy. "I +shall try hard to deserve your good opinion, and it encourages me to +broach my singular proposal. I believe it will enable me to get on +easier and with more rapidity if you will permit me to continue for an +indefinite time in the rôle which I did not at first choose for myself, +and I ask you if I may still remain, in the eyes of Glenville, as now, +in the character of your cousin." + +"To remain--in Glenville?" + +"When Doctor Barnes sent for me, advising me that I might arrive in the +character of your cousin, it was, of course, with the idea that this +masquerade would be a brief one, and it was undertaken because the +doctor knew how it would hamper if not really balk, my attempts to +unravel this mystery if I were known as a detective. I cannot explain +now, but I ask you to believe that, being here, I am now convinced that +in laying aside this character I should put out of my hands my best +weapon, the most direct means of following up and ferreting out a crime +which I fully believe will prove to have been--that is, if we succeed in +finding out the truth--a crime with a far-reaching plot behind it, and +the cause of which most of us have not even remotely dreamed of." + +"You have said enough. All is in your hands. Be what you will and must, +the better to prove to the world that Charles Brierly, my husband in the +sight of heaven, died as he lived, an upright gentleman and martyr, and +not the suicide or the victim of a righteous vengeance that most people +would for ever declare him if the truth is not made known." + +"Understand," he urged, "that if you consent to this, you, as well as +myself, will have a part to play, and an active part, perhaps, in the +drama we are about to begin. Remember, you will have to keep up the +deception for weeks, possibly months; and to go and come at my desire." + +"Do you mean," she asked, breathlessly, "that you may need my help?" + +"I do need your help!" + +"Oh!" she cried, letting go her splendid self-restraint for the moment. +"You don't know what you are doing for me! To be active, to do +something, instead of sitting still and eating my heart out in suspense. +It will save me from madness perhaps. What could a true relative do for +me more than you are doing and will do. You are my cousin!" And she put +out her two hands to him with a new look of energy and resolve in her +face. As he took the two slim hands in both his own and looked in her +eyes, suddenly so aroused and purposeful, he saw for the first time, the +full strength and force of will and nature behind that fair face and +gentle bearing, the high spirit and courage animating the slender frame. + +"Thank you," he said, simply, as he released her hands. "I feel that I +can indeed rely upon you at need. You have the strength; can you have +the patience as well? At present I can tell you very little. You will +have to take much upon trust." + +"I have anticipated that." + +"For example, it is my inflexible rule never to reveal the name of a +suspected person until I have at least partial proof of guilt, enough to +warrant an arrest. But you have a right to such confidence as I can +give, and so, if you have a question to ask, and I think you have, let +me answer it if I can." + +"Oh, I thank you." She came a step nearer. "I ask myself one question, +over and over; that there was no guilty secret in my poor boy's life and +death, I know. Where, then, can be the motive?" + +"The motive, ah! When we know that, we shall be at the beginning of the +end of the matter. Sit down, Miss Grant, and I will put the case before +you as I now see it." + +She sank into the nearest seat without a word. + +"As to the manner of the murder," he went on, "this is my conclusion. +Some one, an enemy who hated or feared him, has informed himself of Mr. +Charles Brierly's habits, and made himself familiar with the woods along +the lake shore. Your friend, I learn, has practised target-shooting for +some time. Have you ever thought that he might have had a reason for so +doing?" + +"Good heavens! No!" + +"Well, that is only a suggestion. But this much is certain, the deed was +premeditated, and carefully planned. I have satisfied myself that the +assassin, approaching from the south, made almost the circuit of that +long mound, after making sure that no one was near, in order to reach +the point, scarcely twelve feet from the place where the body was found, +from which to fire the fatal shot." + +"My God!" + +"It was a bold venture, but not so dangerous as might at first appear. I +find that from a point half way to the top of the mound one might be +quite concealed from any one down by the lake shore while taking a long +look up and down the road. And, in case of approach, there is at the +south end of the mound a clump of bushes and young trees, where one +could easily remain concealed while awaiting the victim or the passing +of an interloper. From the town to a point not far south of the knoll or +mound, as your people call it, the ground between the road and lake has +been partially cleared of undergrowth for the comfort of picnickers and +fishing parties, I am told." + +"Yes." She sighed wonderingly. "But beyond that, a person wishing to be +unseen from the lake or road could easily hide among the brush and +trees. I believe all this was carefully studied and carried out, and +that, five minutes after the shots were fired, the slayer was on his way +southward to some point where a confederate waited, with some means of +conveying themselves to a safe distance." + +"Ah!" she whispered. "The boat?" + +"Yes, the boat. It was a part of the plot, and rowed to that point by +the confederate, I believe, for the purpose of misleading justice. +Doran, who is an able helper, learned this morning that a farm hand, who +was driving his stock across the road to drink at the lake, saw a man in +a boat rowing up towards Glenville at half-past seven that morning." + +"Oh! And can you follow them? Is the trail strong enough?" + +"I think so. And there are other clues. There is much to be done here in +Glenville first of all. At the inquest the testimony was purposely left +vague and uncertain at some points." + +"And why?" + +"Because, somewhere, not far away, there is a person who is watching +developments, and who may leave some track unsevered if he can be made +to think we are off the scent. I mean to know my Glenville very well +before I leave it, and some of its people too. And here you can help me +as soon as you are strong enough." + +"I am strong enough now. What more can I do?" + +"You remember the foolish boy and his fright when questioned?" + +"Of course." + +"Well, as his teacher, can you not win his confidence until his fear is +overcome? That boy has not told all he knows." + +"He is very dull, I fear. He said he saw a ghost." + +"Well, we must know the nature of that ghost, and why it has closed his +lips so effectually. Seriously I hope much from that lad." + +"Then be sure I will do my best." + +"You see, I am taking you at your word. And there's one more thing. I +have been told that strangers go oftenest to the Glenville when in town. +Now it behoves me to know the latest comers, and the newcomers there, +and chance having given me opportunity to break the ice by being polite +to Mrs. Jamieson, I have improved the moments. I don't mean that I am +studying the lady for any sinister purpose, but one can see that she is +quite a social leader in the house, and through her I have already come +to know several of the other inmates. Mrs. Jamieson very much desires to +know you, and if you will allow her to call, as under the circumstances +she desires to do, and if you will return that call--in short, put +yourself upon the footing of an acquaintance--it will really help me +greatly." + +For a long moment Hilda did not speak, then "I will do as you wish, of +course," she said, but the note of eager readiness had gone out of her +voice. "But I cannot even think of that woman without living over again +our first meeting and the awful blow her news dealt me. Will I ever +outlive the hurt of it?" + +"It hurt her, too; I am sure of that. She is a keenly sensitive woman. +She went from your schoolroom really ill, so her friend has told me." + +"I can well believe that. She looked ill when she came to me. And who +can wonder?" her tone softening. "Mrs. Jamieson is certainly kind, and +why should we not be friends? She is a lady, refined and charming. Don't +think me unreasonable, Mr. Ferrars. I shall be pleased to receive her, +of course." + +"Thank you. And remember, that for the present Francis Ferrars becomes +Ferriss, Ferriss-Grant. You'll not forget your part!" + +"I will not forget," she answered. And when he was gone she smiled a sad +little womanly smile. "After all, a detective is but a man, and that +petite, soft-spoken, dainty blonde woman is just the sort to fascinate a +big-hearted, strong man like Francis Ferrars." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE "LAKE COUNTY HERALD." + + +"Has Doran been here, doctor?" + +These were the detective's first words when he entered the sanctum upon +his return from the Marcy cottage, and before his host could do more +than shake his head, Ferrars dropped into a seat beside him and went on +in a lower tone. + +"The fact is, doctor, I've got myself interested in a thing which, after +all, may lead me astray. Do you take the _Lake County Herald_?" + +"Upon my word!" ejaculated the doctor. "I do; yes. Want to peruse the +sheet?" + +"I don't suppose you file them?" went on Ferrars. + +"File the _Herald_! No, I fire them, or Jude does." + +"I wish you had not. The fact is I want very much to get hold of a copy +dated November last, the 27th. Do you recall the bit of paper I took +from Charles Brierly's desk-top to demonstrate that something had been +hastily pulled from the letter file by that clever boy of whom Mrs. Fry +could tell so little?" + +"Yes; surely." The doctor now began to look seriously interested. + +"Well, the stolen paper was a newspaper clipping, cut from the _Herald_ +of November 27th last." + +"Upon my word! But there, I won't ask questions." + +"You need not. Did you not observe me looking over the papers in the +rack?" + +"Yes." + +"Possibly you saw me with a paper in my hand soon after?" + +The doctor stared and shook his head. "I've no eye for sleight-of-hand," +he grumbled. + +"Decidedly not, for I folded up that paper and thrust it in a breast +pocket before your very eyes. I kept that tiny bit, too, which I picked +up on my forefinger. It fitted into a column from which a piece had been +cut, and that's how I know that the stolen article came from that paper. +Very simple, after all, you see!" + +"For you, yes." + +"The fact that the clipping was thought worth stealing, makes me fancy +it worth a perusal. I tried for it here in town, in a quiet way, but +failed. Then I appealed to Doran, and he has written to Lake, to the +editor, whom he happens to know." + +"It would be hard to find hereabouts a man of any importance whatever +whom Sam Doran does not know. He grew up in Lake County, and has held +half the offices in the county's gift." + +"There may be a clue for us in that clipping. I discovered another thing +in that room. The dead man wrote, or began, a letter to his brother. I +learned this from a scrap, dated and addressed, which I found in the +waste basket, and I am led to believe the letter was re-written, or +rather begun anew, and sent, from the fact that a fresh blotter showed a +fragment of Brierly's name, and the city address. That letter, if +mailed, must have passed him as he came down. Did he mention getting +it?" + +Doctor Barnes shook his head. + +"He said nothing about such a letter," he replied. "Does he know about +this--this newspaper business?" + +"Not a word. No one knows it but yourself. If it should prove to be a +clue in my hands, it may be better, it will be better, I am sure, to +keep it at present between us two. I think, however, that I may decide +to show Miss--my cousin--that anonymous letter, and tell her something +about that mysterious boy and his visit to her lover's rooms." And then +Ferrars turned from this subject to explain to the doctor his present +plans. How he had determined to continue his masquerade, and to remain +for a time in Glenville; and, though Mrs. Jamieson's name was not +uttered, the doctor found himself wondering, as had Hilda Grant, if the +detective had not found the place attractive for personal, as well as +business reasons; and if a detective's heart must needs be of adamant +after all. + +Next morning Samuel Doran, who knew the detective only as "Hilda Grant's +cousin and a right good fellow," drove ostentatiously to the door to +take "Mr. Grant" for a drive. + +"I've had a line from Joe Howlett," he began the moment they were upon +the road. "He was just setting out for a run out of town, but he says he +told the boys to look up that paper and send it along. So, I guess we'll +see it soon, if it's in existence." And Doran chirrupped to his team and +promptly changed the subject. He did not know why this man beside him so +much wished to obtain a six-months-old copy of a country newspaper, and +he did not trouble himself to worry or wonder. "It was none of his +business," he would have said if questioned, and Samuel Doran attended +to his own business exclusively and was by so much the more a reliable +helper when, his aid being asked, the business of his neighbour became +his own. + +Ferrars was learning to know his man, and he knew that the time might +soon come when Doran would be his closest confidant and strongest +assistant in Glenville. + +"We look for Brierly in a day or two," the detective said, casually, as +they bowled along. "He will bring a professional gentleman with him," +and he turned his head and the eyes of the two met. Ferrars had found +that Doran could extract much meaning from a few words, at need. + +"Something in the detective line, for instance? 'S that it?" + +"That explanation will do for Glenville, Doran." + +"Cert. Glenville ought to know it, too. We've been thinking 'twas about +time one of 'em appeared," and Doran grinned. + +Ferrars smiled, well satisfied. He knew that the dignified family lawyer +and friend, who was coming to Glenville with Robert Brierly by his own +desire, would be promptly accepted as the tardy and eagerly looked for +"sleuth" who would "solve the mystery" at once and with the utmost ease. + +And that is what happened. + +The two men arrived a day earlier than they had been expected, and the +moment Robert Brierly found himself alone with Ferrars he drew from his +pocket a letter, saying, as he unfolded it with gentle, careful touch: + +"This letter, Mr. Ferrars, is the last written me by my brother. It was +in the city, passing me on the way, before I had arrived here, and I +found it, among others, at the office. I have not spoken of it even to +the doctor. Read it, please." + +Ferrars took the letter and read: + + + "MY DEAR ROB.,--Since writing you, I have found in an old + newspaper, quite by accident, something which has almost set my + head to spinning. I know what you will say to that, old boy. It + brings up something out of the past; something of which I may have + to tell you and which should have been told you before. It's the + only thing, concerning myself that is, which you do not know as + well as I, and if I have not confided this to you, it was because I + almost feared to. But then, why try to explain and excuse on paper + when we are to meet, please God, so soon. Brother mine, what if + that flood tide which comes, they say, to each, once in life, was + on its way to you and to me? Well, it shall not separate us, Rob.; + not by my will. But stop. I shall grow positively oracular if I + keep on, (no one ever could understand an oracle, you know) and so, + till we meet, adieu. + + "BROTHER CHARLIE." + + +When Ferrars had read this strange missive once, he sat for a moment as +if thinking, and then deliberately re-read it slowly, and with here and +there a pause; when at last he handed it back to Brierly, he asked: + +"Do you understand that letter?" + +"No more than I do the riddle of the sphinx, Ferrars," he leaned forward +eagerly as he put a question, and his eyes were apprehensive, though his +voice was firm. "Do you connect that letter in any way with my brother's +death?" + +For a moment the detective was silent, thinking of the newspaper and the +missing clipping. Then he replied slowly as if considering between the +words. + +"Of course it's possible, Mr. Brierly, but as yet I cannot give an +opinion. If you will trust that letter to me for a few days, however, +perhaps I may see more clearly. It's a surprise, I'll admit. I had fully +decided in my own mind that howsoever much the murderer may have +premeditated and planned, his victim was wholly unaware of an en-- of +his danger." + +"You were about to say, of an enemy!" + +"Yes. It is what I have been saying before seeing that letter." He put +out his hand, and as Brierly placed the letter in it, he added, "Let us +not discuss this further. Does your friend, Mr. Myers, know of it?" + +"Not a word." + +"Then for the present let it rest between us." + +Two days after this interview Doran dropped in at the doctor's office, +and before he left had managed to put a newspaper, folded small, into +the hands of the detective, quite unperceived by the other occupants of +the room. For while since Brierley's return, accompanied by his friend, +these two had occupied together the rooms at Mrs. Fry's, the doctor's +cottage was still headquarters for them all, while Ferrars now had +solitary possession of the guest chamber, formerly assigned to Brierly. + +Mr. Myers was a shrewd lawyer, as well as a faithful family friend. He +had felt from the first that there was mystery as well as crime behind +the death of Charles Brierly, who had been near and dear to him, as dear +as an own son, for the two families had been almost as one ever since +John Myers and the elder Brierly, who had been school friends and fellow +students, finally entered together the career of matrimony. + +There had been no children in the Myers homestead, and the two lads +soon learned to look upon the Myers' house as their second home, and +"Uncle" John Myers had ranked, in their regard, only second to their +well beloved father. So that when the young men were left alone, in a +broken and desolate home, that other door opened yet wider, and claimed +them by right of affection. + +Mr. Myers had been taken to the scene of the murder, had visited Hilda +Grant, and by his own desire had examined the books, papers, and +manuscripts in Charles Brierly's rooms, and on the day of Doran's call, +a longer drive than he had yet taken had been arranged. He was going, +accompanied by Brierly and driven by Doran, to look at the skiff, still +unclaimed and waiting upon the lake shore below the town. + +Ferrars, much to Doran's regret, had declined to accompany them from the +first, and when he found himself in possession of the coveted newspaper, +he joined the others in their desire that Doctor Barnes should take the +fourth seat in the light surrey behind Doran's pet span; and the day +being fine, and business by no means pressing, that gentleman consented. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A GHOST. + + +When Ferrars found himself alone he lost no time in locking his chamber +door and beginning his study of ancient news. + +Taking the newly arrived paper from beneath his pillow, where he had +hastily thrust it, he spread out the mutilated copy beside it and +speedily located the clipping which should explain, or interpret, +Charles Brierly's last letter. + +Putting the perforated paper over the other, as the quickest means to +the end, he drew a pencil mark around the paragraph which appeared in +the vacant space, and then, without pausing to read it, he reversed the +two sheets and repeated the operation. + +This done, he took up the marked paper and sat down to read and digest +the secret. + +"It won't take long to tell which side of this precious square of paper +contains the thing I want, I fancy," he meditated, as he smoothed out +the sheet. + +The printed paragraph outlined by his pencil was hardly three inches in +length, and he read it through with a growing look of comprehension upon +his face. "I wonder if that can be it?" he said to himself at the end. +And then he slowly turned the paper and read the pencil-marked lines +upon the other side. + +When he had perused the brief lines over, his brow knit itself into a +frown, and he re-read them, with his face still darkened by it. Then he +uttered a short laugh, and laid the paper down across his knee. + +"I wonder if the other fellow will know which side was which!" he +muttered. "I'm blest if I do!" He sat for half an hour with the paper +upon his knee, looking off into space, and wrinkling his brow in +thought. Then he got up and put the two papers carefully away. + +"I'm very thankful that I did not speak of this to Brierly," he thought +as he went out and locked his door behind him. "It would be only another +straw--yes, a whole weight of them, added to his load of doubt and +trouble." + +The two paragraphs read as follows, the first being an advertisement, +with the usual heading, and in solid nonpareil type:-- + + + "Charlie: A. has found you out. He will not give me your address. + Be on guard at all times, for there is danger. All will be forgiven + if you will come back, and F. will help you to avoid A. You are not + safe where you are. The city is better, and we cannot feel at ease + knowing the risk you are running. At least stay where you are. Your + brother or some friend ought to know. For your own sake do not + treat this warning as you did A.'s other threat. He means it. Still + at G. Street. + + "M." + + +The second paragraph was in the form of a would-be facetious editorial +paragraph, and ran thus:-- + + + "Not to have a fortune is sad enough, but to go up and down in the + land a millionaire and never know it is wretchedness indeed. Many + are the foreign fortunes seeking American heirs, if we are to + believe the advertising columns, and the heirs seeking fortunes are + as the sands of the sea in number. + + "There have been the Frayles, and the Jans, and a long retinue of + lost heirs to waiting estates, and now it appears that the great + Paisley fortune rusts in idleness and shamelessly accumulates, + while the heirs of a certain Hugo Paisley, an Englishman who was + last heard from in the Canadas many years ago, are much to be + desired now that the home supply of English bred Paisley stock is + run out." + + +There was more to this screed below the line which marked the lower end +of the clipping, but it contained no further reference to the Paisleys, +merely dilating in a would-be humorous manner upon the degenerating +influence of the foreign legacy upon the American citizen. But the +advertisement upon the other side had been cut out in full, and exactly +at the beginning and end. + +It was puzzling and disappointing in the extreme. Ferrars had really +looked upon this cut newspaper as his strongest card when he should have +found the missing fragment, and now----! He thought and wondered, and +re-read letter and clipping again and again, but to no good purpose, and +at last he locked away the puzzling documents and went out to make a +morning call upon Mrs. Jamieson. + +That evening he talked first with Robert Brierly and then with the +family lawyer, and to both he put the same direct questions, "What could +they tell him of the early history of the Brierlys? of Mrs. Brierly's +family and ancestors? Had they any relatives in England or Scotland, +say? Were there any old family papers in the possession of either?" + +Of Robert Brierly he also asked if, to his knowledge, his brother had +had at any time a love affair--not serious, but amusing, perhaps--a +student's flirtation, even. Also, when and for how long, if at all, had +the brothers been separated since their schooldays? + +And Brierly had replied that he knew very little of his father's +ancestors, beyond the fact that his grandfather Brierly was a Virginia +gentleman, and his father an only son. The family, so far as he knew, +had been Virginians for three generations, and what more, pray, could an +American ask? As for his mother, she had been a Miss Louise Cotterrell +of Baltimore, her father a railway magnate of renown. In her desk, very +much as she had left it, in a closed-up room in the old house, were +bundles of old letters and ancient family papers, so his father had once +told him; he had meant to examine them some time, but had not yet so +done. If Ferrars desired it he would do this soon. + +So far as his dead brother was concerned, Brierly was sure there had +never been a love affair of even the most ephemeral sort. In fact, +Charles had always been shy of women, and used to shirk his social +duties as much as possible. Hilda Grant was, without doubt, his first +and only love. As to their separations, there had been several. To +begin, Charlie had been in college a year after he (Robert) had been +graduated, and the following year, "because the boy had seemed run down +and in need of rest and change," he had spent a few months upon a ranch +in Wyoming with a college friend. Then the two had made their European +tour, and since, their only long separations had been when his work as +journalist had taken him away from the city, sometimes for weeks, until +Charlie had taken this school as a relief from his theological studies. + +From Mr. Myers he could only learn that the father and mother of Robert +and Charles Brierly were of good families, well known in their +respective states, and both, he believed, "were as distinctly Americans +as the war of the Revolution could make any American citizen of English +descent." As to Charlie Brierly, Myers "didn't believe the boy had ever +looked twice at a girl until he met with that lovely, sad-eyed +sweetheart who, it was plain, was wearing out her heart in silent grief +for him." + +Then Ferrars went to see his supposed cousin, and asked her to review, +mentally, her latest talks with her lover, and to see if she could not +recall some mention of a discovery, a surprise, a perplexity possibly, +which he wished to lay before his brother when he should come. But she +shook her head sadly. + +"Was he, to her knowledge, in the habit of collecting odd things from +the newspapers?" + +She shook her head. "He did not think very highly of our daily papers, +and seldom if ever read beyond the news of the day. The scandals and +criminal reports he abhorred," she said. + +"And he never alluded in any way to his family history, you say? Think, +was there no mention of family facts or names?" + +She looked up after some moments of thought. "I can only recall one +thing which, after all, does not contain information, except as regards +the two brothers. Charlie was speaking of the difference of their +temperaments. Robert, he said, was intensely practical, living in and +enjoying most, the present, and by anticipation, the future, while he +(Charlie) was a dreamer, loving the past, and idealising its history. To +illustrate, he told how, as boys, he loved to hear his mother, whom I +fancy he resembled, tell the tales she had heard at her grandmother's +knee, of the early days, the French convents, the Indians, the +colonists, the quaint living, the speech, which had for him such charms, +while Robert would only hear of the fighting and would run away from the +ancestral history." + +Hilda, grown accustomed to his numerous queries and scant explanations, +was not surprised at Ferrars' hurried departure at the end of the +catechism, and he went back to the doctor's cottage with just one faint +little possibility as a reward for all this interviewing. He had known +Mr. Myers in the city, as a successful detective is apt to know an able +lawyer, well by reputation and personally a little, and he was glad to +find in him a friend to the Brierlys, dead and living. + +Going back that night he said to himself: + +"It's of no use to try to go on like this; a confidant will save me a +lot of time, and Myers is the man. I can't call upon the doctor; he's +got his profession, and he belongs here. Myers can make my business and +Brierly's his at need. Besides, he's a lawyer and won't be knocked +entirely out by my wild theorising, and he's the one man who can get +access to the ancestral documents at need." + +He found the lawyer still upon the doctor's piazza, and without the +least attempt at explanation invited him into his own room, where they +were still closeted when, at midnight, Robert Brierly went slowly toward +the Fry cottage, and the doctor, who never got his full quota of sleep, +went yawning off to bed. + +Mr. Myers spent five days in Glenville, and then went back to the city, +taking Robert Brierly with him, "for a purpose," as he said to the +doctor and Ferrars. "He can come back in a day or two if he chooses," +the lawyer added, "but in truth, Robert, unless you're needed here, +which I doubt, you'll be better at work. Mr. 'Ferriss-Grant,' here, will +summon you at need." + +When they were on board the train, and the lawyer had exhausted the +morning paper, he drew close to his companion in that confidential +attitude travellers fall into when they do not converse for the +entertainment of all on board, and said: + +"Robert, I want to tell you why I so insisted upon your company back to +the city. I want you to rouse yourself, to open your house, and when you +first have looked over your father's and mother's private and business +papers, I want you to turn over to me all such as are not too sacred for +other eyes than yours; all letters, journals--if there are such--all, in +fact, that deal in any way with your family, friends, and family +history." + +Brierly turned to look in his face. + +"This is some of Ferrars' planning," he said. + +"It is, and it has my hearty endorsement. Don't ask questions. Frank +Ferrars knows what he is about." + +"No doubt of it. I only wish I did." + +"You'll know at the right time. And if it will be a comfort to you, I'll +admit that, while I am to a certain degree in his confidence, I know no +more what or whom he suspects than you do, for he won't accuse without +proof of guilt, however much he suspects or believes. But I know this, +Ferrars is convinced that the secret of your brother's death lies in the +past." + +"And in whose past?" + +"In his own, in that of your family, or of Hilda Grant." + +At the beginning of the following week Hilda Grant resumed her duties as +school mistress, the place of Charles Brierly being filled by a young +student from the city. + +Mrs. Jamieson, meantime, had called upon Hilda, the call had been +returned, and the two were now upon quite a friendly and sympathetic +footing; it was not long before the fair, black-robed little figure was +quite familiar to the children, to whom she gave generously sweets, +pleasant words and smiles. + +Sometimes she met Ferrars, who would look in now and then at the recess +or noon hour to keep up his cousinly character, and Hilda Grant's clear +eyes saw, day by day, the blue eyes of the pretty widow taking on a new +look and noted that, while she was at all other times full of easy, +charming chat, the approach of "Mr. Grant," would close the pretty lips +and cause the white eyelids to quiver and fall. + +The understanding between Hilda and the detective was now almost +perfect, and one day, Ferrars, having asked her if she had ever heard +Mrs. Jamieson speak of leaving Glenville, or name her place of +residence, Hilda replied-- + +"I have heard her express herself as well pleased with Glenville, and I +think she is in no haste to go. In truth, Mr. Ferrars, I am beginning to +feel that, in seeing this lady as a means toward a selfish end, we, or +I, have done wrong. That she is a woman of the world, and has seen much +of good society, is evident, but she has lived, of late, a lonely and +much secluded life, she tells me, her late husband having been a +somewhat exacting invalid for two years before his death; and forgive me +for my great frankness, I fear that because of your absorption in this +trouble of mine, you have not thought or observed, how 'much' your +acquaintance is becoming to Mrs. Jamieson. One woman can read another as +a man cannot, and I must not let you serve me at the cost of another's +happiness perhaps." + +"Miss Grant, is this a riddle?" + +"Mr. Ferrars, no. Must I say plainly, then, that you are making yourself +quite too interesting to this lady?" + +Ferrars turned his face away for a moment. Then he replied slowly, as if +choosing his words with difficulty. + +"My friend, I believe time will prove you the mistaken one. I cannot +take this flattering idea of yours to myself and venture to believe in +it, but should it have the smallest foundation in reality, rest your +conscience upon this candid declaration. The lady cannot feel more +interest in my unworthy self than I in her; from the first moment almost +I have taken an interest in Mrs. Jamieson, such as I have seldom felt +for any woman. Shall we let the subject rest here? Be sure I shall not +let any personal interest conflict with, or supersede, the work I came +here to do." + +In later years Hilda remembered these words. + +During the next two weeks the wheels of progress, so far as Ferrars' +work was concerned, moved slowly, and even rested, or seemed so to do. + +To be baffled in a small town, and by a small boy, was something new and +surprising in the experience of detective Ferrars, but so it was. Work +as he would, finesse as he might, he could find no trace of the boy, +"about half grown, with dark eyes and hair, freckles, a polite way with +him, and a cap pulled over his eyes," and this was the best description +Mrs. Fry could give of the strange lad. + +"If Mrs. Fry was not the honest woman she is," said the doctor, "I +should call that boy a myth. How could he come and go so utterly unseen +by all Glenville." + +Samuel Doran, who still believed that "Mr. Grant" was Mr. Grant, and +thought it most natural that he should turn his attention to the +mystery surrounding the murder of "his cousin's lover," thought +otherwise. + +"Pshaw!" he objected, "look at the raff of half-grown boys racing up and +down these streets from sunset to pretty late bedtime, for kids, and how +much different does one boy look from another in the dark? Mrs. Fry +herself only saw him out in the twilight." + +Ferrars reserved his criticism and opinions for the time. + +Doran had taken upon himself the investigation of the "boat puzzle," as +he called it, for the skiff remained, after many days, still drawn up, +unmoored and unclaimed, by the lake shore; and at last, by dint of much +driving up and down the lake shore road and interviewing of boat owners, +he brought to Ferrars this unsatisfactory solution. + +Two weeks before the murder the skiff had been owned by a certain Jerry +Small, hunter and fisherman by choice, blacksmith by profession. On a +certain day a man dressed in outing costume had entered Small's shop, +asked about the boat, and made him such a liberal offer for it, that +Jerry had at once closed with him. The shop stood upon the outskirts of +the town and close to the lake. The man had said that he was coming out +from the city in a few days for a few weeks in the country, meaning to +secure board, if possible, near the lake shore. If Mr. Small did not +mind, the boat might stay where it was until his return; the money was +paid down, and Small engaged to care for the boat. + +One day, after much agitation, Small decided that it must have been the +day of the murder that he missed the boat; and one of his "kids" told +him that "a gentleman with flannel clothes and whiskers" took away the +boat "right early," and neither boat nor man had ever reappeared. + +Then Ferrars tore his hair and fumed at the long delay only to learn +that Jerry Small had left his house on the day after the murder to +attend a sick brother, and had returned just two days ago. + +"It's of no use," fumed the detective to Doctor Barnes; "I shall put a +couple of fellows I know in the Jerry Small vicinity; it's right in +their line of work, and probably they'll find the man and boy +together--in Timbuctoo." + +"And you will remain in Glenville, eh?" queried the doctor, grinning +openly. + +"Yes," with an answering grin, which somehow the doctor did not quite +understand. "I'll stay--for a while longer." + +As they sat at lunch next day a small boy brought Ferrars a note from +the teacher. + +"Come to me at once.--H. G." + +That was all it said, and Ferrars lost no time in obeying the summons. + +"You may not see much in my news," Hilda said, as she closed the door +upon intruders. "But I have got Peter's story out of him at last." + +"The foolish boy? Ah, that is something after all, at least, I hope it +will prove so. Well?" + +"It was slow work, for the boy has been terribly frightened. His story +is most absurd." + +"No matter, tell it in your own way." + +"He says still that he saw a ghost--a live ghost. That it arose out of +the bushes and waved its arms at him. It was dressed 'all in white like +big sheets,' Peter said, and its face was black, with white eyes. It +spoke to him 'very low and awful,' and told him to lie down and put his +face to the ground until it went back into its grave. If he looked, or +even told that he had seen a ghost, the grave would open and swallow him +too. Then it held up a 'shiny big knife' and he tumbled over in sheer +fright. After a long time he began to crawl toward the road; and when he +at last looked around and saw no ghost anywhere, he ran as fast as he +could. I am afraid," Hilda added, "that you'll think as I do, that some +of the school boys have played the poor child a trick, or else that he +has imagined it all. It's too absurd to credit. Still, as you made a +point of being told at once of whatever I might learn from Peter, I kept +my promise. I'm afraid I've spoiled your luncheon." She finished with a +wan little half smile. + +The detective's face was very grave and he did not speak at once. + +"Is it possible," she ejaculated, "that you find anything in the boy's +story?" + +Ferrars leaned forward and took her hand. "Miss Grant," he said gravely, +"I believe that poor foolish Peter saw Charles Brierly's murderer." + +He got up quickly. "Do you think the boy could be got to show you where +he saw this apparition?" + +"I asked him that. He thinks he might dare to go if he were protected by +'big mans.'" + +"Then, arrange to leave your school for a short time, at, say two +o'clock. I shall get Doran and his surrey. Have the boy ready----" + +"Pardon me, I will say nothing to Peter. The surrey will be enough, he +is wild to ride." + +"That will be best then. I shall lose no time. I have a strong reason +for wishing to see the precise place where this ghost appeared." + +The sight of the surrey filled poor foolish Peter with delight, and he +rode on in high glee, sitting between Hilda and Ferrars, whom he had +learned to know, and like, and trust. When they were abreast of the hill +Hilda bent over him. + +"Now, Peter, tell me just where you saw that ghost." + +Instantly the boy's face blanched and he cowered in his seat, but +Ferrars with gentle firmness interfered. Peter would show him the place, +and then he would drive away the ghosts. Ghosts were afraid of grown +men, he averred. And at last, hesitating much, and full of fears, Peter +was finally persuaded, yielding at last to Doran's offer to let him sit +in front "and drive one of the horses." + +As they reached the lower end of the Indian Mound, the boy's lips began +to quiver and one arm went up before his face, while he extended the +other toward the thickest of brushwood before described by Ferrars. +"That's where," he whimpered. "It comed up out there." + +"From among the bushes?" + +"Ye-us." + +"Did it have any feet?" + +"Oh-oh! Only head and arms--ugh!" + +"Turn around, Doran," said Ferrars sharply, and then in a lower tone to +Hilda, "I shall go to the city to-night." + +When Hilda reached her room, at the close of the school, she found this +letter awaiting her, "left," Mrs. Marcy said, "by her cousin": + + + "DEAR COUSIN,--Even if you had been disengaged, I could have told + you nothing except that what I have learned to-day impels me to + look a little more closely to the other end of my line. For there + is another end. + + "Now that I shall have the two men on duty in the south end of the + county, and with the doctor and Doran alert in G----, not to + mention yourself, I can go where I have felt that I should be for + the past week or more. Will you keep me informed of the slightest + detail that in any way concerns our case? And will you do me one + individual favour? I trust Mrs. J---- may not leave this place + until I see you all again, but should she do so, will you inform me + of her intention at once? You see that I am quite frank. I should + deeply regret it, if she went away before I could see her again. + Destroy this. + + "Yours hopefully, + + "FERRARS." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +REBELLION. + + +May had passed, and June roses were in late bloom. The city was horrid +with the warm sun-filtered air after a summer shower, and Robert Brierly +looked pale and languid as he stepped from an elevator, in one of the +great department houses wherein Ferrars had his bachelor quarters, and +walked slowly to his door. + +Possibly it was the warmth of a very warm June, or there may have been +other causes. At any rate Frank Ferrars' face wore an almost haggard +look in spite of the welcoming smile with which he held out his hand to +greet his friend, for friends these two had grown to be during the past +weeks. Friends warm and true and strong, in spite of the fact that the +mystery surrounding the death of Charlie Brierly remained as much of a +mystery as on the day when foolish Peter Kramer led the detective to the +scene of his ghostly encounter. + +There were dark lines beneath the keen gray eyes, which, Rob Brierly +had declared, "compelled a man's trust," and the smooth, shaven cheek +was almost hectic, symptoms which, in Ferrars, denoted, among other +things, loss of sleep. + +There was a moment of silence, after the men had exchanged greetings, +and it seemed, almost, that each was covertly studying the other, and +then Brierly tossed down his straw hat, and pulling a chair directly in +front of that in which the detective lounged, said, abruptly: + +"I shouldn't like to quarrel with you, Ferrars, but I've something on my +mind, and I'm here to have it out with you." + +"Oh! Then I am in it?" the detective spoke nonchalantly, carelessly +almost, and as the other seemed hesitating for a word, he added: "Give +us the first round, old man. I'm apprehensive." + +"H--m! You look it. Ferrars, do you know that for weeks, ever since my +return from Glenville, in fact, I have been under constant +surveillance?" + +"Constant sur----. Excuse me, it's not polite to repeat, Brierly, but +what do you mean?" + +"What I say. It's plain enough, somebody is watching me, following me +day and night." + +"Pshaw! You don't mean that, man!" + +"But I do. And that is not all," he leaned forward and fixed his eyes +upon those of his _vis-à-vis_ as if watching for the effect of his +words. "I have been slowly discovering that I am being +controlled--constrained--in many ways." + +"Upon my word!" Ferrars was leaning back in his chair with his face a +mask, expressing nothing but grave attention. "Make it plainer, +Brierly." + +"I will. I'll make it so plain that there will be no room for +misunderstanding. When I first came back from Glenville, I did not go +out much, especially evenings, but when I did, I began to fancy that I +was spied upon, followed, and, after a time, I became sure of it." + +"Stop! When did you observe this first?" + +"I think it was on the third night after my return. I was going down to +the Lyceum Club rooms, when something caused me to glance at a fellow on +the other side of the street. You know my eyes are good!" + +"Unusually so." + +"Well, I came out in a very short time, alone, and the same fellow was +lounging so close to the entrance that I recognised him at once." + +"A bungler, evidently." + +"Perhaps. Well, I met two men whom I know, just outside, and they +dragged me back with them. When at last I left the place, I started to +walk home, and when I got upon the quieter streets I soon became +conscious of some one keeping so evenly opposite me across the street, +that I began to watch, and as the fellow glided, as quickly as possible +under a street lamp, I recognised the same man." + +"And you have seen him since?" + +"Himself or another. A disguise is easy at night. I have been watched, +at any rate, and followed again and again." + +"Ah! And could you imagine his motive?" + +"No." A look that was almost of anger crossed Brierly's face. "But I +have wondered if it was the same as yours, and Myers, when you have +contrived to keep me from going here and there, or doing this or that, +unless accompanied by one or the other of you two." + +He bent forward again after this utterance. His eyes seemed to challenge +an answer. + +But it did not come. Ferrars only sat with that look of grave inquiry +still upon his face. He knew the man before him. + +"Ferrars," exclaimed Brierly, when he saw that no answer, no defence, +was to be made, "will you look me in the face and say that you, and +Myers also, have not connived to keep me under your eyes? to accompany +me when that was practicable, and to prevent my going when it was not? +I can recall several occasions when----" + +He stopped short, checked in his utterance by a sudden, subtle change in +the face of Ferrars, who had not stirred so much as an eyelid, but who +spoke at once quietly, but with a certain tone of finality, of decision. + +"Brierly, do you believe that James Myers is your friend, in the full +meaning of the word?" + +"I do! It is not that I doubt, or that----" + +"And do you believe," went on Ferrars, putting aside his protest with a +peremptory gesture: "do you believe that, while thus far I seem to have +failed in unravelling the mystery in which your brother's death seems +enshrouded, I have given it my most faithful study, my time, thought, +effort and labour? That, in short, I have been true to your interest at +all times?" + +"I know it. You have been all that and more. You must hear me, Ferrars. +And I beg that you will answer me. Why am I watched, thwarted, cajoled? +Why do you and Myers fear to let me out of your sight? A few weeks ago +you found, or seemed to find, your chief interest in Glenville; you +looked for clues, for developments, there; and yet, you have not visited +Glenville since you left it so suddenly. Even your own personal interest +has not drawn you there for a single day." + +"By my 'personal interest' you mean what, Brierly?" + +"You know what I mean. Pardon me, and do not misunderstand me. I could +not fail to see that you were interested in Mrs. Jamieson, and why not?" +While Brierly spoke, the detective arose and began to pace the floor +with lowered eyelids and slow tread. Brierly watching him, was silent a +moment, then he seemed to pull himself together and to speak with +enforced calmness. "Ferrars, do you know what thought has taken +possession of my brain until I cannot shake it off?" + +"Assuredly not," going on with his promenade. "But I shall be glad to +hear." + +"I have begun to fear--yes, to fear--that you have found some reason for +suspecting me, and that your horribly acute logic has even caused Myers +to doubt too." + +"Man!" Ferrars swung about and suddenly faced him. "Much meditation has +surely made you mad. Now, in heaven's name, so far as may be, let us +understand each other. First, you are utterly wrong." + +"Ah!" + +"Next, you speak of Mrs. Jamieson, and of my 'personal interest.' I +admit, willingly, that I am interested in that lady. But my personal +feelings and interests must be subservient for a time to your business." + +"Pardon me." + +"And now, I did leave Glenville to follow you, and see that you did not +spoil my plans by any rashness." + +"You are talking a puzzle!" + +"Let me talk it out then, for you have forced my hand. But for this I +should have gone on as before. And I did not dream that Mr. Myers and I +were playing our game so stupidly, so openly; nor that you, owing to +your present preoccupation, would prove so astute." + +"You have not bungled, be sure of that. You have been most wonderfully +keen and clever, but it was this very preoccupation, as you call it, my +abnormal sensitiveness, in fact, which made me study your every word and +set me searching for its hidden meaning; and so I could not fail to see +that you were handling me, hedging me about, for some purpose." + +"Ah! You have said the word, Brierly." Ferrars resumed his seat opposite +the other, and his tone became once more composed. "We were trying to +'hedge you about,' to put up a wall between you and the assassin who +killed your brother. Wait! Let me say it all. It is little enough. Do +you remember telling me of an 'assault' upon your brother, made by +footpads, not long before he came to Glenville?" + +"Yes." + +"It was that which gave me my first real clue. It confirmed one of the +few theories that seem to fit, or cover, the case so far as known; but +it wanted confirmation. I found nothing in Glenville that was in any way +opposed to this theory which I was growing to believe in, but, on the +other hand, I found nothing there to strengthen it. When you left that +place, I meant to follow soon. Meantime I had confided my theory to Mr. +Myers, who promised not to lose sight of you before I should arrive." + +"But why? Why?" + +"Because I then believed, as I do now, that that attack upon your +brother last summer was the first act in the tragedy which has robbed +you of him. I believed the plot to be far-reaching. It may be a case of +vengeance, a family feud. The motive is yet to be discovered, but I will +admit to you that I have had, from the first, a reason to think that the +affair has not yet ended; and so, as soon as I could, I followed you to +town. It was well that I did so. Before I had been your shadow +forty-eight hours, I had proof that you were being otherwise watched and +followed." + +"Great heavens! And that is why----" He stopped short and bowed his +head. + +"That is why Myers and I have been such officious friends, why we have +advised, remarked, and why I have tried to trace to his lair the man who +has been your very frequent shadow." + +"And you think he is----" + +"The assassin himself or his tool." + +"Good heavens! And you cannot guess his motive?" + +"We might guess, of course, half a dozen motives. What I have hoped to +find was something, some fact in your family history, your father's +life, or your mother's, perhaps, that would fit into one of these +guesses or theories, and make of it a probability." + +And then the two went all over the array of possible reasons and +motives, and Brierly again protested his lack of any knowledge which +might serve as the feeblest of guides to the truth. + +"There's one other thing," said Brierly, at last. "I want to know if the +new man, whom Myers took on soon after you came to town, is one of your +sleuths? He has annoyed me more than once by his persistent attentions." + +Ferrars smiled. "I never supposed you a reader of the penny dreadful, +Brierly," he said, "and 'sleuth' is a word which makes the actual +detective smile, and which is not known to the professional vocabulary. +Hicks is my man; yes. And he has followed you by day and night when you +have not had the company of either Myers or myself." + +Robert Brierly threw back his head and folded his arms. After a moment +of silence he got up and stood before the detective. + +"Ferrars," he said, "I owe you and my absent friend an abject apology +for my unworthy suspicions, my impatience under restraint. And now, I +beg of you, let this end. I am warned, and I do not think myself a rash +man. I believe I can protect myself, and how can I endure the thought +that I must be hedged about by this constant guardianship, which may +last indefinitely? Withdraw Hicks, and give your own valuable time to +better things. Rather than go about knowing myself so fenced in and +guarded, I will lock myself up in the attic, and remain a recluse and +invisible. Heavens, man! am I so stupid or cowardly a man not to be able +to cope with an enemy whom I know to be in ambush at my very heels?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +"OUT OF REACH." + + +Much as Ferrars regretted Brierly's discovery, he was not much surprised +by it, nor could he avoid or refuse an explanation. Robert Brierly was +not a child. He was a strong man, and a brave one; and Ferrars, putting +himself in the other's place, felt at once the force of his words, the +right of his position; and, after a day or two, he withdrew Hicks from +his post. At the same time he observed with surprise and some misgiving +that the shadow was no longer on duty. With two trusty and able men, by +turns, always on watch within sight of the Myers place, no glimpse of +him had been seen for more than a week. + +And then, like a lightning flash from a clear sky, the blow fell. + +It was Sunday evening, and in the aristocratic uptown street where the +Myers lived there reigned a Sabbath quiet, for the habitues of the +little park beyond had left it with the fading twilight, and had already +passed on their way townward. + +Robert Brierly had been indoors since morning, and now, shortly after +Mr. and Mrs. Myers had walked down the tree-shaded street, toward the +church on the avenue three blocks away, he came out upon the broad front +portico and stood for a moment looking idly up and down. + +There had been concessions on both sides, since that interview between +Brierly and Ferrars in which the former had demanded an explanation; and +the withdrawal of Hicks had been but one of the results; another had +been a promise, given by Brierly, whereby he pledged himself not to walk +the city streets alone after dark, but if unaccompanied to take a cab, +there being a stand only two blocks away, in the direction of the park. + +These cabs, when wanted, were to be called by one of the servants, and +to take him from the door; but on this Sunday night, as Brierly looked +up and down with a growing wish to drive about town and have a talk with +Ferrars, he remembered that on Sunday the servants were allowed to go +out; all save one who must remain in charge, and decided that it would +be absurd to stand there "like a prisoner bound by invisible chains" +and wait for a chance to bring either carriage or policeman. He had +received on the previous evening letters from Glenville, from Hilda and +Doctor Barnes, and his curiosity had been aroused by the contents of +both. He had not seen the detective for four days, and he fancied that +he, too, would have had news from the little lakeside town; more +explicit and satisfactory news, doubtless, than that contained in his +own letters. + +"How absurd!" he muttered, apropos of his own thoughts. "No doubt I'll +meet a hack before I reach the corner," and he lighted a cigar and went +down the steps, glancing, from sheer force of habit, for the street at +that moment seemed quite empty, up and down, as he went toward the cab +stand. + +"I was sure of it," he said again, as he neared the corner, at the end +of the block farthest from his home. "There they are, both of them." + +He was looking ahead, where a cab was coming at a slow trot toward him, +while around the corner, still nearer, a policeman had just appeared. + +As the two men approached each other the officer, who had been looking +toward the approaching cab, turned his face toward Brierly, just as he +was passing under the glare of a street lamp, and stopped short. + +"Excuse me, sir; this is Mr. Brierly, I believe?" + +Brierly nodded. + +"Mr. Brierly, may I have a few words with you? I have been lately put +upon this beat, sir; changed from the next lower one; and there is +something you ought, for your own safety, to know. Will you walk a few +steps with me? I hardly like to stop; I ought to be at the next corner +right now, in fact." + +Brierly looked toward the approaching cab. "The truth is," he said, "I +want very much to get that cab down town; otherwise----" + +"Oh, I'll fix that, sir." And the officer took a step out from the +curbstone and, standing under the glare of the light just above, held up +his hand, and whistled shrilly. "Follow us a few steps, Johnny," he said +to the driver. "You are wanted down town." Then, turning toward Brierly, +"If you'll just step across the street after me, I'll tell you what you +ought to know. It's a short story." And he crossed the street briskly, +and paused on the opposite side to await the other. + +"You see, sir," he began, as Brierly joined him, "we can walk slow for a +few steps here, where all's quiet." + +Brierly paused to look back. The cab was turning at the corner, and it +followed them, at a snail's pace, and close behind, down the still and +shady side-street. "You see, I've been noticing, for a couple of weeks, +or maybe more, a fellow who just seemed to patrol the street next below +this, almost as faithfully as I did, and for quite a time I wondered +why; and thus I began to watch him, till I found that his promenades +always took him round the corner, and seemed to bring him up right +opposite the house you live in. I guess I ought to step a little +brisker, sir; somebody's coming. The man was not very tall, and thick +set like, and if I hadn't taken notice of him, at the first, almost, I +might not have recognised him, for he changed his clothes almost every +trip; sometimes dressing common, sometimes quite swell; but I knew him +every time." + +"Make it as short as you can, officer; we're almost at the corner." + +"All right, sir." The man glanced back. "Your cab's here, all right, +sir. I was just going to tell you how we came to arrest the fellow." + +"Ah!" Brierly smiled in the dusk. It had puzzled Ferrars or seemed to, +the sudden cessation of the spy's visits, and now he would be able to +enlighten the detective. "You have him, then? This shall be worth +something to you." + +"I don't want a reward for doing a plain duty, sir. Just walk on ahead +for a step; somebody's coming." + +Preoccupied with the story, and without glancing behind, Brierly did as +he was told, and had advanced not ten paces from the corner, when there +was a swift blow, a fall and a cry, three pistol shots in swift +succession, and the rattle of wheels; all so close together that the +time could have been counted in seconds. + +"Brierly! Are you badly hurt?" The revolver fell from the fingers of the +man who had prevented the second blow, and put to flight the sham +policeman, who had so deftly contrived his appearance, with the aid of +the cab, between the rounds of the policeman proper, the latter now came +up panting, his footsteps hastened by the shrill call of the whistle in +the hands of the new or latest comer. And then the inmates of the +neighbouring houses rushed out, and, for the moment, there was +confusion, consternation and clamour. + +"Is he dead?" + +"How did it happen?" + +"Was it a sandbag?" + +"To think of a holdup on this street!" + +"There was a carriage, I'm sure." + +And then the policeman was flashing his lantern about among them, as he +bade them stand back, and the rescuer, who looked like a workman in his +Sunday clothes, looked up, from the place where he knelt, supporting the +head and shoulders of the unconscious man, and said: + +"Gentlemen, this is Mr. Brierly, Robert Brierly of 1030 C---- Avenue; +the Myers house, only two blocks away. He must be taken home at once. +Has any one a cot? No, he must be carried." For at the name of the Myers +house, a gentleman had proffered his carriage at once. "And, officer, +call up help. If possible, that cab must be traced. Send to the stand +just above and find out what cabs have left it within the past quarter +hour. Let some one go ahead and bring Doctor Glessner from just opposite +1030. He's at home." + +"How did it happen?" asked Mr. Myers, two hours later, when the injured +man--his wounded head carefully dressed--lay, still dazed and in a +precarious condition, in his darkened room, with a trained nurse in +attendance. + +Ferrars having seen his friend in his own room, and in the hands of the +doctors, had not waited for their verdict, but had set off to put in +motion his plan for hunting down the would-be murderer, and he had but +now returned, full of anxiety for the fate of the sufferer. + +"How did it happen? After all our precautions, too!" + +"It's easy to tell how it happened," replied Ferrars with some +bitterness. "It happened, first, because the enemy outwitted me, in +spite of my cordon of guards; and, second, because Brierly lost patience +and exposed himself." + +"But how?" + +"I can only give you my theory for that. He was alone in the house, eh?" + +"Yes. We were both out when he went." + +"He wanted, doubtless, to go to town. There was no servant at hand whom +he wished to send, so he walked toward the hack stand, or so I suppose. +At the corner he met a policeman, as he thought, of course, and so, for +a moment did I. They stopped, spoke together, and the sham policeman +hailed an empty cab that was close at hand; then they crossed the +street, the cab following, and the policeman seemed to be doing the +talking, as I saw when they passed under the light at the corner. I had +suspected some new plot, from the fact that the spy had so suddenly +disappeared, and I had watched your place, in person, for the past three +nights." + +"Oh! And that is why we have seen so little of you?" + +"In part. Well, I made up my mind, when they walked away together down +that tree-shaded cross-street, that there was something wrong. I was on +the opposite side, and concluded to close up, seeing that the cab was +getting very near and edging close to their side, against all rules of +the road. I had got half way across, and was just behind the cab, when I +saw Brierly step ahead of the other, and then came the blow. As I sprang +forward the cabby gave a loud hiss and the scoundrel saw me, and sprang +for the cab with his arm still uplifted for another blow. I fired twice +running, the third time turning long enough to send another shot at him +as he entered the carriage door. Then he was off. I think he was hit, +once at least." + +"He will be caught, don't you think so? A cab driving like mad through +those quiet streets?" + +"No. He will not be caught, I fear." + +"But why?" + +"Because he will have had a second vehicle, a carriage, no doubt, not +far away, and he will leave the cab, which will slacken up for a moment +for that, and then dash on." + +"How can you know that?" + +"Because, when I find that I am dealing with a clever rascal I ask, what +would I do in his place? And that is what I would have done." + +"Well, well!" The lawyer sighed. "Poor Robert." + +"If he only had been less impatient!" exclaimed Ferrars. + +"If we had been wiser, and had not left him! The boy was in a +peculiarly restless mood. Even my wife had observed that since morning." + +"And why since morning?" + +The lawyer looked at him gravely for a moment. "Did you ever hear of +Ruth Glidden?" he asked. + +"The orphan heiress? Of course; through the society columns of the +newspapers." + +"Ruth Glidden and the Brierly boys grew up as the best of friends and +neighbours. The elders of the two families were friends equally warm. I +believe in my soul that Glidden would gladly have seen his daughter +marry one of the Brierly boys. And if things had run smooth--but there! +Brierly was accounted a rich man, and he was until less than a year +before his death, when the failure of the F. and S. Railway Company, and +the North-Western Land concern, within three months of each other, left +him a heavy loser. Even then, if Glidden had been alive all might have +been well. But he died, two years before Brierly's death, and Ruth went +to live with her purse-proud aunt, her father's sister. The two families +had resided for years, side by side, on this avenue." + +"And where is Miss Glidden now?" asked Ferrars. + +"Here in this city since the day before yesterday. She and her aunt +have been abroad for a year, but I believe that they care for each +other, though Robert is so proud, and that is not all. The brothers have +each a few thousand dollars still, and it appears that shortly before +his death, Charlie--he was always a methodical fellow--instructed his +brother, in case of his sudden death, to make over all of his share to +Miss Hilda Grant. Robert told me of this upon his return with the body, +and he also said that all he possessed should go, if needful, to the +clearing up of this murder mystery." + +"It may be needful," sighed Ferrars. "I fear it will be." + +"Then, good-bye to Robert's hopes! With it he might make a lucky hit; +might have a chance. Without it"--he shrugged his shoulders--"what can +even so bright a journalist, as he undoubtedly is, do to win a fortune +quickly. And he won't accept help, even from me, his father's oldest +friend." + +"No," said Ferrars, gloomily. "Of course not How could he? Mr. Myers, +I'll be honest and tell you that I'm afraid we've struck a blank wall. +Things look dark on all hands, just now, for poor Brierly." + +"What! Do you think the clue, the case, is lost then?" + +"Not lost. Oh, no. Only, I fear, out of reach." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +RUTH GLIDDEN. + + +Francis Ferrars sat in his sanctum, one could scarcely call it an +office, although he received here, now and again, visitors of many sorts +on business bent. For, since his coming to America, five years before, +to find the heiress of Sir Hillary Massinger, he had read many another +riddle, and now, as at first, he worked independently, but with the +difference that he now undertook only such cases as especially attracted +him by reason of their strangeness, or of the worth, or need, of the +client. + +Two letters lay before him, and as he pondered, frowning from time to +time, he would take up one or the other and re-read a passage, and +compress his lips and give vent to his thoughts in fragmentary +sentences. For he had grown, because of much solitude, to think aloud +when his thoughts grew troublesome, voicing the pros and cons of a +case, and seeming to find this an aid to clearness of thought. + +"It's a most baffling thing," he declared, taking up for the third time +a letter in the strong upright hand of Doctor Barnes. "I wonder just +what the man meant by penning this," and once more he ran his eye over +this paragraph which occurred at the end of a long letter: + + + "Mrs. Jamieson has not forgotten you. She asks after you now and + then, when we meet, and desires to be remembered to you. She is not + looking well, and, I fancy, finds Glenville duller than at first." + + +"I'll wager she does not think of me any oftener than I of her. And she +can't know how ardently I long to stand before her and look into those +changeful, blue-green eyes of hers. What strangely handsome eyes they +are--And say--Ah! how will those eyes look then, I wonder?" + +Presently he turns the sheet and reads again: + + + "I think you did well to instruct your two men here to make use of, + and place confidence in Doran. He's a host in himself. And what do + you think of the tramp they have traced to the vicinity of that + boat on the morning of the murder? He was seen, it appears, by at + least three." + + +"Umph!" laying down the letter. "If you were here, my dear Barnes, I +would tell you frankly--I feel just like being brutally frank with some +one--that I have no doubt that the tramp is a link--there seems to be so +many of them, and all detached--a link--and that he approached the boat +in that tramp disguise, after separating from his confederate at some +more distant point. Bah! It looks simple enough. Confederate leaves +vehicle--or two horses, possibly--they could slip off the saddles and +hobble them in a thicket, where they would look, to the passer-by, like +a pair of grazing animals, or they might have used a wagon, travelling +thus like two innocent bucolics. Then how plain to me, the assassin goes +through the woods, watchfully, like an Indian. The tramp boatman patrols +the shore, to signal to the other when the victim appears; or, should +the assassin on shore be unable to creep upon his prey, the assassin in +the boat may row boldly near, and, at the signal from the other, telling +him there is a clear coast, fire upon the victim. If he is sure of his +aim, how easy! And if seen by the victim, well--'Dead men tell no +tales.'" + +He muses silently awhile now, puts down the doctor's letter, and takes +up the other. + +"This," he murmurs, "is tantalising." And then he read from a letter, +signed "Hilda G----." + + + "Mrs. Jamieson begins to complain of the dullness of this place, in + spite of the fact that she has had a visit from her husband's + brother, a Mr. Carl Jamieson. He did not make a long visit, and I + saw but little of him. He is something of a cripple, a sufferer + from rheumatism, and just back from the hot springs. I met him but + once. He looks and talks like an Englishman, and has a dark eye + that betokens, if I am a judge of eyes, a bad temper. I give you + these details knowing that all concerning the little blonde lady is + of interest to you." + + +"Of interest!" he muttered "I should think so! Doubly so, now that +there's so little else of interest, or----" He stopped short, and +wheeled about in his chair. His office-boy had swung open his door, and +was saying: + +"A lady to see you, sir." And Ferrars arose to confront a visitor, a +brunette so tall and lissom, so glowing with the rich hues of health and +beauty, so clear of eye, and direct of gaze, that Ferrars could not at +first find his usually obedient tongue, and then she spoke. + +"Mr. Ferrars!" her voice was a low, rich contralto. "I am Miss Ruth +Glidden, and I have come to you to seek information concerning the awful +death of my friend, Charles Brierly. Pray let me explain myself at +once." + +Ferrars bowed, placed her a chair, and closed the half-open door. + +"The Brierlys and my own people were old friends, and Robert and Charles +Brierly were my childhood playmates. I arrived home, ten days ago, after +a year spent in Europe, and learned, soon, of Charlie's sad fate. While +this shock was still fresh upon me, I heard of Robert's narrow escape +from a like attack. Mr. and Mrs. Myers are my dear friends. I have spent +much of the past week under their roof, and----" There was a little +catch of the breath, and then she went bravely on. "And I have had a +long, frank talk, first with Mrs. Myers, and then with her husband. He +has told me all that he could tell. He has assured me that you are +wholly to be trusted and relied upon, and, knowing my wishes--my +intentions, in fact--Mr. Myers has advised me to come to you." + +"And in what way can I serve you, Miss Glidden?" + +"Please understand me. I have heard the story; that there are clues, +but broken and disconnected ones; that you know what should be done, but +that there is a barrier in the way of the doing. Mr. Ferrars, as a true +friend of Robert Brierly, I ask you to tell me what that barrier is? I +have a right to know." The rich tints of olive and rose had faded from +her rounded cheek, leaving it pale. But the dark eyes were still +steadily intense in their regard. + +As Ferrars was about to reply, after a moment of silent meditation, the +door opened, and the boy came in again, softly and silently, and placed +upon the desk a handful of letters, just arrived; laying a finger upon +the topmost one, and glancing up at his employer, thus signifying that +here was his excuse for entering at such a moment. + +The letter was marked "immediate," and the handwriting was that of James +Myers. + +With a murmured apology, the detective opened it, and read-- + + + "MY DEAR FERRARS,--During the day you will no doubt receive a call + from Miss Glidden. I cannot dictate your course, but I write this + to say that no friend of Brierly's has a better right to the + truth--all of it--nor a stronger will and greater power to aid. Of + her ability to keep a secret you can judge when you meet her. + + "Yours, + + "JAMES MYERS." + + +When he had read this letter Ferrars silently proffered it to his +visitor, and in silence she accepted and read it. + +"I was strongly inclined to accede to your request, after, first, asking +one question," he said, when she gave the letter back, still without +speaking. "And now, having read this, I am quite ready to tell you what +I can." + +"And the question?" + +"I will ask it, but have no right to insist upon the answer. Have you +any motive, beyond the natural desire to understand the case, in coming +to me?" + +She leaned slightly toward him and kept her earnest eyes steadily upon +his face as she replied, "I cannot believe that you credit me with +coming here, on such an errand, simply because I wish to know. I do wish +to know as much as possible, but let me first tell you, plainly, my +motives and why I have assumed such a right or privilege. To begin, I am +told that Robert Brierly will not be able to think or act for himself +for some time to come." + +"That, unhappily, is true." + +"And how does this affect your position?" + +"It is unfortunate for me, of course. The case has reached a point when +I can hardly venture far unauthorised, and yet no moment should be lost. +The time has come when skilled investigations, covering many weeks, +perhaps, as well as long journeys, are necessary. We need also the +constant watchfulness of a number of clever shadowers." + +"And this requires--it will incur great expense?" she asked, quickly. +"Is it not so?" + +Ferrars bowed gravely. + +"Mr. Ferrars," she began, and there was a sudden subtle change in her +voice. "I am going to speak to you as a woman seldom speaks to a man, +for I trust you, and we must understand each other. Two years ago, when +I was leaving my old home for my aunt's house, having still a half year +of study before me, with the year abroad, already planned, to follow, +Robert Brierly came to bid me good-bye, and this is what he said; I +remember every word: 'Ruth, we have been playmates for ten years, and +dear friends for almost ten years more. Now I am a man, and poor, and +you a budding woman, soon to be launched into society, and an heiress. I +would be a scoundrel to seek to bind you to any promise now, so I leave +you free to see the world and to know your own heart. I have not a +fortune, but if labour and effort will bring it about I hope to be able +to offer you a fit home some day, for I love you, and I shall not +change. I want you to be happy, Ruth, more than all else, and so I say, +go out into the world, dear, and if you find in it a good man whom you +love, that is enough. But, remember this, as long as you remain Ruth +Glidden, I shall hope to win you when I can do so and still feel myself +a man, for I do not fear your wealth, Ruth, only I must first show +myself to possess the ability to win my way, on your own level." + +She paused a moment, and bent her face upon her hand. Then she resumed, +almost in a whisper. "He would not let me speak. He knew too well that +he had always been very dear to me, and he feared to take advantage of +my inexperience. I loved and honoured him for that, and every day and +every hour since that moment I have looked upon myself as his promised +wife, and have been supremely happy in the thought. And now----" There +was a little pause and a sobbing catch of the breath--"Have I not the +right, Mr. Ferrars, to put out my hand and help in this work? To say +what I came here to say? My fortune is ample. It is mine alone. I am of +age, and my own mistress. Take me into your confidence, to the utmost, +make me your banker, and push on the work. Robert Brierly may be +helpless for weeks or months longer. Charlie Brierly was a brother to +me. No one has a stronger right to do this thing." + +"Miss Glidden, have you thought or been told that----" + +"That Robert may die? Yes. But I will never believe it. And, even so, +there is yet more reason why this work should not be dropped, why no +moment should be lost." She paused again, battling now for self-control; +then--"There is one other thing," she resumed. "Mr. Myers has told me of +the young lady, poor Charlie's _fiancée_. Will you tell me her name? He +did not speak it, I am sure, and I want to write to her, to know her." + +"That will be a kindly deed, for she, too, is an orphan. Her name is +Hilda Grant." + +"Hilda! Hilda Grant! Tell me, how does she look?" + +"A brown-haired, grey-eyed, sweet-faced young woman, with a clear, +healthy pallor and a rich colour in her lips alone. The hair is that +golden brown verging upon auburn; she is tall, or seems so, because of +her slight, almost fragile, gracefulness." + +"Ah! Thank you, thank you. This is my own Hilda Grant, who was my +schoolmate and dearest friend, and who cut me because she was poor, and +buried herself in some rustic school-house. She shall not stay there. +She shall come to me." + +"I fancy she will hardly be induced to leave Glenville now." + +"I must see her. She will come up to see Robert, surely!" + +"She is only waiting to know when she may see him." + +"Of course. And now, it is agreed, is it not? You will take me as a +silent partner?" + +"Since Mr. Myers sanctions it I cannot refuse. Besides, I see you are +quite capable of instituting a new search, if I did." + +"I will not deny it." And they smiled, each in the other's face. + +"Perhaps," he said, now grave again, "when I have told you all my ideas, +theories, and plans, you will not be so ready to risk a small fortune, +for, unless I am greatly in error, you will think what I am about to +propose, after I have reviewed the entire situation, the wildest bit of +far-fetched imagining possible, especially as I cannot, even to you, +describe, name, or in any manner characterise the person, or persons, +whom I wish to follow up, for months it may be, and because the slender +threads by which I connect them with the few facts and clues we have, +would not hold in the eyes of the most visionary judge and jury in the +land." + +"It will hold in my eyes. Do you think I have not informed myself +concerning you and your work? Is not Elias Lord my banker, and Mrs. +Bathurst _persona grata_ in my aunt's home? I am ready to listen, Mr. +Ferrars." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +SUDDEN FLITTINGS. + + +For two weeks Ruth Glidden stood at the right hand of Mrs. Myers, and +supplemented the trained nurse in the sick room. + +At first she only entered while the patient slept, but after a few days +the stupor began to lessen, and the flightiness, with which it had +alternated, to decrease. And then one day he knew them, and, by the +doctor's orders, the nurse withdrew and Ruth came to the bedside and sat +down beside him. + +"Robert, dear," she said, smiling down upon him, "you have very nearly +let that wretched footpad spoil the good looks of the only lover I ever +had, and to prevent further mischief I am come to take care of you." She +said very little more then, but gradually the patient found himself +being ruled by her nod, and liking the tyranny; so that when he was told +that he was going away to try what change of air and scene would do for +his maltreated head, he listened to her while she told him a tale which +seemed to interest her much, and through which the names Ferrars, Myers, +Hilda, and the pronouns "they" and "them" often occurred. And then it +came about that, supported to a carriage and transferred then to a +swinging cot, he was taken on board a Pullman sleeper, and, with nurse +and attendant, was whirled away southward. + +Two days later, James Myers said good-bye to wife and friends and set +sail, on board the good ship _Etruria en route_ for Europe. + +"Yes," he said to an acquaintance whom he met at the wharf. "I've wanted +to make the trip, you know, for a long time, and now a matter of +business, the looking up of certain titles and records, makes the +journey needful, and I can combine pleasure and business." And then he +turned away to say a few last words to Francis Ferrars before the signal +sounded, and he must say good-bye to his anxious wife, to serious-faced +Ruth Glidden. + +"And now," said the detective to Ruth, "the next flitting will be toward +Glenville." + +Before the end of that week Mrs. Myers, who stood staunchly by Ruth, and +would not hear of her going alone, Ruth herself, and a keen-eyed +maid--not the one who had accompanied the young heiress home from +Europe, but another supplied by Mr. Ferrars--all arrived at Glenville, +and took quarters at the Glenville House, where Hilda Grant soon sought +her friend, and promised herself much comfort in her society. + +At first, Miss Glidden did not seem to desire acquaintances, and Mrs. +Jamieson complained that she found herself almost deserted, Hilda was so +preoccupied with her newly-arrived friend. But this was soon changed. + +Miss Glidden and her party had at first been placed in quarters which +the young lady did not find to her taste. There must be a pleasanter +chamber for her friend, Mrs. Myers, and a reception room for their joint +use, and it ended in her securing the little parlour suite adjoining +that of Mrs. Jamieson. + +For a time even this close proximity did not seem to break the ice, and +while having been introduced by Hilda, the two ladies were for some days +strangers still. + +For reasons which Ferrars might have explained if he would, Hilda Grant +had not visited Robert Brierly while he lay under the care of doctor and +nurse, and now that they were together, the two girls, having first +exchanged fullest personal confidences, had much to say about Robert and +his dead brother. + +At the end of their first confidential talk Ruth had said: "Apropos of +this, Hilda, my dear, let me remind you that I have not outgrown my +dislike of being quizzed or questioned by the simply curious, for the +sake of curiosity. I know what a small town is, and so, I warn you not +to let the dear inhabitants know that I am more than a friend of your +own. To proclaim me a friend of the Brierlys as well, will be just to +expose us both to the inquisitive, and to set vivid imaginations at +work." + +Hilda's eyes studied her face a moment. "I think you will not be +troubled. My acquaintances all know that I do not willingly talk on that +terrible subject. Even Mrs. Jamieson, who saw its fearful beginning and +who is with me often, seldom speaks of it to me." + +"The pretty widow? Mr. Ferrars, pardon me, your cousin, spoke of her +more than once," and Ruth cast a keen side glance at her friend's face. + +"And she speaks of him, now and then." + +"As which?" + +"As my cousin; for so she believes him to be." + +"And you think them mutually interested? I must really see more of my +pretty neighbour." + +Miss Glidden and her party had been a week in Glenville when "Mr. +Ferriss-Grant" arrived, and spent a few days in the village, making his +home at the doctor's cottage, and passing most of his time with Hilda +and her friends. Mrs. Jamieson had now made better progress with her +fair and stately neighbour, and they might have been seen strolling +toward the school-house together, or driving along the terrace road--for +Mrs. Jamieson had declared that the tragedy of the lake shore had +spoiled the lakeside road for her--in Doran's pony carriage, and, +sometimes with "Miss Grant's cousin" for charioteer. + +One evening the little party sauntered away from the pretty hotel +together to walk to Hilda's home and sit for an hour upon Mrs. Marcy's +broad and shaded piazza, which Mrs. Jamieson declared so charmingly +secluded, after the chatter and movement, the coming and going upon that +of the Glenville House. + +They had been taking tea with Mrs. Myers and Ruth, Hilda, Mrs. Jamieson, +and the sham cousin, who seemed to rather enjoy his _rôle_, if one might +judge by his manner, and they seemed inclined to pass the remainder of +the evening together. + +They had not been long seated upon the vine-shaded piazza when Doctor +Barnes came up the walk and dropped down upon the upper step, like one +quite at home. It was now more than two weeks since Robert Brierly had +been carried southward and the people of Glenville, for the most part, +had heard most discouraging reports from the invalid, most of them given +forth by the doctor, or "Sam" Doran, who, by the way, had been for the +past month entertaining a warmly welcomed and much quoted "first cousin" +from "out west." + +The doctor held a letter in his hand, and seeing this, Miss Grant's +cousin asked carelessly: + +"Any news of general interest in that blue envelope, doctor?" + +They could not see the doctor's face, but his voice was very grave when +he replied, "I'm sorry to say yes. Our friend down south is in a very +bad way." + +"Mr. Brierly?" exclaimed Mrs. Jamieson. "Oh, doctor, tell us the worst." +And then she murmured to Ruth, who sat near her, "Miss Grant's friend, +you know, but of course you do. I have grown as much interested in his +welfare, somehow, as if he were not really a stranger, whom I never saw +but once." + +The doctor had left his place, and crossed to the open window, through +which the lamp-light shone upon the open letter. + +"I think I can see to read it," he said, and bent over the sheet. "The +writer says: + +"I fear our friend will not see many more Florida suns; will not be here +with us long. The change has been surprisingly rapid, and the heart is +now seriously implicated. Do not be surprised if ill news comes at an +early day." + +He folded the letter. "Ill news should always be briefly told," he said. + +When the ladies came in, that night, having parted from the two +gentlemen who had escorted them as far as the piazza steps, they found +Miss Glidden's maid hovering in the passage, near her mistress's door. + +"Miss Glidden, ladies," she began in evident agitation, "I have been +terribly frightened. Some one has been in your room, and, I fear, in +that of this lady also. I sat, for an hour, on the back piazza with two +of the housemaids, and when I came up, only a few steps from this room, +some one slipped out from Mrs. Jamieson's door and round the corner +toward the south hall. I did not think about it until I had gone into +your room to make all ready for the night, and then I saw the closet +door open, and the things upon your table pulled about as if some one +had hurried much, and had left, when they found it was not a sleeping +room. Then I thought of the next room, of the person coming out so still +and so sly----" + +Miss Glidden pushed past the maid, and opened her own door. "Look in +your room, Mrs. Jamieson," she said, "and see if you have really been +robbed before we alarm the house. Susan, go with her." + +Mrs. Jamieson found that her door was indeed unlocked, and her inner +room showed plainly that a hasty hand had searched, here and there. + +"It's lucky that I never leave money where it can be got at," she said +to Ruth, when she had taken in the full extent of the mischief, "and +that I haven't taken my jewel box from the hotel safe for three days. +Even my purse was in my chatelaine with me. I find absolutely nothing +gone. But my boxes, my frocks, my boots and wraps, even, have been +pulled about. It's very strange. The thief must have been frightened +away before anything was taken." + +"Perhaps," suggested Miss Glidden, "the person wanted clothing, and +heard Susan coming down the hall." + +It was very strange, but, although they called the landlord, and told +him privately of the invasion, and though there was a quiet but strict +investigation, nothing came of it, and no one was even suspected. + +"It was certainly some one from outside, who slipped in through some +open door in the dark, while every one was out upon the piazzas, or in +the grounds. These halls are not lighted until quite dark, sometimes, I +find. I am thankful that you met with no loss, ladies," said mine host. + +Next morning Mrs. Myers declared herself more than ready to leave +Glenville. The thought of being in a house where an intruder found it so +easy to make free with a lady's wardrobe, was not pleasant, and she +hoped Ruth would not ask her to spend another week in the town. In fact +she only stipulated for a fortnight's visit with her friend, Miss Grant, +upon which Ruth promised that they would really go very soon, although +she was enjoying herself. + +Three days later a party of the Glenville's guests set off, after an +early breakfast, for a long drive and a day's fishing, at a spot some +miles distant and near the north end of the lake, at a famous picnic +ground. Mrs. Jamieson was one of the merry crew, and she urged Ruth +Glidden to join them, as did the others, all; but Ruth "never fished and +detested picnics;" besides, the other people, she declared, were for the +most part utter strangers, and Hilda and "Mr. Grant" were not invited. + +When Mrs. Jamieson came back with the rest of the tired merry-makers +she knocked at Ruth's door to announce her return. + +There was no response, and she entered her own rooms where she found, +conspicuously placed, a note. It was in a strong masculine hand, and she +opened it quickly, looking first at the name at the bottom of the sheet. +It was F. Grant. + +She caught her breath, and sat down to read, wondering still and her +heart beating strangely. + + + "DEAR MADAM"--so ran the note--"You will be surprised, I know, to + hear of our so sudden departure. Poor Brierly is dead, and we start + to-day by the four o'clock express, hoping thus to reach the city + before the party from the south arrive there. They started, we + learn, on Tuesday morning. Mrs. Myers and Miss Glidden have kindly + accompanied us, that my cousin may have the comfort of her friends' + companionship, and the protection of the elder lady, whose guest + she will be. In the haste of departure I am commissioned to say + what they would have gladly said in person. For myself, while I + trust we may meet again, and soon, may I presume to ask--in the + event of your going away from Glenville, for my cousin has said it + was possible--that you will let the doctor know where we may in + future address you? In the hope of seeing you again, at an early + date, I am, + + "Sincerely and hopefully, + + "F. Grant." + + +An hour later she sent for Doctor Barnes, who came promptly. + +"Doctor," she began, as soon as he had entered her room, and closed the +door. "I won't try to deceive you. I have had twinges of neuralgia +to-day, and my bottle is quite empty. But I want, most of all, to hear +more about this sudden flitting. They have left me just a line of +farewell. Of course I know about poor Mr. Brierly. There's no doubt of +his death." + +"Not the least in the world, I regret to say." + +"It is very sad, but I suppose they were prepared for the news." + +"Yes." + +"Now tell me about Miss Grant. Is she not coming back to her school?" + +"I don't quite know. Her cousin, who is a very successful man in +business, goes abroad soon, and he would like to have her among her +friends. Miss Glidden is anxious to keep her for a time at least. I +believe she, Miss Grant, had a few words with Doran. I fancy it will end +in her resignation." + +"Then how I wish she would come abroad, if not with her cousin, then +with me. For I shall go soon, I quite think. In fact there are business +matters, of my husband's, money matters that require my presence. I must +write to Miss Grant." + +"Then address her at the Loremer House for the present. Miss Glidden has +a suite of rooms there." + +A week later Mrs. Jamieson, accompanied by her friend, Mrs. Arthur, +looked in upon Doctor Barnes. + +"I have come to say good-bye, doctor," said the former. "I leave here in +the morning. My brother-in-law, who is on his way eastward, after a +second hurried western trip, will be in the city to-morrow; I meet him +there, and we sail in three days. Mr. Grant has written me that the +ladies are all out of the city, so I shall not see them, but he thinks +they will all be in London before the end of summer." + +Thus of all the active dramatis personĉ of our story, but few were left +in Glenville by mid-July. + +"And so the pretty widow's gone," said Samuel Doran to the doctor, the +day after this final flitting. "Looks like Glenville couldn't be a +healthy place in July. Even my 'first cousin from out west' skipped out +sort of sudden yesterday; couldn't stay another minute." + +"You don't look heartbroken," suggested the doctor. + +"Oh, I can spare him. Anyhow, I guess 'twas time he went. Powerful +eater, that first cousin of mine," and Doran grinned from ear to ear. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THROUGH THE MAIL. + + +From James Myers, Att'y, to Wendell Haynes, solicitor, with offices in +Middle Temple Lane, off Fleet Street, which is London's legal heart and +brain and life. Fleet Street, with such a history past, present, and to +come, as may never be written in full by all the story-telling pens +combined in this greatest literary centre, and working harmoniously; no, +not in the space of a lifetime. Drafted in the office of the American +lawyer, two days before his setting sail from New York, bound for +London; and it was received, owing to stress of weather, five days +before its writer set foot on British ground; and read by its recipient +with no little surprise. + +This is what it contained: + + + "WENDELL HAYNES, Esq., + + "Middle Temple Lane, etc., London. + + "DEAR SIR,--After four years I find myself in the act of reminding + you of my continued existence, and of your promise of proffered + help, should a day come when you, on that side, could aid me, on + this, because of what you chose to consider your debt to me. To + proceed: in two days I set out for England, and it will take me, + upon my arrival, many days, perhaps, to find out what you, with + your knowledge of places and people, and your easy access to the + records, can do in half a day, no doubt. I feel sure that I can + rely upon you to do for me this personal favour, which is not in + the direct line of your business routine, perhaps, but is quite + within your ability, I trust and hope; and without taxing too much + your time and energy. And now to business. + + "I have reason to think that a certain Paisley estate over there + awaits an heir; and that one Hugo Paisley, or his heirs, have been + advertised for. To know the exact status of the case, and something + about the people with whom I may have to deal, at once, upon my + arrival, will help me much. And it is to ask for this information + at your hands that I now address you, and, being sure of your will + to aid me, as well as confident of your ability, I shall trust to + hear that which I so much wish to know, upon my arrival in London, + and from you. + + "I sail by the _Etruria_ and shall stop at Brown's. + + "Yours sincerely, + + "JAS. MYERS." + + +Wendell Haynes, solicitor, smiled as he read this missive. He had a most +vivid remembrance of his first and only visit to America, and of his +meeting with James Myers, quite by accident and shortly after his +arrival in Chicago, which city had seemed, to the visitor, a more +amazing thing than the howling wilderness which he had been in daily +expectation of seeing, would have appeared to him. + +In his efforts to run down a friend from the suburbs, Myers had +consulted a hotel register, and seeing the name of the English lawyer, +written by its owner just under his eye, he had first looked at the man, +and then at the name, and, upon learning that he was an utter stranger +to the city, and to the ways of its legal fraternity, he had presented +his card. + +Solicitor Haynes had visited America and the "States" to investigate +what had appeared to be an effort, on the part of American agents, to +cheat the widow of a certain English ranch owner out of her just rights +and lawful income, and the assistance rendered by Mr. Myers had earned +him the lasting and earnestly expressed gratitude of his brother +attorney, who asked for nothing better than an opportunity to repay the +favour in kind, and no time was lost in the doing of it; so that when +James Myers arrived at Brown's, and put his name upon the big register, +the following letter was promptly handed him across the clerk's desk: + + + "JAMES MYERS, Esq., + + "Brown's Hotel, London. + + "DEAR SIR,--Your favour of ... was very welcome, affording me, as + it did, some small opportunity to return a very little of what I + owe you for many past courtesies and most valuable service, and I + have lost no time in looking up the information you desire. + + "There is a large estate, that of the Paisleys of Illchester, + awaiting the next of kin, who should be, so far as is known, the + descendants of one Hugo Paisley who left this country nearly eighty + years ago, and whose heirs, male or female, are entitled to + inherit. There has been an effort made to hear from these heirs, + and, strange to say, there has been no reply, nor has any other + claimant appeared of lesser degree. If you will call upon me upon + your arrival I will give you all details and addresses so far as + known to me, and shall be very glad if I can be of yet further use. + + "Yours sincerely, + + "W. D. HAYNES." + + +"You see," said Solicitor Haynes, at the close of an hour's talk with +Lawyer Myers, "thus far all is quite clearly traced, and there is no +doubt of the rights of the Hugo Paisley heirs--if such are to be found, +and if they can prove their heirship." + +"And the family, here in England, is quite extinct, then?" + +"In the direct male line, yes. There may be cousins, or more distant +relatives, but the father of Hugo Paisley had four children, the three +eldest being boys, the youngest a girl. This girl married young and died +childless. The elder son married, had one son, who did not live to +become of age, and himself died before he had reached his forty-second +year. Then the second son, Martin, inherited, and the last of his +descendants died not quite two years ago, a widow and of middle age, I +hear." + +"And there have been no claimants?" + +"None, I am told. The case was advertised, both here and in the United +States, but with no results as yet, unless----" The solicitor stopped +short and looked keenly at his visitor. "Something," he said, "has +surprised, and I could almost imagine, disappointed you." + +"You are quite sure of this?" the other urged, unheeding the last words. +"There have been no claimants, near or remote?" + +"Absolutely none." The solicitor looked again, questioningly, into the +face of his _vis-à-vis_, and then something like surprise came into his +own. "Upon my soul, Mr. Myers, if I were to express an opinion upon your +state of mind, I should say--yes, upon my word I should say that you +were disappointed, absurd as that would seem." + +"Disappointed--how?" + +"Because, by Jove, there have not been any applicants or claimants for +Hugo Paisley's money." + +"Well, you wouldn't be far wrong. I am surprised, at any rate, and I +shall have to admit that this fact disarranges my plans, stops my hand, +as it were." He got up and took his hat from the table. "I came here +with the intention of telling you a rather long story, in the hope of +enlisting your interest, perhaps your aid. Now, I find that I must defer +the story, and go at once and cable to friends at home." + +He wasted no more words, but, promising to dine with his friend later, +hurried back to his hotel, where he found a cablegram awaiting him. + +Previous to his departure from New York, Ferrars had given him a code by +which to frame any needful cable messages, concerning the business of +the journey, or the people whom it concerned. The detective had warned +all of the little group, now so closely bound together by mutual +interest and in the same endeavour, to be constantly on guard against +spies. + +"Unless I am greatly mistaken," he said, "every effort will be made to +keep in view all who are known to be connected with the Brierlys and +their interests, and the fact that we are fighting an unknown quantity +makes it the more necessary that we use double caution. We don't want +another 'blow in the dark,' any of us; and, above all, we do not want to +be followed across the water, and shadowed when there." + +The wisdom of this was admitted, for, since the attack upon Robert +Brierly, the unseen foe had become a bugbear indeed to Hilda and Ruth; +and they abetted Ferrars in all possible ways, no longer questioning and +with growing confidence in his leadership, in spite of the seeming +absence of results. + +The cable message which Mr. Myers read was worded as follows: + + + "Jas. Myers, etc., etc. + + "H. has seen brother, who is watching affairs, unable to sail at + present; letter follows. + + "F." + + +These were the words; their meaning, according to the chart, was this: + + + "Hilda has seen the western tourist. He is watching us, and we will + not attempt to sail until he is off the scent. + + "F." + + +Half an hour later this message went speeding back to New York, and from +thence westward: + + + "To F. Ferrars, etc., etc. + + "Case all right; way clear; no claimants." + + +Which meant precisely what it said. + +A few days later two letters passed each other in mid-ocean. The one +westward-bound read thus: + + + "MY DEAR FERRARS,--It will not take me long to tell all that I have + to tell concerning my mission. As I had anticipated, Mr. Wendell + Haynes was more than ready to assist, and had the few facts I now + give you already tabulated and awaiting me. Here they are in the + order of your written queries: + + "1st. The Paisley fortune is no hoax. There is a fine country seat, + a factory, a town house, and various stocks, bonds and city + investments amounting in all to above a million in American + dollars. + + "2nd. The English Paisleys are quite extinct, and the claim to the + whole estate can surely be established by our claimant. + + "3rd. And this may change all your plans possibly, and will startle + you quite as much as it has me. There has been no effort made by + any one to claim or get possession of the property, and there is no + clue to such a person if he, she, or they exist. This balks us. How + shall I proceed? Was ever a trail so completely hidden? + + "Mr. Haynes has placed himself, and his knowledge and + resources--both being extensive--entirely at our disposal. If you + still think well of the advertising plan, wire me. I am idle until + I hear from you, and mean to employ myself doing London, which will + render my part of the enforced waiting very pleasant. + + "By the by, I omitted to say that there have been but two 'notices' + published. No unseemly haste, you observe. Awaiting your reply, I + am, + + "Yours sincerely, + + "JAS. MYERS." + + +The letter which passed this midway was from Ferrars, and contained +some information. + + + "DEAR SIR AND FRIEND"--it began-- + + "This finds us all in the city, the ladies at the flats, and myself + in the old quarters, with which you have lately grown familiar. I + fancied that we were quite snugly placed and could pass our period + of waiting your summons with some ease of mind. Your house, which + looks as untenanted and forbidding as possible, has been viewed, + your caretaker says, by a 'party' who, from the description, I take + to be the man whom we have termed the 'westerner,' and who was seen + for a day or two in Glenville. + + "But I have been rudely aroused from my comfortable sense of + security. Yesterday Miss Grant and Miss Glidden were down town, and + were driven out of the avenue by a long political parade. Driving + down a cross street their coachman turned up Clark Street, only to + find that another contingent was moving into that street, at the + upper corner of the block. It was moving toward them, and the man + quickly reined his horses close to the curb to await the passage of + the line. Directly opposite the carriage was the sign, so frequent + upon that street, of three balls, and while Miss Hilda gazed with + some idle curiosity at the, to her, strange sight, a man came out + tucking something into his waistcoat as he stepped down upon the + pavement, glanced about him, and, without seeming to observe the + carriage, or its occupants, walked quickly away. She had seen him, + twice at least, at the Glenville, and she knew him at once. She + ordered the driver home by a round-about road, but she is certain + that the man was the same whom we thought a spy or worse. The most + disagreeable feature of this is that I have not yet seen the man, + watch as I would, and if he is watching us, he has the advantage. + If the worst comes to the worst we shall have to spread out and go + aboard our boat, when the time comes, singly and in disguise. + + "Evening-- + + "Since writing the above I have visited the place of the three gilt + balls and have found, at last, 'a straight tip.' + + "The fellow had just redeemed a watch, pawned three days ago. It + was a very pathetic story that we got out of the warm-hearted + pawnbroker. The young man was overjoyed to be able to claim his + watch so soon, for it was a keepsake given him by his dead father, + and he 'prized it beyond words.' The watch was a fine foreign made + affair, and on the inside was engraved Charles A. 'Braily' or + 'Brierly'; he could not remember exactly. So, you see, the + probability is that we have stumbled upon the watch stolen from + Brierly's room in Glenville, which the fellow first pawned, from + necessity perhaps, and then hastened to redeem, having taken the + alarm in some way. He may even have been made aware that a + description of the stolen watch and jewels had been lodged with the + police. But all this is guessing. I am still confident that we + shall find the solution of our problem on the other side of the + Atlantic. Miss Glidden is still bent upon crossing, and your wife + is her willing abettor. As for the fifth member of our party, he is + at present like wax in our hands. Mind I say our, not mine alone. + + "There is nothing new from Glenville--how could there be--now? I + need not tell you about ourselves; Mrs. Myers, I know, keeps you + well up in our personal history. And so, good luck to you. From + yours in good hope, + + "F. S. FERRARS." + + +Two days later this letter reached Ferrars. + + + "Glenville, July---- + + "FERRIS GRANT, ESQ. + + "DEAR SIR,--Yesterday, too late for the mail, I struck luck, at + least I hope you will call it luck. It came through our 'girl,' + that is, the young woman who presides in my kitchen; she has a chum + in the kitchen of the Glenville, and last evening they were + exchanging confidences upon my back porch. It appears--I'm going to + cut the story short--it appears that the night clerk is a kodak + fiend, and a month or two ago the fellow, after being guyed about + his poor work until he got rattled, vowed he'd contrive to get a + picture of every person who set foot in that house for the next + month to come, and that they should be the judges as to whether the + pictures were good or not. Now it turns out that our traveller from + out west was one of the victims of this rash vow, and when I found + it out I lost no time in getting that picture. The fellow likes to + drive my horses, and he always owes me a pretty good bill. I + enclose to you this masterpiece of art. As you never saw him, to + your knowledge, and as I had one glimpse, you will be glad, I dare + say, to be told that the Glenville House people think it a good + likeness. + + "There's nothing else in the way of news, and so, good luck to you, + and a good voyage. + + "SAMUEL DORAN." + + +When Francis Ferrars had looked long at the picture enclosed in Doran's +letter he started, and ejaculated, in the short, jerky fashion in which +he used habitually to commune with himself, "That face!--I've seen it +before--but where?" And then he suddenly seemed to see himself +approaching the City Hall, and noting, as he walked on, this same face. + +It was the habit of the detective to see all that came within his range +of vision, as he went about, but he might not have retained a memory so +distinct if he had not, in leaving the very same place, encountered the +man again, his position slightly shifted, but his attitude as before, +that of one who waits, or watches. + +For some moments he looked thoughtfully at the picture, which was that +of a dark and bearded man wearing a double eyeglass, and then he placed +it under a strong magnifier, and looked again. + +"Ah!" he finally exclaimed, "I was sure of it! The man is in disguise!" + +He took the picture at once to the ladies' sitting room, and held it +before the eyes of Hilda Grant. + +"Do you know it?" he asked. + +"That!" She caught it from his hand, and held it toward the light. "It +is the man whom----" She paused, looking at Ferrars, inquiringly. + +"Whom you saw at the pawnshop?" + +"Yes. And----" + +"And at Glenville?" + +"Yes, at the hotel." + +"And he was tall, you say, and broad-shouldered?" + +"Yes." + +"Strong looking, in fact. As if----" He checked himself at sight of the +intent look upon Ruth Glidden's face, and she took the word from his +lips. + +"As if," she repeated, icily, "he could shoot straight, or strike a man +down in the dark." She arose and took the picture. "It is a bad face," +she said, with decision. + +"It is a disguised face," replied Ferrars. "Nevertheless, I think I +shall know it, even without the beard and thick, bushy wig. Let me see?" +He took a piece of paper, and a pencil, and placing the photograph +before him, began to sketch in the head, working from the nose, mouth, +eyes and facial outlines outward, and drawing, instead of the thick, +pointed beard, a thin-lipped mouth and smooth chin. Then, when the young +ladies had studied this, he copied in the moustache of the photograph. + +"It belongs to the face," he observed, as he worked; "and probably grew +there." + +Late that night, as the detective sat alone in his room with a pile of +just completed letters before him, he again drew the photograph from its +envelope and studied it with wrinkling brow. + +"If you are the man," he said, with slow moving lips that grew into +hard, stern lines as he spoke--"If you are the man I will find you! If +you have struck the first blow--and it's very possible--you also struck +the second. But the work is not yet finished, and, unless my patience +and skill desert me, the last stroke shall be mine." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A WOMAN'S HEART. + + +The blow dealt Robert Brierly by the sham policeman had been a severe +one, and at first it had been feared that he would recover, if at all, +with his fine intellect dulled if not altogether shattered. But the best +medical skill, aided by a fine constitution, and above all, the new +impulse given his lately despondent spirits by the appearance at his +bedside of Ruth Glidden, her eyes filled with love, and pity and +resolve, all had combined to bring about good results, and so, one +evening, not quite two months after that blow in the dark, he found +himself sitting in an easy chair, very pale and much emaciated but, save +for this, and his exceeding bodily weakness, quite himself again. Indeed +a more buoyant and hopeful self than he had been for many a day, and +with good reason. + +At first, and for one week, his mind had been a blank, then delirium had +claimed and swayed him, until one day the crisis came, and with it a +sudden clearing of mind and brain. + +Through it all Ruth had been beside him, and now she called the doctor +aside and spoke with the grave frankness of a woman whose all is at +stake, and who knows there is no time for formalities. + +"Doctor, tell me the truth. He will know me now, and he must not see me +unless--unless I tell him I have come to stay. Will a shock, such a +shock, render his chances more critical? The surprise and----" She +turned away her face. "Doctor, you know!" + +Then the good physician, who had nursed her through her childish ills, +and closed her father's eyes in death, put a fatherly hand upon her +shoulder. "There must be absolutely no emotion," he said. "But a happy +surprise, just now, if it comes with gentleness, and firmness--that +tender firmness to which the weak so instinctively turns--will do him +good, not harm. Only, it must be for just a moment, and he must not +speak. My dear, I believe I can trust you." + +He called away the nurse and beckoned Ruth to follow him. Then he went +straight to the bedside, where the sick man lay, so pale and deathlike, +beneath his linen bandages. + +"Robert," he said, slowly. "Listen, and do not speak. I bring you a +friend who will not be denied; you know who it is. You must not attempt +to speak, Rob, for your own sake. If I thought you would not obey me I +would shut her out even now." And with the last word upon his lips he +was gone and Ruth stood in his place. + +Involuntarily the wounded man opened his lips, but she put a soft finger +upon them, and shook her head. She was very pale, but the voice, which +was the merest murmur, yet how distinct to his ears, was quite +controlled. + +"Robert, you are not to speak. I have promised that for us both. I have +been near you since the first, and I am going to stay until--until I can +trust you to others. And, Rob, you must get well for my sake. You must, +dear, or you'll make me wear mourning all my days for the only lover I +have ever had. Don't fail me, my dear." She bent above him, placed her +soft, cool hand upon his own, pressed a kiss upon his brow, and the next +moment the doctor stood in her place, and was saying, "Don't be uneasy, +Rob, old man; that was a real live dream, which will come back daily, so +long as you are good, and remember, sir, you have two tyrants now." + +And so it proved. + +When Brierly was at last fit to be removed to that safe and comfortable +haven--not too far from the doctor's watchful care--which they +fictitiously named the South, Ruth bade him good-bye one day, with a +tear in her eye, and a smile upon her lip. + +"You will soon be a well man now," she said to him. "And when that time +comes, and the tyrant Ferrars permits it, you will come to me, of +course." And with the rare meaning smile he knew and loved so well, and +so well understood, she left him, to bestow her cheering presence upon +Hilda Grant and Glenville. + +And now, on a fine midsummer night, thinner than of old, and paler, with +a scar across his left temple, and a languor of body which he was +beginning to find irksome because of the revived activity of the lately +clouded and heavy brain, Brierly sat in a pleasant upper room of a +certain hospitable suburban villa, the only south he had known since +they bore him away from the Myers' home, and whirled him away from the +city on a suburban train, to stop, within the same hour, and leave him, +safely guarded, in this snug retreat. + +"You see," the detective was saying, "I had found this series of tiny +clues, and thought all was plain sailing, until that mysterious boy paid +his visit to your brother's room and left almost as much as he took +away. That forced me to reconstruct my theory somewhat, and set me to +wondering just what status Miss Grant held in the game our unknown +assassin was playing. For I will do the young lady, and myself, the +justice to say that I never for a moment doubted her. That fling at her +gave me, however, a key to the character of the unknown." He was silent +a moment, then, "After all," he said, "it was you who gave me my first +suggestion of the truth." + +"How? when I had no conception of it?" + +"By telling of that attack upon your brother the winter before his +coming here." + +"I do not recall it." + +"I suppose not; but in telling me of your brother's career, before his +going to Glenville, you spoke of an accident which occurred to him, an +accident which was eventually the cause of his going to Glenville. I +made a note of this, and, later, questioned Mr. Myers. He told me of the +attack at the mouth of an alley. How two men assailed your brother, and +only his presence of mind in shouting as he struck, and striking hard +and with skilled fists, saved him from death at their hands; how he +warded off, and held, the fellow with the bludgeon, but was cut by the +other's knife. I might not have been so much impressed by these details, +perhaps, had I not learned that your brother was returning from a visit +of charity to the sick, a visit which he had paid regularly for some +time. Then I thought I saw light upon the subject." + +"Yes." Brierly bent toward the detective, a keen light in his eyes. "I +have been very dull, Ferrars, but I have had time for much thinking of +late. I think that, at last, I begin to understand." + +"And what do you understand?" A slow smile was overspreading the +detective's face. + +"That my brother and I have had a common enemy. That nothing short of +both our lives will satisfy him; that the attack upon Charley, nearly a +year ago, was the beginning--that, having taken his life, they are now +upon a still hunt for mine--and that, but for you, they would have +completed their work that evening when, chafing, like the fool I was, +under restraint, I set out alone, and met----" + +"A policeman." Ferrars' lips were grave, but his eyes smiled. "It was a +close squeak, Brierly. The fellow very nearly brained you. And now"--and +he drew his chair closer, and his face at once became grave almost to +sternness--"we want to end this game; there is too much risk in it for +you." + +"You need not fear for me, Ferrars. From this moment I go forward, or +follow, as you will, blindly; you have only to command. What must I do?" + +"Prepare to go aboard the _Lucania_ five days from date in the disguise +of what do you imagine?" + +"A navvy possibly." + +"No. I know the boat's captain, luckily, and I know that a party of +Salvation Army officers are to sail that day for England. We will go +aboard, all of us, in the salvation uniform and doff it later, if we +choose." + +"You say all of us?" + +"I mean Mrs. Myers, who goes to join her husband and see London and +Paris; Miss Glidden, who goes because she wills to go and because she +believes that Miss Grant can be best diverted from her sorrow, and +strengthened for her future life, by such a journey, Miss Grant, _ergo_, +and our two selves." He leaned back and watched his _vis-à-vis_ narrowly +from underneath drooping lashes. He was giving his client's docility a +severe test, and he knew it. + +As for Robert, he remained so long silent that the detective, relaxing +his gaze, resumed-- + +"I won't ask you to take too much upon trust, Brierly. Our present +position, briefly told, is this. We are nearing the climax, but we +cannot force it. One point of the game remains still in the enemy's +hands. And the scene is shifted to England--to London, to be literal. +The next move must be made by the other side. It will be made over +there, and we must be at hand when the card is played. If all ends as I +hope and anticipate, your presence in London will be imperative, almost. +As for the ladies, Miss Grant's presence may be needed, as a witness +perhaps, and certainly nothing could be better for her than the +companionship of her friend, Miss Ruth, and the motherly kindness of +Mrs. Myers, just now." + +Robert Brierly turned his face away, and clinched his hands in +desperation. He was thinking of Ruth, and an inward battle was raging +between strong love and stubborn pride. + +"And now," went on the other, as if all unheeding, "concerning the +disguises. I have told you of the person seen by our spies at the +Glenville House, for a brief time?" + +Brierly bowed assent. + +"He, this man, was only described to me, but seen by Miss Grant." + +"Oh!" Brierly started. + +"Lately, we have received, through the good offices of Mr. Doran, a +picture of this man--it's growing late and I'll give the details at +another time--I have believed this man to be one of your enemies, quite +possibly the one." + +"One of them?" + +"Yes. And large and muscular enough he is, to have been your assailant, +and----" + +"And my brother's murderer?" + +"In my opinion they are not the same. But we must not go into this. Some +one has kept us--that is, yourself, Miss Grant and myself, in the +character of her cousin--under constant watch, almost. There must have +been tools, but this man I believe to be the chief, on this side." + +"Great heavens! How many are there, then?" + +"Honestly, I do not yet know. The answer to that is in Europe. But this +man--he has been shadowed since Miss Grant saw him on Clark Street--has +already sailed for England. My man escorted him, after a modest and +retiring fashion, to New York, and saw him embark. I propose that we go +east by different routes. The ladies one way, you and I by another. They +will hardly imagine us all flitting by water, and their spies will +hardly be prepared for a sea voyage, even should one of us be 'piped' to +the wharf. Of one thing I must warn you; you are not to set foot in +London, nor to put yourself in evidence anywhere as a tourist, until you +are assured that you may walk abroad in safety. To know you were in +England would be to render your opponents desperate, indeed." + +"You have only to command. I am as wax in the potter's hand henceforth. +And now I ask you on the eve of this long journey why my brother and +myself are thus hunted. How we stand in the way of these enemies of +ours I cannot imagine." + +"That I am ready to tell you, since you ask no more. You stand between +your enemies and a fortune." + +"Impossible!" + +"I knew you would say that. But wait." Ferrars rose abruptly. "I shall +not see you again before we leave for New York," he said, taking up his +hat. "Come with me across the way, I must say good-bye to the ladies; +they----" + +"Do they understand?" + +"Yes." + +Mrs. Myers and her two charges were pleasantly bestowed just across the +street, in one of the cosy and tree-encircled cottages of the +aristocratic little suburb, in which the party had found a retreat. And +all three were still upon the broad piazza when the two men appeared. + +No other occupants of the house were visible, and before long Robert +Brierly found that, by accident or design, the detective, Mrs. Myers, +and Hilda, had withdrawn to the further end of the long veranda, and +that Ruth Glidden had crossed to his side, and now stood before him, +leaning lightly against a square pillar, and so near that he could not +well rise without disturbing her charming pose. + +Before he could open his lips she was speaking. + +"Robert, don't get up. Please do not. There is something I must say to +you. I have seen the trouble, the anxiety in your face to-night. I know +what Mr. Ferrars has been saying to you; at least I can guess, and I +understand." + +"Ruth!" + +"Don't speak. Let me finish, Rob. If I didn't know you so thoroughly, if +the whole of your big, noble heart had not been laid bare to me, as +never before, during your illness, I should not dare, would lack the +courage to say what I will say, for your sake, as well as for mine." She +caught her breath sharply, and before he could command the words he +would have spoken, she hurried on. + +"Don't think that I do not know how you look upon this journey abroad, +in my company, and now----" She paused again. "This is very hard to say, +Rob, and I am not saying it well, but you will not misunderstand me, I +know that; and I can't lose your friendship, Rob, dear, and the pleasure +your company will be to me, if we can set out understanding ourselves +and each other. You have let Charlie's death and the money loss this +search may bring you, crush out all hope, and you have been steeling +yourself to give me up; to forget me. But do you think I will let you do +this? I know your pride, dear. I love you for it. But why must it +separate us utterly? You are not the only man in this world who must win +his way first, and whose wife must wait. I have waited, and I shall +wait, always if need be. But it need not be. You will be the King +Cophetua to my beggar maid yet. Oh, I know. I am afraid of nothing but +your horrible self doubt, your fear of being----" + +"Of being called a fortune hunter, Ruth." + +"Well, you shall not be called that, sir knight of the proud, proud +crest. Listen! You must be to me the Robert of old; not avoiding me, but +my friend who understands me. We are both free to go abroad, and with a +chaperone, as we are going, would not be _de rigueur_ otherwise; and +this subject is not to be referred to again, until the quest upon which +we are starting--yes, I say we--is at an end. + +"Who knows what may happen between our going and our home-coming? At the +worst, I am still your friend, and shall never be more to any other +man." She was about to move away, but he sprang up and caught her hands. + +"Ruth! You have given me new life. And you have shamed me. It is of you +I have thought, when I have tried to tear myself away and leave you free +to choose another." + +"Robert, for shame. Shall you 'choose another' then?" + +"Never! You know that!" + +"If I did not I should never have spoken as I have just now." + +"But there are so many who might give you everything." + +"There is only one who can give me my heart's desire." + +"Ruth, my darling, if I were rich, or if you were poor, no man should +ever win you from me. But the world must never call Ruth Glidden's +husband a fortune hunter." + +"It never shall. Never!" + +"And so, you see----" + +"I see the folly of what I have said. What do we care for dame Grundy? +And why should you and I be foolish hypocrites, deceiving no one? In my +heart of hearts I have been your promised wife always. I think I have +the little ring with which we were betrothed when we were ten years old. +We will go abroad as lovers, Rob, and if you cannot offer me a +fortune--it must be a very large one to satisfy me--before we return, I +shall give all mine to the London poor, and you will have to support me +the rest of my days. What folly, Robert, what wickedness, to let mere +money matters come between you and me!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +"QUARRELSOME HARRY." + + +The _Lucania_ had been in port forty-eight hours, and Mrs. Myers and her +party had been snugly quartered in one of London's most charming rural +nooks, at Hampton Court, with Robert Brierly close at hand, before +Ferrars ventured to visit the city. + +Mr. Myers had discreetly remained in London, going from thence to meet +his friends at Hampton Court, but Ferrars, for reasons which he did not +explain, went to the city, as soon as he had assured himself of the +comfort and safety of his party, this assurance including the provision +of a watchful aid, who kept guard whenever Robert Brierly, himself now +well convinced of the need of caution, ventured abroad. + +Leaving Mr. Myers thus to enjoy an evening with his wife and friends, +Ferrars hastened to "the city," where every stone seemed familiar, and +many faces were those of friends or foes, well known and well +remembered. To escape recognition his own countenance had been simply +but sufficiently hidden behind a disguise of snowy hair and rubicund +visage, both assumed as soon as he had parted from the group at Hampton +Court, for Ferrars realised that the battle was now on, and he had no +idea of giving the foe the chance possibility of an encounter. He was +well known at Scotland Yard, as well as to the chief of the department +of police, and it was to one of these officials that he made his way, +for he had two reasons of his own for hastening on, in advance of the +party. + +Not long before leaving the "States," he had received a dainty notelet. +It could not have been called a letter. It came through the hands of +Doctor Barnes, and it was signed, "Lotilia K. Jamieson." + + +It is late afternoon when Ferrars reaches Oxford Street, after his +interview with several official personages, during which he has bestowed +upon each a number of typewritten cards, bearing what seems to be a +brief descriptive list, and as many photographs, faithful and enlarged +copies of the "snap shot" furnished him by the hand of Samuel Doran. + +He alights from an omnibus at the end of Regent Street, and stands, for +a moment, looking down Oxford Street. He is not in haste, for he lets +cabs and omnibuses rattle by him, or stand, waiting for fares, and walks +slowly on and on. A mile and a quarter of shops, that is Oxford Street, +but Ferrars foots it sturdily. Past the Circus, beyond the region of +Soho, and he slackens his pace and consults a tiny memorandum book. Who +ever saw Frank Ferrars produce a letter or card, for reference, in the +streets of a crowded city? Then he smiles and paces on. + +Bloomsbury. He is walking slowly now, and under his low-drawn hat his +eyes are very alert. + +And now he is in that portion of Bloomsbury where, earlier, very early +in the century, the wealthy, and those of high degree resided. It is +comfortable and middle class now, and our pedestrian passes a certain +pleasant semi-detached house--not large, but eminently respectable--with +a stealthy, lingering glance, pausing, before he has walked quite beyond +it, as if to note some object of fleeting interest. Two or three times, +within the hour, he passes that house, now on this side, now on that; +once on the top of an omnibus, once in a cab, and driving very slowly, +and as close as possible. + +It is fairly dusk when he slowly ascends the well scrubbed steps, with +the reluctant air of a man by no means sure of himself. He carries a +small package beneath his arm, and a card between the fingers of his +left hand, to which he shifts the package as he rings the bell. + +"I beg your pardon, young Miss." It is a sour-faced damsel of uncertain +age who melts perceptibly under this adjective. "Will you tell me if +Mrs.--Mrs.----" He peers near-sightedly at the card he holds, and slowly +pronounces a name. + +"No, sir; this is not the place." + +"But, doesn't the lady stop here, Miss? It's some'res in this here +block, and somehow they've forgot the number, you see. Is there a lady +guest maybe, or a boarder belike?" + +But the maid, quite melted now, shakes her head, and tells him that +beside her mistress, whom she names, and her mistress' niece, who stops +with them, "off and on," there are no ladies in the house. + +The detective blunders on down the street, and, when the lamps are lit +he passes the house again. The lamps are lighted in the little dining +room now, and through a window which projects upon the corner, he can +see a table set for two. And now at last he is rewarded, for a maid +enters and places something upon the table; a lady follows, glances at +the table, walks to the window, and turns, with a quick, imperious +gesture, toward the maid; a little lady, with a fair face, pale, fleecy +hair and wearing a flowing silken gown of some soft violet shade. She +sweeps past the maid and seats herself at the head of the table, while +the young person--it is the same who attended so lately at the +door--comes forward to close the curtain. Slowly it is drawn together, +shutting in the lights, the table and the violet-clad figure, but not +until the watcher outside has caught a glimpse of a man, tall and, yes, +handsome, in a dark fierce fashion, who is entering at the door on the +other side of the room. + +The watcher passes on. He has seen, once more, the woman who has, +according to his own confession, aroused in him "a profound interest." +And he has also seen, whom and what? A brother? A lover? A rival, +perhaps? Ferrars hails a passing cab now, and is driven swiftly towards +his room in the Strand, and as he rolls along, this comment, which may +mean much or little, passes his lips. + +"So my little lady has doffed her mourning. I wonder what that may +mean?" + + +"I'm very sorry, Ferrars, but I fear there's a great disappointment in +store for you." + +"A disappointment! How? And in what respect, Mr. Myers?" + +Ferrars was seated opposite Mr. Myers in the office of Wendell Haynes, +solicitor, in Middle Temple Lane, where he had hastened on the morning +after his little adventure in Bloomsbury, and so prompt and eager had +he been that he had encountered the American lawyer at the very +threshold, Mr. Myers having just arrived, with equal haste and +promptness, from Hampton Court. + +Solicitor Haynes and the English detective were not unknown to each +other, and when they had exchanged greetings, the solicitor left the +others together in his inner office. He was, by this time, fully +acquainted with all the facts, so far as they were known to Mr. Myers, +and he left them with a promise to rejoin them soon, when they should +have compared notes and gone over the ground already known to the busy +solicitor. + +There was a look of suppressed eagerness upon the face of Ferrars, as he +seated himself opposite the shrewd American lawyer. His face, his +manner, his very silence and alertness as he held himself erect upon his +chair, a picture of calm force, long suppressed, but now out of leash +and ready for anything--anything except inaction; and that, his very +attitude seemed to say was past. + +Mr. Myers had waited a moment, after they were left alone together, for +Ferrars to speak the first word, but the latter only sat still and +waited, and the lawyer, with characteristic directness, spoke straight +to the point. He had what he felt to be bad news to impart, and he did +not delay or play with words in the doing it. + +But if he had expected disappointment or any change to cross that +keenly questioning face, he looked in vain. Ferrars only sat leaning +slightly toward him, waited a moment, and repeated his last words. + +"In what manner? How disappointed?" And then, as the lawyer still +hesitated, he went on. "You find the case as it should be, eh?" + +"The case! Oh, yes!" + +"Are there any flaws?" + +"No," broke in the lawyer. + +"Any unexpected delays?" + +"No." + +"Any new claimants?" + +"No, Ferrars. The Hugo Paisley will case is one of the simplest and +clearest of its kind. The last incumbent surely must have had a +wonderfully clear idea of how to do the thing he meant to do. Once the +claim is proven, and he makes that work easy, there need be no delays, +no chancery, no holding back for big fees. The agents in the case are +paid according to their expedition, and have every incentive to haste. +With the proofs in hand the heir could step at once into his fortune, a +matter of £200,000." + +"An American millionaire, eh?" Ferrars smiled. "That, then, is quite as +it should be, especially as the young lady is here. Well, then, you +advertised, according to your report?" + +"Yes, we advertised. A very craftily worded document calculated to +arouse the dilatory claimants to prompt action." + +"And, did it not?" + +"It did, yes." + +"Then, in heaven's name why must I be disappointed in any way?" + +"Because I fear the claimant--we have seen but one--is not the person +you hoped to find." + +Ferrars actually smiled. "Describe the person," he said. + +Without speaking, the lawyer held out to him across the table a visiting +card, a lady's card, correct according to the London mode of the hour, +and bearing a name which Ferrars read aloud with no sign of emotion in +his face. + +"Mrs. Gaston Latham." He looked up with the card still between his +fingers. "Is she the solitary heir?" + +"No; there are two children; girls of twelve and nine." + +"And her proofs?" + +"Seem to be perfect, making her the next in line of succession +after----" + +"After the Brierlys, of course." + +Mr. Myers nodded and the detective looked down again at the address upon +the card. + +"Lives in the city, I see! Are the children with her here?" + +"Only the younger, I am told. The elder has 'an infirmity,' and is at +present in an institution. It seems a great cross to the mother; in fact +her anxiety and distress, because of this child, have made her almost +indifferent about this business of the fortune. In short"--and here the +lawyer glanced askance at his _vis-à-vis_--"I'm afraid she is not +the--the sort of claimant you have expected to see. And there seems to +be no one of the other sex in the family." + +"Well, well!" Ferrars threw himself back in the big office chair, +assuming an easy and almost careless attitude. + +"Tell me all about her, Myers. Is she old, or young? Handsome or not?" + +The face of the lawyer was overspread with a cynical smile. He had +expected to see disappointment, consternation, perhaps, in the face of +the detective, when he heard that the English claimant to the Paisley +fortune was a woman lorn and lone. His heart was in the work they were +engaged upon. Robert Brierly's interests were his own; but, still, this +cool, emotionless detective, whom he liked well, had more than once +piqued and puzzled him. He believed that Ferrars was quite prepared to +meet with, and hear of, quite another sort of claimant, and he was now +looking to see him at last stirred out of his provoking calm. + +"Mrs. Gaston Latham is not a claimant to whom one could object, upon the +ground of unfitness. She would make a very handsome and gracious +dispenser of the Paisley thousands." + +"Too bad that she will never get them!" And Ferrars smiled. + +"She is a woman of medium height, and rather--well--plump, and while her +hair is snowy white, she does not look a day over forty. She has the +fine, fresh English colour, blue eyes, that require the aid of strong +eyeglasses, and a voice that is very high-pitched for an Englishwoman, +and that sounds, I am sorry to say--for she's really a very intelligent +and winning little lady--somewhat affected at times. She dresses in soft +grays and pale lavenders, as you may be interested to know." And here +the lawyer smiled broadly. + +"That," commented Ferrars, with no cessation of his own gravely +indifferent manner, "for a 'plump' woman, is a great mistake. A plump +person should never assume light colours." And then the eyes of the two +men met, and over each face there slowly crept a smile that grew into a +laugh. + +"Upon my soul, Ferrars," exclaimed the elder, "I believe you have heard +of this Mrs. Latham!" + +"Not to make a mystery of it, Mr. Myers, I'll explain that I have heard +of Mrs. Latham. But, I give you my word, I did not look to find her the +claimant. You have heard us, some, or all, speak of Mrs. Jamieson!" + +The lawyer nodded and a smile of meaning crossed his face. + +"Well, I have lately learned that she might be found at a certain number +in Bloomsbury, and addressed, in case of her temporary absence, in care +of Mrs. Gaston Latham, an old family friend." + +"I see!" The lawyer was silent a moment. Then he looked the detective +frankly in the face. "To be perfectly candid with you, Ferrars," he +said, "I have thought that you looked to see a different sort of +claimant, more than one perhaps, and that this lady could not, by any +possibility, be the expected one. I fancied this would trouble, perhaps +hinder, if not quite balk you." + +"Honestly, Myers, I have wondered not a little what sort of claimant I +should meet, and I am neither surprised nor disappointed. I see what is +in your mind; you looked to see the conclusion of the game here and +soon, eh?" + +"I admit it." + +"And I hoped it. I do hope it. We must strike our final blow now if +ever. We can depend upon Mr. Haynes." + +"Entirely." + +"And you have fully enlightened him?" + +"To the extent of my own knowledge?" + +"Then let's call him in, and I will put my cards upon the table. We +shall need his help, but I'll explain that later." + +When the English solicitor had joined them, Ferrars briefly reviewed the +events surrounding and connected with the death of Charles Brierly, and +the attempt upon Robert's life; and when he was sure that they +understood each other, thus far, and that the English lawyer was deeply +interested in the case and had committed himself to it, he summed up the +situation thus. + +"You will see, of course, that I might make a bold stroke and arrest my +suspects at once; or, at least, as soon as we could lay our hands upon +them, but the case is a complicated one, and having it in my power to +make our quarry commit themselves altogether, I do not intend to leave +them a loophole of escape. I have not been entirely open with you; you +must take my word for some things. I have put the Scotland Yard men on +the lookout for our man; I do not know his name, but I think they will +have no trouble in finding him, by acting upon my hints. There is much +which even I do not understand, in his connection with the case. I do +not believe him to be the master spirit, and I want to let him have his +fling over here." + +"Do you mean," broke in the solicitor, "that you do not intend to arrest +him, as soon as found?" + +"He must be kept under close espionage, when traced, but so long as he +does not leave London, he must be left quite free to come and go at +will. There is much that is still hazy, concerning his appearance in +Glenville, and I look to him to lead me to another--to the other, in +fact." + +"And," urged the solicitor, "do you feel safe in venturing this? May he +not shun those places?" + +"Listen! The man's name I do not know, but I know what he is. There are +plotting villains in this world, who might scheme forever and still be +often penniless. This man is a gambler. In Chicago he pawned the watch +stolen from Charles Brierly's room, knowing that there was risk in so +doing, but desperate for the money it would bring. He won soon after, +and aware of danger ahead, for he had good reason to think himself +followed over there, he at once redeemed his pledge. He does not dream +that we are here, and the finances at headquarters, I have reason to +think, are running low. To play he must have money, and when he has lost +he will either pledge or sell the remainder of the jewels stolen from +the writing desk. They were of considerable value, as I have +discovered." + +"Ah!" Mr. Myers looked up quickly. + +"Oh, that's no secret. Hilda Grant saw the jewels, and knew their +value." + +"May I ask why you presume that all the stolen jewels are in this man's +possession?" asked the solicitor. + +"Because they were stolen, in the first place, not for plunder's sake, +but to mislead; and the party who took them lost no time, I am sure, in +passing them on, and out of the town. It is hardly likely they would +have divided them." + +"Then you look upon this man as in truth little more than a cat's paw?" + +"In some respects, yes. He does not take this view, however, and now I +want to hear all about your interview with this lady, Mrs. Gaston +Latham." + +"According to your instructions," said Mr. Myers, "I remained in the +background. Mr. Haynes was the spokesman." + +Ferrars turned toward the solicitor, who began at once. + +"There is really very little to tell. Of course I quite understand that +the claimant was to be held off, and the next interview to take place in +your presence." + +Ferrars shook his head. "I fear we must change our plans somewhat. The +fact is," here he glanced up and met the eye of Mr. Haynes, a queer +smile lighting his own, "I have found just now, that I knew a lady who +seems to be a friend of this Mrs. Gaston Latham, and an inmate of her +house in Bloomsbury. Now it might be a little awkward for me to appear +before my--the lady in question, as the opponent of her friend. In fact, +I must not appear in the matter--not yet, at any rate. And, upon my +word, Mr. Myers, since our friend has taken up the _rôle_ of +Spokesman-in-chief, you and I will both stand aside, just at first. May +we count upon you?" + +"I shall need some coaching, of course," suggested the solicitor. + +"Of course; and that you shall have at once. But first, when is she to +call again?" + +"When I give the word." + +"Give it at once, then; to-morrow at 2 p.m. Tell her to come alone. You +can arrange for us to hear the interview, I dare say?" + +The solicitor swung about in his big chair. "You see those two doors?" +he asked, quite needlessly pointing at the two doors, at opposite +corners of the inner wall, "They open upon my private chamber of +horrors. Formerly there was a partition, and two smaller rooms The +partition has been removed. In the morning I will have my man move that +tall bookcase across the door at the right. The door, behind it, can +then stand open, and you can hear very well. I will have my desk and the +chairs moved nearer that corner. Will that do?" + +"Excellently; only I must see the lady in some way." + +"Then, if you will come in some slight disguise, you can sit at my +clerk's desk, over by that window, with your back to the light. I will +dismiss you, and you can go out to join Mr. Myers, through the left-hand +door." + +They inspected the inner room, and Ferrars, gauging the distance with +his quick eye, made a suggestion or two regarding the placing of the +desks, and the visitor's chair, and then they sat down to discuss the +part the solicitor must take in the coming interview. + +That evening when Ferrars strolled into his room after an early dinner, +he found a note from a certain police inspector, in whose charge he had +left the hunt, or rather, the watch for the suspected stranger. The note +contained a summons, brief and peremptory, and he hastened to present +himself before Inspector Hirsch. + +"We have found your man," were the inspector's first words, when the +detective was left alone with him. "And it was an easy trick, too, for +all your fears to the contrary. I tell you, Ferrars, when a sport who +lives only to gamble and bet on horses, comes back to London after any +long absence, he's sure to go to one of a dozen flush places I can name, +as soon as he can get there. And, if he's heeled he'll go to them all. +Just give him time. I didn't neglect the houses of mine uncle, but I +also sent a squad around to these other places." + +"And you found him?" + +"We found him. And that's not all. We have found a name for him." + +"Good! What is it?" + +"He goes by the name of 'Quarrelsome Harry' among his kind. Harry Levey +is the way he writes it." + +Ferrars pondered a moment "M--m--I'm not surprised," he said finally. "I +was sure he was that kind. What's his specialty besides being +quarrelsome?" + +"Cards, and crooked bookmaking, I fancy. But Smithson, who seems to have +known him of old, says he's up to most sorts of shady business, when his +luck's down." + +And the inspector went on describing the search for "Quarrelsome Harry" +who had been "spotted" at a time when he was in a fair way to prove his +right to his sobriquet. For he had been losing money all the previous +night, and had sought his room in a dingy house in Soho, in a very black +mood. + +Here, so the shadow had reported, "Quarrelsome Harry" had remained +until late noonday, emerging then to lunch at a coffee-house, and to +take his way, for what purpose the watcher could only guess, to +Houndsditch, where he seemed quite at home among the Jews in several +cafés and "club rooms," where he tarried for a greater or shorter time, +and seemed to be looking for some one--some one whom he did not find, it +would seem, for he left the neighbourhood as he came, alone and with a +lowering face. + +"Looking for a loan, I'll wager," declared Ferrars. "By to-morrow he'll +be visiting my uncle. I'll have to leave him to your men to-night, I +suppose, Hirsch, but to-morrow I will go on guard myself." + +He made a note of the Soho street and number, where Harry Levey had +lodged, and then he took out his cigar case and the two men sat down +together to talk about London, and compare notes. For they were old +acquaintances, and could find much to say, one to another. + +An hour later, when Ferrars arose to go, the inspector looked at his +watch. + +"By Jove! Frank, you don't mind my calling you that, eh? It seems like +old times, half a dozen years ago. Say, it's almost the hour for the +Swiss to report. He's on duty now looking after your man; wait till he +comes in. Hobson must already have gone to relieve him, if he can find +him. Harry was airing himself along the embankment when last heard +from." + +It was nearing ten o'clock, but Ferrars resumed his seat and his cigar +very willingly, and Inspector Hirsch set out a very pretty decanter of +something which he described, while pouring it into the glasses, as both +light and pleasant. + +At half-past ten "the Swiss," as rank an Englishman as ever ignored his +h's, came in beaming. + +He had left "'Arry," as he familiarly called the man he had been set to +guard, in a front seat in the gallery of the Vaudeville theatre in the +Strand, and Hobson was sitting just three seats away, and nearest the +"halley." + +"E's got a sort of green lookin' young duffer with 'im," went on the +Swiss, "and they seem to be goin' to 'ave a night of it." + +Ferrars got up quickly. "Come out with me, inspector," he said. "I may +want you to call off your man. And, say, let me have one of your badges. +It may come handy." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +IN NUMBER NINE. + + +As the inspector and Ferrars approached the theatre they were obliged to +slacken their pace, for, although the performance must have been well on +its way, there was a crowd about the entrance. + +"It's a first night for some new 'stars,' now that I think of it, and +you'll find a lot of the sporting gentry here whenever a new and pretty +face, that has had the right kind of advertising, is billed. That +accounts for our friend's presence here, of course," said the inspector. + +They made slowly their way toward the entrance, and as they reached it, +and were about to pass within the brilliantly lighted vestibule, +Inspector Hirsch grasped his companion's arm and pulled him back within +the shadow of a friendly bill board. + +"H'sh!" he whispered. "Here's Hobson!" He drew Ferrars still further +out of the crowd. "He must have lost his man, or else--hold on, Ferrars; +I'll speak to him." And he glided into the crowd and Ferrars saw him +pause by the side of a flashily-dressed young fellow, who seemed utterly +absorbed in trying to revive a smouldering cigar stump. He gave no sign +of recognition as the inspector paused beside him, and seemed engrossed +with his cigar and his own thoughts, but Inspector Hirsch was back in a +moment with a grin upon his face. + +"Your man has tired of the Vaudeville," he said, "and Hobson got close +enough behind him--the other chap's still with him, too--to hear them +planning to go on to the Savoy for a short time. Harry's evidently doing +the theatres with his 'young duffer,' as the Swiss calls the fellow, and +will probably pluck him if nothing intervenes." He looked hard at +Ferrars. "My man won't lose sight of them. Want to go on to the Savoy?" + +"By all means," replied Ferrars, and they set out, noting, as they +skirted the crowd, that Hobson was no longer visible. + +Crossing the street, they hastened their steps, and upon arriving at the +Savoy, took up their station near the entrance once more. The crowd here +was not dense, and they had not long to wait before two men approached +from the direction of the Vaudeville, walking slowly, and entered the +vestibule of the Savoy. + +The taller of the two was broad shouldered, dark and handsome, after a +coarse fashion, while the other was smaller, with a weak face and +uncertain manner. Both were in evening dress, and when they entered the +theatre Ferrars and the inspector followed. + +"I can stay with you an hour longer," said the latter. "Then I must go +about my own affairs." + +Ferrars nodded. He was watching "Quarrelsome Harry" closely, and after a +time, as that personage began to look about as if in search of some +expected face, he procured an opera glass, and with its aid began to +sweep the house. + +Then, suddenly, he started, and, after a long look at a certain point in +the dress circle, he turned quickly toward the inspector. + +"Do you know any one in authority here?" he asked. + +"I know the head usher over there; or, rather, he knows me." + +"That will do. Just call him, won't you? Introduce me. Tell him I'm +after a crook who is up to mischief here, and ask him to help me." + +After a time this was accomplished, and soon after the inspector took +his leave. + +And now came the entre-acte, and a number of ladies left their places +and went, some to the cloak-room, some to the foyer. The two men in whom +Ferrars was interested went out among many others, and Ferrars followed. +In the refreshment room they took places at the side, and the detective, +contrary to his usual plan, passed them, and took a place midway between +that occupied by the two men and a certain table, further down, where a +party of six were seated. + +To the waiter, who came to serve him, Ferrars said: "Send me your chief +waiter," and slipped a coin into his willing hand. + +When the chief waiter came, the two exchanged some whispered sentences, +and then, as the man withdrew, our detective addressed himself to his +light repast. He had been careful to keep himself unseen, so far as +Harry Levey was concerned; and he had now chosen his seat behind a +pillar, which hid him from view, while he still could, by moving +slightly, look around it. + +It was while taking one of his frequent peeps around this pillar that +Ferrars saw "Quarrelsome Harry" tear a leaf from a small pocket-book and +write a few words upon it, doing this in the most unobtrusive manner +possible, with the bit of paper upon his knee. + +Since they had exchanged those few whispered words together, Ferrars +and the head waiter had not lost sight of each other, and now a slight +movement of the brows brought the man to Ferrars' table. + +"Now," whispered the detective, "and be sure you are not observed." + +The man nodded and passed on, seeming to scan, with equal interest, each +table as he passed it. Nevertheless, he saw a note slipped into the hand +of a vacant faced young waiter, and a few words of instruction given. +Then the young man turned away, and began to move slowly toward the +opposite side of the room. + +A little beyond Ferrars' table he encountered the head waiter, present +arbiter of his destiny. + +"Kit," said this personage, in a low tone, "slip that note you carry +into my hand and wait behind the screen yonder until I give it back to +you. Quick! No nonsense, man; and mum's the word!" + +As between a stranger with a liberal tip, and the august commander of +the dining-room corps, Kit did not hesitate, and a moment later the head +waiter dropped the note into Ferrars' palm with one hand, while he +placed a bottle of wine beside his plate with the other. + +Putting the bit of paper between the two leaves of the menu card, +Ferrars boldly read its pencilled message. + + + "Drive to the Café Royal. Ask to be shown to No. 9. I will join + you there soon." + + +A moment later this note was placed, by Kit, beside the plate of the one +for whom it was intended. The next, Ferrars, having tossed off his glass +of light wine, arose and sauntered out of the refreshment room. + +But he did not return to the theatre. Instead, he took a cab and was +driven to the Café Royal. + +Here again he sought out a person in authority, to whom he exhibited his +star, and a card from Inspector Hirsch, and was at once shown to No. 8. + +"If questions are asked," he said, as he slipped a goodly fee into the +hand of authority, "remember that No. 8 is vacant, but is engaged for an +hour later." + +Left to himself, Ferrars moved a chair close to the wall between himself +and number nine. It was but a flimsy barrier of wood and he nodded his +approval, turned down the jet of gas, until it was the merest speck, and +sat himself down to wait. But not for long; soon he heard the next door +open, a sweeping, rustling sound, and the scraping of a chair. Then a +bright light flashed up, the door closed, and all was still for a short +time. + +Then, again the door opened, there was a heavy step, low voices, and +Ferrars knew that he might, if he would, lay his hand upon those whom +he had sought so long, and, for a time, it had seemed, so hopelessly. + +"Are we quite alone here, do you suppose?" It was a man's voice, strong +and somewhat gruff. "Let us see." And he rang the bell. The man who had +admitted Ferrars, and who had no mind to fall out with the police, +responded, and at once showed conclusively that the adjoining rooms, +Nos. 8 and 10, were quite deserted, although, he admitted, he had locked +No. 8 in order to secure it for a party at midnight; whereupon wine was +ordered and he was at once dismissed. + +"Well," began the heavier voice again, "why in the name of goodness +haven't you pushed things more? I told you, from the first, that all was +safe. There will be no crossing the big pond now. How long do you mean +to dally?" + +"We can't dally now," replied the lighter voice. "Didn't you see the +notice in the papers? They are calling for the heirs. I don't understand +it, but they tell me that unless we come forward now, the matter will be +referred to some other court, and then there must be a long delay. No, I +must produce those papers now, and if there should be any question, any +flaw----" + +"Pshaw!" + +"Or if they should call for further proof of identity, you know. +Suppose some one should be found, at the last moment, acquainted with +her!" + +"Bosh! How foolish!" + +"Or who remembered me!" + +"I tell you this is folly! Latham's first wife died so long ago, and at +a Swedish spa. And she never had many friends. As for relatives, well, +we know there are none now." + +"Sometimes I fear the children will remember; that it will all come back +to them, some day." + +"I tell you this is simply idiotic; the time has come, and everything is +in train. You have all the papers, certificate of marriage, copy of +will, and who is to prove that the first Mrs. Latham died, and that she +was the last of the Paisley line, on this side, or the other? You were +married abroad, you have all her family papers and her jewels. Her +children call you mother." + +"And hate me!" + +"Well, that won't cut any figure. Besides, we must have money. You and I +have put our little all into this scheme. How much longer can we live +decently unless you claim this estate soon? I must have money! Do you +mean to see your brother starve?" + +"Hush! You are not my brother, remember that; only my brother-in-law." + +"All right. How lucky that Latham's brother never came back. Now, what +did you especially want to say to-night?" + +"This. I must meet those lawyers to-morrow." + +"Oh! And I as nearest male kin, must be your escort, and support you +through the trying ordeal." + +"Not at all. I am especially requested to come alone." + +"The d----!" + +"But they will want corroborative testimony, and I want to beg of you +not to take anything to-morrow, and not to stay out the rest of the +night. Much depends upon the impression we make. And if we should +fail----" + +"We can't fail; or you can't. Aren't you next-of-kin?" + +Ferrars got up and crept noiselessly to the door. He had heard enough, +and he had much to do. A new enquiry to open up. He knew that he should +find Hobson, who had not been dismissed, outside and near, and he meant +to leave "Quarrelsome Harry" to him once more. + +"Look after him sharp, Hobson," he said, when he had found the man in +the outer room. "And ask the inspector to have a warrant ready in the +morning. We must arrest him to-morrow. He is to be taken for conspiracy +and attempted murder. That will do for a beginning." And leaving the +pair in No. 9 to their plotting, and to the watchful care of Hobson, +Ferrars hastened from the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +TWO INTERVIEWS. + + +And now let us turn the clock back a few hours, that we may relate how +Hilda and Ruth made the well-laid plans of Ferrars of no effect, so far +as himself and another were concerned. + +Mr. Myers had left the ladies of his party safe in their snug quarters +at Hampton Court, and went early to the city to meet Ferrars, as has +already been related; but if he expected them to remain in _statu quo_ +on such a day, and in easy reach of Bond Street, it speaks ill for his +knowledge of women, especially of Ruth Glidden, who knew her London +well, and who--when Mrs. Myers began to long to see the inside of +Howells and James, and their royal array of painted and other rare +china, and Hilda looked yearningly over the guide-books for the +city--took matters into her own hands. + +There was no reason why they should not go to town, especially, so she +privately informed Mrs. Myers, as Hilda was moping. She could guide them +anywhere where they might wish to go. + +And this is how the three ladies came to be seen at Marshall and +Snelgrove's, linen drapers, so called; at Redmayne's and Redfern's, and +at Jay's, for Hilda's sombre bedecking. Jay's has been called the +"mourning warehouse" of the world, not because Jay keeps on tap a +perennial and unfailing supply of tears, but because "all they +(feminine) that mourn" may be suitably clad--at enormous expense, by the +way--by Jay and Co. + +And here it was that our little party, sweeping into one of the superb +parlours where models display Jay's sombre wares, came face to face with +Mrs. Jamieson, who, seated upon a broad divan, was gazing at a little +blonde, of her own size and colouring, who displayed for her benefit a +flowing tea-gown of soft, black silk, lighted up here and there with +touches of gleaming white. + +Of course there were greetings and exclamations, and such converse as +may be held in so public a place; and Ruth, who, somehow, made herself +spokesman for the party, exclaimed that they had "just run over for that +little outing, and because Hilda needed the change. Oh, yes, they were +well escorted; Mr. Myers was with them, and also Mr. Grant." + +At the name, which was the only one by which she knew Ferrars, Mrs. +Jamieson flushed and paled, and the smile with which she received this +news was slightly tremulous. And then she told them how she was +stopping, for a short time, with a friend in Bloomsbury. Her husband's +business affairs, that had called her so suddenly back to England, were +now almost settled. And then she should leave London for a time. She had +been thinking of a place in Surrey; she hoped to be in possession soon, +and then surely they would not return too soon for a visit to her among +the Surrey Downs? And where were they stopping? + +Upon which Ruth confided the fact that they were not yet in permanent +quarters. They must be settled soon; however, meantime, etc., etc., etc. + +They parted soon, and it was only when they were riding homeward that it +occurred to them that Robert Brierly's name had not been spoken, and +that Ferrars, perhaps, would not be best pleased to know of their +unpremeditated excursion. + +As for the little widow, she went back to Bloomsbury in a state of +excitement unusual for her. + +To know that "Ferriss Grant" was in London, and that she might see him +soon, set her pulses beating, and her brain teeming with plans for +their meeting. What had brought him to London just now? What, indeed, +save herself? Unless--and here she paled, and her little hands were +clenched till the black gloves burst across the dainty palms--unless it +were Ruth Glidden. + +What was Ruth Glidden to the Grants? she asked herself futilely, and why +were they together? And then for ten minutes Mrs. Jamieson wished she +had never seen Ferriss Grant. + +"I was very well content until then," she assured herself. "And my +future seemed all arranged; and now----" she longed to meet him, and +yet-- + +"If he had but waited, or if I had not been so hesitating! Now I must go +on, and he must not know. A month later and I might have received them +all in my sweet Surrey home, have met him with full hands, and there +would have been no need of explanation, while now!" She struck her hands +together, and set her lips in firm lines. "I must see him once, and then +we need not meet until all is arranged. If I only knew where to send a +note." + +She had been absent since luncheon, and upon her arrival at home she +found this brief note awaiting her: + + + "MRS. JAMIESON. + + "DEAR MADAM,--Being in London for a short time only, and with + little leisure, I take the liberty of asking if I may call upon you + in the morning, at the unfashionable hour of eleven o'clock? + + "Yours respectfully, + + "FERRISS GRANT." + + +It was late when she reached Bloomsbury, and she had little time to +dress for dinner and the evening, for she was going out again, but she +replied to this note, bidding him come, and assuring him of his welcome +at any hour. Then, reluctantly, and with a look of distaste, amounting +almost to repugnance upon her face, she began to dress for the evening. + +When Ferrars reached his rooms, after leaving the café, his lips were +set, and his eyes gleamed dangerously, for a little time he paced the +floor, and then, impelled by some thought, he looked to see if any +letters had arrived during his absence. Yes, there they were, half a +dozen of them. He glanced at their superscriptions, and then opened a +little perfumed and black-bordered envelope. It was Mrs. Jamieson's +reply to his note of the afternoon, and he read it and put it down +slowly. + +"I shall be prompt," he said to himself, "to keep that appointment, and +I wonder whether its outcome will make me more or less her friend. If it +will alter or modify my plans; and if, having met this once I shall +have the courage, the hardihood to meet her again, and to say what I +must say if we meet." He put down the little note and took up the one +next in interest. + +The handwriting was that of Ruth Glidden, and the stationery that of a +fashionable Piccadilly dressmaker. + + + "DEAR MR. F."--so ran the note-- + + "I am aware that you did not wish us, any of us, to be seen of men + in London until certain things were accomplished, and I take upon + myself all the blame of the little journey we, Mrs. Myers, Hilda, + and myself, took this afternoon. We felt quite safe in visiting a + few shops 'for ladies only,' but at the third we met Mrs. Jamieson. + This may, or may not, be of moment to you. At all events, I have + eased my conscience, and Hilda's, by letting you know. Nothing of + any moment was said on either side, and no questions were asked. + + "Yours penitently, + + "RUTH G." + + +Over this womanlike note Ferrars wrinkled his brows, and finally smiled. + +"I had not meant that they should meet until--but pshaw! What does it +matter? Everything seems urging me on and shaping my course. So be it! +It is time for the last stroke, and to-morrow, before this hour, I +shall be a free man, or a failure." + +Ferrars was prompt in his appearance at the Bloomsbury cottage, and Mrs. +Jamieson had been for a long half-hour awaiting him alone in the little +drawing-room Her face was somewhat pale, and there was a hint of +agitation in her greeting, and a shade of gravity in his. + +She talked of Hilda, and was full of pleasure at their meeting; and by +and by she spoke of Ruth, her beauty, her grace, and style. Was it true +that she was an heiress? And was she not, in some way, related to Miss +Hilda and himself. Or perhaps to the Brierlys? + +It was the first mention of that name by either, and Ferrars, looking +into her eyes, answered: + +"She bore the same relation to Robert Brierly that Hilda bore to +Charles. They had been lovers since childhood." + +"How sad, strange, and romantic! How pitiful!" + +"The sadness outweighs the romance, and it is strange that the same hand +should have struck at the happiness of both their friends. I have asked +myself," he went on musingly, "what would be the fate of the destroyer +of so much happiness, if these two girls could be made judge and jury, +with the slayer at their mercy." + +"Ugh!" The lady shuddered and turned her face away. "The thought is +unnatural!" + +"I don't know; women have been dread enemies before now, and are +generally good haters. They make great criminals, too. But I fancy a +woman must always betray----" + +"Mercy!" She crossed the room suddenly to change the position of a +translucent screen through which the sun had begun to filter. "You are +positively gruesome, Mr. Grant! Let us change the subject. Or, first let +me ask if they have found any trace of the cr-- the person?" + +"The clues have been very unsatisfactory for the most part. But the +ladies both hope to see justice done yet. We all hope it, in fact." + +"And what is most lacking?" + +"From the first, the motive seemed most difficult to discover. But we +won't dwell upon this longer now, Mrs. Jamieson." + +"Ah! And I was just getting up courage to ask you to tell me what had +been done, what progress had been made; I was so near to being a +witness, you know, and----" + +"And of course you are interested, I quite understand that. If you +really care to hear, Mrs. Jamieson, I will tell you the whole story when +next we meet. It is quite interesting. I will tell you that and other +things." He arose and stood before her. "I must not tarry now. Shall you +be at liberty this afternoon?" + +"I am so sorry. I am promised to my hostess. She thinks I live too +secluded a life. But I am about to make a change." She brightened +visibly as she told of her Surrey prospects, and her hope of seeing his +party, and himself, there. And then her smile faded. + +"I fear I may not see you again for at least a fortnight. I have +promised Mrs. Latham, my hostess, that I would go over to Paris with +her. She has been very good to me," she faltered. "How long shall you +remain in England?" she added. + +"More than a fortnight at least." + +"I shall see you again?" + +"Mrs. Jamieson, never doubt it." He was drawing on a glove, as he +uttered the words, and across the busy fingers he looked into her eyes. +"It was to see you that I came to England, and so----" he bowed low, +"till we meet." He caught up his hat and stick, and before she could put +out a hand had bowed himself from the room, and she heard his quick +receding step across the little vestibule. + +For many moments after, she sat where she had sunk down at his sudden +going, and presently the slow tears fell upon the hands that supported +her bowed face. + +For years she had been an unhappy woman, living an unloved, unloving +life. Then ambition and hope had taken hold of her mind, and she had +tested herself, and found, in that small body, the strength to dare +much, and to risk much; and now--how she thrilled at the +thought--wealth, success, and love; all would come to her together. What +else could his words mean? She had only to be courageous and firm for a +little while. To be patient for a few more days, and then---- She sprang +to her feet and flung her arms aloft. She wanted to shout for triumph. +"Victory!" she said aloud. "Is there another woman in all the world who +can say that she has conquered fate, and gained all the good she has +worked and wished for?" + +And just then, the maid's voice broke in upon her dream. + +"Madam, the charwoman is here for the money. Do you still wish me to +give her the little suit?" + +The woman turned as suddenly as if Nemesis had spoken. + +"Yes!" she said, and the voice was husky, and the face almost terror +stricken. + + +"Ruth." + +Robert Brierly came up the piazza steps, where Ruth sat alone, and +dropped upon the topmost one, at her feet. "I have just received a note +from Ferrars." + +Ruth looked up from her bit of needlework. There was a note of +suppressed excitement in his tone, which she was quick to observe. + +"He seems to have changed his mind," Brierly went on, "and bids me come +up with Myers." + +"To-day?" The work fell from her hands. + +"Now. In half an hour." + +"But Robert, after all his caution!" + +"Let me read the note, dear," he said, unfolding the sheet he had held +in his hand. "It is very brief and pointed: + + + "'DEAR BRIERLY,--Come up with Myers, and be sure that you are not + observed when you enter Haynes' office. He will know what to do + with you. If I have not been an awful bungler--and I don't think I + have this time--you will stand a free man to-night, able to go up + and down the earth without menace from the assassin's knife, and + will have come into your own, which means a fortune. + + "'FERRARS.'" + + +"Ruth," he spoke softly, "Do you know what that means?" + +"Better than you do, perhaps." She spoke hurriedly, as if to gain time, +and her cheeks were already aflame. "Your mind was so entirely set upon +finding Charlie's murderer, Rob, that they thought it best not to risk a +new anxiety by telling you too much about the other; besides, there +could be nothing certain, you know, until Mr. Myers had investigated. +You had a hint of it." + +"Oh, to be sure. And I have not been quite blind to their kindly +cunning. Will it be a very great fortune, Ruthie?" He caught her hand, +and held it fast. + +"Very!" + +"Because if it is, I intend to come back and lay it all at your feet, +formally, abjectly, and with utmost speed." + +Ruth wrestled away the imprisoned hand and gave her chair a backward +push. + +"Robert Brierly, if you dare to come to me and offer me a fortune, a +hateful old English fortune--that I despise; if you only ask me to +accept you after you are sure of that money, I won't! I will not! +Never!" + +"Ruthie!" She sprang up, but he was before her. "Oh, you can't escape +now. I intend to propose to you this minute. I'll run no risks, after +such a threat as that. Ruth, if you run away, I will shout it after you, +and Mrs. Myers and Hilda are half way down the stairs now. Quick, Ruth, +dear, will you marry me? I sha'n't let you go until you say yes." + +And then, in spite of herself, Ruth's laughter bubbled over. + +"You stupid! As if we hadn't been engaged for years! At least I have." + +Half an hour later when Mr. Myers and Brierly came out upon the piazza +together they found Ruth awaiting them there, equipped for a journey. + +"Why, Ruth," said the lawyer, "are you going to the city?" + +"I am going with you!" the girl replied firmly. "You need not argue. I +mean to go. And Mr. Ferrars will not object. He will need me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +MRS. GASTON LATHAM. + + +Solicitor Wendell Haynes sat at his desk, at half past two, seemingly +busy, while across the room, at a smaller desk, sat a second person, +with his shoulder toward the outer door, and a screen partially +concealing him. From the inner room came the low hum of voices. At the +side of the room where the clerk's desk stood, and the tall bookcase +towered before the concealed door, the curtains were lowered; but there +was a strong light upon the solicitor's corner, and upon the chair, +placed near his desk, manifestly, for a visitor. + +When Ferrars appeared without the disguise he was expected to wear, the +solicitor wondered. But the detective explained in a few words. He had +made certain discoveries which would enable him to end a very unpleasant +piece of business at once, he hoped. And his disguise would only hamper +him. + +"I must ask you, however, to add something to your _rôle_," he said +finally, and at once made plain what more would be required of the +solicitor. + +As for Ruth Glidden, she had waited in dignified silence, and much to +the wonder of the politely reserved solicitor, until Ferrars appeared, +and then she went straight to his side. + +"Mr. Ferrars," she said, so low that the others caught only the soft +murmur, "It came to me, almost at the last moment, that a woman might +not be amiss here now if she comes alone. You can trust me, surely?" + +Ferrars gave her a sudden look of gratitude. "Thank you for showing me +my own brutality," he replied. "I can trust you, and I do thank you; +there could have been no one else." And Ruth went back to the inner room +smiling a little, as she met her lover's eye. + +To guard against all emergencies, the detective had left with the +inspector a card telling him, and his men, where a telegram would reach +him at different hours of the day, and at a quarter past two a message +arrived, bearing the signature of the Swiss. + + + "Q. H. and a lady on the way to meet you now." + + +So it ran, and having read it, Ferrars asked: + +"Is your boy safe, Mr. Haynes? and trusty?" + +"Quite. I find him really valuable." + +"Then please instruct him to go and bring a brace of policemen, as soon +as he has shown the next arrivals in." And he held out the telegram by +way of explanation, adding, as the solicitor read and returned it, "The +man is coming, too. I can't just see why. But we will soon know. By the +way, that door on the north side, in the inner room; where does it lead +one?" + +"Into a side hall, connecting with the other." + +"I thought so. Then, as soon as they are in, I will just slip out, +myself, and see my man, who won't be far from your door, you may be +sure, once his quarry is inside. He will be needed, perhaps, to serve +the warrant, which he carries, ready for an emergency. Hist!" + +There was the sound of an opening door, and, as Ferrars seated himself, +the office boy entered and announced the two visitors. + +The lady, who entered and bowed in stately fashion to the solicitor, was +all in gray, except where, here and there, a bit of violet protruded. +The hair, which was white, rather than gray, was worn low about the +ears, and rolled back from the centre of the forehead, giving an effect +of length to the face. The eyes looked dark, behind their gold rimmed +glasses, and seemed set far back, in dark hollows. The mouth was +slightly sunken, but the cheeks and chin, though pale, were sound and +smooth, and the brow showed a scarcely perceptible wrinkle, beneath a +veil of gray gauze spotted with black. She had a plump figure, its +fulness accentuated by her rustling gray silk gown, with its spreading +mantle glittering with steel beads, and finished with a thick, +outstanding ruche at the neck. Atop of the high coifed white hair, sat a +dainty Parisian bonnet, all gray beads and violets, and the small hands +were daintily gloved, in pearl gray. + +"I have taken the liberty of bringing my husband's brother, Mr. Haynes," +she said, as she advanced into the room, "Mr. Harry Latham." + +The tall, dark fellow behind her advanced, and proffered a hand with an +air of easy geniality. + +"Mrs. Latham," he explained, "fancied I might be of some use by way of +identification. I hope my presence is not _de trop_; if so----" + +"You are very welcome, sir. Sit down, pray, and we will begin our little +inquiry. You have brought the papers, Mrs. Latham?" + +Mrs. Latham, who had been looking with something like disapproval upon +her aristocratic face, toward the partly visible person behind the +screen, turned toward the speaker, and, as she advanced to lay a packet +of papers, produced from a little bag, upon the desk, the solicitor +called out, as if by her suggestion, "Richards, I shall not need you +for an hour or more." And before the lady could turn toward him again, +the man at the desk had vanished through the door just at his back. + +Glancing toward this closed door, the lady seated herself, and drew the +packet toward her. "I suppose we may begin with these?" she said, +untying the packet with deft fingers, and laying the papers one by one +upon the desk before the solicitor, as she talked. "I think all the +needed proofs are here; my marriage certificate, and that of my mother +as well; other family papers that may, or may not, be of use--letters +relating to family matters and to the Paisleys of an earlier day--a copy +of the will of Hugo Paisley the first, letters announcing the deaths of +various members of the family; also a copy of my grandfather's will. I +think you will find them quite correct, and conclusive." She stopped, +and looked at him inquiringly. "You will need to examine them, of +course, if only for form's sake?" she asked, somewhat crisply. + +"Possibly, yes. All in good time, madam." The solicitor took up one of +the papers, and glanced at the first words. + +"I would like to ask," now spoke Harry Latham, "how soon--supposing of +course all things are correct, and Mrs. Latham's claim proved--how soon +can she take personal and complete possession of the property? I am a +busy man, myself, and my time----" + +"I fancy you will not be needed after to-day," broke in Mr. Haynes, +somewhat abruptly. "As to the property, once the claim is proven there +need not be a day's delay. The late incumbent was a very far-seeing +person." He turned abruptly to Mrs. Latham. "Madam, may I ask why you +were not more prompt in putting forward your claim to so fine an +estate?" + +She turned toward him with a slow smile. + +"That is a most natural question. I did not at first imagine myself a +claimant; a certain Hugo Paisley, the younger, or his heirs, was before +me in the line of succession, and I have waited to see if they would not +be heard from. I had no wish to claim that which might not have been +mine." + +"And you are satisfied now that no such heirs exist? Of course this must +be proven." + +"Of course, I have been at some pains, and to much expense, to learn if +there were such heirs. With the help of friends we made inquiry in the +United States, where Hugo went years ago. He was never heard of again." + +"And was your search rewarded by definite news?" + +"By an accident we learned of a member of the family, and through him +traced all the remaining ones. They were three, a mother, the great +granddaughter of Hugo Paisley, and two sons. The mother has been dead +some years. They were not a rugged family." + +"Consumption," came from the dark man at her elbow. + +"Yes, consumption. The two sons died within a few months of each other." + +"I see. And of course you have the proofs of death?" + +"They can readily be proved at need," the lady coldly answered. + +"Then there remains but one more question, where you are concerned. +Supposing your claim to be disputed, could you prove beyond a doubt that +you are the Bessie Cramer, who was the last descendant in this country +of the Paisleys, your mother having been a Paisley?" + +"Of course!" + +"And you are then able to furnish proof that there was no other Mrs. +Gaston Latham? That Gaston Latham married only one wife?" + +A loud laugh broke upon this speech, and the man arose. + +"Would the word of Gaston's only brother be of any worth as a witness to +the marriage, the only marriage of his only brother? Fortunately I knew +Miss Bessie Cramer as a slim young girl. I was a boy in roundabouts +then." + +Solicitor Haynes arose, and looked gravely down upon his client, +ignoring the man's words, and even his presence. + +"I must tell you, Mrs. Latham, that there has been a claim set up by the +American heirs." + +"There are no heirs!" warmly. + +"Only yesterday I had a visit from an American gentleman, a Mr. Myers, +attorney-at-law. Do you know of him?" + +"I know no Americans, and very little of the country." + +"Then you have never crossed the ocean?" + +"No, indeed! It's quite enough for me to cross the channel." + +"Mr. Myers has presented a claim." The solicitor's eyes were narrowing. + +"For whom?" + +"For--a--I think the name is Brierly; as I was about to say, having made +an appointment with you, I thought it best that you should meet him." He +touched the bell at his side, as he spoke the last word. + +"But," interposed the man, "this is some old claim, or else a fraud! The +Brierlys are dead!" The last words harshly guttural. + +The office boy had entered now, and Mr. Haynes quietly gave his order. + +"See if Mr. Myers is in number seventeen, William." + +"Mr. Haynes," said Mrs. Latham, with a touch of haughtiness, "Why +should I need to see this man? These deaths can be proved." + +The solicitor bowed formally. "So much the worse for Mr. Myers and his +claim," he said. "Of course you must meet him; there's no other +alternative. He is a gentleman, and he certainly believes in his claim." + +"He's not up to date, then," interposed the brother-in-law, somewhat +coarsely, and even as he spoke the door opened, and Mr. Myers, having +taken his way around by the side hall, entered, hat in hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE LAST STROKE. + + +As the solicitor turned toward the newcomer, the man and woman exchanged +glances, and while he was still confident, not to say defiant, he looked +to the unobservant solicitor with a nervous, apprehensive glance, and +leaning toward her would have whispered a word of his anxiety; but she +shook her head, and the next moment the solicitor was naming them to +each other and, as Mr. Myers paused before the lady, continued with the +utmost directness-- + +"Mr. Myers, this lady denies the existence of any and all American +heirs. She fears you may have been deceived. Do you know this man +Brierly to be living at present?" + +"I believe him to be living." + +"Mr. Myers," said the lady, sweetly, "I am very sorry to think or say +it, but you have certainly been grossly tricked! If you have seen a +would-be claimant, you have seen a fraudulent one. How long, may I ask, +since you left America?" + +"I have been in England for some time, and I will admit, madam, that I +do not quite understand this case in all its details. Still, may it not +be possible that you have been misled? There seem to have been +complications." He checked himself, and appeared to be considering his +next words, then he resumed--"I think I can help to clear up this +misunderstanding. I brought with me here a young man lately from the +United States. He claims to have seen a Mr. Brierly very recently. With +your permission I will ask him to join us." + +The Lathams again exchanged swift glances, and the man gave his head a +quick negative shape. But the solicitor went promptly to the door. They +did not hear the brief order he gave the boy, and he did not come back +at once. + +"Who is this young American who has seen the invisible? And how came he +here to-day?" asked the man, who was now frowning heavily and moving +restlessly in his seat. "What is his name?" + +Mr. Myers had picked up a book off the desk, and was turning its pages +slowly. He seemed hardly to hear the fellow's words. + +"He's a very bright young fellow," he said, musingly. "I don't think he +would be easily deceived. He's quite a clever detective, in his way." He +was studying the pair from under bent brows. Just then Mr. Latham's hat +fell from his hands to the floor, and before he had recaptured it, the +solicitor had entered, followed by a serious-faced young man, whom he +carelessly named to the two strangers. + +"Mr. Grant." + +The lady's hand went suddenly to her heart, and her face was ashen +beneath the dotted veil. + +"Are you ill, madam?" + +"A twinge," she faltered. + +"It's neuralgia," declared the man, drawing his chair toward her. "She's +subject to these sharp attacks. Better, Bessie?" + +She nodded, and fixed her eyes upon "Mr. Grant," to whom Mr. Myers was +saying: + +"This lady, Grant, is positive that the Brierlys, of whom you have +talked to me, are not now living. There has been tricking somewhere, and +deception. Will you help us to understand one another?" The lawyer's +face had grown very grave. + +Francis Ferrars seated himself directly before the woman, whose eyes +never left his face now, and were growing visibly apprehensive. + +"There has been more than tricking, worse than deceit here, and if I am +to make it clear to you, madam, I must begin at the beginning. So far, +at least, as I know it." + +The woman bent her head slightly. "Go on," said the man. He had never +seen Ferrars either in _propria persona_, or as Ferriss Grant. + +The detective began with a brief sketch of the Brierly brothers, and +then described, vividly, the discovery of Charles Brierly's dead body +beside the lake at Glenville. He paused here, and his voice grew stern +as he resumed-- + +"I had never seen Charles Brierly in life, but, standing beside his dead +body, looking down into that face so lately inspired by a manly, strong +soul, I knew that here was murder. There was no possibility of accident, +and such men, I know, do not cheat death by meeting him half way. It was +a murder, and yet he had no enemies, they said. + +"The case interested me from the first, and when I had seen the sorrow +of the fair girl he loved, and who loved him, I gave myself eagerly to +the work of seeking the author of this most cowardly blow. + +"That night I walked the streets of Glenville alone, and, passing a +certain fashionable boarding house, I saw, in a room lighted only by the +late moonbeams, the shadow of a woman, who paced the floor with her +bare arms tossing aloft in a pantomime of agony, or shame." + +He glanced about him. The two lawyers were standing side by side near +the door, erect and stern. The man in the chair opposite was affecting +an incredulous indifference. The room was intensely still when the voice +ceased and no one stirred or spoke. + +"Next morning, early, I viewed the scene of the crime, and I saw how +easily the destroyer might have crept upon an unsuspecting victim, owing +to the formation of the shore, the shelter of the trees and shrubs, and +the protection of the curving Indian Mound. There had been showers two +days before, and in certain spots, where the sun did not penetrate, the +earth was still moist. Under a huge tree, just where the slayer might +have stood, I found the print of a dainty shoe, or rather, the pointed +toe of it. In two other sheltered places I found parts of other +footprints, and, a little off the road, in a clump of underbrush, I +found two well-formed footprints, all alike, small, and pointed at the +toe. But I found something more in that hazel thicket. I found my first +convincing, convicting clue. It was just a shred, a thread of a black +mourning veil, such as widows wear. Later I found a poor simpleton who +had been in the wood on the morning of the murder, and who had been +horribly terrified. For a time he would only cry out that he had seen a +ghost, but by and by he grew more communicative, and from what he then +said--for he described the 'ghost' at last as a thing all white with a +black face--I knew how to account for a white fragment which I found not +far from the black one. A hired carriage had passed over that lakeside +road on that fatal morning, and I learned that the lap cover with it was +'large and white.' Large enough to cover a woman of small stature, who, +with a black veil drawn close across her features, and rising suddenly +from among that clump of hazel, could easily terrify a simpleton into +leaving the place where his presence was a menace." + +He paused a moment, but he might as well have been looking upon carven +statues. No one stirred, no one spoke, and he resumed his fateful story. + +"Then came the inquest. I believed, even then, that I knew the hand that +took Charles Brierly's life. But I did not know the motive, and, until I +did, my case was a weak one. Besides, a woman sometimes strikes and +still deserves our pity and protection. 'I must know the motive,' I +said, and waited. Then, at the inquest, as Robert Brierly, the brother +of the dead man, whose presence in the town was known to only a few, +came forward to testify, a woman, who did not know him, and whom he did +not know, fainted at sight of him, and was taken out of court. Then I +knew the motive." + +"Ah-h-h!" A queer sighing sound escaped the lips of the woman still +sitting stonily erect before him; but he hurried on. + +"But knowledge is not always proof--in a court of law--and I must have +proof. That night a woman, dressed as a boy, by courage and cunning +combined, forced her way into the rooms so lately occupied by Charles +Brierly. Fear of detection had begun its work upon her mind, and she +went, most of all, to try and throw justice off the track. In Brierly's +desk she left a letter, very conspicuously placed, an anonymous letter, +so framed as to throw suspicion upon the dead man's betrothed. This +again showed the woman's hand. She also carried away a watch, a pistol, +and some foreign jewellery and dainty _bric-a-brac_, to make the work +seem that of a thief; and last, she found, upon a letter file, a +newspaper clipping, which she also carried away. If she had left that I +might have overlooked its value. As it was, I found the paper from which +it had been cut, secured a second copy, and discovered my clue to the +tangle. It was an advertisement for the heirs of one Hugo Paisley, and I +soon found that the Brierly brothers were the sought-for heirs. Then I +knew that Robert Brierly's life was also menaced, and I warned him, and +tried to set a guard about him. + +"In the meantime a boat had been found, not far from the scene of the +shooting; it had been seen on the lake that morning, and its occupant +was a spy, keeping watch up and down the road, and the hillsides, while +his confederate carried out their programme of death. I had already +fixed upon the woman, and now we began to look for the man." + +Just here the man calling himself Latham got up stiffly, and moved +toward the window near the clerk's desk, where he leaned against the +casement, as if looking down upon the street. No one seemed to notice +him, and the narrator went on: + +"And now I had to find my final convincing proofs of the motive and the +deed. The brothers Brierly were, all unknown to themselves, the heirs to +the Paisley estates, and of Hugo Paisley, by descent. Through some error +the murderers of Charles Brierly had been led to think him the sole +living member of the family, and when Robert Brierly stood forth at the +inquest, the woman who had shot down his brother with hand and heart of +steel, fell fainting at the sight of him, and, perhaps, at the thought +of her wasted crime. + +"And now it was a drawn game, in which both sides were forced to move +with caution, and, for a time, I could only watch the woman, on the one +hand, and the safety of Robert Brierly on the other, for he now stood +between the plotters and their goal. + +"But despite my watchfulness, the second blow fell, and the first time +Robert Brierly ventured upon the city street alone, after dark, he was +struck down, almost at his own door. It was a dangerous injury, and, +lest the assassins should find a way to complete their work, we took him +away, as soon as he could be moved." + +The woman was sitting very erect now, her eyes smouldering behind the +gleaming glasses, her hands tightly clinched upon her knee. + +"I knew that we must force the issue, then," Ferrars went on. "And Mr. +Myers came over here to substantiate his client's claim to the Paisley +estates, and to look up the pedigree, the past and present history, of +the other claimants. How well he succeeded need not here be told. He did +succeed." + +Mrs. Latham had risen to her feet, and, for a moment, seemed struggling +for composure, and the power to speak clearly. + +"All this," she said then, "which is very strange, does not explain why +you dispute my claim in favour of a dead man. As for this murder--if you +have proved what you charge----" + +"One moment," Ferrars broke in. "Let me add, in that connection, that +one night one of my agents, in the character of a burglar, entered this +woman's room at her hotel in Glenville. She found in a trunk, the veil +from which the black fragment, found on the bush, was torn; and also a +suit of boy's clothes. The veil she brought away, the clothes were given +away to a poor woman only this morning, and she sold them to my agent. +As for the man, he has been traced by the stolen watch and jewelled +ornaments. He tried to sell, and did pawn, them in Chicago, in New York, +and here in London. In fact the chain of evidence is complete; nothing +more is needed to convict these two." + +The woman's face was white and set. "After all," she said in a hollow +voice, "you have not proved that the Paisley estate is not mine by +right. Mr. Brierly, the elder, being dead!" + +"Even so, the second wife of Gaston Latham cannot inherit, and her +brother, even in the character of brother-in-law, cannot share the +inheritance. One moment," for the woman seemed about to speak. "Let me +end this. Last night, in room number eight at a certain café, I heard +the plotters in conference, and I know that the daughter of Mrs. Cramer, +who would have inherited after the Brierlys, is dead. The game is up, +Mr. Harry Levey. You and your sister have aimed two heavy strokes at +the happiness of two noble women, and the lives of two good men, but the +final stroke is mine! And now, Mrs. Jamieson, if that is----" He did not +finish the sentence. The man Levey had drawn closer and closer to the +inner door, while Ferrars spoke, and now with a swift spring he hurled +himself against it, plunged forward and would have fallen had not +Ferrars, always alert, bounded after him, and caught him as he fell. For +the inner door had opened suddenly, at his touch, and when Ferrars drew +the now struggling man backward, and away from it, the others in the +room saw, in the doorway, a man and woman side by side. + +At sight of Robert Brierly's face the woman, who had faced the ordeal of +denunciation and conviction almost without a quiver, threw up her hands, +and uttering a shrill scream, a cry of mortal terror and anguish, fell +forward upon her face. + +Then came a moment of excited movement, which would have been confusion +but for the quick wit of Ruth Glidden, and the coolness and energy of +the detective. + +While the entrapped villain was struggling like a fiend in the grasp of +four strong men, Ruth knelt beside the fallen woman and lifted her head. + +The next moment two or three officers came hastening in, and Ferrars and +Brierly, seeing their captive in safe hands, came together to her aid. +She looked up at them with a questioning face. + +"Did you know?" she asked, her face full of horror. "Did you know her?" + +Ferrars nodded, and as the officers led their captive, cursing and +blustering, out at one door, he lifted the senseless woman, and carried +her to the couch in the inner room. + +"Bring water!" Ruth commanded, "and leave her to me." + +As the two men closed the door between them and the two so strangely +different women, Brierly laid a hand upon the detective's shoulder. + +"Ferrars," he said, "what did Ruth mean? Who is that terrible woman? And +how is she concerned in your story? It is time I should know the truth." + +"Quite time. That woman is Mrs. Jamieson, or the person you knew under +that name. She is cleverly disguised, but I expected some such trick. +She went to 'the States' to rid herself of you and your brother; and she +took that man, who is really her own brother, and who tried to kill you, +as her fellow criminal." + +"And did she----" Brierly stopped, shuddering. + +"She shot your brother; there is not a doubt of it." + +"My God! And I thought----" They were alone in the office, and Brierly +dropped weakly into the nearest chair and dropped his face upon his +hands. + +"You thought," finished Ferrars, "that I was interested in the woman. I +was. I suspected her from the very first, and so did Hilda Grant." + + +In the inner room, Mrs. Jamieson opened her eyes and looked up to meet +the gaze of the fair woman who was in all things what she was not. + +Ruth bent over her, a glass of water in her hand. + +"Drink this, Mrs. Jamieson," she said simply. + +A shudder like a death throe shook the recumbent form. She lifted +herself by one elbow, and caught at the glass, drinking greedily. Then, +still holding the glass, she said slowly: + +"Then you know me?" + +"Yes." + +"How?" + +"By your voice, a little, but mostly by what Mr. Ferrars said." + +"Mr. Ferrars!" she gasped. "Do you mean him?" + +"I mean the man you have called Grant. Did you never guess that he was a +detective?" + +"And he knew!" The woman arose to her full height and again, as on a +night long since, and in another country, her arms were tossed above her +head, as Ruth nodded her answer, and for a moment her face was awful to +look upon, so tortured, so despairing, so full of wrath and wretchedness +and soul torture and heart agony, for women can love and suffer, though +their souls be steeped in crime. + +Ruth, who had taken the half emptied glass from her hand as she +struggled to her feet, now put it down, and, startled by her look and +manner, moved toward the door, but the woman, her face ghastly, cried +"Stop!" with such agonised entreaty that the girl drew back. + +"Don't!--I can't see him yet--Wait!--Let me----" She sank weakly back +upon the couch, and Ruth noted, while turning away for a moment, how her +hand toyed with her dainty watchguard, in seeming self forgetfulness, +drawing forth the little watch, a moment later, and looking at it, as if +the time was now of importance. Then she threw herself back against the +cushions. + +"My--vinaigrette--my bag!" she moaned between gasping breaths. + +The little bag had been left in the outer office, where it had fallen +from her lap, and Ruth opened the door of communication a little way and +asked for it, saying, as Ferrars came toward her, "Not yet." + +As Ruth turned back, she heard a sharp little click, like the quick +shutting of a watch case, and when she held out the vinaigrette, Mrs. +Jamieson was swallowing the remainder of the water in the glass. + +"Your salts, Mrs. Jamieson." + +The woman looked up with a wild scared look in her eyes, and held out, +for an instant, the little jewelled watch. + +"For years," she said, in a slow, strange monotone, "I have faced and +feared danger, and failure. For years I have been prepared! Because of +my cowardice, and my conscience, I have always kept a way of escape." +Her fingers fluttered aimlessly and the watch fell upon her lap. Her +last words seemed to come through stiffening lips. Her face grew +suddenly ghostly gray. Ruth sprang toward the door. + +"Don't let him come yet." With these words the dying woman seemed to +collapse, and sank limply back into the cushions; her head drooped, her +chin dropped. + +Ruth flung open the door with a cry of terror, and the four men--for the +two lawyers had returned from their escort duty--gathered about the +couch. They saw a shudder pass over the limp frame. The fingers +fluttered again feebly, there was a spasmodic stiffening of the +figure--and that was the end. + + +Four weeks later, a group of people were standing upon the deck of a +homeward bound steamer, about to set out upon her ocean voyage. They +were five in number, and they were welcoming, each in turn, the man who +had just joined them. + +There had been a quiet wedding, a few days before, at a little English +church, and Ruth Glidden had become Ruth Brierly as simply as if she +were not an heiress, and her newly made husband not the owner of English +lands, houses, stocks, and factories, that changed him into a +millionaire. + +"I could see no good reason for delay," Brierly was saying, as he +grasped the hand of Ferrars, whose congratulations had been hearty and +sincere. "Neither of us have need to consult aught save our own wishes; +and besides our nearest friends are with us." + +"Besides," interposed the smiling woman at his side, "we have been an +encumbrance upon Mr. and Mrs. Myers for so long--and it was really the +only conventional way to relieve them of so many charges. And then"--and +here she lowered her tone, and glanced toward Hilda Grant, who, having +already greeted Ferrars, was standing a little aloof--"we can now make a +home for Hilda, and have a double claim on her." + +"In all of which you have done well," smiled Ferrars. "My only regret is +that I must bring into this parting moment an unpleasant element, but +you may as well hear it from me." He beckoned the others to approach; +and, when they were close about him, said, speaking low and gravely: +"'Quarrelsome Harry' has escaped the punishment of the law." + +"Escaped!" It was Mr. Myers who repeated the word. "Do you mean----?" + +"I mean that he is dead. He was shot while trying to escape. He had +feigned illness so well that they were taking him to the hospital +department. He tried a rush and a surprise, but it ended fatally for +him. He was shot while resisting re-arrest." + +"It is better so," said Mr. Myers. "They have been their own +executioners. What could the law have added to their punishment?" + +"Only the law's delays," said Ferrars, and then he turned to Hilda +Grant. + +"This is not a long good-bye," he said gently. "At least I hope not. I +shall be back in 'the States' soon. And, may I not still find a cousin +there? Or must I stand again outside the barrier alone?" + +"You will always find an affectionate cousin," said Hilda, putting out +her hand. + +And now it was time to leave the ship. All around them was the hurry of +delayed farewells, the bustle of late comers, the shifting of baggage, +smiles, tears, last words. + +Ferrars would remain for a time in London, but he knew, as he answered +to the call "all ashore," that when he returned to the United States he +would find in one of her fair western cities, a warm welcome and a +lasting friendship. + +The plot, by which the beautiful tigress-hearted woman whom they had +known as Mrs. Jamieson had hoped to achieve riches, was cleverly +planned. The real claimant had died in a remote place, and there were no +near friends to look after her interests, or those of her young +children. And then Harry Levey's sister, beautiful, and an adventuress, +from choice, like her brother, had beguiled Gaston Latham, and had, by +frequent changes of abode, by cunning, and by fraud, merged her own +personality into that of the former wife. Then had come the baffling +discovery of heirs in America, the plotting and scheming to remove them +from their path--and the shameful end. + +"Ferrars is a strange fellow," said Robert Brierly to his wife, one +moonlight night, as they sat together, and somewhat aloof from the +others on deck. "Do you know he was the sole attendant, except for her +servants, at that woman's burial. He went in a carriage alone. Was it +from sentiment, or sympathy, think you?" + +It was the first time the dead woman had been spoken of, by either, +since that trying day of her exposure and death, and Ruth was silent a +moment, before she answered; the awful scene coming vividly before her. +Then she put her hand within her husband's arm, and said, slowly, +softly: + +"It was because he is a good man; because she was a woman without a +friend, and because she loved him." + +There was a long silence, and it was Ruth who next spoke. + +"Have you ever thought, or hoped, that the friendship and trust that has +grown out of Hilda's relation to Mr. Ferrars might, sometime, end in +something more?" + +"No, dear, and this is why: Yesterday, Ferrars said to me 'There is a +friend over in Glenville whom I hope you will not forget. Let him be +your guest. And, if the day should come when your sweet sister that was +to be should enter society and be sought by others, give the doctor his +chance. He has loved her from the first.'" + +Ruth sighed. + +"Hilda is too young to go through the world loveless and alone. Yes, and +too sweet. And the doctor is a noble man. But all this we may safely +leave to the future, and to their own hearts." + +THE END. + + +The Gresham Press, +UNWIN BROTHERS, +WOKING AND LONDON. + + * * * * * + +WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. + +New and Recent + +Copyright + Novels + +_AND OTHER POPULAR WORKS_ + +PUBLISHED BY + +WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED. + + ++E. H. STRAIN.+ + + +A Man's Foes.+ A Tale of the Siege of Londonderry. New and cheap + edition. With _Three Full-page Illustrations_ by A. FORESTIER. + Crown 8vo, cloth, +_6s._+ + +"Quite the best historical novel of the day."--_The Sketch._ + +"A powerful and impressive historical novel.... A chronicle of intense +and unflagging interest."--_Daily Telegraph._ + +"'A Man's Foes' is the best historical novel that we have had since Mr. +Conan Doyle published 'Micah Clarke.' ... An exceptionally fine +romance."--_Daily Chronicle._ + + ++FRANCIS HINDES GROOME.+ + + +Kriegspiel: The War Game. A Novel.+ By the author of "Two Suffolk + Friends," "In Gypsy Tents," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, +_6s._+ + +"Seemingly at one bound Mr. Groome has taken rank among the most +promising novelists of the day, so full is 'Kriegspiel' of interest, of +stirring incident, and of vivid and varied sketches of men and manners +from contemporary English life."--_The Illustrated London News._ + +"As a gipsy novel, as a novel depicting gipsy life, 'Kriegspiel' is +unrivalled."--_The Athenĉum._ + + ++SHAN F. BULLOCK.+ + + +By Thrasna River.+ The Story of a Townland. Given by one John + Farmer, and Edited by his Friend, SHAN F. BULLOCK. With _Four + Full-page illustrations_ by ST. CLAIR SIMMONS. Crown 8vo, cloth + gilt, +_6s._+ + +"This is a charming book, and affords quite the best picture of Irish +rural life that we have ever come across."--_The Athenĉum._ + +"It is an Irish 'Thrums,' in which the character is drawn as straight +from life as in Mr. Barrie's delightful annals of Kirriemuir."--_The +Sketch._ + + ++PERCY ANDREAE.+ + + +The Vanished Emperor.+ By the author of "Stanhope of Chester." + Crown 8vo, cloth. +_6s._+ + +"We can honestly say it is years since we read a story so original, so +striking, or so absorbing."--_Manchester Courier._ + +"A most thrilling detective story, to which additional piquancy is given +by the fact that the chief personages concerned are the present German +Emperor and his Court, introduced under the thinnest +disguises."--_Athenĉum._ + + ++GEORGE MEREDITH.+ + + +The Tale of Chloe+; The House on the Beach; and, The Case of + General Ople and Lady Camper. By the author of "The Ordeal of + Richard Feverel," etc., Crown 8vo, cloth, +_6s._+ Also a cheap + edition, cloth, +_3s. 6d._+ + +"'The Tale of Chloe' is one of the gems of English fiction.... We +question whether, even in Mr. Meredith's rich array of female +characters, there is any more loveable than Chloe."--_Daily Telegraph._ + + ++EDITH JOHNSTONE.+ + + +A Sunless Heart.+ Third edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, +_6s._+ Also a + cheap edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, +_3s. 6d._+ + +Mr. W. T. Stead, in his article on "Women Novelists," writes of "its +intrinsic merit, its originality and its pathos, its distinctively +woman's outlook on life, and the singular glow and genius of its +author.... Lotus is a distinct creation--vivid, life-like, and +original."--_Review of Reviews._ + + ++MRS. LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON.+ + + +Lazy Tours.+ By the author of "Bedtime Stories," "Swallow + Flights," etc. Large crown 8vo, +_6s._+ + +Mrs. Moulton is everywhere admitted as America's greatest woman poet, +and more than one critic who has seen this volume is of the opinion that +Mrs. Moulton has written nothing to equal it. "Lazy Tours" is one of the +most delightful volumes of Travel Papers which has appeared. + + ++LOUIS F. AUSTIN.+ + + +At Random.+ A Collection of Essays and Stories. With _Photogravure + Portrait and Special Title-page_. Full crown 8vo, art canvas, + +_5s_.+ + +"At Random," when it sees light in the beautiful form in which it is +presented, will assuredly be one of the most widely-discussed books of +the season. Though Mr. Austin has an almost unique reputation as one of +the most brilliant and able of literary writers, he has, strange to say, +never yet published a volume, but now he has at last collected some of +the best of his contributions to periodicals together. + + ++GUY BOOTHBY.+ + + +Dr. Nikola.+ With about _Forty Illustrations_ by STANLEY L. WOOD. + Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, special design, +_5s._+ + +"Dr. Nikola" has enchanted hundreds of thousands of readers during its +serial course in "The Windsor Magazine." + + +The Beautiful White Devil.+ By the Author of "Dr. Nikola," "A Bid + for Fortune," etc. With _Six Full-page Illustrations_ by STANLEY L. + WOOD. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, +_5s._+ + +A more lively, romantic, and amazing bit of fiction than "The Beautiful +White Devil" it would be hard to indicate.... It is full of surprise and +fascination for the fiction-lover, and is worthy of the reputation of +the creator of the famous Nikola. + + +A Bid for Fortune+; or, Dr. Nikola's Vendetta. With about _Fifty + Illustrations_ by STANLEY L. WOOD and other Artists. Crown 8vo, + cloth gilt, +_5s._+ + +"He never allows the interest to drop from first page to the last.... +The plot is highly ingenious, and when once it has fairly thickened, +exciting to a degree."--_The Times._ + +"It is impossible to give any idea of the verve and brightness with +which the story is told. Mr. Boothby may be congratulated on having +produced about the most original novel of the year."--_Manchester +Courier._ + + +In Strange Company.+ A Story of Chili and the Southern Seas. With + _Six Full-page Illustrations_ by STANLEY L. WOOD. Crown 8vo, cloth + gilt, bevelled boards, +_5s._+ + +"A capital novel of its kind--the sensational adventurous. It has the +quality of life and stir, and will carry the reader with curiosity +unabated to the end."--_The World._ + + +The Marriage of Esther+: A Torres Straits Sketch. With _Four + Full-page Illustrations_ by STANLEY L. WOOD. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, + +_5s._+ + +"A story full of action, life, and dramatic interest.... There is a +vigour and a power of illusion about it that raises it quite above the +level of the ordinary novel of adventure."--_Manchester Guardian._ + + ++ARTHUR MORRISON.+ + + +Martin Hewitt, Investigator.+ By the author of "Tales of Mean + Streets," etc. With about _Fifty Illustrations_ by SYDNEY PAGET. + Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, +_5s._+ + +"Most people like tales of this sort, ... and no one writes them better +than Mr. Morrison does. The narratives are written not only with +ingenuity, but with conviction, which is, perhaps, even the more +valuable quality."--_Globe._ + + +Chronicles of Martin Hewitt.+ Being the Second Series of "Martin + Hewitt, Investigator." With _Thirty Illustrations_ by D. MURRAY + SMITH. Crown 8vo, art canvas, +_5s._+ + +"Certainly the most ingenious and entertaining of the numerous +successors of Sherlock Holmes. There is not one of the stories in this +collection that is not ingeniously constructed and cleverly +written."--_The Academy._ + + +Adventures of Martin Hewitt.+ Being the Third Series of "Martin + Hewitt, Investigator." With _Thirty-five Illustrations_ by T. S. C. + CROWTHER. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, +_5s._+ + +The remarkable reception given by both press and public to "Martin +Hewitt, Investigator," and "Chronicles of Martin Hewitt," is sufficient +guarantee that this third series of the adventures of that astute +detective will be warmly welcomed. + + ++MAX PEMBERTON.+ + + +Jewel Mysteries I Have Known.+ By the author of "The Iron Pirate," + "A Gentleman's Gentleman," etc. With _Fifty Illustrations_ by R. + CATON WOODVILLE and FRED BARNARD. Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt edges, + +_5s._+ + +"The most interesting and entrancing 'mystery' stories that have +appeared since the publication of the doings of Mr. Sherlock +Holmes."--_The Literary World._ + +"Mr. Pemberton has attempted a great deal more than to give mere plots +and police cases, and he has succeeded in capturing our attention from +the first story to the last."--_The Bookman._ + + ++FRANCIS PREVOST.+ + + +Rust of Gold.+ Crown 8vo, art canvas, +_5s._+ + +"A series of nine _fin de siècle_ stories of great power and +picturesqueness.... As word-pictures they are simply +masterpieces."--_Daily Telegraph._ + + +On the Verge.+ Crown 8vo, art canvas, +_5s._+ + +"'Rust of Gold' was good, but 'On the Verge' is better."--_Star._ + + ++HENRY KINGSLEY.+ + + New Library Edition of Henry Kingsley's Novels. Edited by CLEMENT + K. SHORTER. Well printed (from type specially cast) on good paper, + and neatly and handsomely bound. With Frontispieces by eminent + Artists. Price +_3s. 6d._+ per volume, cloth gilt. + + 1. +The Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn.+ With a _Photogravure + Portrait_ of Henry Kingsley, and a _Memoir_ by CLEMENT K. SHORTER. + Illustrated by HERBERT RAILTON. + + 2. +Ravenshoe.+ With Frontispiece by R. CATON WOODVILLE. + + 3. +The Hillyars and the Burtons.+ With a Note on Old Chelsea + Church by CLEMENT K. SHORTER. Illustrated by HERBERT RAILTON. + + 4. +Silcote of Silcotes.+ With Frontispiece by LANCELOT SPEED. + + 5. +Stretton.+ With Frontispiece by GEORGE M. HENTON. + + 6. +Austin Elliot,+ and +The Harveys.+ With _Frontispiece_ by + WALTER PAGET. + + 7. +Mdlle. Mathilde.+ With Frontispiece by HOLLAND TRINGHAM. + + 8. +Old Margaret,+ and other Stories. With _Frontispiece_ by ROBERT + SAUBER. + + 9. +Valentin,+ and +Number Seventeen.+ With _Frontispiece_ by R. + CATON WOODVILLE. + + 10. +Oakshott Castle,+ and +The Grange Garden.+ With _Frontispiece_ + by W. H. OVEREND. + + 11. +Reginald Hetherege,+ and +Leighton Court.+ With _Frontispiece_ + by GORDON BROWNE. + + 12. +The Boy in Grey,+ and other Stories. With _Frontispiece_ by A. + FORESTIER. + +"Henry Kingsley was born to wear the purple of romance.... Where will +anyone who is ordinary and sane find better comradeship? Scarcely +outside the novels of Walter Scott.... Messrs. Ward, Lock and Co.'s +edition of this despotic and satisfying romancer is cheap and well +printed, and comfortable to hold. Those who love Kingsley will love him +again and better for this edition, and those who have not loved have a +joy in store that we envy them."--_The National Observer._ + +"To Mr. Clement Shorter and to the publishers the unreserved thanks of +the public are warmly due; there can be no finer mission from the world +of fiction to the world of fact than the putting forth of these +ennobling novels afresh and in a fitting form."--_The Daily Chronicle._ + +"To renew your acquaintance with Henry Kingsley is for Henry Kingsley to +stand forth victorious all along the line. His work, in truth, is moving +and entertaining now as it was moving and entertaining thirty odd years +ago."--_The Pall Mall Gazette._ + + ++WILLIAM LE QUEUX.+ + + +A Secret Service.+ Being Strange Tales of a Nihilist. By the + author of "The Great War," "Zoraida." With _Frontispiece_ by + HAROLD PIFFARD. Crown 8vo, cloth, +_3s. 6d._+ + +"Apart altogether from its political interest, "A Secret Service" will +be read and appreciated for its brightly-written stories of mystery and +sensation and romance which are threaded together in the narrative of +Anton Préhzner."--_Daily Mail._ + + ++ANNIE E. HOLDSWORTH.+ + + +Spindles and Oars.+ By the author of "The Years that the Locust + hath Eaten." Crown 8vo, cloth, with _Special Title Page,_ +_3s. + 6d._+ + +Miss Holdsworth has written a delightful series of Scottish Idylls, +which can only be compared with the work of Mr. J. M. Barrie and "Ian +Maclaren." They are full of tender pathos and quaint humour, and are +sure to sustain the reputation she has already made. + + ++J. E. MUDDOCK.+ + + +Stormlight;+ or, the Nihilist's Doom. A Story of Switzerland and + Russia. With _Two Full-page Illustrations_ by GORDON BROWNE. Crown + 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, +_3s. 6d._+ + +"The work has a strong plot, exciting situations, and a certain truth to +history, that make it full of interest."--_The Scotsman._ + +"A thrilling tale, chock full of sensational incidents."--_Liverpool +Post._ + + ++ADA CAMBRIDGE.+ + + +A Humble Enterprise.+ By the author of "The Three Miss Kings," + "Fidelis," "A Marked Man," etc. With _Four Full-page Illustrations_ + by ST. CLAIR SIMMONS. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, +_3s. 6d._+ + +"It is a delightful story, refreshingly original, singularly well told, +and absorbingly interesting from beginning to end."--_Daily Mail._ + +"A pretty, graceful story, and one to leave, so to speak, a clean taste +in one's mouth; such dishes are rarely served to the public."--_Pall +Mall Gazette._ + + ++MARY TENNYSON.+ + + +The Fool of Fate.+ By the author of "Friend Perditus." Crown 8vo, + cloth, +_6s._+ + +"Although sad in tone, this book is exceedingly clever and well +written.... The book is not loaded with psychological analysis, but the +incidents are mainly allowed to speak for themselves, and the work is a +clever, clear, and consistent character study."--_Bristol Mercury._ + + ++BERTRAM MITFORD.+ + + +The Expiation of Wynne Palliser.+ A Novel of Contrast. By the + author of "The King's Assegai," etc. With _Two Full-page + Illustrations_ by STANLEY L. WOOD. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, +_3s. + 6d._+ + +Readers who wish to have a realistic picture of the South African life, +concerning which recent events have aroused such interest, should not +fail to get Mr. Mitford's new work. It brings the whole scene before the +reader's eye with startling vividness, and is an intensely interesting +story as well. + + +The Curse of Clement Waynflete:+ A Story of Two South African + Wars. With _Four Full-page Illustrations_ by STANLEY L. WOOD. + Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, +_3s. 6d._+ + +"Telling us wonderful incidents of inter-racial warfare, of ambuscades, +sieges, surprises, and assaults almost without number.... A thoroughly +exciting story, full of bright descriptions and stirring +episodes."--_The Daily Telegraph._ + + +A Veldt Official:+ A Novel of Circumstance. With _Two Full-page + Illustrations_ by STANLEY L. WOOD. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, +_3s. + 6d._+ + +"We have seldom come across a more thrilling narrative. From start to +finish Mr. Mitford secures unflagging attention."--_Leeds Mercury._ + + ++A. CONAN DOYLE.+ + +_THE FIRST BOOK ABOUT SHERLOCK HOLMES._ + + +A Study in Scarlet.+ By the author of "The White Company," etc. + With _Forty Illustrations_ by GEORGE HUTCHINSON. Crown 8vo, cloth + gilt, gilt top, +_3s. 6d._+ + +"One of the cleverest and best detective stories we have yet seen.... +Mr. Conan Doyle is a literary artist, and this is a good specimen of his +skill."--_London Quarterly Review._ + +"Few things have been so good of late as Mr. Conan Doyle's 'Study in +Scarlet.'"--Mr. Andrew Lang, in _Longman's Magazine._ + + ++THOMAS HENEY.+ + + +The Girl at Birrell's.+ With _Frontispiece_ by T. S. C. CROWTHER. + Crown 8vo, cloth, +_3s. 6d._+ + +"The attraction of the book, which is considerable, lies in the vivid +picture it gives of life on a huge portion of a huge pastoral estate in +Australia."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + +"Apart from the excellence of telling, the accurate local colour of 'The +Girl at Birrell's' renders it valuable."--_Black and White._ + + ++OUTRAM TRISTRAM.+ + + +The Dead Gallant;+ together with +"The King of Hearts."+ With + _Full-page Illustrations_ by HUGH THOMSON and ST. GEORGE HARE. + Crown 8vo, art linen, gilt, +_5s._+ + +"Both stories are well written in faultless English, and display a +knowledge of history, a careful study of character, and a fine +appreciation of a dramatic point, all too rare in these days of slipshod +fiction."--_National Observer._ + + ++HEADON HILL.+ + + +The Rajah's Second Wife.+ A Story of Missionary Life and Trial in + India. By the author of "Zambra the Detective," "Cabinet Secrets," + etc. With _Two Full-page Illustrations_ by WALER S. STACEY. Crown + 8vo, cloth gilt. +_3s. 6d._+ + +"Will assuredly be read with the deepest interest.... The novel, as a +whole, is one that will be read with genuine pleasure."--_The Scotsman._ + + +The Divinations of Kala Persad.+ With _Two Full-page + Illustrations_ by STANLEY L. WOOD. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, + +_3s. 6d._+ + +"Distinctly worth having. 'The Divinations of Kala Persad,' so far as +the book relates to that remarkable man, have a novelty that is +refreshing."--_The Spectator._ + +"The stories in this book are well told and interesting, and have the +charm of freshness."--_St. James's Gazette._ + + +The Queen of Night.+ With _Frontispiece_ by HAROLD PIFFARD. Crown + 8vo, cloth gilt, +_3s. 6d._+ + +No one who is familiar with the work of Mr. Headon Hill will dispute +that in "The Queen of Night" is to be found the most skilful and +enthralling detective story he has yet done. The idea is absolutely +original, and is worked out with breathless interest and unusual power. +From first to last it holds the reader's attention. + + ++MAGGIE SWAN.+ + + +A Neglected Privilege:+ The Story of a Modern Woman. By the author + of "A Late Awakening," etc. With _Two Full-page Illustrations_ by + STEPHEN REID. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, +_3s. 6d._+ + +Readers of Annie Swan and Silas Hocking will find a story to their +liking in Maggie Swan's new novel, "A Neglected Privilege." It is a pure +and wholesome tale, told with as much skill as characterises the work of +her longer known sister. Every lover of pure literature will enjoy this +charming tale. + + +A Late Awakening.+ With _Two Full-page Illustrations_ by ST. CLAIR + SIMMONS. Square fcap. 8vo, cloth elegant, gilt top, price +_2s. + 6d._+ + +"'A Late Awakening' is both pretty and pathetic. Miss Swan has a +distinct faculty for describing wild scenery in the Scottish islands and +for realistically painting the life led by people in the lonely villages +thereon. Her characters are excellent."--_The Star._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Stroke, by Lawrence L. Lynch + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STROKE *** + +***** This file should be named 35304-8.txt or 35304-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/3/0/35304/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |