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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3758-h.zip b/3758-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9967175 --- /dev/null +++ b/3758-h.zip diff --git a/3758-h/3758-h.htm b/3758-h/3758-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..407cfe0 --- /dev/null +++ b/3758-h/3758-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9754 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Gates of Chance, by Van Tassel Sutphen +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gates of Chance, by Van Tassel Sutphen + +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 Gates of Chance + +Author: Van Tassel Sutphen + +Posting Date: May 13, 2009 [EBook #3758] +Release Date: February, 2003 +First Posted: August 21, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GATES OF CHANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, Robert Rowe, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +The Gates of Chance +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Van Tassel Sutphen +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Contents +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE GENTLEMAN'S VISITING-CARD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE RED DUCHESS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOCK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">THE PRIVATE LETTER-BOX</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE NINETY-AND-NINE KISSES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE QUEEN OF SPADES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">THE OPAL BUTTON</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE TIP-TOP TIP</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE BRASS BAGGAGE-CHECK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE UPSET APPLE-CART</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE PHILADELPHIA QUIZZING-GLASS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE ADJUSTER OF AVERAGES</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Gentleman's Visiting-Card +</H3> + +<P> +The card that had been thrust into my hand had pencilled upon it, "Call +at 4020 Madison Avenue at a quarter before eight this evening." Below, +in copper-plate, was engraved the name, Mr. Esper Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +It was one of those abnormally springlike days that New York sometimes +experiences at the latter end of March, days when negligee shirts and +last summer's straw hats make a sporadic appearance, and bucolic +weather prophets write letters to the afternoon papers abusing the +sun-spots. Really, it was hot, and I was anxious to get out of the dust +and glare; it would be cool at the club, and I intended dining there. +The time was half-past six, the height of the homeward rush hours, and, +as usual, there was a jam of vehicles and pedestrians at the Fourth +Avenue and Twenty-third Street crossing. The subway contractors were +still at work here, and the available street space was choked with +their stagings and temporary footwalks. The inevitable consequent was +congestion; here were two of the principal thoroughfares of the city +crossing each other at right angles, and with hardly enough room, at +the point of intersection, for the traffic of one. The confusion grew +worse as the policemen and signalmen stationed at the crossing +occasionally lost their heads; every now and then a new block would +form, and several minutes would elapse before it could be broken. In +all directions long lines of yellow electric cars stood stalled, the +impatient passengers looking ahead to discover the cause of the +trouble. A familiar enough experience to the modern New-Yorker, yet it +never fails to exasperate him afresh. +</P> + +<P> +The impasse looked hopeless when I reached the scene. A truck loaded +with bales of burlap was on the point of breaking down at the crossing, +and it was a question of how to get it out of the way in the shortest +possible time consistent with the avoidance of the threatened +catastrophe. Meanwhile, the jam of cars and trucks kept piling up until +there was hardly space for a newsboy to worm his way from one curb to +another, and the crowd on the street corners began to grow restive. +They do these things so much better in London. +</P> + +<P> +Now, I detest being in the mob, and I was about to back my way out of +the crowd and seek another route, even if a roundabout one. But just +then the blockade was partially raised, an opening presented itself +immediately in front of me, and I was forced forward willy-nilly. +Arrived at the other side of the street, I drew out of the press as +quickly as possible, and it was then that I discovered Mr. Indiman's +carte de visite tightly clutched in my left hand. Impossible to +conjecture how it had come there, and my own part in the transaction +had been purely involuntary; the muscles of the palm had closed +unconsciously upon the object presented to it, just as does a baby's. +"Mr. Esper Indiman—and who the deuce may he be?" +</P> + +<P> +The club dining-room was full, but Jeckley hailed me and offered me a +seat at his table. I loathe Jeckley, and so I explained politely that I +was waiting for a friend, and should not dine until later. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, have a cocktail while I am finishing my coffee," persisted +the beast, and I was obliged to comply. +</P> + +<P> +"I had to feed rather earlier than usual," explained Jeckley. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," I said, not caring in the least about Mr. Jeckley's hours for +meals. +</P> + +<P> +"You see I'm doing the opening at the Globe to-night, and I must get my +Wall Street copy to the office before the theatre. And what do you +think of that by way of an extra assignment?" He took a card from his +pocket-book and tossed it over. It was another one of Mr. Esper +Indiman's calling-cards, and scrawled in pencil, "Call at 4020 Madison +Avenue at eight o'clock this evening." +</P> + +<P> +Jeckley was lighting his cigar, and so did not observe my start of +surprise. Have I said that Jeckley was a newspaper man? One of the new +school of journalism, a creature who would stick at nothing in the +manufacture of a sensation. The Scare-Head is his god, and he holds +nothing else sacred in heaven and earth. He would sacrifice—but +perhaps I'm unjust to Jeckley; maybe it's only his bounce and flourish +that I detest. Furthermore, I'm a little afraid of him; I don't want to +be written up. +</P> + +<P> +"Esper Indiman," I read aloud. "Don't know him." +</P> + +<P> +"Ever heard the name?" asked Jeckley. +</P> + +<P> +I temporized. "It's unfamiliar, certainly." +</P> + +<P> +Jeckley looked gloomy. "Nobody seems to know him," he said. "And the +name isn't to be found in the directory, telephone-book, or social +register." +</P> + +<P> +Wonderful fellows, these newspaper men; I never should have thought of +going for Mr. Indiman like that. +</P> + +<P> +"But why and wherefore?" I asked, cautiously. +</P> + +<P> +"A mystery, my son. The card was shoved into my hand not half an hour +ago." +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" +</P> + +<P> +"At Twenty-third and Fourth. There were a lot of people around, and I +haven't the most distant notion of the guilty party." +</P> + +<P> +"What does it mean?" +</P> + +<P> +Jeckley shook his head. "What will you do about it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will make the call, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course!" +</P> + +<P> +"There maybe a story there—who knows. Besides, it's directly on my way +to the Globe, and the curtain is not until eight-thirty. Tell you what, +old man; come along with me and see the thing to a finish. Fate leads a +card—Mr. Esper Indiman's—and we'll play the second hand; what do you +say?" +</P> + +<P> +I declined firmly. God forbid that I should be featured, along with the +other exhibits in the case, on the first page of to-morrow's Planet. +</P> + +<P> +"So," he assented, indifferently, and pushed his chair back. "Well, I +must push along—Lord! there's that copy—the old man will have it in +for me good and plenty if I don't get it down in time. Adios!" He +disappeared, and I let him depart willingly enough. Later on I went up +to the library for a smoke—no fear of encountering any Jeckleys there, +and, in fact, the room was entirely deserted. I looked at my watch; it +was ten minutes after seven, and that gave me a quarter of an hour in +which to think it over. Should I accept Mr. Indiman's invitation to +call? +</P> + +<P> +I looked around for an ash-tray, and, seeing one on the big +writing-table in the centre of the room, I walked over to it. +</P> + +<P> +There were some bits of white lying in the otherwise empty tray—the +fragments of a torn-up visiting-card. A portion of the engraved script +caught my eye, "Indi—" +</P> + +<P> +It was not difficult to piece together the bits of pasteboard, for I +knew pretty well what I should find. Completed, the puzzle read, "Mr. +Esper Indiman," and in pencil, "Call at 4020 Madison Avenue at +half-past seven this evening." +</P> + +<P> +So there were three of us—if not more. Rather absurd this assignment +of a separate quarter of an hour to each interview—quite as though Mr. +Indiman desired to engage a valet and we were candidates for the +position. Evidently, an eccentric person, but it's a queer world +anyhow, as most of us know. There's my own case, for example. I'm +supposed to be a gentleman of leisure and means. Leisure, certainly, +but the means are slender enough, and proceeding in a diminishing +ratio. That's the penalty of having been born a rich man's son and +educated chiefly in the arts of riding off at polo and thrashing a +single-sticker to windward in a Cape Cod squall. But I sha'n't say a +word against the governor, God bless him! He gave me what I thought I +wanted, and it wasn't his fault that an insignificant blood-clot should +beat him out on that day of days—the corner in "R. P." It was never +the Chicago crowd that could have downed him—I'm glad to remember that. +</P> + +<P> +Well, there being only the two of us, it didn't matter so much; it +wasn't as though there were a lot of helpless womenfolk to consider. +After the funeral and the settlement with the creditors there was +left—I'm ashamed to say how little, and, anyway, it's no one's +business; the debts were paid. What is a man to do, at thirty-odd, who +has never turned his hand to anything of use? The governor's friends? +Well, they didn't know how bad things were, and I couldn't go to them +with the truth and make them a present of my helpless, incompetent self. +</P> + +<P> +And so for the last two years I've been sticking it out in a hall +bedroom, just west of the dead-line. I have a life membership in the +club—what a Christmas present that has turned out to be!—and twice in +the week I dine there. As for the rest of it, never mind—there are +things which a man can do but of which he doesn't care to speak. +</P> + +<P> +The future? Ah, you can answer that question quite as well as I. Now I +had calculated that, at my present rate of expenditure, I could hold +out until Easter, but there have been contingencies. To illustrate, I +had my pocket picked yesterday morning. Amusing—isn't it?—that it +should have been my pocket—my pocket! +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately I have stacks of clothes and some good pearl shirt-studs, +and I continue to present a respectable appearance. I shall always do +that, I think. I don't like the idea of the pawn-shop and the dropping +down one degree at a time. If, in the end, it shall be shown clearly +that the line is to be crossed, I shall walk over it quietly and as a +man should; I object to the indecency of being dragged or carried +across. What line do I mean? I don't know that I could tell you +clearly. What is in your own mind? There IS a line. +</P> + +<P> +At half after seven I left the club, and exactly a quarter of an hour +later I stood opposite the doorway of No. 4020 Madison Avenue. A tall +man was descending the steps; I recognized Bingham, a member of my +club, and recalled the torn-up visiting-card that I had found in the +library. So Bingham was one of us. +</P> + +<P> +Now I don't know Bingham, except by sight, and I shouldn't have cared +to stop and question him, anyway. But I caught one glimpse of his face +as he hurried away, and it looked gray under the electrics. Call it the +effect of the arc light, if you like; he was hurrying, certainly, and +it struck me that it was because he was anxious to get away. +</P> + +<P> +Many are the motives that send men into adventurous situations, but +there is at least one among them that is compelling—hunger. I have +said that I had gone to the club for dinner; I did not say that I got +it. To be honest, I had hoped for an invitation—charity, if you insist +upon it. But I had been unfortunate. None of my particular friends had +chanced to be around, and Jeckley's cocktail had been the only +hospitality proffered me. You remember that my pocket had been picked +yesterday morning, and since then—well, I had eaten nothing. I might +have signed the dinner check, you say. Quite true, but I shall probably +be as penniless on the first of the month as I am to-day, and then +what? Too much like helping one's self from a friend's pocket. +</P> + +<P> +So it was just a blind, primeval impulse that urged me on. This Mr. +Indiman had chosen to fish in muddy waters, and his rashness but +matched my necessity. A host must expect to entertain his guests. I +walked up the steps and rang the bell. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the door opened, and a most respectable looking serving-man +confronted me. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Indiman will see you presently," he said, before I had a chance to +get out a word. "This way, sir." +</P> + +<P> +The house was of the modern American basement type, and I was ushered +into a small reception-room on the right of the entrance hall. "Will +you have the Post, sir? Or any of the illustrated papers? Just as you +please, sir; thank you." +</P> + +<P> +The man withdrew, and I sat looking listlessly about me, for the room, +while handsomely furnished, had an appearance entirely commonplace. +</P> + +<P> +Five and ten minutes passed, and I began to grow impatient. I +remembered that Jeckley's appointment had been for eight o'clock, and +for obvious considerations I did not wish that he should find me +waiting here. It was eight o'clock now, and I would abide Mr. Indiman's +lordly pleasure no longer. I rose to go; the electric bell sounded. +</P> + +<P> +I could hear Jeckley's high-pitched voice distinctly; he seemed to be +put out about something; he spoke impatiently, even angrily. +</P> + +<P> +"But this is 4020 Madison Avenue, isn't it? Mr. Indiman—I was asked to +call—Mr. Jeckley, of the Planet." +</P> + +<P> +"Must be some mistake, sir," came the answer. "This is No. 4020, but +there's no Mr. Inkerman—" +</P> + +<P> +"Indiman, not Inkerman—Mr. Esper Indiman. Look at the card." +</P> + +<P> +"Never heard the name, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"What! Well, then, who does live here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Snell, sir. Mr. Ambrose Johnson Snell. But he's at dinner, and I +couldn't disturb him." +</P> + +<P> +"Humph!" I fancy that Jeckley swore under his breath as he turned to +go. Then the outer door was closed upon him. +</P> + +<P> +It was a relief, of course, to be spared the infliction of Mr. +Jeckley's society, but I could not but admit that the situation was +developing some peculiarities. Eliminating the doubtful personality of +Mr. Ambrose Johnson Snell, who was this Mr. Esper Indiman, whose +identity had been so freely admitted to me and so explicitly denied to +Jeckley? The inference was obvious that Jeckley had failed to pass the +first inspection test, and so had been turned down without further +ceremony. This reflection rather amused me; I forgot about the +incivility to which I was being subjected in the long wait, and began +to be curious about the game itself. What next? +</P> + +<P> +At a quarter after eight, and then again at half after, there were +inquiries at the door for Mr. Indiman. To each caller the answer was +returned that no Mr. Indiman was known at No. 4020 Madison Avenue, and +that Mr. Ambrose Johnson Snell could not be disturbed at his dinner. +</P> + +<P> +There was no caller at the next quarter, and none again at nine +o'clock. The series had, therefore, come to an end, and I remained the +sole survivor—of and for what? +</P> + +<P> +I dare say that my nerves had been somewhat weakened by my two days' +fast, or else it was the effect of Jeckley's cocktail on an otherwise +empty stomach. Whatever the cause, I suddenly became conscious that I +was passing into a state of high mental tension; I wanted to scream, to +beat impotently upon the air; Jeckley would have put it that I was +within an ace of flying off the handle. +</P> + +<P> +A deafening clash of clanging metal smote my ears. It should have been +the finishing touch, and it was, but not after the fashion that might +have been expected. As though by magic, the horrible tension relaxed; +my nerves again took command of the situation; I felt as cool and +collected as at any previous moment in my life. +</P> + +<P> +In the centre of the room stood a heavy table of some East-Indian +wood—teak, I think, they call it. I could have sworn that there was +nothing whatever upon this table when I entered the room; now I saw +three objects lying there. I walked up and examined them. As they lay +towards me, the first was a ten-thousand-dollar bill, the second a +loaded revolver, caliber .44, the third an envelope of heavy white +paper directed to me, Winston Thorp. The letter was brief and formal; +it read: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Mr. Indiman presents his compliments to Mr. Thorp and requests the +honor of his company at dinner, Tuesday, March the thirtieth, at nine +o'clock. +<BR><BR> +"4020 Madison Avenue." +</P> + +<P> +Dishonor, death, and dinner—a curious trio to choose between. Yet to a +man in my present position each of them appealed in its own way, and +I'm not ashamed to confess it. Perhaps the choice I made may seem +inevitable, but what if you had seen Bingham's face as I did, with the +arc light full upon it? It was the remembrance of that which made me +hesitate; twice I drew my hand away and looked at the money and the +pistol. +</P> + +<P> +Through the open door came a ravishing odor, that of a filet a la +Chateaubriand; the purely animal instincts reasserted themselves, and I +picked up the gardenia blossom that lay beside the letter and stuck it +into the button-hole of my dinner-jacket. I looked down at the table, +and it seemed to me that the ten-thousand-dollar note and the pistol +had disappeared. But what of that, what did anything matter now; I was +going to dine—to dine! +</P> + +<P> +I walked up-stairs, guided by that delicious, that heavenly odor, and +entered the dining-room in the rear, without the smallest hesitation. +At one end of the table sat a man of perhaps forty years of age. An +agreeable face, for all of the tired droop about the mouth and the deep +lines in the forehead; it could light up, too, upon occasion, as I was +soon to discover. For the present I did not bother myself with +profitless conjectures; that entrancing filet, displayed in a massive +silver cover, stood before him; I could not take my eyes from it. +</P> + +<P> +My host, for such he evidently was, rose and bowed with great +politeness. +</P> + +<P> +"You must pardon me," he said, "for sitting down; but, as my note said, +I dine at nine. I will have the shell-fish and soup brought on." +</P> + +<P> +"I should prefer to begin with the filet," I said, decidedly. +</P> + +<P> +A servant brought me a plate; my hand trembled, but I succeeded in +helping myself without spilling the precious sauce; I ate. +</P> + +<P> +"There are three conditions of men who might be expected to accept the +kind of invitation which has brought me the honor of your company," +remarked my host as we lit our cigarettes over the Roman punch. "To +particularize, there is the curious impertinent, the merely foolish +person, and the man in extremis rerum. Now I have no liking for the +dog-faced breed, as Homer would put it, and neither do I suffer fools +gladly. At least, one of the latter is not likely to bother me again." +He smiled grimly, and I thought of Bingham's face of terror. +</P> + +<P> +"I found my desperate man in you, my dear Mr. Thorp, shall we drink to +our better acquaintance?" I bowed, and we drank. +</P> + +<P> +"The precise nature of your misfortune does not concern me," he +continued, airily. "It is sufficient that we are of the same mind in +our attitude towards the world—'to shake with Destiny for beers,' is +it not? +</P> + +<P> +"One may meet with many things on the highway of life—poverty, +disease, sorrow, treacheries. These are disagreeable, I admit, but they +are positive; one may overcome or, at least, forget them. But suppose +you stand confronting the negative of existence; the highway is clear, +indeed, but how interminable its vista, its straight, smooth, and +intolerably level stretch. That road is mine. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; I have tried the by-paths. Once I was shanghaied; twice I have +been marooned and by my own men. That last amused me—a little. I was +the second man to arrive at Bordeaux in the Paris-Madrid race of 1903; +during the Spanish-American war I acted as a spy for the United States +government in Barcelona. +</P> + +<P> +"I made the common mistake of confounding the unusual with the +interesting. Romance is a shy bird, and not to be hunted with a brass +band. Where is the heart of life, if not at one's elbow? At the +farthest, one has only to turn the corner of the street. It is useless +to look for prodigies in the abyss, but every stream has its straws +that float; I have determined to watch and follow them. +</P> + +<P> +"I want a companion, and so I advertised after my own fashion. I +selected you, tentatively, from the mob; later on I made the test more +complete. But you have no boutonniere; allow me." +</P> + +<P> +He took a spray of orchid from the silver bowl in the centre of the +table and handed it to me. +</P> + +<P> +I protested: "I have my gardenia—" I looked at my button-hole and it +was gone. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Indiman smiled. "Let me confess," he said. "You recall the abnormal +tension of your nerves as you sat waiting in my reception-room. Merely +the effect produced by a mixture of certain chemical gases turned on +from a tap under my hand. Then the crash of a brazen gong; it is what +the scientists call 'massive stimulation,' resolving super-excitation +into partial hypnosis. +</P> + +<P> +"Once I had you in the hypnotic condition, the rest was simple enough. +I had only to suggest to your mind the three objects on the table, and +you saw them. The bank-note, the revolver—they were as immaterial as +the gardenia that no longer adorns your button-hole. +</P> + +<P> +"I did not attempt to influence your choice among the three, as that +would have destroyed the value of the test to me. But, as I had hoped, +you accepted my invitation to dinner. Frankly, now, I am curious—why?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is very simple," I answered. "I had not eaten anything for two +days, and I detected the odor of that exquisite filet. Not the +slightest ethical significance in the choice, as you see." +</P> + +<P> +Esper Indiman laughed. "I should have kept my pantry door closed. But +it does not matter; I am satisfied. Shall we go into the library for +coffee?" +</P> + +<P> +Directly opposite the door of the latter apartment stood an easel +holding an unframed canvas. A remarkable portrait—little as I know +about pictures, I could see that clearly enough. A three-quarter length +of a woman wearing a ducal coronet and dressed in a magnificent costume +of red velvet. +</P> + +<P> +"Lely's 'Red Duchess,'" remarks my host, carelessly. "You may have seen +it in the Hermitage at Petersburg." +</P> + +<P> +I looked at the picture again. Why should this masterpiece not have +been properly mounted and glazed? The edges of the canvas were jagged +and uneven, as though it had been cut from its frame with a not +oversharp knife. We sat down to our coffee and liqueurs. +</P> + +<P> +As I awake in the narrow quarters of my hall bedroom I am inclined to +believe that the occurrences of the preceding night were only the +phantasms of a disordered digestion; where had I eaten that Welsh +rabbit? The morning paper had been thrown over the transom, and, +following my usual custom, I reached for it and began reading. Among +the foreign despatches I note this paragraph dated St. Petersburg: +</P> + +<P> +"The famous portrait of the Duchess of Lackshire, by Sir Peter Lely, +better known as the 'Red Duchess,' has disappeared from the gallery of +the Hermitage. It is now admitted that it must have been stolen, cut +bodily from its frame and carried away. The theft took place several +months ago, but the secret has just become public property. The absence +of the picture from its accustomed place had, of course, been noted, +but it was understood that it had been removed for cleaning. An +enormous reward is to be offered for information leading to its +recovery." +</P> + +<P> +There is also a letter for me which I had not noticed until now. It was +from Indiman, and it read: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Dear Thorp,—Dine with me to-night at half after eight. I noticed that +you were rather taken with my 'Red Duchess'; we will ask the lady to +preside over our modest repast, and you can then gaze your fill upon +her. Faithfully, E. I." +</P> + +<P> +Of course, I intend to accept the invitation. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Red Duchess +</H3> + +<P> +At half after eight we sat down to dinner. Indiman, of course, took the +head of the table, and opposite him, propped up on the arms of an +enormous "bishop's chair" of Flemish oak, was Lely's portrait of the +"Red Duchess." What a glorious picture it was, in the masterly sweep of +its lines, in the splendor of its incomparable coloring! The jagged +edges of the canvas showed plainly where the vandal knife had passed, +separating the painting from its frame. But the really big thing is +always independent of its cadre; one hardly noticed the mutilation, and +then immediately forgot about it. +</P> + +<P> +I had been honored with a seat at the lady's right hand, and opposite +me a fourth cover had been laid. Indiman noticed my look of inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"Only one of my fancies," he explained, smiling. "I always make +provision for the unexpected guest. Who knows what supperless angels +may be hovering around?" +</P> + +<P> +We were hardly at the soup before a servant brought in a card. +</P> + +<P> +"Roger W. Blake," read Indiman, aloud. "An honest-enough-sounding name. +Is the gentleman in evening dress, Bolder?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; I don't think so, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Hym! That is unfortunate. Still, if Madame la Duchesse will permit, +and you, Thorp, have no objection—Good! Ask Mr. Blake to do me the +favor of joining us at dinner." +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later Mr. Roger Blake appeared at the door of the +dining-room. He was a young man with a profusion of fair hair and a +good deal of color, the latter heightened considerably by the somewhat +embarrassing circumstances attending his introduction. But Indiman +relieved the situation immediately, going forward and greeting the new +guest with unaffected cordiality. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Blake, is it? You are very heartily welcome, I assure you. Let +Bolder take your hat and stick; indeed, I insist upon it. Allow me now +to present you: Her Grace the Duchess of Lackshire, more generally +known as Lely's 'Red Duchess'—Mr. Roger W. Blake. My friend, Mr. +Thorp—Mr. Blake." +</P> + +<P> +Evidently the young man was not overclear in his own mind as to how it +had all happened, but there he was, sitting bolt upright in the vacant +chair and drinking two glasses of wine in rapid succession to cover his +confusion. A comedy, apparently, but to what purpose? Mr. Blake blushed +painfully, and made no reply to the polite commonplaces that I +ventured; Indiman smiled benevolently upon both of us, and in the most +natural possible manner led the conversation to the subject of +portrait-painting. There was his text before him—the famous "Red +Duchess"—and he talked well. I found myself listening with absorbed +attention, and even the shy Mr. Blake became oblivious of the keener +agonies of self-consciousness. So we went on until the game course had +been removed. +</P> + +<P> +Our host rose to his feet, champagne glass in hand. "Gentlemen," he +said, and we followed his example, Blake managing to upset a decanter +of sherry in the process, "in life and in art—the fairest of her sex. +I give you, gentlemen, 'La Duchesse Rouge.'" +</P> + +<P> +The toast was drunk with becoming decorum. I was about to resume my +seat when I saw that Mr. Blake had screwed himself up to a desperate +decision, and that the climax of the drama was at hand. He was quite +pale, and he stuttered a little as he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Very sorry, I—I'm sure," he blurted out, "but you are Mr. In-Indiman?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am, and not in the least sorry for it. Go on." +</P> + +<P> +"It is my d-duty, sir, to place you under arrest for complicity in the +theft of that p-p-picture." Mr. Blake threw back his coat and displayed +a detective's shield attached to an aggressively red suspender brace. +</P> + +<P> +Esper Indiman bowed ironically. "I presume that my presence at Police +Headquarters is necessary?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir. I have a coach in waiting outside, and we will start at +once, if you please." Mr. Blake, under the stimulus of his professional +functions, lost his embarrassed air and became severely business-like +and official. "This gentleman will have to accompany us," he continued, +looking at me. +</P> + +<P> +"The coffee, Bolder," called our host, "and never mind the sweets." I +drank a demi-tasse and lit a cigarette. "Ready," announced Indiman, and +we descended to the coach, Mr. Blake bringing up the rear and carrying +the precious picture enveloped in a silken table-cover. +</P> + +<P> +"What reward is offered, officer?" asked Indiman as the carriage drove +off. +</P> + +<P> +"One hundred thousand dollars, sir. It will be a big thing for me +if—if—" He stopped, a trifle embarrassed. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, those ifs!" quoted Indiman, musingly. +</P> + +<P> +The chief of the detective bureau received us in his private room. He +listened attentively to Blake's report, but seemed rather puzzled than +gratified by its triumphant peroration. Now the young man felt that he +had done a big thing, and this non-committal attitude of his superior +chagrined him. He unrolled the covering in which the picture had been +wrapped. +</P> + +<P> +"There!" he said, half resentfully. The chief looked carefully at the +picture and turned to Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you desire to make any explanation, Mr. Indiman, as to how this +picture happens to be in your possession?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly," was the prompt reply. "I bought it for a small sum a month +ago on the lower Bowery. The dealer's name was Gregory, I think." +</P> + +<P> +Young Mr. Blake sniffed incredulously. A messenger handed a couple of +telegrams to the chief. He read them with knitted brows and then +touched a call-bell. +</P> + +<P> +"Send in Officer Stone," he ordered. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Stone immediately made his appearance. In his hand he carried a +flat, square parcel which, in obedience to a further order, he +proceeded to unwrap. I uttered an involuntary cry, for it was nothing +less than a replica of the famous portrait of the "Red Duchess." A +replica, indeed!—it would take an expert to decide which of the two +was the copy; they were absolutely alike, even to the detail of the +rough edges, the marks of the blunted knife. +</P> + +<P> +"This picture was discovered in an art dealer's window on Fourth Avenue +near Twenty-ninth Street," explained the chief of the detective bureau. +"And now kindly listen to these despatches. The first from the chief of +police of New Orleans: +</P> + +<P> +"'Lely portrait discovered in pawn-shop. Officer Smith goes North +to-night to return property and claim reward. J. H. BOWEN." +</P> + +<P> +The other from Pittsburg, in substantially the same language, reports +the finding of the portrait of the 'Red Duchess' in a private gallery. +This fourth picture is also on its way to New York for identification." +</P> + +<P> +We all looked at one another, Blake the picture of puzzled anger and +disappointment. "Which is the true picture?" asked the chief. "Mr. +Indiman, I should be glad of your opinion." +</P> + +<P> +Indiman, who had been examining the canvas held by Stone, answered +quickly: "Neither of these, and it is more than probable that the other +two are also copies by the same hand. Wonderfully well done, too, but +the study of portraiture is a hobby of mine; I have even contemplated a +monograph on the subject, or, more particularly, a hand-book to the +smaller galleries and private collections. But I doubt if I ever do it +now," he concluded, meditatively. +</P> + +<P> +"The 'Red Duchess'?" persisted the chief. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, I know it perfectly. I won't bore you with technical +explanations, but on the back of the stretcher is the address of the +American art dealer from whom the original canvas was purchased. That +should be enough." +</P> + +<P> +It was as Indiman said; each of the canvas stretchers carried a small +gummed label, the address of a Fulton Street art-supply shop. +</P> + +<P> +"That settles the question," remarked the chief of detectives. "I may +say finally that I have this cable from the Minister of Police at St. +Petersburg, communicated to me through the Russian Consul-General: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"'Lely portrait recovered and replaced in the gallery at the Hermitage. +Withdraw published reward. +<BR><BR> +"'(Signed) SOBRIESKA.' +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"A queer piece of business; but this appears to be the end of it," +commented the chief. "Needless to say, gentlemen, that you are at +liberty to depart. My apologies for the annoyance to which you have +been subjected." +</P> + +<P> +We all bowed and withdrew to the anteroom. Blake, blushing redly, came +up to Indiman; he began to apologize, stuttering pitiably, but Indiman +cut him short. +</P> + +<P> +"Call up the coach and offer the driver extra fare for the best time +his horses can make to this address." He scribbled the name of the +street and the house number on a leaf torn from his note-book and +handed it to Blake. "Yes, you can come along if you like; it may be the +big thing yet." +</P> + +<P> +As the carriage rolled along Indiman vouchsafed certain explanations. +</P> + +<P> +"As I have already told you," he began, "I bought the picture from a +small dealer in the Bowery. I happened to notice it in his window, and, +the 'Red Duchess' being one of the half-dozen superlative portraits of +the world, I was naturally interested. It was certainly a fine copy, +and I was pleased to get it so cheaply. +</P> + +<P> +"Now there were two or three circumstances connected with my find that +afterwards struck me as peculiar. In the first place it is well known +that permission to copy any of the pictures at the Hermitage Gallery is +very rarely given, and the authorities are particularly averse to +having reproductions made of the Lely portrait. Secondly, why were the +edges of the canvas so curiously serrated, giving the picture the look +of having been hastily cut away from its frame? And, finally, where and +when had this copy been made? for the label of the Fulton Street art +dealer on the back bore the date 1903, and this was the 2d of February +in the same year. Obviously impossible that the artist could have gone +to Russia, painted the picture, and returned with it to New York in a +little over a month. +</P> + +<P> +"Two days later I was walking up Fourth Avenue, through the district +affected by the curio and old-furniture dealers, and I discovered a +replica of my 'Red Duchess' hanging in a shop-window. In every respect +identical, you understand, the two pictures were unquestionably the +work of the same hand. Whose hand? +</P> + +<P> +"Do you remember, Thorp, the name of Clive Richmond? Well, for a year +or two he was the favorite painter of women's portraits here in New +York, hailed as genius and all that. Then suddenly his work began to +fall off in quality; his failures became egregious, and his clients +left him. Shortly after he disappeared; it was the common report that +his misfortunes had affected his reason; there were even hints at +suicide. That was some four or five years ago, and whatever the secret +may be it has been kept faithfully. +</P> + +<P> +"At least I had solved a portion of the problem—it was Clive Richmond +and no other who had painted my copy of the 'Red Duchess.' How do I +know? Well, with the expert it is a matter partly technical but more +largely intuitive. How do you recognize a friend's face? How does the +bank clerk detect the counterfeit bill? +</P> + +<P> +"Now this second copy bore the same ear-marks as the one in my +possession—the edges of the canvas marred and jagged, the Fulton +Street label on the back. What was this mystery? +</P> + +<P> +"Mystery—yes, and behind it the shadow of a crime, of a human tragedy. +Who was to lift the veil? There was but one man—Clive Richmond—who +could answer my question; and where was Clive Richmond? A week later I +found still a third copy of my 'Duchess' over on Sixth Avenue. I had +left my purse at home that morning, and when I went back the next day +to buy the picture it was gone—sold to a stranger. Did I say that I +had missed getting possession of the second picture through the same +sort of contretemps? I never saw either of them again. +</P> + +<P> +"I had written to a friend in Petersburg to make certain inquiries for +me, and his answer confirmed my suspicions. The 'Red Duchess' was not +hanging in its accustomed place at the Hermitage; it was in process of +renovation, according to a statement made by the director of the +gallery. +</P> + +<P> +"That was enough for me. The portrait had been stolen and was probably +in New York at this very moment. Where? Let me first find Clive +Richmond, and I must be quick about it, for once the secret of the +theft got out the detectives would not be long in rounding up the +various purchasers of those wonderfully accurate copies. This morning +the cable brought the news, and at dinner-time Mr. Blake's card was +presented to me. Quick work, Mr. Blake; I congratulate you. +</P> + +<P> +"Here is the letter that I received just before we left my house; you +remember that it had come in the evening mail and been overlooked. I +will read it. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"'DEAR INDIMAN,—There's more in the art business than can be squeezed +out of a color tube, isn't there? But I have the secret now; it was +given me by Lely himself—no less. What a pity it is that I shan't have +the chance to use it, but you and the cognoscenti can fight it out +together. You might bury me decently if you like; you ought to be +willing to do that much, seeing that your critical pronouncements have +been so amply vindicated. +<BR><BR> +C. R. +<BR><BR> +"'P. S.—My secret? But on second thought I will take it with me.'" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +St. John's Park and the streets fronting upon it was once a fashionable +quarter of the town. Now a hideous railway freight station occupies the +former park area, and the old-time residences, with their curiously +wrought-iron stoop-railings and graceful fan-lights, have been degraded +to the base uses of a tenement population. Only the quaint chapel of +St. John has survived the slow process of contamination, a single rock +rising above the sordid tide. +</P> + +<P> +The coach stopped before one of the most pretentious of the old-time +houses-now, alas! one of the dirtiest and most dilapidated. We were +directed to the upper story, Indiman leading the way. +</P> + +<P> +A single attic chamber, bearing the marks of the cruelest poverty, a +stove, an artist's easel, a pallet spread directly on the grimy floor, +and upon it a man in the last stage of consumption. He glanced up at +Indiman and waved his hand feebly. He tried to speak, but his voice +died away in his throat; Indiman knelt by his side to catch the words. +</P> + +<P> +"It is cold—shut stove door—there's enough now to last me out." +</P> + +<P> +Indiman went to the stove, where a little fire was smouldering; he shut +the door and turned on the draught. The flame leaped up instantly, the +crazy smoke-pipe rattling as it expanded under the influence of the +heat. Indiman turned again to the dying man. +</P> + +<P> +"You know well enough why I have come," he said, slowly. "I have in my +possession one of your copies of the 'Red Duchess.' Tell me the truth." +</P> + +<P> +There was no audible response from the bloodless lips, but the dark +eyes were full of ironic laughter. Then they closed again. +</P> + +<P> +"Richmond!" said Indiman, sharply. "Richmond!" +</P> + +<P> +I had been standing by the door, but now I came forward and joined +Indiman. "Gone!" he said, briefly. "Gone, and taken his secret with +him. Only, what WAS the secret?" +</P> + +<P> +We tried to argue it out on the way up-town, but with only indifferent +success. Granted the premise that Richmond had actually stolen the "Red +Duchess," what were his motives in multiplying copies of the picture, a +proceeding that must infallibly end in the detection of his crime? And +the supreme question—what had finally become of the original? +</P> + +<P> +My theory was simple enough. The man was mentally unbalanced, the +result of brooding over his own failure in art. He had stolen the +picture, possessed with the idea that by study of it he should discover +the secret of its power. He had made copies of the picture and sold +them in order to supply himself with the necessities of life. At the +end, knowing himself to be dying, he had caused the original to be +returned to the gallery at Petersburg, a contribution to the conscience +fund. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman's argument was more subtle. "Granted," he said, "that the poor +chap was mentally irresponsible, and that he actually did steal the +picture. But you must take into account his colossal vanity, his +monumental egotism. Richmond never admitted for a moment that he was a +failure as an artist; there was a cabal against him, and that accounted +for everything. This affair was simply his revenge upon his critics and +detractors; he would turn out these reproductions of a masterpiece so +perfect in their technique as not to be distinguished from their +original, nor indeed from each other. So having set the artistic world +by the ears, he would enjoy his triumph, at first in secret, and +afterwards openly." +</P> + +<P> +"But what was the picture returned to the Hermitage?" +</P> + +<P> +"One of these same copies—that was the supreme sarcasm." +</P> + +<P> +"The original, then—the 'Red Duchess'?" +</P> + +<P> +"The fuel in the stove consisted of some strips of painted canvas," +said Indiman, gravely. "I don't know, I can't be sure—they were almost +consumed when I shut the door." +</P> + +<P> +"An imperfect copy," I hazarded. +</P> + +<P> +"Some day we will take a trip to the Hermitage to make sure," answered +Indiman. "'Where ignorance is bliss,' etc. What do you think, Blake?" +he continued, turning to our companion. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all the same to me, sir," answered Blake, a little ruefully. "It +was a big thing, right enough, but somehow I seem to have missed it all +round. Well, good-night, sir, if you'll kindly set me down at this +corner." +</P> + +<P> +Indiman and I enjoyed a small supper under Oscar's watchful eye. The +night was fine and we started to walk home. Have I said that Indiman +had proposed that I should move my traps over to his house and take up +my quarters there for an indefinite period? In exchange for services +rendered, as he put it, and somehow he made it possible for me to +accept the invitation. It had been twenty-four hours now since I had +first enjoyed the honor of Mr. Esper Indiman's acquaintance; the +novelty of having enough to eat—actually enough—was already beginning +to wear off. Man is a wonderful creature; give him time and he will +adjust himself to anything. +</P> + +<P> +At the corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street, Indiman +stopped suddenly and picked up a small object. It was a latch-key of +the familiar Yale-lock pattern. I looked at it rather indifferently. +</P> + +<P> +"Man! man!" said Indiman, with simulated despair. "Surely you are an +incorrigibly prosaic person. A key—does it suggest to you no +possibilities of mystery, of romance?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, not without a door," I answered, smartly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, is that all! To-morrow we will go out and find a door upon which +this little key may be profitably employed. You promise to enter that +door with me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I promise." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +House in the Middle of the Block +</H3> + +<P> +"All things come to him who waits," quoted Indiman. "Do you believe +that?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a comfortable theory," I answered. +</P> + +<P> +"But an untenable one. And Fortune is equally elusive to those who seek +her over-persistently. The truth, as usual, lies between the extremes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" +</P> + +<P> +"The secret is simple enough. He who is ready to receive, receives. +Love, fame, the shower of gold—they are in the air, and only waiting +to be precipitated. I stand ready to be amused, and that same afternoon +the Evening Post aims a blow at the Tammany 'Tiger' over the shoulder +of Mr. Edward M. Shepard; I am in the mood adventurous, and instantly +the shadow of a prodigy falls across my threshold; yea, though I live +on upper West End Avenue. Do you remember this?" and he held out a +small Yale latch-key. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the one you picked up at Twenty-seventh Street and Fifth Avenue +last night." +</P> + +<P> +"Precisely. Now a key, you observe, is intended to open something—in +this case a door. What door? As though that mattered! Put on your +rain-coat, my dear Thorp, and let us begin a little journey into the +unknown. Fate will lead us surely, O unbelieving one, if you will but +place your hand unresistingly in hers." +</P> + +<P> +We left the house, and Indiman tossed a penny into the air. "Broadway, +heads; Fourth Avenue, tails." Tails it was. +</P> + +<P> +Arrived at Fourth Avenue, we stood waiting for a car. The first that +came along was on its way up-town and we boarded it. +</P> + +<P> +"Was it you who asked for a cross-town transfer at Twenty-ninth?" +inquired the conductor of Indiman a few minutes later, and Indiman +nodded assent and took the transfer slips. +</P> + +<P> +At Eighth Avenue the cross-town car was blocked by a stalled coal-cart. +We alighted and passively awaited further directions from our esoteric +guide. Quite an amusing game for a dull, rainy afternoon, and I felt +grateful to Indiman for its invention. +</P> + +<P> +The policeman on the corner was endeavoring to direct a very small boy +with a very large bundle. "Up one block and turn east," he said, +impressively. "I've told you that now three times." +</P> + +<P> +I had a flash of inspiration. "Copper it," I cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Right," said Indiman, soberly. We walked down one block to +Twenty-eighth Street and then turned westward. +</P> + +<P> +New York is a big city, and therefore entitled to present an occasional +anomaly to the observant eye. And this particular section of +Twenty-eighth Street is one of these departures from the normal, a +block or two of respectable, even handsome houses set as an oasis in a +dull and sordid neighborhood. How and why this should be does not +matter; it is to be presumed that the people who live there are +satisfied, and it is nobody else's business. +</P> + +<P> +We walked on slowly, then, half-way down the block, Indiman stopped me. +"What did I tell you?" he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +The house was of the English basement type, and occupied two of the +ordinary city lots; nothing particularly remarkable about that, and I +said as much. +</P> + +<P> +"But look again," insisted Indiman. I did so and saw a man standing at +the door, evidently desirous of entering. Twice, while we stood +watching him, he rang without result, and the delay annoyed him. He +shook the door-knob impatiently, and then fell to researching his +pockets, an elaborate operation that consumed several minutes. +</P> + +<P> +"Lost his latch-key," commented Indiman. He walked up the steps of the +entrance porch. "You might try mine," he said, politely, and held out +the key picked up the night before at Fifth Avenue and Twenty-seventh +Street. +</P> + +<P> +"Huh!" grunted the man, suspiciously, but he took the little piece of +metal and inserted it into the slot of the lock. The door swung open. +Amazing, but what followed was even more incredible. The man stepped +into the hall, but continued to hold the door wide open. +</P> + +<P> +"You're coming in, I suppose," he said, surlily. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly," answered Indiman. "This way, Thorp," he called at me, and +most unwillingly I obeyed. We passed into the house and the door closed +behind us. Our introducer turned up the gas in the old-fashioned hall +chandelier, and favored us with a perfunctory stare. "New members, eh!" +he grunted, and turned away as though it were a matter of entire +indifference to him. But Indiman spoke up quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me," he began, with the sweetest suavity. "I was afraid for the +moment that we had got into the wrong place. This is the—" a +delicately suggestive pause. +</P> + +<P> +"The Utinam Club," supplied the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly," said Indiman, in a most relieved tone. "It IS the Utinam, +Thorp," he continued, turning to me. Now I had not the smallest notion +of what the Utinam Club might be, consequently I preserved a discreet +silence. Indiman addressed himself again to our ungracious cicerone. +</P> + +<P> +"A snug little box you have here, Mr, er—" +</P> + +<P> +"Hoyt, sir—Colman Hoyt." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, yes—of North Pole fame. You are the man—" +</P> + +<P> +"Who has led four expeditions to reach it, and failed as often. That is +MY title to fame. And also my qualification for membership in the +Utinam Club," he added, grimly. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, yes—the discovery of the Pole. A unique and delightful idea in +clubdom—eh, Thorp? To succeed—" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; to FAIL," interrupted Mr. Hoyt, rudely. "What the devil do +you suppose I am doing in this galley? You must be a very new member of +the Utinam Club." +</P> + +<P> +"To tell the truth, Mr. Hoyt," said Indiman, with an air of engaging +frankness, "I have never, until this moment, even heard of the Utinam +Club. But for all that I am convinced that I am about to become a +member of it, and I may say the same for my friend, Mr. Thorp. Now, +possibly you may be inclined to assist us." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hoyt stared. "It's a pity, isn't it," he remarked, reflectively, +"that our standard of eligibility doesn't conform to that of your +impudence. Still, I won't say that it can't be done; this is a +proprietary club, you know. You had better see Dr. Magnus." +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Magnus?" +</P> + +<P> +"The proprietor of the Utinam Club. Here he comes now." +</P> + +<P> +A slight, gray-haired man of fifty or there-abouts had entered the hall +from the rear and immediately came forward to meet us. His eyes were +the extraordinary feature of his face, piercingly brilliant and +enormously magnified by the spectacles that he wore. The lenses of the +latter were nearly an eighth of an inch thick and evidently of the +highest power. Even with their aid his powers of vision seemed +imperfect. On hearing the few words of explanation vouchsafed by the +unamiable Mr. Hoyt, he drew from his pocket a second and third pair of +glasses and deliberately added both to his original optical equipment. +I know that I felt like a fly under a microscope in facing that +formidable battery of lenses. But the scrutiny seemed to satisfy him; +he spoke courteously enough: +</P> + +<P> +"Step into my office, gentlemen, and we will talk the matter over." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Colman Hoyt had departed without further formality, and we followed +our host into the room adjoining the hall on the right. It looked like +the study of a man of science; charts and globes and plaster-of-Paris +casts were everywhere, while the far end of the apartment was occupied +by a huge, flat-topped table covered with papers, test-tubes, and +glass-slides. But even more remarkable than its contents was the room +itself, and its singular architectural proportions at once engaged my +attention. +</P> + +<P> +As I have said, the house occupied two twenty-five-foot city lots, but +the entrance and hall were at the extreme right as one looks outward +towards the street, instead of being in the centre, as is usually the +case. Consequently, the room in which we stood (being undivided by any +interior partitions) extended the full width of the house, less that of +the entrance hall—forty feet, let us say, in round numbers. But its +measurements in the other direction were barely ten feet, the apartment +presenting the appearance of a long, low, and narrow gallery. At the +back were a row of five windows taking light from the interior +court-yard; in brief, the house, imposing in its dimensions from the +street side, was little more than a mask of masonry extremely +ill-adapted for human habitation, or, indeed, for any purpose. Stepping +to one of the rear windows, I looked out, and then the reason for this +extraordinary construction—or, rather, reconstruction—became +apparent. The lot was of the usual depth of one hundred feet, and, +being a double one, it had a width of fifty. A large building of gray +stone occupied the farther end of this inside space, the erection +measuring about sixty feet in depth and extending the full width of the +enclosure. That left a little less than thirty feet of court-yard +between this back building and the one facing on the street, and it was +evident that the rear of the original house had been sheared off bodily +to provide for this singular readjustment in the owner's modus vivendi, +only the party walls on either side being left standing. And these had +been extended so as to enflank the building in the rear. +</P> + +<P> +If I have made my description clear, it now will be understood that the +facade of the original house was nothing more than a shell, a ten-foot +screen whose principal office was to conceal the interior structure +from curious eyes. Describing the latter more particularly, it should +be noted that it was connected with the original house by a covered +passageway of brick running along one side of the court-yard and +communicating with the hallway that led to the street door. Apparently, +the rear building was three stories in height—I say apparently, for, +being entirely destitute of windows, it was impossible to accurately +deduce the number of its floors. Aesthetically, it made no pretensions, +its only architectural feature being a domed roof of copper and a +couple of chimney-stacks, from one of which a thin streak of vapor +ascended. A chilling and depressing spectacle was that presented by the +"House in the Middle of the Block," as I mentally christened it, and I +speculated upon the strange offices to which it had been consecrated. +</P> + +<P> +"The Utinam Club," answered my unspoken query. Dr. Magnus had advanced +to my side and stood staring at me through his triple lenses. I +started, involuntarily. +</P> + +<P> +"There! there!" he said, soothingly. "I did not perceive that your +attention was so entirely absorbed. I am honored by your interest—the +Utinam Club, it is my hobby, sir, and one not altogether unworthy of +the consideration of an intelligent man." +</P> + +<P> +"I can quite understand that," said Indiman, who had joined us at the +window. "There is a distinct stimulus to the imagination in the picture +before us. And what a picture!—this eyeless, gray-faced, architectural +monstrosity, crowned with squat, domelike head of coppery red, and set +in that gigantic cadre of fifty-foot masonry! Superb! Magnificent!" +</P> + +<P> +"The honor of your acquaintance—" began Dr. Magnus. +</P> + +<P> +"In two words," interrupted Indiman, smilingly. He made a brief +statement of the circumstances attendant upon the finding of the Yale +latch-key, and the proprietor of the Utinam Club listened attentively. +</P> + +<P> +"I have a passion for the unique," concluded Indiman, "and the Utinam +Club appears to possess claims of unusual merit in that direction. I +own frankly that I am curious as to its object and qualifications for +membership." +</P> + +<P> +"They are quite simple," answered Dr. Magnus. "Indeed, the name of the +club explains its raison d'etre—Utinam, a Latin ejaculation equivalent +to our 'Would to Heaven!' or 'Would that I could be!' To be eligible +for membership in the Utinam Club, one must have had a distinct object +or ambition in life and then have failed to realize it." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, I begin to understand," murmured Indiman. "An extraordinary basis, +indeed, for a social organization—the lame ducks, the noble army of +the incapables, the gentlemen a main gauche! Pray go on; you interest +me exceedingly." +</P> + +<P> +"We have them all here," answered Dr. Magnus, smiling. "The +unsuccessful author, the business bankrupt, the artist whose pictures +have never reached the line. The touch-stone of failure, you see; the +clubability (odious word!) of our membership is unimpeachable. +</P> + +<P> +"A superb conception. My dear Dr. Magnus, I must beg of you to enroll +Mr. Thorp and myself at once. Believe me that we are not unworthy of a +place in your galaxy of dark stars." +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Magnus walked to the table and took up his pen. "This gentleman?" +he began, inquiringly, and looked at me. +</P> + +<P> +"An unfortunate affair of the heart," answered Indiman—an exquisite +piece of audacity at which I frowned, and then perforce had to smile. +"It comes within your rule, I trust?" +</P> + +<P> +"For limited membership only," answered Dr. Magnus. "In fact, we rather +discourage victims of sentimental reverses, it being invariably +impossible to determine whether the transaction is finally to show a +profit or a loss. Then, too, the quick recoveries—but we'll let it +stand at that. Now, with yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +"I," said Indiman, gravely, "am a mathematician by instinctive +preference and early training, but I have never been able to cross the +'Ass's Bridge,' the Forty-seventh problem of Euclid. Incidentally, I +may mention that I am a golf-player with a handicap of eighteen." +</P> + +<P> +"A double first," commented the proprietor of the Utinam Club. "I +perceive, Mr. Indiman, that you are bent upon amusing yourself; and +since circumstances have undeniably favored you, you may continue to do +so. But not at my expense," and thereupon he mentioned a figure for +initiation and dues that made me sit up. But Indiman settled without +flinching; he happened to have his check-book with him, and the +remaining formalities were quickly discharged. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, gentlemen, let me show you about the club," said Dr. Magnus, +affably. "Will you be good enough to follow me?" +</P> + +<P> +He led the way into the hall, and thence into the cloister-like passage +communicating with the "House in the Middle of the Block." I glanced +out at the court-yard as we passed a window; it was most ingeniously +planned to take the utmost advantage of its limited area. An antique +Italian fountain occupied a niche in the opposite wall, and on either +side were sedilia flanked by bay-trees in tubs and two or three fine +specimens of the Japanese dwarf oak. A bas-relief in plaster of the +Elgin marbles ran friezelike the full length of the party wall, and +fixed immediately above the fountain niche the terrible mask of the +Medusa face looked down upon us. The time of the year being late in +March, there was no snow upon the ground, and I could see that the +ground of the court-yard was divided into four garden-beds, separated +from each other by narrow paths of broad, red tile bordered by box. All +in all it was a charming little bit of formal gardening; I could +imagine how pretty it would be on a spring morning, when the beds +should be gay with crocuses and tulips. +</P> + +<P> +We were admitted into the club proper by a liveried servant, and from +the handsome oak-panelled vestibule we passed into a lofty apartment +hung with pictures and filled with miscellaneous objects of art. All, +without exception, were execrable—miserable daubs of painting, +criminal essays in plastic and decorative work, and a collection of +statuary that could be adequately matched only by the horrors in +Central Park. "Our art gallery, gentlemen," explained Dr. Magnus. +</P> + +<P> +Art gallery indeed! To me it was the most melancholy of exhibitions, +but Indiman was enraptured. +</P> + +<P> +"What a magnificent record of failure!" he exclaimed. "What miracles of +ineptitude!" and Dr. Magnus smiled, well pleased. +</P> + +<P> +We ascended to the next floor. Here was the library, lined ceiling-high +with books that had fallen still-born from the press. Gigantic cabinet +presses occupied the centre of the room, the final depository of +countless "unavailable" MSS. In an adjoining room were glass-cases +crowded with mechanical models of unsuccessful inventions. Naturally, I +expected to see a large section devoted to the resolution of the +perpetual-motion problem, but in this I was disappointed, not a single +specimen of the kind could I discover. +</P> + +<P> +"We do not attempt the impossible," explained Dr. Magnus, dryly. "Our +failures must be inherent in the man, not in his subject." +</P> + +<P> +There were other rooms, a long succession of them, filled with +melancholy evidences of incapacity and defeat in almost every +department of human activity—plans of abortive military campaigns, +prospectuses of moribund business enterprises, architectural and +engineering drawings of structures never to be reared, charts, models, +unfinished musical scores, finally a huge papier-mache globe on which +were traced the routes of Mr. Colman Hoyt's four unsuccessful dashes +for the North Pole. It depressed me, the sight of this vast +lumber-room, this collection of useless flotsam and jetsam, cast up and +rejected by the sea of strenuous life. Most moving of all, a broken +golf-club standing in a dusty corner, and beside it a wofully scarred +and battered ball. I pointed them out to Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"A fellow-sufferer," he said, and sighed deeply. +</P> + +<P> +Last of all we were conducted to the common room, a spacious apartment +immediately under the dome. At one end a huge stone fireplace, in which +a fire crackled cheerfully. +</P> + +<P> +"'Non Possumus,'" read Indiman, deciphering the motto chiselled upon +the chimney-breast. +</P> + +<P> +"An admirable sentiment indeed! Dr. Magnus, I venture to infer that the +Utinam Club is the child of your own brain. Permit me, sir, to +congratulate you—a glorious inception and carried out to perfection." +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Magnus smiled frostily. "I thank you, Mr. Indiman," he said, +staring hard at him. "In a civilization so complex as ours the Utinam +undoubtedly fills a want. And now, gentlemen, if you will excuse me; I +have some affairs of moment. The club is yours; make use of it as you +will. You are already acquainted with Mr. Hoyt, I believe. The other +gentlemen—but opportunity will doubtless serve." He bowed and withdrew. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman dropped into an easy-chair and lit a cigar. "Les miserables," +he said to me in an undertone. "Look at them." +</P> + +<P> +In truth, it was a strange company with whom we had foregathered. There +were perhaps a dozen men in the room, and each seemed absorbed in the +listless contemplation of his own dejected personality. The large table +in the centre of the room was laden with newspapers and periodicals, +but no one had taken the trouble to displace the neat files in which +they had been arranged. The card-room adjoining was untenanted; the +green-baize tables, with their complement of shiny, new packs of cards +and metal counters, bore no evidence of use; in the billiard-room at +the back a marker slept restfully in his high-legged chair. Assuredly, +the members of the Utinam Club were not advocates of the strenuous life. +</P> + +<P> +It was after six o'clock now, and the big room was beginning to fill up +with later arrivals. Yet there was none of the cheerful hum and bustle +ordinarily characteristic of such a gathering. A man would enter and +pass to his place unfavored by even the courtesy of a friendly glance; +at least a score of men had made their first appearance within the last +quarter of an hour, and not a single word of greeting or recognition +had I heard exchanged. Among them was Mr. Colman Hoyt, the unsuccessful +Arctic explorer. He passed close to where Indiman and I sat, yet never +looked at us. An odd set, these our fellow-members of the Utinam, and +one naturally wondered why they came to the club at all. But we were +now to learn. +</P> + +<P> +As I have said, the building was entirely windowless, ventilation being +secured by forced draught from an engine-room in the basement. +Consequently, artificial light was necessary at all times, and a very +agreeable quality of it was furnished by electroliers concealed behind +ground-glass slides in the walls and ceilings of the various +apartments. The light thus obtained was diffused rather than direct, +and, being colorless, it closely approximated natural conditions, the +delusion being heightened by the construction of the wall panels so as +to simulate windows. To add again to the effect, these lights had been +gradually lowered as the day wore on. Now it must be almost dark in the +outside world, and it was twilight in the common room of the Utinam +Club; I could no longer distinguish between the motionless figures of +the men around me and the shadows that enveloped them. Even the fire +was dying out; in a few moments the darkness would become profound, and +I felt my pulse slow down with the chill of the thought. +</P> + +<P> +One single ember remained in the fireplace; I watched it gleaming like +a great red eye in its bed of ashes, then it winked and went out, and +at the same instant the last ray from the false windows disappeared. +Strain my eyes as I would, the sensitive retina remained absolutely +unaffected; the darkness had finally come, and from one to another of +that desolate company ran a little, tremulous sigh, then the silence of +complete negation. +</P> + +<P> +From the apex of the domed ceiling a sudden and wonderful effulgence of +rose-colored light streamed forth, flooding the great room with +glorious color and life. Magical were its effects. Men straightened up +in their chairs and looked about them, the flush of returning animation +in their cheeks, and their eyes bright with questioning interest. A +youngish chap leaned over and spoke earnestly to his neighbor, then +some one laughed aloud. Instantly the flood-gates were opened; the air +was vibrant with the hum of conversation, the ringing of call-bells, +and the sputtering of fusees. A blue haze of cigarette-smoke formed +itself above the heads of the assemblage; the Utinam Club had come to +its own again. +</P> + +<P> +The large folding-doors at the east end were now opened, disclosing the +supper-room beyond—a spacious apartment, and decorated with a barbaric +splendor of gilding and intricate plastic work. I remarked particularly +the preponderance of the red tints; indeed, no other shade of color +could I discover—but of this more particularly hereafter. Indiman +looked at me, and we trooped out with the rest—que voulez-vous? One +must always dine. +</P> + +<P> +We found a small table; the napery and glass were exquisite, the +cuisine and service perfect. We surrendered ourselves to the +allurements of the hour. I was conscious of an unusual lightness and +exhilaration of spirit; Indiman's eyes were sparkling with unwonted +brilliancy. I raised my champagne-glass: "To the Utinam Club," I said, +with enthusiasm, and rather more loudly than I had intended. The toast +was at once re-echoed from every mouth, and a burst of laughter +followed. +</P> + +<P> +A late-comer entered and looked about the room somewhat uncertainly, +for all the tables had been taken. It was Mr. Colman Hoyt. He saw us +and smiled genially. "We have room here," called out Indiman, and he +joined us. +</P> + +<P> +"I am fortunate as ever," he said, as he took his seat. "New friends, +old wine; and our chef's sauce tartare is incomparable to-night. What +more can the heart of man desire?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not even the North Pole?" said Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, the Pole! Bah! I can put my hand on it when I want it. Did I tell +you that I start to-morrow on my fifth expedition? Success is certain. +Will you honor me by drinking to it?" We drank solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you were wearing a dark-green scarf," I interrupted, +somewhat irrelevantly, speaking to Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"I am," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"It is red," I insisted. "Not green at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" said Indiman, and thereupon Mr. Colman Hoyt burst into a +cackle of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Complementary colors," he said. "All the blue, green, and yellow rays +are excluded from this kindly light invented by our friend Magnus; +consequently there can be no sensation of those colors within our +vision." +</P> + +<P> +"A curious fancy," said Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"Say rather the most glorious and beneficent of discoveries," retorted +Mr. Hoyt. "All life and vigor and power of achievement are dependent +upon the red end of the spectrum. Incapacity, failure, disease, +death-they are generated by the violet rays alone; eliminate them, and +the problem of existence is solved. All hail to thee, O Magnus, and to +thy incomparable genius! Light of lights! All hail!" +</P> + +<P> +A score of voices took up the cry, and I know that I shouted with the +rest. Then I felt Indiman's hand upon my arm; my sober senses partially +returned. "Keep hold of yourself," he whispered, and the warning came +in time, I pushed away my wineglass, and thereafter ate only enough of +the exquisitely seasoned viands to satisfy my hunger. And all the while +Mr. Colman Hoyt babbled foolishly about the white glories of the queen +of the North; to-morrow he should again be on the way to her dear +embraces. "The Pole, gentlemen; behold, I arrive; c'est moi!" +</P> + +<P> +We passed out into the general room. The card-tables were now full, the +billiard-balls rolled incessantly across the green cloth; from an inner +room came the unmistakable click of a roulette-wheel. Men talked loudly +of their projects and ambitions shortly to be accomplished. An epic +poet was about to publish his magnum opus, the birth of a new star in +the poetical firmament; a speculator had made his great coup—to-morrow +he would have the wheat market cornered. +</P> + +<P> +"My novel!" cried one. "My symphony!" retorted another. A third said no +word, but looked at the miniature of a woman's face that he held in the +hollow of his hand—looked and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +The night wore away; nay, speeded were the better word, for no one felt +any suggestion even of weariness or satiety. Then suddenly the rose +glow grew dimmer; little by little the laughter died away and the +voices were hushed. A few of the bolder spirits set themselves to stem +the receding tide, but their blasphemies quickly trailed away into weak +incoherencies, and again silence conquered all. And darkness fell. +</P> + +<P> +A servant crossed the room and drew aside the heavy velvet curtains +draping the false windows; the pure, colorless light streamed in, but +it disclosed a world in tinge all blue and green and indigo. Our eyes, +so long deprived of the rays emanating from the violet end of the +spectrum, were now affected by them alone; every object was horribly +transformed by the bluish-green bands surrounding and outlining it. A +man brushed carelessly past me; it was Colman Hoyt, and his face was of +a man already dead; his lips moved, but no sound issued from them. He +passed into the model-room connecting on the west with the central +hall; there was the sound of a fall, and Indiman and I followed +quickly. Yet not quickly enough, for across the great globe upon which +were traced the records of his four unsuccessful expeditions lay the +body of Colman Hoyt. He was a heavy man, and he had evidently flung +himself at his full weight upon the sharp, arrow-pointed rod that +served as the axis of this miniature world; it had pierced to his very +heart. The North Pole-at last he had reached it. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us go," said Indiman to me, and we stole quickly away. +</P> + +<P> +Now, in the vestibule below, a young man who had entered in haste +pushed rudely past us and made for the row of private letter-boxes +fixed opposite the coat-room. He paused at box No. 82 and gazed eagerly +into it. The front was of glass, and I could see readily that the box +was empty. The young man had his pass-key in his hand, but it was +clearly useless to insert it, and he finally turned away, his +countenance displaying the bitterest sense of disappointment. His +wildly roving eye encountered that of Esper Indiman. "Sir!" he began, +impetuously, then checked himself, bowed ceremoniously, and was gone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Private Letter-Box +</H3> + +<P> +I had agreed to meet Esper Indiman at the Utinam and dine there. The +weather had turned cold again, for it was the end of our changeable +March, and the fireplace in the common room of the club was heaped high +with hickory logs, a cheerful sight, were it not for that odious motto, +"Non Possumus," graven over the mantel-shelf where it must inevitably +meet every eye. Never could I read it without a tightening at my +heartstrings; a potency of blighting evil seemed to lie in the very +words. +</P> + +<P> +There were but two or three club members in the room, one of them the +young Mr. Sydenham, who had attracted my attention once or twice before +by the infinite wretchedness of his face. A mere boy, too, hardly +five-and-twenty at the most. He sat in a big chair, a magazine with its +leaves uncut lying in his lap. For an hour or more he had not stirred; +then he rang for a servant, directing him to inquire for any mail that +might have come in the afternoon delivery. Nothing for Mr. Sydenham was +the report, and again the young man relapsed into his melancholy +musing. An hour later, and just after Indiman had joined me, Mr. +Sydenham repeated his inquiry about his letters, receiving the same +negative answer—"Nothing for Mr. Sydenham." Evidently the +disappointment was not unexpected, but it was none the less a bitter +one. With a sigh which he hardly attempted to stifle, the young man +took up his uncut magazine and made a pretence at examining its +contents; I watched him with a lively but silent pity; any active +sympathy might have seemed obtrusive. +</P> + +<P> +A servant stood at the young man's elbow holding a salver on which lay +a missive of some sort, a telegraphic message, to judge by the flimsy, +buff envelope. +</P> + +<P> +"Telegram, sir," said the man, at length. "For Mr. Sydenham; yes, sir. +Will you sign for it?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy turned slowly, and there was a shaking horror in his eyes that +made me feel sick. He signed the book and took the message from the +salver, apparently acting against a sense of the most intense +repulsion, and for all that unable to help himself. The message once in +his hand he did not seem to concern himself overmuch with its possible +import; presently the envelope fell from his inert fingers and +fluttered down at Indiman's feet. The latter picked it up and handed it +to the young man, who thanked him in a voice barely audible. +</P> + +<P> +"The man is waiting to see if there is any answer," suggested Indiman, +quietly. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Sydenham started, colored deeply, and tore open the envelope. He +read the message through carefully, then perused it for a second and a +third time, and sat motionless, staring into vacancy. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman leaned forward. "Well?" he said, sharply. +</P> + +<P> +The young man looked up; the cool confidence of Indiman's gaze seemed +suddenly to inspire in him a feeling of trust; he took the risk; he +handed the message to Indiman. "What answer would you advise me to +give?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +The message contained these words: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"The Empire State express passes the Fifty-third Street bridge at 8.35 +o'clock to-morrow morning. You can drop from the guard-rail. Is life +more than honor? Answer. V. S." +</P> + +<P> +Indiman looked at me, then he rose and took Mr. Sydenham by the arm. +"Let us go into the card-room," he said, quietly. "Thorp, will you +come?" +</P> + +<P> +The young man's story was very simple. He had held until lately the +position of cashier in the firm of Sandford & Sands, stock-brokers. On +January 15th a shortage of fifty thousand dollars had been discovered +in his books. Mr. Sandford being an intimate friend of the elder +Sydenham had declined to prosecute. That was all. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us proceed frankly, Mr. Sydenham," said Indiman. "Did you take the +money?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am beginning to think so," answered the young man, dully. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," said Indiman, encouragingly, "that does not sound like a +confession of guilt. Don't you know?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Sydenham shook his head. "I can't tell you," he answered, +hopelessly. "My accounts were in perfect order up to January 10th, when +I discovered that our bank balance showed a discrepancy of fifty +thousand dollars. I covered it over for the time, hoping to find the +source of the error. Five days later I told Mr. Sandford. The money was +gone, and that was all that I could say." +</P> + +<P> +"Let us recall the events of January 9th. Did you make your regular +deposit that day, and where?" +</P> + +<P> +"We keep our account at the Bank of Commerce. But that afternoon I +overlooked a package of bills in large denominations. I sent another +messenger over to the bank, but it was after three o'clock and the +deposit was refused. The boy brought the money back to me—the package +contained fifty thousand dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"And then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. I might have locked it up in our own safe or carried it +home with me or pitched it out of the window. It is all a blank." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you stay at the office later than usual that day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; I was busy with some of Mr. Sandford's private affairs, and that +delayed me until all the others had gone. I left about five o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"And now who is V. S.? Pardon me, but the question is necessary." +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Valentine Sandford—Mr. Sandford's daughter. I was engaged to be +married to her." +</P> + +<P> +"Since when?" +</P> + +<P> +"I had proposed and was waiting for my answer. Then that very day she +sent me a telegram. It contained the single word 'yes' and was signed +by her initials. It came at the same moment that the messenger brought +back the money from the bank." +</P> + +<P> +"And it is the same V. S, who sends this message?" asked Indiman, +smoothing out the telegraph blank which he held in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +The young man took a bundle of papers from his breast-pocket. They were +all telegraphic messages, and each was a suggestion towards +self-destruction in one form or another. "Suicide's corner" at Niagara, +poison, the rope—all couched in language of devilish ingenuity in +innuendo, and ending in every instance with the expression, "Is life +more than honor? Answer. V. S." +</P> + +<P> +"I have had at least one every day," said the young man. "Sometimes two +or three. Generally in the morning, but they also come at any hour." +</P> + +<P> +"And Miss Sandford?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wrote and told her of my terrible misfortune, released her from the +unannounced engagement, and begged her to believe in me until I could +clear myself. I have not seen her since the fatal day of the 15th of +January." +</P> + +<P> +"And you have received from her only these—these messages?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is all." +</P> + +<P> +"And you think they come from her?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; or I should have killed myself long ago. But there are times when +I have to take a tight hold on myself; to-day is one of them," he +added, very simply. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Sydenham," said Indiman, solemnly, "I now know you to be an +innocent man. Had it been otherwise you would long since have succumbed +under this mysterious and terrible pressure." +</P> + +<P> +"I am innocent!" repeated the young man. "But to prove it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It shall be proved." +</P> + +<P> +"The money?" +</P> + +<P> +"It shall be found." +</P> + +<P> +"Through whom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yourself. A simple lapse of memory is the undoubted explanation. The +gap must be bridged, that is all. Will you put yourself in my hands?" +</P> + +<P> +"Unreservedly." +</P> + +<P> +"Good! I desire then that you should return to your home and wait there +until you hear from me. The address—thank you. You had better leave +the club at once; this atmosphere is not the most wholesome for a man +in your position." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Sydenham proved most amenable to all of Indiman's suggestions, and +we did not lose sight of him until he was finally on his way uptown in +a Columbus Avenue car. +</P> + +<P> +"A good subject," remarked Indiman, "and it should be comparatively +easy to get at the submerged consciousness in his case. A simple +reconstruction of the scene should be sufficient." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't think the money was stolen, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all. It will be found in some safe place, its disposal being an +act of Sydenham's subliminal personality, of which his normal +consciousness knows nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"But why—" +</P> + +<P> +"The man was NOT himself that ninth day of January. He had received a +tremendous impression in the receipt of that message from Miss +Sandford. He was an accepted lover, and the consciousness, for the time +being, swept him off his feet. He was doing his work mechanically, and +it did not matter so long as it was only routine. Then came the +emergency, and, objectively, he was unable to cope with it. The +subjective personality took command and did the right thing, for +Sydenham is an honest man. What action the subliminal self actually +took is known only to itself, and no effort of Sydenham's normal memory +will suffice to recall it. But there are other means of getting at the +truth. The most practical is to reproduce the situation as exactly as +possible. Given the same first causes and we get the identical results. +First, now to see Mr. Sandford, with whom luckily I have some +acquaintance." +</P> + +<P> +It was like the playing of a game, the scene in Sandford & Sand's +office that following afternoon. The staff of clerks had been sent home +as soon as possible after three o'clock, all save the young man who +acted as bank messenger. The calendar on the wall had been set back to +January 9th, and the HERALD of that date lay half-opened on Sydenham's +old desk. It will be remembered that Sydenham had been detained on some +of Mr. Sandford's private business, and it was perfectly feasible to +reconstruct its details. Mr. Sandford had been coached in his part by +Indiman, and the preparations for the experiment being finally +perfected, Sydenham was called in. He appeared, dressed in the same +clothes that he had worn the month before, looking a little pale, +indeed, but resolute and collected. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Sydenham," said Indiman, keeping his eyes fixed on the young man's +face, "you will observe that this is January 9, 1903. Kindly seat +yourself at your desk, and remain there as passive as possible. Wait +now until we withdraw." +</P> + +<P> +Through the half-opened door of Mr. Sandford's private office we could +see distinctly all that passed. Sydenham sat motionless at his desk; +Alden, the bank messenger, was within call in the outer office. The +hands of the clock, which had been set back, pointed to five minutes of +three. +</P> + +<P> +A telegraph delivery boy entered and handed Sydenham a yellow envelope. +He signed for it and the boy withdrew. He opened it, and instead of a +written message drew out a fresh sprig of heliotrope. Motionless and +scarcely breathing, he sat and gazed at it as though he could never +fill his eyes with the sight. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," said Indiman, pushing Mr. Sandford into the room where the young +cashier sat. +</P> + +<P> +The conversation was a brief one, relating to the papers that Mr. +Sandford carried in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Leave them on your way up-town in my box at the safe-deposit company," +concluded Mr. Sandford. Then he took his hat and went out. +</P> + +<P> +Sydenham swung back to his desk; the HERALD lying there was in his way, +and he tossed it onto the floor. Underneath lay a package of bills of +large denominations. +</P> + +<P> +The cashier acted quickly. "Alden!" he called, and the messenger came +running in. +</P> + +<P> +"I overlooked this package," said Sydenham; "it contains fifty thousand +dollars. Do you think you can get to the bank with it? You have a +minute and a half." +</P> + +<P> +The messenger seized the package and dashed away. Sydenham looked again +at the sprig of heliotrope; he pressed it passionately to his lips. +Then carefully placing it in his pocket-book, he began an examination +of the papers left by Mr. Sandford. The clock struck three. +</P> + +<P> +The clerk Alden re-entered. "They wouldn't take it," he said, and +handed the package of bills to Sydenham. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, very well," said the cashier, absently, "I'll take care of it. +That's all, Alden; you can go." +</P> + +<P> +For an hour or more Sydenham worked steadily. Then, gathering the +papers together, he rose, took off his office-coat, and began making +preparations to depart. Once he came into Mr. Sandford's private +office, where we were sitting, but apparently he did not notice our +presence. Indiman gripped my hand hard. "Going splendidly," he +whispered. +</P> + +<P> +The cashier put on his hat and top-coat. The legal papers were +carefully stowed in an inside pocket, and he was about to close down +his roll-top desk when the package of bank-bills met his eye. He +frowned perplexedly; then picking up the bundle he dropped it into the +same pocket with the papers belonging to Mr. Sandford. He went out, +closing the door behind him. +</P> + +<P> +We followed as quickly as we could, but this time luck was against +us—Sydenham had disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"To the safe-deposit company," said Indiman, and we jumped into a +hansom. Mr. Sandford was there, and we waited impatiently for +Sydenham's appearance; it was the only chance of again picking up the +lost trail. +</P> + +<P> +There he came, walking slowly up Nassau Street, his manner a trifle +preoccupied and his eyes bent on the pavement. Opposite the +safe-deposit company he stopped and thrust his hand into a +waistcoat-pocket. He took it away empty and a terrible change came over +his face. With a quick movement he drew out the bundle of bank-notes +and regarded it fixedly. A cry burst from his lips; he reeled and fell, +the money still clutched in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly we were at his side. A coach was at hand, and we got him into +it and directed the driver to proceed to Indiman's lodgings. The attack +had been but a momentary one, and Sydenham revived as we turned out of +Park Row. He looked at us, then at the money in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"It has failed," he said, brokenly, and none of us could say a word. "I +came to myself," continued Sydenham, with forced calmness, "there in +Nassau Street; it was as though I had awakened from a dream. The +money—it was in my hand. I stood before the world, a self-convicted +thief. I thank you; you have done your best, but it is useless." He +passed the money to Mr. Sandford; mechanically his hand went to the +inside breast-pocket of his over-coat; he drew out the package of legal +papers bearing Mr. Sandford's name. "But—but," he stammered, "I don't +understand—I left these in your box at the safe-deposit company." +</P> + +<P> +"To be sure you did," answered Indiman, coolly. He pulled the +check-cord. "Drive back to the safe deposit," he called to the hackman. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, then," said Indiman, in a quiet, matter-of-fact tone, "will you +tell me the conditions under which you had access to Mr. Sandford's +vault. Of course your name as an authorized agent of Mr. Sandford was +on the company's books. You had your pass-key, of course?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Mr. Sandford. "There was but one pass-key, and that I kept +myself. When Mr. Sydenham had any business to do for me at the +safe-deposit vaults I would let him have the key temporarily." +</P> + +<P> +"You gave it to him on that particular day, the 9th of January?" +continued Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is it now?" almost shouted Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"Here," said Mr. Sandford, in surprise. "On my key-ring." +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly. There is the broken link in our psychological chain. When Mr. +Sydenham felt for the pass-key, which should have been in his pocket, +he discovered that it was missing. Instantly the continuity of events +was broken, the subliminal personality was again submerged, and Mr. +Sydenham's normal consciousness was re-established. Mr. Sandford, you +are perfectly aware of the fact that these legal papers were properly +deposited in your vault, and that the pass-key was returned to you by +Mr. Sydenham on the morning of January 10th. Gentlemen, it is evident +that we shall find the original fifty thousand dollars lying in Mr. +Sandford's strong-box, where it was left by Mr. Sydenham on the +afternoon of January 9th." +</P> + +<P> +I confess that I was mightily excited when the moment came to test the +correctness of Indiman's deductions. We were shown into a private room, +and, under Mr. Sandford's eye, the treasure-box belonging to him was +carried in and opened. Almost at the bottom lay a long, brown Manila +envelope fastened with three red rubber bands. It contained fifty +one-thousand-dollar bills. +</P> + +<P> +"I noticed that envelope several times," explained Mr. Sandford, "but +supposed it contained some mining stock. You see here is another +envelope identical in appearance and lying directly beneath it. Mr. +Sydenham never suggested even that he might have left the missing money +in my safe-deposit vault." +</P> + +<P> +"It never occurred to me that I could have done so," said Sydenham. "I +remembered making a deposit of the papers—but the money, no, I had no +recollection of having seen or touched it from the moment that Alden +brought it back from the bank and laid it on my desk." +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen," said Mr. Sandford, "I am indebted to you for much more +than the mere recovery of the money. But we will speak of that again. +Where can I put you down? Mr. Sydenham I shall carry off to my house; I +want to have a talk with him." +</P> + +<P> +But Indiman declined to re-enter the coach, pleading some further +business down-town, and, of course, I remained with him. The carriage +was about to drive off when Indiman put up his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"How stupid of me!" he exclaimed. "I had almost forgotten." He took +from the pocket of his overcoat a rather bulky package and handed it to +young Mr. Sydenham. "They'll explain themselves," he said, smiling. The +coach rolled away. +</P> + +<P> +"The missing letters from V. S.," said Indiman, in answer to my look of +inquiry. "An average of two a day, and all addressed to him at the +Utinam. Well, what was the poor girl to do? The young fool had changed +his lodgings and obliterated every possible trace of his whereabouts. +All Miss Sandford had to go on was the bare intimation that he could be +addressed at the Utinam Club. She might as well have posted her +communications in the North River." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't follow you." +</P> + +<P> +"Two days ago I put a dummy letter addressed to Sydenham in his private +lock-box at the Utinam. I had promised, you know, to send him on his +mail if he would keep away from the club, and accordingly I had the key +of the letter-box in my possession. Ten minutes later I went again to +the box and it was empty—that is, you could see distinctly from one +end of the box to the other, and it was absolutely bare." +</P> + +<P> +"A duplicate key, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all. It is only a stupid person who descends to crime—except +as a last resort." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever attend any of the exhibitions at the old Egyptian Hall? +One of the favorite illusions was the trick cabinet in which the +performer seated himself in full view of the spectators. The doors +would be closed for an instant, and then, when reopened, the man had +disappeared. The full interior of the cabinet was plainly visible; it +stood on legs, which precluded the idea of a trap-door, and it was +incontestably shown that egress from the back, top, or sides was +impossible." +</P> + +<P> +"Yet the performer was gone?" +</P> + +<P> +"I said that the cabinet appeared to be empty—quite another thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Go on." +</P> + +<P> +"It was a simple arrangement of plate-glass mirrors fitting closely at +the sides and backed by the distinctive pattern of wall-paper with +which the rest of the cabinet was covered. Immediately that the doors +were closed, the performer drew these false sides outward, so that they +met the centre post of the doors at an acute angle. The true side walls +were thereby exposed, and, of course, they were papered to correspond +with the rest of the interior. Their reflection was doubled in the +mirrors, making it appear to the observer that the whole cabinet was +open to his vision. The truth was that he saw only half of it, the +performer being concealed behind the mirrors. The only possible point +at which the illusion could be detected was the angle where the mirrors +joined, and this was masked by the centre post at which the double +doors met. To conclude the trick, the doors were again closed, the +performer swung the mirrors back into place, and, presto! he was back +in the cabinet, smiling genially at the gaping crowd." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you think—" +</P> + +<P> +"I know. Lock-box No. 82 was constructed on the same principle in +miniature, the letter-slit being placed in such a position that +anything deposited in the box fell behind the mirrors, the whole +interior remaining apparently visible through the glass front, and +presumably empty. The owner of the box would naturally glance into it +before actually using his pass-key. Obviously, it were a waste of time +to go through the form of opening an EMPTY box, and so poor Sydenham +never got any of the letters that were daily deposited there, for the +receptacle is a large one and the secret place behind the mirrors was +almost full. The action of unlocking the box operated upon an interior +mechanism that swung back the mirrors at the same instant that the door +was pulled open. After seeing my dummy disappear, I tried the +experiment, and was amply rewarded. +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't much more to tell. When I saw the letters lying there I +knew that it was all right so far as the girl was concerned. I had only +to acquaint Miss Sandford with the circumstances in the case to secure +her further co-operation, for, of course, she had never ceased to +believe in her lover. She prepared and sent the message which you saw +delivered to Sydenham in Sandford's office this afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +"But it was not the same as the one received by him on the actual +January 9th. That contained a word, 'yes,' and was signed by her +initials; this second one consisted simply of a sprig of heliotrope." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you understand the language of flowers? The heliotrope means, 'Je +t'adore,' and Sydenham understood it instantly, as you saw." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but why—" +</P> + +<P> +"To repeat the original message would not have impressed him as I +wished; it would simply have seemed part of the illusion which he knew +perfectly well we were endeavoring to create. The problem was to +suddenly startle him by a real communication from V. S., and, above +all, to have it of such a nature as to convince him that the cloud +between them had finally lifted. Now, without trust and confidence, +true love is impossible. The message of the sprig of heliotrope told +him all that he had been hungering and longing to hear throughout these +terrible two months; the shock was sufficient to drive the normal +consciousness from its seat and permit the subliminal self to take +control. In other words, it practically put him back in the identical +mental mood of the afternoon of January 9th, and that was the crucial +point of the whole experiment. Anything more?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who sent the false telegrams?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, you would ask that. I don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"Such a monstrous wickedness! It is inconceivable." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, unless we admit the existence of a spirit of pure malevolence +seeking to drive an innocent man to self-destruction for no other +motive than that of doing evil for evil's sake. That such an +intelligence has been active in this case is certain; or how explain +the cheat of the letter-box, a necessary factor in the problem, as you +will admit?" +</P> + +<P> +"But you don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet," answered my friend Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +We dined down-town that evening, and it was about nine o'clock when we +called a hackney-coach and started homeward. As we drove on up the +Bowery an illuminated transparency caught our eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"'Fair and Bazaar,'" read Indiman. "'Benefit of the United +House-smiths' Benevolent Association.' What is a house-smith, Thorp? +Evidently we will have to go and find out for ourselves." He pulled the +check-cord and gave the driver the new direction. Pure foolishness, of +course, but Indiman was not to be put out of his humor. +</P> + +<P> +Up one flight of stairs to a large, low-ceilinged hall that was jammed +to suffocation. A score of gayly trimmed booths wherein were displayed +various articles of feminine fallals and cheap bric-a-brac, each +presided over by a lady house-smith. "Or should it be house-smithess?" +asked Indiman. "Hullo! What's this?" +</P> + +<P> +Behind a long counter covered with red-paper muslin sat a dozen young +women of more or less pronounced personal charms, and a huge placard +announced that, kisses were on sale at the uniform price of fifty +cents. "Take your own choice." Smaller cards bore the various cognomens +assumed for the occasion by the fair venders of osculatory delights. +"Cleopatra," "The Fair One with Golden Locks," "Kathleen Mavourneen," +"Pocahontas," or more simply, albeit not less mysteriously, "Miss A. +B.," or "Mademoiselle X." Of course, each had dressed the part as +nearly as might be, and the exhibition was certainly attractive to the +masculine eye. In questionable taste, no doubt, but one does not stand +upon trifles when it is all for sweet charity's sake. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Thorp," said Indiman, with the utmost gravity, "have you half +a dollar in your pocket? Then come with me," and forthwith we jammed +and corkscrewed our way through the crowd until we reached the long +counter covered with red-paper muslin. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Ninety-and-nine Kisses +</H3> + +<P> +The fair and bazaar of the United House-smiths' Benevolent Association +was assuredly a tremendous success, and not the least of its +attractions was the open market where kisses might be purchased at the +ridiculously small price of fifty cents each. But "Cash before +delivery" was the motto, and on the counter in front of each young +woman stood a brass bowl in which the purchaser deposited his +money—"Free list entirely suspended." One could see that "The Fair One +with Golden Locks," a large, full-fed blonde with extraordinarily vivid +red cheeks, had been doing a rushing business; her bowl was overflowing +with notes and coin. And the others also had done well, all except +"Mademoiselle D.," the girl at the far end; she had not made a single +sale. A slight little thing, pale and somewhat anxious-looking; no +wonder that customers had passed her by. Then she looked up, and we +both caught our breath. What eyes! Eyes of the purest, serenest +gray—gray of that rare quality that holds no tint of either green or +blue. Her eyes were her one beauty indeed, but the superlative miracle +of loveliness is best seen when it stands alone. And these dolts of +house-smiths had passed on to sample the pink-and-white confectionery +at the other end of the counter. +</P> + +<P> +"One hundred, if you please," and Indiman laid a fifty-dollar bill in +the bowl of the girl with the gray eyes. The crowd stopped and gaped, +and "Mademoiselle D." turned from white to red and then to white again. +</P> + +<P> +"Bought up the whole stock, boss?" asked a foolish-looking youth whose +collar was slowly but surely choking him to death. +</P> + +<P> +"Better take a couple on account," said the pert damsel attached to the +young fellow's arm; "they might turn sour on you, Mister Man." +</P> + +<P> +"Give 'em away with a pound of tea," put in a third joker. "Eh, Josie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Let's get away from here," whispered Indiman to me. "The girl looks as +though she might faint." +</P> + +<P> +We pushed on through the crowd that continued to chaff us +good-naturedly—"joshing" they called it. Then we managed to struggle +into a sort of backwater at the side of the dais upon which an alleged +string band was trying to make good, as the scornful Miss Josie +remarked. +</P> + +<P> +"There's something wrong in this, Thorp," said Indiman to me, in an +undertone. "Did you notice the stout man who stood immediately behind +her?" +</P> + +<P> +"The chap with one ear a full size larger than the other? Yes, I did." +</P> + +<P> +"He never takes his eyes from her, and I believe that the girl is here +against her will." +</P> + +<P> +"Indiman!—" I began, but he cut me short. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it, I tell you, and I'm going to take her away. Do you see that +electric-light switch on the wall behind you?" +</P> + +<P> +Back of the musicians' platform was a small wall cupboard holding the +usual apparatus for controlling the incandescent lights with which the +hall was illuminated. "Pull down both handles when I give the signal," +he went on, imperturbably. +</P> + +<P> +"What signal?" +</P> + +<P> +Indiman considered. "I'll take one of my kisses," he said, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll do nothing of the kind." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh yes, you will. Remember now—the instant that I bend down to kiss +her." +</P> + +<P> +He was gone, leaving me to curse his folly. I tried to overtake him, +but the foolish youth and his Josie blocked my way, intentionally, it +seemed; that was part of their joshing of the stranger within the +house-smiths' gates. I stepped up on the platform, and looked for +Indiman. He had just reached the counter covered with red-paper muslin; +he pushed his way up to the girl with the gray eyes and said something +to her. She seemed to shrink away. Indiman turned for an instant and +looked back at me, then he bent down and kissed her. +</P> + +<P> +Without having had the slightest intention of so doing, I pulled down +both handles; the hall was in instant and utter darkness. For a moment +the following silence persisted, menacing and deadly; it was as though +panic had suddenly reared her frightful head, a wild beast ready to +spring. +</P> + +<P> +A girl's light laugh turned the scale. "Trying to raid the fruit-stand, +are you, bub?" went on Miss Josie, in her thin, cool voice. "Thought +you could pinch a couple in the dark of the moon; but nay, nay, +Thomas—those two smacks 'll just cost you supper for four. I'm not +sitting behind the bargain-counter to-day, thank you." +</P> + +<P> +A babel of cat-calls, oaths, and laughter broke out, but the tension +had been released and the danger was over. I pushed and jammed through +the crowd to the stairs. No one was attempting to leave; in the hall +they had just got the lights turned on again. I started down. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, you!" +</P> + +<P> +I looked back; the stout man with the disproportionate ears stood at +the head of the stairs, hemmed in by the crowd. He panted and shook his +clinched fist at me. "You!—you!" he shouted, impotently. I ran on. +</P> + +<P> +In the street below Indiman was helping the girl into the coach. He +turned as I ran up. +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" he said, and offered me his cigarette-case. +</P> + +<P> +"The big fellow is coming down," I urged. +</P> + +<P> +"Have a light," said Indiman. "And now, my son, allons!" +</P> + +<P> +I stepped into the coach, and Indiman after me. There was a sound of +angry voices from the hall above; two or three men dashed down the +stairway, others following. +</P> + +<P> +"Drive on!" shouted Indiman, and the carriage started. Then we both +turned and looked blankly at that empty back seat. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman bit his lip. "It is an old trick—leaving by the other door," +he said, quietly. "It was while we were lighting our cigarettes; and +that reminds me that I have decided to give up the habit." He tossed +his cigarette out of the window; the coach rolled away. +</P> + +<P> +Private business called me to Washington the next day, and I had to +take the night train back, arriving in New York at the uncomfortably +early hour of seven. But it was some small satisfaction to rap +vigorously upon Indiman's door as I passed to my own room. One always +experiences a sense of virtue in being up at unseasonable hours, and +blessings should be shared with one's friends. Later on we met at +breakfast, and he did not thank me. +</P> + +<P> +The following paragraph in the "Personal" column of the HERALD caught +my eye. "Listen to this," I said, and read it aloud to my sulky host: +</P> + +<P> +"'To Mademoiselle D.,—There are ninety-and-nine kisses still due me, +and I propose to collect. Box 90, Herald office (up-town), or telephone +18,901 Madison Square. (Private wire.) "'HOUSE-SMITH.'" +</P> + +<P> +Esper Indiman smiled and touched an electric button. "The letters, +Bolder," he said, but the man had anticipated his request, and was +carrying in a salver heaped high with missives and papers. +</P> + +<P> +"I had the personal put in the HERALD the same night of our adventure +at the House-smiths' bazaar," said Indiman. "Also repeated in to-day's +issue." +</P> + +<P> +"It seems to be bearing a fine crop of replies." +</P> + +<P> +"There's a bushel-basket of 'em already—mostly from the alleged +humorist. Or else it's this sort of thing," and he tossed over an +extraordinary piece of stationery—white cream-laid, with edging like a +mourning band, only pink instead of black; think of that! +</P> + +<P> +Of course, the contents of the letter did not belie its exterior. "Mr. +House-smith" was informed that not only ninety-nine, but nine hundred +and ninety-nine, kisses were at his disposal whenever he cared to +communicate with Miss Delicia Millefleurs. The writing was somewhat +shaky, and "communicate" was spelled with one m. Moreover, the general +appearance of the epistle was marred by the presence of a large blot. +But Miss Millefleurs was plainly a young person of instant ingenuity, +and she had turned the disfigurement to good purpose by drawing a +circle around it and labelling it, "One on account." +</P> + +<P> +"Then there's this," said Indiman, and handed me a sheet of foolscap +which had been folded and sealed without an envelope, after the fashion +of our great-grandfathers. On it was pasted a strip of the tape used in +electric-recording instruments, and the characters were those of the +Morse alphabet, rather an unusual sight nowadays, when receiving +messages by sound is the universal practice. Underneath the row of dots +and dashes had been written their English equivalents in Indiman's +small, close handwriting. The transcribed message read: +</P> + +<P> +"One thousand (s) dollars apiece (s) offered for any or all of +ninety-nine (s) kisses, undelivered. Take car No. 6 (s), 'Blue Line' +crosstown, any (s) evening, and get off at West Fourth Street. Purchase +two pounds of the best (s) butter at the corner grocery, and ask for a +purple trading (s) stamp." +</P> + +<P> +"Quite as extravagant as the advertisement that called it forth," I +remarked. "To the wholly impartial mind it seems like nonsense." +</P> + +<P> +"'Ah, but what precious nonsense!'" quoted Indiman, musingly. Then, +suddenly: "Thorp, we need butter; I wish you'd step around to that West +Fourth Street grocery and get a couple of pounds—the best butter, +mind." +</P> + +<P> +I rose. "Certainly; back in half an hour." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, this evening is time enough. Man, man, can't you see through a +ladder? They're after the girl with the gray eyes, and hope in this way +to get a clew to her whereabouts. Now, you can't fight shadows; the +only chance is to match them against each other. Do I make myself quite +clear?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not in the least." +</P> + +<P> +"I want to know who sends that message, and it's possible that the +answer is right under our eyes." He held up the strip of telegraphic +tape. "Do you see the letter S, enclosed in parentheses, and repeated +before several words?" +</P> + +<P> +"Means nothing, so far as I see." +</P> + +<P> +"Unless it's a habit with the operator to occasionally sound the three +dots that make up the letter S in the Morse alphabet—unconsciously, +you know, and just as another man, in speaking, might stutter or +continually introduce a hesitating 'er' or 'um.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Impossible." +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing is impossible, my dear fellow." Here the bell of the +desk-telephone rang. "For example, this call may be from Mademoiselle +D. herself." He picked up the receiver and held it to his ear. "It is," +he said, looking over at me. +</P> + +<P> +The weather conditions happened to be particularly favorable for +telephonic communication; I could hear almost as distinctly, standing +on my side of the table, as Indiman himself. I started to walk away, +then I stopped, and announced my intention of listening also; Indiman +nodded assent. +</P> + +<P> +There was unmistakable annoyance and anxiety in the tones of the voice +that greeted us. "I have just seen your absurd advertisement," it +began. "I beg of you to let this matter drop, instantly, finally." +</P> + +<P> +"A request without a reason," answered Indiman, "You owe me something +more than that." +</P> + +<P> +"There is danger—" +</P> + +<P> +"To me or to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"To yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry, but you have indicated the sole condition which makes my +withdrawal possible." +</P> + +<P> +A little feminine sigh came from the other end of the wire. "Oh, dear, +it was so stupid of me to say that—to a man!" A pause. Then, in a +slightly vexed tone, "Supposing that it is a question of minding one's +own business." +</P> + +<P> +"Precisely what I am trying to do," said Indiman, humbly. "It is a +settlement that I am proposing." +</P> + +<P> +"I perceive, sir, that I am making myself ridiculous," and the voice +sounded cold and inconceivably distant. "I have the honor to wish you a +very good-morning." The telephone rang off sharply. +</P> + +<P> +I fancy that the same thought was in both our minds: Could this be the +same woman whom we had seen selling her kisses at an East Side bazaar? +The very thought was incredible. And remember that we had not heard her +voice before. Yet neither of us doubted, even for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"After all, it was only the one kiss that was actually sold and +delivered," said Indiman, half-defiantly. But he need not have defended +her to me. +</P> + +<P> +It was getting to be a very pretty problem as it stood, the one obvious +probability being that it was the girl herself who stood in danger. +What could we do? To discover the nature of the impending peril and, +above all, the personnel of the conspirators. And then what? How were +we to communicate with or warn the girl?—for, of course, she had +called up Indiman from a public pay-station, leaving no clew to her +identity or address. Well, there was still the Personal column in the +HERALD; it had reached her once and might again. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going down-town to the main office of the Western Union," said +Indiman, "and may be away all day. If I shouldn't return by +dinner-time, you will carry out the instructions in the message. +Exactly, remember—car No. 6, and the best butter—each detail may be +important. About nine o'clock should be a good hour." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," I said, and we parted. +</P> + +<P> +At exactly half after nine that evening I stepped off car No. 6 at the +crossing of West Fourth and Eleventh streets. The grocery was on the +northwest corner, and I entered without hesitation. +</P> + +<P> +Like many other big cities, New York (even excluding the transpontine +suburbs) is a collection of towns and villages rather than a +homogeneous municipality. Chelsea and Harlem and the upper West +Side—all these are distinct and separate centres of community life. +Greenwich Village knows naught of Yorkville, and the East Side Ghetto +has no dealings with the inhabitants of the French quarter. +</P> + +<P> +Now the small area bounded by Waverley Place, Christopher, West Fourth, +and West Eleventh streets is also a law unto itself. The neighborhood +is respectable and severely old fashioned, the houses large and +comfortable, and the resident population almost entirely native +New-Yorkers in moderate circumstances. A village, then, with its shops +and school-houses and churches; it is as provincial in its way as the +Lonelyville of the comic weeklies. The grocery is the village club, at +least for the respectable part of the male population, the men who +would not be seen in a corner saloon. There were half a dozen of the +regulars now in the shop, seated on boxes and chairs around the stove, +for it was a raw and chilly day. They looked up as I entered, but no +one moved or spoke. Undoubtedly my man was in the group, but how to +pick him out. I walked to the counter and addressed the young fellow +who lounged behind it. +</P> + +<P> +"Two pounds of the best butter, please." +</P> + +<P> +"All out," was the unexpected reply. +</P> + +<P> +"All out!" I repeated, stupidly. +</P> + +<P> +"None of the best—that's what I said." +</P> + +<P> +"I wanted a purple trading-stamp," I went on, helplessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Anything over five cents' worth—jar of pickles, if you like." +</P> + +<P> +"No, not that. Here, give me—how much are those cigars?" +</P> + +<P> +"Five and ten." +</P> + +<P> +"Ten cents, then." +</P> + +<P> +The young man handed out the box with a nonchalant air. "Help +yourself," he said. +</P> + +<P> +I selected a cigar. "You're sure you haven't any butter—the BEST +butter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, now, whadjer giving us? This ain't no Tiffany & Co. Best butter? +Uh! P'r'aps you'd like to take a peck of di'monds home wid jer—the +best di'monds, mind, all ready shelled and fried in gold-dust. And just +throw in a bunch of them German-silver banglelets for the salad. +Yessir; charge 'em to Mr. Astor, Astorville, N. G." +</P> + +<P> +The loungers about the stove sniggered audibly, but something in the +fellow's voice made me forget his insolence. I looked up and into the +eyes of Esper Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +I think I did it pretty well—the cool, ignoring stare with which one +is accustomed to put a boor out of countenance. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me have a light," I went on, quietly, and the pretended grocer's +boy was zealous to oblige, scratching the match himself and leaning +across the counter to hold the flame to the cigar end. +</P> + +<P> +"Coach waiting for you in front of the church," he whispered. "Drive +straight home and slowly—to give him a chance." +</P> + +<P> +I left the shop without troubling to glance at the loungers about the +fire; Indiman would attend to that part of the business. The coach was +in waiting at the Baptist Church, and the driver touched his hat when I +mentioned my name. I gave him the address, and told him to drive +slowly. As we turned into Seventh Avenue I looked back and saw a cab +following. +</P> + +<P> +An hour later Indiman came in and joined me in the library. "Now, +then!" I said, impatiently, after waiting to see him mix a high-ball +and light a tremendously black breva. Indiman is a little provoking at +times with his infinite deliberation. +</P> + +<P> +"Where were we?" he began. "Ah, yes, I had my theory about finding the +chap who wrote out that message. It was correct—absolutely so," and +Indiman puffed away in dreamy content, staring up at the ceiling. +</P> + +<P> +"I know Mason of the main Western Union office quite well, and he was +most obliging. Recognized the peculiarity of the telegraphic sending at +once; there actually was a fellow who had a habit of interjecting the +superfluous S in his despatches. Name of Ewall, and he was the operator +in a sub-station near Jefferson Market. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I posted up there and sounded him. He didn't know anything about +it at first, so I had to scare him a bit; he weakened then, and told me +what I wanted to know. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course it wasn't a real message; he had run it off on his machine +at the request of a queer-looking gentleman who had given him a couple +of dollars for his trouble. According to his description, the man was +stout and dark, with one ear—the left—decidedly larger than the +other." +</P> + +<P> +"Aha! the fellow we saw at the bazaar. But he wasn't in the group about +the grocery stove." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not, but he had his capper there." +</P> + +<P> +"Go on." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I thanked Mr. Ewall for his information, and left him with a +solemn admonition to be more careful in the future about doing business +on the side. Then I sat down to consider. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, I was sure that the grocery and its proprietor, the two pounds of +the best butter, and the purple trading-stamp had nothing to do with +the real business of the evening. The game was simply to identify the +'Mr. House-smith' who had advertised for his ninety-and-nine kisses, +and the clap-trap of the message in telegraphic characters, and all the +rest of it, were simply the kind of bait at which so eccentric a person +might be expected to bite. The gentleman with one ear larger than the +other desired to find the elusive Mademoiselle D., erstwhile dispenser +of kisses at an East Side charity bazaar, and, consequently, he was +following up every possible clew. He wanted 'Mr. House-smith,' and I +wanted him. +</P> + +<P> +"Fight shadows with shadows, remember; and so I took service with my +honest friend, David Brown, dealer in groceries at West Fourth and +Eleventh streets. He was rather offish at first, but Mattson, at Police +Head-quarters, had provided me with a special detective badge, and Mr +Brown was led to believe that I was working up a case of graft. He lent +me a jumper, and I was forthwith installed behind the counter. +</P> + +<P> +"Everything went off according to schedule. The 'shadow' had his cab in +readiness and I had mine. He trailed you to No. 4020 Madison Avenue, +and I followed Mr. Shadow to the Central Detective Office. It seems to +have been a case of sleuth against sleuth, with the match all square." +</P> + +<P> +"Anything else?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes. As I came into the house just now, two men were waiting for +me in the vestibule. They went through me; but I didn't seem to have +what they wanted. I still retain possession of my watch and purse." +</P> + +<P> +"So," I said, somewhat helplessly. "What's the next move on the board?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is the last night of the supplementary opera season," answered +Indiman, "and we are going to dress and see what we can of +Tschaikowsky's 'Queen of Spades.' A novelty—first and only performance +outside of Russia, and Ternina heads the cast." +</P> + +<P> + "There is Mademoiselle D.," remarked Indiman, as his glass swept<BR> +the semicircle of the parterre. "The fourth box from the end." +</P> + +<P> +There were but three people in the party—the girl with the gray eyes, +an elderly man with a ribbon in his button-hole, and Jack Crawfurd, +whom everybody knows. +</P> + +<P> +The curtain fell on the third act, and immediately Crawfurd made his +appearance in the omnibus-box where we were sitting. +</P> + +<P> +"Come with me, mes enfants," he said, genially. "It seems that you and +the adorable Countess Gilda are old friends. She commands your instant +attendance. What, man! do you hesitate? I shall lose my head an our +sovereign lady be not instantly obeyed." +</P> + +<P> +The girl with the gray eyes greeted us with smiling unconcern. "Do you +know my uncle?" she asked, and we were forthwith presented to his +Excellency Baron Cassilis, the Russian ambassador to the United States. +Then the Countess Gilda addressed herself squarely to Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"I am in your debt, Mr. Indiman, and you must permit me to discharge +the obligation. My dear uncle, your purse." +</P> + +<P> +Indiman bowed and accepted the fifty-dollar bill tendered him. +</P> + +<P> +"Now we are quits," she said, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Not quite," he answered, hardily. He drew a half-dollar from his +waistcoat-pocket and offered it to her. A flood of color mantled her +brow, but she took the coin and slipped it into her glove. "Well?" she +asked, her small chin defiantly uptilted. +</P> + +<P> +"I have only one question," said Indiman, earnestly. "Is there danger +for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"None in the world." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I am quite satisfied." +</P> + +<P> +She softened at that. "Only a rather aggravating disappointment; it +does not matter now. But why will you men interfere in an unoffending +woman's affairs." +</P> + +<P> +"I had no idea—" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not. However, we need not enter further into particulars. +Your friend in the orchestra-stall yonder will doubtless enlighten you +later on." A stout man with one ear distinctly larger than the other +deliberately faced about in his seat and directed his glasses at our +box. Immediately upon this the curtain went up on the last act, and his +Excellency held up his hand to command silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Madame," said Indiman, as he handed the Countess Gilda to her +carriage, "I swear to you that the blunder I have unintentionally +committed shall be atoned for. I ask but a hint—the slightest of +clews." +</P> + +<P> +"With pleasure, monsieur. I give you, therefore, the third appearance +of the Queen of Spades. Au revoir! We sail to-morrow by the Cunarder." +</P> + +<P> +The man with the disproportionate ears touched Indiman's elbow. "Beg +pardon, sir," he said, deferentially, "but I shall have to have a word +or two with you." +</P> + +<P> +We drove to the Utinam Club and found a secluded corner. "Now, what is +it, officer?" said Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +The detective looked rather sheepish. "I'm afraid we've made a mess of +it between us. Case of political blackmail, you see, and the young lady +thought she could handle it herself. And so she could have done if we +hadn't butted in, begging your pardon for so saying." +</P> + +<P> +"Get to the point." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, it's a question of a letter belonging to a great person in +Roosha—written to or by her don't matter. The letter is here in New +York, and it isn't a question of money with the holder, but power. +There's only one thing to do in that case—steal it, and the Countess +thought she could turn the trick. So she went over on the Rooshan East +Side and laid her pipes to stand next to the old party who holds the +precious document. At the Baron's request I was detailed from the +Central Office and instructed to keep my eyes on the young woman and my +hands off the case. 'Course, then, I couldn't do neither. I lost the +girl when you walked off with her at the house-smiths' bazaar, and then +I had to stick in my oar and answer your personal in the Herald. I laid +what I thought was a pretty smart trap. You fell into it, right enough." +</P> + +<P> +"So you were the fellow who had me searched and held up at my own front +door," said Indiman. "Confound your impudence! What did you expect to +get?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, the letter, sir. I had figured it out that you was the +black-mailer." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, the deuce! And in the mean time the real article had been put on +his or her guard by all this hullabaloo, and the Countess Gilda's game +was blocked." +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, sir. A mistake all round." +</P> + +<P> +"I should think so. Well, there's nothing more to be done. That's all +you know about the case?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's all, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Never heard of the Queen of Spades in this connection?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, good-night, officer. Brownson's your name, eh? I shan't forget +it." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, sir." +</P> + +<P> +The night was fine, and we walked home. Over on Eighth Avenue a +masquerade ball was in progress; we passed under the brightly lit +windows of the hall in which it was being held. A masker stood at the +door, a woman dressed to impersonate the Queen of Spades. She waved her +hand to Indiman, who had chanced to look up; then she plucked a rose +from her bodice and tossed it over to him. He caught the flower, as +becomes a gallant man, but immediately walked on. +</P> + +<P> +"That was your cue—the Queen of Spades," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all. It is only the third time that counts. First at the opera, +and now here; the final and only important appearance is still to come." +</P> + +<P> +At the next corner a wretchedly clad woman sat grinding a small +barrel-organ. "For the love of Mary!" she whimpered, and Indiman thrust +something into her waiting hand. He tried to hide the action, but I had +caught sight of the money—a yellow-backed bill bearing the magic +figures 50. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you notice the tune?" said Indiman, as we walked on. "The +Ninety-and-Nine." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Queen of Spades +</H3> + +<P> +I am very fond of Esper Indiman, but there are times when he is +positively unfit for human society. Last week, for instance, when for +three days on end we did not exchange a single word, not even at +dinner, where the amenities should come on at least with the walnuts. I +grant you that humdrum wears upon the spirit, that the flatness of the +daily road may be a harder thing to get over than even Mr. Bunyan's +hill Difficulty, but for a man to surrender himself mind and body to +solitaire argues weakness. Moreover, it was a ridiculous combination of +the cards that Indiman invariably set himself to resolve; the chances +were at least a hundred to one against the solitaire coming out, and, +indeed, I never saw him get it but once. Under rather curious +circumstances, too—but I won't anticipate; let us begin with the +beginning of the adventure of the Queen of Spades. +</P> + +<P> +You will remember that there was a mislaid letter whose possession had +become a matter of supreme importance to a certain great person in +Russia. The Countess Gilda (she of the Ninety-and-nine Kisses) had been +on the point of obtaining the treasure, but the over-confidence of my +friend Indiman, coupled with the blunders of a stupid detective, had +brought about a premature explosion of the train. To Indiman, +apologetic and remorseful, the Countess Gilda had vouchsafed a single +pregnant utterance—"Wait for the third appearance of the Queen of +Spades." This was his cue; let him make the most of it if he would +repair the mischief that he had unwittingly done. +</P> + +<P> +Now the opera, on the night preceding the Countess's departure for +Europe, had been Tschaikowsky's "Queen of Spades"; the inference was +inevitable that here was the first materialization of our mysterious +heroine. That same evening we had encountered, at an Eighth Avenue +ball, a masker whose costume had been designed upon the familiar model +of the court-card in question; so much for number two. But Fortune had +been almost too kind, and immediately upon this promising beginning she +had withdrawn her smiles. For upward of a month nothing whatever had +happened. As I have said, Indiman played solitaire and I smoked as much +as I could. Dull work for all that it was the end of April, the height +of the Easter season, and New York was at its gayest. A brilliant +show—yes, and the same old one. Did you ever eat a quail a day for +thirty days? Why not for three hundred or three thousand days, +supposing that one is really fond of quail? +</P> + +<P> +For the thirty-fifth consecutive time the solitaire failed to come out. +Indiman gathered the cards, shuffled them with infinite precision, and +handed them to me to cut. I did so. Indiman took the pack and flung it +into the air; the cards fluttered in all directions, and one came +sailing straight for my nose. I put up my hand and caught it—it was +the Queen of Spades. +</P> + +<P> +"Here is the lady for the fateful third time," I remarked, jestingly. +But Indiman was nothing if not serious. He took the card from me and +studied it attentively. +</P> + +<P> +"Rather an interesting face, don't you think?" he said, musingly. +"Somewhat Semitic in physiognomy, you notice; that comes from the +almond-shaped eyes and the abnormally high arch of the brows. Would you +know her in the actual flesh—say, on Broadway? Brunette, of course, +jet-black hair banded a la Merode over the ears, a little droop at the +corners of her mouth. Voila! The Queen of Spades. Let us go out and +look for her." +</P> + +<P> +"A proposition," I remarked, judicially, "that savors of the rankest +lunacy. And yet, why not? The lady certainly made the advances; it is +an equivalent to an invitation to call. Pity she doesn't put her +address on her card." +</P> + +<P> +"Hym!" coughed Indiman, delicately. "That is a difficulty. But not +necessarily an insurmountable one. Let us consult the street directory, +with minds open and unprejudiced, and our faith will be rewarded—doubt +it not. +</P> + +<P> +"We will pass over the numbered streets and avenues," continued +Indiman. "I am not in the mood for mathematical subtleties, although +there is much of virtue in the digit 9, as every adept knows. Names are +our quest to-day, so listen to them as they run—Allen, Bleecker, +Bayard, Dey, Division—now why Division, do you suppose? What was +divided, and who got the lion's share?" +</P> + +<P> +"A delicate allusion to some eighteenth-century graft," I suggested. +"Consult the antiquaries." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's enough for our purpose that the division itself exists; it +must lie below the 'barbed-wire fence,' somewhere across the line. To +speak precisely, Division Street appears to start at Chatham Square, +and it runs eastward to Grand Street. We will take the Third Avenue +Elevated to Chatham Square, and then ask a policeman. Nothing could be +more simple." +</P> + +<P> +Descending the Elevated stairs, Division Street lay right before our +eyes, and further inquiry was superfluous. Indiman's spirits had risen +amazingly. "Why, it's only an elementary exercise," he said, smilingly. +"Divide an East Side street by a pack of cards, and the quotient is the +Queen of Spades; you simply cannot escape from the conclusion. Forward, +then." +</P> + +<P> +Now, Division Street IS something out of the ordinary, as down-town +thoroughfares go. It is the principal highway to that remote Yiddish +country whose capital is William H. Seward Square, and the entire +millinery and feminine tailoring business of the lower East Side is +centred at this its upper end. In the one short block from Chatham +Square to Market Street there are twenty-seven millinery +establishments—count them for yourself—and with one exception the +other shops are devoted to the sale of cloaks and mantuas and +tailor-made gowns. All on the eastward of the street, you notice. There +is a dollar and a shilling side in Division Street, just as elsewhere. +</P> + +<P> +Talk of Bond Street and Fifth Avenue! Where will you find twenty-seven +millinery shops in an almost unbroken row? What a multiplied vista of +delight for feminine eyes—hats, hats, hats, as far as the eye can +reach. Black hats and white hats; red, blue, and greenery-yallery hats; +weird creations so loaded with gimp and passementerie as to certainly +weigh a pound or more; daring confections in gauze and feathers; +parterres of exotic blooms such as no earthly garden ever held; hats +with bows on 'em and hats with birds on 'em, and hats with beasts on +'em; hats that twitter and hats that squawk; hats of lordly velvet and +hats of plebeian corduroy; felt hats, straw hats, chip hats; wide brim +and narrow brim; skewered, beribboned, bebowed—finally, again, just +hats, hats, hats, a phantasmagoria of primary colors and gewgaws and +fallalerie pure and simple, before which the masculine brain fairly +reels. But the woman contemplates the show with serenity imperturbable: +the hat she wants is here somewhere, and it is only a matter of time +and patience to find it. +</P> + +<P> +There is always a Mont Blanc to overtop the lesser Alpine summits—a +Koh-i-noor in whose splendor all inferior radiance is extinguished. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman touched my elbow. "Look at that one," he murmured. +</P> + +<P> +Now that WAS a hat. To describe it—but let me first bespeak the +indulgence of my feminine readers. I am not an authority upon +hats—most distinctly not; and I shall probably display my ignorance +with the first word out of my mouth. But what matter. I am simply +trying to tell of what these poor mortal eyes have seen. +</P> + +<P> +In effect, then, the foundation of the hat appeared to be a black +straw, with a wide, straight brim, the trimming being a gimcrackery +sort of material whose name for the moment has escaped me. Suppose we +call it barege, and let it go at that? The principal ornament was a +large, red apple in wax, pierced by a German-silver arrow, but the +really unique feature of the entire creation was the parasol-like +fringe that depended from the edge of the brim, a continuous row of +four-inch filaments upon which shining black beads were closely strung. +An over-bold device, perhaps, but it certainly caught the eye; there +was a barbaric suggestion in those strings of glittering beads that +made one think of the Congo and of tomtoms beating brazenly in the +moonlight. A hat that WAS a hat, as I have previously remarked, and +Indiman and I gazed upon it with undisguised interest. It is hardly +necessary to add that this particular hat had the place of honor in the +shop-window, it being mounted upon the waxen model of a simpering lady +with flaxen curls and a complexion incomparable. Assuredly, then, the +pearl of the collection. +</P> + +<P> +"L. Hernandez," said Indiman, reading the sign over the door. "Spanish +Jew, I should say. Yes, and the Queen of Spades in person," he added, +in an undertone, for L. Hernandez was standing in the open door-way of +the shop and regarding us with a curious fixity of glance. +</P> + +<P> +Now, through the summer-time it is the custom of the Division Street +modistes to occupy seats placed on the sidewalk. In a business where +competition is so strenuous one must be prepared to catch the customer +on the hop. Even in winter the larger establishments will keep a scout +on duty outside, and the lesser proprietor must, at least, cast an +occasional eye to windward, if the balance of trade is to be preserved. +Undoubtedly Madame Hernandez was taking a purely business observation, +and we had chanced to fall within its focus. +</P> + +<P> +The resemblance was, indeed, striking. There was the banded hair over +the eyes, the slightly drooping mouth, the peculiar upspring of the +eyebrow arch—the Queen of Spades in person, as Indiman had said. And +this was her third appearance. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman removed his hat with a sweep. "Madame," he said, with elaborate +civility, "it is a beautiful day." +</P> + +<P> +"What of it?" retorted L. Hernandez, ungraciously enough. "Or perhaps +the sun isn't shining above Madison Square," she added, sarcastically. +A strange voice this, raucous in quality and abnormally low in pitch. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't noticed," said Indiman, with undisturbed good-humor. "Alike +upon the just and unjust, you know. Now if you will kindly allow me to +pass—" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want in my shop?" +</P> + +<P> +"I desire to purchase that hat," replied Indiman, and pointed to the +atrocity in the window. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not for sale." +</P> + +<P> +"I am prepared to pay liberally for what strikes my fancy." He took out +a roll of bills. +</P> + +<P> +"The hat is not for sale." +</P> + +<P> +"Madame," said Indiman, with the utmost suavity, "are you in business +for your health?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, in that case—" +</P> + +<P> +"You may come inside; it tires me to be on my feet for so long. To my +sorrow I grow stout." +</P> + +<P> +"It is an affliction," murmured Indiman, sympathetically. We followed +her within. The shop was crammed from floor to ceiling with bandboxes +arranged in three or four rows, and glazed presses, filled with +feminine hats and bonnets, lined the walls. Near the window was a small +counter, behind which Madame L. Hernandez immediately installed +herself, and from this vantage-point she proceeded to inspect us with +cool deliberation, fanning herself the while with a huge palm-leaf. +"You wish to buy a hat?" she said, tentatively. +</P> + +<P> +"That one," answered Indiman, stubbornly "—that hat on the model's +head." +</P> + +<P> +"Bah! Senor, it is fatiguing to fight, like children, with pillows in +the dark. You want that Russian letter. Why not say so?" +</P> + +<P> +For a full half-minute their eyes met in silent thrust and parry; it +was to be a duel, then, and each was an antagonist to be respected. +</P> + +<P> +"If it is a question of money—" said Indiman, slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I must take it where I find it." +</P> + +<P> +"So it appears," answered L. Hernandez, placidly. "But you must first +find it. Eh, my bold young man?" +</P> + +<P> +"Be tranquil, madame—" +</P> + +<P> +"I am tranquil. You are but wasting your time." +</P> + +<P> +"I have it to spend in unlimited quantity. I am a solitaire-player." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you play solitaire. How many variations do you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"One hundred and thirty-five." +</P> + +<P> +"I can count one hundred and forty-two." +</P> + +<P> +"Including the 'Bridge'?" +</P> + +<P> +"The famous 'Bridge'! Do you know it, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I learned it from a Polish gentleman in Belgrade." +</P> + +<P> +"It is difficult." +</P> + +<P> +"Enormously so. It may come out once in a hundred times." +</P> + +<P> +Madame L. Hernandez produced a pack of cards from underneath the +counter. "Will you oblige me, senor? I am anxious to see the play." +</P> + +<P> +Indiman proceeded with the explanation. It was too intricate for me to +follow. I could only understand that, with the solitaire properly +resolved, the cards should finally divide themselves into four packs, +headed respectively by the ace of clubs, king of diamonds, queen of +spades, and knave of hearts. Indiman tried it twice, but the +combination would not come out. +</P> + +<P> +"We will try it again to-morrow," said Indiman, rising. +</P> + +<P> +"With pleasure. Good-day, gentlemen. Mind the step." +</P> + +<P> +As we walked towards Chatham Square a stout man joined us, a man with +one ear noticeably larger than the other. "Mr. Indiman—" he began, +deferentially. +</P> + +<P> +"What, you, Brownson?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir. I have an assignment on this job from the Central Office. I +saw you coming out of L. Hernandez's just now. Smooth old bird, ain't +it?" +</P> + +<P> +"You on this case?" said Indiman, stupefied. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir. You see, the parties concerned finally determined to put it +into our hands, and they'd have been enough sight better off if they'd +done it in the beginning. Bless you! it's no great shakes of a lay-out. +There's the letter—a single sheet of note-paper written in violet ink +on one side only, and we know the party who has it up her sleeve. L. +Hernandez—I don't mind saying it, seeing that you're also on. I'll do +the trick within three days, or you can boil my head for a corned-beef +dinner." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, good luck to you, Brownson," said Indiman, absently. There was a +cab-rank here in Chatham Square, and we drove up-town to the Utinam +Club for a late luncheon. While we were waiting for our filet to be +prepared Indiman wrote a brief note and had it despatched by messenger; +it was addressed, as he showed me, to Madame L. Hernandez,—Division +Street. "I'm not going to have that booby upset the apple-cart for a +second time," he said, savagely. "Now we shall have to wait for at +least three days." +</P> + +<P> +This was on Monday; on Friday we presented ourselves again to Madame L. +Hernandez. She received us politely, almost graciously; she sat in the +great chair behind the counter, engaged in the truly feminine +occupation of putting up her hair in curl-papers. A pad of stiff, white +writing-paper lay on the counter before her, and from it she tore the +strips as she needed them. +</P> + +<P> +"I am tired of these bandeaux," she explained, smilingly. "My friends +tell me that curls will become me infinitely better." +</P> + +<P> +"Your friends have reason," acquiesced Indiman; "but tell me, madame, +did you receive my note?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did, senor, and I return you a thousand thanks. Ah, how these pigs +of detectives have tortured me!—you would never believe it. Twice my +apartments, at the back there, have been entered and ransacked from end +to end; I even suffered the indignity of being personally searched by a +dreadful newspaper woman who had answered my advertisement for +'Improvers Wanted.' Chloroformed in broad daylight in my own house!" +</P> + +<P> +"But they didn't get the letter?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was not born yesterday, senor." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" said Indiman, heartily. "What imbeciles policemen can be!" +</P> + +<P> +"What, indeed! Behold, senor, I show you the ruin wrought by these +swine. This way." +</P> + +<P> +L. Hernandez rose, waddled stiffly to the back room, and threw open the +door. "There!" she exclaimed, dramatically. +</P> + +<P> +Evidently these were the lady's living apartments—a bed-chamber and a +smaller room at the left, in which were a gas-range and some smaller +culinary apparatus. It was plain that the intruders had made thorough +work in their search. The carpet had been removed and the flooring +partially torn up; the walls had been sounded for secret receptacles, +the pictures stripped of their backing, and the chairs and bedstead +pulled half to pieces. "Not a square inch of anything have they left +unprobed by their accursed needles," said L. Hernandez, furiously. "It +will take me a month, stiff as I am, to get things to rights." +</P> + +<P> +"An outrage!" said Indiman, soothingly. "Shall we have a try at +crossing the 'Bridge'?" And forthwith they sat down to the great +solitaire with the utmost amity. But again it did not come out; the +combinations were insoluble. +</P> + +<P> +The next day we paid another visit to L. Hernandez. +</P> + +<P> +"The curl-papers do not seem to be very effective," remarked Indiman, +glancing at the familiar smooth bands of hair drawn straight down from +the forehead and over the ears. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, these wretched bandeaux!" sighed madame; "they are intractable. I +shall have to wear my curl-papers by day as well as by night. Excuse +me, gentlemen, for a few minutes," and she disappeared into the back +room, to shortly reappear with the rebellious bands tightly swathed in +a dozen little rolls of twisted paper. "Again the impassable 'Bridge,'" +she said, gayly, and the pair wrestled half a dozen times with the +problem—of course, unsuccessfully. +</P> + +<P> +On the following day the comedy was repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"Madame," said Indiman, gravely, "you have again forgotten your +curl-papers." +</P> + +<P> +"Senor, my memory is undoubtedly failing; I go to repair the omission." +Re-enter madame in curl-papers, and then the "Bridge" as before; da +capo for a week on end. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems impossible to get that accursed combination," said Indiman, +and he threw down the cards. Madame L. Hernandez smiled, and there was +a little silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Madame," said Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor." +</P> + +<P> +"You are not treating me fairly. You have allowed those stupid +detectives to search your apartments, and I demand an equal privilege." +</P> + +<P> +"You shall have it, senor. I am going to make a complaint of the affair +at Police Headquarters. Perhaps Senor Thorp will kindly accompany me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Excellent! I will remain here, and if the letter is within these four +walls I shall find it." +</P> + +<P> +"My best wishes, senor." +</P> + +<P> +I called a coach. Madame arrayed herself in a fur cloak and crowned +herself, curl-papers and all, with that atrocious hat from the window +stock, a grotesque figure of a woman in all conscience. But I had +nerved myself for the ordeal, and we drove away amid the jeers and +laughter of the street crowd. In an hour we returned. Indiman was +placidly smoking and working on his solitaire. +</P> + +<P> +"You were successful, senor?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, but I have hopes." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Well, good-day, gentlemen. Come again." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course there was nothing," said Indiman to me as we drove home. "I +even went through every bandbox." +</P> + +<P> +"Yet you have hopes?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +It was the second day following, and we were calling again upon L. +Hernandez. There was the usual badinage about the curl-papers, and +madame retired to her private apartments, carefully closing the door +behind her. +</P> + +<P> +"Now!" said Indiman. Hastily he pulled forward a cheval-glass, placing +it upon a particular spot and tilting the mirror to a certain exact +angle. When finally it was adjusted to his satisfaction, he motioned to +me to come and look. In the mirror was plainly visible a vertically +reversed reflection of L. Hernandez. Standing in front of a long +dressing-glass in her bedroom, she deliberately removed her chevelure +in its entirety and tossed it on the table. It was a wig, then; but I +was hardly prepared for the secret that it had concealed—for the +close-cropped head, with its straw-colored hair, was unmistakably that +of a man. +</P> + +<P> +"Look! look!" whispered Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +From a drawer L. Hernandez had taken a second wig already furnished +with curl-papers; the adjustment took but a minute or two; the door +opened, and she reappeared, ready for the inevitable solitaire. +</P> + +<P> +On the way home that night Indiman stopped at Police Headquarters, but +he did not see fit to make the nature of his inquiries known to me. On +the subject of the apparition in the mirror, however, he was more +communicative. +</P> + +<P> +"As you know," he said, "the partition that divides madame's private +apartments from the shop does not extend to the ceiling; there is a gap +of some three feet. I had previously noticed the cheval-glass in the +bedroom; it was a natural presumption that L. Hernandez would take her +stand in front of it while engaged in making her toilet. Now this glass +is tilted at a sharp angle, and consequently the reflection must be +projected upward to a particular point on the ceiling. Supposing a +small looking-glass to be fixed at this point, the rays impinging upon +it will be cast downward and ON OUR SIDE OF THE PARTITION, for the +angle of reflection is always equal to that of incidence. We have, +therefore, only to place in position a second cheval-glass, arranged at +the proper inclination, to obtain a reproduction of the original image, +although, of course, it will appear to us as upside-down. I have only +to add that the day you escorted madame to Police Headquarters I took +the opportunity to fasten a small mirror on the ceiling, trusting that +it would not be noticed. Nor was it; the trap worked perfectly—an +optical siphon, as it may be called—and the secret was mine." +</P> + +<P> +"And now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wait until to-morrow," said Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +For the fiftieth time the game of solitaire was in progress, and on +this occasion it seemed as though the combinations were actually coming +out. Remember, that in the final fall of the cards it was necessary +that they should be in four packs, headed by the ace of clubs, king of +diamonds, queen of spades, and knave of hearts. Already the first two +ranks had been completed; it all depended upon the disposition of the +few remaining cards. +</P> + +<P> +"The queen of spades is buried," said L. Hernandez, with a sneer. "You +have failed again." +</P> + +<P> +"I think not," replied Indiman, calmly. "I am sure that the last card +is the knave of hearts." This was my cue. I stepped to the door and +made an imperceptible signal to Brownson, who, with two other +plain-clothes men, was lounging in a door-way across the street. They +seemed eternally slow in obeying; I felt the muscles in my throat +contracting with nervous excitement as I turned again to watch the +solitaire. +</P> + +<P> +But two cards remained to be played; they lay face downward upon the +table. If the upper one were the queen of spades, the packets would be +completed in their proper order and the solitaire would be made; if it +were the knave of hearts, the game would again be lost. Slowly—oh, so +slowly—Indiman turned the first card. +</P> + +<P> +"Knave!" shouted L. Hernandez, exultingly. Then she stopped and went +white. It was not the knave of hearts, but the queen of spades, and +over it had been pasted a small carte-de-visite photograph—that of a +man dressed in the coarse uniform of one of the Russian penal +settlements. With lightning swiftness Indiman leaned forward and +twitched the wig from L. Hernandez's head; the man himself sat there +before our eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Brownson and his bull-dogs stood at the door, revolvers in hand. But +there was no need. The squat, ungainly figure had fallen forward upon +the counter, crushing the horrible nightmare of a hat of which I have +so often spoken, and which, quite by chance, as it seemed, had been +lying there. Brownson sprang forward and raised the limp body. The red, +waxen apple had been broken into a dozen pieces. Among them lay the +fragments of a fragile glass phial, and the smell of almonds was in the +air. +</P> + +<P> +"Prussic acid," said Brownson, sententiously. "He wasn't the kind to be +taken alive." +</P> + +<P> +Indiman mechanically turned over the last card; it was the knave of +hearts, and the famous solitaire of the "Bridge" had been made at last. +He slipped the cards into his pocket and rose to go. "Brownson," he +said, with a little catch in his voice, "I didn't think that it would +come to this, but it had to be, I suppose. Have him put away decently, +and send the account to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Very good, sir. But ain't it a pity about that letter. However, we can +take a good look now, and maybe we'll turn it up yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps so," said Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"His real name was Gribedyoff, and he was implicated in the +assassination of Prince Trapasky," said Indiman to me as we sat over +our cigars that night. "A desperate fellow, one of the 'Blacks,' you +know. I picked his picture out in a moment at Police Headquarters, +after seeing his reflection in the mirror. I knew it was necessary to +surprise him, and so I borrowed the photograph and used it to +transmogrify the queen of spades card. Just for an instant he lost his +nerve, but that was enough." +</P> + +<P> +"But, as Brownson said, how about the letter?" +</P> + +<P> +Indiman drew from his pocket the wig, to which the curl-papers were +still attached. He unrolled one and showed it to me. I could see that +the strip was written in French on one side of the paper and in violet +ink. "It will be easy enough to piece it together again," he said. +"Plain enough now, isn't it, why L. Hernandez cared not at all how +often Brownson's men rummaged table-drawers and chair-seats. The letter +was safe until the time should come to use it. Only it never came." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you are going abroad?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall sail Thursday." +</P> + +<P> +"And you will be gone how long?" +</P> + +<P> +"That depends, doesn't it, upon the pleasure of that most gracious lady +the Countess Gilda. I may be back in a fortnight, and in that case I +will make an engagement with you. We will take a ride together on a +trolley-car." +</P> + +<P> +"Agreed," said I. +</P> + +<P> +It was a warm afternoon in the middle of May, and I was lounging in the +deserted common room of the Utinam Club when Esper Indiman walked in. +We shook hands. +</P> + +<P> +"You landed to-day?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, by the Deutschland." +</P> + +<P> +It was impossible for me to utter the inquiry that rose to my lips. +Indiman hesitated just a trifle, then he went on: +</P> + +<P> +"I delivered my letter to the Countess, and she was most obliged. She +asked me to stay on, but I had a previous engagement to plead: you +remember that I had agreed to go on a trolley-ride on or about this +date?" +</P> + +<P> +"I remember," I answered. "Let us interview Oscar, then, upon the +subject of dinner; it will be cooler up at Thirty-fourth Street. +Afterwards we will have our adventure on the trolley." +</P> + +<P> +Well, we went and had our dinner, but, as you shall see, the +trolley-ride had to be indefinitely postponed. We had started down +Fifth Avenue, and near Madison Square we ran squarely into Indiman's +cousin, George Estes. He was standing near a brilliantly illumined +shop-window, and gazing intently at a small object that lay in the +hollow of his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's you," he said, absently. Then, with a little laugh, "What do +you think of this?" He held out to us a small button fashioned of some +semiprecious stone like Mexican opal; it glowed with an elusive reddish +lustre. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks almost alive," commented Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"The vital spark, eh? Well, you're not so far out, for it means a man's +life." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, George?" asked Indiman, gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Not to-night, old chap. It may be a mistake—probably is. Or say that +I was kidding you." +</P> + +<P> +"That won't do, George. You've said both too much and too little. Cab +there!" he called, and a hansom drew up to the curb. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll excuse me, Thorp—a family affair." He motioned to the boy to +enter; he obeyed, sulkily enough, and they drove off. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Opal Button +</H3> + +<P> +Now, as a matter of fact, I had no part in the affair of the opal +button; for on the very next day following our meeting with Estes I +came down with typhoid and spent the next two months in the hospital. I +saw little of Indiman during that time, but his seeming neglect was +fully explained by the story he told me the night I was well enough to +get back to 4020 Madison Avenue. +</P> + +<P> +"You remember, of course," began Indiman, "that I went off with Estes +that May evening with just an apology to you about a family affair. +Really, I knew nothing; but the boy's manner struck me as peculiar, +and, while the incident of the opal button was trifling in itself, I +was sure that there was something behind it. But when I plumped the +question squarely at Estes he had nothing to say except that the jewel +had been slipped into his hand while he stood looking into a +shop-window. Where it came from he did not know; what it meant he +either could not or would not tell. So I had to drop the subject for +the time. But it came up again of its own accord four days later, the +exact date being May 15th. So much by way of preamble; the story proper +I will read from my notes. +</P> + +<P> +"'De Quincey was right, and murder should be a fine art. But the +Borgias—only amateurs! The far-famed Aqua Tofana—pooh! Any chemist +will put it up for ten cents. Only be careful how you use it. Chemical +analysis has advanced somewhat since the day of the divine Lucrezia, +and a jury would convict without leaving their seats.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Rather rough on your business, I should think,' said Estes, speaking +somewhat thickly, for the port had stopped with him overfrequently of +late. 'Is poisoning really out of date?' he continued. +</P> + +<P> +"'As absolutely as crinoline and the novels of G. P. R. James,' +answered our host, lightly. But I, who was watching him closely, saw +his eyes harden. Estes had said more than one imprudent thing that +evening, and this time he had gone too far. I would have to get the boy +away somehow. +</P> + +<P> +"There were three of us dining with Balencourt that evening at his +chambers in the Argyle—Estes, Crawfurd, and myself; and as usual we +had had an excellent dinner, for Balencourt knew how to live. Who was +Balencourt? Well, nobody could answer that precisely, but his letters +of introduction had been unexceptionable and his checks were always +honored at Brown Brothers. Moreover, Crawfurd had met him frequently at +the Jockey Club in Paris, and there was his name on White's books for +any one to read. A man of forty-five perhaps, clean-shaven, well set +up, an inveterate globe-trotter, a prince among raconteurs, and the +most astounding polyglot I have ever met. I myself have heard him talk +Eskimo with one of Peary's natives, and he had collated some of his +researches into Iranic-Turanian root-forms for the Philological +Society. But let us go back to our walnuts. +</P> + +<P> +"Crawfurd picked up the thread. 'Then the science of assassination is a +lost art,' he said, tentatively. +</P> + +<P> +"'Oh, I did not say that,' replied Balencourt, carelessly. 'There are +other ways—better ones.' +</P> + +<P> +"'You mean beyond the risk of detection?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Perfectly.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Eliminating the toxic poisons of all kinds?' +</P> + +<P> +"'If you like.' +</P> + +<P> +"'I doubt it.' said Crawfurd, with a little hesitation. +</P> + +<P> +"'And I deny it,' interrupted Estes, rudely, and stared straight at +Balencourt. A quick glance answered his challenge; it was like the +engaging of rapiers. +</P> + +<P> +"'Perhaps Mr. Estes desires proof,' said Balencourt, slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"'I do.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Let us say between—' +</P> + +<P> +"'To-night and the 1st of August.' +</P> + +<P> +"'That will suit me perfectly. My passage is booked on the Teutoninc +for the following Wednesday.' +</P> + +<P> +"'It is also the day set for my wedding to Miss Catherwood,' said +Estes, quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Balencourt took it admirably. 'So you have obtained the decision at +last,' he said, smiling lightly. 'My felicitations.' +</P> + +<P> +"Crawfurd rose to his feet. The jovial flush had strained away from his +fat cheeks, and his jaw hung loose and pendulous. 'For God's sake, +fellows—' he began, but Balencourt stopped him with a gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"'This is a private matter between Mr. Estes and myself, as he knows +full well. So far as you and Mr. Indiman are concerned, call it what +you like—a duel, or, better yet, a sporting proposition.' +</P> + +<P> +"'The stakes?' put in Crawfurd, feebly, for, shaken as he was, he could +still grasp at the definite idea included in the last-named +alternative. Sport and a wager—now he understood. +</P> + +<P> +"'The stakes?' repeated Balencourt. 'Well, they are hardly of a nature +that either Mr. Estes or myself can intrust them to the keeping of a +third party. But rest assured that the loser will pay; it is a debt of +honor.' +</P> + +<P> +"Up to this moment I had kept silence, but now I must make my one try. +'He is but a boy,' I said, leaning my elbows on the table and seeking +to plumb the soul-depths in the cold, gray eyes of the man who sat +opposite to me. But Balencourt only laughed amusedly. +</P> + +<P> +"'Then he should not assume a man's—' +</P> + +<P> +"'Will you come now, Cousin Esper?' interrupted Estes. He pushed his +chair noisily back, and we all rose. +</P> + +<P> +"'You won't wait for coffee?' said our host. 'Just as you please.' He +touched the call-button, and Jarman entered to help us on with our +top-coats. Par parenthese, how account for the anomaly of this +scoundrel of a Balencourt possessing the most perfect of serving-men? +There never was anybody who could roll an umbrella like Jarman, and I +have been around a lot in my time. After the catastrophe I tried my +best to locate him, but without success. He was gone; the pearl had +dropped back into the unfathomable depths of ocean. Perhaps he followed +his master. +</P> + +<P> +"The door closed behind us, and we three stood in the street. 'A cab?' +I queried, and a passing hansom swung in towards the curb. +</P> + +<P> +"'I'd rather walk along with you, Cousin Esper,' said Estes. 'Jump in, +Mr. Crawfurd, and we'll pick you up later at the club.' +</P> + +<P> +"Crawfurd nodded and was forthwith driven away. I turned to Estes. +</P> + +<P> +"'What is it, George?' I asked. 'Remember, there's Elizabeth to be +considered in this.' +</P> + +<P> +"Now, while Estes is a second cousin of mine, 'Betty' Catherwood is my +niece, and so I considered that I had a double right to stick in my +oar. But I wasn't prepared for the depth of trouble that I encountered +in the glance George Estes turned on me. 'So bad as that!' I finished, +lamely. +</P> + +<P> +"'It won't take long in the telling,' began the boy, desperately. 'You +remember that after I left Princeton I went to Germany for a two years' +course in international law under Langlotz; it was a pet idea of the +pater's.' +</P> + +<P> +"I nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"'Well, we all make fools of ourselves at one time or another, and here +is where I donned the cap and bells. You have heard'—here he lowered +his voice—'of the "Dawn."' +</P> + +<P> +"'The revolutionary society?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Yes; it's the active branch of the "Sunrise League"—the practical +work, you know. I joined it.' +</P> + +<P> +"I had nothing to say. George laughed a little dismally and went on: +</P> + +<P> +"'Absurd, wasn't it? I, a citizen of the best and freest country on +earth to be making common cause with a lot of crack-brained theorists +who would replace constitutional government by the "Lion's Mouth" and +the "Council of Ten"—a world ruled by a secret terror. But it seemed +all right at the time. What was my life or any one man's life to the +progress of civilization? It was only when I came to look at the means +apart from the end that I realized the horrible fallacy of it all.' +</P> + +<P> +"'You withdrew, of course.' +</P> + +<P> +"'You don't quite understand. One doesn't withdraw from the "Dawn." He +may cease to be identified actively with the propaganda, but he is +still subject to be called upon for a term of "service"—that's the +ghastly euphemism they use. You remember this and the night I received +it?' +</P> + +<P> +"He took a pasteboard box from his pocket and handed it to me. It +contained a small, red button, fashioned out of some semiprecious stone +resembling Mexican opal. +</P> + +<P> +"'It was the first summons,' continued Estes, 'and within three days I +should have been on my way to Berlin—to receive my instructions.' +</P> + +<P> +"'You refused, then?' +</P> + +<P> +"'There was Betty,' said the boy, simply. +</P> + +<P> +"'You must understand,' he went on, 'that this "service" can only be +demanded once of a member. He may refuse compliance, if he chooses, but +in that case there is a forfeit to be paid, and it becomes due after +the third warning.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Well?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Must be paid, you understand. If not by the recalcitrant himself, +then by the agent of the "Forty" through whom the summons comes. That +makes it clear, doesn't it—Balencourt and his debt of honor?' +</P> + +<P> +"'When did you know—about him, I mean?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Here is the second button. Balencourt slipped it into my hand just +before we went out to dinner to-night.' +</P> + +<P> +"'It is incredible. Balencourt is a man and you are but a boy. To take +advantage of an act of youthful folly—' +</P> + +<P> +"'You forget that it is his life or mine,' interrupted Estes, quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"'But, George, it is unthinkable. When he knows—but you did tell +him—about Betty—' +</P> + +<P> +"'That's just it, old chap. Balencourt asked her to marry him a week +ago, just before I received the first red button.' +</P> + +<P> +"The monstrousness of the thing struck me all of a heap. 'The police,' +I said, vaguely, but Estes shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"'It is but postponing the bad quarter of an hour,' he said, gently, +'and I don't think that I could put up with this sort of thing +indefinitely. Moreover, it wouldn't be fair to—to Betty. +</P> + +<P> +"'No,' he went on, 'it's better to have a limit set, just as it is +now—for at least Balencourt will keep his word. Once past the 1st of +August, I am safe.' +</P> + +<P> +"'We'll work within the limit, then,' I said, cheerfully. 'If we +three—Crawfurd, you, and I—can't match wits with one polyglot son of +the "Dawn," we might as well let the bottom drop out of the Monroe +Doctrine and be done with it.' +</P> + +<P> +"We had arrived at the club. For an instant our hands met. 'Not a word +to Betty,' he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"'Of course.' Then we went up-stairs to the pipe-room, where we found +Crawfurd sitting gloomily over his fourth Scotch-and-soda. The clocks +were striking three when we took Estes back to his apartments, and we +both spent the night with him. The issue had been fairly joined, and it +was exactly two months and a half to the 1st of August. +</P> + +<P> +"The rest of May passed absolutely without incident, and sometimes it +was difficult to believe in the reality of the contest in which we were +engaged. Yet we omitted no precaution, and during the whole fortnight +Estes was never for a moment out of the sight of either Crawfurd or +myself. But no; I'll correct myself there, for we had to allow him an +hour and a half every evening with Betty, and I used to mount guard in +the street outside, measuring the cold and unsympathetic flag-stones. +And no thanks for it, either; indeed, Betty's manner was distinctly +top-loftical whenever we chanced to meet, she being a young person of +discernment, and perfectly well aware that we were keeping her in the +dark about something. But it helped George to forget, and so I counted +it in with the rest of the day's work and held my peace. +</P> + +<P> +"As for the rest, there was nothing to be done except to keep a couple +of 'shadows' on Balencourt, and we had a full account of his movements +by eight o'clock every night—a regular ship's chart worked out with +time-stamps and neat entries in red ink, after the accustomed fashion +of Central Office men. So May and the first two weeks in June dragged +uneventfully along; the period of stress was already half over. Then +came Monday, the 15th of June, and with it a little shock. Our man—I +mean Balencourt—concluded to disappear, and he did it as effectually +as though there were no such thing as a 'shadow' in existence. When the +head-sleuth came that night to report his discomfiture, I cut him short +in his theorizing and asked for the facts. But there was only the +one—Balencourt was certainly non est, and that was all there was to +say. Whereupon we banished the 'shadows' to the outer darkness whence +they had come and convened our original council of war. +</P> + +<P> +"One thing was plain—the danger of remaining longer in the city. There +are so many things that may happen in a crowd, and especially if our +friend Balencourt formed part of that unknown quantity. There is always +a chance of a chimney-pot tumbling about one's ears or of being run +down by some reckless chauffeur. And who is to know the truth? +Accidents will happen; they are wilful things and insist upon keeping +themselves in evidence. Imprimis, then, to get out of town. But where? +</P> + +<P> +"'Hoodman's Ledge,' began Crawfurd, a little doubtfully, but I caught +him up with joyful decision. +</P> + +<P> +"'The very thing,' I said. 'I'll send a wire to the caretaker to-night, +and we'll be off by Thursday. I invite you all—for six weeks. Why, of +course, George, that includes Betty and her mother; they were to come +to me, anyway, in July.' +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Hoodman's Ledge is one of the innumerable small islands that dot +the Maine coast above Portland. A few years ago the fancy had taken me +to buy the island—it was only three acres in area—and later on I had +put up a house, nothing very elegant, but everything for comfort, a +model bachelor's establishment. For our present need no better asylum +could have offered. The island was small and occupied only by my own +domestic establishment. It lay in the bight of Oliver's Bay, quite a +mile from the nearest shore, and there was but one other bit of land +anywhere around—an uninhabited islet known as 'The Thimble,' that lay +a quarter of a mile due east. Surely this isolation promised security. +Here, if anywhere, we might snap our fingers at the machinations of M. +Balencourt and the mysterious 'Forty.' It would be rather cold off the +Maine coast during this unseasonable summer, but there were fireplaces +in plenty and stacks of drift-wood. The only real difficulty lay in +persuading my estimable sister to cut short her Newport visit and come +to me a month earlier than usual. +</P> + +<P> +"Finally, I left it to Betty to manage. 'I can't explain myself any +clearer, my dear,' I ended up, rather lamely, 'but it will be better +for George. Will you do it?' +</P> + +<P> +"'So you won't trust me with the secret? No; you needn't protest—there +is a secret, and I ought to know it. But you have put it so cleverly +that I haven't any choice in the matter. "Better for George" indeed! +Very good, mon oncle; I'll obey orders. But remember that it will be +the worse for you later on, unless you can show good and sufficient +reason for this ridiculous mystery. Poor, dear mamma! how she will hate +to be plucked up—like an early radish.' And thereupon Miss Betty +sailed away with her small head tilted skyward. +</P> + +<P> +"But she did manage it, and by Thursday night the party was actually +assembled at 'The Breakers.' There was a sou'easter on that night, but +the drift-wood burned stoutly in the wide chimney-piece, with now and +then a cheerful sputter as a few stray drops sought to immolate +themselves in the green and purple flames. +</P> + +<P> +"'Not so bad—eh, mamma?' said Betty, as she slipped another pillow +behind Mrs. catherwood's back and handed her the last volume of 'Gyp,' +with the pages neatly cut. And then she actually smiled over at me. I +think I am beginning to understand Betty. +</P> + +<P> +"Again I pass over many uneventful days. 'Nothing doing,' as Crawfurd +put it, and laisser-faire was a good enough motto for our side of the +house. The two children, of course, were blissfully happy. +</P> + +<P> +"Three, four, nearly six weeks, and no sign or sound from M'sieur +Balencourt. Not so surprising, after all, seeing that we were living on +an island surrounded on all sides by deep water and no land within a +mile except that little dot called 'The Thimble.' And while we didn't +make any parade of our precautions, Crawfurd and I kept watch and +watch, just as we used to do in the old Alert, on the China station, +twenty-odd years ago. Moreover, the gardener and my boatman were men +who could keep their eyes open and their mouths shut, and, finally, +there were the four dogs—two Great Danes, a collie, and 'Snap,' the +fox-terrier. It would have been a bold man who sought to visit +Hoodman's Ledge, uninvited, during that particular month and a half. +</P> + +<P> +"It was the morning of the 1st of August, and I was lounging on the +piazza, Crawfurd being on duty at the time. The warm weather had come +at last. The air was so soft and delightful that the scientific review +I had been reading slipped from my hand and I gave myself up to +indolence, gazing lazily at the white pigeons that were trading about +the lawn, between the boat-house and a rustic pavilion overlooking the +tennis-court. One bird I marked in particular, admiring his strong and +graceful sweeps and dips as he circled about, possessed, as it were, +with the pure joy of motion. I followed him as he sank down on a long +slant to the lawn, swift as a bolt from the blue; then I rubbed my eyes +in amaze. It was a pigeon of snowy whiteness that an instant before had +been flying free; it was a coal-black nondescript that now fluttered +feebly once or twice and then lay still on the gravelled path, close to +the stone sun-dial. I ran down the steps and bent over the pitiful +thing. Pfui!—the bird was but a charred and blackened lump of dead +flesh. There was a disagreeable odor of burned feathers in the air. +Mechanically my eye fell on the sun-dial; there was a spot the size of +a silver dollar on the side of the pedestal where the stone had +crumbled and disintegrated, as though it had been placed at the focus +of some immensely powerful burning-glass. I stepped behind the sun-dial +and looked out to sea. And there, in line with the pedestal of the dial +and the dead bird on the path, lay 'The Thimble.' +</P> + +<P> +"Now, as I have said, 'The Thimble' was a rocky islet only a few rods +in extent, but densely wooded with spruce and blue-gum. The general +shape of the rock was that of a lady's thimble; hence the name. Rather +a picturesque object in the seascape, but, of course, utterly valueless +except for occasional picnic uses—a bit of No Man's Land whose purpose +in the economy of nature had hitherto remained unfulfilled. But now? +</P> + +<P> +"I went back to the piazza and caught up a pair of stereo-binoculars +that were lying on the table. There, shining like a star through the +close curtain of green that veiled 'The Thimble,' was the projecting +end of a highly polished tube of steel. And even as I gazed a man's +face peered out as though in the act of sighting—Aram Balencourt! +</P> + +<P> +"Then I understood. The tube was the means of projecting some +enormously powerful heat-beam whose nature must be akin to that of the +so-called X-ray. The article I had been reading not ten minutes +ago—what was the title?—'Radium, the Wizard Metal'—that +incomprehensible substance, forever sending forth its terrible +emanations, yet never diminished by even the ten-thousandth part of a +grain—a natural force whose properties and functions were but +imperfectly understood, even by the learned men who had succeeded in +isolating it, an agent of such enormous potency that an ounce or two +might serve to put a battle-ship out of commission—a couple of pounds +and the universe itself were endangered. Even now from that steel tube, +sighted so carefully on the pedestal of the sun-dial, billions of ions +might be rushing, invisible to the eye, but certain death to whatever +of animal existence they chanced to encounter. There was the pigeon +lying dead on the walk. +</P> + +<P> +"'Do hurry, George,' called out Betty's thin, sweet treble. She stood +at the entrance to the pavilion and waved a tennis-racquet impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"'Coming,' was the cheerful response, and Estes turned the corner of +the house. He took the gravelled path at full speed. In an instant or +two at the farthest he would be passing between the sun-dial and the +dead pigeon, in line with those deadly radiations. +</P> + +<P> +"We had been playing a little single-wicket earlier in the day, and a +cricket-ball lay on the wicker table at my hand. I could not have +uttered a word or a cry to save my life—to save his—but instinct held +true. With a full, round-arm sweep the ball left my hand, catching the +boy squarely on the forehead. He fell within his stride. +</P> + +<P> +"Betty was with us on the instant, but I seized and held her despite +her struggles. Naturally, she thought I had gone mad. Then I looked +over again at 'The Thimble,' just in time to see a sheet of +palest-colored flame shoot up from the island. The dense mass of green +foliage seemed to wither and consume away within the tick of a clock. +Through the glass I caught a glimpse of a dark figure that rolled down +to the water's edge, clutching feebly at the shifting shingle. Perhaps +a log, after all—it lay so still. +</P> + +<P> +"An instant later 'The Thimble' disappeared in a cloud of grayish +vapor, the dull sound of an explosion filled the ear, and the ground +under our feet trembled. There was nothing to be seen, even with the +glass, save a light scum covering the water and some fragments of +charred tree branches. But the air about us was full of a fine dust +that powdered Betty's hair, as though for a costume ball, and made me +cough consumedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Naturally, there were quite a number of explanations to make to Miss +Betty after George had been resuscitated—a slightly disfigured hero, +but still in the ring—but I spare you. The dear girl listened quietly, +but at the end she began to tremble, and I won't say but that she cried +a bit. It doesn't matter if she did, and I think we all began to feel a +little queer when we came to think it over. However, it WAS over—no +possible doubt about that. +</P> + +<P> +"'One thing I don't understand,' said Crawfurd. 'There were to be three +warnings, and Estes only received two of the red buttons.' Whereupon +Betty blushed, and drew a little package from her pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"'It came last night directed to George,' she said, 'but I forgot to +give it to him. It broke open in my pocket and it contained this.' She +held out to us the third red button. That was decent of Balencourt—to +have given the last warning. +</P> + +<P> +"There is only one possible hypothesis to account for the catastrophe. +Balencourt was dealing with a terrible force, whose nature was but +partially understood, even by science. He had intended to use it to +fulfil the vengeance of the 'Dawn' but something had happened, and in +an instant the monster had turned and rended its master. That is all +that we can know. +</P> + +<P> +"Two days later George and Betty were married, for they stuck to the +original date in spite of the fact that George, with a lump on his +forehead as big as the cricket-ball itself, did not make a particularly +presentable bridegroom. I carried an umbrella at the function whose +incomparable rolling was remarked upon by all. Need I say that it was +the same umbrella that Balencourt's man, Jarman, had manipulated for me +that fateful evening when we dined at the Argyle. I shall never unroll +that umbrella, even at the cost of a wetting. To me it is a memento." +</P> + +<P> +"There's melodrama for you," said Indiman, a little shamefacedly as he +finished. "But one feels differently, you know, about taking chances +where a nice girl like Betty is concerned. Let me see; it's still +early. Do you feel up to taking that long-deferred ride on a +trolley-car? Good! We'll take the cross-town over to Eighth Avenue and +get into the heart of it at once." +</P> + +<P> +"That's an unlucky number," said Indiman, as we boarded a car. "Sixteen +hundred and twenty-four—the sum of the units is equal to thirteen." +</P> + +<P> +"You're going to lose some money," I suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"The tip points that way," he replied. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Tip-top Tip +</H3> + +<P> +Do you know Abingdon Square? It is a small, irregularly shaped triangle +of asphalt situated on the lower West Side, and at the +intersecting-point of Eighth Avenue and Hudson Street. The houses that +front upon it have seen better days. Many of them are now the quarters +of cheap political clubs or centres of foreign revolutionary +propaganda. It is a neighborhood that has finally lost all semblance to +gentility and has become frankly and unreservedly shabby. A square, +mind you, and not a park, for there is neither blade of grass nor tree +in all of its dreary expanse. Half a block to the north lies a minute +gore of land surrounded by an iron fence, and here are flowers and +greenery upon which the eye may rest and be satisfied. But in Abingdon +Square proper there is only the music-stand, that occupies the middle +of the miniature plaza, a hideous wooden structure in which one of the +city bands plays on alternate Sunday afternoons during the summer. +However, open space counts in the city, and the air circulates a trifle +more freely through the square than it does in the side streets—at +least, that is the opinion of the neighborhood people, and they flock +there on a hot night like seals at a blow-hole. Even the submerged +tenth must come up to breathe now and then. During the dreadful passage +of a hot wave from the West one may count them by the dozens, coatless +and even shirtless wretches, lying prone on the flag-stones like fish +made ready for the grid. Occasionally, a street-cleaning "White Wings" +will be compassionate enough to open a fire-hydrant, under pretence of +flushing the gutters, and then, for a few minutes, there is joy in +Abingdon Square. Women line the curb, cooling their feet in the rushing +flood; the men light their pipes and contentedly watch the children as +they paddle about. There is the echo of mountain brooks in the gush of +the water as it roars from the hydrant. With eyes tight closed one may +conjure up the phantasma of green leaves waving and of meadows +knee-deep with lush grasses and starred with ox-eyes. Such is Abingdon +Square on a night in early August when first the dog-star begins to +rage. +</P> + +<P> +Now my friend Esper Indiman is a social philosopher; life in all its +phases interests him tremendously. Consequently, he likes to take long +rides on trolley-cars. He calls them his vaudeville in miniature, and +sometimes the performance is amusing—I acknowledge it freely. But +to-night the actors were few and the play dull. I began to yawn. The +car, one of the Eighth Avenue line bound down-town, swung round a curve +into Abingdon Square, and Indiman touched my arm. +</P> + +<P> +"What's going on over there?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +Although it was not a concert night, there was a crowd around the +band-stand. It looked as though some one was haranguing the assemblage +from the vantage-point of the music pavilion—a local political orator +or perhaps a street preacher. "Salvation Army," I suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we take a look?" I nodded, and we alighted and pushed our way to +the front. +</P> + +<P> +It was a young man who stood there, rather a nice-looking chap, with a +broad forehead from which the thin, fair hair fell away in a tumbled +wave. He was attired in evening clothes, assuredly an unusual sight in +Abingdon Square, where they do not dress for dinner, and the expression +upon his countenance was that of recklessness tempered with a certain +half-humorous melancholy. "One dollar," he repeated, as we came within +sight and hearing. "Do I hear no other bid? One dollar, one dollar. +Will any gentleman make it a half?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll give fifty for your skull alone," spoke up a youngish, +sallow-faced man who stood directly opposite the stand. "On condition," +he added, in a lower tone, "that the goods are delivered at Bellevue +before the end of the week. Foot of Twenty-sixth Street, you know." +</P> + +<P> +The young man smiled with a pathetic quizzicality. "Now, doctor," he +said, reproachfully, "there's no use in going over that ground again. I +made the terms of the sale perfectly plain, and there can be no +deviation from them." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if that's your last word," retorted the unsuccessful bidder, +"I'll say good-evening." +</P> + +<P> +He turned to Indiman, who stood at his elbow. "A fakir," he growled, +disgustedly. "Now, I'll leave it to you, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"If you will acquaint me with the essential particulars," said Indiman, +"I shall be most happy to pronounce upon them." +</P> + +<P> +"In two words. This cheap josher has been offering to sell himself, out +and out, to the highest bidder. I make him a cash offer and he takes +water." +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me," interrupted the young man in evening dress, "but your bid +is plainly for what the students in medical colleges call a 'subject.' +Now, I expressly disclaimed any intention of terminating my material +existence at any fixed period in the future. On the contrary, it is for +the purpose of prolonging my life that I am driven to this +extraordinary procedure. It is myself, my talents, and my services of +which I desire to dispose. My skull, in which you seem to take such an +interest, goes, of course, with the bargain. But I do not guarantee +immediate delivery." +</P> + +<P> +"Your services," sneered the student of medicine. "May I inquire into +their nature and nominal cash valuation?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am an experienced leader of the cotillon," answered the young man in +evening clothes, with a sweet and serious dignity. +</P> + +<P> +"Umph!" +</P> + +<P> +"I play a fair hand at Bridge, and have an unexceptionable eye for +matching worsteds." +</P> + +<P> +"G-r-r!" +</P> + +<P> +"That about sums up my list of accomplishments, but I dare say that I +could learn to dig, for I have my full complement of limbs. Finally, a +rare and pretty talent for losing money and a penchant for the unlucky +side of everything." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, gentlemen," declared the student of medicine, with a snort, +"it's quite evident that we're all playing the fool together. I wish +you a very good-evening, and the devil take all crawfishers." And with +that he marched off, evidently in high dudgeon. A little ripple of +laughter swept over the upturned faces of the crowd. "One dollar," +repeated the young man, his voice full of a polite weariness. "Do I +hear no other bid? I offer myself, a human chattel, at absolute sale; +no reservations; warranted sound and kind; no objection to the country; +not afraid of the Elevated railway." +</P> + +<P> +"Five dollars," said a voice at the rear, and a short, stout man, with +little, black, beadlike eyes, held up his hand to identify his bid. +"Joe Bardi," said a man to his neighbor. Both turned interestedly. +</P> + +<P> +"And who is Joe Bardi?" inquired Indiman, blandly. +</P> + +<P> +"Business of shipping sailors. There's big money in it, they say." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, yes, a crimp—isn't that what they call them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Right you are, mister. A hard one, too. It'll be a sharp man that does +for old Joe Bardi." +</P> + +<P> +"Five dollars," came again from the squat figure with its ratlike eyes, +and the young man in evening dress paled a little. He had over-heard +the colloquy between Indiman and the native Abingdonian, and it is +difficult to regard with equanimity the prospect of a trip before the +mast—to China, let us say. In an American ship, too, more shame to us +that it must be said. +</P> + +<P> +But the young man was thoroughbred. He had sat down to play a desperate +game with Fortune, and he could not withdraw with the cards on the +table. +</P> + +<P> +"Five dollars," he repeated, mechanically. "Five dollars. What am I +offered? Five dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"Want me to buy you dat, Mame?" said a half-grown boy of the +unmistakable tough type. "Whatjer soy? Five cases for dat mug! And +Tuesday ain't bargain-day, nuther." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it looks like thirty cents," said Mame, critically. "In Chinese +money, too—thirty yen-yen. What you say, John?" The crowd laughed +again. +</P> + +<P> +"Five dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"Five dollars," repeated the young man, and there were little drops of +sweat on the broad, fair forehead. "Five dollars, five dollars. Do I +hear no other bid? Five dollars—going—going—" +</P> + +<P> +"Six." +</P> + +<P> +It was Indiman who spoke, and this time the crowd gaped in good +earnest. An indescribable emotion possessed for an instant the face of +the young man in evening clothes. Then he fell back upon his first +manner, half-petulant, half-mocking. "Six dollars I am bid," he +announced, briskly, and looked straight at the shipping agent. +</P> + +<P> +Joe Bardi hesitated. "And a half," he said, tentatively, as an angler +who feels the mouth of the fish that he fears may be insecurely hooked. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman capped the bid promptly. "Seven dollars," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The crimp scowled. "Make it eight," he retorted. +</P> + +<P> +"Ten." +</P> + +<P> +The Italian hesitated again. This had the appearance of a contest, and +he was not of the sort who love a fight for its own sake. But his +cupidity had been powerfully aroused. There was a pretty profit in +advance money to be made if he could get this young fool's signature on +the ship's papers of the Southern Cross, outward bound for Shanghai, on +the morrow. He must make at least another try. It might be that the +intrusive stranger from the silk-stocking district was only amusing +himself and would presently withdraw. +</P> + +<P> +"Twelve," he said, and "fifteen," answered Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +The crowd laughed, and Joe Bardi's vanity was sorely touched. It was +not pleasant to be badgered in this unseemly manner while engaged in +beating one's own preserves. Discretion forsook him forthwith. +</P> + +<P> +"Twenty-five," he bellowed. +</P> + +<P> +"Fifty." +</P> + +<P> +"A hundred, and be damned to you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Two hundred." +</P> + +<P> +There was a pause; the crowd held its breath in silent and joyous +expectancy. Joe Bardi passed a hand over his wet forehead and pulled +irresolutely upon his cigar. A severe-looking old man expressed his +entire disapproval of the proceedings. "It's against the Constitution," +he said, loudly. "How about the Fourteenth Amendment? Well, the number +doesn't matter anyway. Officer, I call upon you to stop this unlawful +and outrageous farce. A human being selling himself on the auction +block! The slave-market set up again in this Christian city of New +York! It's a crime against the Constitution." +</P> + +<P> +But the policeman was a prudent person, and as yet he had seen no cause +to interfere. The proceedings were unusual, no doubt, and they might be +against the Constitution; he wouldn't like to say. It was none of his +business anyway; HE went by the code. +</P> + +<P> +"Bah!" snorted the old gentleman, and rushed away to find a city +magistrate. +</P> + +<P> +"Two hundred dollars," repeated the young man in evening clothes. "Two +hundred dollars. What am I bid? Going, going—" +</P> + +<P> +The shipping agent made a hasty mental calculation—there was no profit +in the transaction at anything over his last bid of an even hundred. +But he was tempted to go a little further and run up the price on his +adversary, thus punishing him for interfering in a man's private +business. Very good, but suppose the stranger suddenly refused to +follow the lead; then it would be Joe Bardi himself who would be +mulcted. Revenge would be sweet, but it was too dangerous; he would +stop where he was. +</P> + +<P> +"Two hundred, two hundred—going, going—" The crowd began to banter +the crimp. +</P> + +<P> +"Lift her again, Joe," called out one voice. "Open up that barrel of +plunks you've got stored away in your cellar," exhorted another +counsellor. "A nice, white slave—that's what you're needing in your +business," advised a third. But Joe Bardi kept his eyes on the ground +and said nothing. +</P> + +<P> +"Gone," said the young man in evening clothes. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman took four fifty-dollar bills from his wallet and handed them to +the young man. The latter glanced at the notes and stuffed them +carelessly into his waistcoat-pocket. Then, turning to Indiman: +</P> + +<P> +"Sir," he said, with a profound seriousness, "I am now your property. +Ah! Pardon me—" +</P> + +<P> +Like a cat he had sprung between Indiman and the crimp. With a +dexterous upward fling of his arm the knife in the Italian's hand went +spinning into the air. This was something that came within the +policeman's accustomed sphere, and he took immediate charge of Mr. Joe +Bardi. It was all done in a most methodical manner, and ten minutes +later we were free to depart. A "cruiser" cab rattled by and the three +of us squeezed in. +</P> + +<P> +"To the Utinam Club," ordered Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +Seated at a table in the big dining-room of the club, we drank a formal +cocktail to our better acquaintance. +</P> + +<P> +"But I am afraid that you have made a bad bargain," said the young man +to Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"Frankly, now, I doubt if I can be made to pay even three per cent on +the investment. That's no better than a government bond and not half so +safe." +</P> + +<P> +I have already collected one satisfactory dividend," said Indiman, +courteously. "That was cleverly done—to force the knife out of his +hand and into the air." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a part of the Japanese science of defence without weapons," said +the youth, blushing ingenuously. "Jiu-jitsu, you know. I took some +lessons of a chap in Tokio." +</P> + +<P> +"Moreover, there is your story," continued Indiman. "Will you favor me +with some particulars regarding yourself and the circumstances leading +up to our late meeting? The situation was an unusual one, and the +explanation should be interesting." +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary," answered the young man, with a faint smile, "my +narrative is of the most commonplace character imaginable, save only +for the final chapter. But judge for yourself. +</P> + +<P> +"My name is Luke Harding, and, so far as I know, I have not a single +blood relation living—at least, none nearer than a third cousin. Two +years ago I inherited my paternal estate. It was too small to support +me in the manner of life to which I had been accustomed, and at the +same time it was large enough to effectually deaden any inclination +towards real work. As an inevitable consequent, I became a speculator. +Little by little my fortune has disappeared in the abyss of stock +gambling; now it is gone entirely. To add to my misfortunes, my +apartments were entered last night by burglars and literally cleaned +out. I must have been drugged, for when I awoke this morning, with a +bad headache, I could remember nothing of what had happened; there were +only results to speak for themselves. The loot had been complete; the +scoundrels had even carried off my ordinary garments, leaving me—what +exquisite irony!—only this suit of evening clothes wherewith to cover +my nakedness. Being somewhat sensitive to the proprieties, I was +obliged to remain within doors until darkness fell, and I spent the +time meditating upon my future course of action. As I have said, I have +no relatives to whom I could apply, and my friends had already taxed +themselves beyond reason in my behalf. It was clear, then, that I was +born unlucky, and I concluded that I had no longer any right to a +separate and independent existence. To one of my temperament suicide is +a difficult proposition. Finally, I lit upon the idea which you have +just witnessed in execution. A healthy, intelligent young man—surely +there must be some market for his exclusive services? Fortunes used to +be made in the African slave-trade. +</P> + +<P> +"It only remains to add that I immediately started to realize upon +these reasonable expectations. I went to the plaza at Fifty-ninth +Street and Fifth Avenue and asked for bids. Unfortunately, no one +seemed to take me seriously, and a policeman obliged me to move on. I +had the same disheartening experience in front of Delmonico's and again +in the Turkish room of the Waldorf-Astoria. It is August, you know, and +the town is empty, but I was a bargain; I can say that without +affectation. Merely to have bought me on speculation, with the idea of +unloading on one of the Adirondack or White mountain hotel resorts—it +would have been impossible to lose. But I could not get a bid, and so I +shifted along down-town—Madison Square, Union Square, then westward by +Jefferson Market and West Tenth Street. Ever edging a little closer to +the river, you observe, and yet, upon my honor, I was not conscious of +any definite volition in the matter; it was as though some one were +gently pushing me along. Then Abingdon Square and your entrance upon +the boards of my little drama—you and Mr. Bardi. Gentlemen, I thank +you for your attention." +</P> + +<P> +"I should say, Thorp," said Indiman, "that Mr. Harding is well +qualified for membership in the Utinam Club. Will you put him up and +I'll second him? The club," he added, by way of explanation to our +guest, "is an association of the unsuccessful in life—the +non-strenuous, the incapable—above all, the unlucky." +</P> + +<P> +"Rest assured that my eligibility is beyond question," answered Mr. +Harding, with a smile. "In a society where misfortune confers a certain +cachet I may confidently expect to attain distinction." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you really consider yourself an abnormally unlucky person?" said +Indiman, seriously. "I have a reason for asking." +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my soul," returned the young man, warmly. "I verily believe that +I have a genius for getting on the wrong side of things. If I should +wager you that I am alive at this moment there would be a bolt out of +the blue before the money could be paid over." +</P> + +<P> +A heavily built man of elderly appearance entered the dining-hall. He +was accompanied by a friend who might be a banker or broker. The pair +picked out a table on the opposite side of the room and immediately +plunged into earnest conversation, their heads close together and +speaking in guarded undertones. +</P> + +<P> +"The gentleman with the gray hair," said young Mr. Harding, eagerly, +"that is Senator Morrison, chairman of the committee on foreign +relations. He must be just in from Washington. Congress, you know, is +in extra session." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, yes; an able man," said Indiman, politely. +</P> + +<P> +"He would know—he would know," muttered Harding, disjointedly. His +burning gaze fixed itself upon the two men at the distant table, as +though by sheer will-power he would surprise the secret of their +whispering lips. "He must—he does know." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" asked Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"Man, man, it's a matter of millions! Panama Trading Company common +stock is quoted at 70, and everything depends upon the passage by the +Senate of the canal treaty. The committee must have come to a decision, +and Morrison knows. I tell you he knows—he knows. One word—it would +be enough—Wall Street—Panama common—" +</P> + +<P> +Indiman did not answer; he seemed preoccupied, indifferent even, his +chair pushed back from the table and his eyes half closed. Let me +explain that the small side-tables in the Utinam Club dining-room are +not set flush against the wall, as is usually the case, but at some +little distance from it. Consequently, when there is a party of three +at a table, one man sits on the inside with his back to the wall, a +sensible arrangement in that it allows the waiter free access by the +unoccupied outer side of the table. It so happened that Indiman had +this inside seat. +</P> + +<P> +Harding's lips moved mechanically. "The treaty, the treaty!" he +repeated again and again. "The committee reports to-morrow; the Senate +is certain to act upon its recommendation. If I only knew!" +</P> + +<P> +The conference at the other table was a brief one; its continuance had +been measured by the consumption, on the part of the Senator, of a +couple of biscuits and a glass of spirits-and-water. The two men rose +and left the dining-room. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you are going back to-night, Senator," said the younger man +as they passed our table. +</P> + +<P> +"At midnight. A hard trip." +</P> + +<P> +"But a profitable one; don't forget that." They laughed and walked on. +</P> + +<P> +For a little while we sat in silence over our cheese and salad. Then +Indiman spoke up, suddenly: +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Harding." +</P> + +<P> +The young man looked at him dully. +</P> + +<P> +"The story of your persistent ill-fortune has interested me. But I find +it difficult to believe in the consistency of bad luck; it must change +sooner or later." +</P> + +<P> +"Not for me," answered the young man, with quick conviction. +</P> + +<P> +"I have a fancy to put that to the test. Take this card to my +brokers—you know them, Sandford & Sands, of New Street. I have +instructed them to place at your disposal a credit of one hundred +thousand dollars. You will be at their office to-morrow morning, and at +precisely ten o'clock you will receive from me a sealed communication +containing certain information upon which you can rely absolutely. Use +your credit according to your best judgment, and report the results to +me at eight o'clock to-morrow evening. The address is on the card, and +you will dine with me." +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you," said the young man, simply. "If such a thing were +possible—" He stopped and shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" said Indiman, bluffly. "You must believe in yourself, man; +it is the first requisite for success. To-morrow evening at eight, +then." +</P> + +<P> +Sitting over a final cigar in Indiman's library, he made me a sharer in +the mystery. "It is simply that the canal treaty will be reported +unfavorably to-morrow by the committee, and consequently it will fail +to pass the Senate. How do I know? I heard it from Senator Morrison's +own lips." +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" +</P> + +<P> +"As you know, the dining-hall of the Utinam Club is of a circular +shape, and it happens to possess certain peculiar acoustic properties. +In other words, it is a whispering-gallery, and it so chanced that +Senator Morrison sat at one of the definite points—they call them +vocal foci, I think—and I at the other. That is the whole story." +</P> + +<P> +"You are quite sure—there can be no mistake?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not the slightest doubt. The man with Morrison is a broker, and he has +the Senator's order to sell ten thousand Panama common at the market +to-morrow. When the news of the treaty's failure to pass reaches Wall +Street, by the regular channels, the stock will break sharply and the +profits on the deal should be enormous. No wonder that Senator +Morrison's flying trip to New York should be worth the taking." +</P> + +<P> +"And Harding?" +</P> + +<P> +"It remains to be proven whether the fault lies in the man himself or +in his alleged bad luck. I am sending him the bare fact as to the canal +bill's fate, and it is for him to seize the skirts of chance. I'll +write the note now and deliver it at the office myself in the morning. +Then we will see." +</P> + +<P> +"We will see," I echoed, and we parted for the night. +</P> + +<P> +At one o'clock the following afternoon Indiman and I stood watching the +ticker in an up-town broker's office. +</P> + +<P> +"The Senate rejects the canal treaty," read out Indiman. "Now for the +next quotation of Panama common; the last sale was at 70 1/2. Will you +take the tape, Mr. Barnes?" +</P> + +<P> +There was an instant's pause in the click-click of the instrument, the +heart-gripping lull before the breaking of the tempest. Then the wheels +began to revolve again, and the white tape, our modern thread of the +Norns, sped through the twitching fingers of the young chap to whom +Indiman had yielded place. +</P> + +<P> +"Five hundred Pan. com., 68," he read out. "One thousand, 67 1/2; four +hundred, 67; two thousand, 65. I guess I've seen enough, gentlemen; +it's my—my finish." He gulped down something in his throat and walked +over to the water-cooler, +</P> + +<P> +"And enough for us," whispered Indiman. "Let us go." +</P> + +<P> +"It's the way of the world," I philosophized as we gained the street. +"One man up and another down. He is young; he will have his chance +again." +</P> + +<P> +"It is Harding's day," said Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +Panama common had closed at 50, a drop of twenty points; there was a +fortune to be made in selling even a few thousand shares short of the +market. It was Harding's day, indeed. +</P> + +<P> +Eight o'clock and Indiman and I sat awaiting his coming. The electric +bell rang sharply, and Bolder ushered in our protege. He came forward, +shook hands, accepted a cigar, and sat down. +</P> + +<P> +"You received my note?" said Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"What did you do?" +</P> + +<P> +"I bought five thousand Pan. com. at 70." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, the deuce!" and Indiman stared blankly at his guest. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, it's no use—" began the young man, apologetically, but +Indiman cut him short. +</P> + +<P> +"No use! And with my message in your hand before the market opened—the +exclusive, the absolute information—" +</P> + +<P> +"Here it is," said Mr. Harding, and handed Indiman his own note. The +latter glanced at the contents, and suddenly his face changed. +</P> + +<P> +"Read that, Thorp," he said, and tossed me the message. The letter +contained these words: +</P> + +<P> +"The canal treaty will pass the Senate. Use your own judgment." +</P> + +<P> +"In some inexplicable absence of mind I left out the all-important +'not,'" said Indiman, ruefully, "and it has cost me one hundred +thousand dollars. Mr. Harding, I beg your pardon. You are the +unluckiest man alive," and he went on to tell him of the +whispering-gallery and of the secret obtained in manner so +extraordinary. "And then, through my stupidity, worse than wasted," he +concluded. "I can't understand it; I read that note through twice +before I sealed it up. It is incredible." +</P> + +<P> +"No, it is my luck," said young Mr. Harding, and took a fresh cigar. +"Or, rather, your luck," he corrected himself, smilingly. "Have you +forgotten that I am now your property?" +</P> + +<P> +"God forbid!" said Indiman, hastily. "I give you back +yourself—consideration of one dollar. You're a witness, Thorp. And now +shall we go in to dinner?" +</P> + +<P> +A position in a wholesale business house was secured for young Mr. +Harding, and for a month or two he seemed to be doing very well. Then +one day he resigned; a letter to Indiman gave the explanation. +</P> + +<P> +"He's going to marry a wealthy widow," read out Indiman. "They sail on +the Lucania next Saturday." +</P> + +<P> +"Then luck has turned for him," I said, heartily. "I'm glad of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Hym!" said Indiman. "Perhaps so." +</P> + +<P> +From the street came the sound of a hand-organ. It was playing Verdi's +"Celeste Aida," and so lovely is the aria that I could have listened to +it with pleasure, even when thus ground out mechanically. But, +unfortunately, an atrocious mistake had been made in the preparation of +the music cylinder. In the original the final note of the first two +bars is F natural, while in the third bar the tonality is raised and +the F becomes F sharp. The transcriber had failed to make this change, +and so had lost the uplifting effect of the sharped F. All the life and +color of the phrase had been destroyed, and the result was intolerable. +</P> + +<P> +I fished out a quarter and rang for Bolder. "Send him away," I said, +somewhat impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +The servant returned looking puzzled. "The organ-grinder said I was to +give this to the gentleman," he said, and handed me a small object. It +was a brass baggage-check issued by the New York Central Railway, from +Cleveland to New York, and bore the number 18329. I passed it to +Indiman, ran to the window, and looked out. But the organ-grinder was +gone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Brass Baggage-Check +</H3> + +<P> +It is not every day in the week that a hand-organ plays "Celeste Aida" +under one's window with an F natural in the third bar where the music +rightfully calls for F sharp. Nor is it usual to send out a quarter of +a dollar to the man as an inducement for him to retire, and then to +receive in return a New York Central baggage-check numbered 18329, and +reading from Cleveland to New York. Esper Indiman and I exchanged +smiles. +</P> + +<P> +"This looks like the real thing," said my friend. "My dear Thorp, there +must be some rare element in your chemical make-up that serves to +precipitate these delightful mysteries. Adventures fairly flock about +us. We shall have to screen the doors and windows or be overwhelmed. +Seriously, I am infinitely obliged to you, for I had started on my +eleventh game of solitaire, and was beginning to feel a trifle bored. +But now—now there is something doing, as Mr. Devery would remark. Let +us start the ball rolling by giving Bolder the third degree." +</P> + +<P> +Bolder, recalled, was disposed to be cheerfully communicable. Certainly +he would know the man again; he had a good look at him. The sun was +shining brightly, and it had fallen full on the fellow's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Describe him, then," said Indiman, note-book in hand. +</P> + +<P> +Put to the test, Bolder was not so good a witness as we had hoped for; +he wandered and grew confused in his statements. Light hair? Yes, it +might have been that—though, now that he thought of it, the shade was +rather on the darkish order. An old man? Well, not noticeably so; +perhaps thirty-five or a little younger. +</P> + +<P> +"Or a little older—say fifty-five?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it might have been fifty-five, sir. I couldn't swear to it +exactly." +</P> + +<P> +"That will do, Bolder," said Indiman, and our witness retired abashed. +</P> + +<P> +"Check number one," commented Indiman. "Suppose we try the Grand +Central now. We won't take out the carriage; the day is fine and I want +the walk." +</P> + +<P> +It was a beautiful morning in August, cool and clear, and we strode +along briskly. A hand-organ began playing in a side street, and we +stopped to listen. "It's the same aria," I said, excitedly—"'Celeste +Aida.' What tremendous luck! No, it isn't; deuce take it!" I went on, +dejectedly. +</P> + +<P> +"But you just said it was the same," persisted Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"With a difference," I hastened to explain. Now, Indiman is not +musical, and I had some trouble in convincing him that within the +compass of a semitone a veritable gulf may yawn. This particular organ +played the phrase in the third bar correctly—F sharp and not F +natural—and consequently it could not be the same instrument that had +vexed my ears half an hour ago at No. 4020 Madison Avenue. +</P> + +<P> +"There is a real difference, then?" said Indiman, thoughtfully. "One +that you would recognize again?" +</P> + +<P> +"At any place or time," I answered, confidently. "It is an absolute +means of identification, quite as much so as a glass eye would be in a +man's face." +</P> + +<P> +"Very good. We'll find that hand-organ, then, if we have to go through +'Little Italy' with a drag-net. How beautifully the problem is working +out!—almost too beautifully." +</P> + +<P> +At the incoming baggage-room Indiman presented the check numbered +18329. A porter appeared with a large trunk loaded on a truck. "City +transfer?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'll take it with me," said Indiman. "Thorp, will you get a hack." +</P> + +<P> +We were about to drive off, and I felt for my match-box. Provoking! I +must have left it at home, and I wanted a cigarette. "One moment," I +called, and jumped out, having caught sight of Ellison, who had been +with me in college. He was hurrying into the station. I should be glad +to have a word with him and secure a match at the same time. But +somehow I missed him in making my way through the swinging doors. +Ellison was nowhere to be seen, and I had to content myself with +getting a light at the cigar counter. I went back to the carriage and +climbed in. +</P> + +<P> +"It was Ellison," I explained. "A good chap, and I should have liked to +meet him." +</P> + +<P> +"Some other time, perhaps," said Indiman, politely, and we drove off. +</P> + +<P> +"So you've got it," I said, staring up at the trunk that occupied the +box at the hackman's left. "It looks ordinary enough." +</P> + +<P> +"The porter told me that it came in last night on the Lake Shore +Limited," said Indiman. "Nothing remarkable about that, either." +</P> + +<P> +A sudden thought struck me. "By Jove! we're no better than thieves," I +said, frowningly. "The possession of a baggage-check doesn't +necessarily carry with it the ownership of the parcel for which it +calls. The rightful proprietor may be even now at the Grand Central +explaining the loss of the check and trying to identify his property." +</P> + +<P> +Indiman looked a little blank. "Of course, your obvious theory may be +the true one," he said, slowly. "The hunting of mare's-nests is a +weakness of mine. But what are you about there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Telling the driver to take us back to the station," I answered, with +my hand on the check-cord. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know about doing that—just now. There might be some awkward +explanations to make to your hypothetical owner. Or, failing him, to +the police." +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't absolutely follow," he continued, "that there is an owner +or that he is anxious to claim and recover his property. He may have +substantial reasons for wanting to get rid of it. Remember that the +baggage-check was handed in at my door with the express direction that +it was to be given to the gentleman of the house. We'll have to see it +through, I think." +</P> + +<P> +I had nothing more to say, and shortly afterwards we pulled up at No. +4020 Madison Avenue. Bolder and the hackman carried the trunk in, and +Indiman directed that it should be placed in the library, the front +room on the first landing. The cabman was paid and dismissed, and we +were left alone. +</P> + +<P> +"Now for it," said Indiman, gayly. "I have always preferred mutton to +lamb." +</P> + +<P> +The trunk was of the cheap variety, covered with brown paper that +vaguely simulated leather. It was perfectly new, and this was probably +its first trip on the road. The lock was of simple construction. It +should be easy to find a key to fit it, and one of mine, with a little +filing, did the trick. The bolt shot back, and Indiman unhesitatingly +threw up the lid. +</P> + +<P> +There was no tray in the trunk, and the interior space was filled with +some bulky article that had been carefully shrouded by manifold layers +of cloth wrappings. I know that the same thought was in both our minds, +but neither of us spoke. A keen-bladed ink-eraser lay on the desk +before me, and I handed it to Indiman. He made a swift cut in the +wrappings and drew the severed edges apart—a naked human foot +protruded. To this hour I have only to shut my eyes to immediately +recall that horrid vision. I remember particularly the purplish hue of +the swollen veins, the unmistakable rigidity of the joints and muscles. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman shut down the lid and turned the key in the lock. We looked, +white-faced, one at the other, then at the maid-servant who stood not +ten feet away. Had she been any nearer? +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Mary?" said Indiman, sharply. +</P> + +<P> +The girl, confused and stammering, explained that she had come in to +sweep; she had no idea that Mr. Indiman was in the library. No, the +door was not locked, and she had just that moment walked in. Indiman +cut short her apologies, and, with a tolerable assumption of +indifference, dismissed her to her duties elsewhere. +</P> + +<P> +"Unfortunate," he remarked, with a frown. +</P> + +<P> +"I doubt if she could have seen anything," I answered, reassuringly. "I +should have heard her if she had come any nearer, and the trunk was +only open for a second or two." +</P> + +<P> +"Quite long enough for anything to happen," said Indiman. "I say, +Thorp, but this is a go," he went on, cockily enough. Then suddenly the +steadiness went out of his voice, like a match-light in a high wind, +and he finished with a little, choking gasp, "Just the very—rummest +go." +</P> + +<P> +I don't remember that we had a drink on the strength of it, but it's +more than probable. Then we sat down to consider. +</P> + +<P> +The natural, the obvious, and the only proper course of action was to +go at once to Police Headquarters and make a frank statement of the +case with its attendant circumstances. True, we were undistinguished +citizens, with neither pull nor influence, but surely respectability +must count for something, even as against charges of admitted theft and +suspected murder. If we owned up now we should be subjected, doubtless, +to more or less annoyance growing out of the affair, but the position +would be infinitely less difficult than if we waited for events to +force it upon us. "Murder will out," I quoted. +</P> + +<P> +"So they say," answered Indiman, and stared thoughtfully at the ceiling. +</P> + +<P> +And yet in the end we abandoned this eminently sane conclusion, +deciding that we would keep our own counsel and let the matter work +itself out. For such a crime as murder does not end with the actual +deed; the rupturing of the thousand and one ties that bind even the +most insignificant of lives to the general body of human existence +cannot be accomplished without some disturbance; a circle has myriad +points, and at any one of them the interrupted current may again begin +to flow. Perchance the message falls upon indifferent ears or is too +feeble and incoherent in itself to compel attention. In this event the +signals must necessarily grow weaker and more infrequent until they +finally cease altogether—the crime is now an accomplished fact, the +chapter is finally closed. Or, again, the call may come as plangent and +insistent as the stroke of a fire-alarm; the whole community hears and +instantly understands; the murder is out. +</P> + +<P> +Now either of us could presume to measure the precise quality of odic +force inherent in the grisly mystery that lay under our hand; the +affair might range from the dignity of a cause celebre to the +commonplace of a purely commercial transaction—the economical +transportation of a medical college "subject." It was this very +uncertainty that fascinated our imaginations and so allowed the sober +judgment to be deposed. Our ostensible argument was that the police +would be sure to make a mess of the affair. If that idiot, Detective +Brownson, took hold of it, the goddess Justice might throw up her hands +as well as close her eyes. And inwardly we desired to cherish our +secret out of the same sense of fearful joy with which one listens to a +ghost story—we had tasted the coal-black wine pressed from forbidden +grapes, and we craved a yet deeper draught. Finally, a connoisseur does +not willingly relinquish a good find, whatever the circumstances; there +are bibliomaniacs who will not hesitate to steal what they may not +otherwise procure. I myself know a charming woman who collects Japanese +sword-guards AT ANY COST (I have her husband's authority for this +statement). +</P> + +<P> +But, seriously again, the grip of the mystery was upon us; the +inclination had become irresistible to see the thing out, or at least +to let it run a little further, just as a child amuses itself with +fire—the desire to see what will happen. Later on it might be +necessary to pull up sharply, but the contingency would doubtless +provide for itself. The ultimate fact remained that here was a genuine +adventure, and as connoisseurs of romance we were bound to exploit it +to the utmost limit of our ability. So be it, then. +</P> + +<P> +"The finding of that organ-grinder is our first and obvious procedure," +said Indiman, slowly. "And the clew to his identity lies, as you have +explained, in his instrument." +</P> + +<P> +"The organ itself is a criminal; it murders 'Celeste Aida.'" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe that most of these instruments are rented from one company," +continued Indiman. "We can find out definitely at the city License +Bureau, and we might as well make that the starting-point of our +investigations. We have plenty of time before luncheon; it is barely +twelve o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"But shouldn't we begin with—with the thing itself," I objected, and +glanced nervously at the big trunk standing in the middle of the floor. +The identity of the victim—it may be possible to establish it—a most +important point, surely." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll have to pass up that part of it—at least for the present," said +Indiman, frankly. "But we must get the box out of sight somewhere. The +weather"—and here he gave a little involuntary shudder—"is getting +warmer. We'd better get it down into the cellar. I'll see if the way is +clear." +</P> + +<P> +The servants were all busy in the upper part of the house, and we +succeeded in getting the trunk down into the cellar unobserved, stowing +it away temporarily in an empty coal-bin. On our way up-stairs we +encountered the maid, Mary, and something in the hasty way in which she +stood back to let us pass stirred again my vague suspicions. But there +was nothing to say or do; we must trust to luck. +</P> + +<P> +Then there was no difficulty in finding the office of the company that +leases hand-organs to itinerant musicians, and the manager, an +Americanized Italian, was most courteous in answering our inquiries. It +appeared that this particular aria of "Celeste Aida" was only included +in the repertoire of some half-dozen of the older instruments. It +chanced that they were all in stock at the present time, and it would +be no trouble at all to let us hear them play. "Our incomparable +maestro—he is no longer remembered," said the manager, mournfully. +"The public—now it is that they demand what you calla hot +stuff—'Loosianner Loo' and the 'Lobster Intermezzo,' Per Bacco! if +they would but open their ears—la—la—there it goes— +</P> + +<P> +'"Ce-le-ste A-i-da, For-ma di-vi-na'— +</P> + +<P> +Ah, gentlemen, THAT is musica." +</P> + +<P> +An amiable person, but we were wasting both his and our time. Each one +of the six organs reproduced the original notation of the aria, and the +imperfect instrument must therefore be in private hands. So we returned +thanks to Mr. Gualdo Sarto for his courtesy, and went away somewhat +disheartened. Haystacks are large places and needles small objects. +</P> + +<P> +Two days went by—days spent in aimless wandering about the streets +waiting for a distant hand-organ to give tongue. Then a hot chase, only +to draw another blank. +</P> + +<P> +On the third day I came home alone about five o'clock. The weather was +really hot again, and I was tired out with tramping. Yet a little chill +ran down my spine as I happened to glance across the street and caught +sight of a man's face in an areaway. He had been watching me; of that I +was certain. +</P> + +<P> +I went up to the library and sat there waiting for Indiman. The man in +the areaway waited also. +</P> + +<P> +At half after six Indiman appeared. He, too, had been unsuccessful; I +could see it in his face before he spoke. I told him of the suspicious +loiterer across the street. Together we kept close watch on the +areaway, and after a while the fellow came out and strolled off with +what was intended to pass as jaunty indifference. But we were not +deceived. +</P> + +<P> +"That fool of a girl has talked," said Indiman. "Looks like it." +</P> + +<P> +"See here, Thorp, that thing in the cellar—we'll have to do something +at once." +</P> + +<P> +I nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"The flooring in the coal-bin is brick; it won't be difficult to take +up a section large enough for—" +</P> + +<P> +I nodded again. +</P> + +<P> +I shan't forget what we did that night—the stealing down into the +echoing cellar—the flickering of the candle-light on the white-washed +walls—the sound of the spade clinking against a casual stone. +</P> + +<P> +How we worked! Like slaves under the lash—an actual lash of terror. +For we were afraid, frankly and honestly afraid, of what we had done +and of what we were doing. I know that the sweat fairly poured off me. +My word! but it WAS hot, and there was a fearful significance in the +thought that urged us on to even greater exertions. +</P> + +<P> +It had to be done, and at last it was, the bricks neatly replaced and +the surplus earth packed away in gunny-sacks to be removed at the first +favorable opportunity. Then in the gray dawn we drew ourselves wearily +up-stairs, and, separating without a word, went to our rooms. Was it +pure, malignant chance that the maid, Mary, passed me on her way +down-stairs and glanced, with a curious, shrinking repugnance, at my +earth-stained and dusty clothes? I did not care; I was dog-tired and I +wanted but one thing—bed. I reached my couch, fell sprawling upon it, +and slept for seven hours straight. +</P> + +<P> +It was a relief to awake from the phantasmagoria of horrors that +crowded my dreams. It was nearly two o'clock, and I had written to my +friend Ellison asking him to luncheon at that hour. The meal was rather +a silent one for two of us, but Ellison talked incessantly. He was in +high spirits, having just been appointed to a university professorship +in physiology—his specialty. "I've been busy getting my lecture +material together," he explained, and "I had a beastly piece of bad +luck the other day. My own fault, I suppose, but it illustrates the +point that our American baggage system is still far from perfection. +Now the European idea—" +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we go into the library for coffee," said Indiman, a little +abruptly, and I could see that Ellison's chatter was beginning to get +on his nerves; my own were vibrating like harp-strings. I walked over +to one of the library windows and looked out, just in time to catch +sight of a man backing quickly into the shadow of the areaway opposite. +</P> + +<P> +From down the street came the sound of a childish voice singing. Great +Heavens! It was Verdi's aria "Celeste Aida," with F natural in the +third bar instead of F sharp. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going out for a few minutes," I said, carelessly. "Just around +the corner to get a special-delivery stamp. Of course you'll wait, +Ellison," and I gave Indiman a quick glance. He understood. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps I was shadowed by the watchers in the areaway. I neither knew +nor cared. My one idea was to catch up with the child, and this time +luck was with me. +</P> + +<P> +The little girl acknowledged shyly that she had learned the tune from a +hand-organ. "It belongs to my uncle Bartolomeo," she explained, +proudly. "It is a good organ, signore. There are little figures of men +and women under the glass front, and when the musica plays they +dance—so." +</P> + +<P> +Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to +accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue. He spoke English perfectly, +and looked both honest and shrewd. Well, we would find some way of +getting the truth out of him. +</P> + +<P> +A police-officer opened the door for me. So the blow had fallen +already. I went on up to the library, taking Bartolomeo with me. At the +door I waited a moment. +</P> + +<P> +Brownson sat at the long table, the picture of the zealous and +efficient guardian of public safety. The maid-servant, Mary, had just +been interrogated—of course, it was she who had betrayed us, and +Brownson was evidently her young man. What infernal luck! +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Mr Indiman—" said Brownson, sternly, "but be careful what you +say; it may be used against you." +</P> + +<P> +Indiman told the whole story without reserve, and Brownson listened +with cold incredulity. But Ellison seemed interested. +</P> + +<P> +"A baggage-check handed in at the door," commented the detective, with +judicial impassivity. "Where is this organ-grinder?" +</P> + +<P> +"Here," I answered, and entered with Uncle Bartolomeo. +</P> + +<P> +But the examination, severe as it was, revealed only the bare fact that +Bartolomeo had found the brass baggage-check lying on the sidewalk in +front of No. 4020 Madison Avenue. He was an honest man, and, moreover, +the acticle was of no use to him. He had given it to the servant at the +door to be handed over to the gentleman of the house. That was all he +knew. By the Holy Virgin, he had spoken the truth! +</P> + +<P> +Brownson rang the call-bell. "Bring in the trunk," he said, curtly, and +forthwith two policemen appeared with the fatal box, just as it had +been exhumed from its resting-place in the coal-bin. "Hullo!" blurted +out Ellison, in vast surprise, and somehow my sinking spirits revived +with the word. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is this gentleman?" demanded Brownson, frowning at the +interruption. +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Ellison," I answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Medicine?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Hum," said Brownson, importantly. "I will ask him to kindly take +charge—" +</P> + +<P> +"I should think so," broke in Ellison, cheerfully, "seeing that it's my +own property. I lost baggage-check No. 18329, from Cleveland to New +York, the night of my arrival in town, and somewhere in this very +neighborhood. The next morning I went to the Grand Central to prove my +ownership, but the trunk had been claimed and carried away." +</P> + +<P> +"You are aware, Dr. Ellison," said Brownson, "that this trunk +contains—well, we all know what." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do we!" retorted Ellison, smartly. "Just stand back there." He +took a key from his pocket and unlocked the trunk. An irresistible +curiosity drew us forward again. Ellison seized the wrapping and jerked +it forcibly apart. I turned my eyes away, and Mary screamed outright. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you never see an anatomical manikin before?" asked Ellison, +scornfully. "Made out of papier-mache, you know, and used for +demonstrations in physiology before college classes. They used to come +from Paris, but they're making them in Cleveland now, and better than +the French ones. I tell you I'm mighty glad to get my 'old man' back; +he's just out of the shop and cost me a hundred-dollar bill." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Detective Brownson walked over to the trunk, gazed intently at the +manikin, and gingerly poked it once or twice in the ribs. He turned red +and swallowed at something in his throat. +</P> + +<P> +"So you wish to make a charge against these gentlemen?" he asked, with +almost a note of appeal in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Not I," answered Ellison, cheerfully. "It's all between friends, and +they can settle the matter with me over a petit souper at Delmonico's. +Good-day, officer." +</P> + +<P> + How quickly the echoes of the strenuous life die away. After the<BR> +storm and stress of those dreadful four days one would suppose that +peace at any price were the one thing worth while. And for a month or +more we were quite content with the humdrum of ordinary existence. And +then just because a game of patience would not make— +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Upset Apple-Cart +</H3> + +<P> +Indiman was playing solitaire and I was idly looking on. It so happened +that an important card, the ace of hearts, was buried, and Indiman had +tried every legitimate means to get it out without success. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't do that," I said, decidedly, as Indiman was about to make a +move. He looked up, caught my eye fixed upon the game, and colored +deeply. Then he frowned and swept the cards into a disorganized heap. +</P> + +<P> +"I really believe that I was on the point of cheating myself," he said, +soberly. "That argues a shameful flabbiness of the moral fibre, doesn't +it? A 'brace' game of solitaire! What a hideous picture of degeneracy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Lay it on the weather," I suggested. "These gray November days with +their depressing atmosphere of finality may be held responsible for +anything." +</P> + +<P> +"Even my own pet extremity—the upsetting of an apple-cart. Really, I'm +getting dangerously close to it. Let's go out for a walk." +</P> + +<P> +Now, why did Tito Cecco, dealer in small fruits, choose this precise +day and hour to halt his barrow at our corner? Push-carts are not +allowed in Madison Avenue, anyway, and five minutes earlier or later he +would have been moved on by the policeman on the beat. But in that mean +time Esper Indiman and I had left the house. The cart piled high with +red and yellow apples confronted us, and a dangerous glint came into +Indiman's eye. +</P> + +<P> +"Indiman!" I implored. +</P> + +<P> +Too late! With the mischievous agility of a boy, Indiman seized the hub +of the near wheel and heaved it into the air. A little ripple of apples +swept across the asphalt roadway, then a veritable cascade of the +fruit. The light push-cart lay bottom up, its wheels revolving feebly. +Tito Cecco had become incapable of either speech or motion. Then he +caught the glimmer of the gold piece in Indiman's fingers, and grabbed +at it eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +It is a poor sort of catastrophe that does not attract the attention of +at least one pair of youthful eyes, and the vultures are famous for +their punctuality in the matter of invitations to dinner. Where did all +the boys come from, anyway; the street was jammed with them, and +reinforcements were constantly arriving. Tito Cecco, having pouched +Indiman's gold piece and righted his cart, had hastily departed. He had +made a good thing out of the transaction, and explanations to policemen +are awkward things—always so. +</P> + +<P> +The pile of fruit had disappeared with incredible swiftness, but the +boys themselves departed slowly, as though reluctant to leave a region +of such extraordinary windfalls. One little chap had fared particularly +well, for both his coat-pockets were stuffed and each fist grabbed a +big specimen of the beautiful fruit. A young fellow, fresh-faced and +country-looking, had been looking at the scene from a little distance +down the street. Now he walked up and spoke to the small boy. +</P> + +<P> +"Give you a nickel, bub, for one of the red ones. They look just like +the apples up in Saco, Maine. Lord's sakes, how I wish I was there!" +</P> + +<P> +The boy signified his willingness to make the bargain, but he wanted to +give a sporting color to the transaction. "Right or left?" he asked, +his hands held behind his back. +</P> + +<P> +"Left, of course," answered the yokel. +</P> + +<P> +"'Ain't I always been that?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy handed over the apple, received the promised nickel in return, +and departed with a joyous whoop. The young countryman held up the +apple and looked at it sentimentally. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, what under the canopy's that!" he exclaimed. There was a piece of +paper tightly twisted about the stem of the fruit. He unfolded it +carefully, for it could be seen that it bore a written message. +</P> + +<P> +When a man with a complexion like a new red wagon turns pale it means +something. Indiman and I stepped up, for we really thought that he was +going to faint. +</P> + +<P> +"Much obliged, gentlemen. I'm all right now," said the young chap. "But +for the minute I was that struck. Say, gentlemen, you'll think I'm a +liar, but it was my own girl, Miss Mattie Townley, who wrote that there +letter and twisted it around an apple-stem. And she wrote it to me—me, +Ben Day. What do you think of that?" +</P> + +<P> +"This is a world of infinite chance," said Indiman, politely. +</P> + +<P> +"Look for yourself. I don't mind, and neither would Mattie." +</P> + +<P> +Indiman took the little scrawl of paper and I looked over his shoulder. +It read: +</P> + +<P> +"Ben Day, if you're not an altogether born fool, come back to Saco, +Maine. I never meant a word of what I said—you KNOW that. M. T." +</P> + +<P> +"S'pose you'd call it a lovers' quarrel," explained Mr. Ben Day. "I +just piked out of Saco, Maine, like a bear with a sore head, and come +down here to New York. For three months I 'ain't sent sign nor sound to +the home people, but she was bound to catch up with me. And, by jinks! +she just did. Wonder how many other Baldwin pippins are taking the glad +tidings round the country. I'd give a nickel apiece for a million of +'em." An actual tear glistened in the young fellow's eye. It was +impossible not to sympathize, and we both congratulated him heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, you're going back to Saco at once?" said Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +"If I could get the five-o'clock express there's a through connection +up north. I'd do it, too"—his voice fell suddenly—"only for—" +</P> + +<P> +"Only for what?" +</P> + +<P> +"This," and he held out a small package that he had been carrying. It +was box-shaped and neatly wrapped in light-brown paper. The parcel was +addressed to S. A. Davidge, 32 Edgewood Road, Exeter, England, and it +bore a pasted label that read, "From Redfield & Company, Silversmiths, +Maiden Lane, New York City." It also carried the label of the Oceanic +Express Company, marked, "Charges Paid" and "per S.S. Russia" with the +package number, 44,281, in indelible pencil. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" said Indiman, interrogatively. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, I was in a scrape on account of that thing, and I wanted to +put the matter straight. Up to ten o'clock this morning I was in the +employ of the Oceanic Express Company—one of the messengers, you know, +sir, who go out with the wagons. It was our first trip of the day, and +we had a big load of small stuff for the Russia, When I had unloaded +and checked up my sheet, No. 44,281 was missing. I went back to the +office, reported the loss, and was discharged on the spot—they're hard +as nails on anything like that. Well, I went home pretty blue, for it's +hard work finding a job nowadays, and I didn't know which way to turn. +I'd been keeping bachelor hall with the driver of the wagon. He's a +foreigner named Grenelli, and claims to be an Italian. Maybe so, but he +looks more like a German, and he can talk half a dozen languages. I +used to go with him to the socialist meetings over on the East Side, +and the Tower of Babel isn't in it with those fellows. +</P> + +<P> +"An anarchist? Oh, I don't think so. Liked to shoot off his mouth about +the rights of man, and he was always down on taxes. But I shouldn't +call him an anarchist. Why, he was the driver of an express wagon, and +the two things don't jibe. +</P> + +<P> +"I should have said that Grenelli had been suspended during the +investigation into the loss, and of course we went home together. We +talked the thing over from end to end, but we couldn't explain the +disappearance of the package—neither of us. Of course, it was me who +was the real responsible party in the business, and Grenelli, who +naturally wanted to get back on his time, felt pretty grouchy about it. +Finally, I got mad, told him to go to blazes, and cleared out of the +house. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, about an hour after that I went home, and met Grenelli coming +out; he said that he was going down to the company stable. At two +o'clock he come back all out of breath, and he had the package with +him—yes, sir, that identical package that we'd been looking for. Told +me that it had been found under the driver's seat wrapped up in one of +the horse-blankets. Seems funny, too, for we had hunted through that +wagon-body a dozen times. +</P> + +<P> +"However, that makes no difference; we had the package, and I had just +started down-town to turn it in when I stopped to look at the +excitement here. Lucky for me, or I'd never had a bite of this +particular red apple, the sweetest pippin that orchard ever grew. +Excuse me, gentlemen, if I do the saphead act—by jinks! I FEEL like +it." +</P> + +<P> +"The sentiment does you honor, Mr. Day," said Indiman, gravely. "You +ought to take that five-o'clock train." +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't I like to!" sighed the enamoured youth. "But I can't go down +to the company office in Bowling Green and get back in time to make it. +It's three o'clock now." +</P> + +<P> +"You would not care to intrust the delivery of the package to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, hardly," was the frank reply. "You see, mister, I've been living +in New York for three months, now, and I've cut most of my eye-teeth. +No offence, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly not." +</P> + +<P> +"You look straight goods, and I b'lieve I'd run almost any risk to +catch that train—well, by jinks! here comes Grenelli now; that makes +it all O.K." +</P> + +<P> +I did not like the looks of the man who presently joined us in response +to Ben Day's hail. I distrust, on principle, people with thin, +bloodless lips and obliquely set eyes. Yet the fellow spoke pleasantly +enough, and he readily undertook to clear young Day's name and +reputation with his former employers. The boy handed over the parcel to +Grenelli, and then, as he turned to go, begged the honor of shaking +hands with Indiman and myself, a permission graciously granted. After +all, we had borne no inconsiderable share in the later developments of +his good-fortune. Suppose Indiman had NOT upset the apple-cart? +</P> + +<P> +"And now," said Indiman, turning to Grenelli and speaking with great +suavity, "I am going to ask the favor of a short interview. My house is +only two numbers away." +</P> + +<P> +Grenelli shook his head. "I've nothing to say to you—" he began, +defiantly. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman stepped quickly to the fellow's side, took his arm and pressed +it closely. He said a few words in an undertone, and to my surprise +Grenelli instantly submitted. We entered the house and went to the +library on the first floor front. Indiman took from his side +coat-pocket a cocked revolver and laid it on the table. So that was the +kind of persuasion that it had been necessary to apply to secure Mr. +Grenelli's attendance. One is apt to yield the point when he feels a +pistol-barrel prodding him in the ribs, and it is no great trick to set +a trigger-catch with the weapon in your pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand there," said Indiman, pointing to the far end of the table, and +the man obeyed. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, Grenelli," continued Indiman, bluntly, "I want the truth +about this affair. Bah, man! don't begin to shuffle about like that. +This isn't the original package delivered by Redfield & Company to the +Oceanic Express for shipment to England. You know it and I know it, so +we'll just acknowledge a true bill and go on with the evidence. +</P> + +<P> +"A counterfeit, then, of the real thing. But why? That's what we're +after now. Simple robbery? Or is there another reason why this +particular package was intended to be shipped on the steamship Russia, +sailing to-day at four o'clock sharp? You see the point, don't you? +</P> + +<P> +"I admit, Grenelli, that you are a clever man. Since the dynamite +outrage on the Icelandic six months ago great care has been taken in +the supervision of shipments, for the fast steamers and the Oceanic +Express Company require that the contents of every package shall be +visibly made known to them before it can be accepted. But once it is +inspected and officially labelled it goes through without further +difficulty, the steamship people being content with the express +company's guarantee. +</P> + +<P> +"And now be kind enough to give me your very best attention. This +morning, at ten o'clock, one of these officially registered packages +disappeared from the wagon that you were driving. At half-past two this +afternoon the parcel is returned to messenger Day, coming through your +hands. Now, how long did it take you to make up this dummy—seal, +stamp, and all? Of course, you had stolen what you needed for the +forgery from the company office—all but the Redfield & Company label, +and that you soaked off the original package and reaffixed to this one. +</P> + +<P> +"It wasn't a plausible story that you told Day, but you knew the boy +wouldn't be particular over trifles. All he cared about was the cloud +upon his honesty. You figured that the package would be returned, +perfunctorily examined for identification, and immediately sent on +board the steamer. How much picrate or dynamite does it take to knock +out the biggest steamship afloat? You could get enough of the stuff in +a box of this size—couldn't you? And how were you going to set it off? +Clockwork, of course. But why were you so stupid as to use a clumsy +mechanism whose ticking could be heard a block away? Listen to it now." +</P> + +<P> +In the succeeding silence the measured beat of the escapement was +plainly audible. There was a sinister significance in the sound that I, +for one, shall not easily forget. The man Grenelli paled and took an +involuntary backward step. +</P> + +<P> +"The steamship Russia" continued Indiman, in his calm, inflectionless +voice, "was booked to carry an unusually distinguished company on this +particular trip. The International Peace Congress has been in session +in New York during the past fortnight. It adjourned Tuesday, and some +thirty of the European delegates had engaged passage on this boat. Now, +consider for a moment, Grenelli—what a catastrophe to the cause of +universal peace should anything happen to the Russia! For example, the +destruction of the ship and the consequent loss of life through the +explosion of an infernal machine smuggled into the cargo! What +confusion, what dismay, what terror! Then the poison of slow suspicion, +the dull but deadly undercurrent of racial resentments, the question, +growing daily more insistent, 'Who has done this thing?' +</P> + +<P> +"It was an exquisite stroke of irony, Grenelli. I am connoisseur enough +to admire really good technique wherever I find it. The nations +assemble for a council of peace, and an invisible hand hurls a +firebrand into the very centre of the august circle! Puff! The +resolutions, with their well-rounded periods, go up into smoke and the +tramp of armed men is heard throughout the world. Excellent! Oh, +excellent, my good Grenelli! +</P> + +<P> +"But chance always takes a hand in a round game, and at the +psychological moment I come out of my house and upset an +apple-cart—your apple-cart, my good Grenelli. What incredible bad +luck!—to be bowled out by a shiny, red-cheeked pippin from Mattie +Townley's orchard in Saco, Maine. You will remember a somewhat similar +incident in the Garden of Eden several thousand years ago. Apples are +certainly unwholesome fruit for the masculine digestion. But I beg your +pardon—you were about to say—" +</P> + +<P> +The man Grenelli glared at his tormentor. "What more do you want of +me?" he asked, sullenly. "There's the police—why don't you turn me +over to them and have done with it?" +</P> + +<P> +"For the very sufficient reason, my dear Grenelli, that the evidence +against you isn't strong enough. The package never reached the Russia, +and how are we going to prove your intentions. Besides, in a matter of +this sort, the question of tools is of small importance compared with +the identity of the intelligence that employs them. Who and what is +back of this affair? You, Grenelli, are going to tell me." +</P> + +<P> +"Never!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be too hasty. Think it over. We have plenty of time before us." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand." +</P> + +<P> +"You will presently. Thorp, my dear fellow, will you see that the +servants are cleared out of the house at once. Let them all go to the +show at the New Academy—at my expense, of course—and they needn't +return until noon to-morrow. Make them understand that these are their +orders. Then come back here, if you will." +</P> + +<P> +When I returned to the library I found Grenelli seated at one end of +the big centre-table and Indiman opposite him. In Indiman's right hand +was a revolver, and the express package, addressed to S. A. Davidge, +Exeter, England, lay on the table between them. The arrangement looked +studied. It gave me an uncomfortable feeling—a well-founded one, as I +was immediately to learn. +</P> + +<P> +"Take my place for a moment," said Indiman. He went to the clock on the +mantel-piece and stopped it. When he came back to the table he had his +watch in his hand; he laid it face downward by the pistol. "Do you +carry a timepiece?" he inquired of Grenelli. The prisoner shook his +head. "Very good," continued Indiman. "We are now ready for our little +experiment. Let me again have your best attention. +</P> + +<P> +"The box containing the infernal machine lies on the table there. Mr. +Grenelli knows at what hour the exploding mechanism is set to act; I do +not. But seeing that the Russia sails to-day at four o'clock, we may +assume that the explosion must be timed for to-morrow morning, when the +vessel would be well out to sea. Certainly, not earlier; possibly some +hours later. It makes no particular difference, for we are going to sit +quietly here at the table with that curious box between us until +something happens. Either Mr. Grenelli is going to give me that +information or—he isn't. But in the latter case it will be of no +further use to either of us. Do I make myself quite clear?" +</P> + +<P> +The ticking of the mechanism concealed in the box sounded like the +blows of a trip-hammer. Grenelli lit a cigarette with a poor +affectation of bravado. "I can stand as much of it as you can," he +said, insolently. +</P> + +<P> +"You have the advantage of KNOWING how much," retorted Indiman. "But +we'll wait and see who's the best man. And in the mean time, Thorp, old +chap, I think you'd better cut your stick. Just bring up some biscuits +and a bottle of Scotch, and we'll get along as comfortably as you +please." +</P> + +<P> +But I declined to be sent away in this fashion for all that I was +horribly afraid. "I can't sit down at that table," I explained, "but +I'll keep coming in and out of the room as the spirit moves me. Now, +don't say a word; I've made up my mind." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I sha'n't forget it," said Indiman, simply. Then, in an +undertone: "As a matter of absolute fact, the fellow is a coward, and +he'll weaken at the end. There isn't the slightest danger—be sure of +that." +</P> + +<P> +Hour by hour the early evening dragged away, and then began that +interminable night. I spent most of the time in the dining-room at the +back, smoking and pretending to read. Twice the book slipped from my +hand, and I woke with a horrid start from my cat-nap. Then I would go +softly to the library door and peep in. Always the same tableau—the +two men sitting opposite each other, alert, silent, watchful, and +between them the shaded lamp and that little box lying in the circle of +its light. +</P> + +<P> +At about four o'clock I came in and mended the fire in the grate, for +the house was growing chilly. Indiman looked over at me and smiled +brightly. "Well, it's good to be out of the old ruts, isn't it?" he +said. "'Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay,' as some +one has truthfully remarked. He was a philosopher, that fellow. Wish we +had him here with us to-night; we'd teach him a thing or two more about +what living really is." +</P> + +<P> +After that I walked up and down the dining-room floor pretty steadily +until the dawn began to steal over the chimney-pots of the houses at +the back. It wasn't a pretty sky that the light revealed, dull and +streaky looking, with a suggestion of coming rain. I stood looking at +it in an absent-minded, miserable sort of stupor; then I heard Indiman +calling me. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm out of cigars," he explained. "There's a box in the buffet; and +just put out the lamp, will you." +</P> + +<P> +Grenelli looked haggard in the gray light that streamed into the room +as I drew the curtains. He started, too, when he saw that the day had +come—it was quite perceptible. +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to know the time," he growled. "It's only fair." +</P> + +<P> +"To be sure," assented Indiman, and he pushed his watch, face upward, +into the middle of the table. The dial indicated half-past seven, at +which I was somewhat surprised, for I had not thought it so late. But +my own watch had run down, and it will be remembered that Indiman had +stopped the mantel-clock the night before. Half-past seven it was, +then, for all that the hour again struck me as being rather advanced +for a cloudy morning in mid-November. And evidently Grenelli thought so +too. He could hardly suppress the exclamation that rose to his lips as +he glanced at the dial. +</P> + +<P> +Ten minutes passed, and then Grenelli spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"If I tell you what you want to know," he said, "am I to be allowed to +leave the house at once?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"And I am to be safe from arrest? At least, sufficient time will be +given—" +</P> + +<P> +"Bah!" interrupted Indiman, scornfully. "Come and go as you will. I can +break you like a rotten stick whenever it pleases me." +</P> + +<P> +Grenelli drew in his breath with a vicious hiss. "At five minutes to +eight I will tell you," he said, in a loud, overbearing voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Very good," answered Indiman, placidly. +</P> + +<P> +But the fellow's courage deserted him at the pinch, in accordance with +Indiman's prediction. He sat there dry-lipped and wet-browed, a +half-burned cigarette in his yellow-stained fingers, and his eyes fixed +immovably on Indiman's watch. It was barely a quarter to the hour when +he gave in. He wanted to cut the corner as closely as he could, but his +nerve was gone. "I will tell you—" he began. +</P> + +<P> +He stopped as abruptly as he had started. Suddenly the ticking of the +clock-work had ceased, and it was succeeded by a pause infinitesimally +brief and withal infinitely extended. Grenelli half rose from his +chair, his hands beating backward at the air. Then came a curious +premonitory whir of the hidden mechanism. The metallic rattle of the +gong was magnified in my ears to the dimensions of a roll of thunder; +then I saw that Indiman had torn the wrappings from the box and had +opened it. There was no mistaking the object that lay within—a common +American alarm-clock. Grenelli looked at it, wide-eyed, then he rolled +off his chair in some sort of a fit, and Indiman and I were left to +stare each other out of countenance. +</P> + +<P> +"Plain enough, I think," said Indiman. "There WAS another box +containing the infernal machine, but Grenelli made up the dummy so +successfully as to deceive even himself. He got the two mixed up, and +this, the original and harmless package, was the one that should have +reached the Russia if Ben Day hadn't stopped to buy a red apple. Of +course, it was the ticking of the clock escapement that misled him—and +me. +</P> + +<P> +"The alarm mechanism must have been wound up and set just before the +clock left Redfield & Company's yesterday morning. Possibly a practical +joke on some clerk's part, but that doesn't matter. You see, there is a +twenty-four hour dial for the alarm, and it was set at a little before +XIX, corresponding to about a quarter of seven." +</P> + +<P> +"But your watch says a quarter of eight," I objected. +</P> + +<P> +"I set it an hour ahead," answered Indiman. "I'm not altogether a fool, +and although I was certain that Grenelli would weaken, I wanted some +leeway for myself and you. Undoubtedly, the infernal machine was timed +for eight o'clock, and Grenelli knew it. He tried to hold on long +enough to insure our destruction, and yet get away himself, but he +couldn't be sure of those last few minutes. By-the-way, the box +containing the bomb must be at his house. It ought to be put out of +business at once. Can you get the fellow on his feet?" +</P> + +<P> +But it took some time to bring the man around, and it was more than +half an hour later before we got away, the three of us together in a +hansom. I should say that the lodging occupied by Grenelli and Day was +the loft of a disused private stable, situated in a side street, three +or four blocks off, and the driver was instructed to get there as +quickly as possible. As we passed a jeweler's place Grenelli glanced at +the electric-clock dial in the window and saw that it was twenty-five +minutes of eight. He had been deceived, then; he knew it instantly. +"But it worked both ways," he sneered. "I have my secret still." +</P> + +<P> +"Quite so," answered Indiman, and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +At the corner we were halted by a hail from the sidewalk. It was +Brownson, of the detective bureau. +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Indiman, but I want that man with you. +Charged with larceny of a package consigned to Oceanic Express Company. +I've been waiting for him all night." +</P> + +<P> +"By all means, officer," and the three of us got out. +</P> + +<P> +"I managed it pretty well, I think," continued Brownson. "Searched +every nook and corner of the stable where Grenelli and Day lived, and +finally I found the parcel. It answered precisely to the description, +and I sent it down by Officer Smith to the RUSSIA not more than an hour +ago." +</P> + +<P> +"To the RUSSIA! Why she sailed yesterday afternoon at four o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"Slight accident to her low-pressure cylinder," explained Brownson. +"She was delayed for several hours and was to sail early this morning. +I beg your pardon—why, excuse me, Mr. Indiman—" +</P> + +<P> +There was a public telephone in the corner shop, and Indiman dashed +into the booth, upsetting Officer Brownson into the gutter as he rushed +past him. The clerk at the pier of the Cis-Atlantic Company answered +that the RUSSIA had sailed a little before seven, and must be in the +lower bay by this time. Impossible to reach her, as the morning was +densely foggy and she carried no wireless apparatus. An indescribable +expression came into the man Grenelli's face as he realized what this +new turn of the kaleidoscope meant. But Indiman and I involuntarily +looked the other way. +</P> + +<P> +Officer Smith had returned from his mission, and apparently his +superior was not pleased with its outcome. +</P> + +<P> +"Block on the Elevated!" he exclaimed, disgustedly. "Always some +excuse. Then you missed the Russia?" +</P> + +<P> +"She had just been pulled into the stream when I reached the pier." +</P> + +<P> +"Where's the package?" +</P> + +<P> +"I brought it back with me." +</P> + +<P> +Now, to be honest, I jumped at that. It was possible that the booby had +the box under his coat, and it was now ten minutes of eight. But +Brownson, who didn't know, went on imperturbably. "You should have +handed it over to the representative of the express company. What did +you do with it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's at the stable where Grenelli lived," explained Officer Smith. "I +locked it up in a bureau drawer, and here's the key." +</P> + +<P> +Brownson looked at his subordinate patronizingly. "You have much to +learn, young man—" he began. "Much to learn. Hallo! Something's blown +up down the block." +</P> + +<P> +Well, to sum up briefly, there was no stable left. Fortunately no one +had been injured by the explosion, and the outside damage was confined +to a few broken windows. We all went poking about in the ruins looking +for a clew to the mystery. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's that box, Brownson," said Indiman, suddenly. "The cover is +somewhat torn, but you can make out the address easily enough. It's the +lost property, certainly, and you've got the thief, too." He handed the +officer the package containing the alarm-clock. +</P> + +<P> +"That I have," answered the gratified Brownson. "Keep close eye on +Grenelli, Officer Smith, and I may be able to overlook your +shortcomings of this morning. I say, Mr. Indiman, but there's a regular +miracle in this 'ere business. Now, how do you suppose this blessed +little twopenny box ever come through an earthquake like that there." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll never tell you," said Indiman. +</P> + +<P> +We had been dining with Ellison, the deferred settlement of that little +account which we had been owing him since August. However, we made it +up, interest and all. The occasion had been an undeniably cheerful one, +and it was close to midnight when we finally separated. Ellison went on +his way up-town and Indiman and I stood on the corner waiting for a +hansom, for as it chanced there was not a single disengaged one in the +rank before the restaurant. "Here we are," said Indiman, and raised his +stick as a four-wheeler was about to pass us. But the driver made a +negative sign and drove on. "He has a fare, after all," said Indiman, +with some annoyance. "But look, Thorp!" +</P> + +<P> +The rolling shades at the doors had been closely drawn, but just as the +carriage came opposite us a sudden jolt displaced the spring catch of +the curtain and up it flew with a snap. There were two persons in the +cab, and the electric light from the corner shone full upon them. The +one nearest us was an undersized, swarthy-faced person who wore a +Turkish fez; his companion was a portly man attired in evening clothes +and having his head entirely enveloped in a bag of some dark material +gathered at the neck by a draw-string. +</P> + +<P> +With an exclamation that might pass for a blood-curdling Levantine oath +the man of the fez seized the window-curtain and pulled it down; the +carriage rolled on. +</P> + +<P> +"An extraordinary spectacle," I remarked. "There ought to be a big +story behind that." +</P> + +<P> +"I admit," said Indiman, calmly, "that it is not usual for gentlemen to +drive about town with their heads done up in black bags. Nevertheless, +I doubt if there is much in the mystery worthy of a connoisseur's +attention. It strikes me as smacking of the made-up, the theatric; it +has something of the air commercial about it—an advertisement, +perhaps." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" I retorted, warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, let the event decide. The cab's number—did you note it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +"It was No. 872," said Indiman. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Philadelphia Quizzing-Glass +</H3> + +<P> +Knowing that the number of the four-wheeler was 872, it was not a +difficult matter to begin the inquiry. But to secure any real +information—that was different. The driver, a respectable albeit +somewhat thick-headed Irishman, could offer only vague recollections of +his business for the night of November 16th. He had been lucky enough +to secure several fares, but there had been nothing in the appearance +of any of his passengers to attract his attention. A gentleman in +evening dress with his head tied up in a black bag and accompanied by a +man wearing a red fez! Certainly he would have taken notice of anything +like THAT. "Niver in my cab," asseverated honest Mulvihill. "I've been +hacking it for twenty years and carried some quare cargoes. But of that +sort—no, sorr!" +</P> + +<P> +Clearly there was nothing to be learned from the cabman, and he was +undoubtedly sincere in his protestations. The little peculiarities of +costume that had originally caught my eye were obviously unsuited for +public wear. The fez and the black bag had probably been brought into +use after the men of mystery had entered the cab, and it was only +through the accident of the suddenly released window-shade that Esper +Indiman and I had seen what we did. "No thoroughfare" stood out plainly +on this particular road. Then the humor took me to try conclusions with +Chance herself, the method a la Indiman. I chucked a silver dollar to +the cabman. "Whatever it's worth to you in time and distance," I said. +"Don't ask me any questions—go as you please." +</P> + +<P> +Hackman Mulvihill was a humorist in his way and he wanted to spare his +horse. Six times in succession we made the circuit of Madison Square +and never once off the walk. I was on the point of protesting, but I +remembered the rules of the game and held my tongue. Finally, we +started down-town by way of Fourth Avenue. Near Sixteenth Street and +Union Square the cab pulled up to the curb, an intimation that my +chartered voyage was over. +</P> + +<P> +"And now which way?" I inquired, smilingly. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Mulvihill regarded me with compassionate and somewhat unflattering +interest. "Be glory!" he said, frankly, "it's Bellevue that ye'll be +wanting afore long, and badly, too. Come, now, jist jump in again and +I'll rowl ye up there quiet and peaceable like. A touch of liver, sorr. +I know how it takes them. Maning a drop too much of the 'red-eye,'" he +added, under his breath. "Quiet, there, Noddy, ye black divil." +</P> + +<P> +It was with some difficulty that I convinced this good Samaritan of my +mental and physical equilibrium. Finally he drove off, wagging his head +doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"But which way?" I shouted after him. He would not answer in words, but +pointed eastward with his whip-stock. Eastward then it was. +</P> + +<P> +Between Union Square and Second Avenue there are several blocks of +dwelling-houses—a once fashionable and still highly respectable +residential neighborhood. The particular street does not matter, but I +was proceeding in the general direction of Stuyvesant Square and had +crossed Third Avenue. +</P> + +<P> +Being on the lower or shady side it was something of a surprise to +receive a flash of sunlight directly in the eye. I stepped back. On the +pavement at my feet there floated a blot of quivering yellow light; it +danced directly towards me, and again I was blinded by its dazzle. +</P> + +<P> +The reflection from a mirror, of course, but it took me several minutes +to determine its location. +</P> + +<P> +Ah, there it was—a peculiar combination, in polished copper, of triple +glasses fixed to the sill of a second-story window in the house +directly opposite. The device is in common use in Philadelphia and +Baltimore, but here in New York it must be classed as an exotic. Its +very name is unfamiliar, and I dub it the "Philadelphia Quizzing-Glass" +for want of a better term. You understand, of course, that the mirrors +are hinged together and adjustable to any angle. It is consequently +possible for an observer sitting in the room to remain entirely out of +sight and yet command a view of all that passes in the street below. An +ingenious contrivance, then, for keeping one's self informed upon the +business of the neighborhood. But New-Yorkers, if not less inquisitive, +are more energetic than their Quaker cousins, and prefer the direct +method of leaning out of the window, or, if need be, going down into +the street itself. Still, there is something to be said for the +"quizzing-glass," for we may look upon it as the range-finder of the +domestic fortress, forewarning us of the approach of the bore and the +process-server. Obviously, the ability to look round a corner may save +us from many of the minor complications that embitter modern life. +</P> + +<P> +I was under surveillance—that was certain. Now, should I submit to the +impertinence? It was easy to put an end to it by walking away. But I +had aspired to be a disciple of Esper Indiman, gentleman adventurer, +and here was a chance to take out a letter of marque on my own +account—one must look Fortune in the face to catch her smile. And so I +stood there immovable, until the dazzle in my eyes cleared away +signifying that the ordeal was at an end. Then I lifted my hat and +walked on, taking note of the house number—23l. +</P> + +<P> +The next day, Wednesday, it rained, but Thursday was clear, and it was +inevitable that I should pay a second visit to the house of the +quizzing-glass, as I had mentally christened it. Again I submitted to a +long scrutiny. Evidently the result was satisfactory, for the door of +the house was opened and a man ran quickly down the steps and came +towards me. He was a small man with an Oriental cast of features and he +wore a red fez. It sounds incredible, I admit, but such was the fact. +He addressed me civilly, but in somewhat imperfect English. +</P> + +<P> +"Morning, sar. It is a fine walk-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Delightful," I assented. +</P> + +<P> +"My mistress, sar—the Lady Allegra—she will be obligated of the honor +to have your company dinner. You have no engagement anticipatory?" He +stood with his head cocked a trifle to one side, smiling amiably. +</P> + +<P> +"To-night?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"That, sar, is my counselment. To-night, at clock nine." +</P> + +<P> +"Very good. I'll be here." +</P> + +<P> +Red-Fez shook his head deprecatingly. Finally, and after much +circumlocution, I gathered that I was not expected at No. 231. My +instructions were simply to be in waiting at the Worth Monument in +Madison Square at half-after eight; for the rest Red-Fez would hold +himself responsible. And upon this understanding we parted. +</P> + +<P> +"The Lady Allegra," I said, under my breath, as I walked home. "The +Lady Allegra." +</P> + +<P> +Up to this point I had kept my own counsel, but now I felt it my duty +to make a confidant of Indiman. He listened to my story with grave +attention. +</P> + +<P> +"It promises well—decidedly so," admitted Indiman. "Confound it! If it +were not for this unlucky accident of a sprained ankle—" and he +glanced ruefully at his injured limb encased in its plaster-of-Paris +form. +</P> + +<P> +"I like the name," I went on, somewhat irrelevantly. "The Lady Allegra." +</P> + +<P> +"There are possibilities in it," assented Indiman, grumpily. "Will you +hand me my solitaire cards—and, for Heaven's sake! stop kicking the +lacquer off the andirons." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I beg your pardon." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you understand what I mean. It isn't the andirons, but the +sight of your aggressively vigorous legs that moves me to childish +wrath. To be tied down here like a trussed pigeon! Better leave me to +my solitaire. I'll be more civilized after luncheon." Whereupon I +smiled and went out. +</P> + +<P> +Half-past eight o'clock; the Worth Monument; Red-Fez in a four-wheeler; +the carefully drawn window-curtains; the production of the black silk +bag with which to envelop my head—it all happened in accordance with +the playbill. At first I tried to keep some idea of distance and +direction, but I soon got confused and had to give it up. I could only +conjecture that the course was a long one, for I heard a clock striking +nine just as the cab stopped, and our pace had been a rapid one. +</P> + +<P> +"Thisaway, sar," whispered my guide, and I yielded to the gentle +pressure of his hand on my arm. The street door closed behind me, I +felt myself guided up a pair of stairs, a sharp turn to the right, and +we had arrived. But where? Then I realized that the black silk bag had +been removed from my head and I was free to use my eyes. An ironical +permission, truly, for I found myself in absolute darkness. Strain my +vision as I might, not a ray of light met the sensitive surface of the +retina. The blackness stood about me like a wall, immaterial, +doubtless, but none the less impenetrable. +</P> + +<P> +Deprived of sight, every mental faculty was instantly concentrated upon +the single sense of hearing. My conductor had left me. There was the +sound of a closing door and of padded foot-falls that trailed off into +nothingness; then silence. +</P> + +<P> +Out of the void came a sharp click as of a well-oiled gun-lock. It was +followed by the first notes of a piano-forte accompaniment. A soprano +voice began singing Schubert's "Fischermadchen." What a delicious +timbre! The clear resonance of a crystal bell. +</P> + +<P> +The beautiful melody ceased, but still I seemed to hear the faint, +sweet overtones born of its final breath, thin auditory flames that +flickered for an instant against the blank wall of the subconscious +sense, and then in their turn were gone. Entranced and motionless, I +waited. +</P> + +<P> +A sudden burst of light flooded the room, the radiation being indirect +and proceeding from electroliers sunken behind the ceiling cornice. The +apartment was of medium size, evidently the middle one of the ordinary +series of three rooms characteristic of New York City houses, and it +was furnished most simply—merely a table of Flemish oak with two +leather-backed chairs to match and some rugs. The walls and door spaces +were hung with red velvet draperies, which contrasted brilliantly with +the gorgeous, gold-leafed plastic-work of the cornices and ceiling. A +convex mirror, framed in massive silver gilt, hung on the side wall. A +second look showed that it was really a bull's-eye of crackled glass, +opal-tinted and translucent. It glowed as though illumined by some +inward fire (doubtless a concealed electric-light bulb), and the +shifting play of iridescent color was exquisitely beautiful. One could +compare it only with an imprisoned rainbow. I looked and wondered. +</P> + +<P> +"I have kept you waiting. A thousand apologies," said a voice at my +back. I turned to face a gentleman who must have entered from the front +room; so at least the draperies, still slightly swaying, attested. A +tall man, gray-haired, and of an extraordinary thinness—a caricature +of Don Quixote himself, if such a thing were possible. +</P> + +<P> +"The Lady Allegra," he went on, "is unfortunately indisposed. She begs +me to tender her apologies and regrets. I am her ladyship's resident +physician, and my name is Gonzales." His eyes, hidden behind smoked +glasses, examined me attentively. +</P> + +<P> +I murmured some words of conventional regrets, and, truth to tell, I +was bitterly disappointed. I turned as though to go. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the Lady Allegra's wish that you should dine here this evening," +continued Dr. Gonzales. "Solus, it is true, but the disappointment is a +mutual one; of that you may be assured." Again I bowed and intimated my +willingness to obey. +</P> + +<P> +The dining-room was an apartment of unusual size, panelled in Santo +Domingo mahogany, the rich color of the wood standing in admirable +contrast to the dark-green, watered silk with which the walls were +covered. A magnificent tapestry, representing Dido's hunting-party in +honor of AEneas, filled nearly the whole of one side wall, and on the +chimney-breast opposite hung a mirror similar in appearance to that in +the drawing-room. The illumination of the room was peculiar but +effective—four bronze female figures, each holding in her hands a +globe of translucent glass through which a mellow radiance diffused +itself. +</P> + +<P> +The table, large enough to accommodate King Arthur and his knights, was +beautifully set with plate and crystal, but only two covers had been +laid. Red-Fez, who had now assumed the functions of a butler, showed me +to my place, and then took up his stand behind the empty chair of his +mistress. The two serving-men began immediately upon their duties. +</P> + +<P> +It was an extraordinary repast, for to both my eye and my palate the +viands were utterly unknown. In fact, every dish had as its basis a +peculiar substance that in appearance faintly suggested isinglass. But +it had no taste, that I could discover, other than the flavor +communicated to it by the various sauces and dressings with which it +was served. It appeared first in the soup, and then, omitting the fish +course, I recognized it as the foundation of an excellent vol-au-vent. +It served again as a substitute for meat, compressed and moulded in the +form of French chops. There was even a passable imitation of a green +goose. I had a slice from the breast, and it tasted very well. The +philosophers tell us that there is an infinite power in suggestion. +That may account, in part at least, for the complacency with which I +accepted these remarkable perversions of the ordinary menu. If ideas +are the only realities, my green goose might have come straight from +Washington Market itself. +</P> + +<P> +The two vegetables, cauliflower an gratin and boiled potatoes, were +good to look at and good to eat, although neither of them had ever seen +a garden. There was a salad, too, with an incomparable dressing. +Finally, an excellent pudding. The wines and mineral waters, the +liqueurs and the coffee, were genuine. The fantastic cuisine of my +hostess extended only to the solid portions of the repast, and for this +I was secretly thankful. I don't like chemical burgundies, and the +"health-food" mochas and javas are only surprisingly good imitations of +exceedingly bad coffee. +</P> + +<P> +The chair opposite me remained unfilled, but each course was served at +the cover as scrupulously as though the Lady Allegra were actually +present. It made me feel a trifle uncomfortable at the first—the sight +of that vacant chair set back a little from the table, the napkin half +unfolded, the full wineglasses, the plate with its untouched food. And +once, when the foot-man offered the cauliflower to my invisible +vis-a-vis, it seemed as though she declined it. The man hesitated a +second and then passed on without putting a portion on the plate. For +the moment I was foolish enough to contemplate a similar refusal, but I +reconsidered—I am very fond of cauliflower. +</P> + +<P> +At the conclusion of dinner I took my cigar into the red drawing-room. +The lights had been lowered, and only the opalescent bull's-eye glowed +with undiminished brilliancy. I sat staring at it, and the outrageous +perplexity of the situation began to get on my nerves. I must get out +of here, and I half rose. Then I sank back, forgetting everything but +that marvellous voice. Again the Lady Allegra was singing, and could I +doubt that it was for me! David's "Charmant Oiseau," and then the gay +little gavotte from "Manon." +</P> + +<P> +What an astonishing repertoire—Chaminade, Schumann, Grieg, Richard +Strauss. Finally Schubert, and Schubert only, the last and the best +given, as it is meet, to him who is the master of all. The +rainbow-tinted orb of the wall mirror continued to hold my eyes; they +drooped and fell as the radiance grew fainter and yet fainter. +</P> + +<P> +When I awoke Red-Fez was standing at the bedside, hot-water can in +hand. "Morning, sar," he said, with gentle affability. "Will you permit +me to shaver you?" +</P> + +<P> +I jumped out of bed and went to the window. It was closed, although a +ventilator at the top admitted plenty of the outside air, and the glass +was of the opaque bull's-eye variety through which it is impossible to +see. I tried to throw up the sash, but it would not budge. +</P> + +<P> +I submitted in silence to the ministrations of Red-Fez, not choosing to +enter into any discussion with a servant. But I was sorely tempted to +protest when he proceeded to array me in an extraordinary robe of +cardinal silk in lieu of the ordinary masculine habiliments. Certainly +I could not leave the house enveloped in this ridiculous garment. My +dress clothes would have been bad enough, but there was no trace of +them to be seen. Evidently I should have to call Dr. Gonzales to +account, and having descended to the now familiar red drawing-room, I +sent Red-Fez with a request for an immediate audience. A few minutes +later he appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Am I a prisoner here?" I asked, abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"You await the Lady Allegra's pleasure," he answered, imperturbably. +"She is still indisposed. Possibly by to-night, but I cannot say +definitely." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not wish—" +</P> + +<P> +"Chut!" he interrupted, irritably. "It is a matter not of your wishes +but of her will. That is inevitable. Can you not understand?" +</P> + +<P> +I looked at the immovable figures of two footmen at the door and then +walked out to breakfast. An excellent meal it was, although I +recognized that the food was only an ingenious variation upon the theme +of the night before; that mysterious substance resembling isinglass was +the basis of everything set before me. It was the same with luncheon +and again at dinner. And, as on the previous night, it was an empty +chair that confronted me. Well, what did it matter, after all. Can you +even imagine what Schubert's "Linden-Tree" might be when perfectly sung? +</P> + +<P> +Is it an hallucination, then, that possesses me—some subtle +disturbance of the nerve-centres sapping the sources of will-power, +enfeebling even the physical energies? I do not know. Sometimes I am +ashamedly conscious that I do not greatly care. It is now a week since +I entered this house, and I have made but one attempt to reassert my +personal rights. Yesterday a sudden passion of resolution seized me; at +all hazards I must break the bonds imposed upon me by this invisible +enchantress. As I passed the door leading to the red drawing-room I put +my fingers in my ears—Ulysses and the sirens. But when I reached the +lower hall I walked plump into Dr. Gonzales, who fixed me with a +penetrating look. "Go back!" he said, authoritatively. "The Lady +Allegra sings—and for you." I listened; it was, "Ah, fors e lui." +</P> + +<P> +I divide my time between the library on the third floor and the red +drawing-room, where the strange beauty of the opal-tinted mirror holds +me possessed for hours together. Remember that the Lady Allegra still +maintains her tantalizing role of inviolable seclusion. It is through +her voice alone that she impresses her personality upon my senses. That +seems ridiculous, does it not? But then you have not heard her sing +"Ah, fors e lui." +</P> + +<P> +Yet, after all, the end came quickly. I shall be equally succinct in my +chronicle of the events leading up to it. +</P> + +<P> +As usual I had dined alone, and had afterwards submitted to the +customary examination at the hands of Dr. Gonzales. Why he should deem +it necessary to take my pulse and temperature and then ascertain my +weight and power of grip with such scrupulous exactitude I never +troubled to inquire. Indeed, it seemed such a puerile proceeding that I +have hitherto refrained from even mentioning it. To-night he seemed +ill-pleased with the results of his investigation. "You are losing +weight," he said, severely, "and you don't begin to grip within ten +pounds of what you registered a week ago." +</P> + +<P> +"What does it matter?" I answered, as indifferently as I felt. +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to eat more. No steam without fuel." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not hungry." +</P> + +<P> +"Bah!" he snorted, indignantly. "It is always the same story. Another +failure! But no, I will not suffer it. Sooner than that I will have you +penned and stuffed as though you were a Strasburg goose." But I only +laughed at his petulance and walked on to the drawing-room. +</P> + +<P> +I laughed, I say, and yet I had begun vaguely to realize that something +was wrong. My head felt strangely light. I stumbled over a corner of +the rug, and would have fallen out of pure weakness if I had not caught +at the table for support. My respiration seemed more rapid than usual +and the sweat from the slight exertion beaded my forehead. Then I +forgot everything but that the Lady Allegra had begun to sing. +</P> + +<P> +The desire, the impulse, they had crystallized into resolution. I would +wait no longer. This very night the walls of the fortress should fall, +unveiling the secret of this insolent loveliness, the desire of all the +world. Ah, my lady Allegra, was it chance alone that led you to choose +Isolde's "Liebestod" for this the supreme enchantment? +</P> + +<P> +The music fell away into nothingness and I stepped forward, my hand on +the knob of the folding-doors that led to the front room. I knocked +twice—firmly, insistently. "Open!" I cried, and immediately the +door-knob yielded to my touch. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Gonzales stood at the hall entrance to the drawing-room. I saw +something that gleamed like polished metal in his uplifted hand. Then +he fell back and disappeared. It seemed as though some invisible force +behind the portiere had taken sudden and irresistible possession of +him. What did I care. I went forward and into the room, absolutely +empty save for an upright cabinet of mahogany placed on a central +pedestal. It was tall enough to conceal a person standing behind it, +but it was not the Lady Allegra who came forward to meet me. +</P> + +<P> +"Indiman!" I said, weakly. "Esper Indiman!" +</P> + +<P> +"The carriage is waiting," he said. "Come." +</P> + +<P> +"Never!" I retorted, passionately. "You don't understand—the +Lady—Allegra—" +</P> + +<P> +Well, I suppose I must have fainted from sheer inanition, and so +Indiman explained it himself that next morning. +</P> + +<P> +"You had been half starved for over a week, and no wonder you keeled +over. No; you can't have another mouthful of that beef-steak. You'll +have to wait for luncheon." +</P> + +<P> +I sank back among the cushions of the couch rather resentfully. "Well, +at least you can go on and tell me," I said. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly. There are cranks of all degrees, as you know. It was your +luck to fall into the hands of one of the king-pins of the +confraternity—Dr. Ferdinand Gonzales, alias Moses the Second. +</P> + +<P> +"He wanted a new subject for his experiments upon the physical +regeneration of the human race, and he caught you in his drag-net. It +was a close call for you, old chap." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand." +</P> + +<P> +"You have been starving to death for ten days, and yet eating three +meals a day right along. Nothing peculiar about that, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"It WAS rather curious stuff. It looked like isinglass." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps it is. All I care about is the fact that the food you have +been eating doesn't contain a particle of nourishment for the human +system. But Moses the Second imagined that he had invented, or rather +rediscovered, the one perfect nutriment for the race—nothing less than +manna." +</P> + +<P> +"Manna!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you remember the manna in the wilderness, the children of +Israel, and the forty years they fed upon it. Dr. Gonzales, who was +really a fine chemist before he went dotty, got the idee fixe that all +human ills were due to improper food. He tackled the problem, at first +scientifically, but later on he had a vision that he was really the +reincarnation of the Prophet Moses. Moses and manna—the connection is +obvious and the secret was soon in his possession. He manufactured the +stuff in his own laboratory and lived on it himself—at least to the +verge of physical extinction. Then he went gunning for subjects, and +you know the rest. The rubbish fills you up without nourishing you, and +what you lived on was really stimulants alone—the wine and coffee." +</P> + +<P> +"But will you tell me—how did you chance to find—" +</P> + +<P> +"For the first few days I didn't dream of interfering—it was your own +adventure. But on Monday—that's yesterday, you know—I determined to +look things up a bit. So I walked into No. 231 and scared Mr. Red-Fez +into a few plain truths. His real name is Dawson, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"It was simply an immensely improved sort of phonograph that Gonzales +had invented. None of the harshness and squeakiness of tone that you +associate with the ordinary instrument. Partly a new method of making +the records and partly a system of qualifying chambers that refine and +purify the tones. It is wonderful enough to deceive anybody, and, of +course, he had all his records ready to hand." +</P> + +<P> +"Then the Lady Allegra, the Lady Allegra—" +</P> + +<P> +"'Vox et preterea nihil,'" quoted Indiman. He left the room quietly, +and I lay there on the lounge staring up at the ceiling. "'Vox et +preterea nihil.'" +</P> + +<P> +Two months have passed and I am slowly recuperating in body and mind. +But there are some things not to be forgotten—for instance, "Ah, fors +e lui," when sung by the most beautiful voice in all the world. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman proposes that we shall go to the Utinam Club, dine, and spend +the night. Well, we don't often indulge in that rather questionable +amusement, although we are accustomed to use the club freely throughout +the daytime. All the more reason, then, that once in a while—I need a +distraction and there are some interesting psychological +deductions—But hang casuistry; it is enough to say that we did go. +</P> + +<P> +It is undeniably pleasant to be sitting here in the club dining-room +sharing a ruddy duck and a bottle of burgundy. Yes, and to feel the +cares, the disappointments, the burdens of life dropping off one by +one; to be able to dismiss them with a nod as one gives an unfortunate +beggar his conge. Ills that one need not bear; evils that it is no +longer necessary to endure—they have all been eliminated by the simple +process of excluding from the spectrum the ultra blue-and-violet rays. +A palpable evasion, of course. Call it immoral, if you will, and I +shall not lift the gauntlet. Why should we quarrel over phrases when it +is only required to return thanks to the good Dr. Magnus for his +beneficent discovery? That is enough for me at least. Carpe diem, or, +more precisely, noctem. +</P> + +<P> +It was Dr. Magnus himself who later on introduced us to Chivers in the +common room—Chivers, a little man of Semitic physiognomy, with a hard, +knobbed face and a screw of black beard. He addressed himself +effusively to Indiman, while the doctor and I remained spectators, +silent but interested. +</P> + +<P> +"A dealer in adventures, a specialist in the grotesque—ah, I like +that, Mr. Indiman. The rest of us"—this with a gesture inexpressibly +mean and fawning—"prefer to haggle over the lion's skin after it has +been cured and dressed. It's a mere question of temperament, dear sir." +</P> + +<P> +"What have you to say to me?" inquired Indiman, abruptly. I could see +that he wanted to kick him. +</P> + +<P> +"I have an adventure—of the first class. I desire to dispose of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"A noble, a surpassing adventure. Moreover, a commercial opening that +is not to be despised—fifty per cent on your capital every six months." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"I offer you, then, my well-established business of adjuster of +averages, good-will and office fixtures included." +</P> + +<P> +"But I never even heard of such a profession. I know nothing about +averages and their adjustment." +</P> + +<P> +"What difference! It is the adventure that particularly concerns you, +is it not? The business—pouf! it runs itself." "And the terms?" +</P> + +<P> +"I make them ridiculously easy. You are to take over the business, +including the lease of my offices in the Barowsky Brothers' bank +building, William H. Seward Square. In return for this accommodation I +am prepared to pay you the sum of ten thousand dollars." Mr. Chivers +grinned cheerfully as he concluded this astounding proposition. He +pulled ten new one-thousand-dollar bills from his waistcoat-pocket and +laid them on the table. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman regarded the little man thoughtfully. "You have been in +business for your health?" he inquired, with an affectation of polite +interest. +</P> + +<P> +"You have hit it exactly," returned the imperturbable Chivers. "I was +pretty rocky when I first went to William H. Seward Square. But the air +in that Yiddish country—wonderful, dear sir. Regard me; punch, poke, +pound where and how you like. Sound as a bell you'll find me. Now I +pass on. I yield place to you. The honor, dear sir, is mine." +</P> + +<P> +"I confess that I am interested," said Indiman. "The conditions are +simply—" +</P> + +<P> +"Your personal day and night tenancy of the chambers in the Barowsky +Building for a period of not less than three months. I should have +explained that the rooms really form a bachelor's suite, all furnished, +of course." +</P> + +<P> +"There are papers to sign?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only the assumption of the office lease, and I'll give you a bill of +sale for the furniture." Mr. Chivers laid the documents before Indiman; +the latter glanced them over and drew out his fountain-pen. A quick +look, one of satisfaction and understanding, passed between Chivers and +Dr. Magnus. I caught it and tried to convey a warning to my friend. But +he had already affixed his signature to the lease of the offices in the +Barowsky bank building. Chivers did the same for the bill of sale. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman gathered up the ten one-thousand-dollar bills and stuffed them +into his pocket. "Want a receipt?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not necessary." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, at least, we must have a bumper to celebrate the conclusion of +the transaction. Waiter." +</P> + +<P> +We took a cab in the gray of the dawning hour and drove home. As might +have been predicted, my spirits had dropped to the zero-point again. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like it—frankly, I don't, old man. What if it should be a +trap?" +</P> + +<P> +Indiman laughed heartily. "Why, of course, it's a trap," he said. +"That's plain as a pike-staff, whatever a pike-staff itself may be. +It's the particular kind of a trap that interests me. The why and the +wherefore." +</P> + +<P> +Arrived at the house, Indiman handed a bill to the driver and we +ascended the steps. But the cabman seemed dissatisfied with his +treatment. "Hey, there!" he called once, and then again. Indiman turned +impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what is it?" he asked +</P> + +<P> +"You can see for yourself, guv'nor. A mistake, ain't it?" +</P> + +<P> +It was one of the thousand-dollar bills that the honest cabby was +holding up. What a phenomenon in the way of a hackman! And yet the New +York night-hawks are no fools and thousand-dollar bills are easy to +trace. Indiman gave the man fifty dollars as a reward of virtue and he +was more than satisfied. But something still remained on his conscience +thus agreeably stimulated. +</P> + +<P> +"'Scuse me, guv'nor," he went on, "but here's another little job in the +same line of business. I drove a gentleman to your club early in the +evening, and he must have left it accidental in the cab. Maybe you know +him." +</P> + +<P> +It was a plain white envelope bearing the typewritten address: +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Orrin Chivers, Nos. 13-15 Barowsky Chambers, Seward Square, New +York. +</P> + +<P> +The envelope had been opened, but the enclosure still remained in it. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," said Indiman. "I'll take charge of it." The cabman touched +his hat and drove away. +</P> + +<P> +We went up to the library and proceeded to examine the treasure trove. +It consisted of a long strip of thin bluish paper less than a quarter +of an inch in width and containing a succession of apparently arbitrary +and unmeaning characters written in ink. I reproduce a section of the +strip, which should make my description more intelligible. +</P> + +<P> +Indiman looked at the hieroglyphics musingly. "Important—if true," he +murmured. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Adjuster of Averages +</H3> + +<P> +It was on December 21st that Indiman took up his tenancy of the offices +in the Barowsky Building. I should have been glad to have accompanied +him, but he would not have it. It was the dealer's hand at bridge and +must be played alone. And owing to the accident of a slight attack of +grippe it was some ten days later before I was able to call upon him in +his new quarters. +</P> + +<P> +William H. Seward Square has its unique features. Lying in the heart of +the East Side, it is outside the regular lines of north and south +travel. There are thousands of otherwise well-informed New-Yorkers to +whom its very name is unknown. And yet it is an important political +centre, the capital of the Yiddish country, and the recipient of many +special favors at the hands of a paternal municipality. There are still +streets in the up-town districts whose pavement is the antiquated +Belgian blocks or even cobble-stones, but none in Yiddishland; here +everything is asphalted. You may trust the district leader to take care +of his own. +</P> + +<P> +A fine, stone building forms the principal architectural feature of the +square on the west side. It contains the free baths and would be a +credit to any part of the city. Most of the remaining space is given +over to the children for a playground. There is a semi-enclosed +gymnasium for the boys, hand-ball and tether-ball courts, a separate +enclosure for the girls and smaller children—in a word, every form of +amusement and exercise that is practicable in a public institution of +comparatively limited area. The children enjoy it, too. They come in +droves, and the swings and flying rings are in constant use. +</P> + +<P> +It is like going to a foreign country. The shop signs, written in +Hebrew characters, suggest a combination of horseshoes and +carpet-tacks, and you may walk for blocks without hearing an English +word spoken. Ask your whereabouts of a street boy and he will quite +likely turn pale and edge away. He does not understand. You are an +alien, a foreign devil. +</P> + +<P> +The Barowsky Brothers' bank building is the show-place of the district. +It is a staring white structure covered with gilt business signs and +adorned with abortive minarets that give it an air distinctly Oriental. +The entrance hall and the banking-rooms are sumptuous. They recall the +Arabian Nights and the word-painting of a circus poster. Mirrors, +gilding, mosaics—it is all a dream of luxury and impresses one with a +realizing sense of the financial standing of the Barowsky Brothers. You +must have a good front in the Yiddish country if you expect to handle +other people's money. +</P> + +<P> +Esper Indiman, adjuster of averages, occupied a suite of rooms on the +fifth floor. I proceeded thither and found him in. We sat down and +smoked amicably. +</P> + +<P> +"How is business?" I asked. "Have you adjusted many averages to-day? +And, by-the-way, I'm rather taken with the title of your new trade. +'Adjuster of averages'—there's an imposing note of omnipotence in the +words." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a perfectly legitimate occupation. You'll find it listed in the +business directory." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, and never mind the details. I'm satisfied with its face +value, a brevet of vice-gerency. God knows there are plenty of averages +to be adjusted in this weary old world." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I may have some accounts to balance before I take down my sign," +said Indiman, with a grim little smile. "I'm glad you came in to-day, +Thorp; I've been wanting to have a talk with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Fire away," I answered, flippantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Come into the back room," and he led the way. +</P> + +<P> +The suite ran through the building. There was a good-sized room facing +on the square, fitted up with ordinary office furniture; back of that a +bath-room, and then the rear office, which had been turned into a +bachelor's living-room. There were bookcases, rugs, pictures, a big +mahogany writing-table, an open fireplace, easy-chairs—everything to +make life comfortable. "And the couch over there is my bed," concluded +Indiman. "I'm pretty well fixed, you see." +</P> + +<P> +"Decidedly so." +</P> + +<P> +"Intellectual diversion in abundance; even the artistic element is not +wholly wanting." +</P> + +<P> +He stepped over to a table in the far corner; a phonographic machine of +some kind stood upon it. Indiman touched a lever, and again I heard +that unforgettable melody, "Ah, fors e lui," and in her voice—her +voice! A cry escaped me. Indiman pushed me back into my chair. "Be good +enough to listen," he said, and I obeyed. +</P> + +<P> +"While you have been laid up," he began, "I have been amusing myself +with a little theory building. I had taken the liberty to sequestrate +the remarkable phonographic apparatus of your quondam friend Dr. +Gonzales; in fact, I carried it away in the same carriage with your +honorable self from the house of the Philadelphia 'quizzing-glass.' The +police didn't notice—that was all. +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Gonzales was a genius, and his instrument is a revolution in +phonographs—purity of tone, perfect enunciation, and all that. But the +really interesting thing (to me as to you) was not the machine, but the +records that it used. To whom belonged the voice that these little +disks and cylinders so faithfully reproduced? It was a real woman who +had poured the passion and sorrow of life into this insentient +mechanism. And the medium had been sufficient; your heart had responded. +</P> + +<P> +"You were my friend, and I could not be indifferent to aught that +concerned you. We are, neither of us, sentimental, so the bare +statement of the fact is sufficient. You were on your back, and so it +was my part to go to work. I did. +</P> + +<P> +"It is unprofitable business looking for a needle in a hay-stack when +you can buy a packet of the best helix No. 8's at any shop for a +nickel. But after spending a blank week interviewing the makers of +phonographic records I began to feel doubtful of my economic theory. +Nowhere could I find the slightest trace of this particular job of +record-making. And then one day I ran across a chap named Hugens, who +was in the business in a small way. His place was three blocks east of +the Bowery, but I've forgotten the name of the cross street. +</P> + +<P> +"It was the usual experience at first—no information—but something +told me that the man was lying. Finally, I pretended to give up the +inquiry and left the shop. It was after dark on a snowy January +afternoon, and I started to walk over to the Madison Avenue cars. I +dawdled along purposely so as to give the telephone time to get in its +work, and the affair turned out exactly as I had foreseen. At Elm +Street a couple of fellows jostled against me, and when the mix-up was +over the parcel containing my two sample records was gone. That was all +that had been wanted; my watch, pin, and money had not been touched. +</P> + +<P> +"It was plain, then, that some one had an interest in preventing my +tracing up these particular records. Not Hugens, of course, but his +client, whoever he might be. Well, at least, it made the case more +interesting—yes, and more promising. Two nights later the house in +Madison Avenue was entered by second-story men while I was at dinner. +But the records and repeating apparatus had been removed to the +safe-deposit vaults, and my unknown opponent had drawn another blank. +</P> + +<P> +"Getting exciting, wasn't it? And then for a month or more nothing +happened. You continued to convalesce and I kept on thinking. +</P> + +<P> +"This impersonal opposition—well, there had been something of the same +sort once or twice before. You remember, in particular, the affair of +the private letter-box. A devilish intelligence had been at work there, +and some day, as I told you, the mystery would be cleared up. +</P> + +<P> +"Then did we ever know who Mr. Aram Balencourt really was? An agent of +the 'Forty'? Well, perhaps so, but I can't help thinking that there was +always a bigger man behind him. The same conclusion would apply to the +case of that poor wretch Grenelli in the affair of the Russia and the +box of dynamite. Some one with brains pulled the strings to make all +these marionettes dance. +</P> + +<P> +"Finally, there was your own adventure with the amiable Dr. Gonzales. +Did he ever remind you, even indefinitely, of some one else whom you +had known? Think carefully. Well, it doesn't matter. I was deceived +myself, and when I afterwards went to the Bellevue insane pavilion to +make some inquiries I found that he had long since been discharged as +cured. +</P> + +<P> +"There was just one hypothesis—the existence somewhere of a strong and +alert personality; a genius along mechanical and scientific lines; a +creature of abnormally developed mentality and correspondingly +defective ethical nature; an intelligence absolutely passionless and +ruthless, playing the game entirely for its own sake, and equally +indifferent to the end and to the means used to attain it—in other +words, a monster. Quite an elaborate theory, you observe; but the +difficulty was to fit it to the individual. Looking back on the +problem, I accuse myself of being rather slow-witted. Right under my +eyes and yet only an accident opened them. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you recall the night at the Utinam when we met Mr. Chivers and I +accepted his very liberal proposition to become an adjuster of +averages. Of course, it was a trap, but what connoisseur of the +adventure grotesque could refuse such a bait? All I wanted to know was +with whom I was expected to match wits. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, the thousand-dollar bills were counterfeits—stage money? +Not at all; every one was as good as the gold it called for at the +sub-treasury. Bribery? From whom and for what? Doubtless I should know +later. As it happened, I found out a little ahead of time. +</P> + +<P> +"You remember the incident of the honest cabman and the hieroglyphic +letter which he turned over to me? Here it is, addressed, as you +observe, to Mr. Chivers." +</P> + +<P> +Indiman drew from a locked drawer in the big centre-table the long +strip of bluish paper covered with its incomprehensible dashes. "One of +the oldest of devices for secret writing," he remarked. "This slip of +paper was originally wrapped about a cylinder of a certain diameter and +the message traced upon it, and it can only be deciphered by rerolling +it upon another cylinder of the same diameter. Easy enough to find the +right one by the empiric method—I mean experiment. Once you recognize +the fundamental character of the cryptogram the rest follows with +ridiculous certainty. Behold!" +</P> + +<P> +Indiman took a long, round, slender stick from the mantel-piece and +proceeded to wrap the ribbon of bluish paper about it, touching both +ends with paste to keep the slip in place. It read in part: +</P> + +<P> +"He will not find the girl, but so long as those records remain in his +possession the possibility continues to exist. I leave it with you to +make the bargain, and if he is not altogether a fool he will be content +with his ten thousand dollars, and Nos. 13-15 Barowsky Chambers will be +again without a tenant. Otherwise—and it is generally otherwise with +these meddlers—there will have to be a new adjustment of +averages—what a felicitous phrase!—and this, as usual, I will take +upon myself. One way or the other, and, personally, I don't care a +straw which it is." +</P> + +<P> +The name signed to this curious epistle was David Magnus. +</P> + +<P> +"Our Dr. Magnus of the Utinam," explained Indiman, but I hardly heard +him. One overwhelming thought obscured everything else—there was a +real Lady Allegra, after all. That was it—to find her, and I had the +clew. I must go at once. But Indiman restrained me. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that is precisely what I want you to do, only let us first +understand the situation thoroughly. I intend remaining here during the +progress of the investigation, and if anything should happen—" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pleasant rooms, aren't they?" and he looked about him approvingly. +"And yet three men have been found sitting dead in the particular chair +that I am now occupying." +</P> + +<P> +I only stared at him. +</P> + +<P> +"No marks of violence," continued Indiman. "Nothing to indicate foul +play; nothing, mind you. 'Dead by the visitation of God,' according to +the coroner, but I should call it an 'adjustment of averages.' That is +a felicitous phrase. I got my facts, by-the-way, from the janitor. He +is rather proud of the affair Barowsky, as we may call it." +</P> + +<P> +"A monster, indeed!" I exclaimed, warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we mustn't misjudge our good Dr. Magnus," said Indiman, +indulgently. "I used the word 'monster' in a purely psychological +sense. You can't call such a being immoral; he is simply unmoral." +</P> + +<P> +"Not even a criminal lunatic." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly not. But I acknowledge that society would be justified in +protecting itself from such a creature. And it will." +</P> + +<P> +"But why should you remain here, exposed to danger?" +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Thorp, I want to play the game. I'm sure it's one worthy of my +best attention." +</P> + +<P> +We argued it out for an hour or more, but Indiman was not to be moved +from his position. So it came back to his original proposition. I was +to take up the search on the outside for the Lady Allegra, and Indiman +was to hold the fort at Nos. 13-15 Barowsky Chambers. I rose to go. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't need these, do you?" he asked, a little doubtfully, picking +up one of the phonographic cylinders. I shook my head. As though I +could have forgotten the smallest inflection of that voice! So we +parted. +</P> + +<P> +It had resolved itself into the needle in a hay-stack, after all. Where +was I to look and for what? A voice! "Vox et preterea nihil," to quote +again that beloved Vergilian line. To the unprejudiced mind it would +seem hopeless enough, and yet I never doubted for an instant but that I +should find her. If a man is sure that the world holds the one woman +intended for him he may be equally confident that their paths will +somewhere, somehow, sometime intersect. +</P> + +<P> +It was the middle of the musical season, and I attended everything from +grand opera to music-hall. For the first and most obvious procedure was +to assume that the Lady Allegra was a professional singer. Either that +or in the very front rank of amateurs. As to the latter, I had always +been more or less in with the musical set, and I knew of no one who +came within a mile of filling my bill of particulars. +</P> + +<P> +A professional, then, but not necessarily high up on the ladder. Merit +may wait a long time for its due recognition. So I did not despise the +humble field of vaudeville and of the continuous performance houses. +</P> + +<P> +Week after week passed without result, and it was now the 1st of March. +I saw Indiman every few days and the game dragged equally with him. +Chivers had called half a dozen times, and was now openly negotiating +for the possession of the phonographic cylinders. But Indiman fenced +skilfully and kept him hanging on. +</P> + +<P> +One night I was strolling through East Houston Street. A transparency +caught my eye. It announced that a performance of high-class vaudeville +was in progress. I paid my dime and entered. +</P> + +<P> +A long, low-studded room, dim with tobacco-smoke and redolent of stale +beer. At the far end a small stage with faded red hangings. The card +read No. 7, and the programme informed me that the turn was "A Bouquet +of Ballads." A slight, fair-haired girl appeared on the stage. Her +cheeks were burning, and she kept her eyes fixed on the floor. The +piano jangled, and she began her song, Schubert's "Linden-Tree." Her +voice shook and quavered as she went on, but I knew it. I had found the +Lady Allegra. +</P> + +<P> +The audience listened indifferently. This sort of thing did not appeal +to East Houston Street sensibilities, and there was no applause at the +end. The girl essayed a few bars of her second number, a popular air in +trivial waltz time, but with even poorer success. Then she broke down +altogether and retired distressfully. Cat-calls and jeers, of course. +</P> + +<P> +But one turn had been allotted to "Mavis," as she was called in the +bill, and I assumed that she would shortly leave the place. I went +outside and waited. Within ten minutes I saw her emerging from the +performer's entrance, cloaked and deeply veiled. But I could not be +mistaken. I stood stock-still like any fool as she passed close to me. +What was I to do? +</P> + +<P> +Then good-fortune smiled for once, and in gratitude for that surpassing +indulgence I hereby relinquish all claim upon the lady for favors to +come, now and forever. As the girl passed down the street a couple of +pasty-faced young men stepped forward. I saw her stop and shrink away. +A half-dozen steps and I had shoved in between them. The presumptuous +youths sprawled to opposite points of the compass and I had drawn her +hand through my arm. I could feel it tremble, but I carried her onward +exultantly, masterfully. A man takes his own when he finds it. Then at +the next street-lamp I stopped and released her. Within the circle of +the light we stood and gazed into each other's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The Lady Allegra who was! It seems odd to think of her now as Alice +Allaire—a pretty enough name but not particularly romantic. And when +she changes it to Thorp, as she has just promised to do—But perhaps I +am going a bit too fast. However, her story is simplicity itself. +</P> + +<P> +My dear girl is an orphan, and six months ago she went to live with her +guardian and uncle, David Magnus. But the situation quickly became +intolerable. The attentions of the odious creature Olivers were openly +encouraged by Dr. Magnus, and the child, although friendless and in a +strange city, had no recourse but to run away. Surely, her voice would +secure her a living! But the weeks passed and her store of money was +running dangerously low. The Houston Street vaudeville had been the one +chance that had offered, and she had hoped to make it good. But that +first appearance had been her last. After the fiasco of which I had +been a witness she had been discharged on the spot. We smile as we +recall it now, but it had been a terrible catastrophe to contemplate at +the time. What would you have done? +</P> + +<P> +We went straight to Indiman, and he listened with close attention. +</P> + +<P> +"You have property, then?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Allaire looked troubled. "There is money. I even think it must be +a large estate. But I don't know; my uncle never spoke of my affairs." +</P> + +<P> +"One of those cases where it is virtually impossible to prove +anything," said Indiman to me. "Nevertheless, Magnus would be quite +satisfied to have the absence of his niece made a permanent one—it +saves the bother of making any explanations whatever." +</P> + +<P> +"The phonographic records were the only clew," I observed. "At least he +thought so." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and consequently he has been working all this while to get them +away from me. We're ready now to make a deal, but I'd like to know what +stakes are on the table before playing a card." +</P> + +<P> +"There was an ante of ten thousand dollars, you remember." +</P> + +<P> +"Quite so. Well, Miss Allaire, if you are willing to have me play the +partie in your behalf—" +</P> + +<P> +"I could ask for nothing better," said the girl, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Agreed, then. And, really, I think it is the only chance. Magnus is +too clever a man not to have covered his tracks, and in an ordinary +legal battle you would probably be worsted. But he doesn't want a fight +if he can help it, and that is the club I propose to use. Now you'll +have to go, for I expect Chivers at two." +</P> + +<P> +I am glad that I glanced back for that last time as we left the room. +Indiman was smiling, his head thrown back and his eyes aglow. The fight +was on, and he was awaiting it as another man might his bride. To be +remembered at one's best; I know I should wish that for myself. +</P> + +<P> +A fortnight passed. I had not heard a word from Indiman, and I dared +not intrude upon him without an invitation. I had taken Miss Allaire to +the Margaret Louise Home for Women, but two weeks is the limit of +residence there. What was to be done now? My own slender funds were +exhausted and Alice had not a penny. So we did the wisest possible +thing under the circumstances—or the most foolish, whichever you care +to term it. An hour after we had been married I went down to Printing +House Square and literally forced a city editor's hand for an +assignment to general reportorial work. At least we should not starve. +I informed Indiman by letter of the event, but received no reply. +</P> + +<P> +On the afternoon of the 21st of March I was in the city room of the +Planet. Mr. Dodge, the city editor, beckoned to me. He spoke quickly: +</P> + +<P> +"Our representative at Police Headquarters has just telephoned that a +man has been found dead in the Barowsky Brothers' bank building, and +there's some yarn to the effect that he is the fourth to die alone in +that particular office. Better go down and take a look at things. May +be a good story in it." +</P> + +<P> +So there was, but the Planet never published it; they accepted my +resignation in lieu of an explanation. +</P> + +<P> +I tried to think of indifferent matters as I hurried over to William H. +Seward Square, but my heart kept pounding against my ribs. Could it be +that Indiman—that he had lost the game? +</P> + +<P> +There was the usual crowd of curiosity-mongers hanging about the bank +building, and of course the police had taken charge. But the sergeant +happened to be well disposed towards newsmen, and my Planet badge +procured me instant admission to the scene of the tragedy. I passed +into the back room. I could see the rigid figure sitting in the big +chair. I forced myself to look at him squarely. +</P> + +<P> +The dead man was David Magnus. +</P> + +<P> +I went straight from William H. Seward Square to our boarding-house. A +bulky package had just come for me through a special-delivery +messenger. It contained negotiable securities to the amount of two +hundred and fifty thousand dollars; also a half-dozen sheets of +letter-paper in Indiman's handwriting. I transcribe the latter: +</P> + +<P> +"Congratulations, my dear Thorp, on your marriage. They're a bit +belated, I know, but I haven't been in the mood for writing of late. +Moreover, I wanted to make sure of Mrs. Thorp's dowry. I enclose the +proceeds of the campaign, and fancy that the settlement isn't so far +out of the way. But then our good friend Magnus never expected that he +would be called upon to pay it. Here's the story as I wrote it down +from day to day. +</P> + +<P> +"March 1. It's plain enough that Magnus has been embezzling the fortune +of his niece, Miss Allaire. From what the girl could tell me of her +late parent's mode of living I put them down as being comfortably off, +if not rich. So I have intimated that I might consider an offer of +fifty thousand dollars for the phonographic records in my safe-deposit +vault. At least I will now draw the enemy's fire. +</P> + +<P> +"March 3. Chivers has called and affects to regard my proposition as +absurd. I have riposted by raising my price to seventy-five thousand +dollars. He protested angrily, and I immediately made it one hundred +thousand dollars. +</P> + +<P> +"March 8. Five days of silence and then another call from Chivers. I +met him with the statement that now I would not take less than one +hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. He seemed flurried and said +that he would have to consult his principal. 'As you like,' I remarked, +carelessly, 'but it will then cost you one hundred and fifty thousand +dollars.' Magnus is evidently alarmed and is wondering how much I +really know. +</P> + +<P> +"March 9. No word from the hostile camp. The inference is that I may +now look for a move on my antagonists' part, 'Otherwise,' as he says in +that precious note, 'there will have to be a new adjustment of +averages.' Precisely. +</P> + +<P> +"The position is probably a dangerous one, and I must take the obvious +precautions. To begin with, I shall not leave these rooms until the +affair is over, and I have made arrangements with an up-town restaurant +to supply me with my meals in sealed vessels. I am thus insured against +a street assault and poison. But all this is probably useless. The +Magnus method of attack will be far more subtle. +</P> + +<P> +"I have just written to Chivers that two hundred thousand dollars will +now be necessary if he wants those phonographic records. +</P> + +<P> +"March 11. I have had a talk with Louis, the janitor, about the +Barowsky 'affairs.' Three men found dead in the big chair that faces +the centre-table in my living-room. The date in every case was the 21st +of March. If not an extraordinary coincidence there is food for +reflection in this plain statement. It gives me ten clear days, and I +can eat my dinner to-night in comparative comfort. +</P> + +<P> +"March 12. I have assumed that the psychological moment is scheduled +for March 21st, but both the direction and the nature of the blow are +still unknown. I have made a minute examination of the rooms and all +that they contain, but can discover nothing in the nature of a trap. +There are no secret doors, no collapsing walls, no hidden tubes for the +dissemination of poisonous vapors. My windows are not overlooked from +any outside point of vantage, thus eliminating the silent bullet of the +air-gun. In a word, the machinery of the melodrama seems to be entirely +non-existent. And yet I know that unless I can get the end of the clew +before the 21st of March I shall sit dead in the big chair over there, +just as the three who have gone before me. +</P> + +<P> +"March 18. Still no answer from Chivers. I have sent him a final +communication fixing my price at two hundred and fifty thousand +dollars, and saying that unless the proposition is accepted within +three days further negotiations will be broken off. +</P> + +<P> +"March 19. The offer is accepted. At noon on Friday, the 21st, two +hundred and fifty thousand dollars in negotiable securities will be +placed in my hands, and I am to give in return an order on the +safe-deposit company for the phonographic plates. But there is one +paragraph in the letter that puzzles me. It reads: +</P> + +<P> +"'My client will come in person on Friday to conclude the business, but +only in the event of the day being bright and sunny. If rainy or cloudy +you may expect him at a somewhat earlier hour on Saturday or the next +clear day whichever it may be.' +</P> + +<P> +"Now what does this mean? On the face of it, a disinclination on the +part of an elderly gentleman to expose himself to these chill March +winds. But Magnus is not very old, and he does not look in the least +rheumatic. +</P> + +<P> +"I have forgotten to mention the one peculiarity that I discovered in +the furniture of my living-room. The big chair is immovably fixed to +the floor, its heavy pivot-base being riveted down to an iron +bed-plate. And the chair itself is not made of mahogany, as I had +supposed, but of an unknown metallic alloy that simulates the wood very +closely. Well, I was prepared for something like this. +</P> + +<P> +"Another interesting point. The windows in the living-room face in a +southerly direction, and the sun is now every day getting a little +farther round, penetrating a little deeper, at every noon hour, into +the room. On the 21st it will cross the line, and at least one ray will +illumine a spot that for several months has not been touched by the +direct sunlight. What spot? +</P> + +<P> +"It is nearing twelve o'clock, and as I sit in the big chair I can see +the bar of golden light creeping steadily onward. It reaches the chair, +and half-way around the pivot-base. Then the heavenly clock begins its +retrograde movement, and the ray of sunlight is forced to retreat. But +to-morrow it will come a little farther, and so again on the day after. +</P> + +<P> +"Around the sash in the big window the architect has inserted a row of +glass bull's-eyes, a style of ornamentation suited to the semi-Oriental +tastes of William H. Seward Square. I go up and examine them closely. +They seem ordinary enough—but stop! The third from the bottom; it has +a peculiar depth and clearness. It might very well be a lens—a +burning-glass, to use the old-fashioned term. How close has the sun +drawn to this particular bull's-eye? To-morrow I will take note. +</P> + +<P> +"March 20. At high noon the sun has reached within a hair's-breadth of +the third bull's-eye from the bottom. To-morrow it will surely shine +through my suspect, and if the latter be a true lens it will +concentrate, for several minutes, a high degree of heat at the +particular spot upon which its rays are focussed. That spot I have +found, by experiment, to be one of a series of small bosses set in the +pivot-base of the big chair. I applied the flame of a match and +immediately the metal boss began to soften. I understand now. The boss +is made of a fusible alloy that melts at a certain prearranged +temperature; it is simply a variation of the common safety plug used in +all the systems of mechanical protection against fire. At noon +to-morrow, March 21st, the rays of the sun will be concentrated by the +lens in the window-sash and will fall upon this boss of fusible metal. +The plug will melt, releasing a spring, let us say, and a train of +action will be set in motion. +</P> + +<P> +"The precise nature of that action I shall probably not discover. I +incline to the belief that it is of an electrical nature. A connection +is to be thereby established with one of the deadly currents that can +be tapped for the asking here in New York. It may be objected that the +men who died in the chair over there showed no external marks of death +by electrical shock. But the autopsy, if it had been performed by +Coroner Lunkhead, might have told a different story. Magnus is as good +an electrician as he is a chemist, and he could easily rig up some kind +of transformer reducing the power of the current just enough to +paralyze the victim—death by a myriad of small shocks instead of one +big one. Now it is plain why the spider will not come to spring his +trap unless the sun shines on the 21st of March. If it doesn't, the +play goes over to the next clear day, only that the curtain will rise a +minute or so earlier in correspondence with the onward march of the +sun-god, the executioner in the cast of our drama. Well, I have made my +preparations to counter-check. To-morrow we shall see what we shall see. +</P> + +<P> +"March 21. I have still an hour before the expressman will come for the +clock-case, and I must take the opportunity to finish my notes. The +dead man sits opposite me at the table, but that does not matter. There +is plenty of room for us both. +</P> + +<P> +"The day dawned clear and fine, and at ten o'clock the sun was shining +brightly. He will come then. +</P> + +<P> +"At eleven I began to wonder how Dr. Magnus proposes to witness my last +agonies without risk of suspicion attaching to his precious self. If he +is seen entering and leaving my room this morning he may be called upon +for an explanation later. One cannot be too careful in playing the +delicate role of the amateur assassin. +</P> + +<P> +"But I have wronged my excellent friend. He has foreseen the difficulty +and provided against it. At precisely half after eleven a couple of +expressmen delivered what purported to be a clock-case at my outer +office. It was addressed to me and I receipted for it without +hesitation. +</P> + +<P> +"'I understand that we are to call for it again at two o'clock,' said +one of the men. 'That'll give you time to pack up the other clock?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Very good,' said I. +</P> + +<P> +"'And Mr. Gill said that you would set the case out on the landing if +you had to leave the office before we got back. I'll put the receipt +under the door.' +</P> + +<P> +"'I understand,' I answered, carelessly. 'Get yourself some cigars,' +and I slipped a half-dollar in the man's hand. He thanked me and +withdrew. I sat down and waited. +</P> + +<P> +"The lid of the case was removable from the inside. I watched the +screws fall one after another to the floor. Then the lid followed, and +Dr. Magnus stood before me. His eyes, distorted horribly by the extra +powerful lenses of his spectacles, fixed me with a steady look. He came +close as though to assure himself that there was no mistake. His face +almost touched mine. He put on his second and third pair of glasses, +and again I felt like the fly under the microscope. +</P> + +<P> +"We did not go through the farce of exchanging salutations. This was +war and we should both know it. It was now nearly noon and the sun was +rapidly approaching the zenith. I led the way into the rear room. +</P> + +<P> +"'Here are the securities,' said Magnus. I looked them over and +announced myself as satisfied. +</P> + +<P> +"'Kindly sit down and write me out an order on the safe-deposit +company,' he went on, in rather a petulant tone. He was standing by the +big chair. He bent forward as though to turn it in my direction. +</P> + +<P> +"The psychological moment had come, but the trick was even easier than +I had anticipated. Being in a stooping posture, he was partially off +his balance. A sharp jerk at his coat-collar and he was seated in the +big chair. He bit at my hand savagely as a dog snaps, but I had been +too quick for him. Then a couple of turns of stout window-cord put +everything secure. +</P> + +<P> +"The man seemed dazed. He made no attempt to release himself. He did +not even speak. But then his lips were dry. They opened and shut +mechanically. His eyes, staring through their triple glasses, were +turned towards the window. The sunlight, shining in full strength, was +creeping steadily towards the row of bull's-eyes on the right of the +sash. It lay in a broad, golden band on the polished floor. +</P> + +<P> +"A decrepit fly crawled out of a crack and made feebly for the welcome +warmth. The prisoner's feet were free and he advanced one of them +slowly, stealthily towards the miserable insect, then smashed +ruthlessly down upon it. In my turn I looked away, gazing steadily at +the window and the sun beyond. A few minutes now and we would know. +</P> + +<P> +"A little cloud no bigger than a man's hand. It was travelling directly +towards the sun's disk. Suppose now that its veil obscured, at the +final moment, the fatal ray. He saw it too. Together we watched it +slowly drifting through the brilliant blue of the sky—a little cloud +no bigger than a man's hand. +</P> + +<P> +"The currents of air in the upper regions first accelerated and then +retarded the progress of the vaporous island. It seemed to stop; then +it hung for an instant directly on the lower limb of the great ball of +light. A sensation of intolerable cold pervaded my entire body. +Involuntarily I shut my eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I forced myself to look. The cloud had disappeared. Its imponderable +essence had been absorbed into the clear ether as a drop of water +sizzles into nothingness on a red-hot stove. The sunlight, shining +through the third bull's-eye from the bottom, was instantly transformed +into a single concentrated beam. The heat-ray impinged upon the boss of +fusible metal. I saw the alloy begin to melt. I turned and ran into the +other room. +</P> + +<P> +"Twenty minutes of silence and then I re-entered. I was horribly +afraid, but he sat there quiet and still. I unwound the cord and threw +it out of the window. It was clouding over in earnest now. These March +days are so changeable. +</P> + +<P> +"It is close to two o'clock, and I must be getting ready to depart. I +have set the clock-case out in the passageway, and the lids and screws +are in readiness. The expressman will doubtless be punctual. He will +carry the case down-stairs and load it on his wagon. I shall be +delivered in due course at my destination. What is it to be? Well, I +shall have plenty of time in which to reflect upon the possibilities of +the journey that lies before me. +</P> + +<P> +"One moment in which to seal up these notes, together with the bundle +of securities. Fortunately, I have a special-delivery stamp in my +pocket, and I can post the packet in the mail-chute. Best wishes, my +dear Thorp, for the future happiness of yourself and your charming +wife. You have now given a hostage to fortune and will no longer care +to sail on uncertain seas. But the Wanderlust in my blood seems to be +ineradicable. Again the gates of chance are opening before me and I am +eager to enter in. Good-bye." +</P> + +<P> +Here the record ends abruptly. And there has been no sequel. Not the +slightest sound nor sign has been vouchsafed from the void. He who was +Esper Indiman is gone, like a stone dropped into the gulf, and I have +lost something that is not easily replaced—a friend. But since it is +his wish, there is nothing more to be said. He may return—a message +may come— +</P> + +<P> +The gates of chance! Well, it is exactly a year and a day since that +eventful afternoon when Esper Indiman's visiting-card was thrust into +my unconscious hand. I have travelled along some strange ways in the +course of that twelvemonth, and henceforth I shall be content to trudge +along the common high-road of life. The gates of chance—for me they +are closed forever. But I look over at my wife's dear face and know +that it is better so. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Gates of Chance, by Van Tassel Sutphen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GATES OF CHANCE *** + +***** This file should be named 3758-h.htm or 3758-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/5/3758/ + +Produced by Charles Franks, Robert Rowe, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 Gates of Chance + +Author: Van Tassel Sutphen + +Posting Date: May 13, 2009 [EBook #3758] +Release Date: February, 2003 +First Posted: August 21, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GATES OF CHANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, Robert Rowe, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +The Gates of Chance + + +by + +Van Tassel Sutphen + + + +Contents + + I THE GENTLEMAN'S VISITING-CARD + II THE RED DUCHESS + III HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOCK + IV THE PRIVATE LETTER-BOX + V THE NINETY-AND-NINE KISSES + VI THE QUEEN OF SPADES + VII THE OPAL BUTTON + VIII THE TIP-TOP TIP + IX THE BRASS BAGGAGE-CHECK + X THE UPSET APPLE-CART + XI THE PHILADELPHIA QUIZZING-GLASS + XII THE ADJUSTER OF AVERAGES + + + + +I + +The Gentleman's Visiting-Card + + +The card that had been thrust into my hand had pencilled upon it, "Call +at 4020 Madison Avenue at a quarter before eight this evening." Below, +in copper-plate, was engraved the name, Mr. Esper Indiman. + +It was one of those abnormally springlike days that New York sometimes +experiences at the latter end of March, days when negligee shirts and +last summer's straw hats make a sporadic appearance, and bucolic +weather prophets write letters to the afternoon papers abusing the +sun-spots. Really, it was hot, and I was anxious to get out of the dust +and glare; it would be cool at the club, and I intended dining there. +The time was half-past six, the height of the homeward rush hours, and, +as usual, there was a jam of vehicles and pedestrians at the Fourth +Avenue and Twenty-third Street crossing. The subway contractors were +still at work here, and the available street space was choked with +their stagings and temporary footwalks. The inevitable consequent was +congestion; here were two of the principal thoroughfares of the city +crossing each other at right angles, and with hardly enough room, at +the point of intersection, for the traffic of one. The confusion grew +worse as the policemen and signalmen stationed at the crossing +occasionally lost their heads; every now and then a new block would +form, and several minutes would elapse before it could be broken. In +all directions long lines of yellow electric cars stood stalled, the +impatient passengers looking ahead to discover the cause of the +trouble. A familiar enough experience to the modern New-Yorker, yet it +never fails to exasperate him afresh. + +The impasse looked hopeless when I reached the scene. A truck loaded +with bales of burlap was on the point of breaking down at the crossing, +and it was a question of how to get it out of the way in the shortest +possible time consistent with the avoidance of the threatened +catastrophe. Meanwhile, the jam of cars and trucks kept piling up until +there was hardly space for a newsboy to worm his way from one curb to +another, and the crowd on the street corners began to grow restive. +They do these things so much better in London. + +Now, I detest being in the mob, and I was about to back my way out of +the crowd and seek another route, even if a roundabout one. But just +then the blockade was partially raised, an opening presented itself +immediately in front of me, and I was forced forward willy-nilly. +Arrived at the other side of the street, I drew out of the press as +quickly as possible, and it was then that I discovered Mr. Indiman's +carte de visite tightly clutched in my left hand. Impossible to +conjecture how it had come there, and my own part in the transaction +had been purely involuntary; the muscles of the palm had closed +unconsciously upon the object presented to it, just as does a baby's. +"Mr. Esper Indiman--and who the deuce may he be?" + +The club dining-room was full, but Jeckley hailed me and offered me a +seat at his table. I loathe Jeckley, and so I explained politely that I +was waiting for a friend, and should not dine until later. + +"Well, then, have a cocktail while I am finishing my coffee," persisted +the beast, and I was obliged to comply. + +"I had to feed rather earlier than usual," explained Jeckley. + +"Yes," I said, not caring in the least about Mr. Jeckley's hours for +meals. + +"You see I'm doing the opening at the Globe to-night, and I must get my +Wall Street copy to the office before the theatre. And what do you +think of that by way of an extra assignment?" He took a card from his +pocket-book and tossed it over. It was another one of Mr. Esper +Indiman's calling-cards, and scrawled in pencil, "Call at 4020 Madison +Avenue at eight o'clock this evening." + +Jeckley was lighting his cigar, and so did not observe my start of +surprise. Have I said that Jeckley was a newspaper man? One of the new +school of journalism, a creature who would stick at nothing in the +manufacture of a sensation. The Scare-Head is his god, and he holds +nothing else sacred in heaven and earth. He would sacrifice--but +perhaps I'm unjust to Jeckley; maybe it's only his bounce and flourish +that I detest. Furthermore, I'm a little afraid of him; I don't want to +be written up. + +"Esper Indiman," I read aloud. "Don't know him." + +"Ever heard the name?" asked Jeckley. + +I temporized. "It's unfamiliar, certainly." + +Jeckley looked gloomy. "Nobody seems to know him," he said. "And the +name isn't to be found in the directory, telephone-book, or social +register." + +Wonderful fellows, these newspaper men; I never should have thought of +going for Mr. Indiman like that. + +"But why and wherefore?" I asked, cautiously. + +"A mystery, my son. The card was shoved into my hand not half an hour +ago." + +"Where?" + +"At Twenty-third and Fourth. There were a lot of people around, and I +haven't the most distant notion of the guilty party." + +"What does it mean?" + +Jeckley shook his head. "What will you do about it?" + +"I will make the call, of course." + +"Of course!" + +"There maybe a story there--who knows. Besides, it's directly on my way +to the Globe, and the curtain is not until eight-thirty. Tell you what, +old man; come along with me and see the thing to a finish. Fate leads a +card--Mr. Esper Indiman's--and we'll play the second hand; what do you +say?" + +I declined firmly. God forbid that I should be featured, along with the +other exhibits in the case, on the first page of to-morrow's Planet. + +"So," he assented, indifferently, and pushed his chair back. "Well, I +must push along--Lord! there's that copy--the old man will have it in +for me good and plenty if I don't get it down in time. Adios!" He +disappeared, and I let him depart willingly enough. Later on I went up +to the library for a smoke--no fear of encountering any Jeckleys there, +and, in fact, the room was entirely deserted. I looked at my watch; it +was ten minutes after seven, and that gave me a quarter of an hour in +which to think it over. Should I accept Mr. Indiman's invitation to +call? + +I looked around for an ash-tray, and, seeing one on the big +writing-table in the centre of the room, I walked over to it. + +There were some bits of white lying in the otherwise empty tray--the +fragments of a torn-up visiting-card. A portion of the engraved script +caught my eye, "Indi--" + +It was not difficult to piece together the bits of pasteboard, for I +knew pretty well what I should find. Completed, the puzzle read, "Mr. +Esper Indiman," and in pencil, "Call at 4020 Madison Avenue at +half-past seven this evening." + +So there were three of us--if not more. Rather absurd this assignment +of a separate quarter of an hour to each interview--quite as though Mr. +Indiman desired to engage a valet and we were candidates for the +position. Evidently, an eccentric person, but it's a queer world +anyhow, as most of us know. There's my own case, for example. I'm +supposed to be a gentleman of leisure and means. Leisure, certainly, +but the means are slender enough, and proceeding in a diminishing +ratio. That's the penalty of having been born a rich man's son and +educated chiefly in the arts of riding off at polo and thrashing a +single-sticker to windward in a Cape Cod squall. But I sha'n't say a +word against the governor, God bless him! He gave me what I thought I +wanted, and it wasn't his fault that an insignificant blood-clot should +beat him out on that day of days--the corner in "R. P." It was never +the Chicago crowd that could have downed him--I'm glad to remember that. + +Well, there being only the two of us, it didn't matter so much; it +wasn't as though there were a lot of helpless womenfolk to consider. +After the funeral and the settlement with the creditors there was +left--I'm ashamed to say how little, and, anyway, it's no one's +business; the debts were paid. What is a man to do, at thirty-odd, who +has never turned his hand to anything of use? The governor's friends? +Well, they didn't know how bad things were, and I couldn't go to them +with the truth and make them a present of my helpless, incompetent self. + +And so for the last two years I've been sticking it out in a hall +bedroom, just west of the dead-line. I have a life membership in the +club--what a Christmas present that has turned out to be!--and twice in +the week I dine there. As for the rest of it, never mind--there are +things which a man can do but of which he doesn't care to speak. + +The future? Ah, you can answer that question quite as well as I. Now I +had calculated that, at my present rate of expenditure, I could hold +out until Easter, but there have been contingencies. To illustrate, I +had my pocket picked yesterday morning. Amusing--isn't it?--that it +should have been my pocket--my pocket! + +Fortunately I have stacks of clothes and some good pearl shirt-studs, +and I continue to present a respectable appearance. I shall always do +that, I think. I don't like the idea of the pawn-shop and the dropping +down one degree at a time. If, in the end, it shall be shown clearly +that the line is to be crossed, I shall walk over it quietly and as a +man should; I object to the indecency of being dragged or carried +across. What line do I mean? I don't know that I could tell you +clearly. What is in your own mind? There IS a line. + +At half after seven I left the club, and exactly a quarter of an hour +later I stood opposite the doorway of No. 4020 Madison Avenue. A tall +man was descending the steps; I recognized Bingham, a member of my +club, and recalled the torn-up visiting-card that I had found in the +library. So Bingham was one of us. + +Now I don't know Bingham, except by sight, and I shouldn't have cared +to stop and question him, anyway. But I caught one glimpse of his face +as he hurried away, and it looked gray under the electrics. Call it the +effect of the arc light, if you like; he was hurrying, certainly, and +it struck me that it was because he was anxious to get away. + +Many are the motives that send men into adventurous situations, but +there is at least one among them that is compelling--hunger. I have +said that I had gone to the club for dinner; I did not say that I got +it. To be honest, I had hoped for an invitation--charity, if you insist +upon it. But I had been unfortunate. None of my particular friends had +chanced to be around, and Jeckley's cocktail had been the only +hospitality proffered me. You remember that my pocket had been picked +yesterday morning, and since then--well, I had eaten nothing. I might +have signed the dinner check, you say. Quite true, but I shall probably +be as penniless on the first of the month as I am to-day, and then +what? Too much like helping one's self from a friend's pocket. + +So it was just a blind, primeval impulse that urged me on. This Mr. +Indiman had chosen to fish in muddy waters, and his rashness but +matched my necessity. A host must expect to entertain his guests. I +walked up the steps and rang the bell. + +Instantly the door opened, and a most respectable looking serving-man +confronted me. + +"Mr. Indiman will see you presently," he said, before I had a chance to +get out a word. "This way, sir." + +The house was of the modern American basement type, and I was ushered +into a small reception-room on the right of the entrance hall. "Will +you have the Post, sir? Or any of the illustrated papers? Just as you +please, sir; thank you." + +The man withdrew, and I sat looking listlessly about me, for the room, +while handsomely furnished, had an appearance entirely commonplace. + +Five and ten minutes passed, and I began to grow impatient. I +remembered that Jeckley's appointment had been for eight o'clock, and +for obvious considerations I did not wish that he should find me +waiting here. It was eight o'clock now, and I would abide Mr. Indiman's +lordly pleasure no longer. I rose to go; the electric bell sounded. + +I could hear Jeckley's high-pitched voice distinctly; he seemed to be +put out about something; he spoke impatiently, even angrily. + +"But this is 4020 Madison Avenue, isn't it? Mr. Indiman--I was asked to +call--Mr. Jeckley, of the Planet." + +"Must be some mistake, sir," came the answer. "This is No. 4020, but +there's no Mr. Inkerman--" + +"Indiman, not Inkerman--Mr. Esper Indiman. Look at the card." + +"Never heard the name, sir." + +"What! Well, then, who does live here?" + +"Mr. Snell, sir. Mr. Ambrose Johnson Snell. But he's at dinner, and I +couldn't disturb him." + +"Humph!" I fancy that Jeckley swore under his breath as he turned to +go. Then the outer door was closed upon him. + +It was a relief, of course, to be spared the infliction of Mr. +Jeckley's society, but I could not but admit that the situation was +developing some peculiarities. Eliminating the doubtful personality of +Mr. Ambrose Johnson Snell, who was this Mr. Esper Indiman, whose +identity had been so freely admitted to me and so explicitly denied to +Jeckley? The inference was obvious that Jeckley had failed to pass the +first inspection test, and so had been turned down without further +ceremony. This reflection rather amused me; I forgot about the +incivility to which I was being subjected in the long wait, and began +to be curious about the game itself. What next? + +At a quarter after eight, and then again at half after, there were +inquiries at the door for Mr. Indiman. To each caller the answer was +returned that no Mr. Indiman was known at No. 4020 Madison Avenue, and +that Mr. Ambrose Johnson Snell could not be disturbed at his dinner. + +There was no caller at the next quarter, and none again at nine +o'clock. The series had, therefore, come to an end, and I remained the +sole survivor--of and for what? + +I dare say that my nerves had been somewhat weakened by my two days' +fast, or else it was the effect of Jeckley's cocktail on an otherwise +empty stomach. Whatever the cause, I suddenly became conscious that I +was passing into a state of high mental tension; I wanted to scream, to +beat impotently upon the air; Jeckley would have put it that I was +within an ace of flying off the handle. + +A deafening clash of clanging metal smote my ears. It should have been +the finishing touch, and it was, but not after the fashion that might +have been expected. As though by magic, the horrible tension relaxed; +my nerves again took command of the situation; I felt as cool and +collected as at any previous moment in my life. + +In the centre of the room stood a heavy table of some East-Indian +wood--teak, I think, they call it. I could have sworn that there was +nothing whatever upon this table when I entered the room; now I saw +three objects lying there. I walked up and examined them. As they lay +towards me, the first was a ten-thousand-dollar bill, the second a +loaded revolver, caliber .44, the third an envelope of heavy white +paper directed to me, Winston Thorp. The letter was brief and formal; +it read: + +"Mr. Indiman presents his compliments to Mr. Thorp and requests the +honor of his company at dinner, Tuesday, March the thirtieth, at nine +o'clock. + +"4020 Madison Avenue." + +Dishonor, death, and dinner--a curious trio to choose between. Yet to a +man in my present position each of them appealed in its own way, and +I'm not ashamed to confess it. Perhaps the choice I made may seem +inevitable, but what if you had seen Bingham's face as I did, with the +arc light full upon it? It was the remembrance of that which made me +hesitate; twice I drew my hand away and looked at the money and the +pistol. + +Through the open door came a ravishing odor, that of a filet a la +Chateaubriand; the purely animal instincts reasserted themselves, and I +picked up the gardenia blossom that lay beside the letter and stuck it +into the button-hole of my dinner-jacket. I looked down at the table, +and it seemed to me that the ten-thousand-dollar note and the pistol +had disappeared. But what of that, what did anything matter now; I was +going to dine--to dine! + +I walked up-stairs, guided by that delicious, that heavenly odor, and +entered the dining-room in the rear, without the smallest hesitation. +At one end of the table sat a man of perhaps forty years of age. An +agreeable face, for all of the tired droop about the mouth and the deep +lines in the forehead; it could light up, too, upon occasion, as I was +soon to discover. For the present I did not bother myself with +profitless conjectures; that entrancing filet, displayed in a massive +silver cover, stood before him; I could not take my eyes from it. + +My host, for such he evidently was, rose and bowed with great +politeness. + +"You must pardon me," he said, "for sitting down; but, as my note said, +I dine at nine. I will have the shell-fish and soup brought on." + +"I should prefer to begin with the filet," I said, decidedly. + +A servant brought me a plate; my hand trembled, but I succeeded in +helping myself without spilling the precious sauce; I ate. + +"There are three conditions of men who might be expected to accept the +kind of invitation which has brought me the honor of your company," +remarked my host as we lit our cigarettes over the Roman punch. "To +particularize, there is the curious impertinent, the merely foolish +person, and the man in extremis rerum. Now I have no liking for the +dog-faced breed, as Homer would put it, and neither do I suffer fools +gladly. At least, one of the latter is not likely to bother me again." +He smiled grimly, and I thought of Bingham's face of terror. + +"I found my desperate man in you, my dear Mr. Thorp, shall we drink to +our better acquaintance?" I bowed, and we drank. + +"The precise nature of your misfortune does not concern me," he +continued, airily. "It is sufficient that we are of the same mind in +our attitude towards the world--'to shake with Destiny for beers,' is +it not? + +"One may meet with many things on the highway of life--poverty, +disease, sorrow, treacheries. These are disagreeable, I admit, but they +are positive; one may overcome or, at least, forget them. But suppose +you stand confronting the negative of existence; the highway is clear, +indeed, but how interminable its vista, its straight, smooth, and +intolerably level stretch. That road is mine. + +"Yes; I have tried the by-paths. Once I was shanghaied; twice I have +been marooned and by my own men. That last amused me--a little. I was +the second man to arrive at Bordeaux in the Paris-Madrid race of 1903; +during the Spanish-American war I acted as a spy for the United States +government in Barcelona. + +"I made the common mistake of confounding the unusual with the +interesting. Romance is a shy bird, and not to be hunted with a brass +band. Where is the heart of life, if not at one's elbow? At the +farthest, one has only to turn the corner of the street. It is useless +to look for prodigies in the abyss, but every stream has its straws +that float; I have determined to watch and follow them. + +"I want a companion, and so I advertised after my own fashion. I +selected you, tentatively, from the mob; later on I made the test more +complete. But you have no boutonniere; allow me." + +He took a spray of orchid from the silver bowl in the centre of the +table and handed it to me. + +I protested: "I have my gardenia--" I looked at my button-hole and it +was gone. + +Mr. Indiman smiled. "Let me confess," he said. "You recall the abnormal +tension of your nerves as you sat waiting in my reception-room. Merely +the effect produced by a mixture of certain chemical gases turned on +from a tap under my hand. Then the crash of a brazen gong; it is what +the scientists call 'massive stimulation,' resolving super-excitation +into partial hypnosis. + +"Once I had you in the hypnotic condition, the rest was simple enough. +I had only to suggest to your mind the three objects on the table, and +you saw them. The bank-note, the revolver--they were as immaterial as +the gardenia that no longer adorns your button-hole. + +"I did not attempt to influence your choice among the three, as that +would have destroyed the value of the test to me. But, as I had hoped, +you accepted my invitation to dinner. Frankly, now, I am curious--why?" + +"That is very simple," I answered. "I had not eaten anything for two +days, and I detected the odor of that exquisite filet. Not the +slightest ethical significance in the choice, as you see." + +Esper Indiman laughed. "I should have kept my pantry door closed. But +it does not matter; I am satisfied. Shall we go into the library for +coffee?" + +Directly opposite the door of the latter apartment stood an easel +holding an unframed canvas. A remarkable portrait--little as I know +about pictures, I could see that clearly enough. A three-quarter length +of a woman wearing a ducal coronet and dressed in a magnificent costume +of red velvet. + +"Lely's 'Red Duchess,'" remarks my host, carelessly. "You may have seen +it in the Hermitage at Petersburg." + +I looked at the picture again. Why should this masterpiece not have +been properly mounted and glazed? The edges of the canvas were jagged +and uneven, as though it had been cut from its frame with a not +oversharp knife. We sat down to our coffee and liqueurs. + +As I awake in the narrow quarters of my hall bedroom I am inclined to +believe that the occurrences of the preceding night were only the +phantasms of a disordered digestion; where had I eaten that Welsh +rabbit? The morning paper had been thrown over the transom, and, +following my usual custom, I reached for it and began reading. Among +the foreign despatches I note this paragraph dated St. Petersburg: + +"The famous portrait of the Duchess of Lackshire, by Sir Peter Lely, +better known as the 'Red Duchess,' has disappeared from the gallery of +the Hermitage. It is now admitted that it must have been stolen, cut +bodily from its frame and carried away. The theft took place several +months ago, but the secret has just become public property. The absence +of the picture from its accustomed place had, of course, been noted, +but it was understood that it had been removed for cleaning. An +enormous reward is to be offered for information leading to its +recovery." + +There is also a letter for me which I had not noticed until now. It was +from Indiman, and it read: + +"Dear Thorp,--Dine with me to-night at half after eight. I noticed that +you were rather taken with my 'Red Duchess'; we will ask the lady to +preside over our modest repast, and you can then gaze your fill upon +her. Faithfully, E. I." + +Of course, I intend to accept the invitation. + + + + +II + +The Red Duchess + + +At half after eight we sat down to dinner. Indiman, of course, took the +head of the table, and opposite him, propped up on the arms of an +enormous "bishop's chair" of Flemish oak, was Lely's portrait of the +"Red Duchess." What a glorious picture it was, in the masterly sweep of +its lines, in the splendor of its incomparable coloring! The jagged +edges of the canvas showed plainly where the vandal knife had passed, +separating the painting from its frame. But the really big thing is +always independent of its cadre; one hardly noticed the mutilation, and +then immediately forgot about it. + +I had been honored with a seat at the lady's right hand, and opposite +me a fourth cover had been laid. Indiman noticed my look of inquiry. + +"Only one of my fancies," he explained, smiling. "I always make +provision for the unexpected guest. Who knows what supperless angels +may be hovering around?" + +We were hardly at the soup before a servant brought in a card. + +"Roger W. Blake," read Indiman, aloud. "An honest-enough-sounding name. +Is the gentleman in evening dress, Bolder?" + +"No, sir; I don't think so, sir." + +"Hym! That is unfortunate. Still, if Madame la Duchesse will permit, +and you, Thorp, have no objection--Good! Ask Mr. Blake to do me the +favor of joining us at dinner." + +A few minutes later Mr. Roger Blake appeared at the door of the +dining-room. He was a young man with a profusion of fair hair and a +good deal of color, the latter heightened considerably by the somewhat +embarrassing circumstances attending his introduction. But Indiman +relieved the situation immediately, going forward and greeting the new +guest with unaffected cordiality. + +"Mr. Blake, is it? You are very heartily welcome, I assure you. Let +Bolder take your hat and stick; indeed, I insist upon it. Allow me now +to present you: Her Grace the Duchess of Lackshire, more generally +known as Lely's 'Red Duchess'--Mr. Roger W. Blake. My friend, Mr. +Thorp--Mr. Blake." + +Evidently the young man was not overclear in his own mind as to how it +had all happened, but there he was, sitting bolt upright in the vacant +chair and drinking two glasses of wine in rapid succession to cover his +confusion. A comedy, apparently, but to what purpose? Mr. Blake blushed +painfully, and made no reply to the polite commonplaces that I +ventured; Indiman smiled benevolently upon both of us, and in the most +natural possible manner led the conversation to the subject of +portrait-painting. There was his text before him--the famous "Red +Duchess"--and he talked well. I found myself listening with absorbed +attention, and even the shy Mr. Blake became oblivious of the keener +agonies of self-consciousness. So we went on until the game course had +been removed. + +Our host rose to his feet, champagne glass in hand. "Gentlemen," he +said, and we followed his example, Blake managing to upset a decanter +of sherry in the process, "in life and in art--the fairest of her sex. +I give you, gentlemen, 'La Duchesse Rouge.'" + +The toast was drunk with becoming decorum. I was about to resume my +seat when I saw that Mr. Blake had screwed himself up to a desperate +decision, and that the climax of the drama was at hand. He was quite +pale, and he stuttered a little as he spoke. + +"Very sorry, I--I'm sure," he blurted out, "but you are Mr. In-Indiman?" + +"I am, and not in the least sorry for it. Go on." + +"It is my d-duty, sir, to place you under arrest for complicity in the +theft of that p-p-picture." Mr. Blake threw back his coat and displayed +a detective's shield attached to an aggressively red suspender brace. + +Esper Indiman bowed ironically. "I presume that my presence at Police +Headquarters is necessary?" he inquired. + +"Yes, sir. I have a coach in waiting outside, and we will start at +once, if you please." Mr. Blake, under the stimulus of his professional +functions, lost his embarrassed air and became severely business-like +and official. "This gentleman will have to accompany us," he continued, +looking at me. + +"The coffee, Bolder," called our host, "and never mind the sweets." I +drank a demi-tasse and lit a cigarette. "Ready," announced Indiman, and +we descended to the coach, Mr. Blake bringing up the rear and carrying +the precious picture enveloped in a silken table-cover. + +"What reward is offered, officer?" asked Indiman as the carriage drove +off. + +"One hundred thousand dollars, sir. It will be a big thing for me +if--if--" He stopped, a trifle embarrassed. + +"Ah, those ifs!" quoted Indiman, musingly. + +The chief of the detective bureau received us in his private room. He +listened attentively to Blake's report, but seemed rather puzzled than +gratified by its triumphant peroration. Now the young man felt that he +had done a big thing, and this non-committal attitude of his superior +chagrined him. He unrolled the covering in which the picture had been +wrapped. + +"There!" he said, half resentfully. The chief looked carefully at the +picture and turned to Indiman. + +"Do you desire to make any explanation, Mr. Indiman, as to how this +picture happens to be in your possession?" + +"Certainly," was the prompt reply. "I bought it for a small sum a month +ago on the lower Bowery. The dealer's name was Gregory, I think." + +Young Mr. Blake sniffed incredulously. A messenger handed a couple of +telegrams to the chief. He read them with knitted brows and then +touched a call-bell. + +"Send in Officer Stone," he ordered. + +Mr. Stone immediately made his appearance. In his hand he carried a +flat, square parcel which, in obedience to a further order, he +proceeded to unwrap. I uttered an involuntary cry, for it was nothing +less than a replica of the famous portrait of the "Red Duchess." A +replica, indeed!--it would take an expert to decide which of the two +was the copy; they were absolutely alike, even to the detail of the +rough edges, the marks of the blunted knife. + +"This picture was discovered in an art dealer's window on Fourth Avenue +near Twenty-ninth Street," explained the chief of the detective bureau. +"And now kindly listen to these despatches. The first from the chief of +police of New Orleans: + +"'Lely portrait discovered in pawn-shop. Officer Smith goes North +to-night to return property and claim reward. J. H. BOWEN." + +The other from Pittsburg, in substantially the same language, reports +the finding of the portrait of the 'Red Duchess' in a private gallery. +This fourth picture is also on its way to New York for identification." + +We all looked at one another, Blake the picture of puzzled anger and +disappointment. "Which is the true picture?" asked the chief. "Mr. +Indiman, I should be glad of your opinion." + +Indiman, who had been examining the canvas held by Stone, answered +quickly: "Neither of these, and it is more than probable that the other +two are also copies by the same hand. Wonderfully well done, too, but +the study of portraiture is a hobby of mine; I have even contemplated a +monograph on the subject, or, more particularly, a hand-book to the +smaller galleries and private collections. But I doubt if I ever do it +now," he concluded, meditatively. + +"The 'Red Duchess'?" persisted the chief. + +"Of course, I know it perfectly. I won't bore you with technical +explanations, but on the back of the stretcher is the address of the +American art dealer from whom the original canvas was purchased. That +should be enough." + +It was as Indiman said; each of the canvas stretchers carried a small +gummed label, the address of a Fulton Street art-supply shop. + +"That settles the question," remarked the chief of detectives. "I may +say finally that I have this cable from the Minister of Police at St. +Petersburg, communicated to me through the Russian Consul-General: + + +"'Lely portrait recovered and replaced in the gallery at the Hermitage. +Withdraw published reward. + +"'(Signed) SOBRIESKA.' + + +"A queer piece of business; but this appears to be the end of it," +commented the chief. "Needless to say, gentlemen, that you are at +liberty to depart. My apologies for the annoyance to which you have +been subjected." + +We all bowed and withdrew to the anteroom. Blake, blushing redly, came +up to Indiman; he began to apologize, stuttering pitiably, but Indiman +cut him short. + +"Call up the coach and offer the driver extra fare for the best time +his horses can make to this address." He scribbled the name of the +street and the house number on a leaf torn from his note-book and +handed it to Blake. "Yes, you can come along if you like; it may be the +big thing yet." + +As the carriage rolled along Indiman vouchsafed certain explanations. + +"As I have already told you," he began, "I bought the picture from a +small dealer in the Bowery. I happened to notice it in his window, and, +the 'Red Duchess' being one of the half-dozen superlative portraits of +the world, I was naturally interested. It was certainly a fine copy, +and I was pleased to get it so cheaply. + +"Now there were two or three circumstances connected with my find that +afterwards struck me as peculiar. In the first place it is well known +that permission to copy any of the pictures at the Hermitage Gallery is +very rarely given, and the authorities are particularly averse to +having reproductions made of the Lely portrait. Secondly, why were the +edges of the canvas so curiously serrated, giving the picture the look +of having been hastily cut away from its frame? And, finally, where and +when had this copy been made? for the label of the Fulton Street art +dealer on the back bore the date 1903, and this was the 2d of February +in the same year. Obviously impossible that the artist could have gone +to Russia, painted the picture, and returned with it to New York in a +little over a month. + +"Two days later I was walking up Fourth Avenue, through the district +affected by the curio and old-furniture dealers, and I discovered a +replica of my 'Red Duchess' hanging in a shop-window. In every respect +identical, you understand, the two pictures were unquestionably the +work of the same hand. Whose hand? + +"Do you remember, Thorp, the name of Clive Richmond? Well, for a year +or two he was the favorite painter of women's portraits here in New +York, hailed as genius and all that. Then suddenly his work began to +fall off in quality; his failures became egregious, and his clients +left him. Shortly after he disappeared; it was the common report that +his misfortunes had affected his reason; there were even hints at +suicide. That was some four or five years ago, and whatever the secret +may be it has been kept faithfully. + +"At least I had solved a portion of the problem--it was Clive Richmond +and no other who had painted my copy of the 'Red Duchess.' How do I +know? Well, with the expert it is a matter partly technical but more +largely intuitive. How do you recognize a friend's face? How does the +bank clerk detect the counterfeit bill? + +"Now this second copy bore the same ear-marks as the one in my +possession--the edges of the canvas marred and jagged, the Fulton +Street label on the back. What was this mystery? + +"Mystery--yes, and behind it the shadow of a crime, of a human tragedy. +Who was to lift the veil? There was but one man--Clive Richmond--who +could answer my question; and where was Clive Richmond? A week later I +found still a third copy of my 'Duchess' over on Sixth Avenue. I had +left my purse at home that morning, and when I went back the next day +to buy the picture it was gone--sold to a stranger. Did I say that I +had missed getting possession of the second picture through the same +sort of contretemps? I never saw either of them again. + +"I had written to a friend in Petersburg to make certain inquiries for +me, and his answer confirmed my suspicions. The 'Red Duchess' was not +hanging in its accustomed place at the Hermitage; it was in process of +renovation, according to a statement made by the director of the +gallery. + +"That was enough for me. The portrait had been stolen and was probably +in New York at this very moment. Where? Let me first find Clive +Richmond, and I must be quick about it, for once the secret of the +theft got out the detectives would not be long in rounding up the +various purchasers of those wonderfully accurate copies. This morning +the cable brought the news, and at dinner-time Mr. Blake's card was +presented to me. Quick work, Mr. Blake; I congratulate you. + +"Here is the letter that I received just before we left my house; you +remember that it had come in the evening mail and been overlooked. I +will read it. + + +"'DEAR INDIMAN,--There's more in the art business than can be squeezed +out of a color tube, isn't there? But I have the secret now; it was +given me by Lely himself--no less. What a pity it is that I shan't have +the chance to use it, but you and the cognoscenti can fight it out +together. You might bury me decently if you like; you ought to be +willing to do that much, seeing that your critical pronouncements have +been so amply vindicated. + +C. R. + +"'P. S.--My secret? But on second thought I will take it with me.'" + + +St. John's Park and the streets fronting upon it was once a fashionable +quarter of the town. Now a hideous railway freight station occupies the +former park area, and the old-time residences, with their curiously +wrought-iron stoop-railings and graceful fan-lights, have been degraded +to the base uses of a tenement population. Only the quaint chapel of +St. John has survived the slow process of contamination, a single rock +rising above the sordid tide. + +The coach stopped before one of the most pretentious of the old-time +houses-now, alas! one of the dirtiest and most dilapidated. We were +directed to the upper story, Indiman leading the way. + +A single attic chamber, bearing the marks of the cruelest poverty, a +stove, an artist's easel, a pallet spread directly on the grimy floor, +and upon it a man in the last stage of consumption. He glanced up at +Indiman and waved his hand feebly. He tried to speak, but his voice +died away in his throat; Indiman knelt by his side to catch the words. + +"It is cold--shut stove door--there's enough now to last me out." + +Indiman went to the stove, where a little fire was smouldering; he shut +the door and turned on the draught. The flame leaped up instantly, the +crazy smoke-pipe rattling as it expanded under the influence of the +heat. Indiman turned again to the dying man. + +"You know well enough why I have come," he said, slowly. "I have in my +possession one of your copies of the 'Red Duchess.' Tell me the truth." + +There was no audible response from the bloodless lips, but the dark +eyes were full of ironic laughter. Then they closed again. + +"Richmond!" said Indiman, sharply. "Richmond!" + +I had been standing by the door, but now I came forward and joined +Indiman. "Gone!" he said, briefly. "Gone, and taken his secret with +him. Only, what WAS the secret?" + +We tried to argue it out on the way up-town, but with only indifferent +success. Granted the premise that Richmond had actually stolen the "Red +Duchess," what were his motives in multiplying copies of the picture, a +proceeding that must infallibly end in the detection of his crime? And +the supreme question--what had finally become of the original? + +My theory was simple enough. The man was mentally unbalanced, the +result of brooding over his own failure in art. He had stolen the +picture, possessed with the idea that by study of it he should discover +the secret of its power. He had made copies of the picture and sold +them in order to supply himself with the necessities of life. At the +end, knowing himself to be dying, he had caused the original to be +returned to the gallery at Petersburg, a contribution to the conscience +fund. + +Indiman's argument was more subtle. "Granted," he said, "that the poor +chap was mentally irresponsible, and that he actually did steal the +picture. But you must take into account his colossal vanity, his +monumental egotism. Richmond never admitted for a moment that he was a +failure as an artist; there was a cabal against him, and that accounted +for everything. This affair was simply his revenge upon his critics and +detractors; he would turn out these reproductions of a masterpiece so +perfect in their technique as not to be distinguished from their +original, nor indeed from each other. So having set the artistic world +by the ears, he would enjoy his triumph, at first in secret, and +afterwards openly." + +"But what was the picture returned to the Hermitage?" + +"One of these same copies--that was the supreme sarcasm." + +"The original, then--the 'Red Duchess'?" + +"The fuel in the stove consisted of some strips of painted canvas," +said Indiman, gravely. "I don't know, I can't be sure--they were almost +consumed when I shut the door." + +"An imperfect copy," I hazarded. + +"Some day we will take a trip to the Hermitage to make sure," answered +Indiman. "'Where ignorance is bliss,' etc. What do you think, Blake?" +he continued, turning to our companion. + +"It's all the same to me, sir," answered Blake, a little ruefully. "It +was a big thing, right enough, but somehow I seem to have missed it all +round. Well, good-night, sir, if you'll kindly set me down at this +corner." + +Indiman and I enjoyed a small supper under Oscar's watchful eye. The +night was fine and we started to walk home. Have I said that Indiman +had proposed that I should move my traps over to his house and take up +my quarters there for an indefinite period? In exchange for services +rendered, as he put it, and somehow he made it possible for me to +accept the invitation. It had been twenty-four hours now since I had +first enjoyed the honor of Mr. Esper Indiman's acquaintance; the +novelty of having enough to eat--actually enough--was already beginning +to wear off. Man is a wonderful creature; give him time and he will +adjust himself to anything. + +At the corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street, Indiman +stopped suddenly and picked up a small object. It was a latch-key of +the familiar Yale-lock pattern. I looked at it rather indifferently. + +"Man! man!" said Indiman, with simulated despair. "Surely you are an +incorrigibly prosaic person. A key--does it suggest to you no +possibilities of mystery, of romance?" + +"Well, not without a door," I answered, smartly. + +"Oh, is that all! To-morrow we will go out and find a door upon which +this little key may be profitably employed. You promise to enter that +door with me?" + +"I promise." + + + + +III + +House in the Middle of the Block + + +"All things come to him who waits," quoted Indiman. "Do you believe +that?" + +"It's a comfortable theory," I answered. + +"But an untenable one. And Fortune is equally elusive to those who seek +her over-persistently. The truth, as usual, lies between the extremes." + +"Well?" + +"The secret is simple enough. He who is ready to receive, receives. +Love, fame, the shower of gold--they are in the air, and only waiting +to be precipitated. I stand ready to be amused, and that same afternoon +the Evening Post aims a blow at the Tammany 'Tiger' over the shoulder +of Mr. Edward M. Shepard; I am in the mood adventurous, and instantly +the shadow of a prodigy falls across my threshold; yea, though I live +on upper West End Avenue. Do you remember this?" and he held out a +small Yale latch-key. + +"It is the one you picked up at Twenty-seventh Street and Fifth Avenue +last night." + +"Precisely. Now a key, you observe, is intended to open something--in +this case a door. What door? As though that mattered! Put on your +rain-coat, my dear Thorp, and let us begin a little journey into the +unknown. Fate will lead us surely, O unbelieving one, if you will but +place your hand unresistingly in hers." + +We left the house, and Indiman tossed a penny into the air. "Broadway, +heads; Fourth Avenue, tails." Tails it was. + +Arrived at Fourth Avenue, we stood waiting for a car. The first that +came along was on its way up-town and we boarded it. + +"Was it you who asked for a cross-town transfer at Twenty-ninth?" +inquired the conductor of Indiman a few minutes later, and Indiman +nodded assent and took the transfer slips. + +At Eighth Avenue the cross-town car was blocked by a stalled coal-cart. +We alighted and passively awaited further directions from our esoteric +guide. Quite an amusing game for a dull, rainy afternoon, and I felt +grateful to Indiman for its invention. + +The policeman on the corner was endeavoring to direct a very small boy +with a very large bundle. "Up one block and turn east," he said, +impressively. "I've told you that now three times." + +I had a flash of inspiration. "Copper it," I cried. + +"Right," said Indiman, soberly. We walked down one block to +Twenty-eighth Street and then turned westward. + +New York is a big city, and therefore entitled to present an occasional +anomaly to the observant eye. And this particular section of +Twenty-eighth Street is one of these departures from the normal, a +block or two of respectable, even handsome houses set as an oasis in a +dull and sordid neighborhood. How and why this should be does not +matter; it is to be presumed that the people who live there are +satisfied, and it is nobody else's business. + +We walked on slowly, then, half-way down the block, Indiman stopped me. +"What did I tell you?" he whispered. + +The house was of the English basement type, and occupied two of the +ordinary city lots; nothing particularly remarkable about that, and I +said as much. + +"But look again," insisted Indiman. I did so and saw a man standing at +the door, evidently desirous of entering. Twice, while we stood +watching him, he rang without result, and the delay annoyed him. He +shook the door-knob impatiently, and then fell to researching his +pockets, an elaborate operation that consumed several minutes. + +"Lost his latch-key," commented Indiman. He walked up the steps of the +entrance porch. "You might try mine," he said, politely, and held out +the key picked up the night before at Fifth Avenue and Twenty-seventh +Street. + +"Huh!" grunted the man, suspiciously, but he took the little piece of +metal and inserted it into the slot of the lock. The door swung open. +Amazing, but what followed was even more incredible. The man stepped +into the hall, but continued to hold the door wide open. + +"You're coming in, I suppose," he said, surlily. + +"Certainly," answered Indiman. "This way, Thorp," he called at me, and +most unwillingly I obeyed. We passed into the house and the door closed +behind us. Our introducer turned up the gas in the old-fashioned hall +chandelier, and favored us with a perfunctory stare. "New members, eh!" +he grunted, and turned away as though it were a matter of entire +indifference to him. But Indiman spoke up quickly. + +"Pardon me," he began, with the sweetest suavity. "I was afraid for the +moment that we had got into the wrong place. This is the--" a +delicately suggestive pause. + +"The Utinam Club," supplied the other. + +"Exactly," said Indiman, in a most relieved tone. "It IS the Utinam, +Thorp," he continued, turning to me. Now I had not the smallest notion +of what the Utinam Club might be, consequently I preserved a discreet +silence. Indiman addressed himself again to our ungracious cicerone. + +"A snug little box you have here, Mr, er--" + +"Hoyt, sir--Colman Hoyt." + +"Ah, yes--of North Pole fame. You are the man--" + +"Who has led four expeditions to reach it, and failed as often. That is +MY title to fame. And also my qualification for membership in the +Utinam Club," he added, grimly. + +"Ah, yes--the discovery of the Pole. A unique and delightful idea in +clubdom--eh, Thorp? To succeed--" + +"No, sir; to FAIL," interrupted Mr. Hoyt, rudely. "What the devil do +you suppose I am doing in this galley? You must be a very new member of +the Utinam Club." + +"To tell the truth, Mr. Hoyt," said Indiman, with an air of engaging +frankness, "I have never, until this moment, even heard of the Utinam +Club. But for all that I am convinced that I am about to become a +member of it, and I may say the same for my friend, Mr. Thorp. Now, +possibly you may be inclined to assist us." + +Mr. Hoyt stared. "It's a pity, isn't it," he remarked, reflectively, +"that our standard of eligibility doesn't conform to that of your +impudence. Still, I won't say that it can't be done; this is a +proprietary club, you know. You had better see Dr. Magnus." + +"Dr. Magnus?" + +"The proprietor of the Utinam Club. Here he comes now." + +A slight, gray-haired man of fifty or there-abouts had entered the hall +from the rear and immediately came forward to meet us. His eyes were +the extraordinary feature of his face, piercingly brilliant and +enormously magnified by the spectacles that he wore. The lenses of the +latter were nearly an eighth of an inch thick and evidently of the +highest power. Even with their aid his powers of vision seemed +imperfect. On hearing the few words of explanation vouchsafed by the +unamiable Mr. Hoyt, he drew from his pocket a second and third pair of +glasses and deliberately added both to his original optical equipment. +I know that I felt like a fly under a microscope in facing that +formidable battery of lenses. But the scrutiny seemed to satisfy him; +he spoke courteously enough: + +"Step into my office, gentlemen, and we will talk the matter over." + +Mr. Colman Hoyt had departed without further formality, and we followed +our host into the room adjoining the hall on the right. It looked like +the study of a man of science; charts and globes and plaster-of-Paris +casts were everywhere, while the far end of the apartment was occupied +by a huge, flat-topped table covered with papers, test-tubes, and +glass-slides. But even more remarkable than its contents was the room +itself, and its singular architectural proportions at once engaged my +attention. + +As I have said, the house occupied two twenty-five-foot city lots, but +the entrance and hall were at the extreme right as one looks outward +towards the street, instead of being in the centre, as is usually the +case. Consequently, the room in which we stood (being undivided by any +interior partitions) extended the full width of the house, less that of +the entrance hall--forty feet, let us say, in round numbers. But its +measurements in the other direction were barely ten feet, the apartment +presenting the appearance of a long, low, and narrow gallery. At the +back were a row of five windows taking light from the interior +court-yard; in brief, the house, imposing in its dimensions from the +street side, was little more than a mask of masonry extremely +ill-adapted for human habitation, or, indeed, for any purpose. Stepping +to one of the rear windows, I looked out, and then the reason for this +extraordinary construction--or, rather, reconstruction--became +apparent. The lot was of the usual depth of one hundred feet, and, +being a double one, it had a width of fifty. A large building of gray +stone occupied the farther end of this inside space, the erection +measuring about sixty feet in depth and extending the full width of the +enclosure. That left a little less than thirty feet of court-yard +between this back building and the one facing on the street, and it was +evident that the rear of the original house had been sheared off bodily +to provide for this singular readjustment in the owner's modus vivendi, +only the party walls on either side being left standing. And these had +been extended so as to enflank the building in the rear. + +If I have made my description clear, it now will be understood that the +facade of the original house was nothing more than a shell, a ten-foot +screen whose principal office was to conceal the interior structure +from curious eyes. Describing the latter more particularly, it should +be noted that it was connected with the original house by a covered +passageway of brick running along one side of the court-yard and +communicating with the hallway that led to the street door. Apparently, +the rear building was three stories in height--I say apparently, for, +being entirely destitute of windows, it was impossible to accurately +deduce the number of its floors. Aesthetically, it made no pretensions, +its only architectural feature being a domed roof of copper and a +couple of chimney-stacks, from one of which a thin streak of vapor +ascended. A chilling and depressing spectacle was that presented by the +"House in the Middle of the Block," as I mentally christened it, and I +speculated upon the strange offices to which it had been consecrated. + +"The Utinam Club," answered my unspoken query. Dr. Magnus had advanced +to my side and stood staring at me through his triple lenses. I +started, involuntarily. + +"There! there!" he said, soothingly. "I did not perceive that your +attention was so entirely absorbed. I am honored by your interest--the +Utinam Club, it is my hobby, sir, and one not altogether unworthy of +the consideration of an intelligent man." + +"I can quite understand that," said Indiman, who had joined us at the +window. "There is a distinct stimulus to the imagination in the picture +before us. And what a picture!--this eyeless, gray-faced, architectural +monstrosity, crowned with squat, domelike head of coppery red, and set +in that gigantic cadre of fifty-foot masonry! Superb! Magnificent!" + +"The honor of your acquaintance--" began Dr. Magnus. + +"In two words," interrupted Indiman, smilingly. He made a brief +statement of the circumstances attendant upon the finding of the Yale +latch-key, and the proprietor of the Utinam Club listened attentively. + +"I have a passion for the unique," concluded Indiman, "and the Utinam +Club appears to possess claims of unusual merit in that direction. I +own frankly that I am curious as to its object and qualifications for +membership." + +"They are quite simple," answered Dr. Magnus. "Indeed, the name of the +club explains its raison d'etre--Utinam, a Latin ejaculation equivalent +to our 'Would to Heaven!' or 'Would that I could be!' To be eligible +for membership in the Utinam Club, one must have had a distinct object +or ambition in life and then have failed to realize it." + +"Ah, I begin to understand," murmured Indiman. "An extraordinary basis, +indeed, for a social organization--the lame ducks, the noble army of +the incapables, the gentlemen a main gauche! Pray go on; you interest +me exceedingly." + +"We have them all here," answered Dr. Magnus, smiling. "The +unsuccessful author, the business bankrupt, the artist whose pictures +have never reached the line. The touch-stone of failure, you see; the +clubability (odious word!) of our membership is unimpeachable. + +"A superb conception. My dear Dr. Magnus, I must beg of you to enroll +Mr. Thorp and myself at once. Believe me that we are not unworthy of a +place in your galaxy of dark stars." + +Dr. Magnus walked to the table and took up his pen. "This gentleman?" +he began, inquiringly, and looked at me. + +"An unfortunate affair of the heart," answered Indiman--an exquisite +piece of audacity at which I frowned, and then perforce had to smile. +"It comes within your rule, I trust?" + +"For limited membership only," answered Dr. Magnus. "In fact, we rather +discourage victims of sentimental reverses, it being invariably +impossible to determine whether the transaction is finally to show a +profit or a loss. Then, too, the quick recoveries--but we'll let it +stand at that. Now, with yourself?" + +"I," said Indiman, gravely, "am a mathematician by instinctive +preference and early training, but I have never been able to cross the +'Ass's Bridge,' the Forty-seventh problem of Euclid. Incidentally, I +may mention that I am a golf-player with a handicap of eighteen." + +"A double first," commented the proprietor of the Utinam Club. "I +perceive, Mr. Indiman, that you are bent upon amusing yourself; and +since circumstances have undeniably favored you, you may continue to do +so. But not at my expense," and thereupon he mentioned a figure for +initiation and dues that made me sit up. But Indiman settled without +flinching; he happened to have his check-book with him, and the +remaining formalities were quickly discharged. + +"And now, gentlemen, let me show you about the club," said Dr. Magnus, +affably. "Will you be good enough to follow me?" + +He led the way into the hall, and thence into the cloister-like passage +communicating with the "House in the Middle of the Block." I glanced +out at the court-yard as we passed a window; it was most ingeniously +planned to take the utmost advantage of its limited area. An antique +Italian fountain occupied a niche in the opposite wall, and on either +side were sedilia flanked by bay-trees in tubs and two or three fine +specimens of the Japanese dwarf oak. A bas-relief in plaster of the +Elgin marbles ran friezelike the full length of the party wall, and +fixed immediately above the fountain niche the terrible mask of the +Medusa face looked down upon us. The time of the year being late in +March, there was no snow upon the ground, and I could see that the +ground of the court-yard was divided into four garden-beds, separated +from each other by narrow paths of broad, red tile bordered by box. All +in all it was a charming little bit of formal gardening; I could +imagine how pretty it would be on a spring morning, when the beds +should be gay with crocuses and tulips. + +We were admitted into the club proper by a liveried servant, and from +the handsome oak-panelled vestibule we passed into a lofty apartment +hung with pictures and filled with miscellaneous objects of art. All, +without exception, were execrable--miserable daubs of painting, +criminal essays in plastic and decorative work, and a collection of +statuary that could be adequately matched only by the horrors in +Central Park. "Our art gallery, gentlemen," explained Dr. Magnus. + +Art gallery indeed! To me it was the most melancholy of exhibitions, +but Indiman was enraptured. + +"What a magnificent record of failure!" he exclaimed. "What miracles of +ineptitude!" and Dr. Magnus smiled, well pleased. + +We ascended to the next floor. Here was the library, lined ceiling-high +with books that had fallen still-born from the press. Gigantic cabinet +presses occupied the centre of the room, the final depository of +countless "unavailable" MSS. In an adjoining room were glass-cases +crowded with mechanical models of unsuccessful inventions. Naturally, I +expected to see a large section devoted to the resolution of the +perpetual-motion problem, but in this I was disappointed, not a single +specimen of the kind could I discover. + +"We do not attempt the impossible," explained Dr. Magnus, dryly. "Our +failures must be inherent in the man, not in his subject." + +There were other rooms, a long succession of them, filled with +melancholy evidences of incapacity and defeat in almost every +department of human activity--plans of abortive military campaigns, +prospectuses of moribund business enterprises, architectural and +engineering drawings of structures never to be reared, charts, models, +unfinished musical scores, finally a huge papier-mache globe on which +were traced the routes of Mr. Colman Hoyt's four unsuccessful dashes +for the North Pole. It depressed me, the sight of this vast +lumber-room, this collection of useless flotsam and jetsam, cast up and +rejected by the sea of strenuous life. Most moving of all, a broken +golf-club standing in a dusty corner, and beside it a wofully scarred +and battered ball. I pointed them out to Indiman. + +"A fellow-sufferer," he said, and sighed deeply. + +Last of all we were conducted to the common room, a spacious apartment +immediately under the dome. At one end a huge stone fireplace, in which +a fire crackled cheerfully. + +"'Non Possumus,'" read Indiman, deciphering the motto chiselled upon +the chimney-breast. + +"An admirable sentiment indeed! Dr. Magnus, I venture to infer that the +Utinam Club is the child of your own brain. Permit me, sir, to +congratulate you--a glorious inception and carried out to perfection." + +Dr. Magnus smiled frostily. "I thank you, Mr. Indiman," he said, +staring hard at him. "In a civilization so complex as ours the Utinam +undoubtedly fills a want. And now, gentlemen, if you will excuse me; I +have some affairs of moment. The club is yours; make use of it as you +will. You are already acquainted with Mr. Hoyt, I believe. The other +gentlemen--but opportunity will doubtless serve." He bowed and withdrew. + +Indiman dropped into an easy-chair and lit a cigar. "Les miserables," +he said to me in an undertone. "Look at them." + +In truth, it was a strange company with whom we had foregathered. There +were perhaps a dozen men in the room, and each seemed absorbed in the +listless contemplation of his own dejected personality. The large table +in the centre of the room was laden with newspapers and periodicals, +but no one had taken the trouble to displace the neat files in which +they had been arranged. The card-room adjoining was untenanted; the +green-baize tables, with their complement of shiny, new packs of cards +and metal counters, bore no evidence of use; in the billiard-room at +the back a marker slept restfully in his high-legged chair. Assuredly, +the members of the Utinam Club were not advocates of the strenuous life. + +It was after six o'clock now, and the big room was beginning to fill up +with later arrivals. Yet there was none of the cheerful hum and bustle +ordinarily characteristic of such a gathering. A man would enter and +pass to his place unfavored by even the courtesy of a friendly glance; +at least a score of men had made their first appearance within the last +quarter of an hour, and not a single word of greeting or recognition +had I heard exchanged. Among them was Mr. Colman Hoyt, the unsuccessful +Arctic explorer. He passed close to where Indiman and I sat, yet never +looked at us. An odd set, these our fellow-members of the Utinam, and +one naturally wondered why they came to the club at all. But we were +now to learn. + +As I have said, the building was entirely windowless, ventilation being +secured by forced draught from an engine-room in the basement. +Consequently, artificial light was necessary at all times, and a very +agreeable quality of it was furnished by electroliers concealed behind +ground-glass slides in the walls and ceilings of the various +apartments. The light thus obtained was diffused rather than direct, +and, being colorless, it closely approximated natural conditions, the +delusion being heightened by the construction of the wall panels so as +to simulate windows. To add again to the effect, these lights had been +gradually lowered as the day wore on. Now it must be almost dark in the +outside world, and it was twilight in the common room of the Utinam +Club; I could no longer distinguish between the motionless figures of +the men around me and the shadows that enveloped them. Even the fire +was dying out; in a few moments the darkness would become profound, and +I felt my pulse slow down with the chill of the thought. + +One single ember remained in the fireplace; I watched it gleaming like +a great red eye in its bed of ashes, then it winked and went out, and +at the same instant the last ray from the false windows disappeared. +Strain my eyes as I would, the sensitive retina remained absolutely +unaffected; the darkness had finally come, and from one to another of +that desolate company ran a little, tremulous sigh, then the silence of +complete negation. + +From the apex of the domed ceiling a sudden and wonderful effulgence of +rose-colored light streamed forth, flooding the great room with +glorious color and life. Magical were its effects. Men straightened up +in their chairs and looked about them, the flush of returning animation +in their cheeks, and their eyes bright with questioning interest. A +youngish chap leaned over and spoke earnestly to his neighbor, then +some one laughed aloud. Instantly the flood-gates were opened; the air +was vibrant with the hum of conversation, the ringing of call-bells, +and the sputtering of fusees. A blue haze of cigarette-smoke formed +itself above the heads of the assemblage; the Utinam Club had come to +its own again. + +The large folding-doors at the east end were now opened, disclosing the +supper-room beyond--a spacious apartment, and decorated with a barbaric +splendor of gilding and intricate plastic work. I remarked particularly +the preponderance of the red tints; indeed, no other shade of color +could I discover--but of this more particularly hereafter. Indiman +looked at me, and we trooped out with the rest--que voulez-vous? One +must always dine. + +We found a small table; the napery and glass were exquisite, the +cuisine and service perfect. We surrendered ourselves to the +allurements of the hour. I was conscious of an unusual lightness and +exhilaration of spirit; Indiman's eyes were sparkling with unwonted +brilliancy. I raised my champagne-glass: "To the Utinam Club," I said, +with enthusiasm, and rather more loudly than I had intended. The toast +was at once re-echoed from every mouth, and a burst of laughter +followed. + +A late-comer entered and looked about the room somewhat uncertainly, +for all the tables had been taken. It was Mr. Colman Hoyt. He saw us +and smiled genially. "We have room here," called out Indiman, and he +joined us. + +"I am fortunate as ever," he said, as he took his seat. "New friends, +old wine; and our chef's sauce tartare is incomparable to-night. What +more can the heart of man desire?" + +"Not even the North Pole?" said Indiman. + +"Ah, the Pole! Bah! I can put my hand on it when I want it. Did I tell +you that I start to-morrow on my fifth expedition? Success is certain. +Will you honor me by drinking to it?" We drank solemnly. + +"I thought you were wearing a dark-green scarf," I interrupted, +somewhat irrelevantly, speaking to Indiman. + +"I am," he replied. + +"It is red," I insisted. "Not green at all." + +"Nonsense!" said Indiman, and thereupon Mr. Colman Hoyt burst into a +cackle of laughter. + +"Complementary colors," he said. "All the blue, green, and yellow rays +are excluded from this kindly light invented by our friend Magnus; +consequently there can be no sensation of those colors within our +vision." + +"A curious fancy," said Indiman. + +"Say rather the most glorious and beneficent of discoveries," retorted +Mr. Hoyt. "All life and vigor and power of achievement are dependent +upon the red end of the spectrum. Incapacity, failure, disease, +death-they are generated by the violet rays alone; eliminate them, and +the problem of existence is solved. All hail to thee, O Magnus, and to +thy incomparable genius! Light of lights! All hail!" + +A score of voices took up the cry, and I know that I shouted with the +rest. Then I felt Indiman's hand upon my arm; my sober senses partially +returned. "Keep hold of yourself," he whispered, and the warning came +in time, I pushed away my wineglass, and thereafter ate only enough of +the exquisitely seasoned viands to satisfy my hunger. And all the while +Mr. Colman Hoyt babbled foolishly about the white glories of the queen +of the North; to-morrow he should again be on the way to her dear +embraces. "The Pole, gentlemen; behold, I arrive; c'est moi!" + +We passed out into the general room. The card-tables were now full, the +billiard-balls rolled incessantly across the green cloth; from an inner +room came the unmistakable click of a roulette-wheel. Men talked loudly +of their projects and ambitions shortly to be accomplished. An epic +poet was about to publish his magnum opus, the birth of a new star in +the poetical firmament; a speculator had made his great coup--to-morrow +he would have the wheat market cornered. + +"My novel!" cried one. "My symphony!" retorted another. A third said no +word, but looked at the miniature of a woman's face that he held in the +hollow of his hand--looked and smiled. + +The night wore away; nay, speeded were the better word, for no one felt +any suggestion even of weariness or satiety. Then suddenly the rose +glow grew dimmer; little by little the laughter died away and the +voices were hushed. A few of the bolder spirits set themselves to stem +the receding tide, but their blasphemies quickly trailed away into weak +incoherencies, and again silence conquered all. And darkness fell. + +A servant crossed the room and drew aside the heavy velvet curtains +draping the false windows; the pure, colorless light streamed in, but +it disclosed a world in tinge all blue and green and indigo. Our eyes, +so long deprived of the rays emanating from the violet end of the +spectrum, were now affected by them alone; every object was horribly +transformed by the bluish-green bands surrounding and outlining it. A +man brushed carelessly past me; it was Colman Hoyt, and his face was of +a man already dead; his lips moved, but no sound issued from them. He +passed into the model-room connecting on the west with the central +hall; there was the sound of a fall, and Indiman and I followed +quickly. Yet not quickly enough, for across the great globe upon which +were traced the records of his four unsuccessful expeditions lay the +body of Colman Hoyt. He was a heavy man, and he had evidently flung +himself at his full weight upon the sharp, arrow-pointed rod that +served as the axis of this miniature world; it had pierced to his very +heart. The North Pole-at last he had reached it. + +"Let us go," said Indiman to me, and we stole quickly away. + +Now, in the vestibule below, a young man who had entered in haste +pushed rudely past us and made for the row of private letter-boxes +fixed opposite the coat-room. He paused at box No. 82 and gazed eagerly +into it. The front was of glass, and I could see readily that the box +was empty. The young man had his pass-key in his hand, but it was +clearly useless to insert it, and he finally turned away, his +countenance displaying the bitterest sense of disappointment. His +wildly roving eye encountered that of Esper Indiman. "Sir!" he began, +impetuously, then checked himself, bowed ceremoniously, and was gone. + + + + +IV + +The Private Letter-Box + + +I had agreed to meet Esper Indiman at the Utinam and dine there. The +weather had turned cold again, for it was the end of our changeable +March, and the fireplace in the common room of the club was heaped high +with hickory logs, a cheerful sight, were it not for that odious motto, +"Non Possumus," graven over the mantel-shelf where it must inevitably +meet every eye. Never could I read it without a tightening at my +heartstrings; a potency of blighting evil seemed to lie in the very +words. + +There were but two or three club members in the room, one of them the +young Mr. Sydenham, who had attracted my attention once or twice before +by the infinite wretchedness of his face. A mere boy, too, hardly +five-and-twenty at the most. He sat in a big chair, a magazine with its +leaves uncut lying in his lap. For an hour or more he had not stirred; +then he rang for a servant, directing him to inquire for any mail that +might have come in the afternoon delivery. Nothing for Mr. Sydenham was +the report, and again the young man relapsed into his melancholy +musing. An hour later, and just after Indiman had joined me, Mr. +Sydenham repeated his inquiry about his letters, receiving the same +negative answer--"Nothing for Mr. Sydenham." Evidently the +disappointment was not unexpected, but it was none the less a bitter +one. With a sigh which he hardly attempted to stifle, the young man +took up his uncut magazine and made a pretence at examining its +contents; I watched him with a lively but silent pity; any active +sympathy might have seemed obtrusive. + +A servant stood at the young man's elbow holding a salver on which lay +a missive of some sort, a telegraphic message, to judge by the flimsy, +buff envelope. + +"Telegram, sir," said the man, at length. "For Mr. Sydenham; yes, sir. +Will you sign for it?" + +The boy turned slowly, and there was a shaking horror in his eyes that +made me feel sick. He signed the book and took the message from the +salver, apparently acting against a sense of the most intense +repulsion, and for all that unable to help himself. The message once in +his hand he did not seem to concern himself overmuch with its possible +import; presently the envelope fell from his inert fingers and +fluttered down at Indiman's feet. The latter picked it up and handed it +to the young man, who thanked him in a voice barely audible. + +"The man is waiting to see if there is any answer," suggested Indiman, +quietly. + +Mr. Sydenham started, colored deeply, and tore open the envelope. He +read the message through carefully, then perused it for a second and a +third time, and sat motionless, staring into vacancy. + +Indiman leaned forward. "Well?" he said, sharply. + +The young man looked up; the cool confidence of Indiman's gaze seemed +suddenly to inspire in him a feeling of trust; he took the risk; he +handed the message to Indiman. "What answer would you advise me to +give?" he said. + +The message contained these words: + +"The Empire State express passes the Fifty-third Street bridge at 8.35 +o'clock to-morrow morning. You can drop from the guard-rail. Is life +more than honor? Answer. V. S." + +Indiman looked at me, then he rose and took Mr. Sydenham by the arm. +"Let us go into the card-room," he said, quietly. "Thorp, will you +come?" + +The young man's story was very simple. He had held until lately the +position of cashier in the firm of Sandford & Sands, stock-brokers. On +January 15th a shortage of fifty thousand dollars had been discovered +in his books. Mr. Sandford being an intimate friend of the elder +Sydenham had declined to prosecute. That was all. + +"Let us proceed frankly, Mr. Sydenham," said Indiman. "Did you take the +money?" + +"I am beginning to think so," answered the young man, dully. + +"Come," said Indiman, encouragingly, "that does not sound like a +confession of guilt. Don't you know?" + +Mr. Sydenham shook his head. "I can't tell you," he answered, +hopelessly. "My accounts were in perfect order up to January 10th, when +I discovered that our bank balance showed a discrepancy of fifty +thousand dollars. I covered it over for the time, hoping to find the +source of the error. Five days later I told Mr. Sandford. The money was +gone, and that was all that I could say." + +"Let us recall the events of January 9th. Did you make your regular +deposit that day, and where?" + +"We keep our account at the Bank of Commerce. But that afternoon I +overlooked a package of bills in large denominations. I sent another +messenger over to the bank, but it was after three o'clock and the +deposit was refused. The boy brought the money back to me--the package +contained fifty thousand dollars." + +"And then?" + +"I don't know. I might have locked it up in our own safe or carried it +home with me or pitched it out of the window. It is all a blank." + +"Did you stay at the office later than usual that day?" + +"Yes; I was busy with some of Mr. Sandford's private affairs, and that +delayed me until all the others had gone. I left about five o'clock." + +"And now who is V. S.? Pardon me, but the question is necessary." + +"Miss Valentine Sandford--Mr. Sandford's daughter. I was engaged to be +married to her." + +"Since when?" + +"I had proposed and was waiting for my answer. Then that very day she +sent me a telegram. It contained the single word 'yes' and was signed +by her initials. It came at the same moment that the messenger brought +back the money from the bank." + +"And it is the same V. S, who sends this message?" asked Indiman, +smoothing out the telegraph blank which he held in his hand. + +The young man took a bundle of papers from his breast-pocket. They were +all telegraphic messages, and each was a suggestion towards +self-destruction in one form or another. "Suicide's corner" at Niagara, +poison, the rope--all couched in language of devilish ingenuity in +innuendo, and ending in every instance with the expression, "Is life +more than honor? Answer. V. S." + +"I have had at least one every day," said the young man. "Sometimes two +or three. Generally in the morning, but they also come at any hour." + +"And Miss Sandford?" + +"I wrote and told her of my terrible misfortune, released her from the +unannounced engagement, and begged her to believe in me until I could +clear myself. I have not seen her since the fatal day of the 15th of +January." + +"And you have received from her only these--these messages?" + +"That is all." + +"And you think they come from her?" + +"No; or I should have killed myself long ago. But there are times when +I have to take a tight hold on myself; to-day is one of them," he +added, very simply. + +"Mr. Sydenham," said Indiman, solemnly, "I now know you to be an +innocent man. Had it been otherwise you would long since have succumbed +under this mysterious and terrible pressure." + +"I am innocent!" repeated the young man. "But to prove it?" + +"It shall be proved." + +"The money?" + +"It shall be found." + +"Through whom?" + +"Yourself. A simple lapse of memory is the undoubted explanation. The +gap must be bridged, that is all. Will you put yourself in my hands?" + +"Unreservedly." + +"Good! I desire then that you should return to your home and wait there +until you hear from me. The address--thank you. You had better leave +the club at once; this atmosphere is not the most wholesome for a man +in your position." + +Mr. Sydenham proved most amenable to all of Indiman's suggestions, and +we did not lose sight of him until he was finally on his way uptown in +a Columbus Avenue car. + +"A good subject," remarked Indiman, "and it should be comparatively +easy to get at the submerged consciousness in his case. A simple +reconstruction of the scene should be sufficient." + +"You don't think the money was stolen, then?" + +"Not at all. It will be found in some safe place, its disposal being an +act of Sydenham's subliminal personality, of which his normal +consciousness knows nothing." + +"But why--" + +"The man was NOT himself that ninth day of January. He had received a +tremendous impression in the receipt of that message from Miss +Sandford. He was an accepted lover, and the consciousness, for the time +being, swept him off his feet. He was doing his work mechanically, and +it did not matter so long as it was only routine. Then came the +emergency, and, objectively, he was unable to cope with it. The +subjective personality took command and did the right thing, for +Sydenham is an honest man. What action the subliminal self actually +took is known only to itself, and no effort of Sydenham's normal memory +will suffice to recall it. But there are other means of getting at the +truth. The most practical is to reproduce the situation as exactly as +possible. Given the same first causes and we get the identical results. +First, now to see Mr. Sandford, with whom luckily I have some +acquaintance." + +It was like the playing of a game, the scene in Sandford & Sand's +office that following afternoon. The staff of clerks had been sent home +as soon as possible after three o'clock, all save the young man who +acted as bank messenger. The calendar on the wall had been set back to +January 9th, and the HERALD of that date lay half-opened on Sydenham's +old desk. It will be remembered that Sydenham had been detained on some +of Mr. Sandford's private business, and it was perfectly feasible to +reconstruct its details. Mr. Sandford had been coached in his part by +Indiman, and the preparations for the experiment being finally +perfected, Sydenham was called in. He appeared, dressed in the same +clothes that he had worn the month before, looking a little pale, +indeed, but resolute and collected. + +"Mr. Sydenham," said Indiman, keeping his eyes fixed on the young man's +face, "you will observe that this is January 9, 1903. Kindly seat +yourself at your desk, and remain there as passive as possible. Wait +now until we withdraw." + +Through the half-opened door of Mr. Sandford's private office we could +see distinctly all that passed. Sydenham sat motionless at his desk; +Alden, the bank messenger, was within call in the outer office. The +hands of the clock, which had been set back, pointed to five minutes of +three. + +A telegraph delivery boy entered and handed Sydenham a yellow envelope. +He signed for it and the boy withdrew. He opened it, and instead of a +written message drew out a fresh sprig of heliotrope. Motionless and +scarcely breathing, he sat and gazed at it as though he could never +fill his eyes with the sight. + +"Now," said Indiman, pushing Mr. Sandford into the room where the young +cashier sat. + +The conversation was a brief one, relating to the papers that Mr. +Sandford carried in his hand. + +"Leave them on your way up-town in my box at the safe-deposit company," +concluded Mr. Sandford. Then he took his hat and went out. + +Sydenham swung back to his desk; the HERALD lying there was in his way, +and he tossed it onto the floor. Underneath lay a package of bills of +large denominations. + +The cashier acted quickly. "Alden!" he called, and the messenger came +running in. + +"I overlooked this package," said Sydenham; "it contains fifty thousand +dollars. Do you think you can get to the bank with it? You have a +minute and a half." + +The messenger seized the package and dashed away. Sydenham looked again +at the sprig of heliotrope; he pressed it passionately to his lips. +Then carefully placing it in his pocket-book, he began an examination +of the papers left by Mr. Sandford. The clock struck three. + +The clerk Alden re-entered. "They wouldn't take it," he said, and +handed the package of bills to Sydenham. + +"Oh, very well," said the cashier, absently, "I'll take care of it. +That's all, Alden; you can go." + +For an hour or more Sydenham worked steadily. Then, gathering the +papers together, he rose, took off his office-coat, and began making +preparations to depart. Once he came into Mr. Sandford's private +office, where we were sitting, but apparently he did not notice our +presence. Indiman gripped my hand hard. "Going splendidly," he +whispered. + +The cashier put on his hat and top-coat. The legal papers were +carefully stowed in an inside pocket, and he was about to close down +his roll-top desk when the package of bank-bills met his eye. He +frowned perplexedly; then picking up the bundle he dropped it into the +same pocket with the papers belonging to Mr. Sandford. He went out, +closing the door behind him. + +We followed as quickly as we could, but this time luck was against +us--Sydenham had disappeared. + +"To the safe-deposit company," said Indiman, and we jumped into a +hansom. Mr. Sandford was there, and we waited impatiently for +Sydenham's appearance; it was the only chance of again picking up the +lost trail. + +There he came, walking slowly up Nassau Street, his manner a trifle +preoccupied and his eyes bent on the pavement. Opposite the +safe-deposit company he stopped and thrust his hand into a +waistcoat-pocket. He took it away empty and a terrible change came over +his face. With a quick movement he drew out the bundle of bank-notes +and regarded it fixedly. A cry burst from his lips; he reeled and fell, +the money still clutched in his hand. + +Instantly we were at his side. A coach was at hand, and we got him into +it and directed the driver to proceed to Indiman's lodgings. The attack +had been but a momentary one, and Sydenham revived as we turned out of +Park Row. He looked at us, then at the money in his hand. + +"It has failed," he said, brokenly, and none of us could say a word. "I +came to myself," continued Sydenham, with forced calmness, "there in +Nassau Street; it was as though I had awakened from a dream. The +money--it was in my hand. I stood before the world, a self-convicted +thief. I thank you; you have done your best, but it is useless." He +passed the money to Mr. Sandford; mechanically his hand went to the +inside breast-pocket of his over-coat; he drew out the package of legal +papers bearing Mr. Sandford's name. "But--but," he stammered, "I don't +understand--I left these in your box at the safe-deposit company." + +"To be sure you did," answered Indiman, coolly. He pulled the +check-cord. "Drive back to the safe deposit," he called to the hackman. + +"Now, then," said Indiman, in a quiet, matter-of-fact tone, "will you +tell me the conditions under which you had access to Mr. Sandford's +vault. Of course your name as an authorized agent of Mr. Sandford was +on the company's books. You had your pass-key, of course?" + +"No," said Mr. Sandford. "There was but one pass-key, and that I kept +myself. When Mr. Sydenham had any business to do for me at the +safe-deposit vaults I would let him have the key temporarily." + +"You gave it to him on that particular day, the 9th of January?" +continued Indiman. + +"Yes." + +"Where is it now?" almost shouted Indiman. + +"Here," said Mr. Sandford, in surprise. "On my key-ring." + +"Exactly. There is the broken link in our psychological chain. When Mr. +Sydenham felt for the pass-key, which should have been in his pocket, +he discovered that it was missing. Instantly the continuity of events +was broken, the subliminal personality was again submerged, and Mr. +Sydenham's normal consciousness was re-established. Mr. Sandford, you +are perfectly aware of the fact that these legal papers were properly +deposited in your vault, and that the pass-key was returned to you by +Mr. Sydenham on the morning of January 10th. Gentlemen, it is evident +that we shall find the original fifty thousand dollars lying in Mr. +Sandford's strong-box, where it was left by Mr. Sydenham on the +afternoon of January 9th." + +I confess that I was mightily excited when the moment came to test the +correctness of Indiman's deductions. We were shown into a private room, +and, under Mr. Sandford's eye, the treasure-box belonging to him was +carried in and opened. Almost at the bottom lay a long, brown Manila +envelope fastened with three red rubber bands. It contained fifty +one-thousand-dollar bills. + +"I noticed that envelope several times," explained Mr. Sandford, "but +supposed it contained some mining stock. You see here is another +envelope identical in appearance and lying directly beneath it. Mr. +Sydenham never suggested even that he might have left the missing money +in my safe-deposit vault." + +"It never occurred to me that I could have done so," said Sydenham. "I +remembered making a deposit of the papers--but the money, no, I had no +recollection of having seen or touched it from the moment that Alden +brought it back from the bank and laid it on my desk." + +"Gentlemen," said Mr. Sandford, "I am indebted to you for much more +than the mere recovery of the money. But we will speak of that again. +Where can I put you down? Mr. Sydenham I shall carry off to my house; I +want to have a talk with him." + +But Indiman declined to re-enter the coach, pleading some further +business down-town, and, of course, I remained with him. The carriage +was about to drive off when Indiman put up his hand. + +"How stupid of me!" he exclaimed. "I had almost forgotten." He took +from the pocket of his overcoat a rather bulky package and handed it to +young Mr. Sydenham. "They'll explain themselves," he said, smiling. The +coach rolled away. + +"The missing letters from V. S.," said Indiman, in answer to my look of +inquiry. "An average of two a day, and all addressed to him at the +Utinam. Well, what was the poor girl to do? The young fool had changed +his lodgings and obliterated every possible trace of his whereabouts. +All Miss Sandford had to go on was the bare intimation that he could be +addressed at the Utinam Club. She might as well have posted her +communications in the North River." + +"I don't follow you." + +"Two days ago I put a dummy letter addressed to Sydenham in his private +lock-box at the Utinam. I had promised, you know, to send him on his +mail if he would keep away from the club, and accordingly I had the key +of the letter-box in my possession. Ten minutes later I went again to +the box and it was empty--that is, you could see distinctly from one +end of the box to the other, and it was absolutely bare." + +"A duplicate key, of course." + +"Not at all. It is only a stupid person who descends to crime--except +as a last resort." + +"Well, then?" + +"Did you ever attend any of the exhibitions at the old Egyptian Hall? +One of the favorite illusions was the trick cabinet in which the +performer seated himself in full view of the spectators. The doors +would be closed for an instant, and then, when reopened, the man had +disappeared. The full interior of the cabinet was plainly visible; it +stood on legs, which precluded the idea of a trap-door, and it was +incontestably shown that egress from the back, top, or sides was +impossible." + +"Yet the performer was gone?" + +"I said that the cabinet appeared to be empty--quite another thing." + +"Go on." + +"It was a simple arrangement of plate-glass mirrors fitting closely at +the sides and backed by the distinctive pattern of wall-paper with +which the rest of the cabinet was covered. Immediately that the doors +were closed, the performer drew these false sides outward, so that they +met the centre post of the doors at an acute angle. The true side walls +were thereby exposed, and, of course, they were papered to correspond +with the rest of the interior. Their reflection was doubled in the +mirrors, making it appear to the observer that the whole cabinet was +open to his vision. The truth was that he saw only half of it, the +performer being concealed behind the mirrors. The only possible point +at which the illusion could be detected was the angle where the mirrors +joined, and this was masked by the centre post at which the double +doors met. To conclude the trick, the doors were again closed, the +performer swung the mirrors back into place, and, presto! he was back +in the cabinet, smiling genially at the gaping crowd." + +"Then you think--" + +"I know. Lock-box No. 82 was constructed on the same principle in +miniature, the letter-slit being placed in such a position that +anything deposited in the box fell behind the mirrors, the whole +interior remaining apparently visible through the glass front, and +presumably empty. The owner of the box would naturally glance into it +before actually using his pass-key. Obviously, it were a waste of time +to go through the form of opening an EMPTY box, and so poor Sydenham +never got any of the letters that were daily deposited there, for the +receptacle is a large one and the secret place behind the mirrors was +almost full. The action of unlocking the box operated upon an interior +mechanism that swung back the mirrors at the same instant that the door +was pulled open. After seeing my dummy disappear, I tried the +experiment, and was amply rewarded. + +"There isn't much more to tell. When I saw the letters lying there I +knew that it was all right so far as the girl was concerned. I had only +to acquaint Miss Sandford with the circumstances in the case to secure +her further co-operation, for, of course, she had never ceased to +believe in her lover. She prepared and sent the message which you saw +delivered to Sydenham in Sandford's office this afternoon. + +"But it was not the same as the one received by him on the actual +January 9th. That contained a word, 'yes,' and was signed by her +initials; this second one consisted simply of a sprig of heliotrope." + +"Do you understand the language of flowers? The heliotrope means, 'Je +t'adore,' and Sydenham understood it instantly, as you saw." + +"Yes; but why--" + +"To repeat the original message would not have impressed him as I +wished; it would simply have seemed part of the illusion which he knew +perfectly well we were endeavoring to create. The problem was to +suddenly startle him by a real communication from V. S., and, above +all, to have it of such a nature as to convince him that the cloud +between them had finally lifted. Now, without trust and confidence, +true love is impossible. The message of the sprig of heliotrope told +him all that he had been hungering and longing to hear throughout these +terrible two months; the shock was sufficient to drive the normal +consciousness from its seat and permit the subliminal self to take +control. In other words, it practically put him back in the identical +mental mood of the afternoon of January 9th, and that was the crucial +point of the whole experiment. Anything more?" + +"Who sent the false telegrams?" + +"Of course, you would ask that. I don't know." + +"Such a monstrous wickedness! It is inconceivable." + +"Yes, unless we admit the existence of a spirit of pure malevolence +seeking to drive an innocent man to self-destruction for no other +motive than that of doing evil for evil's sake. That such an +intelligence has been active in this case is certain; or how explain +the cheat of the letter-box, a necessary factor in the problem, as you +will admit?" + +"But you don't know." + +"Not yet," answered my friend Indiman. + +We dined down-town that evening, and it was about nine o'clock when we +called a hackney-coach and started homeward. As we drove on up the +Bowery an illuminated transparency caught our eyes. + +"'Fair and Bazaar,'" read Indiman. "'Benefit of the United +House-smiths' Benevolent Association.' What is a house-smith, Thorp? +Evidently we will have to go and find out for ourselves." He pulled the +check-cord and gave the driver the new direction. Pure foolishness, of +course, but Indiman was not to be put out of his humor. + +Up one flight of stairs to a large, low-ceilinged hall that was jammed +to suffocation. A score of gayly trimmed booths wherein were displayed +various articles of feminine fallals and cheap bric-a-brac, each +presided over by a lady house-smith. "Or should it be house-smithess?" +asked Indiman. "Hullo! What's this?" + +Behind a long counter covered with red-paper muslin sat a dozen young +women of more or less pronounced personal charms, and a huge placard +announced that, kisses were on sale at the uniform price of fifty +cents. "Take your own choice." Smaller cards bore the various cognomens +assumed for the occasion by the fair venders of osculatory delights. +"Cleopatra," "The Fair One with Golden Locks," "Kathleen Mavourneen," +"Pocahontas," or more simply, albeit not less mysteriously, "Miss A. +B.," or "Mademoiselle X." Of course, each had dressed the part as +nearly as might be, and the exhibition was certainly attractive to the +masculine eye. In questionable taste, no doubt, but one does not stand +upon trifles when it is all for sweet charity's sake. + +"My dear Thorp," said Indiman, with the utmost gravity, "have you half +a dollar in your pocket? Then come with me," and forthwith we jammed +and corkscrewed our way through the crowd until we reached the long +counter covered with red-paper muslin. + + + + +V + +The Ninety-and-nine Kisses + + +The fair and bazaar of the United House-smiths' Benevolent Association +was assuredly a tremendous success, and not the least of its +attractions was the open market where kisses might be purchased at the +ridiculously small price of fifty cents each. But "Cash before +delivery" was the motto, and on the counter in front of each young +woman stood a brass bowl in which the purchaser deposited his +money--"Free list entirely suspended." One could see that "The Fair One +with Golden Locks," a large, full-fed blonde with extraordinarily vivid +red cheeks, had been doing a rushing business; her bowl was overflowing +with notes and coin. And the others also had done well, all except +"Mademoiselle D.," the girl at the far end; she had not made a single +sale. A slight little thing, pale and somewhat anxious-looking; no +wonder that customers had passed her by. Then she looked up, and we +both caught our breath. What eyes! Eyes of the purest, serenest +gray--gray of that rare quality that holds no tint of either green or +blue. Her eyes were her one beauty indeed, but the superlative miracle +of loveliness is best seen when it stands alone. And these dolts of +house-smiths had passed on to sample the pink-and-white confectionery +at the other end of the counter. + +"One hundred, if you please," and Indiman laid a fifty-dollar bill in +the bowl of the girl with the gray eyes. The crowd stopped and gaped, +and "Mademoiselle D." turned from white to red and then to white again. + +"Bought up the whole stock, boss?" asked a foolish-looking youth whose +collar was slowly but surely choking him to death. + +"Better take a couple on account," said the pert damsel attached to the +young fellow's arm; "they might turn sour on you, Mister Man." + +"Give 'em away with a pound of tea," put in a third joker. "Eh, Josie?" + +"Let's get away from here," whispered Indiman to me. "The girl looks as +though she might faint." + +We pushed on through the crowd that continued to chaff us +good-naturedly--"joshing" they called it. Then we managed to struggle +into a sort of backwater at the side of the dais upon which an alleged +string band was trying to make good, as the scornful Miss Josie +remarked. + +"There's something wrong in this, Thorp," said Indiman to me, in an +undertone. "Did you notice the stout man who stood immediately behind +her?" + +"The chap with one ear a full size larger than the other? Yes, I did." + +"He never takes his eyes from her, and I believe that the girl is here +against her will." + +"Indiman!--" I began, but he cut me short. + +"I know it, I tell you, and I'm going to take her away. Do you see that +electric-light switch on the wall behind you?" + +Back of the musicians' platform was a small wall cupboard holding the +usual apparatus for controlling the incandescent lights with which the +hall was illuminated. "Pull down both handles when I give the signal," +he went on, imperturbably. + +"What signal?" + +Indiman considered. "I'll take one of my kisses," he said, smiling. + +"I'll do nothing of the kind." + +"Oh yes, you will. Remember now--the instant that I bend down to kiss +her." + +He was gone, leaving me to curse his folly. I tried to overtake him, +but the foolish youth and his Josie blocked my way, intentionally, it +seemed; that was part of their joshing of the stranger within the +house-smiths' gates. I stepped up on the platform, and looked for +Indiman. He had just reached the counter covered with red-paper muslin; +he pushed his way up to the girl with the gray eyes and said something +to her. She seemed to shrink away. Indiman turned for an instant and +looked back at me, then he bent down and kissed her. + +Without having had the slightest intention of so doing, I pulled down +both handles; the hall was in instant and utter darkness. For a moment +the following silence persisted, menacing and deadly; it was as though +panic had suddenly reared her frightful head, a wild beast ready to +spring. + +A girl's light laugh turned the scale. "Trying to raid the fruit-stand, +are you, bub?" went on Miss Josie, in her thin, cool voice. "Thought +you could pinch a couple in the dark of the moon; but nay, nay, +Thomas--those two smacks 'll just cost you supper for four. I'm not +sitting behind the bargain-counter to-day, thank you." + +A babel of cat-calls, oaths, and laughter broke out, but the tension +had been released and the danger was over. I pushed and jammed through +the crowd to the stairs. No one was attempting to leave; in the hall +they had just got the lights turned on again. I started down. + +"Here, you!" + +I looked back; the stout man with the disproportionate ears stood at +the head of the stairs, hemmed in by the crowd. He panted and shook his +clinched fist at me. "You!--you!" he shouted, impotently. I ran on. + +In the street below Indiman was helping the girl into the coach. He +turned as I ran up. + +"Good!" he said, and offered me his cigarette-case. + +"The big fellow is coming down," I urged. + +"Have a light," said Indiman. "And now, my son, allons!" + +I stepped into the coach, and Indiman after me. There was a sound of +angry voices from the hall above; two or three men dashed down the +stairway, others following. + +"Drive on!" shouted Indiman, and the carriage started. Then we both +turned and looked blankly at that empty back seat. + +Indiman bit his lip. "It is an old trick--leaving by the other door," +he said, quietly. "It was while we were lighting our cigarettes; and +that reminds me that I have decided to give up the habit." He tossed +his cigarette out of the window; the coach rolled away. + +Private business called me to Washington the next day, and I had to +take the night train back, arriving in New York at the uncomfortably +early hour of seven. But it was some small satisfaction to rap +vigorously upon Indiman's door as I passed to my own room. One always +experiences a sense of virtue in being up at unseasonable hours, and +blessings should be shared with one's friends. Later on we met at +breakfast, and he did not thank me. + +The following paragraph in the "Personal" column of the HERALD caught +my eye. "Listen to this," I said, and read it aloud to my sulky host: + +"'To Mademoiselle D.,--There are ninety-and-nine kisses still due me, +and I propose to collect. Box 90, Herald office (up-town), or telephone +18,901 Madison Square. (Private wire.) "'HOUSE-SMITH.'" + +Esper Indiman smiled and touched an electric button. "The letters, +Bolder," he said, but the man had anticipated his request, and was +carrying in a salver heaped high with missives and papers. + +"I had the personal put in the HERALD the same night of our adventure +at the House-smiths' bazaar," said Indiman. "Also repeated in to-day's +issue." + +"It seems to be bearing a fine crop of replies." + +"There's a bushel-basket of 'em already--mostly from the alleged +humorist. Or else it's this sort of thing," and he tossed over an +extraordinary piece of stationery--white cream-laid, with edging like a +mourning band, only pink instead of black; think of that! + +Of course, the contents of the letter did not belie its exterior. "Mr. +House-smith" was informed that not only ninety-nine, but nine hundred +and ninety-nine, kisses were at his disposal whenever he cared to +communicate with Miss Delicia Millefleurs. The writing was somewhat +shaky, and "communicate" was spelled with one m. Moreover, the general +appearance of the epistle was marred by the presence of a large blot. +But Miss Millefleurs was plainly a young person of instant ingenuity, +and she had turned the disfigurement to good purpose by drawing a +circle around it and labelling it, "One on account." + +"Then there's this," said Indiman, and handed me a sheet of foolscap +which had been folded and sealed without an envelope, after the fashion +of our great-grandfathers. On it was pasted a strip of the tape used in +electric-recording instruments, and the characters were those of the +Morse alphabet, rather an unusual sight nowadays, when receiving +messages by sound is the universal practice. Underneath the row of dots +and dashes had been written their English equivalents in Indiman's +small, close handwriting. The transcribed message read: + +"One thousand (s) dollars apiece (s) offered for any or all of +ninety-nine (s) kisses, undelivered. Take car No. 6 (s), 'Blue Line' +crosstown, any (s) evening, and get off at West Fourth Street. Purchase +two pounds of the best (s) butter at the corner grocery, and ask for a +purple trading (s) stamp." + +"Quite as extravagant as the advertisement that called it forth," I +remarked. "To the wholly impartial mind it seems like nonsense." + +"'Ah, but what precious nonsense!'" quoted Indiman, musingly. Then, +suddenly: "Thorp, we need butter; I wish you'd step around to that West +Fourth Street grocery and get a couple of pounds--the best butter, +mind." + +I rose. "Certainly; back in half an hour." + +"Oh, this evening is time enough. Man, man, can't you see through a +ladder? They're after the girl with the gray eyes, and hope in this way +to get a clew to her whereabouts. Now, you can't fight shadows; the +only chance is to match them against each other. Do I make myself quite +clear?" + +"Not in the least." + +"I want to know who sends that message, and it's possible that the +answer is right under our eyes." He held up the strip of telegraphic +tape. "Do you see the letter S, enclosed in parentheses, and repeated +before several words?" + +"Means nothing, so far as I see." + +"Unless it's a habit with the operator to occasionally sound the three +dots that make up the letter S in the Morse alphabet--unconsciously, +you know, and just as another man, in speaking, might stutter or +continually introduce a hesitating 'er' or 'um.'" + +"Impossible." + +"Nothing is impossible, my dear fellow." Here the bell of the +desk-telephone rang. "For example, this call may be from Mademoiselle +D. herself." He picked up the receiver and held it to his ear. "It is," +he said, looking over at me. + +The weather conditions happened to be particularly favorable for +telephonic communication; I could hear almost as distinctly, standing +on my side of the table, as Indiman himself. I started to walk away, +then I stopped, and announced my intention of listening also; Indiman +nodded assent. + +There was unmistakable annoyance and anxiety in the tones of the voice +that greeted us. "I have just seen your absurd advertisement," it +began. "I beg of you to let this matter drop, instantly, finally." + +"A request without a reason," answered Indiman, "You owe me something +more than that." + +"There is danger--" + +"To me or to you?" + +"To yourself." + +"I am sorry, but you have indicated the sole condition which makes my +withdrawal possible." + +A little feminine sigh came from the other end of the wire. "Oh, dear, +it was so stupid of me to say that--to a man!" A pause. Then, in a +slightly vexed tone, "Supposing that it is a question of minding one's +own business." + +"Precisely what I am trying to do," said Indiman, humbly. "It is a +settlement that I am proposing." + +"I perceive, sir, that I am making myself ridiculous," and the voice +sounded cold and inconceivably distant. "I have the honor to wish you a +very good-morning." The telephone rang off sharply. + +I fancy that the same thought was in both our minds: Could this be the +same woman whom we had seen selling her kisses at an East Side bazaar? +The very thought was incredible. And remember that we had not heard her +voice before. Yet neither of us doubted, even for a moment. + +"After all, it was only the one kiss that was actually sold and +delivered," said Indiman, half-defiantly. But he need not have defended +her to me. + +It was getting to be a very pretty problem as it stood, the one obvious +probability being that it was the girl herself who stood in danger. +What could we do? To discover the nature of the impending peril and, +above all, the personnel of the conspirators. And then what? How were +we to communicate with or warn the girl?--for, of course, she had +called up Indiman from a public pay-station, leaving no clew to her +identity or address. Well, there was still the Personal column in the +HERALD; it had reached her once and might again. + +"I am going down-town to the main office of the Western Union," said +Indiman, "and may be away all day. If I shouldn't return by +dinner-time, you will carry out the instructions in the message. +Exactly, remember--car No. 6, and the best butter--each detail may be +important. About nine o'clock should be a good hour." + +"I understand," I said, and we parted. + +At exactly half after nine that evening I stepped off car No. 6 at the +crossing of West Fourth and Eleventh streets. The grocery was on the +northwest corner, and I entered without hesitation. + +Like many other big cities, New York (even excluding the transpontine +suburbs) is a collection of towns and villages rather than a +homogeneous municipality. Chelsea and Harlem and the upper West +Side--all these are distinct and separate centres of community life. +Greenwich Village knows naught of Yorkville, and the East Side Ghetto +has no dealings with the inhabitants of the French quarter. + +Now the small area bounded by Waverley Place, Christopher, West Fourth, +and West Eleventh streets is also a law unto itself. The neighborhood +is respectable and severely old fashioned, the houses large and +comfortable, and the resident population almost entirely native +New-Yorkers in moderate circumstances. A village, then, with its shops +and school-houses and churches; it is as provincial in its way as the +Lonelyville of the comic weeklies. The grocery is the village club, at +least for the respectable part of the male population, the men who +would not be seen in a corner saloon. There were half a dozen of the +regulars now in the shop, seated on boxes and chairs around the stove, +for it was a raw and chilly day. They looked up as I entered, but no +one moved or spoke. Undoubtedly my man was in the group, but how to +pick him out. I walked to the counter and addressed the young fellow +who lounged behind it. + +"Two pounds of the best butter, please." + +"All out," was the unexpected reply. + +"All out!" I repeated, stupidly. + +"None of the best--that's what I said." + +"I wanted a purple trading-stamp," I went on, helplessly. + +"Anything over five cents' worth--jar of pickles, if you like." + +"No, not that. Here, give me--how much are those cigars?" + +"Five and ten." + +"Ten cents, then." + +The young man handed out the box with a nonchalant air. "Help +yourself," he said. + +I selected a cigar. "You're sure you haven't any butter--the BEST +butter?" + +"Ah, now, whadjer giving us? This ain't no Tiffany & Co. Best butter? +Uh! P'r'aps you'd like to take a peck of di'monds home wid jer--the +best di'monds, mind, all ready shelled and fried in gold-dust. And just +throw in a bunch of them German-silver banglelets for the salad. +Yessir; charge 'em to Mr. Astor, Astorville, N. G." + +The loungers about the stove sniggered audibly, but something in the +fellow's voice made me forget his insolence. I looked up and into the +eyes of Esper Indiman. + +I think I did it pretty well--the cool, ignoring stare with which one +is accustomed to put a boor out of countenance. + +"Let me have a light," I went on, quietly, and the pretended grocer's +boy was zealous to oblige, scratching the match himself and leaning +across the counter to hold the flame to the cigar end. + +"Coach waiting for you in front of the church," he whispered. "Drive +straight home and slowly--to give him a chance." + +I left the shop without troubling to glance at the loungers about the +fire; Indiman would attend to that part of the business. The coach was +in waiting at the Baptist Church, and the driver touched his hat when I +mentioned my name. I gave him the address, and told him to drive +slowly. As we turned into Seventh Avenue I looked back and saw a cab +following. + +An hour later Indiman came in and joined me in the library. "Now, +then!" I said, impatiently, after waiting to see him mix a high-ball +and light a tremendously black breva. Indiman is a little provoking at +times with his infinite deliberation. + +"Where were we?" he began. "Ah, yes, I had my theory about finding the +chap who wrote out that message. It was correct--absolutely so," and +Indiman puffed away in dreamy content, staring up at the ceiling. + +"I know Mason of the main Western Union office quite well, and he was +most obliging. Recognized the peculiarity of the telegraphic sending at +once; there actually was a fellow who had a habit of interjecting the +superfluous S in his despatches. Name of Ewall, and he was the operator +in a sub-station near Jefferson Market. + +"Well, I posted up there and sounded him. He didn't know anything about +it at first, so I had to scare him a bit; he weakened then, and told me +what I wanted to know. + +"Of course it wasn't a real message; he had run it off on his machine +at the request of a queer-looking gentleman who had given him a couple +of dollars for his trouble. According to his description, the man was +stout and dark, with one ear--the left--decidedly larger than the +other." + +"Aha! the fellow we saw at the bazaar. But he wasn't in the group about +the grocery stove." + +"Of course not, but he had his capper there." + +"Go on." + +"Well, I thanked Mr. Ewall for his information, and left him with a +solemn admonition to be more careful in the future about doing business +on the side. Then I sat down to consider. + +"Now, I was sure that the grocery and its proprietor, the two pounds of +the best butter, and the purple trading-stamp had nothing to do with +the real business of the evening. The game was simply to identify the +'Mr. House-smith' who had advertised for his ninety-and-nine kisses, +and the clap-trap of the message in telegraphic characters, and all the +rest of it, were simply the kind of bait at which so eccentric a person +might be expected to bite. The gentleman with one ear larger than the +other desired to find the elusive Mademoiselle D., erstwhile dispenser +of kisses at an East Side charity bazaar, and, consequently, he was +following up every possible clew. He wanted 'Mr. House-smith,' and I +wanted him. + +"Fight shadows with shadows, remember; and so I took service with my +honest friend, David Brown, dealer in groceries at West Fourth and +Eleventh streets. He was rather offish at first, but Mattson, at Police +Head-quarters, had provided me with a special detective badge, and Mr +Brown was led to believe that I was working up a case of graft. He lent +me a jumper, and I was forthwith installed behind the counter. + +"Everything went off according to schedule. The 'shadow' had his cab in +readiness and I had mine. He trailed you to No. 4020 Madison Avenue, +and I followed Mr. Shadow to the Central Detective Office. It seems to +have been a case of sleuth against sleuth, with the match all square." + +"Anything else?" + +"Well, yes. As I came into the house just now, two men were waiting for +me in the vestibule. They went through me; but I didn't seem to have +what they wanted. I still retain possession of my watch and purse." + +"So," I said, somewhat helplessly. "What's the next move on the board?" + +"It is the last night of the supplementary opera season," answered +Indiman, "and we are going to dress and see what we can of +Tschaikowsky's 'Queen of Spades.' A novelty--first and only performance +outside of Russia, and Ternina heads the cast." + + "There is Mademoiselle D.," remarked Indiman, as his glass swept +the semicircle of the parterre. "The fourth box from the end." + +There were but three people in the party--the girl with the gray eyes, +an elderly man with a ribbon in his button-hole, and Jack Crawfurd, +whom everybody knows. + +The curtain fell on the third act, and immediately Crawfurd made his +appearance in the omnibus-box where we were sitting. + +"Come with me, mes enfants," he said, genially. "It seems that you and +the adorable Countess Gilda are old friends. She commands your instant +attendance. What, man! do you hesitate? I shall lose my head an our +sovereign lady be not instantly obeyed." + +The girl with the gray eyes greeted us with smiling unconcern. "Do you +know my uncle?" she asked, and we were forthwith presented to his +Excellency Baron Cassilis, the Russian ambassador to the United States. +Then the Countess Gilda addressed herself squarely to Indiman. + +"I am in your debt, Mr. Indiman, and you must permit me to discharge +the obligation. My dear uncle, your purse." + +Indiman bowed and accepted the fifty-dollar bill tendered him. + +"Now we are quits," she said, smiling. + +"Not quite," he answered, hardily. He drew a half-dollar from his +waistcoat-pocket and offered it to her. A flood of color mantled her +brow, but she took the coin and slipped it into her glove. "Well?" she +asked, her small chin defiantly uptilted. + +"I have only one question," said Indiman, earnestly. "Is there danger +for you?" + +"None in the world." + +"Then I am quite satisfied." + +She softened at that. "Only a rather aggravating disappointment; it +does not matter now. But why will you men interfere in an unoffending +woman's affairs." + +"I had no idea--" + +"Of course not. However, we need not enter further into particulars. +Your friend in the orchestra-stall yonder will doubtless enlighten you +later on." A stout man with one ear distinctly larger than the other +deliberately faced about in his seat and directed his glasses at our +box. Immediately upon this the curtain went up on the last act, and his +Excellency held up his hand to command silence. + +"Madame," said Indiman, as he handed the Countess Gilda to her +carriage, "I swear to you that the blunder I have unintentionally +committed shall be atoned for. I ask but a hint--the slightest of +clews." + +"With pleasure, monsieur. I give you, therefore, the third appearance +of the Queen of Spades. Au revoir! We sail to-morrow by the Cunarder." + +The man with the disproportionate ears touched Indiman's elbow. "Beg +pardon, sir," he said, deferentially, "but I shall have to have a word +or two with you." + +We drove to the Utinam Club and found a secluded corner. "Now, what is +it, officer?" said Indiman. + +The detective looked rather sheepish. "I'm afraid we've made a mess of +it between us. Case of political blackmail, you see, and the young lady +thought she could handle it herself. And so she could have done if we +hadn't butted in, begging your pardon for so saying." + +"Get to the point." + +"Well, then, it's a question of a letter belonging to a great person in +Roosha--written to or by her don't matter. The letter is here in New +York, and it isn't a question of money with the holder, but power. +There's only one thing to do in that case--steal it, and the Countess +thought she could turn the trick. So she went over on the Rooshan East +Side and laid her pipes to stand next to the old party who holds the +precious document. At the Baron's request I was detailed from the +Central Office and instructed to keep my eyes on the young woman and my +hands off the case. 'Course, then, I couldn't do neither. I lost the +girl when you walked off with her at the house-smiths' bazaar, and then +I had to stick in my oar and answer your personal in the Herald. I laid +what I thought was a pretty smart trap. You fell into it, right enough." + +"So you were the fellow who had me searched and held up at my own front +door," said Indiman. "Confound your impudence! What did you expect to +get?" + +"Why, the letter, sir. I had figured it out that you was the +black-mailer." + +"Oh, the deuce! And in the mean time the real article had been put on +his or her guard by all this hullabaloo, and the Countess Gilda's game +was blocked." + +"That's it, sir. A mistake all round." + +"I should think so. Well, there's nothing more to be done. That's all +you know about the case?" + +"That's all, sir." + +"Never heard of the Queen of Spades in this connection?" + +"Never, sir." + +"Well, good-night, officer. Brownson's your name, eh? I shan't forget +it." + +"Good-night, sir." + +The night was fine, and we walked home. Over on Eighth Avenue a +masquerade ball was in progress; we passed under the brightly lit +windows of the hall in which it was being held. A masker stood at the +door, a woman dressed to impersonate the Queen of Spades. She waved her +hand to Indiman, who had chanced to look up; then she plucked a rose +from her bodice and tossed it over to him. He caught the flower, as +becomes a gallant man, but immediately walked on. + +"That was your cue--the Queen of Spades," I said. + +"Not at all. It is only the third time that counts. First at the opera, +and now here; the final and only important appearance is still to come." + +At the next corner a wretchedly clad woman sat grinding a small +barrel-organ. "For the love of Mary!" she whimpered, and Indiman thrust +something into her waiting hand. He tried to hide the action, but I had +caught sight of the money--a yellow-backed bill bearing the magic +figures 50. + +"Did you notice the tune?" said Indiman, as we walked on. "The +Ninety-and-Nine." + + + + +VI + +The Queen of Spades + + +I am very fond of Esper Indiman, but there are times when he is +positively unfit for human society. Last week, for instance, when for +three days on end we did not exchange a single word, not even at +dinner, where the amenities should come on at least with the walnuts. I +grant you that humdrum wears upon the spirit, that the flatness of the +daily road may be a harder thing to get over than even Mr. Bunyan's +hill Difficulty, but for a man to surrender himself mind and body to +solitaire argues weakness. Moreover, it was a ridiculous combination of +the cards that Indiman invariably set himself to resolve; the chances +were at least a hundred to one against the solitaire coming out, and, +indeed, I never saw him get it but once. Under rather curious +circumstances, too--but I won't anticipate; let us begin with the +beginning of the adventure of the Queen of Spades. + +You will remember that there was a mislaid letter whose possession had +become a matter of supreme importance to a certain great person in +Russia. The Countess Gilda (she of the Ninety-and-nine Kisses) had been +on the point of obtaining the treasure, but the over-confidence of my +friend Indiman, coupled with the blunders of a stupid detective, had +brought about a premature explosion of the train. To Indiman, +apologetic and remorseful, the Countess Gilda had vouchsafed a single +pregnant utterance--"Wait for the third appearance of the Queen of +Spades." This was his cue; let him make the most of it if he would +repair the mischief that he had unwittingly done. + +Now the opera, on the night preceding the Countess's departure for +Europe, had been Tschaikowsky's "Queen of Spades"; the inference was +inevitable that here was the first materialization of our mysterious +heroine. That same evening we had encountered, at an Eighth Avenue +ball, a masker whose costume had been designed upon the familiar model +of the court-card in question; so much for number two. But Fortune had +been almost too kind, and immediately upon this promising beginning she +had withdrawn her smiles. For upward of a month nothing whatever had +happened. As I have said, Indiman played solitaire and I smoked as much +as I could. Dull work for all that it was the end of April, the height +of the Easter season, and New York was at its gayest. A brilliant +show--yes, and the same old one. Did you ever eat a quail a day for +thirty days? Why not for three hundred or three thousand days, +supposing that one is really fond of quail? + +For the thirty-fifth consecutive time the solitaire failed to come out. +Indiman gathered the cards, shuffled them with infinite precision, and +handed them to me to cut. I did so. Indiman took the pack and flung it +into the air; the cards fluttered in all directions, and one came +sailing straight for my nose. I put up my hand and caught it--it was +the Queen of Spades. + +"Here is the lady for the fateful third time," I remarked, jestingly. +But Indiman was nothing if not serious. He took the card from me and +studied it attentively. + +"Rather an interesting face, don't you think?" he said, musingly. +"Somewhat Semitic in physiognomy, you notice; that comes from the +almond-shaped eyes and the abnormally high arch of the brows. Would you +know her in the actual flesh--say, on Broadway? Brunette, of course, +jet-black hair banded a la Merode over the ears, a little droop at the +corners of her mouth. Voila! The Queen of Spades. Let us go out and +look for her." + +"A proposition," I remarked, judicially, "that savors of the rankest +lunacy. And yet, why not? The lady certainly made the advances; it is +an equivalent to an invitation to call. Pity she doesn't put her +address on her card." + +"Hym!" coughed Indiman, delicately. "That is a difficulty. But not +necessarily an insurmountable one. Let us consult the street directory, +with minds open and unprejudiced, and our faith will be rewarded--doubt +it not. + +"We will pass over the numbered streets and avenues," continued +Indiman. "I am not in the mood for mathematical subtleties, although +there is much of virtue in the digit 9, as every adept knows. Names are +our quest to-day, so listen to them as they run--Allen, Bleecker, +Bayard, Dey, Division--now why Division, do you suppose? What was +divided, and who got the lion's share?" + +"A delicate allusion to some eighteenth-century graft," I suggested. +"Consult the antiquaries." + +"Oh, it's enough for our purpose that the division itself exists; it +must lie below the 'barbed-wire fence,' somewhere across the line. To +speak precisely, Division Street appears to start at Chatham Square, +and it runs eastward to Grand Street. We will take the Third Avenue +Elevated to Chatham Square, and then ask a policeman. Nothing could be +more simple." + +Descending the Elevated stairs, Division Street lay right before our +eyes, and further inquiry was superfluous. Indiman's spirits had risen +amazingly. "Why, it's only an elementary exercise," he said, smilingly. +"Divide an East Side street by a pack of cards, and the quotient is the +Queen of Spades; you simply cannot escape from the conclusion. Forward, +then." + +Now, Division Street IS something out of the ordinary, as down-town +thoroughfares go. It is the principal highway to that remote Yiddish +country whose capital is William H. Seward Square, and the entire +millinery and feminine tailoring business of the lower East Side is +centred at this its upper end. In the one short block from Chatham +Square to Market Street there are twenty-seven millinery +establishments--count them for yourself--and with one exception the +other shops are devoted to the sale of cloaks and mantuas and +tailor-made gowns. All on the eastward of the street, you notice. There +is a dollar and a shilling side in Division Street, just as elsewhere. + +Talk of Bond Street and Fifth Avenue! Where will you find twenty-seven +millinery shops in an almost unbroken row? What a multiplied vista of +delight for feminine eyes--hats, hats, hats, as far as the eye can +reach. Black hats and white hats; red, blue, and greenery-yallery hats; +weird creations so loaded with gimp and passementerie as to certainly +weigh a pound or more; daring confections in gauze and feathers; +parterres of exotic blooms such as no earthly garden ever held; hats +with bows on 'em and hats with birds on 'em, and hats with beasts on +'em; hats that twitter and hats that squawk; hats of lordly velvet and +hats of plebeian corduroy; felt hats, straw hats, chip hats; wide brim +and narrow brim; skewered, beribboned, bebowed--finally, again, just +hats, hats, hats, a phantasmagoria of primary colors and gewgaws and +fallalerie pure and simple, before which the masculine brain fairly +reels. But the woman contemplates the show with serenity imperturbable: +the hat she wants is here somewhere, and it is only a matter of time +and patience to find it. + +There is always a Mont Blanc to overtop the lesser Alpine summits--a +Koh-i-noor in whose splendor all inferior radiance is extinguished. + +Indiman touched my elbow. "Look at that one," he murmured. + +Now that WAS a hat. To describe it--but let me first bespeak the +indulgence of my feminine readers. I am not an authority upon +hats--most distinctly not; and I shall probably display my ignorance +with the first word out of my mouth. But what matter. I am simply +trying to tell of what these poor mortal eyes have seen. + +In effect, then, the foundation of the hat appeared to be a black +straw, with a wide, straight brim, the trimming being a gimcrackery +sort of material whose name for the moment has escaped me. Suppose we +call it barege, and let it go at that? The principal ornament was a +large, red apple in wax, pierced by a German-silver arrow, but the +really unique feature of the entire creation was the parasol-like +fringe that depended from the edge of the brim, a continuous row of +four-inch filaments upon which shining black beads were closely strung. +An over-bold device, perhaps, but it certainly caught the eye; there +was a barbaric suggestion in those strings of glittering beads that +made one think of the Congo and of tomtoms beating brazenly in the +moonlight. A hat that WAS a hat, as I have previously remarked, and +Indiman and I gazed upon it with undisguised interest. It is hardly +necessary to add that this particular hat had the place of honor in the +shop-window, it being mounted upon the waxen model of a simpering lady +with flaxen curls and a complexion incomparable. Assuredly, then, the +pearl of the collection. + +"L. Hernandez," said Indiman, reading the sign over the door. "Spanish +Jew, I should say. Yes, and the Queen of Spades in person," he added, +in an undertone, for L. Hernandez was standing in the open door-way of +the shop and regarding us with a curious fixity of glance. + +Now, through the summer-time it is the custom of the Division Street +modistes to occupy seats placed on the sidewalk. In a business where +competition is so strenuous one must be prepared to catch the customer +on the hop. Even in winter the larger establishments will keep a scout +on duty outside, and the lesser proprietor must, at least, cast an +occasional eye to windward, if the balance of trade is to be preserved. +Undoubtedly Madame Hernandez was taking a purely business observation, +and we had chanced to fall within its focus. + +The resemblance was, indeed, striking. There was the banded hair over +the eyes, the slightly drooping mouth, the peculiar upspring of the +eyebrow arch--the Queen of Spades in person, as Indiman had said. And +this was her third appearance. + +Indiman removed his hat with a sweep. "Madame," he said, with elaborate +civility, "it is a beautiful day." + +"What of it?" retorted L. Hernandez, ungraciously enough. "Or perhaps +the sun isn't shining above Madison Square," she added, sarcastically. +A strange voice this, raucous in quality and abnormally low in pitch. + +"I haven't noticed," said Indiman, with undisturbed good-humor. "Alike +upon the just and unjust, you know. Now if you will kindly allow me to +pass--" + +"What do you want in my shop?" + +"I desire to purchase that hat," replied Indiman, and pointed to the +atrocity in the window. + +"It is not for sale." + +"I am prepared to pay liberally for what strikes my fancy." He took out +a roll of bills. + +"The hat is not for sale." + +"Madame," said Indiman, with the utmost suavity, "are you in business +for your health?" + +"I am." + +"Oh, in that case--" + +"You may come inside; it tires me to be on my feet for so long. To my +sorrow I grow stout." + +"It is an affliction," murmured Indiman, sympathetically. We followed +her within. The shop was crammed from floor to ceiling with bandboxes +arranged in three or four rows, and glazed presses, filled with +feminine hats and bonnets, lined the walls. Near the window was a small +counter, behind which Madame L. Hernandez immediately installed +herself, and from this vantage-point she proceeded to inspect us with +cool deliberation, fanning herself the while with a huge palm-leaf. +"You wish to buy a hat?" she said, tentatively. + +"That one," answered Indiman, stubbornly "--that hat on the model's +head." + +"Bah! Senor, it is fatiguing to fight, like children, with pillows in +the dark. You want that Russian letter. Why not say so?" + +For a full half-minute their eyes met in silent thrust and parry; it +was to be a duel, then, and each was an antagonist to be respected. + +"If it is a question of money--" said Indiman, slowly. + +"It is not." + +"Then I must take it where I find it." + +"So it appears," answered L. Hernandez, placidly. "But you must first +find it. Eh, my bold young man?" + +"Be tranquil, madame--" + +"I am tranquil. You are but wasting your time." + +"I have it to spend in unlimited quantity. I am a solitaire-player." + +"Oh, you play solitaire. How many variations do you know?" + +"One hundred and thirty-five." + +"I can count one hundred and forty-two." + +"Including the 'Bridge'?" + +"The famous 'Bridge'! Do you know it, then?" + +"I learned it from a Polish gentleman in Belgrade." + +"It is difficult." + +"Enormously so. It may come out once in a hundred times." + +Madame L. Hernandez produced a pack of cards from underneath the +counter. "Will you oblige me, senor? I am anxious to see the play." + +Indiman proceeded with the explanation. It was too intricate for me to +follow. I could only understand that, with the solitaire properly +resolved, the cards should finally divide themselves into four packs, +headed respectively by the ace of clubs, king of diamonds, queen of +spades, and knave of hearts. Indiman tried it twice, but the +combination would not come out. + +"We will try it again to-morrow," said Indiman, rising. + +"With pleasure. Good-day, gentlemen. Mind the step." + +As we walked towards Chatham Square a stout man joined us, a man with +one ear noticeably larger than the other. "Mr. Indiman--" he began, +deferentially. + +"What, you, Brownson?" + +"Yes, sir. I have an assignment on this job from the Central Office. I +saw you coming out of L. Hernandez's just now. Smooth old bird, ain't +it?" + +"You on this case?" said Indiman, stupefied. + +"Yes, sir. You see, the parties concerned finally determined to put it +into our hands, and they'd have been enough sight better off if they'd +done it in the beginning. Bless you! it's no great shakes of a lay-out. +There's the letter--a single sheet of note-paper written in violet ink +on one side only, and we know the party who has it up her sleeve. L. +Hernandez--I don't mind saying it, seeing that you're also on. I'll do +the trick within three days, or you can boil my head for a corned-beef +dinner." + +"Well, good luck to you, Brownson," said Indiman, absently. There was a +cab-rank here in Chatham Square, and we drove up-town to the Utinam +Club for a late luncheon. While we were waiting for our filet to be +prepared Indiman wrote a brief note and had it despatched by messenger; +it was addressed, as he showed me, to Madame L. Hernandez,--Division +Street. "I'm not going to have that booby upset the apple-cart for a +second time," he said, savagely. "Now we shall have to wait for at +least three days." + +This was on Monday; on Friday we presented ourselves again to Madame L. +Hernandez. She received us politely, almost graciously; she sat in the +great chair behind the counter, engaged in the truly feminine +occupation of putting up her hair in curl-papers. A pad of stiff, white +writing-paper lay on the counter before her, and from it she tore the +strips as she needed them. + +"I am tired of these bandeaux," she explained, smilingly. "My friends +tell me that curls will become me infinitely better." + +"Your friends have reason," acquiesced Indiman; "but tell me, madame, +did you receive my note?" + +"I did, senor, and I return you a thousand thanks. Ah, how these pigs +of detectives have tortured me!--you would never believe it. Twice my +apartments, at the back there, have been entered and ransacked from end +to end; I even suffered the indignity of being personally searched by a +dreadful newspaper woman who had answered my advertisement for +'Improvers Wanted.' Chloroformed in broad daylight in my own house!" + +"But they didn't get the letter?" + +"I was not born yesterday, senor." + +"Good!" said Indiman, heartily. "What imbeciles policemen can be!" + +"What, indeed! Behold, senor, I show you the ruin wrought by these +swine. This way." + +L. Hernandez rose, waddled stiffly to the back room, and threw open the +door. "There!" she exclaimed, dramatically. + +Evidently these were the lady's living apartments--a bed-chamber and a +smaller room at the left, in which were a gas-range and some smaller +culinary apparatus. It was plain that the intruders had made thorough +work in their search. The carpet had been removed and the flooring +partially torn up; the walls had been sounded for secret receptacles, +the pictures stripped of their backing, and the chairs and bedstead +pulled half to pieces. "Not a square inch of anything have they left +unprobed by their accursed needles," said L. Hernandez, furiously. "It +will take me a month, stiff as I am, to get things to rights." + +"An outrage!" said Indiman, soothingly. "Shall we have a try at +crossing the 'Bridge'?" And forthwith they sat down to the great +solitaire with the utmost amity. But again it did not come out; the +combinations were insoluble. + +The next day we paid another visit to L. Hernandez. + +"The curl-papers do not seem to be very effective," remarked Indiman, +glancing at the familiar smooth bands of hair drawn straight down from +the forehead and over the ears. + +"Ah, these wretched bandeaux!" sighed madame; "they are intractable. I +shall have to wear my curl-papers by day as well as by night. Excuse +me, gentlemen, for a few minutes," and she disappeared into the back +room, to shortly reappear with the rebellious bands tightly swathed in +a dozen little rolls of twisted paper. "Again the impassable 'Bridge,'" +she said, gayly, and the pair wrestled half a dozen times with the +problem--of course, unsuccessfully. + +On the following day the comedy was repeated. + +"Madame," said Indiman, gravely, "you have again forgotten your +curl-papers." + +"Senor, my memory is undoubtedly failing; I go to repair the omission." +Re-enter madame in curl-papers, and then the "Bridge" as before; da +capo for a week on end. + +"It seems impossible to get that accursed combination," said Indiman, +and he threw down the cards. Madame L. Hernandez smiled, and there was +a little silence. + +"Madame," said Indiman. + +"Senor." + +"You are not treating me fairly. You have allowed those stupid +detectives to search your apartments, and I demand an equal privilege." + +"You shall have it, senor. I am going to make a complaint of the affair +at Police Headquarters. Perhaps Senor Thorp will kindly accompany me?" + +"Excellent! I will remain here, and if the letter is within these four +walls I shall find it." + +"My best wishes, senor." + +I called a coach. Madame arrayed herself in a fur cloak and crowned +herself, curl-papers and all, with that atrocious hat from the window +stock, a grotesque figure of a woman in all conscience. But I had +nerved myself for the ordeal, and we drove away amid the jeers and +laughter of the street crowd. In an hour we returned. Indiman was +placidly smoking and working on his solitaire. + +"You were successful, senor?" + +"No, but I have hopes." + +"Ah! Well, good-day, gentlemen. Come again." + +"Of course there was nothing," said Indiman to me as we drove home. "I +even went through every bandbox." + +"Yet you have hopes?" + +"Yes." + +It was the second day following, and we were calling again upon L. +Hernandez. There was the usual badinage about the curl-papers, and +madame retired to her private apartments, carefully closing the door +behind her. + +"Now!" said Indiman. Hastily he pulled forward a cheval-glass, placing +it upon a particular spot and tilting the mirror to a certain exact +angle. When finally it was adjusted to his satisfaction, he motioned to +me to come and look. In the mirror was plainly visible a vertically +reversed reflection of L. Hernandez. Standing in front of a long +dressing-glass in her bedroom, she deliberately removed her chevelure +in its entirety and tossed it on the table. It was a wig, then; but I +was hardly prepared for the secret that it had concealed--for the +close-cropped head, with its straw-colored hair, was unmistakably that +of a man. + +"Look! look!" whispered Indiman. + +From a drawer L. Hernandez had taken a second wig already furnished +with curl-papers; the adjustment took but a minute or two; the door +opened, and she reappeared, ready for the inevitable solitaire. + +On the way home that night Indiman stopped at Police Headquarters, but +he did not see fit to make the nature of his inquiries known to me. On +the subject of the apparition in the mirror, however, he was more +communicative. + +"As you know," he said, "the partition that divides madame's private +apartments from the shop does not extend to the ceiling; there is a gap +of some three feet. I had previously noticed the cheval-glass in the +bedroom; it was a natural presumption that L. Hernandez would take her +stand in front of it while engaged in making her toilet. Now this glass +is tilted at a sharp angle, and consequently the reflection must be +projected upward to a particular point on the ceiling. Supposing a +small looking-glass to be fixed at this point, the rays impinging upon +it will be cast downward and ON OUR SIDE OF THE PARTITION, for the +angle of reflection is always equal to that of incidence. We have, +therefore, only to place in position a second cheval-glass, arranged at +the proper inclination, to obtain a reproduction of the original image, +although, of course, it will appear to us as upside-down. I have only +to add that the day you escorted madame to Police Headquarters I took +the opportunity to fasten a small mirror on the ceiling, trusting that +it would not be noticed. Nor was it; the trap worked perfectly--an +optical siphon, as it may be called--and the secret was mine." + +"And now?" + +"Wait until to-morrow," said Indiman. + +For the fiftieth time the game of solitaire was in progress, and on +this occasion it seemed as though the combinations were actually coming +out. Remember, that in the final fall of the cards it was necessary +that they should be in four packs, headed by the ace of clubs, king of +diamonds, queen of spades, and knave of hearts. Already the first two +ranks had been completed; it all depended upon the disposition of the +few remaining cards. + +"The queen of spades is buried," said L. Hernandez, with a sneer. "You +have failed again." + +"I think not," replied Indiman, calmly. "I am sure that the last card +is the knave of hearts." This was my cue. I stepped to the door and +made an imperceptible signal to Brownson, who, with two other +plain-clothes men, was lounging in a door-way across the street. They +seemed eternally slow in obeying; I felt the muscles in my throat +contracting with nervous excitement as I turned again to watch the +solitaire. + +But two cards remained to be played; they lay face downward upon the +table. If the upper one were the queen of spades, the packets would be +completed in their proper order and the solitaire would be made; if it +were the knave of hearts, the game would again be lost. Slowly--oh, so +slowly--Indiman turned the first card. + +"Knave!" shouted L. Hernandez, exultingly. Then she stopped and went +white. It was not the knave of hearts, but the queen of spades, and +over it had been pasted a small carte-de-visite photograph--that of a +man dressed in the coarse uniform of one of the Russian penal +settlements. With lightning swiftness Indiman leaned forward and +twitched the wig from L. Hernandez's head; the man himself sat there +before our eyes. + +Brownson and his bull-dogs stood at the door, revolvers in hand. But +there was no need. The squat, ungainly figure had fallen forward upon +the counter, crushing the horrible nightmare of a hat of which I have +so often spoken, and which, quite by chance, as it seemed, had been +lying there. Brownson sprang forward and raised the limp body. The red, +waxen apple had been broken into a dozen pieces. Among them lay the +fragments of a fragile glass phial, and the smell of almonds was in the +air. + +"Prussic acid," said Brownson, sententiously. "He wasn't the kind to be +taken alive." + +Indiman mechanically turned over the last card; it was the knave of +hearts, and the famous solitaire of the "Bridge" had been made at last. +He slipped the cards into his pocket and rose to go. "Brownson," he +said, with a little catch in his voice, "I didn't think that it would +come to this, but it had to be, I suppose. Have him put away decently, +and send the account to me." + +"Very good, sir. But ain't it a pity about that letter. However, we can +take a good look now, and maybe we'll turn it up yet." + +"Perhaps so," said Indiman. + +"His real name was Gribedyoff, and he was implicated in the +assassination of Prince Trapasky," said Indiman to me as we sat over +our cigars that night. "A desperate fellow, one of the 'Blacks,' you +know. I picked his picture out in a moment at Police Headquarters, +after seeing his reflection in the mirror. I knew it was necessary to +surprise him, and so I borrowed the photograph and used it to +transmogrify the queen of spades card. Just for an instant he lost his +nerve, but that was enough." + +"But, as Brownson said, how about the letter?" + +Indiman drew from his pocket the wig, to which the curl-papers were +still attached. He unrolled one and showed it to me. I could see that +the strip was written in French on one side of the paper and in violet +ink. "It will be easy enough to piece it together again," he said. +"Plain enough now, isn't it, why L. Hernandez cared not at all how +often Brownson's men rummaged table-drawers and chair-seats. The letter +was safe until the time should come to use it. Only it never came." + +"I suppose you are going abroad?" + +"I shall sail Thursday." + +"And you will be gone how long?" + +"That depends, doesn't it, upon the pleasure of that most gracious lady +the Countess Gilda. I may be back in a fortnight, and in that case I +will make an engagement with you. We will take a ride together on a +trolley-car." + +"Agreed," said I. + +It was a warm afternoon in the middle of May, and I was lounging in the +deserted common room of the Utinam Club when Esper Indiman walked in. +We shook hands. + +"You landed to-day?" I asked. + +"Yes, by the Deutschland." + +It was impossible for me to utter the inquiry that rose to my lips. +Indiman hesitated just a trifle, then he went on: + +"I delivered my letter to the Countess, and she was most obliged. She +asked me to stay on, but I had a previous engagement to plead: you +remember that I had agreed to go on a trolley-ride on or about this +date?" + +"I remember," I answered. "Let us interview Oscar, then, upon the +subject of dinner; it will be cooler up at Thirty-fourth Street. +Afterwards we will have our adventure on the trolley." + +Well, we went and had our dinner, but, as you shall see, the +trolley-ride had to be indefinitely postponed. We had started down +Fifth Avenue, and near Madison Square we ran squarely into Indiman's +cousin, George Estes. He was standing near a brilliantly illumined +shop-window, and gazing intently at a small object that lay in the +hollow of his hand. + +"Oh, it's you," he said, absently. Then, with a little laugh, "What do +you think of this?" He held out to us a small button fashioned of some +semiprecious stone like Mexican opal; it glowed with an elusive reddish +lustre. + +"It looks almost alive," commented Indiman. + +"The vital spark, eh? Well, you're not so far out, for it means a man's +life." + +"What is it, George?" asked Indiman, gravely. + +"Not to-night, old chap. It may be a mistake--probably is. Or say that +I was kidding you." + +"That won't do, George. You've said both too much and too little. Cab +there!" he called, and a hansom drew up to the curb. + +"You'll excuse me, Thorp--a family affair." He motioned to the boy to +enter; he obeyed, sulkily enough, and they drove off. + + + + +VII + +The Opal Button + + +Now, as a matter of fact, I had no part in the affair of the opal +button; for on the very next day following our meeting with Estes I +came down with typhoid and spent the next two months in the hospital. I +saw little of Indiman during that time, but his seeming neglect was +fully explained by the story he told me the night I was well enough to +get back to 4020 Madison Avenue. + +"You remember, of course," began Indiman, "that I went off with Estes +that May evening with just an apology to you about a family affair. +Really, I knew nothing; but the boy's manner struck me as peculiar, +and, while the incident of the opal button was trifling in itself, I +was sure that there was something behind it. But when I plumped the +question squarely at Estes he had nothing to say except that the jewel +had been slipped into his hand while he stood looking into a +shop-window. Where it came from he did not know; what it meant he +either could not or would not tell. So I had to drop the subject for +the time. But it came up again of its own accord four days later, the +exact date being May 15th. So much by way of preamble; the story proper +I will read from my notes. + +"'De Quincey was right, and murder should be a fine art. But the +Borgias--only amateurs! The far-famed Aqua Tofana--pooh! Any chemist +will put it up for ten cents. Only be careful how you use it. Chemical +analysis has advanced somewhat since the day of the divine Lucrezia, +and a jury would convict without leaving their seats.' + +"'Rather rough on your business, I should think,' said Estes, speaking +somewhat thickly, for the port had stopped with him overfrequently of +late. 'Is poisoning really out of date?' he continued. + +"'As absolutely as crinoline and the novels of G. P. R. James,' +answered our host, lightly. But I, who was watching him closely, saw +his eyes harden. Estes had said more than one imprudent thing that +evening, and this time he had gone too far. I would have to get the boy +away somehow. + +"There were three of us dining with Balencourt that evening at his +chambers in the Argyle--Estes, Crawfurd, and myself; and as usual we +had had an excellent dinner, for Balencourt knew how to live. Who was +Balencourt? Well, nobody could answer that precisely, but his letters +of introduction had been unexceptionable and his checks were always +honored at Brown Brothers. Moreover, Crawfurd had met him frequently at +the Jockey Club in Paris, and there was his name on White's books for +any one to read. A man of forty-five perhaps, clean-shaven, well set +up, an inveterate globe-trotter, a prince among raconteurs, and the +most astounding polyglot I have ever met. I myself have heard him talk +Eskimo with one of Peary's natives, and he had collated some of his +researches into Iranic-Turanian root-forms for the Philological +Society. But let us go back to our walnuts. + +"Crawfurd picked up the thread. 'Then the science of assassination is a +lost art,' he said, tentatively. + +"'Oh, I did not say that,' replied Balencourt, carelessly. 'There are +other ways--better ones.' + +"'You mean beyond the risk of detection?' + +"'Perfectly.' + +"'Eliminating the toxic poisons of all kinds?' + +"'If you like.' + +"'I doubt it.' said Crawfurd, with a little hesitation. + +"'And I deny it,' interrupted Estes, rudely, and stared straight at +Balencourt. A quick glance answered his challenge; it was like the +engaging of rapiers. + +"'Perhaps Mr. Estes desires proof,' said Balencourt, slowly. + +"'I do.' + +"'Let us say between--' + +"'To-night and the 1st of August.' + +"'That will suit me perfectly. My passage is booked on the Teutoninc +for the following Wednesday.' + +"'It is also the day set for my wedding to Miss Catherwood,' said +Estes, quietly. + +"Balencourt took it admirably. 'So you have obtained the decision at +last,' he said, smiling lightly. 'My felicitations.' + +"Crawfurd rose to his feet. The jovial flush had strained away from his +fat cheeks, and his jaw hung loose and pendulous. 'For God's sake, +fellows--' he began, but Balencourt stopped him with a gesture. + +"'This is a private matter between Mr. Estes and myself, as he knows +full well. So far as you and Mr. Indiman are concerned, call it what +you like--a duel, or, better yet, a sporting proposition.' + +"'The stakes?' put in Crawfurd, feebly, for, shaken as he was, he could +still grasp at the definite idea included in the last-named +alternative. Sport and a wager--now he understood. + +"'The stakes?' repeated Balencourt. 'Well, they are hardly of a nature +that either Mr. Estes or myself can intrust them to the keeping of a +third party. But rest assured that the loser will pay; it is a debt of +honor.' + +"Up to this moment I had kept silence, but now I must make my one try. +'He is but a boy,' I said, leaning my elbows on the table and seeking +to plumb the soul-depths in the cold, gray eyes of the man who sat +opposite to me. But Balencourt only laughed amusedly. + +"'Then he should not assume a man's--' + +"'Will you come now, Cousin Esper?' interrupted Estes. He pushed his +chair noisily back, and we all rose. + +"'You won't wait for coffee?' said our host. 'Just as you please.' He +touched the call-button, and Jarman entered to help us on with our +top-coats. Par parenthese, how account for the anomaly of this +scoundrel of a Balencourt possessing the most perfect of serving-men? +There never was anybody who could roll an umbrella like Jarman, and I +have been around a lot in my time. After the catastrophe I tried my +best to locate him, but without success. He was gone; the pearl had +dropped back into the unfathomable depths of ocean. Perhaps he followed +his master. + +"The door closed behind us, and we three stood in the street. 'A cab?' +I queried, and a passing hansom swung in towards the curb. + +"'I'd rather walk along with you, Cousin Esper,' said Estes. 'Jump in, +Mr. Crawfurd, and we'll pick you up later at the club.' + +"Crawfurd nodded and was forthwith driven away. I turned to Estes. + +"'What is it, George?' I asked. 'Remember, there's Elizabeth to be +considered in this.' + +"Now, while Estes is a second cousin of mine, 'Betty' Catherwood is my +niece, and so I considered that I had a double right to stick in my +oar. But I wasn't prepared for the depth of trouble that I encountered +in the glance George Estes turned on me. 'So bad as that!' I finished, +lamely. + +"'It won't take long in the telling,' began the boy, desperately. 'You +remember that after I left Princeton I went to Germany for a two years' +course in international law under Langlotz; it was a pet idea of the +pater's.' + +"I nodded. + +"'Well, we all make fools of ourselves at one time or another, and here +is where I donned the cap and bells. You have heard'--here he lowered +his voice--'of the "Dawn."' + +"'The revolutionary society?' + +"'Yes; it's the active branch of the "Sunrise League"--the practical +work, you know. I joined it.' + +"I had nothing to say. George laughed a little dismally and went on: + +"'Absurd, wasn't it? I, a citizen of the best and freest country on +earth to be making common cause with a lot of crack-brained theorists +who would replace constitutional government by the "Lion's Mouth" and +the "Council of Ten"--a world ruled by a secret terror. But it seemed +all right at the time. What was my life or any one man's life to the +progress of civilization? It was only when I came to look at the means +apart from the end that I realized the horrible fallacy of it all.' + +"'You withdrew, of course.' + +"'You don't quite understand. One doesn't withdraw from the "Dawn." He +may cease to be identified actively with the propaganda, but he is +still subject to be called upon for a term of "service"--that's the +ghastly euphemism they use. You remember this and the night I received +it?' + +"He took a pasteboard box from his pocket and handed it to me. It +contained a small, red button, fashioned out of some semiprecious stone +resembling Mexican opal. + +"'It was the first summons,' continued Estes, 'and within three days I +should have been on my way to Berlin--to receive my instructions.' + +"'You refused, then?' + +"'There was Betty,' said the boy, simply. + +"'You must understand,' he went on, 'that this "service" can only be +demanded once of a member. He may refuse compliance, if he chooses, but +in that case there is a forfeit to be paid, and it becomes due after +the third warning.' + +"'Well?' + +"'Must be paid, you understand. If not by the recalcitrant himself, +then by the agent of the "Forty" through whom the summons comes. That +makes it clear, doesn't it--Balencourt and his debt of honor?' + +"'When did you know--about him, I mean?' + +"'Here is the second button. Balencourt slipped it into my hand just +before we went out to dinner to-night.' + +"'It is incredible. Balencourt is a man and you are but a boy. To take +advantage of an act of youthful folly--' + +"'You forget that it is his life or mine,' interrupted Estes, quietly. + +"'But, George, it is unthinkable. When he knows--but you did tell +him--about Betty--' + +"'That's just it, old chap. Balencourt asked her to marry him a week +ago, just before I received the first red button.' + +"The monstrousness of the thing struck me all of a heap. 'The police,' +I said, vaguely, but Estes shook his head. + +"'It is but postponing the bad quarter of an hour,' he said, gently, +'and I don't think that I could put up with this sort of thing +indefinitely. Moreover, it wouldn't be fair to--to Betty. + +"'No,' he went on, 'it's better to have a limit set, just as it is +now--for at least Balencourt will keep his word. Once past the 1st of +August, I am safe.' + +"'We'll work within the limit, then,' I said, cheerfully. 'If we +three--Crawfurd, you, and I--can't match wits with one polyglot son of +the "Dawn," we might as well let the bottom drop out of the Monroe +Doctrine and be done with it.' + +"We had arrived at the club. For an instant our hands met. 'Not a word +to Betty,' he whispered. + +"'Of course.' Then we went up-stairs to the pipe-room, where we found +Crawfurd sitting gloomily over his fourth Scotch-and-soda. The clocks +were striking three when we took Estes back to his apartments, and we +both spent the night with him. The issue had been fairly joined, and it +was exactly two months and a half to the 1st of August. + +"The rest of May passed absolutely without incident, and sometimes it +was difficult to believe in the reality of the contest in which we were +engaged. Yet we omitted no precaution, and during the whole fortnight +Estes was never for a moment out of the sight of either Crawfurd or +myself. But no; I'll correct myself there, for we had to allow him an +hour and a half every evening with Betty, and I used to mount guard in +the street outside, measuring the cold and unsympathetic flag-stones. +And no thanks for it, either; indeed, Betty's manner was distinctly +top-loftical whenever we chanced to meet, she being a young person of +discernment, and perfectly well aware that we were keeping her in the +dark about something. But it helped George to forget, and so I counted +it in with the rest of the day's work and held my peace. + +"As for the rest, there was nothing to be done except to keep a couple +of 'shadows' on Balencourt, and we had a full account of his movements +by eight o'clock every night--a regular ship's chart worked out with +time-stamps and neat entries in red ink, after the accustomed fashion +of Central Office men. So May and the first two weeks in June dragged +uneventfully along; the period of stress was already half over. Then +came Monday, the 15th of June, and with it a little shock. Our man--I +mean Balencourt--concluded to disappear, and he did it as effectually +as though there were no such thing as a 'shadow' in existence. When the +head-sleuth came that night to report his discomfiture, I cut him short +in his theorizing and asked for the facts. But there was only the +one--Balencourt was certainly non est, and that was all there was to +say. Whereupon we banished the 'shadows' to the outer darkness whence +they had come and convened our original council of war. + +"One thing was plain--the danger of remaining longer in the city. There +are so many things that may happen in a crowd, and especially if our +friend Balencourt formed part of that unknown quantity. There is always +a chance of a chimney-pot tumbling about one's ears or of being run +down by some reckless chauffeur. And who is to know the truth? +Accidents will happen; they are wilful things and insist upon keeping +themselves in evidence. Imprimis, then, to get out of town. But where? + +"'Hoodman's Ledge,' began Crawfurd, a little doubtfully, but I caught +him up with joyful decision. + +"'The very thing,' I said. 'I'll send a wire to the caretaker to-night, +and we'll be off by Thursday. I invite you all--for six weeks. Why, of +course, George, that includes Betty and her mother; they were to come +to me, anyway, in July.' + +"Now, Hoodman's Ledge is one of the innumerable small islands that dot +the Maine coast above Portland. A few years ago the fancy had taken me +to buy the island--it was only three acres in area--and later on I had +put up a house, nothing very elegant, but everything for comfort, a +model bachelor's establishment. For our present need no better asylum +could have offered. The island was small and occupied only by my own +domestic establishment. It lay in the bight of Oliver's Bay, quite a +mile from the nearest shore, and there was but one other bit of land +anywhere around--an uninhabited islet known as 'The Thimble,' that lay +a quarter of a mile due east. Surely this isolation promised security. +Here, if anywhere, we might snap our fingers at the machinations of M. +Balencourt and the mysterious 'Forty.' It would be rather cold off the +Maine coast during this unseasonable summer, but there were fireplaces +in plenty and stacks of drift-wood. The only real difficulty lay in +persuading my estimable sister to cut short her Newport visit and come +to me a month earlier than usual. + +"Finally, I left it to Betty to manage. 'I can't explain myself any +clearer, my dear,' I ended up, rather lamely, 'but it will be better +for George. Will you do it?' + +"'So you won't trust me with the secret? No; you needn't protest--there +is a secret, and I ought to know it. But you have put it so cleverly +that I haven't any choice in the matter. "Better for George" indeed! +Very good, mon oncle; I'll obey orders. But remember that it will be +the worse for you later on, unless you can show good and sufficient +reason for this ridiculous mystery. Poor, dear mamma! how she will hate +to be plucked up--like an early radish.' And thereupon Miss Betty +sailed away with her small head tilted skyward. + +"But she did manage it, and by Thursday night the party was actually +assembled at 'The Breakers.' There was a sou'easter on that night, but +the drift-wood burned stoutly in the wide chimney-piece, with now and +then a cheerful sputter as a few stray drops sought to immolate +themselves in the green and purple flames. + +"'Not so bad--eh, mamma?' said Betty, as she slipped another pillow +behind Mrs. catherwood's back and handed her the last volume of 'Gyp,' +with the pages neatly cut. And then she actually smiled over at me. I +think I am beginning to understand Betty. + +"Again I pass over many uneventful days. 'Nothing doing,' as Crawfurd +put it, and laisser-faire was a good enough motto for our side of the +house. The two children, of course, were blissfully happy. + +"Three, four, nearly six weeks, and no sign or sound from M'sieur +Balencourt. Not so surprising, after all, seeing that we were living on +an island surrounded on all sides by deep water and no land within a +mile except that little dot called 'The Thimble.' And while we didn't +make any parade of our precautions, Crawfurd and I kept watch and +watch, just as we used to do in the old Alert, on the China station, +twenty-odd years ago. Moreover, the gardener and my boatman were men +who could keep their eyes open and their mouths shut, and, finally, +there were the four dogs--two Great Danes, a collie, and 'Snap,' the +fox-terrier. It would have been a bold man who sought to visit +Hoodman's Ledge, uninvited, during that particular month and a half. + +"It was the morning of the 1st of August, and I was lounging on the +piazza, Crawfurd being on duty at the time. The warm weather had come +at last. The air was so soft and delightful that the scientific review +I had been reading slipped from my hand and I gave myself up to +indolence, gazing lazily at the white pigeons that were trading about +the lawn, between the boat-house and a rustic pavilion overlooking the +tennis-court. One bird I marked in particular, admiring his strong and +graceful sweeps and dips as he circled about, possessed, as it were, +with the pure joy of motion. I followed him as he sank down on a long +slant to the lawn, swift as a bolt from the blue; then I rubbed my eyes +in amaze. It was a pigeon of snowy whiteness that an instant before had +been flying free; it was a coal-black nondescript that now fluttered +feebly once or twice and then lay still on the gravelled path, close to +the stone sun-dial. I ran down the steps and bent over the pitiful +thing. Pfui!--the bird was but a charred and blackened lump of dead +flesh. There was a disagreeable odor of burned feathers in the air. +Mechanically my eye fell on the sun-dial; there was a spot the size of +a silver dollar on the side of the pedestal where the stone had +crumbled and disintegrated, as though it had been placed at the focus +of some immensely powerful burning-glass. I stepped behind the sun-dial +and looked out to sea. And there, in line with the pedestal of the dial +and the dead bird on the path, lay 'The Thimble.' + +"Now, as I have said, 'The Thimble' was a rocky islet only a few rods +in extent, but densely wooded with spruce and blue-gum. The general +shape of the rock was that of a lady's thimble; hence the name. Rather +a picturesque object in the seascape, but, of course, utterly valueless +except for occasional picnic uses--a bit of No Man's Land whose purpose +in the economy of nature had hitherto remained unfulfilled. But now? + +"I went back to the piazza and caught up a pair of stereo-binoculars +that were lying on the table. There, shining like a star through the +close curtain of green that veiled 'The Thimble,' was the projecting +end of a highly polished tube of steel. And even as I gazed a man's +face peered out as though in the act of sighting--Aram Balencourt! + +"Then I understood. The tube was the means of projecting some +enormously powerful heat-beam whose nature must be akin to that of the +so-called X-ray. The article I had been reading not ten minutes +ago--what was the title?--'Radium, the Wizard Metal'--that +incomprehensible substance, forever sending forth its terrible +emanations, yet never diminished by even the ten-thousandth part of a +grain--a natural force whose properties and functions were but +imperfectly understood, even by the learned men who had succeeded in +isolating it, an agent of such enormous potency that an ounce or two +might serve to put a battle-ship out of commission--a couple of pounds +and the universe itself were endangered. Even now from that steel tube, +sighted so carefully on the pedestal of the sun-dial, billions of ions +might be rushing, invisible to the eye, but certain death to whatever +of animal existence they chanced to encounter. There was the pigeon +lying dead on the walk. + +"'Do hurry, George,' called out Betty's thin, sweet treble. She stood +at the entrance to the pavilion and waved a tennis-racquet impatiently. + +"'Coming,' was the cheerful response, and Estes turned the corner of +the house. He took the gravelled path at full speed. In an instant or +two at the farthest he would be passing between the sun-dial and the +dead pigeon, in line with those deadly radiations. + +"We had been playing a little single-wicket earlier in the day, and a +cricket-ball lay on the wicker table at my hand. I could not have +uttered a word or a cry to save my life--to save his--but instinct held +true. With a full, round-arm sweep the ball left my hand, catching the +boy squarely on the forehead. He fell within his stride. + +"Betty was with us on the instant, but I seized and held her despite +her struggles. Naturally, she thought I had gone mad. Then I looked +over again at 'The Thimble,' just in time to see a sheet of +palest-colored flame shoot up from the island. The dense mass of green +foliage seemed to wither and consume away within the tick of a clock. +Through the glass I caught a glimpse of a dark figure that rolled down +to the water's edge, clutching feebly at the shifting shingle. Perhaps +a log, after all--it lay so still. + +"An instant later 'The Thimble' disappeared in a cloud of grayish +vapor, the dull sound of an explosion filled the ear, and the ground +under our feet trembled. There was nothing to be seen, even with the +glass, save a light scum covering the water and some fragments of +charred tree branches. But the air about us was full of a fine dust +that powdered Betty's hair, as though for a costume ball, and made me +cough consumedly. + +"Naturally, there were quite a number of explanations to make to Miss +Betty after George had been resuscitated--a slightly disfigured hero, +but still in the ring--but I spare you. The dear girl listened quietly, +but at the end she began to tremble, and I won't say but that she cried +a bit. It doesn't matter if she did, and I think we all began to feel a +little queer when we came to think it over. However, it WAS over--no +possible doubt about that. + +"'One thing I don't understand,' said Crawfurd. 'There were to be three +warnings, and Estes only received two of the red buttons.' Whereupon +Betty blushed, and drew a little package from her pocket. + +"'It came last night directed to George,' she said, 'but I forgot to +give it to him. It broke open in my pocket and it contained this.' She +held out to us the third red button. That was decent of Balencourt--to +have given the last warning. + +"There is only one possible hypothesis to account for the catastrophe. +Balencourt was dealing with a terrible force, whose nature was but +partially understood, even by science. He had intended to use it to +fulfil the vengeance of the 'Dawn' but something had happened, and in +an instant the monster had turned and rended its master. That is all +that we can know. + +"Two days later George and Betty were married, for they stuck to the +original date in spite of the fact that George, with a lump on his +forehead as big as the cricket-ball itself, did not make a particularly +presentable bridegroom. I carried an umbrella at the function whose +incomparable rolling was remarked upon by all. Need I say that it was +the same umbrella that Balencourt's man, Jarman, had manipulated for me +that fateful evening when we dined at the Argyle. I shall never unroll +that umbrella, even at the cost of a wetting. To me it is a memento." + +"There's melodrama for you," said Indiman, a little shamefacedly as he +finished. "But one feels differently, you know, about taking chances +where a nice girl like Betty is concerned. Let me see; it's still +early. Do you feel up to taking that long-deferred ride on a +trolley-car? Good! We'll take the cross-town over to Eighth Avenue and +get into the heart of it at once." + +"That's an unlucky number," said Indiman, as we boarded a car. "Sixteen +hundred and twenty-four--the sum of the units is equal to thirteen." + +"You're going to lose some money," I suggested. + +"The tip points that way," he replied. + + + + +VIII + +The Tip-top Tip + + +Do you know Abingdon Square? It is a small, irregularly shaped triangle +of asphalt situated on the lower West Side, and at the +intersecting-point of Eighth Avenue and Hudson Street. The houses that +front upon it have seen better days. Many of them are now the quarters +of cheap political clubs or centres of foreign revolutionary +propaganda. It is a neighborhood that has finally lost all semblance to +gentility and has become frankly and unreservedly shabby. A square, +mind you, and not a park, for there is neither blade of grass nor tree +in all of its dreary expanse. Half a block to the north lies a minute +gore of land surrounded by an iron fence, and here are flowers and +greenery upon which the eye may rest and be satisfied. But in Abingdon +Square proper there is only the music-stand, that occupies the middle +of the miniature plaza, a hideous wooden structure in which one of the +city bands plays on alternate Sunday afternoons during the summer. +However, open space counts in the city, and the air circulates a trifle +more freely through the square than it does in the side streets--at +least, that is the opinion of the neighborhood people, and they flock +there on a hot night like seals at a blow-hole. Even the submerged +tenth must come up to breathe now and then. During the dreadful passage +of a hot wave from the West one may count them by the dozens, coatless +and even shirtless wretches, lying prone on the flag-stones like fish +made ready for the grid. Occasionally, a street-cleaning "White Wings" +will be compassionate enough to open a fire-hydrant, under pretence of +flushing the gutters, and then, for a few minutes, there is joy in +Abingdon Square. Women line the curb, cooling their feet in the rushing +flood; the men light their pipes and contentedly watch the children as +they paddle about. There is the echo of mountain brooks in the gush of +the water as it roars from the hydrant. With eyes tight closed one may +conjure up the phantasma of green leaves waving and of meadows +knee-deep with lush grasses and starred with ox-eyes. Such is Abingdon +Square on a night in early August when first the dog-star begins to +rage. + +Now my friend Esper Indiman is a social philosopher; life in all its +phases interests him tremendously. Consequently, he likes to take long +rides on trolley-cars. He calls them his vaudeville in miniature, and +sometimes the performance is amusing--I acknowledge it freely. But +to-night the actors were few and the play dull. I began to yawn. The +car, one of the Eighth Avenue line bound down-town, swung round a curve +into Abingdon Square, and Indiman touched my arm. + +"What's going on over there?" he said. + +Although it was not a concert night, there was a crowd around the +band-stand. It looked as though some one was haranguing the assemblage +from the vantage-point of the music pavilion--a local political orator +or perhaps a street preacher. "Salvation Army," I suggested. + +"Shall we take a look?" I nodded, and we alighted and pushed our way to +the front. + +It was a young man who stood there, rather a nice-looking chap, with a +broad forehead from which the thin, fair hair fell away in a tumbled +wave. He was attired in evening clothes, assuredly an unusual sight in +Abingdon Square, where they do not dress for dinner, and the expression +upon his countenance was that of recklessness tempered with a certain +half-humorous melancholy. "One dollar," he repeated, as we came within +sight and hearing. "Do I hear no other bid? One dollar, one dollar. +Will any gentleman make it a half?" + +"I'll give fifty for your skull alone," spoke up a youngish, +sallow-faced man who stood directly opposite the stand. "On condition," +he added, in a lower tone, "that the goods are delivered at Bellevue +before the end of the week. Foot of Twenty-sixth Street, you know." + +The young man smiled with a pathetic quizzicality. "Now, doctor," he +said, reproachfully, "there's no use in going over that ground again. I +made the terms of the sale perfectly plain, and there can be no +deviation from them." + +"Well, if that's your last word," retorted the unsuccessful bidder, +"I'll say good-evening." + +He turned to Indiman, who stood at his elbow. "A fakir," he growled, +disgustedly. "Now, I'll leave it to you, sir." + +"If you will acquaint me with the essential particulars," said Indiman, +"I shall be most happy to pronounce upon them." + +"In two words. This cheap josher has been offering to sell himself, out +and out, to the highest bidder. I make him a cash offer and he takes +water." + +"Pardon me," interrupted the young man in evening dress, "but your bid +is plainly for what the students in medical colleges call a 'subject.' +Now, I expressly disclaimed any intention of terminating my material +existence at any fixed period in the future. On the contrary, it is for +the purpose of prolonging my life that I am driven to this +extraordinary procedure. It is myself, my talents, and my services of +which I desire to dispose. My skull, in which you seem to take such an +interest, goes, of course, with the bargain. But I do not guarantee +immediate delivery." + +"Your services," sneered the student of medicine. "May I inquire into +their nature and nominal cash valuation?" + +"I am an experienced leader of the cotillon," answered the young man in +evening clothes, with a sweet and serious dignity. + +"Umph!" + +"I play a fair hand at Bridge, and have an unexceptionable eye for +matching worsteds." + +"G-r-r!" + +"That about sums up my list of accomplishments, but I dare say that I +could learn to dig, for I have my full complement of limbs. Finally, a +rare and pretty talent for losing money and a penchant for the unlucky +side of everything." + +"Well, gentlemen," declared the student of medicine, with a snort, +"it's quite evident that we're all playing the fool together. I wish +you a very good-evening, and the devil take all crawfishers." And with +that he marched off, evidently in high dudgeon. A little ripple of +laughter swept over the upturned faces of the crowd. "One dollar," +repeated the young man, his voice full of a polite weariness. "Do I +hear no other bid? I offer myself, a human chattel, at absolute sale; +no reservations; warranted sound and kind; no objection to the country; +not afraid of the Elevated railway." + +"Five dollars," said a voice at the rear, and a short, stout man, with +little, black, beadlike eyes, held up his hand to identify his bid. +"Joe Bardi," said a man to his neighbor. Both turned interestedly. + +"And who is Joe Bardi?" inquired Indiman, blandly. + +"Business of shipping sailors. There's big money in it, they say." + +"Ah, yes, a crimp--isn't that what they call them?" + +"Right you are, mister. A hard one, too. It'll be a sharp man that does +for old Joe Bardi." + +"Five dollars," came again from the squat figure with its ratlike eyes, +and the young man in evening dress paled a little. He had over-heard +the colloquy between Indiman and the native Abingdonian, and it is +difficult to regard with equanimity the prospect of a trip before the +mast--to China, let us say. In an American ship, too, more shame to us +that it must be said. + +But the young man was thoroughbred. He had sat down to play a desperate +game with Fortune, and he could not withdraw with the cards on the +table. + +"Five dollars," he repeated, mechanically. "Five dollars. What am I +offered? Five dollars." + +"Want me to buy you dat, Mame?" said a half-grown boy of the +unmistakable tough type. "Whatjer soy? Five cases for dat mug! And +Tuesday ain't bargain-day, nuther." + +"Well, it looks like thirty cents," said Mame, critically. "In Chinese +money, too--thirty yen-yen. What you say, John?" The crowd laughed +again. + +"Five dollars." + +"Five dollars," repeated the young man, and there were little drops of +sweat on the broad, fair forehead. "Five dollars, five dollars. Do I +hear no other bid? Five dollars--going--going--" + +"Six." + +It was Indiman who spoke, and this time the crowd gaped in good +earnest. An indescribable emotion possessed for an instant the face of +the young man in evening clothes. Then he fell back upon his first +manner, half-petulant, half-mocking. "Six dollars I am bid," he +announced, briskly, and looked straight at the shipping agent. + +Joe Bardi hesitated. "And a half," he said, tentatively, as an angler +who feels the mouth of the fish that he fears may be insecurely hooked. + +Indiman capped the bid promptly. "Seven dollars," he said. + +The crimp scowled. "Make it eight," he retorted. + +"Ten." + +The Italian hesitated again. This had the appearance of a contest, and +he was not of the sort who love a fight for its own sake. But his +cupidity had been powerfully aroused. There was a pretty profit in +advance money to be made if he could get this young fool's signature on +the ship's papers of the Southern Cross, outward bound for Shanghai, on +the morrow. He must make at least another try. It might be that the +intrusive stranger from the silk-stocking district was only amusing +himself and would presently withdraw. + +"Twelve," he said, and "fifteen," answered Indiman. + +The crowd laughed, and Joe Bardi's vanity was sorely touched. It was +not pleasant to be badgered in this unseemly manner while engaged in +beating one's own preserves. Discretion forsook him forthwith. + +"Twenty-five," he bellowed. + +"Fifty." + +"A hundred, and be damned to you!" + +"Two hundred." + +There was a pause; the crowd held its breath in silent and joyous +expectancy. Joe Bardi passed a hand over his wet forehead and pulled +irresolutely upon his cigar. A severe-looking old man expressed his +entire disapproval of the proceedings. "It's against the Constitution," +he said, loudly. "How about the Fourteenth Amendment? Well, the number +doesn't matter anyway. Officer, I call upon you to stop this unlawful +and outrageous farce. A human being selling himself on the auction +block! The slave-market set up again in this Christian city of New +York! It's a crime against the Constitution." + +But the policeman was a prudent person, and as yet he had seen no cause +to interfere. The proceedings were unusual, no doubt, and they might be +against the Constitution; he wouldn't like to say. It was none of his +business anyway; HE went by the code. + +"Bah!" snorted the old gentleman, and rushed away to find a city +magistrate. + +"Two hundred dollars," repeated the young man in evening clothes. "Two +hundred dollars. What am I bid? Going, going--" + +The shipping agent made a hasty mental calculation--there was no profit +in the transaction at anything over his last bid of an even hundred. +But he was tempted to go a little further and run up the price on his +adversary, thus punishing him for interfering in a man's private +business. Very good, but suppose the stranger suddenly refused to +follow the lead; then it would be Joe Bardi himself who would be +mulcted. Revenge would be sweet, but it was too dangerous; he would +stop where he was. + +"Two hundred, two hundred--going, going--" The crowd began to banter +the crimp. + +"Lift her again, Joe," called out one voice. "Open up that barrel of +plunks you've got stored away in your cellar," exhorted another +counsellor. "A nice, white slave--that's what you're needing in your +business," advised a third. But Joe Bardi kept his eyes on the ground +and said nothing. + +"Gone," said the young man in evening clothes. + +Indiman took four fifty-dollar bills from his wallet and handed them to +the young man. The latter glanced at the notes and stuffed them +carelessly into his waistcoat-pocket. Then, turning to Indiman: + +"Sir," he said, with a profound seriousness, "I am now your property. +Ah! Pardon me--" + +Like a cat he had sprung between Indiman and the crimp. With a +dexterous upward fling of his arm the knife in the Italian's hand went +spinning into the air. This was something that came within the +policeman's accustomed sphere, and he took immediate charge of Mr. Joe +Bardi. It was all done in a most methodical manner, and ten minutes +later we were free to depart. A "cruiser" cab rattled by and the three +of us squeezed in. + +"To the Utinam Club," ordered Indiman. + +Seated at a table in the big dining-room of the club, we drank a formal +cocktail to our better acquaintance. + +"But I am afraid that you have made a bad bargain," said the young man +to Indiman. + +"Frankly, now, I doubt if I can be made to pay even three per cent on +the investment. That's no better than a government bond and not half so +safe." + +I have already collected one satisfactory dividend," said Indiman, +courteously. "That was cleverly done--to force the knife out of his +hand and into the air." + +"It's a part of the Japanese science of defence without weapons," said +the youth, blushing ingenuously. "Jiu-jitsu, you know. I took some +lessons of a chap in Tokio." + +"Moreover, there is your story," continued Indiman. "Will you favor me +with some particulars regarding yourself and the circumstances leading +up to our late meeting? The situation was an unusual one, and the +explanation should be interesting." + +"On the contrary," answered the young man, with a faint smile, "my +narrative is of the most commonplace character imaginable, save only +for the final chapter. But judge for yourself. + +"My name is Luke Harding, and, so far as I know, I have not a single +blood relation living--at least, none nearer than a third cousin. Two +years ago I inherited my paternal estate. It was too small to support +me in the manner of life to which I had been accustomed, and at the +same time it was large enough to effectually deaden any inclination +towards real work. As an inevitable consequent, I became a speculator. +Little by little my fortune has disappeared in the abyss of stock +gambling; now it is gone entirely. To add to my misfortunes, my +apartments were entered last night by burglars and literally cleaned +out. I must have been drugged, for when I awoke this morning, with a +bad headache, I could remember nothing of what had happened; there were +only results to speak for themselves. The loot had been complete; the +scoundrels had even carried off my ordinary garments, leaving me--what +exquisite irony!--only this suit of evening clothes wherewith to cover +my nakedness. Being somewhat sensitive to the proprieties, I was +obliged to remain within doors until darkness fell, and I spent the +time meditating upon my future course of action. As I have said, I have +no relatives to whom I could apply, and my friends had already taxed +themselves beyond reason in my behalf. It was clear, then, that I was +born unlucky, and I concluded that I had no longer any right to a +separate and independent existence. To one of my temperament suicide is +a difficult proposition. Finally, I lit upon the idea which you have +just witnessed in execution. A healthy, intelligent young man--surely +there must be some market for his exclusive services? Fortunes used to +be made in the African slave-trade. + +"It only remains to add that I immediately started to realize upon +these reasonable expectations. I went to the plaza at Fifty-ninth +Street and Fifth Avenue and asked for bids. Unfortunately, no one +seemed to take me seriously, and a policeman obliged me to move on. I +had the same disheartening experience in front of Delmonico's and again +in the Turkish room of the Waldorf-Astoria. It is August, you know, and +the town is empty, but I was a bargain; I can say that without +affectation. Merely to have bought me on speculation, with the idea of +unloading on one of the Adirondack or White mountain hotel resorts--it +would have been impossible to lose. But I could not get a bid, and so I +shifted along down-town--Madison Square, Union Square, then westward by +Jefferson Market and West Tenth Street. Ever edging a little closer to +the river, you observe, and yet, upon my honor, I was not conscious of +any definite volition in the matter; it was as though some one were +gently pushing me along. Then Abingdon Square and your entrance upon +the boards of my little drama--you and Mr. Bardi. Gentlemen, I thank +you for your attention." + +"I should say, Thorp," said Indiman, "that Mr. Harding is well +qualified for membership in the Utinam Club. Will you put him up and +I'll second him? The club," he added, by way of explanation to our +guest, "is an association of the unsuccessful in life--the +non-strenuous, the incapable--above all, the unlucky." + +"Rest assured that my eligibility is beyond question," answered Mr. +Harding, with a smile. "In a society where misfortune confers a certain +cachet I may confidently expect to attain distinction." + +"Do you really consider yourself an abnormally unlucky person?" said +Indiman, seriously. "I have a reason for asking." + +"Upon my soul," returned the young man, warmly. "I verily believe that +I have a genius for getting on the wrong side of things. If I should +wager you that I am alive at this moment there would be a bolt out of +the blue before the money could be paid over." + +A heavily built man of elderly appearance entered the dining-hall. He +was accompanied by a friend who might be a banker or broker. The pair +picked out a table on the opposite side of the room and immediately +plunged into earnest conversation, their heads close together and +speaking in guarded undertones. + +"The gentleman with the gray hair," said young Mr. Harding, eagerly, +"that is Senator Morrison, chairman of the committee on foreign +relations. He must be just in from Washington. Congress, you know, is +in extra session." + +"Ah, yes; an able man," said Indiman, politely. + +"He would know--he would know," muttered Harding, disjointedly. His +burning gaze fixed itself upon the two men at the distant table, as +though by sheer will-power he would surprise the secret of their +whispering lips. "He must--he does know." + +"What?" asked Indiman. + +"Man, man, it's a matter of millions! Panama Trading Company common +stock is quoted at 70, and everything depends upon the passage by the +Senate of the canal treaty. The committee must have come to a decision, +and Morrison knows. I tell you he knows--he knows. One word--it would +be enough--Wall Street--Panama common--" + +Indiman did not answer; he seemed preoccupied, indifferent even, his +chair pushed back from the table and his eyes half closed. Let me +explain that the small side-tables in the Utinam Club dining-room are +not set flush against the wall, as is usually the case, but at some +little distance from it. Consequently, when there is a party of three +at a table, one man sits on the inside with his back to the wall, a +sensible arrangement in that it allows the waiter free access by the +unoccupied outer side of the table. It so happened that Indiman had +this inside seat. + +Harding's lips moved mechanically. "The treaty, the treaty!" he +repeated again and again. "The committee reports to-morrow; the Senate +is certain to act upon its recommendation. If I only knew!" + +The conference at the other table was a brief one; its continuance had +been measured by the consumption, on the part of the Senator, of a +couple of biscuits and a glass of spirits-and-water. The two men rose +and left the dining-room. + +"Of course you are going back to-night, Senator," said the younger man +as they passed our table. + +"At midnight. A hard trip." + +"But a profitable one; don't forget that." They laughed and walked on. + +For a little while we sat in silence over our cheese and salad. Then +Indiman spoke up, suddenly: + +"Mr. Harding." + +The young man looked at him dully. + +"The story of your persistent ill-fortune has interested me. But I find +it difficult to believe in the consistency of bad luck; it must change +sooner or later." + +"Not for me," answered the young man, with quick conviction. + +"I have a fancy to put that to the test. Take this card to my +brokers--you know them, Sandford & Sands, of New Street. I have +instructed them to place at your disposal a credit of one hundred +thousand dollars. You will be at their office to-morrow morning, and at +precisely ten o'clock you will receive from me a sealed communication +containing certain information upon which you can rely absolutely. Use +your credit according to your best judgment, and report the results to +me at eight o'clock to-morrow evening. The address is on the card, and +you will dine with me." + +"I thank you," said the young man, simply. "If such a thing were +possible--" He stopped and shook his head. + +"Nonsense!" said Indiman, bluffly. "You must believe in yourself, man; +it is the first requisite for success. To-morrow evening at eight, +then." + +Sitting over a final cigar in Indiman's library, he made me a sharer in +the mystery. "It is simply that the canal treaty will be reported +unfavorably to-morrow by the committee, and consequently it will fail +to pass the Senate. How do I know? I heard it from Senator Morrison's +own lips." + +"Well?" + +"As you know, the dining-hall of the Utinam Club is of a circular +shape, and it happens to possess certain peculiar acoustic properties. +In other words, it is a whispering-gallery, and it so chanced that +Senator Morrison sat at one of the definite points--they call them +vocal foci, I think--and I at the other. That is the whole story." + +"You are quite sure--there can be no mistake?" + +"Not the slightest doubt. The man with Morrison is a broker, and he has +the Senator's order to sell ten thousand Panama common at the market +to-morrow. When the news of the treaty's failure to pass reaches Wall +Street, by the regular channels, the stock will break sharply and the +profits on the deal should be enormous. No wonder that Senator +Morrison's flying trip to New York should be worth the taking." + +"And Harding?" + +"It remains to be proven whether the fault lies in the man himself or +in his alleged bad luck. I am sending him the bare fact as to the canal +bill's fate, and it is for him to seize the skirts of chance. I'll +write the note now and deliver it at the office myself in the morning. +Then we will see." + +"We will see," I echoed, and we parted for the night. + +At one o'clock the following afternoon Indiman and I stood watching the +ticker in an up-town broker's office. + +"The Senate rejects the canal treaty," read out Indiman. "Now for the +next quotation of Panama common; the last sale was at 70 1/2. Will you +take the tape, Mr. Barnes?" + +There was an instant's pause in the click-click of the instrument, the +heart-gripping lull before the breaking of the tempest. Then the wheels +began to revolve again, and the white tape, our modern thread of the +Norns, sped through the twitching fingers of the young chap to whom +Indiman had yielded place. + +"Five hundred Pan. com., 68," he read out. "One thousand, 67 1/2; four +hundred, 67; two thousand, 65. I guess I've seen enough, gentlemen; +it's my--my finish." He gulped down something in his throat and walked +over to the water-cooler, + +"And enough for us," whispered Indiman. "Let us go." + +"It's the way of the world," I philosophized as we gained the street. +"One man up and another down. He is young; he will have his chance +again." + +"It is Harding's day," said Indiman. + +Panama common had closed at 50, a drop of twenty points; there was a +fortune to be made in selling even a few thousand shares short of the +market. It was Harding's day, indeed. + +Eight o'clock and Indiman and I sat awaiting his coming. The electric +bell rang sharply, and Bolder ushered in our protege. He came forward, +shook hands, accepted a cigar, and sat down. + +"You received my note?" said Indiman. + +"Yes." + +"What did you do?" + +"I bought five thousand Pan. com. at 70." + +"Oh, the deuce!" and Indiman stared blankly at his guest. + +"You see, it's no use--" began the young man, apologetically, but +Indiman cut him short. + +"No use! And with my message in your hand before the market opened--the +exclusive, the absolute information--" + +"Here it is," said Mr. Harding, and handed Indiman his own note. The +latter glanced at the contents, and suddenly his face changed. + +"Read that, Thorp," he said, and tossed me the message. The letter +contained these words: + +"The canal treaty will pass the Senate. Use your own judgment." + +"In some inexplicable absence of mind I left out the all-important +'not,'" said Indiman, ruefully, "and it has cost me one hundred +thousand dollars. Mr. Harding, I beg your pardon. You are the +unluckiest man alive," and he went on to tell him of the +whispering-gallery and of the secret obtained in manner so +extraordinary. "And then, through my stupidity, worse than wasted," he +concluded. "I can't understand it; I read that note through twice +before I sealed it up. It is incredible." + +"No, it is my luck," said young Mr. Harding, and took a fresh cigar. +"Or, rather, your luck," he corrected himself, smilingly. "Have you +forgotten that I am now your property?" + +"God forbid!" said Indiman, hastily. "I give you back +yourself--consideration of one dollar. You're a witness, Thorp. And now +shall we go in to dinner?" + +A position in a wholesale business house was secured for young Mr. +Harding, and for a month or two he seemed to be doing very well. Then +one day he resigned; a letter to Indiman gave the explanation. + +"He's going to marry a wealthy widow," read out Indiman. "They sail on +the Lucania next Saturday." + +"Then luck has turned for him," I said, heartily. "I'm glad of it." + +"Hym!" said Indiman. "Perhaps so." + +From the street came the sound of a hand-organ. It was playing Verdi's +"Celeste Aida," and so lovely is the aria that I could have listened to +it with pleasure, even when thus ground out mechanically. But, +unfortunately, an atrocious mistake had been made in the preparation of +the music cylinder. In the original the final note of the first two +bars is F natural, while in the third bar the tonality is raised and +the F becomes F sharp. The transcriber had failed to make this change, +and so had lost the uplifting effect of the sharped F. All the life and +color of the phrase had been destroyed, and the result was intolerable. + +I fished out a quarter and rang for Bolder. "Send him away," I said, +somewhat impatiently. + +The servant returned looking puzzled. "The organ-grinder said I was to +give this to the gentleman," he said, and handed me a small object. It +was a brass baggage-check issued by the New York Central Railway, from +Cleveland to New York, and bore the number 18329. I passed it to +Indiman, ran to the window, and looked out. But the organ-grinder was +gone. + + + + +IX + +The Brass Baggage-Check + + +It is not every day in the week that a hand-organ plays "Celeste Aida" +under one's window with an F natural in the third bar where the music +rightfully calls for F sharp. Nor is it usual to send out a quarter of +a dollar to the man as an inducement for him to retire, and then to +receive in return a New York Central baggage-check numbered 18329, and +reading from Cleveland to New York. Esper Indiman and I exchanged +smiles. + +"This looks like the real thing," said my friend. "My dear Thorp, there +must be some rare element in your chemical make-up that serves to +precipitate these delightful mysteries. Adventures fairly flock about +us. We shall have to screen the doors and windows or be overwhelmed. +Seriously, I am infinitely obliged to you, for I had started on my +eleventh game of solitaire, and was beginning to feel a trifle bored. +But now--now there is something doing, as Mr. Devery would remark. Let +us start the ball rolling by giving Bolder the third degree." + +Bolder, recalled, was disposed to be cheerfully communicable. Certainly +he would know the man again; he had a good look at him. The sun was +shining brightly, and it had fallen full on the fellow's face. + +"Describe him, then," said Indiman, note-book in hand. + +Put to the test, Bolder was not so good a witness as we had hoped for; +he wandered and grew confused in his statements. Light hair? Yes, it +might have been that--though, now that he thought of it, the shade was +rather on the darkish order. An old man? Well, not noticeably so; +perhaps thirty-five or a little younger. + +"Or a little older--say fifty-five?" + +"Well, it might have been fifty-five, sir. I couldn't swear to it +exactly." + +"That will do, Bolder," said Indiman, and our witness retired abashed. + +"Check number one," commented Indiman. "Suppose we try the Grand +Central now. We won't take out the carriage; the day is fine and I want +the walk." + +It was a beautiful morning in August, cool and clear, and we strode +along briskly. A hand-organ began playing in a side street, and we +stopped to listen. "It's the same aria," I said, excitedly--"'Celeste +Aida.' What tremendous luck! No, it isn't; deuce take it!" I went on, +dejectedly. + +"But you just said it was the same," persisted Indiman. + +"With a difference," I hastened to explain. Now, Indiman is not +musical, and I had some trouble in convincing him that within the +compass of a semitone a veritable gulf may yawn. This particular organ +played the phrase in the third bar correctly--F sharp and not F +natural--and consequently it could not be the same instrument that had +vexed my ears half an hour ago at No. 4020 Madison Avenue. + +"There is a real difference, then?" said Indiman, thoughtfully. "One +that you would recognize again?" + +"At any place or time," I answered, confidently. "It is an absolute +means of identification, quite as much so as a glass eye would be in a +man's face." + +"Very good. We'll find that hand-organ, then, if we have to go through +'Little Italy' with a drag-net. How beautifully the problem is working +out!--almost too beautifully." + +At the incoming baggage-room Indiman presented the check numbered +18329. A porter appeared with a large trunk loaded on a truck. "City +transfer?" he asked. + +"No, I'll take it with me," said Indiman. "Thorp, will you get a hack." + +We were about to drive off, and I felt for my match-box. Provoking! I +must have left it at home, and I wanted a cigarette. "One moment," I +called, and jumped out, having caught sight of Ellison, who had been +with me in college. He was hurrying into the station. I should be glad +to have a word with him and secure a match at the same time. But +somehow I missed him in making my way through the swinging doors. +Ellison was nowhere to be seen, and I had to content myself with +getting a light at the cigar counter. I went back to the carriage and +climbed in. + +"It was Ellison," I explained. "A good chap, and I should have liked to +meet him." + +"Some other time, perhaps," said Indiman, politely, and we drove off. + +"So you've got it," I said, staring up at the trunk that occupied the +box at the hackman's left. "It looks ordinary enough." + +"The porter told me that it came in last night on the Lake Shore +Limited," said Indiman. "Nothing remarkable about that, either." + +A sudden thought struck me. "By Jove! we're no better than thieves," I +said, frowningly. "The possession of a baggage-check doesn't +necessarily carry with it the ownership of the parcel for which it +calls. The rightful proprietor may be even now at the Grand Central +explaining the loss of the check and trying to identify his property." + +Indiman looked a little blank. "Of course, your obvious theory may be +the true one," he said, slowly. "The hunting of mare's-nests is a +weakness of mine. But what are you about there?" + +"Telling the driver to take us back to the station," I answered, with +my hand on the check-cord. + +"I don't know about doing that--just now. There might be some awkward +explanations to make to your hypothetical owner. Or, failing him, to +the police." + +"It doesn't absolutely follow," he continued, "that there is an owner +or that he is anxious to claim and recover his property. He may have +substantial reasons for wanting to get rid of it. Remember that the +baggage-check was handed in at my door with the express direction that +it was to be given to the gentleman of the house. We'll have to see it +through, I think." + +I had nothing more to say, and shortly afterwards we pulled up at No. +4020 Madison Avenue. Bolder and the hackman carried the trunk in, and +Indiman directed that it should be placed in the library, the front +room on the first landing. The cabman was paid and dismissed, and we +were left alone. + +"Now for it," said Indiman, gayly. "I have always preferred mutton to +lamb." + +The trunk was of the cheap variety, covered with brown paper that +vaguely simulated leather. It was perfectly new, and this was probably +its first trip on the road. The lock was of simple construction. It +should be easy to find a key to fit it, and one of mine, with a little +filing, did the trick. The bolt shot back, and Indiman unhesitatingly +threw up the lid. + +There was no tray in the trunk, and the interior space was filled with +some bulky article that had been carefully shrouded by manifold layers +of cloth wrappings. I know that the same thought was in both our minds, +but neither of us spoke. A keen-bladed ink-eraser lay on the desk +before me, and I handed it to Indiman. He made a swift cut in the +wrappings and drew the severed edges apart--a naked human foot +protruded. To this hour I have only to shut my eyes to immediately +recall that horrid vision. I remember particularly the purplish hue of +the swollen veins, the unmistakable rigidity of the joints and muscles. + +Indiman shut down the lid and turned the key in the lock. We looked, +white-faced, one at the other, then at the maid-servant who stood not +ten feet away. Had she been any nearer? + +"What is it, Mary?" said Indiman, sharply. + +The girl, confused and stammering, explained that she had come in to +sweep; she had no idea that Mr. Indiman was in the library. No, the +door was not locked, and she had just that moment walked in. Indiman +cut short her apologies, and, with a tolerable assumption of +indifference, dismissed her to her duties elsewhere. + +"Unfortunate," he remarked, with a frown. + +"I doubt if she could have seen anything," I answered, reassuringly. "I +should have heard her if she had come any nearer, and the trunk was +only open for a second or two." + +"Quite long enough for anything to happen," said Indiman. "I say, +Thorp, but this is a go," he went on, cockily enough. Then suddenly the +steadiness went out of his voice, like a match-light in a high wind, +and he finished with a little, choking gasp, "Just the very--rummest +go." + +I don't remember that we had a drink on the strength of it, but it's +more than probable. Then we sat down to consider. + +The natural, the obvious, and the only proper course of action was to +go at once to Police Headquarters and make a frank statement of the +case with its attendant circumstances. True, we were undistinguished +citizens, with neither pull nor influence, but surely respectability +must count for something, even as against charges of admitted theft and +suspected murder. If we owned up now we should be subjected, doubtless, +to more or less annoyance growing out of the affair, but the position +would be infinitely less difficult than if we waited for events to +force it upon us. "Murder will out," I quoted. + +"So they say," answered Indiman, and stared thoughtfully at the ceiling. + +And yet in the end we abandoned this eminently sane conclusion, +deciding that we would keep our own counsel and let the matter work +itself out. For such a crime as murder does not end with the actual +deed; the rupturing of the thousand and one ties that bind even the +most insignificant of lives to the general body of human existence +cannot be accomplished without some disturbance; a circle has myriad +points, and at any one of them the interrupted current may again begin +to flow. Perchance the message falls upon indifferent ears or is too +feeble and incoherent in itself to compel attention. In this event the +signals must necessarily grow weaker and more infrequent until they +finally cease altogether--the crime is now an accomplished fact, the +chapter is finally closed. Or, again, the call may come as plangent and +insistent as the stroke of a fire-alarm; the whole community hears and +instantly understands; the murder is out. + +Now either of us could presume to measure the precise quality of odic +force inherent in the grisly mystery that lay under our hand; the +affair might range from the dignity of a cause celebre to the +commonplace of a purely commercial transaction--the economical +transportation of a medical college "subject." It was this very +uncertainty that fascinated our imaginations and so allowed the sober +judgment to be deposed. Our ostensible argument was that the police +would be sure to make a mess of the affair. If that idiot, Detective +Brownson, took hold of it, the goddess Justice might throw up her hands +as well as close her eyes. And inwardly we desired to cherish our +secret out of the same sense of fearful joy with which one listens to a +ghost story--we had tasted the coal-black wine pressed from forbidden +grapes, and we craved a yet deeper draught. Finally, a connoisseur does +not willingly relinquish a good find, whatever the circumstances; there +are bibliomaniacs who will not hesitate to steal what they may not +otherwise procure. I myself know a charming woman who collects Japanese +sword-guards AT ANY COST (I have her husband's authority for this +statement). + +But, seriously again, the grip of the mystery was upon us; the +inclination had become irresistible to see the thing out, or at least +to let it run a little further, just as a child amuses itself with +fire--the desire to see what will happen. Later on it might be +necessary to pull up sharply, but the contingency would doubtless +provide for itself. The ultimate fact remained that here was a genuine +adventure, and as connoisseurs of romance we were bound to exploit it +to the utmost limit of our ability. So be it, then. + +"The finding of that organ-grinder is our first and obvious procedure," +said Indiman, slowly. "And the clew to his identity lies, as you have +explained, in his instrument." + +"The organ itself is a criminal; it murders 'Celeste Aida.'" + +"I believe that most of these instruments are rented from one company," +continued Indiman. "We can find out definitely at the city License +Bureau, and we might as well make that the starting-point of our +investigations. We have plenty of time before luncheon; it is barely +twelve o'clock." + +"But shouldn't we begin with--with the thing itself," I objected, and +glanced nervously at the big trunk standing in the middle of the floor. +The identity of the victim--it may be possible to establish it--a most +important point, surely." + +"I'll have to pass up that part of it--at least for the present," said +Indiman, frankly. "But we must get the box out of sight somewhere. The +weather"--and here he gave a little involuntary shudder--"is getting +warmer. We'd better get it down into the cellar. I'll see if the way is +clear." + +The servants were all busy in the upper part of the house, and we +succeeded in getting the trunk down into the cellar unobserved, stowing +it away temporarily in an empty coal-bin. On our way up-stairs we +encountered the maid, Mary, and something in the hasty way in which she +stood back to let us pass stirred again my vague suspicions. But there +was nothing to say or do; we must trust to luck. + +Then there was no difficulty in finding the office of the company that +leases hand-organs to itinerant musicians, and the manager, an +Americanized Italian, was most courteous in answering our inquiries. It +appeared that this particular aria of "Celeste Aida" was only included +in the repertoire of some half-dozen of the older instruments. It +chanced that they were all in stock at the present time, and it would +be no trouble at all to let us hear them play. "Our incomparable +maestro--he is no longer remembered," said the manager, mournfully. +"The public--now it is that they demand what you calla hot +stuff--'Loosianner Loo' and the 'Lobster Intermezzo,' Per Bacco! if +they would but open their ears--la--la--there it goes-- + +'"Ce-le-ste A-i-da, For-ma di-vi-na'-- + +Ah, gentlemen, THAT is musica." + +An amiable person, but we were wasting both his and our time. Each one +of the six organs reproduced the original notation of the aria, and the +imperfect instrument must therefore be in private hands. So we returned +thanks to Mr. Gualdo Sarto for his courtesy, and went away somewhat +disheartened. Haystacks are large places and needles small objects. + +Two days went by--days spent in aimless wandering about the streets +waiting for a distant hand-organ to give tongue. Then a hot chase, only +to draw another blank. + +On the third day I came home alone about five o'clock. The weather was +really hot again, and I was tired out with tramping. Yet a little chill +ran down my spine as I happened to glance across the street and caught +sight of a man's face in an areaway. He had been watching me; of that I +was certain. + +I went up to the library and sat there waiting for Indiman. The man in +the areaway waited also. + +At half after six Indiman appeared. He, too, had been unsuccessful; I +could see it in his face before he spoke. I told him of the suspicious +loiterer across the street. Together we kept close watch on the +areaway, and after a while the fellow came out and strolled off with +what was intended to pass as jaunty indifference. But we were not +deceived. + +"That fool of a girl has talked," said Indiman. "Looks like it." + +"See here, Thorp, that thing in the cellar--we'll have to do something +at once." + +I nodded. + +"The flooring in the coal-bin is brick; it won't be difficult to take +up a section large enough for--" + +I nodded again. + +I shan't forget what we did that night--the stealing down into the +echoing cellar--the flickering of the candle-light on the white-washed +walls--the sound of the spade clinking against a casual stone. + +How we worked! Like slaves under the lash--an actual lash of terror. +For we were afraid, frankly and honestly afraid, of what we had done +and of what we were doing. I know that the sweat fairly poured off me. +My word! but it WAS hot, and there was a fearful significance in the +thought that urged us on to even greater exertions. + +It had to be done, and at last it was, the bricks neatly replaced and +the surplus earth packed away in gunny-sacks to be removed at the first +favorable opportunity. Then in the gray dawn we drew ourselves wearily +up-stairs, and, separating without a word, went to our rooms. Was it +pure, malignant chance that the maid, Mary, passed me on her way +down-stairs and glanced, with a curious, shrinking repugnance, at my +earth-stained and dusty clothes? I did not care; I was dog-tired and I +wanted but one thing--bed. I reached my couch, fell sprawling upon it, +and slept for seven hours straight. + +It was a relief to awake from the phantasmagoria of horrors that +crowded my dreams. It was nearly two o'clock, and I had written to my +friend Ellison asking him to luncheon at that hour. The meal was rather +a silent one for two of us, but Ellison talked incessantly. He was in +high spirits, having just been appointed to a university professorship +in physiology--his specialty. "I've been busy getting my lecture +material together," he explained, and "I had a beastly piece of bad +luck the other day. My own fault, I suppose, but it illustrates the +point that our American baggage system is still far from perfection. +Now the European idea--" + +"Shall we go into the library for coffee," said Indiman, a little +abruptly, and I could see that Ellison's chatter was beginning to get +on his nerves; my own were vibrating like harp-strings. I walked over +to one of the library windows and looked out, just in time to catch +sight of a man backing quickly into the shadow of the areaway opposite. + +From down the street came the sound of a childish voice singing. Great +Heavens! It was Verdi's aria "Celeste Aida," with F natural in the +third bar instead of F sharp. + +"I am going out for a few minutes," I said, carelessly. "Just around +the corner to get a special-delivery stamp. Of course you'll wait, +Ellison," and I gave Indiman a quick glance. He understood. + +Perhaps I was shadowed by the watchers in the areaway. I neither knew +nor cared. My one idea was to catch up with the child, and this time +luck was with me. + +The little girl acknowledged shyly that she had learned the tune from a +hand-organ. "It belongs to my uncle Bartolomeo," she explained, +proudly. "It is a good organ, signore. There are little figures of men +and women under the glass front, and when the musica plays they +dance--so." + +Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to +accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue. He spoke English perfectly, +and looked both honest and shrewd. Well, we would find some way of +getting the truth out of him. + +A police-officer opened the door for me. So the blow had fallen +already. I went on up to the library, taking Bartolomeo with me. At the +door I waited a moment. + +Brownson sat at the long table, the picture of the zealous and +efficient guardian of public safety. The maid-servant, Mary, had just +been interrogated--of course, it was she who had betrayed us, and +Brownson was evidently her young man. What infernal luck! + +"Now, Mr Indiman--" said Brownson, sternly, "but be careful what you +say; it may be used against you." + +Indiman told the whole story without reserve, and Brownson listened +with cold incredulity. But Ellison seemed interested. + +"A baggage-check handed in at the door," commented the detective, with +judicial impassivity. "Where is this organ-grinder?" + +"Here," I answered, and entered with Uncle Bartolomeo. + +But the examination, severe as it was, revealed only the bare fact that +Bartolomeo had found the brass baggage-check lying on the sidewalk in +front of No. 4020 Madison Avenue. He was an honest man, and, moreover, +the acticle was of no use to him. He had given it to the servant at the +door to be handed over to the gentleman of the house. That was all he +knew. By the Holy Virgin, he had spoken the truth! + +Brownson rang the call-bell. "Bring in the trunk," he said, curtly, and +forthwith two policemen appeared with the fatal box, just as it had +been exhumed from its resting-place in the coal-bin. "Hullo!" blurted +out Ellison, in vast surprise, and somehow my sinking spirits revived +with the word. + +"Who is this gentleman?" demanded Brownson, frowning at the +interruption. + +"Dr. Ellison," I answered. + +"Medicine?" + +"Yes." + +"Hum," said Brownson, importantly. "I will ask him to kindly take +charge--" + +"I should think so," broke in Ellison, cheerfully, "seeing that it's my +own property. I lost baggage-check No. 18329, from Cleveland to New +York, the night of my arrival in town, and somewhere in this very +neighborhood. The next morning I went to the Grand Central to prove my +ownership, but the trunk had been claimed and carried away." + +"You are aware, Dr. Ellison," said Brownson, "that this trunk +contains--well, we all know what." + +"Oh, do we!" retorted Ellison, smartly. "Just stand back there." He +took a key from his pocket and unlocked the trunk. An irresistible +curiosity drew us forward again. Ellison seized the wrapping and jerked +it forcibly apart. I turned my eyes away, and Mary screamed outright. + +"Did you never see an anatomical manikin before?" asked Ellison, +scornfully. "Made out of papier-mache, you know, and used for +demonstrations in physiology before college classes. They used to come +from Paris, but they're making them in Cleveland now, and better than +the French ones. I tell you I'm mighty glad to get my 'old man' back; +he's just out of the shop and cost me a hundred-dollar bill." + +Mr. Detective Brownson walked over to the trunk, gazed intently at the +manikin, and gingerly poked it once or twice in the ribs. He turned red +and swallowed at something in his throat. + +"So you wish to make a charge against these gentlemen?" he asked, with +almost a note of appeal in his voice. + +"Not I," answered Ellison, cheerfully. "It's all between friends, and +they can settle the matter with me over a petit souper at Delmonico's. +Good-day, officer." + + How quickly the echoes of the strenuous life die away. After the +storm and stress of those dreadful four days one would suppose that +peace at any price were the one thing worth while. And for a month or +more we were quite content with the humdrum of ordinary existence. And +then just because a game of patience would not make-- + + + + +X + +The Upset Apple-Cart + + +Indiman was playing solitaire and I was idly looking on. It so happened +that an important card, the ace of hearts, was buried, and Indiman had +tried every legitimate means to get it out without success. + +"You can't do that," I said, decidedly, as Indiman was about to make a +move. He looked up, caught my eye fixed upon the game, and colored +deeply. Then he frowned and swept the cards into a disorganized heap. + +"I really believe that I was on the point of cheating myself," he said, +soberly. "That argues a shameful flabbiness of the moral fibre, doesn't +it? A 'brace' game of solitaire! What a hideous picture of degeneracy!" + +"Lay it on the weather," I suggested. "These gray November days with +their depressing atmosphere of finality may be held responsible for +anything." + +"Even my own pet extremity--the upsetting of an apple-cart. Really, I'm +getting dangerously close to it. Let's go out for a walk." + +Now, why did Tito Cecco, dealer in small fruits, choose this precise +day and hour to halt his barrow at our corner? Push-carts are not +allowed in Madison Avenue, anyway, and five minutes earlier or later he +would have been moved on by the policeman on the beat. But in that mean +time Esper Indiman and I had left the house. The cart piled high with +red and yellow apples confronted us, and a dangerous glint came into +Indiman's eye. + +"Indiman!" I implored. + +Too late! With the mischievous agility of a boy, Indiman seized the hub +of the near wheel and heaved it into the air. A little ripple of apples +swept across the asphalt roadway, then a veritable cascade of the +fruit. The light push-cart lay bottom up, its wheels revolving feebly. +Tito Cecco had become incapable of either speech or motion. Then he +caught the glimmer of the gold piece in Indiman's fingers, and grabbed +at it eagerly. + +It is a poor sort of catastrophe that does not attract the attention of +at least one pair of youthful eyes, and the vultures are famous for +their punctuality in the matter of invitations to dinner. Where did all +the boys come from, anyway; the street was jammed with them, and +reinforcements were constantly arriving. Tito Cecco, having pouched +Indiman's gold piece and righted his cart, had hastily departed. He had +made a good thing out of the transaction, and explanations to policemen +are awkward things--always so. + +The pile of fruit had disappeared with incredible swiftness, but the +boys themselves departed slowly, as though reluctant to leave a region +of such extraordinary windfalls. One little chap had fared particularly +well, for both his coat-pockets were stuffed and each fist grabbed a +big specimen of the beautiful fruit. A young fellow, fresh-faced and +country-looking, had been looking at the scene from a little distance +down the street. Now he walked up and spoke to the small boy. + +"Give you a nickel, bub, for one of the red ones. They look just like +the apples up in Saco, Maine. Lord's sakes, how I wish I was there!" + +The boy signified his willingness to make the bargain, but he wanted to +give a sporting color to the transaction. "Right or left?" he asked, +his hands held behind his back. + +"Left, of course," answered the yokel. + +"'Ain't I always been that?" + +The boy handed over the apple, received the promised nickel in return, +and departed with a joyous whoop. The young countryman held up the +apple and looked at it sentimentally. + +"Now, what under the canopy's that!" he exclaimed. There was a piece of +paper tightly twisted about the stem of the fruit. He unfolded it +carefully, for it could be seen that it bore a written message. + +When a man with a complexion like a new red wagon turns pale it means +something. Indiman and I stepped up, for we really thought that he was +going to faint. + +"Much obliged, gentlemen. I'm all right now," said the young chap. "But +for the minute I was that struck. Say, gentlemen, you'll think I'm a +liar, but it was my own girl, Miss Mattie Townley, who wrote that there +letter and twisted it around an apple-stem. And she wrote it to me--me, +Ben Day. What do you think of that?" + +"This is a world of infinite chance," said Indiman, politely. + +"Look for yourself. I don't mind, and neither would Mattie." + +Indiman took the little scrawl of paper and I looked over his shoulder. +It read: + +"Ben Day, if you're not an altogether born fool, come back to Saco, +Maine. I never meant a word of what I said--you KNOW that. M. T." + +"S'pose you'd call it a lovers' quarrel," explained Mr. Ben Day. "I +just piked out of Saco, Maine, like a bear with a sore head, and come +down here to New York. For three months I 'ain't sent sign nor sound to +the home people, but she was bound to catch up with me. And, by jinks! +she just did. Wonder how many other Baldwin pippins are taking the glad +tidings round the country. I'd give a nickel apiece for a million of +'em." An actual tear glistened in the young fellow's eye. It was +impossible not to sympathize, and we both congratulated him heartily. + +"Of course, you're going back to Saco at once?" said Indiman. + +"If I could get the five-o'clock express there's a through connection +up north. I'd do it, too"--his voice fell suddenly--"only for--" + +"Only for what?" + +"This," and he held out a small package that he had been carrying. It +was box-shaped and neatly wrapped in light-brown paper. The parcel was +addressed to S. A. Davidge, 32 Edgewood Road, Exeter, England, and it +bore a pasted label that read, "From Redfield & Company, Silversmiths, +Maiden Lane, New York City." It also carried the label of the Oceanic +Express Company, marked, "Charges Paid" and "per S.S. Russia" with the +package number, 44,281, in indelible pencil. + +"Well?" said Indiman, interrogatively. + +"You see, I was in a scrape on account of that thing, and I wanted to +put the matter straight. Up to ten o'clock this morning I was in the +employ of the Oceanic Express Company--one of the messengers, you know, +sir, who go out with the wagons. It was our first trip of the day, and +we had a big load of small stuff for the Russia, When I had unloaded +and checked up my sheet, No. 44,281 was missing. I went back to the +office, reported the loss, and was discharged on the spot--they're hard +as nails on anything like that. Well, I went home pretty blue, for it's +hard work finding a job nowadays, and I didn't know which way to turn. +I'd been keeping bachelor hall with the driver of the wagon. He's a +foreigner named Grenelli, and claims to be an Italian. Maybe so, but he +looks more like a German, and he can talk half a dozen languages. I +used to go with him to the socialist meetings over on the East Side, +and the Tower of Babel isn't in it with those fellows. + +"An anarchist? Oh, I don't think so. Liked to shoot off his mouth about +the rights of man, and he was always down on taxes. But I shouldn't +call him an anarchist. Why, he was the driver of an express wagon, and +the two things don't jibe. + +"I should have said that Grenelli had been suspended during the +investigation into the loss, and of course we went home together. We +talked the thing over from end to end, but we couldn't explain the +disappearance of the package--neither of us. Of course, it was me who +was the real responsible party in the business, and Grenelli, who +naturally wanted to get back on his time, felt pretty grouchy about it. +Finally, I got mad, told him to go to blazes, and cleared out of the +house. + +"Well, about an hour after that I went home, and met Grenelli coming +out; he said that he was going down to the company stable. At two +o'clock he come back all out of breath, and he had the package with +him--yes, sir, that identical package that we'd been looking for. Told +me that it had been found under the driver's seat wrapped up in one of +the horse-blankets. Seems funny, too, for we had hunted through that +wagon-body a dozen times. + +"However, that makes no difference; we had the package, and I had just +started down-town to turn it in when I stopped to look at the +excitement here. Lucky for me, or I'd never had a bite of this +particular red apple, the sweetest pippin that orchard ever grew. +Excuse me, gentlemen, if I do the saphead act--by jinks! I FEEL like +it." + +"The sentiment does you honor, Mr. Day," said Indiman, gravely. "You +ought to take that five-o'clock train." + +"Wouldn't I like to!" sighed the enamoured youth. "But I can't go down +to the company office in Bowling Green and get back in time to make it. +It's three o'clock now." + +"You would not care to intrust the delivery of the package to me?" + +"Well, hardly," was the frank reply. "You see, mister, I've been living +in New York for three months, now, and I've cut most of my eye-teeth. +No offence, of course." + +"Certainly not." + +"You look straight goods, and I b'lieve I'd run almost any risk to +catch that train--well, by jinks! here comes Grenelli now; that makes +it all O.K." + +I did not like the looks of the man who presently joined us in response +to Ben Day's hail. I distrust, on principle, people with thin, +bloodless lips and obliquely set eyes. Yet the fellow spoke pleasantly +enough, and he readily undertook to clear young Day's name and +reputation with his former employers. The boy handed over the parcel to +Grenelli, and then, as he turned to go, begged the honor of shaking +hands with Indiman and myself, a permission graciously granted. After +all, we had borne no inconsiderable share in the later developments of +his good-fortune. Suppose Indiman had NOT upset the apple-cart? + +"And now," said Indiman, turning to Grenelli and speaking with great +suavity, "I am going to ask the favor of a short interview. My house is +only two numbers away." + +Grenelli shook his head. "I've nothing to say to you--" he began, +defiantly. + +Indiman stepped quickly to the fellow's side, took his arm and pressed +it closely. He said a few words in an undertone, and to my surprise +Grenelli instantly submitted. We entered the house and went to the +library on the first floor front. Indiman took from his side +coat-pocket a cocked revolver and laid it on the table. So that was the +kind of persuasion that it had been necessary to apply to secure Mr. +Grenelli's attendance. One is apt to yield the point when he feels a +pistol-barrel prodding him in the ribs, and it is no great trick to set +a trigger-catch with the weapon in your pocket. + +"Stand there," said Indiman, pointing to the far end of the table, and +the man obeyed. + +"And now, Grenelli," continued Indiman, bluntly, "I want the truth +about this affair. Bah, man! don't begin to shuffle about like that. +This isn't the original package delivered by Redfield & Company to the +Oceanic Express for shipment to England. You know it and I know it, so +we'll just acknowledge a true bill and go on with the evidence. + +"A counterfeit, then, of the real thing. But why? That's what we're +after now. Simple robbery? Or is there another reason why this +particular package was intended to be shipped on the steamship Russia, +sailing to-day at four o'clock sharp? You see the point, don't you? + +"I admit, Grenelli, that you are a clever man. Since the dynamite +outrage on the Icelandic six months ago great care has been taken in +the supervision of shipments, for the fast steamers and the Oceanic +Express Company require that the contents of every package shall be +visibly made known to them before it can be accepted. But once it is +inspected and officially labelled it goes through without further +difficulty, the steamship people being content with the express +company's guarantee. + +"And now be kind enough to give me your very best attention. This +morning, at ten o'clock, one of these officially registered packages +disappeared from the wagon that you were driving. At half-past two this +afternoon the parcel is returned to messenger Day, coming through your +hands. Now, how long did it take you to make up this dummy--seal, +stamp, and all? Of course, you had stolen what you needed for the +forgery from the company office--all but the Redfield & Company label, +and that you soaked off the original package and reaffixed to this one. + +"It wasn't a plausible story that you told Day, but you knew the boy +wouldn't be particular over trifles. All he cared about was the cloud +upon his honesty. You figured that the package would be returned, +perfunctorily examined for identification, and immediately sent on +board the steamer. How much picrate or dynamite does it take to knock +out the biggest steamship afloat? You could get enough of the stuff in +a box of this size--couldn't you? And how were you going to set it off? +Clockwork, of course. But why were you so stupid as to use a clumsy +mechanism whose ticking could be heard a block away? Listen to it now." + +In the succeeding silence the measured beat of the escapement was +plainly audible. There was a sinister significance in the sound that I, +for one, shall not easily forget. The man Grenelli paled and took an +involuntary backward step. + +"The steamship Russia" continued Indiman, in his calm, inflectionless +voice, "was booked to carry an unusually distinguished company on this +particular trip. The International Peace Congress has been in session +in New York during the past fortnight. It adjourned Tuesday, and some +thirty of the European delegates had engaged passage on this boat. Now, +consider for a moment, Grenelli--what a catastrophe to the cause of +universal peace should anything happen to the Russia! For example, the +destruction of the ship and the consequent loss of life through the +explosion of an infernal machine smuggled into the cargo! What +confusion, what dismay, what terror! Then the poison of slow suspicion, +the dull but deadly undercurrent of racial resentments, the question, +growing daily more insistent, 'Who has done this thing?' + +"It was an exquisite stroke of irony, Grenelli. I am connoisseur enough +to admire really good technique wherever I find it. The nations +assemble for a council of peace, and an invisible hand hurls a +firebrand into the very centre of the august circle! Puff! The +resolutions, with their well-rounded periods, go up into smoke and the +tramp of armed men is heard throughout the world. Excellent! Oh, +excellent, my good Grenelli! + +"But chance always takes a hand in a round game, and at the +psychological moment I come out of my house and upset an +apple-cart--your apple-cart, my good Grenelli. What incredible bad +luck!--to be bowled out by a shiny, red-cheeked pippin from Mattie +Townley's orchard in Saco, Maine. You will remember a somewhat similar +incident in the Garden of Eden several thousand years ago. Apples are +certainly unwholesome fruit for the masculine digestion. But I beg your +pardon--you were about to say--" + +The man Grenelli glared at his tormentor. "What more do you want of +me?" he asked, sullenly. "There's the police--why don't you turn me +over to them and have done with it?" + +"For the very sufficient reason, my dear Grenelli, that the evidence +against you isn't strong enough. The package never reached the Russia, +and how are we going to prove your intentions. Besides, in a matter of +this sort, the question of tools is of small importance compared with +the identity of the intelligence that employs them. Who and what is +back of this affair? You, Grenelli, are going to tell me." + +"Never!" + +"Don't be too hasty. Think it over. We have plenty of time before us." + +"I don't understand." + +"You will presently. Thorp, my dear fellow, will you see that the +servants are cleared out of the house at once. Let them all go to the +show at the New Academy--at my expense, of course--and they needn't +return until noon to-morrow. Make them understand that these are their +orders. Then come back here, if you will." + +When I returned to the library I found Grenelli seated at one end of +the big centre-table and Indiman opposite him. In Indiman's right hand +was a revolver, and the express package, addressed to S. A. Davidge, +Exeter, England, lay on the table between them. The arrangement looked +studied. It gave me an uncomfortable feeling--a well-founded one, as I +was immediately to learn. + +"Take my place for a moment," said Indiman. He went to the clock on the +mantel-piece and stopped it. When he came back to the table he had his +watch in his hand; he laid it face downward by the pistol. "Do you +carry a timepiece?" he inquired of Grenelli. The prisoner shook his +head. "Very good," continued Indiman. "We are now ready for our little +experiment. Let me again have your best attention. + +"The box containing the infernal machine lies on the table there. Mr. +Grenelli knows at what hour the exploding mechanism is set to act; I do +not. But seeing that the Russia sails to-day at four o'clock, we may +assume that the explosion must be timed for to-morrow morning, when the +vessel would be well out to sea. Certainly, not earlier; possibly some +hours later. It makes no particular difference, for we are going to sit +quietly here at the table with that curious box between us until +something happens. Either Mr. Grenelli is going to give me that +information or--he isn't. But in the latter case it will be of no +further use to either of us. Do I make myself quite clear?" + +The ticking of the mechanism concealed in the box sounded like the +blows of a trip-hammer. Grenelli lit a cigarette with a poor +affectation of bravado. "I can stand as much of it as you can," he +said, insolently. + +"You have the advantage of KNOWING how much," retorted Indiman. "But +we'll wait and see who's the best man. And in the mean time, Thorp, old +chap, I think you'd better cut your stick. Just bring up some biscuits +and a bottle of Scotch, and we'll get along as comfortably as you +please." + +But I declined to be sent away in this fashion for all that I was +horribly afraid. "I can't sit down at that table," I explained, "but +I'll keep coming in and out of the room as the spirit moves me. Now, +don't say a word; I've made up my mind." + +"Well, I sha'n't forget it," said Indiman, simply. Then, in an +undertone: "As a matter of absolute fact, the fellow is a coward, and +he'll weaken at the end. There isn't the slightest danger--be sure of +that." + +Hour by hour the early evening dragged away, and then began that +interminable night. I spent most of the time in the dining-room at the +back, smoking and pretending to read. Twice the book slipped from my +hand, and I woke with a horrid start from my cat-nap. Then I would go +softly to the library door and peep in. Always the same tableau--the +two men sitting opposite each other, alert, silent, watchful, and +between them the shaded lamp and that little box lying in the circle of +its light. + +At about four o'clock I came in and mended the fire in the grate, for +the house was growing chilly. Indiman looked over at me and smiled +brightly. "Well, it's good to be out of the old ruts, isn't it?" he +said. "'Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay,' as some +one has truthfully remarked. He was a philosopher, that fellow. Wish we +had him here with us to-night; we'd teach him a thing or two more about +what living really is." + +After that I walked up and down the dining-room floor pretty steadily +until the dawn began to steal over the chimney-pots of the houses at +the back. It wasn't a pretty sky that the light revealed, dull and +streaky looking, with a suggestion of coming rain. I stood looking at +it in an absent-minded, miserable sort of stupor; then I heard Indiman +calling me. + +"I'm out of cigars," he explained. "There's a box in the buffet; and +just put out the lamp, will you." + +Grenelli looked haggard in the gray light that streamed into the room +as I drew the curtains. He started, too, when he saw that the day had +come--it was quite perceptible. + +"I should like to know the time," he growled. "It's only fair." + +"To be sure," assented Indiman, and he pushed his watch, face upward, +into the middle of the table. The dial indicated half-past seven, at +which I was somewhat surprised, for I had not thought it so late. But +my own watch had run down, and it will be remembered that Indiman had +stopped the mantel-clock the night before. Half-past seven it was, +then, for all that the hour again struck me as being rather advanced +for a cloudy morning in mid-November. And evidently Grenelli thought so +too. He could hardly suppress the exclamation that rose to his lips as +he glanced at the dial. + +Ten minutes passed, and then Grenelli spoke. + +"If I tell you what you want to know," he said, "am I to be allowed to +leave the house at once?" + +"Yes." + +"And I am to be safe from arrest? At least, sufficient time will be +given--" + +"Bah!" interrupted Indiman, scornfully. "Come and go as you will. I can +break you like a rotten stick whenever it pleases me." + +Grenelli drew in his breath with a vicious hiss. "At five minutes to +eight I will tell you," he said, in a loud, overbearing voice. + +"Very good," answered Indiman, placidly. + +But the fellow's courage deserted him at the pinch, in accordance with +Indiman's prediction. He sat there dry-lipped and wet-browed, a +half-burned cigarette in his yellow-stained fingers, and his eyes fixed +immovably on Indiman's watch. It was barely a quarter to the hour when +he gave in. He wanted to cut the corner as closely as he could, but his +nerve was gone. "I will tell you--" he began. + +He stopped as abruptly as he had started. Suddenly the ticking of the +clock-work had ceased, and it was succeeded by a pause infinitesimally +brief and withal infinitely extended. Grenelli half rose from his +chair, his hands beating backward at the air. Then came a curious +premonitory whir of the hidden mechanism. The metallic rattle of the +gong was magnified in my ears to the dimensions of a roll of thunder; +then I saw that Indiman had torn the wrappings from the box and had +opened it. There was no mistaking the object that lay within--a common +American alarm-clock. Grenelli looked at it, wide-eyed, then he rolled +off his chair in some sort of a fit, and Indiman and I were left to +stare each other out of countenance. + +"Plain enough, I think," said Indiman. "There WAS another box +containing the infernal machine, but Grenelli made up the dummy so +successfully as to deceive even himself. He got the two mixed up, and +this, the original and harmless package, was the one that should have +reached the Russia if Ben Day hadn't stopped to buy a red apple. Of +course, it was the ticking of the clock escapement that misled him--and +me. + +"The alarm mechanism must have been wound up and set just before the +clock left Redfield & Company's yesterday morning. Possibly a practical +joke on some clerk's part, but that doesn't matter. You see, there is a +twenty-four hour dial for the alarm, and it was set at a little before +XIX, corresponding to about a quarter of seven." + +"But your watch says a quarter of eight," I objected. + +"I set it an hour ahead," answered Indiman. "I'm not altogether a fool, +and although I was certain that Grenelli would weaken, I wanted some +leeway for myself and you. Undoubtedly, the infernal machine was timed +for eight o'clock, and Grenelli knew it. He tried to hold on long +enough to insure our destruction, and yet get away himself, but he +couldn't be sure of those last few minutes. By-the-way, the box +containing the bomb must be at his house. It ought to be put out of +business at once. Can you get the fellow on his feet?" + +But it took some time to bring the man around, and it was more than +half an hour later before we got away, the three of us together in a +hansom. I should say that the lodging occupied by Grenelli and Day was +the loft of a disused private stable, situated in a side street, three +or four blocks off, and the driver was instructed to get there as +quickly as possible. As we passed a jeweler's place Grenelli glanced at +the electric-clock dial in the window and saw that it was twenty-five +minutes of eight. He had been deceived, then; he knew it instantly. +"But it worked both ways," he sneered. "I have my secret still." + +"Quite so," answered Indiman, and smiled. + +At the corner we were halted by a hail from the sidewalk. It was +Brownson, of the detective bureau. + +"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Indiman, but I want that man with you. +Charged with larceny of a package consigned to Oceanic Express Company. +I've been waiting for him all night." + +"By all means, officer," and the three of us got out. + +"I managed it pretty well, I think," continued Brownson. "Searched +every nook and corner of the stable where Grenelli and Day lived, and +finally I found the parcel. It answered precisely to the description, +and I sent it down by Officer Smith to the RUSSIA not more than an hour +ago." + +"To the RUSSIA! Why she sailed yesterday afternoon at four o'clock." + +"Slight accident to her low-pressure cylinder," explained Brownson. +"She was delayed for several hours and was to sail early this morning. +I beg your pardon--why, excuse me, Mr. Indiman--" + +There was a public telephone in the corner shop, and Indiman dashed +into the booth, upsetting Officer Brownson into the gutter as he rushed +past him. The clerk at the pier of the Cis-Atlantic Company answered +that the RUSSIA had sailed a little before seven, and must be in the +lower bay by this time. Impossible to reach her, as the morning was +densely foggy and she carried no wireless apparatus. An indescribable +expression came into the man Grenelli's face as he realized what this +new turn of the kaleidoscope meant. But Indiman and I involuntarily +looked the other way. + +Officer Smith had returned from his mission, and apparently his +superior was not pleased with its outcome. + +"Block on the Elevated!" he exclaimed, disgustedly. "Always some +excuse. Then you missed the Russia?" + +"She had just been pulled into the stream when I reached the pier." + +"Where's the package?" + +"I brought it back with me." + +Now, to be honest, I jumped at that. It was possible that the booby had +the box under his coat, and it was now ten minutes of eight. But +Brownson, who didn't know, went on imperturbably. "You should have +handed it over to the representative of the express company. What did +you do with it?" + +"It's at the stable where Grenelli lived," explained Officer Smith. "I +locked it up in a bureau drawer, and here's the key." + +Brownson looked at his subordinate patronizingly. "You have much to +learn, young man--" he began. "Much to learn. Hallo! Something's blown +up down the block." + +Well, to sum up briefly, there was no stable left. Fortunately no one +had been injured by the explosion, and the outside damage was confined +to a few broken windows. We all went poking about in the ruins looking +for a clew to the mystery. + +"Here's that box, Brownson," said Indiman, suddenly. "The cover is +somewhat torn, but you can make out the address easily enough. It's the +lost property, certainly, and you've got the thief, too." He handed the +officer the package containing the alarm-clock. + +"That I have," answered the gratified Brownson. "Keep close eye on +Grenelli, Officer Smith, and I may be able to overlook your +shortcomings of this morning. I say, Mr. Indiman, but there's a regular +miracle in this 'ere business. Now, how do you suppose this blessed +little twopenny box ever come through an earthquake like that there." + +"I'll never tell you," said Indiman. + +We had been dining with Ellison, the deferred settlement of that little +account which we had been owing him since August. However, we made it +up, interest and all. The occasion had been an undeniably cheerful one, +and it was close to midnight when we finally separated. Ellison went on +his way up-town and Indiman and I stood on the corner waiting for a +hansom, for as it chanced there was not a single disengaged one in the +rank before the restaurant. "Here we are," said Indiman, and raised his +stick as a four-wheeler was about to pass us. But the driver made a +negative sign and drove on. "He has a fare, after all," said Indiman, +with some annoyance. "But look, Thorp!" + +The rolling shades at the doors had been closely drawn, but just as the +carriage came opposite us a sudden jolt displaced the spring catch of +the curtain and up it flew with a snap. There were two persons in the +cab, and the electric light from the corner shone full upon them. The +one nearest us was an undersized, swarthy-faced person who wore a +Turkish fez; his companion was a portly man attired in evening clothes +and having his head entirely enveloped in a bag of some dark material +gathered at the neck by a draw-string. + +With an exclamation that might pass for a blood-curdling Levantine oath +the man of the fez seized the window-curtain and pulled it down; the +carriage rolled on. + +"An extraordinary spectacle," I remarked. "There ought to be a big +story behind that." + +"I admit," said Indiman, calmly, "that it is not usual for gentlemen to +drive about town with their heads done up in black bags. Nevertheless, +I doubt if there is much in the mystery worthy of a connoisseur's +attention. It strikes me as smacking of the made-up, the theatric; it +has something of the air commercial about it--an advertisement, +perhaps." + +"Nonsense!" I retorted, warmly. + +"Well, let the event decide. The cab's number--did you note it?" + +"No." + +"It was No. 872," said Indiman. + + + + +XI + +The Philadelphia Quizzing-Glass + + +Knowing that the number of the four-wheeler was 872, it was not a +difficult matter to begin the inquiry. But to secure any real +information--that was different. The driver, a respectable albeit +somewhat thick-headed Irishman, could offer only vague recollections of +his business for the night of November 16th. He had been lucky enough +to secure several fares, but there had been nothing in the appearance +of any of his passengers to attract his attention. A gentleman in +evening dress with his head tied up in a black bag and accompanied by a +man wearing a red fez! Certainly he would have taken notice of anything +like THAT. "Niver in my cab," asseverated honest Mulvihill. "I've been +hacking it for twenty years and carried some quare cargoes. But of that +sort--no, sorr!" + +Clearly there was nothing to be learned from the cabman, and he was +undoubtedly sincere in his protestations. The little peculiarities of +costume that had originally caught my eye were obviously unsuited for +public wear. The fez and the black bag had probably been brought into +use after the men of mystery had entered the cab, and it was only +through the accident of the suddenly released window-shade that Esper +Indiman and I had seen what we did. "No thoroughfare" stood out plainly +on this particular road. Then the humor took me to try conclusions with +Chance herself, the method a la Indiman. I chucked a silver dollar to +the cabman. "Whatever it's worth to you in time and distance," I said. +"Don't ask me any questions--go as you please." + +Hackman Mulvihill was a humorist in his way and he wanted to spare his +horse. Six times in succession we made the circuit of Madison Square +and never once off the walk. I was on the point of protesting, but I +remembered the rules of the game and held my tongue. Finally, we +started down-town by way of Fourth Avenue. Near Sixteenth Street and +Union Square the cab pulled up to the curb, an intimation that my +chartered voyage was over. + +"And now which way?" I inquired, smilingly. + +Mr. Mulvihill regarded me with compassionate and somewhat unflattering +interest. "Be glory!" he said, frankly, "it's Bellevue that ye'll be +wanting afore long, and badly, too. Come, now, jist jump in again and +I'll rowl ye up there quiet and peaceable like. A touch of liver, sorr. +I know how it takes them. Maning a drop too much of the 'red-eye,'" he +added, under his breath. "Quiet, there, Noddy, ye black divil." + +It was with some difficulty that I convinced this good Samaritan of my +mental and physical equilibrium. Finally he drove off, wagging his head +doubtfully. + +"But which way?" I shouted after him. He would not answer in words, but +pointed eastward with his whip-stock. Eastward then it was. + +Between Union Square and Second Avenue there are several blocks of +dwelling-houses--a once fashionable and still highly respectable +residential neighborhood. The particular street does not matter, but I +was proceeding in the general direction of Stuyvesant Square and had +crossed Third Avenue. + +Being on the lower or shady side it was something of a surprise to +receive a flash of sunlight directly in the eye. I stepped back. On the +pavement at my feet there floated a blot of quivering yellow light; it +danced directly towards me, and again I was blinded by its dazzle. + +The reflection from a mirror, of course, but it took me several minutes +to determine its location. + +Ah, there it was--a peculiar combination, in polished copper, of triple +glasses fixed to the sill of a second-story window in the house +directly opposite. The device is in common use in Philadelphia and +Baltimore, but here in New York it must be classed as an exotic. Its +very name is unfamiliar, and I dub it the "Philadelphia Quizzing-Glass" +for want of a better term. You understand, of course, that the mirrors +are hinged together and adjustable to any angle. It is consequently +possible for an observer sitting in the room to remain entirely out of +sight and yet command a view of all that passes in the street below. An +ingenious contrivance, then, for keeping one's self informed upon the +business of the neighborhood. But New-Yorkers, if not less inquisitive, +are more energetic than their Quaker cousins, and prefer the direct +method of leaning out of the window, or, if need be, going down into +the street itself. Still, there is something to be said for the +"quizzing-glass," for we may look upon it as the range-finder of the +domestic fortress, forewarning us of the approach of the bore and the +process-server. Obviously, the ability to look round a corner may save +us from many of the minor complications that embitter modern life. + +I was under surveillance--that was certain. Now, should I submit to the +impertinence? It was easy to put an end to it by walking away. But I +had aspired to be a disciple of Esper Indiman, gentleman adventurer, +and here was a chance to take out a letter of marque on my own +account--one must look Fortune in the face to catch her smile. And so I +stood there immovable, until the dazzle in my eyes cleared away +signifying that the ordeal was at an end. Then I lifted my hat and +walked on, taking note of the house number--23l. + +The next day, Wednesday, it rained, but Thursday was clear, and it was +inevitable that I should pay a second visit to the house of the +quizzing-glass, as I had mentally christened it. Again I submitted to a +long scrutiny. Evidently the result was satisfactory, for the door of +the house was opened and a man ran quickly down the steps and came +towards me. He was a small man with an Oriental cast of features and he +wore a red fez. It sounds incredible, I admit, but such was the fact. +He addressed me civilly, but in somewhat imperfect English. + +"Morning, sar. It is a fine walk-day." + +"Delightful," I assented. + +"My mistress, sar--the Lady Allegra--she will be obligated of the honor +to have your company dinner. You have no engagement anticipatory?" He +stood with his head cocked a trifle to one side, smiling amiably. + +"To-night?" I asked. + +"That, sar, is my counselment. To-night, at clock nine." + +"Very good. I'll be here." + +Red-Fez shook his head deprecatingly. Finally, and after much +circumlocution, I gathered that I was not expected at No. 231. My +instructions were simply to be in waiting at the Worth Monument in +Madison Square at half-after eight; for the rest Red-Fez would hold +himself responsible. And upon this understanding we parted. + +"The Lady Allegra," I said, under my breath, as I walked home. "The +Lady Allegra." + +Up to this point I had kept my own counsel, but now I felt it my duty +to make a confidant of Indiman. He listened to my story with grave +attention. + +"It promises well--decidedly so," admitted Indiman. "Confound it! If it +were not for this unlucky accident of a sprained ankle--" and he +glanced ruefully at his injured limb encased in its plaster-of-Paris +form. + +"I like the name," I went on, somewhat irrelevantly. "The Lady Allegra." + +"There are possibilities in it," assented Indiman, grumpily. "Will you +hand me my solitaire cards--and, for Heaven's sake! stop kicking the +lacquer off the andirons." + +"Oh, I beg your pardon." + +"Of course you understand what I mean. It isn't the andirons, but the +sight of your aggressively vigorous legs that moves me to childish +wrath. To be tied down here like a trussed pigeon! Better leave me to +my solitaire. I'll be more civilized after luncheon." Whereupon I +smiled and went out. + +Half-past eight o'clock; the Worth Monument; Red-Fez in a four-wheeler; +the carefully drawn window-curtains; the production of the black silk +bag with which to envelop my head--it all happened in accordance with +the playbill. At first I tried to keep some idea of distance and +direction, but I soon got confused and had to give it up. I could only +conjecture that the course was a long one, for I heard a clock striking +nine just as the cab stopped, and our pace had been a rapid one. + +"Thisaway, sar," whispered my guide, and I yielded to the gentle +pressure of his hand on my arm. The street door closed behind me, I +felt myself guided up a pair of stairs, a sharp turn to the right, and +we had arrived. But where? Then I realized that the black silk bag had +been removed from my head and I was free to use my eyes. An ironical +permission, truly, for I found myself in absolute darkness. Strain my +vision as I might, not a ray of light met the sensitive surface of the +retina. The blackness stood about me like a wall, immaterial, +doubtless, but none the less impenetrable. + +Deprived of sight, every mental faculty was instantly concentrated upon +the single sense of hearing. My conductor had left me. There was the +sound of a closing door and of padded foot-falls that trailed off into +nothingness; then silence. + +Out of the void came a sharp click as of a well-oiled gun-lock. It was +followed by the first notes of a piano-forte accompaniment. A soprano +voice began singing Schubert's "Fischermadchen." What a delicious +timbre! The clear resonance of a crystal bell. + +The beautiful melody ceased, but still I seemed to hear the faint, +sweet overtones born of its final breath, thin auditory flames that +flickered for an instant against the blank wall of the subconscious +sense, and then in their turn were gone. Entranced and motionless, I +waited. + +A sudden burst of light flooded the room, the radiation being indirect +and proceeding from electroliers sunken behind the ceiling cornice. The +apartment was of medium size, evidently the middle one of the ordinary +series of three rooms characteristic of New York City houses, and it +was furnished most simply--merely a table of Flemish oak with two +leather-backed chairs to match and some rugs. The walls and door spaces +were hung with red velvet draperies, which contrasted brilliantly with +the gorgeous, gold-leafed plastic-work of the cornices and ceiling. A +convex mirror, framed in massive silver gilt, hung on the side wall. A +second look showed that it was really a bull's-eye of crackled glass, +opal-tinted and translucent. It glowed as though illumined by some +inward fire (doubtless a concealed electric-light bulb), and the +shifting play of iridescent color was exquisitely beautiful. One could +compare it only with an imprisoned rainbow. I looked and wondered. + +"I have kept you waiting. A thousand apologies," said a voice at my +back. I turned to face a gentleman who must have entered from the front +room; so at least the draperies, still slightly swaying, attested. A +tall man, gray-haired, and of an extraordinary thinness--a caricature +of Don Quixote himself, if such a thing were possible. + +"The Lady Allegra," he went on, "is unfortunately indisposed. She begs +me to tender her apologies and regrets. I am her ladyship's resident +physician, and my name is Gonzales." His eyes, hidden behind smoked +glasses, examined me attentively. + +I murmured some words of conventional regrets, and, truth to tell, I +was bitterly disappointed. I turned as though to go. + +"It is the Lady Allegra's wish that you should dine here this evening," +continued Dr. Gonzales. "Solus, it is true, but the disappointment is a +mutual one; of that you may be assured." Again I bowed and intimated my +willingness to obey. + +The dining-room was an apartment of unusual size, panelled in Santo +Domingo mahogany, the rich color of the wood standing in admirable +contrast to the dark-green, watered silk with which the walls were +covered. A magnificent tapestry, representing Dido's hunting-party in +honor of AEneas, filled nearly the whole of one side wall, and on the +chimney-breast opposite hung a mirror similar in appearance to that in +the drawing-room. The illumination of the room was peculiar but +effective--four bronze female figures, each holding in her hands a +globe of translucent glass through which a mellow radiance diffused +itself. + +The table, large enough to accommodate King Arthur and his knights, was +beautifully set with plate and crystal, but only two covers had been +laid. Red-Fez, who had now assumed the functions of a butler, showed me +to my place, and then took up his stand behind the empty chair of his +mistress. The two serving-men began immediately upon their duties. + +It was an extraordinary repast, for to both my eye and my palate the +viands were utterly unknown. In fact, every dish had as its basis a +peculiar substance that in appearance faintly suggested isinglass. But +it had no taste, that I could discover, other than the flavor +communicated to it by the various sauces and dressings with which it +was served. It appeared first in the soup, and then, omitting the fish +course, I recognized it as the foundation of an excellent vol-au-vent. +It served again as a substitute for meat, compressed and moulded in the +form of French chops. There was even a passable imitation of a green +goose. I had a slice from the breast, and it tasted very well. The +philosophers tell us that there is an infinite power in suggestion. +That may account, in part at least, for the complacency with which I +accepted these remarkable perversions of the ordinary menu. If ideas +are the only realities, my green goose might have come straight from +Washington Market itself. + +The two vegetables, cauliflower an gratin and boiled potatoes, were +good to look at and good to eat, although neither of them had ever seen +a garden. There was a salad, too, with an incomparable dressing. +Finally, an excellent pudding. The wines and mineral waters, the +liqueurs and the coffee, were genuine. The fantastic cuisine of my +hostess extended only to the solid portions of the repast, and for this +I was secretly thankful. I don't like chemical burgundies, and the +"health-food" mochas and javas are only surprisingly good imitations of +exceedingly bad coffee. + +The chair opposite me remained unfilled, but each course was served at +the cover as scrupulously as though the Lady Allegra were actually +present. It made me feel a trifle uncomfortable at the first--the sight +of that vacant chair set back a little from the table, the napkin half +unfolded, the full wineglasses, the plate with its untouched food. And +once, when the foot-man offered the cauliflower to my invisible +vis-a-vis, it seemed as though she declined it. The man hesitated a +second and then passed on without putting a portion on the plate. For +the moment I was foolish enough to contemplate a similar refusal, but I +reconsidered--I am very fond of cauliflower. + +At the conclusion of dinner I took my cigar into the red drawing-room. +The lights had been lowered, and only the opalescent bull's-eye glowed +with undiminished brilliancy. I sat staring at it, and the outrageous +perplexity of the situation began to get on my nerves. I must get out +of here, and I half rose. Then I sank back, forgetting everything but +that marvellous voice. Again the Lady Allegra was singing, and could I +doubt that it was for me! David's "Charmant Oiseau," and then the gay +little gavotte from "Manon." + +What an astonishing repertoire--Chaminade, Schumann, Grieg, Richard +Strauss. Finally Schubert, and Schubert only, the last and the best +given, as it is meet, to him who is the master of all. The +rainbow-tinted orb of the wall mirror continued to hold my eyes; they +drooped and fell as the radiance grew fainter and yet fainter. + +When I awoke Red-Fez was standing at the bedside, hot-water can in +hand. "Morning, sar," he said, with gentle affability. "Will you permit +me to shaver you?" + +I jumped out of bed and went to the window. It was closed, although a +ventilator at the top admitted plenty of the outside air, and the glass +was of the opaque bull's-eye variety through which it is impossible to +see. I tried to throw up the sash, but it would not budge. + +I submitted in silence to the ministrations of Red-Fez, not choosing to +enter into any discussion with a servant. But I was sorely tempted to +protest when he proceeded to array me in an extraordinary robe of +cardinal silk in lieu of the ordinary masculine habiliments. Certainly +I could not leave the house enveloped in this ridiculous garment. My +dress clothes would have been bad enough, but there was no trace of +them to be seen. Evidently I should have to call Dr. Gonzales to +account, and having descended to the now familiar red drawing-room, I +sent Red-Fez with a request for an immediate audience. A few minutes +later he appeared. + +"Am I a prisoner here?" I asked, abruptly. + +"You await the Lady Allegra's pleasure," he answered, imperturbably. +"She is still indisposed. Possibly by to-night, but I cannot say +definitely." + +"I do not wish--" + +"Chut!" he interrupted, irritably. "It is a matter not of your wishes +but of her will. That is inevitable. Can you not understand?" + +I looked at the immovable figures of two footmen at the door and then +walked out to breakfast. An excellent meal it was, although I +recognized that the food was only an ingenious variation upon the theme +of the night before; that mysterious substance resembling isinglass was +the basis of everything set before me. It was the same with luncheon +and again at dinner. And, as on the previous night, it was an empty +chair that confronted me. Well, what did it matter, after all. Can you +even imagine what Schubert's "Linden-Tree" might be when perfectly sung? + +Is it an hallucination, then, that possesses me--some subtle +disturbance of the nerve-centres sapping the sources of will-power, +enfeebling even the physical energies? I do not know. Sometimes I am +ashamedly conscious that I do not greatly care. It is now a week since +I entered this house, and I have made but one attempt to reassert my +personal rights. Yesterday a sudden passion of resolution seized me; at +all hazards I must break the bonds imposed upon me by this invisible +enchantress. As I passed the door leading to the red drawing-room I put +my fingers in my ears--Ulysses and the sirens. But when I reached the +lower hall I walked plump into Dr. Gonzales, who fixed me with a +penetrating look. "Go back!" he said, authoritatively. "The Lady +Allegra sings--and for you." I listened; it was, "Ah, fors e lui." + +I divide my time between the library on the third floor and the red +drawing-room, where the strange beauty of the opal-tinted mirror holds +me possessed for hours together. Remember that the Lady Allegra still +maintains her tantalizing role of inviolable seclusion. It is through +her voice alone that she impresses her personality upon my senses. That +seems ridiculous, does it not? But then you have not heard her sing +"Ah, fors e lui." + +Yet, after all, the end came quickly. I shall be equally succinct in my +chronicle of the events leading up to it. + +As usual I had dined alone, and had afterwards submitted to the +customary examination at the hands of Dr. Gonzales. Why he should deem +it necessary to take my pulse and temperature and then ascertain my +weight and power of grip with such scrupulous exactitude I never +troubled to inquire. Indeed, it seemed such a puerile proceeding that I +have hitherto refrained from even mentioning it. To-night he seemed +ill-pleased with the results of his investigation. "You are losing +weight," he said, severely, "and you don't begin to grip within ten +pounds of what you registered a week ago." + +"What does it matter?" I answered, as indifferently as I felt. + +"You ought to eat more. No steam without fuel." + +"I am not hungry." + +"Bah!" he snorted, indignantly. "It is always the same story. Another +failure! But no, I will not suffer it. Sooner than that I will have you +penned and stuffed as though you were a Strasburg goose." But I only +laughed at his petulance and walked on to the drawing-room. + +I laughed, I say, and yet I had begun vaguely to realize that something +was wrong. My head felt strangely light. I stumbled over a corner of +the rug, and would have fallen out of pure weakness if I had not caught +at the table for support. My respiration seemed more rapid than usual +and the sweat from the slight exertion beaded my forehead. Then I +forgot everything but that the Lady Allegra had begun to sing. + +The desire, the impulse, they had crystallized into resolution. I would +wait no longer. This very night the walls of the fortress should fall, +unveiling the secret of this insolent loveliness, the desire of all the +world. Ah, my lady Allegra, was it chance alone that led you to choose +Isolde's "Liebestod" for this the supreme enchantment? + +The music fell away into nothingness and I stepped forward, my hand on +the knob of the folding-doors that led to the front room. I knocked +twice--firmly, insistently. "Open!" I cried, and immediately the +door-knob yielded to my touch. + +"Stop!" + +Dr. Gonzales stood at the hall entrance to the drawing-room. I saw +something that gleamed like polished metal in his uplifted hand. Then +he fell back and disappeared. It seemed as though some invisible force +behind the portiere had taken sudden and irresistible possession of +him. What did I care. I went forward and into the room, absolutely +empty save for an upright cabinet of mahogany placed on a central +pedestal. It was tall enough to conceal a person standing behind it, +but it was not the Lady Allegra who came forward to meet me. + +"Indiman!" I said, weakly. "Esper Indiman!" + +"The carriage is waiting," he said. "Come." + +"Never!" I retorted, passionately. "You don't understand--the +Lady--Allegra--" + +Well, I suppose I must have fainted from sheer inanition, and so +Indiman explained it himself that next morning. + +"You had been half starved for over a week, and no wonder you keeled +over. No; you can't have another mouthful of that beef-steak. You'll +have to wait for luncheon." + +I sank back among the cushions of the couch rather resentfully. "Well, +at least you can go on and tell me," I said. + +"Certainly. There are cranks of all degrees, as you know. It was your +luck to fall into the hands of one of the king-pins of the +confraternity--Dr. Ferdinand Gonzales, alias Moses the Second. + +"He wanted a new subject for his experiments upon the physical +regeneration of the human race, and he caught you in his drag-net. It +was a close call for you, old chap." + +"I don't understand." + +"You have been starving to death for ten days, and yet eating three +meals a day right along. Nothing peculiar about that, eh?" + +"It WAS rather curious stuff. It looked like isinglass." + +"Perhaps it is. All I care about is the fact that the food you have +been eating doesn't contain a particle of nourishment for the human +system. But Moses the Second imagined that he had invented, or rather +rediscovered, the one perfect nutriment for the race--nothing less than +manna." + +"Manna!" + +"Don't you remember the manna in the wilderness, the children of +Israel, and the forty years they fed upon it. Dr. Gonzales, who was +really a fine chemist before he went dotty, got the idee fixe that all +human ills were due to improper food. He tackled the problem, at first +scientifically, but later on he had a vision that he was really the +reincarnation of the Prophet Moses. Moses and manna--the connection is +obvious and the secret was soon in his possession. He manufactured the +stuff in his own laboratory and lived on it himself--at least to the +verge of physical extinction. Then he went gunning for subjects, and +you know the rest. The rubbish fills you up without nourishing you, and +what you lived on was really stimulants alone--the wine and coffee." + +"But will you tell me--how did you chance to find--" + +"For the first few days I didn't dream of interfering--it was your own +adventure. But on Monday--that's yesterday, you know--I determined to +look things up a bit. So I walked into No. 231 and scared Mr. Red-Fez +into a few plain truths. His real name is Dawson, you know." + +"Yes." + +"It was simply an immensely improved sort of phonograph that Gonzales +had invented. None of the harshness and squeakiness of tone that you +associate with the ordinary instrument. Partly a new method of making +the records and partly a system of qualifying chambers that refine and +purify the tones. It is wonderful enough to deceive anybody, and, of +course, he had all his records ready to hand." + +"Then the Lady Allegra, the Lady Allegra--" + +"'Vox et preterea nihil,'" quoted Indiman. He left the room quietly, +and I lay there on the lounge staring up at the ceiling. "'Vox et +preterea nihil.'" + +Two months have passed and I am slowly recuperating in body and mind. +But there are some things not to be forgotten--for instance, "Ah, fors +e lui," when sung by the most beautiful voice in all the world. + +Indiman proposes that we shall go to the Utinam Club, dine, and spend +the night. Well, we don't often indulge in that rather questionable +amusement, although we are accustomed to use the club freely throughout +the daytime. All the more reason, then, that once in a while--I need a +distraction and there are some interesting psychological +deductions--But hang casuistry; it is enough to say that we did go. + +It is undeniably pleasant to be sitting here in the club dining-room +sharing a ruddy duck and a bottle of burgundy. Yes, and to feel the +cares, the disappointments, the burdens of life dropping off one by +one; to be able to dismiss them with a nod as one gives an unfortunate +beggar his conge. Ills that one need not bear; evils that it is no +longer necessary to endure--they have all been eliminated by the simple +process of excluding from the spectrum the ultra blue-and-violet rays. +A palpable evasion, of course. Call it immoral, if you will, and I +shall not lift the gauntlet. Why should we quarrel over phrases when it +is only required to return thanks to the good Dr. Magnus for his +beneficent discovery? That is enough for me at least. Carpe diem, or, +more precisely, noctem. + +It was Dr. Magnus himself who later on introduced us to Chivers in the +common room--Chivers, a little man of Semitic physiognomy, with a hard, +knobbed face and a screw of black beard. He addressed himself +effusively to Indiman, while the doctor and I remained spectators, +silent but interested. + +"A dealer in adventures, a specialist in the grotesque--ah, I like +that, Mr. Indiman. The rest of us"--this with a gesture inexpressibly +mean and fawning--"prefer to haggle over the lion's skin after it has +been cured and dressed. It's a mere question of temperament, dear sir." + +"What have you to say to me?" inquired Indiman, abruptly. I could see +that he wanted to kick him. + +"I have an adventure--of the first class. I desire to dispose of it." + +"Yes." + +"A noble, a surpassing adventure. Moreover, a commercial opening that +is not to be despised--fifty per cent on your capital every six months." + +"Yes." + +"I offer you, then, my well-established business of adjuster of +averages, good-will and office fixtures included." + +"But I never even heard of such a profession. I know nothing about +averages and their adjustment." + +"What difference! It is the adventure that particularly concerns you, +is it not? The business--pouf! it runs itself." "And the terms?" + +"I make them ridiculously easy. You are to take over the business, +including the lease of my offices in the Barowsky Brothers' bank +building, William H. Seward Square. In return for this accommodation I +am prepared to pay you the sum of ten thousand dollars." Mr. Chivers +grinned cheerfully as he concluded this astounding proposition. He +pulled ten new one-thousand-dollar bills from his waistcoat-pocket and +laid them on the table. + +Indiman regarded the little man thoughtfully. "You have been in +business for your health?" he inquired, with an affectation of polite +interest. + +"You have hit it exactly," returned the imperturbable Chivers. "I was +pretty rocky when I first went to William H. Seward Square. But the air +in that Yiddish country--wonderful, dear sir. Regard me; punch, poke, +pound where and how you like. Sound as a bell you'll find me. Now I +pass on. I yield place to you. The honor, dear sir, is mine." + +"I confess that I am interested," said Indiman. "The conditions are +simply--" + +"Your personal day and night tenancy of the chambers in the Barowsky +Building for a period of not less than three months. I should have +explained that the rooms really form a bachelor's suite, all furnished, +of course." + +"There are papers to sign?" + +"Only the assumption of the office lease, and I'll give you a bill of +sale for the furniture." Mr. Chivers laid the documents before Indiman; +the latter glanced them over and drew out his fountain-pen. A quick +look, one of satisfaction and understanding, passed between Chivers and +Dr. Magnus. I caught it and tried to convey a warning to my friend. But +he had already affixed his signature to the lease of the offices in the +Barowsky bank building. Chivers did the same for the bill of sale. + +Indiman gathered up the ten one-thousand-dollar bills and stuffed them +into his pocket. "Want a receipt?" he asked. + +"It is not necessary." + +"Well, at least, we must have a bumper to celebrate the conclusion of +the transaction. Waiter." + +We took a cab in the gray of the dawning hour and drove home. As might +have been predicted, my spirits had dropped to the zero-point again. + +"I don't like it--frankly, I don't, old man. What if it should be a +trap?" + +Indiman laughed heartily. "Why, of course, it's a trap," he said. +"That's plain as a pike-staff, whatever a pike-staff itself may be. +It's the particular kind of a trap that interests me. The why and the +wherefore." + +Arrived at the house, Indiman handed a bill to the driver and we +ascended the steps. But the cabman seemed dissatisfied with his +treatment. "Hey, there!" he called once, and then again. Indiman turned +impatiently. + +"Well, what is it?" he asked + +"You can see for yourself, guv'nor. A mistake, ain't it?" + +It was one of the thousand-dollar bills that the honest cabby was +holding up. What a phenomenon in the way of a hackman! And yet the New +York night-hawks are no fools and thousand-dollar bills are easy to +trace. Indiman gave the man fifty dollars as a reward of virtue and he +was more than satisfied. But something still remained on his conscience +thus agreeably stimulated. + +"'Scuse me, guv'nor," he went on, "but here's another little job in the +same line of business. I drove a gentleman to your club early in the +evening, and he must have left it accidental in the cab. Maybe you know +him." + +It was a plain white envelope bearing the typewritten address: + +Mr. Orrin Chivers, Nos. 13-15 Barowsky Chambers, Seward Square, New +York. + +The envelope had been opened, but the enclosure still remained in it. + +"Thank you," said Indiman. "I'll take charge of it." The cabman touched +his hat and drove away. + +We went up to the library and proceeded to examine the treasure trove. +It consisted of a long strip of thin bluish paper less than a quarter +of an inch in width and containing a succession of apparently arbitrary +and unmeaning characters written in ink. I reproduce a section of the +strip, which should make my description more intelligible. + +Indiman looked at the hieroglyphics musingly. "Important--if true," he +murmured. + + + + +XII + +The Adjuster of Averages + + +It was on December 21st that Indiman took up his tenancy of the offices +in the Barowsky Building. I should have been glad to have accompanied +him, but he would not have it. It was the dealer's hand at bridge and +must be played alone. And owing to the accident of a slight attack of +grippe it was some ten days later before I was able to call upon him in +his new quarters. + +William H. Seward Square has its unique features. Lying in the heart of +the East Side, it is outside the regular lines of north and south +travel. There are thousands of otherwise well-informed New-Yorkers to +whom its very name is unknown. And yet it is an important political +centre, the capital of the Yiddish country, and the recipient of many +special favors at the hands of a paternal municipality. There are still +streets in the up-town districts whose pavement is the antiquated +Belgian blocks or even cobble-stones, but none in Yiddishland; here +everything is asphalted. You may trust the district leader to take care +of his own. + +A fine, stone building forms the principal architectural feature of the +square on the west side. It contains the free baths and would be a +credit to any part of the city. Most of the remaining space is given +over to the children for a playground. There is a semi-enclosed +gymnasium for the boys, hand-ball and tether-ball courts, a separate +enclosure for the girls and smaller children--in a word, every form of +amusement and exercise that is practicable in a public institution of +comparatively limited area. The children enjoy it, too. They come in +droves, and the swings and flying rings are in constant use. + +It is like going to a foreign country. The shop signs, written in +Hebrew characters, suggest a combination of horseshoes and +carpet-tacks, and you may walk for blocks without hearing an English +word spoken. Ask your whereabouts of a street boy and he will quite +likely turn pale and edge away. He does not understand. You are an +alien, a foreign devil. + +The Barowsky Brothers' bank building is the show-place of the district. +It is a staring white structure covered with gilt business signs and +adorned with abortive minarets that give it an air distinctly Oriental. +The entrance hall and the banking-rooms are sumptuous. They recall the +Arabian Nights and the word-painting of a circus poster. Mirrors, +gilding, mosaics--it is all a dream of luxury and impresses one with a +realizing sense of the financial standing of the Barowsky Brothers. You +must have a good front in the Yiddish country if you expect to handle +other people's money. + +Esper Indiman, adjuster of averages, occupied a suite of rooms on the +fifth floor. I proceeded thither and found him in. We sat down and +smoked amicably. + +"How is business?" I asked. "Have you adjusted many averages to-day? +And, by-the-way, I'm rather taken with the title of your new trade. +'Adjuster of averages'--there's an imposing note of omnipotence in the +words." + +"It's a perfectly legitimate occupation. You'll find it listed in the +business directory." + +"Of course, and never mind the details. I'm satisfied with its face +value, a brevet of vice-gerency. God knows there are plenty of averages +to be adjusted in this weary old world." + +"Well, I may have some accounts to balance before I take down my sign," +said Indiman, with a grim little smile. "I'm glad you came in to-day, +Thorp; I've been wanting to have a talk with you." + +"Fire away," I answered, flippantly. + +"Come into the back room," and he led the way. + +The suite ran through the building. There was a good-sized room facing +on the square, fitted up with ordinary office furniture; back of that a +bath-room, and then the rear office, which had been turned into a +bachelor's living-room. There were bookcases, rugs, pictures, a big +mahogany writing-table, an open fireplace, easy-chairs--everything to +make life comfortable. "And the couch over there is my bed," concluded +Indiman. "I'm pretty well fixed, you see." + +"Decidedly so." + +"Intellectual diversion in abundance; even the artistic element is not +wholly wanting." + +He stepped over to a table in the far corner; a phonographic machine of +some kind stood upon it. Indiman touched a lever, and again I heard +that unforgettable melody, "Ah, fors e lui," and in her voice--her +voice! A cry escaped me. Indiman pushed me back into my chair. "Be good +enough to listen," he said, and I obeyed. + +"While you have been laid up," he began, "I have been amusing myself +with a little theory building. I had taken the liberty to sequestrate +the remarkable phonographic apparatus of your quondam friend Dr. +Gonzales; in fact, I carried it away in the same carriage with your +honorable self from the house of the Philadelphia 'quizzing-glass.' The +police didn't notice--that was all. + +"Dr. Gonzales was a genius, and his instrument is a revolution in +phonographs--purity of tone, perfect enunciation, and all that. But the +really interesting thing (to me as to you) was not the machine, but the +records that it used. To whom belonged the voice that these little +disks and cylinders so faithfully reproduced? It was a real woman who +had poured the passion and sorrow of life into this insentient +mechanism. And the medium had been sufficient; your heart had responded. + +"You were my friend, and I could not be indifferent to aught that +concerned you. We are, neither of us, sentimental, so the bare +statement of the fact is sufficient. You were on your back, and so it +was my part to go to work. I did. + +"It is unprofitable business looking for a needle in a hay-stack when +you can buy a packet of the best helix No. 8's at any shop for a +nickel. But after spending a blank week interviewing the makers of +phonographic records I began to feel doubtful of my economic theory. +Nowhere could I find the slightest trace of this particular job of +record-making. And then one day I ran across a chap named Hugens, who +was in the business in a small way. His place was three blocks east of +the Bowery, but I've forgotten the name of the cross street. + +"It was the usual experience at first--no information--but something +told me that the man was lying. Finally, I pretended to give up the +inquiry and left the shop. It was after dark on a snowy January +afternoon, and I started to walk over to the Madison Avenue cars. I +dawdled along purposely so as to give the telephone time to get in its +work, and the affair turned out exactly as I had foreseen. At Elm +Street a couple of fellows jostled against me, and when the mix-up was +over the parcel containing my two sample records was gone. That was all +that had been wanted; my watch, pin, and money had not been touched. + +"It was plain, then, that some one had an interest in preventing my +tracing up these particular records. Not Hugens, of course, but his +client, whoever he might be. Well, at least, it made the case more +interesting--yes, and more promising. Two nights later the house in +Madison Avenue was entered by second-story men while I was at dinner. +But the records and repeating apparatus had been removed to the +safe-deposit vaults, and my unknown opponent had drawn another blank. + +"Getting exciting, wasn't it? And then for a month or more nothing +happened. You continued to convalesce and I kept on thinking. + +"This impersonal opposition--well, there had been something of the same +sort once or twice before. You remember, in particular, the affair of +the private letter-box. A devilish intelligence had been at work there, +and some day, as I told you, the mystery would be cleared up. + +"Then did we ever know who Mr. Aram Balencourt really was? An agent of +the 'Forty'? Well, perhaps so, but I can't help thinking that there was +always a bigger man behind him. The same conclusion would apply to the +case of that poor wretch Grenelli in the affair of the Russia and the +box of dynamite. Some one with brains pulled the strings to make all +these marionettes dance. + +"Finally, there was your own adventure with the amiable Dr. Gonzales. +Did he ever remind you, even indefinitely, of some one else whom you +had known? Think carefully. Well, it doesn't matter. I was deceived +myself, and when I afterwards went to the Bellevue insane pavilion to +make some inquiries I found that he had long since been discharged as +cured. + +"There was just one hypothesis--the existence somewhere of a strong and +alert personality; a genius along mechanical and scientific lines; a +creature of abnormally developed mentality and correspondingly +defective ethical nature; an intelligence absolutely passionless and +ruthless, playing the game entirely for its own sake, and equally +indifferent to the end and to the means used to attain it--in other +words, a monster. Quite an elaborate theory, you observe; but the +difficulty was to fit it to the individual. Looking back on the +problem, I accuse myself of being rather slow-witted. Right under my +eyes and yet only an accident opened them. + +"Well, you recall the night at the Utinam when we met Mr. Chivers and I +accepted his very liberal proposition to become an adjuster of +averages. Of course, it was a trap, but what connoisseur of the +adventure grotesque could refuse such a bait? All I wanted to know was +with whom I was expected to match wits. + +"Of course, the thousand-dollar bills were counterfeits--stage money? +Not at all; every one was as good as the gold it called for at the +sub-treasury. Bribery? From whom and for what? Doubtless I should know +later. As it happened, I found out a little ahead of time. + +"You remember the incident of the honest cabman and the hieroglyphic +letter which he turned over to me? Here it is, addressed, as you +observe, to Mr. Chivers." + +Indiman drew from a locked drawer in the big centre-table the long +strip of bluish paper covered with its incomprehensible dashes. "One of +the oldest of devices for secret writing," he remarked. "This slip of +paper was originally wrapped about a cylinder of a certain diameter and +the message traced upon it, and it can only be deciphered by rerolling +it upon another cylinder of the same diameter. Easy enough to find the +right one by the empiric method--I mean experiment. Once you recognize +the fundamental character of the cryptogram the rest follows with +ridiculous certainty. Behold!" + +Indiman took a long, round, slender stick from the mantel-piece and +proceeded to wrap the ribbon of bluish paper about it, touching both +ends with paste to keep the slip in place. It read in part: + +"He will not find the girl, but so long as those records remain in his +possession the possibility continues to exist. I leave it with you to +make the bargain, and if he is not altogether a fool he will be content +with his ten thousand dollars, and Nos. 13-15 Barowsky Chambers will be +again without a tenant. Otherwise--and it is generally otherwise with +these meddlers--there will have to be a new adjustment of +averages--what a felicitous phrase!--and this, as usual, I will take +upon myself. One way or the other, and, personally, I don't care a +straw which it is." + +The name signed to this curious epistle was David Magnus. + +"Our Dr. Magnus of the Utinam," explained Indiman, but I hardly heard +him. One overwhelming thought obscured everything else--there was a +real Lady Allegra, after all. That was it--to find her, and I had the +clew. I must go at once. But Indiman restrained me. + +"Yes, that is precisely what I want you to do, only let us first +understand the situation thoroughly. I intend remaining here during the +progress of the investigation, and if anything should happen--" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Pleasant rooms, aren't they?" and he looked about him approvingly. +"And yet three men have been found sitting dead in the particular chair +that I am now occupying." + +I only stared at him. + +"No marks of violence," continued Indiman. "Nothing to indicate foul +play; nothing, mind you. 'Dead by the visitation of God,' according to +the coroner, but I should call it an 'adjustment of averages.' That is +a felicitous phrase. I got my facts, by-the-way, from the janitor. He +is rather proud of the affair Barowsky, as we may call it." + +"A monster, indeed!" I exclaimed, warmly. + +"Oh, we mustn't misjudge our good Dr. Magnus," said Indiman, +indulgently. "I used the word 'monster' in a purely psychological +sense. You can't call such a being immoral; he is simply unmoral." + +"Not even a criminal lunatic." + +"Certainly not. But I acknowledge that society would be justified in +protecting itself from such a creature. And it will." + +"But why should you remain here, exposed to danger?" + +"My dear Thorp, I want to play the game. I'm sure it's one worthy of my +best attention." + +We argued it out for an hour or more, but Indiman was not to be moved +from his position. So it came back to his original proposition. I was +to take up the search on the outside for the Lady Allegra, and Indiman +was to hold the fort at Nos. 13-15 Barowsky Chambers. I rose to go. + +"You don't need these, do you?" he asked, a little doubtfully, picking +up one of the phonographic cylinders. I shook my head. As though I +could have forgotten the smallest inflection of that voice! So we +parted. + +It had resolved itself into the needle in a hay-stack, after all. Where +was I to look and for what? A voice! "Vox et preterea nihil," to quote +again that beloved Vergilian line. To the unprejudiced mind it would +seem hopeless enough, and yet I never doubted for an instant but that I +should find her. If a man is sure that the world holds the one woman +intended for him he may be equally confident that their paths will +somewhere, somehow, sometime intersect. + +It was the middle of the musical season, and I attended everything from +grand opera to music-hall. For the first and most obvious procedure was +to assume that the Lady Allegra was a professional singer. Either that +or in the very front rank of amateurs. As to the latter, I had always +been more or less in with the musical set, and I knew of no one who +came within a mile of filling my bill of particulars. + +A professional, then, but not necessarily high up on the ladder. Merit +may wait a long time for its due recognition. So I did not despise the +humble field of vaudeville and of the continuous performance houses. + +Week after week passed without result, and it was now the 1st of March. +I saw Indiman every few days and the game dragged equally with him. +Chivers had called half a dozen times, and was now openly negotiating +for the possession of the phonographic cylinders. But Indiman fenced +skilfully and kept him hanging on. + +One night I was strolling through East Houston Street. A transparency +caught my eye. It announced that a performance of high-class vaudeville +was in progress. I paid my dime and entered. + +A long, low-studded room, dim with tobacco-smoke and redolent of stale +beer. At the far end a small stage with faded red hangings. The card +read No. 7, and the programme informed me that the turn was "A Bouquet +of Ballads." A slight, fair-haired girl appeared on the stage. Her +cheeks were burning, and she kept her eyes fixed on the floor. The +piano jangled, and she began her song, Schubert's "Linden-Tree." Her +voice shook and quavered as she went on, but I knew it. I had found the +Lady Allegra. + +The audience listened indifferently. This sort of thing did not appeal +to East Houston Street sensibilities, and there was no applause at the +end. The girl essayed a few bars of her second number, a popular air in +trivial waltz time, but with even poorer success. Then she broke down +altogether and retired distressfully. Cat-calls and jeers, of course. + +But one turn had been allotted to "Mavis," as she was called in the +bill, and I assumed that she would shortly leave the place. I went +outside and waited. Within ten minutes I saw her emerging from the +performer's entrance, cloaked and deeply veiled. But I could not be +mistaken. I stood stock-still like any fool as she passed close to me. +What was I to do? + +Then good-fortune smiled for once, and in gratitude for that surpassing +indulgence I hereby relinquish all claim upon the lady for favors to +come, now and forever. As the girl passed down the street a couple of +pasty-faced young men stepped forward. I saw her stop and shrink away. +A half-dozen steps and I had shoved in between them. The presumptuous +youths sprawled to opposite points of the compass and I had drawn her +hand through my arm. I could feel it tremble, but I carried her onward +exultantly, masterfully. A man takes his own when he finds it. Then at +the next street-lamp I stopped and released her. Within the circle of +the light we stood and gazed into each other's eyes. + +The Lady Allegra who was! It seems odd to think of her now as Alice +Allaire--a pretty enough name but not particularly romantic. And when +she changes it to Thorp, as she has just promised to do--But perhaps I +am going a bit too fast. However, her story is simplicity itself. + +My dear girl is an orphan, and six months ago she went to live with her +guardian and uncle, David Magnus. But the situation quickly became +intolerable. The attentions of the odious creature Olivers were openly +encouraged by Dr. Magnus, and the child, although friendless and in a +strange city, had no recourse but to run away. Surely, her voice would +secure her a living! But the weeks passed and her store of money was +running dangerously low. The Houston Street vaudeville had been the one +chance that had offered, and she had hoped to make it good. But that +first appearance had been her last. After the fiasco of which I had +been a witness she had been discharged on the spot. We smile as we +recall it now, but it had been a terrible catastrophe to contemplate at +the time. What would you have done? + +We went straight to Indiman, and he listened with close attention. + +"You have property, then?" he asked. + +Miss Allaire looked troubled. "There is money. I even think it must be +a large estate. But I don't know; my uncle never spoke of my affairs." + +"One of those cases where it is virtually impossible to prove +anything," said Indiman to me. "Nevertheless, Magnus would be quite +satisfied to have the absence of his niece made a permanent one--it +saves the bother of making any explanations whatever." + +"The phonographic records were the only clew," I observed. "At least he +thought so." + +"Yes, and consequently he has been working all this while to get them +away from me. We're ready now to make a deal, but I'd like to know what +stakes are on the table before playing a card." + +"There was an ante of ten thousand dollars, you remember." + +"Quite so. Well, Miss Allaire, if you are willing to have me play the +partie in your behalf--" + +"I could ask for nothing better," said the girl, quickly. + +"Agreed, then. And, really, I think it is the only chance. Magnus is +too clever a man not to have covered his tracks, and in an ordinary +legal battle you would probably be worsted. But he doesn't want a fight +if he can help it, and that is the club I propose to use. Now you'll +have to go, for I expect Chivers at two." + +I am glad that I glanced back for that last time as we left the room. +Indiman was smiling, his head thrown back and his eyes aglow. The fight +was on, and he was awaiting it as another man might his bride. To be +remembered at one's best; I know I should wish that for myself. + +A fortnight passed. I had not heard a word from Indiman, and I dared +not intrude upon him without an invitation. I had taken Miss Allaire to +the Margaret Louise Home for Women, but two weeks is the limit of +residence there. What was to be done now? My own slender funds were +exhausted and Alice had not a penny. So we did the wisest possible +thing under the circumstances--or the most foolish, whichever you care +to term it. An hour after we had been married I went down to Printing +House Square and literally forced a city editor's hand for an +assignment to general reportorial work. At least we should not starve. +I informed Indiman by letter of the event, but received no reply. + +On the afternoon of the 21st of March I was in the city room of the +Planet. Mr. Dodge, the city editor, beckoned to me. He spoke quickly: + +"Our representative at Police Headquarters has just telephoned that a +man has been found dead in the Barowsky Brothers' bank building, and +there's some yarn to the effect that he is the fourth to die alone in +that particular office. Better go down and take a look at things. May +be a good story in it." + +So there was, but the Planet never published it; they accepted my +resignation in lieu of an explanation. + +I tried to think of indifferent matters as I hurried over to William H. +Seward Square, but my heart kept pounding against my ribs. Could it be +that Indiman--that he had lost the game? + +There was the usual crowd of curiosity-mongers hanging about the bank +building, and of course the police had taken charge. But the sergeant +happened to be well disposed towards newsmen, and my Planet badge +procured me instant admission to the scene of the tragedy. I passed +into the back room. I could see the rigid figure sitting in the big +chair. I forced myself to look at him squarely. + +The dead man was David Magnus. + +I went straight from William H. Seward Square to our boarding-house. A +bulky package had just come for me through a special-delivery +messenger. It contained negotiable securities to the amount of two +hundred and fifty thousand dollars; also a half-dozen sheets of +letter-paper in Indiman's handwriting. I transcribe the latter: + +"Congratulations, my dear Thorp, on your marriage. They're a bit +belated, I know, but I haven't been in the mood for writing of late. +Moreover, I wanted to make sure of Mrs. Thorp's dowry. I enclose the +proceeds of the campaign, and fancy that the settlement isn't so far +out of the way. But then our good friend Magnus never expected that he +would be called upon to pay it. Here's the story as I wrote it down +from day to day. + +"March 1. It's plain enough that Magnus has been embezzling the fortune +of his niece, Miss Allaire. From what the girl could tell me of her +late parent's mode of living I put them down as being comfortably off, +if not rich. So I have intimated that I might consider an offer of +fifty thousand dollars for the phonographic records in my safe-deposit +vault. At least I will now draw the enemy's fire. + +"March 3. Chivers has called and affects to regard my proposition as +absurd. I have riposted by raising my price to seventy-five thousand +dollars. He protested angrily, and I immediately made it one hundred +thousand dollars. + +"March 8. Five days of silence and then another call from Chivers. I +met him with the statement that now I would not take less than one +hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. He seemed flurried and said +that he would have to consult his principal. 'As you like,' I remarked, +carelessly, 'but it will then cost you one hundred and fifty thousand +dollars.' Magnus is evidently alarmed and is wondering how much I +really know. + +"March 9. No word from the hostile camp. The inference is that I may +now look for a move on my antagonists' part, 'Otherwise,' as he says in +that precious note, 'there will have to be a new adjustment of +averages.' Precisely. + +"The position is probably a dangerous one, and I must take the obvious +precautions. To begin with, I shall not leave these rooms until the +affair is over, and I have made arrangements with an up-town restaurant +to supply me with my meals in sealed vessels. I am thus insured against +a street assault and poison. But all this is probably useless. The +Magnus method of attack will be far more subtle. + +"I have just written to Chivers that two hundred thousand dollars will +now be necessary if he wants those phonographic records. + +"March 11. I have had a talk with Louis, the janitor, about the +Barowsky 'affairs.' Three men found dead in the big chair that faces +the centre-table in my living-room. The date in every case was the 21st +of March. If not an extraordinary coincidence there is food for +reflection in this plain statement. It gives me ten clear days, and I +can eat my dinner to-night in comparative comfort. + +"March 12. I have assumed that the psychological moment is scheduled +for March 21st, but both the direction and the nature of the blow are +still unknown. I have made a minute examination of the rooms and all +that they contain, but can discover nothing in the nature of a trap. +There are no secret doors, no collapsing walls, no hidden tubes for the +dissemination of poisonous vapors. My windows are not overlooked from +any outside point of vantage, thus eliminating the silent bullet of the +air-gun. In a word, the machinery of the melodrama seems to be entirely +non-existent. And yet I know that unless I can get the end of the clew +before the 21st of March I shall sit dead in the big chair over there, +just as the three who have gone before me. + +"March 18. Still no answer from Chivers. I have sent him a final +communication fixing my price at two hundred and fifty thousand +dollars, and saying that unless the proposition is accepted within +three days further negotiations will be broken off. + +"March 19. The offer is accepted. At noon on Friday, the 21st, two +hundred and fifty thousand dollars in negotiable securities will be +placed in my hands, and I am to give in return an order on the +safe-deposit company for the phonographic plates. But there is one +paragraph in the letter that puzzles me. It reads: + +"'My client will come in person on Friday to conclude the business, but +only in the event of the day being bright and sunny. If rainy or cloudy +you may expect him at a somewhat earlier hour on Saturday or the next +clear day whichever it may be.' + +"Now what does this mean? On the face of it, a disinclination on the +part of an elderly gentleman to expose himself to these chill March +winds. But Magnus is not very old, and he does not look in the least +rheumatic. + +"I have forgotten to mention the one peculiarity that I discovered in +the furniture of my living-room. The big chair is immovably fixed to +the floor, its heavy pivot-base being riveted down to an iron +bed-plate. And the chair itself is not made of mahogany, as I had +supposed, but of an unknown metallic alloy that simulates the wood very +closely. Well, I was prepared for something like this. + +"Another interesting point. The windows in the living-room face in a +southerly direction, and the sun is now every day getting a little +farther round, penetrating a little deeper, at every noon hour, into +the room. On the 21st it will cross the line, and at least one ray will +illumine a spot that for several months has not been touched by the +direct sunlight. What spot? + +"It is nearing twelve o'clock, and as I sit in the big chair I can see +the bar of golden light creeping steadily onward. It reaches the chair, +and half-way around the pivot-base. Then the heavenly clock begins its +retrograde movement, and the ray of sunlight is forced to retreat. But +to-morrow it will come a little farther, and so again on the day after. + +"Around the sash in the big window the architect has inserted a row of +glass bull's-eyes, a style of ornamentation suited to the semi-Oriental +tastes of William H. Seward Square. I go up and examine them closely. +They seem ordinary enough--but stop! The third from the bottom; it has +a peculiar depth and clearness. It might very well be a lens--a +burning-glass, to use the old-fashioned term. How close has the sun +drawn to this particular bull's-eye? To-morrow I will take note. + +"March 20. At high noon the sun has reached within a hair's-breadth of +the third bull's-eye from the bottom. To-morrow it will surely shine +through my suspect, and if the latter be a true lens it will +concentrate, for several minutes, a high degree of heat at the +particular spot upon which its rays are focussed. That spot I have +found, by experiment, to be one of a series of small bosses set in the +pivot-base of the big chair. I applied the flame of a match and +immediately the metal boss began to soften. I understand now. The boss +is made of a fusible alloy that melts at a certain prearranged +temperature; it is simply a variation of the common safety plug used in +all the systems of mechanical protection against fire. At noon +to-morrow, March 21st, the rays of the sun will be concentrated by the +lens in the window-sash and will fall upon this boss of fusible metal. +The plug will melt, releasing a spring, let us say, and a train of +action will be set in motion. + +"The precise nature of that action I shall probably not discover. I +incline to the belief that it is of an electrical nature. A connection +is to be thereby established with one of the deadly currents that can +be tapped for the asking here in New York. It may be objected that the +men who died in the chair over there showed no external marks of death +by electrical shock. But the autopsy, if it had been performed by +Coroner Lunkhead, might have told a different story. Magnus is as good +an electrician as he is a chemist, and he could easily rig up some kind +of transformer reducing the power of the current just enough to +paralyze the victim--death by a myriad of small shocks instead of one +big one. Now it is plain why the spider will not come to spring his +trap unless the sun shines on the 21st of March. If it doesn't, the +play goes over to the next clear day, only that the curtain will rise a +minute or so earlier in correspondence with the onward march of the +sun-god, the executioner in the cast of our drama. Well, I have made my +preparations to counter-check. To-morrow we shall see what we shall see. + +"March 21. I have still an hour before the expressman will come for the +clock-case, and I must take the opportunity to finish my notes. The +dead man sits opposite me at the table, but that does not matter. There +is plenty of room for us both. + +"The day dawned clear and fine, and at ten o'clock the sun was shining +brightly. He will come then. + +"At eleven I began to wonder how Dr. Magnus proposes to witness my last +agonies without risk of suspicion attaching to his precious self. If he +is seen entering and leaving my room this morning he may be called upon +for an explanation later. One cannot be too careful in playing the +delicate role of the amateur assassin. + +"But I have wronged my excellent friend. He has foreseen the difficulty +and provided against it. At precisely half after eleven a couple of +expressmen delivered what purported to be a clock-case at my outer +office. It was addressed to me and I receipted for it without +hesitation. + +"'I understand that we are to call for it again at two o'clock,' said +one of the men. 'That'll give you time to pack up the other clock?' + +"'Very good,' said I. + +"'And Mr. Gill said that you would set the case out on the landing if +you had to leave the office before we got back. I'll put the receipt +under the door.' + +"'I understand,' I answered, carelessly. 'Get yourself some cigars,' +and I slipped a half-dollar in the man's hand. He thanked me and +withdrew. I sat down and waited. + +"The lid of the case was removable from the inside. I watched the +screws fall one after another to the floor. Then the lid followed, and +Dr. Magnus stood before me. His eyes, distorted horribly by the extra +powerful lenses of his spectacles, fixed me with a steady look. He came +close as though to assure himself that there was no mistake. His face +almost touched mine. He put on his second and third pair of glasses, +and again I felt like the fly under the microscope. + +"We did not go through the farce of exchanging salutations. This was +war and we should both know it. It was now nearly noon and the sun was +rapidly approaching the zenith. I led the way into the rear room. + +"'Here are the securities,' said Magnus. I looked them over and +announced myself as satisfied. + +"'Kindly sit down and write me out an order on the safe-deposit +company,' he went on, in rather a petulant tone. He was standing by the +big chair. He bent forward as though to turn it in my direction. + +"The psychological moment had come, but the trick was even easier than +I had anticipated. Being in a stooping posture, he was partially off +his balance. A sharp jerk at his coat-collar and he was seated in the +big chair. He bit at my hand savagely as a dog snaps, but I had been +too quick for him. Then a couple of turns of stout window-cord put +everything secure. + +"The man seemed dazed. He made no attempt to release himself. He did +not even speak. But then his lips were dry. They opened and shut +mechanically. His eyes, staring through their triple glasses, were +turned towards the window. The sunlight, shining in full strength, was +creeping steadily towards the row of bull's-eyes on the right of the +sash. It lay in a broad, golden band on the polished floor. + +"A decrepit fly crawled out of a crack and made feebly for the welcome +warmth. The prisoner's feet were free and he advanced one of them +slowly, stealthily towards the miserable insect, then smashed +ruthlessly down upon it. In my turn I looked away, gazing steadily at +the window and the sun beyond. A few minutes now and we would know. + +"A little cloud no bigger than a man's hand. It was travelling directly +towards the sun's disk. Suppose now that its veil obscured, at the +final moment, the fatal ray. He saw it too. Together we watched it +slowly drifting through the brilliant blue of the sky--a little cloud +no bigger than a man's hand. + +"The currents of air in the upper regions first accelerated and then +retarded the progress of the vaporous island. It seemed to stop; then +it hung for an instant directly on the lower limb of the great ball of +light. A sensation of intolerable cold pervaded my entire body. +Involuntarily I shut my eyes. + +"I forced myself to look. The cloud had disappeared. Its imponderable +essence had been absorbed into the clear ether as a drop of water +sizzles into nothingness on a red-hot stove. The sunlight, shining +through the third bull's-eye from the bottom, was instantly transformed +into a single concentrated beam. The heat-ray impinged upon the boss of +fusible metal. I saw the alloy begin to melt. I turned and ran into the +other room. + +"Twenty minutes of silence and then I re-entered. I was horribly +afraid, but he sat there quiet and still. I unwound the cord and threw +it out of the window. It was clouding over in earnest now. These March +days are so changeable. + +"It is close to two o'clock, and I must be getting ready to depart. I +have set the clock-case out in the passageway, and the lids and screws +are in readiness. The expressman will doubtless be punctual. He will +carry the case down-stairs and load it on his wagon. I shall be +delivered in due course at my destination. What is it to be? Well, I +shall have plenty of time in which to reflect upon the possibilities of +the journey that lies before me. + +"One moment in which to seal up these notes, together with the bundle +of securities. Fortunately, I have a special-delivery stamp in my +pocket, and I can post the packet in the mail-chute. Best wishes, my +dear Thorp, for the future happiness of yourself and your charming +wife. You have now given a hostage to fortune and will no longer care +to sail on uncertain seas. But the Wanderlust in my blood seems to be +ineradicable. Again the gates of chance are opening before me and I am +eager to enter in. Good-bye." + +Here the record ends abruptly. And there has been no sequel. Not the +slightest sound nor sign has been vouchsafed from the void. He who was +Esper Indiman is gone, like a stone dropped into the gulf, and I have +lost something that is not easily replaced--a friend. But since it is +his wish, there is nothing more to be said. He may return--a message +may come-- + +The gates of chance! Well, it is exactly a year and a day since that +eventful afternoon when Esper Indiman's visiting-card was thrust into +my unconscious hand. I have travelled along some strange ways in the +course of that twelvemonth, and henceforth I shall be content to trudge +along the common high-road of life. The gates of chance--for me they +are closed forever. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + + + + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, Robert Rowe, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +The Gates of Chance + +by Van Tassel Sutphen + + + +Contents + + I THE GENTLEMAN'S VISITING-CARD + II THE RED DUCHESS + III HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOCK + IV THE PRIVATE LETTER-BOX + V THE NlNETY-AND-NINE KlSSES + VI THE QUEEN OF SPADES + VII THE OPAL BUTTON + VIII THE TIP-TOP TIP + IX THE BRASS BAGGAGE-CHECK + X THE UPSET APPLE-CART + XI THE PHILADELPHIA QUIZZING-GLASS + XII THE ADJUSTER OF AVERAGES + +The Gentleman's Visiting-Card + +The card that had been thrust into my hand had pencilled upon it, +"Call at 4020 Madison Avenue at a quarter before eight this +evening." Below, in copper-plate, was engraved the name, Mr. Esper +Indiman. + +It was one of those abnormally springlike days that New York +sometimes experiences at the latter end of March, days when +negligee shirts and last summer's straw hats make a sporadic +appearance, and bucolic weather prophets write letters to the +afternoon papers abusing the sun-spots. Really, it was hot, and I +was anxious to get out of the dust and glare; it would be cool at +the club, and I intended dining there. The time was half-past six, +the height of the homeward rush hours, and, as usual, there was a +jam of vehicles and pedestrians at the Fourth Avenue and Twenty- +third Street crossing. The subway contractors were still at work +here, and the available street space was choked with their stagings +and temporary footwalks. The inevitable consequent was congestion; +here were two of the principal thoroughfares of the city crossing +each other at right angles, and with hardly enough room, at the +point of intersection, for the traffic of one. The confusion grew +worse as the policemen and signalmen stationed at the crossing +occasionally lost their heads; every now and then a new block would +form, and several minutes would elapse before it could be broken. +In all directions long lines of yellow electric cars stood stalled, +the impatient passengers looking ahead to discover the cause of the +trouble. A familiar enough experience to the modern New-Yorker, yet +it never fails to exasperate him afresh. + +The impasse looked hopeless when I reached the scene. A truck +loaded with bales of burlap was on the point of breaking down at +the crossing, and it was a question of how to get it out of the way +in the shortest possible time consistent with the avoidance of the +threatened catastrophe. Meanwhile, the jam of cars and trucks kept +piling up until there was hardly space for a newsboy to worm his +way from one curb to another, and the crowd on the street corners +began to grow restive. They do these things so much better in +London. + +Now, I detest being in the mob, and I was about to back my way out +of the crowd and seek another route, even if a roundabout one. But +just then the blockade was partially raised, an opening presented +itself immediately in front of me, and I was forced forward willy- +nilly. Arrived at the other side of the street, I drew out of the +press as quickly as possible, and it was then that I discovered Mr. +Indiman's carte de visite tightly clutched in my left hand. +Impossible to conjecture how it had come there, and my own part in +the transaction had been purely involuntary; the muscles of the +palm had closed unconsciously upon the object presented to it, just +as does a baby's. "Mr. Esper Indiman--and who the deuce may he be?" + +The club dining-room was full, but Jeckley hailed me and offered me +a seat at his table. I loathe Jeckley, and so I explained politely +that I was waiting for a friend, and should not dine until later. + +"Well, then, have a cocktail while I am finishing my coffee," +persisted the beast, and I was obliged to comply. + +"I had to feed rather earlier than usual," explained Jeckley. + +"Yes," I said, not caring in the least about Mr. Jeckley's hours +for meals. + +"You see I'm doing the opening at the Globe to-night, and I must +get my Wall Street copy to the office before the theatre. And what +do you think of that by way of an extra assignment?" He took a card +from his pocket-book and tossed it over. It was another one of Mr. +Esper Indiman's calling-cards, and scrawled in pencil, "Call at +4020 Madison Avenue at eight o'clock this evening." + +Jeckley was lighting his cigar, and so did not observe my start of +surprise. Have I said that Jeckley was a newspaper man? One of the +new school of journalism, a creature who would stick at nothing in +the manufacture of a sensation. The Scare-Head is his god, and he +holds nothing else sacred in heaven and earth. He would sacrifice-- +but perhaps I'm unjust to Jeckley; maybe it's only his bounce and +flourish that I detest. Furthermore, I'm a little afraid of him; I +don't want to be written up. + +"Esper Indiman," I read aloud. "Don't know him." + +"Ever heard the name?" asked Jeckley. + +I temporized. "It's unfamiliar, certainly." + +Jeckley looked gloomy. "Nobody seems to know him," he said. "And +the name isn't to be found in the directory, telephone-book, or +social register." + +Wonderful fellows, these newspaper men; I never should have thought +of going for Mr. Indiman like that. + +"But why and wherefore?" I asked, cautiously. + +"A mystery, my son. The card was shoved into my hand not half an +hour ago." + +"Where?" + +"At Twenty-third and Fourth. There were a lot of people around, and +I haven't the most distant notion of the guilty party." + +"What does it mean?" + +Jeckley shook his head. "What will you do about it?" + +"I will make the call, of course." + +"Of course!" + +"There maybe a story there--who knows. Besides, it's directly on my +way to the Globe, and the curtain is not until eight-thirty. Tell +you what, old man; come along with me and see the thing to a +finish. Fate leads a card--Mr. Esper Indiman's--and we'll play the +second hand; what do you say?" + +I declined firmly. God forbid that I should be featured, along with +the other exhibits in the case, on the first page of to-morrow's +Planet. + +"So," he assented, indifferently, and pushed his chair back. "Well, +I must push along--Lord! there's that copy--the old man will have +it in for me good and plenty if I don't get it down in time. +Adios!" He disappeared, and I let him depart willingly enough. +Later on I went up to the library for a smoke--no fear of +encountering any Jeckleys there, and, in fact, the room was +entirely deserted. I looked at my watch; it was ten minutes after +seven, and that gave me a quarter of an hour in which to think it +over. Should I accept Mr. Indiman's invitation to call? + +I looked around for an ash-tray, and, seeing one on the big +writing-table in the centre of the room, I walked over to it. + +There were some bits of white lying in the otherwise empty tray-- +the fragments of a torn-up visiting-card. A portion of the engraved +script caught my eye, "Indi--" + +It was not difficult to piece together the bits of pasteboard, for +I knew pretty well what I should find. Completed, the puzzle read, +"Mr. Esper Indiman," and in pencil, "Call at 4020 Madison Avenue at +half-past seven this evening." + +So there were three of us--if not more. Rather absurd this +assignment of a separate quarter of an hour to each interview-- +quite as though Mr. Indiman desired to engage a valet and we were +candidates for the position. Evidently, an eccentric person, but +it's a queer world anyhow, as most of us know. There's my own case, +for example. I'm supposed to be a gentleman of leisure and means. +Leisure, certainly, but the means are slender enough, and +proceeding in a diminishing ratio. That's the penalty of having +been born a rich man's son and educated chiefly in the arts of +riding off at polo and thrashing a single-sticker to windward in a +Cape Cod squall. But I sha'n't say a word against the governor, God +bless him! He gave me what I thought I wanted, and it wasn't his +fault that an insignificant blood-clot should beat him out on that +day of days--the corner in "R. P." It was never the Chicago crowd +that could have downed him--I'm glad to remember that. + +Well, there being only the two of us, it didn't matter so much; it +wasn't as though there were a lot of helpless womenfolk to +consider. After the funeral and the settlement with the creditors +there was left--I'm ashamed to say how little, and, anyway, it's no +one's business; the debts were paid. What is a man to do, at +thirty-odd, who has never turned his hand to anything of use? The +governor's friends? Well, they didn't know how bad things were, and +I couldn't go to them with the truth and make them a present of my +helpless, incompetent self. + +And so for the last two years I've been sticking it out in a hall +bedroom, just west of the dead-line. I have a life membership in +the club--what a Christmas present that has turned out to be!--and +twice in the week I dine there. As for the rest of it, never mind-- +there are things which a man can do but of which he doesn't care to +speak. + +The future? Ah, you can answer that question quite as well as I. +Now I had calculated that, at my present rate of expenditure, I +could hold out until Easter, but there have been contingencies. To +illustrate, I had my pocket picked yesterday morning. Amusing-- +isn't it?--that it should have been my pocket--my pocket! + +Fortunately I have stacks of clothes and some good pearl shirt- +studs, and I continue to present a respectable appearance. I shall +always do that, I think. I don't like the idea of the pawn-shop and +the dropping down one degree at a time. If, in the end, it shall be +shown clearly that the line is to be crossed, I shall walk over it +quietly and as a man should; I object to the indecency of being +dragged or carried across. What line do I mean? I don't know that I +could tell you clearly. What is in your own mind? There IS a line. + +At half after seven I left the club, and exactly a quarter of an +hour later I stood opposite the doorway of No. 4020 Madison Avenue. +A tall man was descending the steps; I recognized Bingham, a member +of my club, and recalled the torn-up visiting-card that I had found +in the library. So Bingham was one of us. + +Now I don't know Bingham, except by sight, and I shouldn't have +cared to stop and question him, anyway. But I caught one glimpse of +his face as he hurried away, and it looked gray under the +electrics. Call it the effect of the arc light, if you like; he was +hurrying, certainly, and it struck me that it was because he was +anxious to get away. + +Many are the motives that send men into adventurous situations, but +there is at least one among them that is compelling--hunger. I have +said that I had gone to the club for dinner; I did not say that I +got it. To be honest, I had hoped for an invitation--charity, if +you insist upon it. But I had been unfortunate. None of my +particular friends had chanced to be around, and Jeckley's cocktail +had been the only hospitality proffered me. You remember that my +pocket had been picked yesterday morning, and since then--well, I +had eaten nothing. I might have signed the dinner check, you say. +Quite true, but I shall probably be as penniless on the first of +the month as I am to-day, and then what? Too much like helping +one's self from a friend's pocket. + +So it was just a blind, primeval impulse that urged me on. This Mr. +Indiman had chosen to fish in muddy waters, and his rashness but +matched my necessity. A host must expect to entertain his guests. I +walked up the steps and rang the bell. + +Instantly the door opened, and a most respectable looking serving- +man confronted me. + +"Mr. Indiman will see you presently," he said, before I had a +chance to get out a word. "This way, sir." + +The house was of the modern American basement type, and I was +ushered into a small reception-room on the right of the entrance +hall. "Will you have the Post, sir? Or any of the illustrated +papers? Just as you please, sir; thank you." + +The man withdrew, and I sat looking listlessly about me, for the +room, while handsomely furnished, had an appearance entirely +commonplace. + +Five and ten minutes passed, and I began to grow impatient. I +remembered that Jeckley's appointment had been for eight o'clock, +and for obvious considerations I did not wish that he should find +me waiting here. It was eight o'clock now, and I would abide Mr. +Indiman's lordly pleasure no longer. I rose to go; the electric +bell sounded. + +I could hear Jeckley's high-pitched voice distinctly; he seemed to +be put out about something; he spoke impatiently, even angrily. + +"But this is 4020 Madison Avenue, isn't it? Mr. Indiman--I was +asked to call--Mr. Jeckley, of the Planet." + +"Must be some mistake, sir," came the answer. "This is No. 4020, +but there's no Mr. Inkerman--" + +"Indiman, not Inkerman--Mr. Esper Indiman. Look at the card." + +"Never heard the name, sir." + +"What! Well, then, who does live here?" + +"Mr. Snell, sir. Mr. Ambrose Johnson Snell. But he's at dinner, and +I couldn't disturb him." + +"Humph!" I fancy that Jeckley swore under his breath as he turned +to go. Then the outer door was closed upon him. + +It was a relief, of course, to be spared the infliction of Mr. +Jeckley's society, but I could not but admit that the situation was +developing some peculiarities. Eliminating the doubtful personality +of Mr. Ambrose Johnson Snell, who was this Mr. Esper Indiman, whose +identity had been so freely admitted to me and so explicitly denied +to Jeckley? The inference was obvious that Jeckley had failed to +pass the first inspection test, and so had been turned down without +further ceremony. This reflection rather amused me; I forgot about +the incivility to which I was being subjected in the long wait, and +began to be curious about the game itself. What next? + +At a quarter after eight, and then again at half after, there were +inquiries at the door for Mr. Indiman. To each caller the answer +was returned that no Mr. Indiman was known at No. 4020 Madison +Avenue, and that Mr. Ambrose Johnson Snell could not be disturbed +at his dinner. + +There was no caller at the next quarter, and none again at nine +o'clock. The series had, therefore, come to an end, and I remained +the sole survivor--of and for what? + +I dare say that my nerves had been somewhat weakened by my two +days' fast, or else it was the effect of Jeckley's cocktail on an +otherwise empty stomach. Whatever the cause, I suddenly became +conscious that I was passing into a state of high mental tension; I +wanted to scream, to beat impotently upon the air; Jeckley would +have put it that I was within an ace of flying off the handle. + +A deafening clash of clanging metal smote my ears. It should have +been the finishing touch, and it was, but not after the fashion +that might have been expected. As though by magic, the horrible +tension relaxed; my nerves again took command of the situation; I +felt as cool and collected as at any previous moment in my life. + +In the centre of the room stood a heavy table of some East-Indian +wood--teak, I think, they call it. I could have sworn that there +was nothing whatever upon this table when I entered the room; now I +saw three objects lying there. I walked up and examined them. As +they lay towards me, the first was a ten- thousand-dollar bill, the +second a loaded revolver, caliber .44, the third an envelope of +heavy white paper directed to me, Winston Thorp. The letter was +brief and formal; it read: + +"Mr. Indiman presents his compliments to Mr. Thorp and requests the +honor of his company at dinner, Tuesday, March the thirtieth, at +nine o'clock. + +"4020 Madison Avenue." + +Dishonor, death, and dinner--a curious trio to choose between. Yet +to a man in my present position each of them appealed in its own +way, and I'm not ashamed to confess it. Perhaps the choice I made +may seem inevitable, but what if you had seen Bingham's face as I +did, with the arc light full upon it? It was the remembrance of +that which made me hesitate; twice I drew my hand away and looked +at the money and the pistol. + +Through the open door came a ravishing odor, that of a filet a la +Chateaubriand; the purely animal instincts reasserted themselves, +and I picked up the gardenia blossom that lay beside the letter and +stuck it into the button-hole of my dinner-jacket. I looked down at +the table, and it seemed to me that the ten-thousand-dollar note +and the pistol had disappeared. But what of that, what did anything +matter now; I was going to dine--to dine! + +I walked up-stairs, guided by that delicious, that heavenly odor, +and entered the dining-room in the rear, without the smallest +hesitation. At one end of the table sat a man of perhaps forty +years of age. An agreeable face, for all of the tired droop about +the mouth and the deep lines in the forehead; it could light up, +too, upon occasion, as I was soon to discover. For the present I +did not bother myself with profitless conjectures; that entrancing +filet, displayed in a massive silver cover, stood before him; I +could not take my eyes from it. + +My host, for such he evidently was, rose and bowed with great +politeness. + +"You must pardon me," he said, "for sitting down; but, as my note +said, I dine at nine. I will have the shell-fish and soup brought +on." + +"I should prefer to begin with the filet," I said, decidedly. + +A servant brought me a plate; my hand trembled, but I succeeded in +helping myself without spilling the precious sauce; I ate. + +"There are three conditions of men who might be expected to accept +the kind of invitation which has brought me the honor of your +company," remarked my host as we lit our cigarettes over the Roman +punch. "To particularize, there is the curious impertinent, the +merely foolish person, and the man in extremis rerum. Now I have no +liking for the dog-faced breed, as Homer would put it, and neither +do I suffer fools gladly. At least, one of the latter is not likely +to bother me again." He smiled grimly, and I thought of Bingham's +face of terror. + +"I found my desperate man in you, my dear Mr. Thorp, shall we drink +to our better acquaintance?" I bowed, and we drank. + +"The precise nature of your misfortune does not concern me," he +continued, airily. "It is sufficient that we are of the same mind +in our attitude towards the world--'to shake with Destiny for +beers,' is it not? + +"One may meet with many things on the highway of life--poverty, +disease, sorrow, treacheries. These are disagreeable, I admit, but +they are positive; one may overcome or, at least, forget them. But +suppose you stand confronting the negative of existence; the +highway is clear, indeed, but how interminable its vista, its +straight, smooth, and intolerably level stretch. That road is mine. + +"Yes; I have tried the by-paths. Once I was shanghaied; twice I +have been marooned and by my own men. That last amused me--a +little. I was the second man to arrive at Bordeaux in the Paris- +Madrid race of 1903; during the Spanish-American war I acted as a +spy for the United States government in Barcelona. + +"I made the common mistake of confounding the unusual with the +interesting. Romance is a shy bird, and not to be hunted with a +brass band. Where is the heart of life, if not at one's elbow? At +the farthest, one has only to turn the corner of the street. It is +useless to look for prodigies in the abyss, but every stream has +its straws that float; I have determined to watch and follow them. + +"I want a companion, and so I advertised after my own fashion. I +selected you, tentatively, from the mob; later on I made the test +more complete. But you have no boutonniere; allow me." + +He took a spray of orchid from the silver bowl in the centre of the +table and handed it to me. + +I protested: "I have my gardenia--" I looked at my button-hole and +it was gone. + +Mr. Indiman smiled. "Let me confess," he said. "You recall the +abnormal tension of your nerves as you sat waiting in my reception- +room. Merely the effect produced by a mixture of certain chemical +gases turned on from a tap under my hand. Then the crash of a +brazen gong; it is what the scientists call 'massive stimulation,' +resolving super-excitation into partial hypnosis. + +"Once I had you in the hypnotic condition, the rest was simple +enough. I had only to suggest to your mind the three objects on the +table, and you saw them. The bank-note, the revolver--they were as +immaterial as the gardenia that no longer adorns your button-hole. + +"I did not attempt to influence your choice among the three, as +that would have destroyed the value of the test to me. But, as I +had hoped, you accepted my invitation to dinner. Frankly, now, I am +curious--why?" + +"That is very simple," I answered. "I had not eaten anything for +two days, and I detected the odor of that exquisite filet. Not the +slightest ethical significance in the choice, as you see." + +Esper Indiman laughed. "I should have kept my pantry door closed. +But it does not matter; I am satisfied. Shall we go into the +library for coffee?" + +Directly opposite the door of the latter apartment stood an easel +holding an unframed canvas. A remarkable portrait--little as I know +about pictures, I could see that clearly enough. A three-quarter +length of a woman wearing a ducal coronet and dressed in a +magnificent costume of red velvet. + +"Lely's 'Red Duchess,'" remarks my host, carelessly. "You may have +seen it in the Hermitage at Petersburg." + +I looked at the picture again. Why should this masterpiece not have +been properly mounted and glazed? The edges of the canvas were +jagged and uneven, as though it had been cut from its frame with a +not oversharp knife. We sat down to our coffee and liqueurs. + +As I awake in the narrow quarters of my hall bedroom I am inclined +to believe that the occurrences of the preceding night were only +the phantasms of a disordered digestion; where had I eaten that +Welsh rabbit? The morning paper had been thrown over the transom, +and, following my usual custom, I reached for it and began reading. +Among the foreign despatches I note this paragraph dated St. +Petersburg: + +"The famous portrait of the Duchess of Lackshire, by Sir Peter +Lely, better known as the 'Red Duchess,' has disappeared from the +gallery of the Hermitage. It is now admitted that it must have been +stolen, cut bodily from its frame and carried away. The theft took +place several months ago, but the secret has just become public +property. The absence of the picture from its accustomed place had, +of course, been noted, but it was understood that it had been +removed for cleaning. An enormous reward is to be offered for +information leading to its recovery." + +There is also a letter for me which I had not noticed until now. It +was from Indiman, and it read: + +"Dear Thorp,--Dine with me to-night at half after eight. I noticed +that you were rather taken with my 'Red Duchess'; we will ask the +lady to preside over our modest repast, and you can then gaze your +fill upon her. Faithfully, E. I." + +Of course, I intend to accept the invitation. + + + + +II + +The Red Duchess + + +At half after eight we sat down to dinner. Indiman, of course, took +the head of the table, and opposite him, propped up on the arms of +an enormous "bishop's chair" of Flemish oak, was Lely's portrait of +the "Red Duchess." What a glorious picture it was, in the masterly +sweep of its lines, in the splendor of its incomparable coloring! +The jagged edges of the canvas showed plainly where the vandal +knife had passed, separating the painting from its frame. But the +really big thing is always independent of its cadre; one hardly +noticed the mutilation, and then immediately forgot about it. + +I had been honored with a seat at the lady's right hand, and +opposite me a fourth cover had been laid. Indiman noticed my look +of inquiry. + +"Only one of my fancies," he explained, smiling. "I always make +provision for the unexpected guest. Who knows what supperless +angels may be hovering around?" + +We were hardly at the soup before a servant brought in a card. + +"Roger W. Blake," read Indiman, aloud. "An honest-enough-sounding +name. Is the gentleman in evening dress, Bolder?" + +"No, sir; I don't think so, sir." + +"Hym! That is unfortunate. Still, if Madame la Duchesse will +permit, and you, Thorp, have no objection--Good! Ask Mr. Blake to +do me the favor of joining us at dinner." + +A few minutes later Mr. Roger Blake appeared at the door of the +dining-room. He was a young man with a profusion of fair hair and a +good deal of color, the latter heightened considerably by the +somewhat embarrassing circumstances attending his introduction. But +Indiman relieved the situation immediately, going forward and +greeting the new guest with unaffected cordiality. + +"Mr. Blake, is it? You are very heartily welcome, I assure you. Let +Bolder take your hat and stick; indeed, I insist upon it. Allow me +now to present you: Her Grace the Duchess of Lackshire, more +generally known as Lely's 'Red Duchess'--Mr. Roger W. Blake. My +friend, Mr. Thorp--Mr. Blake." + +Evidently the young man was not overclear in his own mind as to how +it had all happened, but there he was, sitting bolt upright in the +vacant chair and drinking two glasses of wine in rapid succession +to cover his confusion. A comedy, apparently, but to what purpose? +Mr. Blake blushed painfully, and made no reply to the polite +commonplaces that I ventured; Indiman smiled benevolently upon both +of us, and in the most natural possible manner led the conversation +to the subject of portrait-painting. There was his text before him- +-the famous "Red Duchess"--and he talked well. I found myself +listening with absorbed attention, and even the shy Mr. Blake +became oblivious of the keener agonies of self-consciousness. So we +went on until the game course had been removed. + +Our host rose to his feet, champagne glass in hand. "Gentlemen," he +said, and we followed his example, Blake managing to upset a +decanter of sherry in the process, "in life and in art--the fairest +of her sex. I give you, gentlemen, 'La Duchesse Rouge.'" + +The toast was drunk with becoming decorum. I was about to resume my +seat when I saw that Mr. Blake had screwed himself up to a +desperate decision, and that the climax of the drama was at hand. +He was quite pale, and he stuttered a little as he spoke. + +"Very sorry, I--I'm sure," he blurted out, "but you are Mr. In- +Indiman?" + +"I am, and not in the least sorry for it. Go on." + +"It is my d-duty, sir, to place you under arrest for complicity in +the theft of that p-p-picture." Mr. Blake threw back his coat and +displayed a detective's shield attached to an aggressively red +suspender brace. + +Esper Indiman bowed ironically. "I presume that my presence at +Police Headquarters is necessary?" he inquired. + +"Yes, sir. I have a coach in waiting outside, and we will start at +once, if you please." Mr. Blake, under the stimulus of his +professional functions, lost his embarrassed air and became +severely business-like and official. "This gentleman will have to +accompany us," he continued, looking at me. + +"The coffee, Bolder," called our host, "and never mind the sweets." +I drank a demi-tasse and lit a cigarette. "Ready," announced +Indiman, and we descended to the coach, Mr. Blake bringing up the +rear and carrying the precious picture enveloped in a silken table- +cover. + +"What reward is offered, officer?" asked Indiman as the carriage +drove off. + +"One hundred thousand dollars, sir. It will be a big thing for me +if--if--" He stopped, a trifle embarrassed. + +"Ah, those ifs!" quoted Indiman, musingly. + +The chief of the detective bureau received us in his private room. +He listened attentively to Blake's report, but seemed rather +puzzled than gratified by its triumphant peroration. Now the young +man felt that he had done a big thing, and this non-committal +attitude of his superior chagrined him. He unrolled the covering in +which the picture had been wrapped. + +"There!" he said, half resentfully. The chief looked carefully at +the picture and turned to Indiman. + +"Do you desire to make any explanation, Mr. Indiman, as to how this +picture happens to be in your possession?" + +"Certainly," was the prompt reply. "I bought it for a small sum a +month ago on the lower Bowery. The dealer's name was Gregory, I +think." + +Young Mr. Blake sniffed incredulously. A messenger handed a couple +of telegrams to the chief. He read them with knitted brows and then +touched a call-bell. + +"Send in Officer Stone," he ordered. + +Mr. Stone immediately made his appearance. In his hand he carried a +flat, square parcel which, in obedience to a further order, he +proceeded to unwrap. I uttered an involuntary cry, for it was +nothing less than a replica of the famous portrait of the "Red +Duchess." A replica, indeed!--it would take an expert to decide +which of the two was the copy; they were absolutely alike, even to +the detail of the rough edges, the marks of the blunted knife. + +"This picture was discovered in an art dealer's window on Fourth +Avenue near Twenty-ninth Street," explained the chief of the +detective bureau. "And now kindly listen to these despatches. The +first from the chief of police of New Orleans: + +"'Lely portrait discovered in pawn-shop. Officer Smith goes North +to-night to return property and claim reward. J. H. BOWEN.' + +The other from Pittsburg, in substantially the same language, +reports the finding of the portrait of the 'Red Duchess' in a +private gallery. This fourth picture is also on its way to New York +for identification." + +We all looked at one another, Blake the picture of puzzled anger +and disappointment. "Which is the true picture?" asked the chief. +"Mr. Indiman, I should be glad of your opinion." + +Indiman, who had been examining the canvas held by Stone, answered +quickly: "Neither of these, and it is more than probable that the +other two are also copies by the same hand. Wonderfully well done, +too, but the study of portraiture is a hobby of mine; I have even +contemplated a monograph on the subject, or, more particularly, a +hand-book to the smaller galleries and private collections. But I +doubt if I ever do it now," he concluded, meditatively. + +"The 'Red Duchess'?" persisted the chief. + +"Of course, I know it perfectly. I won't bore you with technical +explanations, but on the back of the stretcher is the address of +the American art dealer from whom the original canvas was +purchased. That should be enough." + +It was as Indiman said; each of the canvas stretchers carried a +small gummed label, the address of a Fulton Street art-supply shop. + +"That settles the question," remarked the chief of detectives. "I +may say finally that I have this cable from the Minister of Police +at St. Petersburg, communicated to me through the Russian Consul- +General: + +"'Lely portrait recovered and replaced in the gallery at the +Hermitage. Withdraw published reward. + +"'(Signed) SOBRIESKA.' + +A queer piece of business; but this appears to be the end of it," +commented the chief. "Needless to say, gentlemen, that you are at +liberty to depart. My apologies for the annoyance to which you have +been subjected." + +We all bowed and withdrew to the anteroom. Blake, blushing redly, +came up to Indiman; he began to apologize, stuttering pitiably, but +Indiman cut him short. + +"Call up the coach and offer the driver extra fare for the best +time his horses can make to this address." He scribbled the name of +the street and the house number on a leaf torn from his note-book +and handed it to Blake. "Yes, you can come along if you like; it +may be the big thing yet." + +As the carriage rolled along Indiman vouchsafed certain +explanations. + +"As I have already told you," he began, "I bought the picture from +a small dealer in the Bowery. I happened to notice it in his +window, and, the 'Red Duchess' being one of the half-dozen +superlative portraits of the world, I was naturally interested. It +was certainly a fine copy, and I was pleased to get it so cheaply. + +"Now there were two or three circumstances connected with my find +that afterwards struck me as peculiar. In the first place it is +well known that permission to copy any of the pictures at the +Hermitage Gallery is very rarely given, and the authorities are +particularly averse to having reproductions made of the Lely +portrait. Secondly, why were the edges of the canvas so curiously +serrated, giving the picture the look of having been hastily cut +away from its frame? And, finally, where and when had this copy +been made? for the label of the Fulton Street art dealer on the +back bore the date 1903, and this was the 2d of February in the +same year. Obviously impossible that the artist could have gone to +Russia, painted the picture, and returned with it to New York in a +little over a month. + +"Two days later I was walking up Fourth Avenue, through the +district affected by the curio and old-furniture dealers, and I +discovered a replica of my 'Red Duchess' hanging in a shop-window. +In every respect identical, you understand, the two pictures were +unquestionably the work of the same hand. Whose hand? + +"Do you remember, Thorp, the name of Clive Richmond? Well, for a +year or two he was the favorite painter of women's portraits here +in New York, hailed as genius and all that. Then suddenly his work +began to fall off in quality; his failures became egregious, and +his clients left him. Shortly after he disappeared; it was the +common report that his misfortunes had affected his reason; there +were even hints at suicide. That was some four or five years ago, +and whatever the secret may be it has been kept faithfully. + +"At least I had solved a portion of the problem--it was Clive +Richmond and no other who had painted my copy of the 'Red Duchess.' +How do I know? Well, with the expert it is a matter partly +technical but more largely intuitive. How do you recognize a +friend's face? How does the bank clerk detect the counterfeit bill? + +"Now this second copy bore the same ear-marks as the one in my +possession--the edges of the canvas marred and jagged, the Fulton +Street label on the back. What was this mystery? + +"Mystery--yes, and behind it the shadow of a crime, of a human +tragedy. Who was to lift the veil? There was but one man--Clive +Richmond--who could answer my question; and where was Clive +Richmond? A week later I found still a third copy of my 'Duchess' +over on Sixth Avenue. I had left my purse at home that morning, and +when I went back the next day to buy the picture it was gone--sold +to a stranger. Did I say that I had missed getting possession of +the second picture through the same sort of contretemps? I never +saw either of them again. + +"I had written to a friend in Petersburg to make certain inquiries +for me, and his answer confirmed my suspicions. The 'Red Duchess' +was not hanging in its accustomed place at the Hermitage; it was in +process of renovation, according to a statement made by the +director of the gallery. + +"That was enough for me. The portrait had been stolen and was +probably in New York at this very moment. Where? Let me first find +Clive Richmond, and I must be quick about it, for once the secret +of the theft got out the detectives would not be long in rounding +up the various purchasers of those wonderfully accurate copies. +This morning the cable brought the news, and at dinner-time Mr. +Blake's card was presented to me. Quick work, Mr. Blake; I +congratulate you. + +"Here is the letter that I received just before we left my house; +you remember that it had come in the evening mail and been +overlooked. I will read it. + +"'DEAR INDIMAN,--There's more in the art business than can be +squeezed out of a color tube, isn't there? But I have the secret +now; it was given me by Lely himself--no less. What a pity it is +that I shan't have the chance to use it, but you and the +cognoscenti can fight it out together. You might bury me decently +if you like; you ought to be willing to do that much, seeing that +your critical pronouncements have been so amply vindicated. + +C. R. + +"'P. S.--My secret? But on second thought I will take it with me.'" + +St. John's Park and the streets fronting upon it was once a +fashionable quarter of the town. Now a hideous railway freight +station occupies the former park area, and the old-time residences, +with their curiously wrought-iron stoop-railings and graceful fan- +lights, have been degraded to the base uses of a tenement +population. Only the quaint chapel of St. John has survived the +slow process of contamination, a single rock rising above the +sordid tide. + +The coach stopped before one of the most pretentious of the old- +time houses-now, alas! one of the dirtiest and most dilapidated. We +were directed to the upper story, Indiman leading the way. + +A single attic chamber, bearing the marks of the cruelest poverty, +a stove, an artist's easel, a pallet spread directly on the grimy +floor, and upon it a man in the last stage of consumption. He +glanced up at Indiman and waved his hand feebly. He tried to speak, +but his voice died away in his throat; Indiman knelt by his side to +catch the words. + +"It is cold--shut stove door--there's enough now to last me out." + +Indiman went to the stove, where a little fire was smouldering; he +shut the door and turned on the draught. The flame leaped up +instantly, the crazy smoke-pipe rattling as it expanded under the +influence of the heat. Indiman turned again to the dying man. + +"You know well enough why I have come," he said, slowly. "I have in +my possession one of your copies of the 'Red Duchess.' Tell me the +truth." + +There was no audible response from the bloodless lips, but the dark +eyes were full of ironic laughter. Then they closed again. + +"Richmond!" said Indiman, sharply. "Richmond!" + +I had been standing by the door, but now I came forward and joined +Indiman. "Gone!" he said, briefly. "Gone, and taken his secret with +him. Only, what WAS the secret?" + +We tried to argue it out on the way up-town, but with only +indifferent success. Granted the premise that Richmond had actually +stolen the "Red Duchess," what were his motives in multiplying +copies of the picture, a proceeding that must infallibly end in the +detection of his crime? And the supreme question--what had finally +become of the original? + +My theory was simple enough. The man was mentally unbalanced, the +result of brooding over his own failure in art. He had stolen the +picture, possessed with the idea that by study of it he should +discover the secret of its power. He had made copies of the picture +and sold them in order to supply himself with the necessities of +life. At the end, knowing himself to be dying, he had caused the +original to be returned to the gallery at Petersburg, a +contribution to the conscience fund. + +Indiman's argument was more subtle. "Granted," he said, "that the +poor chap was mentally irresponsible, and that he actually did +steal the picture. But you must take into account his colossal +vanity, his monumental egotism. Richmond never admitted for a +moment that he was a failure as an artist; there was a cabal +against him, and that accounted for everything. This affair was +simply his revenge upon his critics and detractors; he would turn +out these reproductions of a masterpiece so perfect in their +technique as not to be distinguished from their original, nor +indeed from each other. So having set the artistic world by the +ears, he would enjoy his triumph, at first in secret, and +afterwards openly." + +"But what was the picture returned to the Hermitage?" + +"One of these same copies--that was the supreme sarcasm." + +"The original, then--the 'Red Duchess'?" + +"The fuel in the stove consisted of some strips of painted canvas," +said Indiman, gravely. "I don't know, I can't be sure--they were +almost consumed when I shut the door." + +"An imperfect copy," I hazarded. + +"Some day we will take a trip to the Hermitage to make sure," +answered Indiman. "'Where ignorance is bliss,' etc. What do you +think, Blake?" he continued, turning to our companion. + +"It's all the same to me, sir," answered Blake, a little ruefully. +"It was a big thing, right enough, but somehow I seem to have +missed it all round. Well, good-night, sir, if you'll kindly set me +down at this corner." + +Indiman and I enjoyed a small supper under Oscar's watchful eye. +The night was fine and we started to walk home. Have I said that +Indiman had proposed that I should move my traps over to his house +and take up my quarters there for an indefinite period? In exchange +for services rendered, as he put it, and somehow he made it +possible for me to accept the invitation. It had been twenty-four +hours now since I had first enjoyed the honor of Mr. Esper +Indiman's acquaintance; the novelty of having enough to eat-- +actually enough--was already beginning to wear off. Man is a +wonderful creature; give him time and he will adjust himself to +anything. + +At the corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty- seventh Street, Indiman +stopped suddenly and picked up a small object. It was a latch-key +of the familiar Yale-lock pattern. I looked at it rather +indifferently. + +"Man! man!" said Indiman, with simulated despair. "Surely you are +an incorrigibly prosaic person. A key--does it suggest to you no +possibilities of mystery, of romance?" + +"Well, not without a door," I answered, smartly. + +"Oh, is that all! To-morrow we will go out and find a door upon +which this little key may be profitably employed. You promise to +enter that door with me?" + +"I promise." + + + + +III + +House in the Middle of the Block + + +All things come to him who waits," quoted Indiman. "Do you believe +that?" + +"It's a comfortable theory," I answered. + +"But an untenable one. And Fortune is equally elusive to those who +seek her over-persistently. The truth, as usual, lies between the +extremes." + +"Well?" + +"The secret is simple enough. He who is ready to receive, receives. +Love, fame, the shower of gold--they are in the air, and only +waiting to be precipitated. I stand ready to be amused, and that +same afternoon the Evening Post aims a blow at the Tammany 'Tiger' +over the shoulder of Mr. Edward M. Shepard; I am in the mood +adventurous, and instantly the shadow of a prodigy falls across my +threshold; yea, though I live on upper West End Avenue. Do you +remember this?" and he held out a small Yale latch-key. + +"It is the one you picked up at Twenty-seventh Street and Fifth +Avenue last night." + +"Precisely. Now a key, you observe, is intended to open something-- +in this case a door. What door? As though that mattered! Put on +your rain-coat, my dear Thorp, and let us begin a little journey +into the unknown. Fate will lead us surely, O unbelieving one, if +you will but place your hand unresistingly in hers." + +We left the house, and Indiman tossed a penny into the air. +"Broadway, heads; Fourth Avenue, tails." Tails it was. + +Arrived at Fourth Avenue, we stood waiting for a car. The first +that came along was on its way up-town and we boarded it. + +"Was it you who asked for a cross-town transfer at Twenty-ninth?" +inquired the conductor of Indiman a few minutes later, and Indiman +nodded assent and took the transfer slips. + +At Eighth Avenue the cross-town car was blocked by a stalled coal- +cart. We alighted and passively awaited further directions from our +esoteric guide. Quite an amusing game for a dull, rainy afternoon, +and I felt grateful to Indiman for its invention. + +The policeman on the corner was endeavoring to direct a very small +boy with a very large bundle. "Up one block and turn east," he +said, impressively. "I've told you that now three times." + +I had a flash of inspiration. "Copper it," I cried. + +"Right," said Indiman, soberly. We walked down one block to Twenty- +eighth Street and then turned westward. + +New York is a big city, and therefore entitled to present an +occasional anomaly to the observant eye. And this particular +section of Twenty-eighth Street is one of these departures from the +normal, a block or two of respectable, even handsome houses set as +an oasis in a dull and sordid neighborhood. How and why this should +be does not matter; it is to be presumed that the people who live +there are satisfied, and it is nobody else's business. + +We walked on slowly, then, half-way down the block, Indiman stopped +me. "What did I tell you?" he whispered. + +The house was of the English basement type, and occupied two of the +ordinary city lots; nothing particularly remarkable about that, and +I said as much. + +"But look again," insisted Indiman. I did so and saw a man standing +at the door, evidently desirous of entering. Twice, while we stood +watching him, he rang without result, and the delay annoyed him. He +shook the door-knob impatiently, and then fell to researching his +pockets, an elaborate operation that consumed several minutes. + +"Lost his latch-key," commented Indiman. He walked up the steps of +the entrance porch. "You might try mine," he said, politely, and +held out the key picked up the night before at Fifth Avenue and +Twenty-seventh Street. + +"Huh!" grunted the man, suspiciously, but he took the little piece +of metal and inserted it into the slot of the lock. The door swung +open. Amazing, but what followed was even more incredible. The man +stepped into the hall, but continued to hold the door wide open. + +"You're coming in, I suppose," he said, surlily. + +"Certainly," answered Indiman. "This way, Thorp," he called at me, +and most unwillingly I obeyed. We passed into the house and the +door closed behind us. Our introducer turned up the gas in the old- +fashioned hall chandelier, and favored us with a perfunctory stare. +"New members, eh!" he grunted, and turned away as though it were a +matter of entire indifference to him. But Indiman spoke up quickly. + +"Pardon me," he began, with the sweetest suavity. "I was afraid for +the moment that we had got into the wrong place. This is the--" a +delicately suggestive pause. + +"The Utinam Club," supplied the other. + +"Exactly," said Indiman, in a most relieved tone. "It IS the +Utinam, Thorp," he continued, turning to me. Now I had not the +smallest notion of what the Utinam Club might be, consequently I +preserved a discreet silence. Indiman addressed himself again to +our ungracious cicerone. + +"A snug little box you have here, Mr, er--" + +"Hoyt, sir--Colman Hoyt." + +"Ah, yes--of North Pole fame. You are the man--" + +"Who has led four expeditions to reach it, and failed as often. +That is MY title to fame. And also my qualification for membership +in the Utinam Club," he added, grimly. + +"Ah, yes--the discovery of the Pole. A unique and delightful idea +in clubdom--eh, Thorp? To succeed--" + +"No, sir; to FAIL," interrupted Mr. Hoyt, rudely. "What the devil +do you suppose I am doing in this galley? You must be a very new +member of the Utinam Club." + +"To tell the truth, Mr. Hoyt," said Indiman, with an air of +engaging frankness, "I have never, until this moment, even heard of +the Utinam Club. But for all that I am convinced that I am about to +become a member of it, and I may say the same for my friend, Mr. +Thorp. Now, possibly you may be inclined to assist us." + +Mr. Hoyt stared. "It's a pity, isn't it," he remarked, +reflectively, "that our standard of eligibility doesn't conform to +that of your impudence. Still, I won't say that it can't be done; +this is a proprietary club, you know. You had better see Dr. +Magnus." + +"Dr. Magnus?" + +"The proprietor of the Utinam Club. Here he comes now." + +A slight, gray-haired man of fifty or there- abouts had entered the +hall from the rear and immediately came forward to meet us. His +eyes were the extraordinary feature of his face, piercingly +brilliant and enormously magnified by the spectacles that he wore. +The lenses of the latter were nearly an eighth of an inch thick and +evidently of the highest power. Even with their aid his powers of +vision seemed imperfect. On hearing the few words of explanation +vouchsafed by the unamiable Mr. Hoyt, he drew from his pocket a +second and third pair of glasses and deliberately added both to his +original optical equipment. I know that I felt like a fly under a +microscope in facing that formidable battery of lenses. But the +scrutiny seemed to satisfy him; he spoke courteously enough: + +"Step into my office, gentlemen, and we will talk the matter over." + +Mr. Colman Hoyt had departed without further formality, and we +followed our host into the room adjoining the hall on the right. It +looked like the study of a man of science; charts and globes and +plaster-of-Paris casts were everywhere, while the far end of the +apartment was occupied by a huge, flat-topped table covered with +papers, test-tubes, and glass-slides. But even more remarkable than +its contents was the room itself, and its singular architectural +proportions at once engaged my attention. + +As I have said, the house occupied two twenty-five-foot city lots, +but the entrance and hall were at the extreme right as one looks +outward towards the street, instead of being in the centre, as is +usually the case. Consequently, the room in which we stood (being +undivided by any interior partitions) extended the full width of +the house, less that of the entrance hall--forty feet, let us say, +in round numbers. But its measurements in the other direction were +barely ten feet, the apartment presenting the appearance of a long, +low, and narrow gallery. At the back were a row of five windows +taking light from the interior court-yard; in brief, the house, +imposing in its dimensions from the street side, was little more +than a mask of masonry extremely ill-adapted for human habitation, +or, indeed, for any purpose. Stepping to one of the rear windows, I +looked out, and then the reason for this extraordinary +construction--or, rather, reconstruction--became apparent. The lot +was of the usual depth of one hundred feet, and, being a double +one, it had a width of fifty. A large building of gray stone +occupied the farther end of this inside space, the erection +measuring about sixty feet in depth and extending the full width of +the enclosure. That left a little less than thirty feet of court- +yard between this back building and the one facing on the street, +and it was evident that the rear of the original house had been +sheared off bodily to provide for this singular readjustment in the +owner's modus vivendi, only the party walls on either side being +left standing. And these had been extended so as to enflank the +building in the rear. + +If I have made my description clear, it now will be understood that +the facade of the original house was nothing more than a shell, a +ten-foot screen whose principal office was to conceal the interior +structure from curious eyes. Describing the latter more +particularly, it should be noted that it was connected with the +original house by a covered passageway of brick running along one +side of the court-yard and communicating with the hallway that led +to the street door. Apparently, the rear building was three stories +in height--I say apparently, for, being entirely destitute of +windows, it was impossible to accurately deduce the number of its +floors. Aesthetically, it made no pretensions, its only +architectural feature being a domed roof of copper and a couple of +chimney-stacks, from one of which a thin streak of vapor ascended. +A chilling and depressing spectacle was that presented by the +"House in the Middle of the Block," as I mentally christened it, +and I speculated upon the strange offices to which it had been +consecrated. + +"The Utinam Club," answered my unspoken query. Dr. Magnus had +advanced to my side and stood staring at me through his triple +lenses. I started, involuntarily. + +"There! there!" he said, soothingly. "I did not perceive that your +attention was so entirely absorbed. I am honored by your interest-- +the Utinam Club, it is my hobby, sir, and one not altogether +unworthy of the consideration of an intelligent man." + +"I can quite understand that," said Indiman, who had joined us at +the window. "There is a distinct stimulus to the imagination in the +picture before us. And what a picture!--this eyeless, gray-faced, +architectural monstrosity, crowned with squat, domelike head of +coppery red, and set in that gigantic cadre of fifty-foot masonry! +Superb! Magnificent!" + +"The honor of your acquaintance--"began Dr. Magnus. + +"In two words," interrupted Indiman, smilingly. He made a brief +statement of the circumstances attendant upon the finding of the +Yale latch-key, and the proprietor of the Utinam Club listened +attentively. + +"I have a passion for the unique," concluded Indiman, "and the +Utinam Club appears to possess claims of unusual merit in that +direction. I own frankly that I am curious as to its object and +qualifications for membership." + +"They are quite simple," answered Dr. Magnus. "Indeed, the name of +the club explains its raison d'etre--Utinam, a Latin ejaculation +equivalent to our 'Would to Heaven!' or 'Would that I could be!' To +be eligible for membership in the Utinam Club, one must have had a +distinct object or ambition in life and then have failed to realize +it." + +"Ah, I begin to understand," murmured Indiman. "An extraordinary +basis, indeed, for a social organization--the lame ducks, the noble +army of the incapables, the gentlemen a main gauche! Pray go on; +you interest me exceedingly." + +"We have them all here," answered Dr. Magnus, smiling. "The +unsuccessful author, the business bankrupt, the artist whose +pictures have never reached the line. The touch-stone of failure, +you see; the clubability (odious word!) of our membership is +unimpeachable. + +"A superb conception. My dear Dr. Magnus, I must beg of you to +enroll Mr. Thorp and myself at once. Believe me that we are not +unworthy of a place in your galaxy of dark stars." + +Dr. Magnus walked to the table and took up his pen. "This +gentleman?" he began, inquiringly, and looked at me. + +"An unfortunate affair of the heart," answered Indiman--an +exquisite piece of audacity at which I frowned, and then perforce +had to smile. "It comes within your rule, I trust?" + +"For limited membership only," answered Dr. Magnus. "In fact, we +rather discourage victims of sentimental reverses, it being +invariably impossible to determine whether the transaction is +finally to show a profit or a loss. Then, too, the quick +recoveries--but we'll let it stand at that. Now, with yourself?" + +"I," said Indiman, gravely, "am a mathematician by instinctive +preference and early training, but I have never been able to cross +the 'Ass's Bridge,' the Forty-seventh problem of Euclid. +Incidentally, I may mention that I am a golf-player with a handicap +of eighteen." + +"A double first," commented the proprietor of the Utinam Club. "I +perceive, Mr. Indiman, that you are bent upon amusing yourself; and +since circumstances have undeniably favored you, you may continue +to do so. But not at my expense," and thereupon he mentioned a +figure for initiation and dues that made me sit up. But Indiman +settled without flinching; he happened to have his check-book with +him, and the remaining formalities were quickly discharged. + +"And now, gentlemen, let me show you about the club," said Dr. +Magnus, affably. "Will you be good enough to follow me?" + +He led the way into the hall, and thence into the cloister-like +passage communicating with the "House in the Middle of the Block." +I glanced out at the court-yard as we passed a window; it was most +ingeniously planned to take the utmost advantage of its limited +area. An antique Italian fountain occupied a niche in the opposite +wall, and on either side were sedilia flanked by bay-trees in tubs +and two or three fine specimens of the Japanese dwarf oak. A bas- +relief in plaster of the Elgin marbles ran friezelike the full +length of the party wall, and fixed immediately above the fountain +niche the terrible mask of the Medusa face looked down upon us. The +time of the year being late in March, there was no snow upon the +ground, and I could see that the ground of the court-yard was +divided into four garden-beds, separated from each other by narrow +paths of broad, red tile bordered by box. All in all it was a +charming little bit of formal gardening; I could imagine how pretty +it would be on a spring morning, when the beds should be gay with +crocuses and tulips. + +We were admitted into the club proper by a liveried servant, and +from the handsome oak-panelled vestibule we passed into a lofty +apartment hung with pictures and filled with miscellaneous objects +of art. All, without exception, were execrable--miserable daubs of +painting, criminal essays in plastic and decorative work, and a +collection of statuary that could be adequately matched only by the +horrors in Central Park. "Our art gallery, gentlemen," explained +Dr. Magnus. + +Art gallery indeed! To me it was the most melancholy of +exhibitions, but Indiman was enraptured. + +"What a magnificent record of failure!" he exclaimed. "What +miracles of ineptitude!" and Dr. Magnus smiled, well pleased. + +We ascended to the next floor. Here was the library, lined ceiling- +high with books that had fallen still-born from the press. Gigantic +cabinet presses occupied the centre of the room, the final +depository of countless "unavailable" MSS. In an adjoining room +were glass-cases crowded with mechanical models of unsuccessful +inventions. Naturally, I expected to see a large section devoted to +the resolution of the perpetual-motion problem, but in this I was +disappointed, not a single specimen of the kind could I discover. + +"We do not attempt the impossible," explained Dr. Magnus, dryly. +"Our failures must be inherent in the man, not in his subject." + +There were other rooms, a long succession of them, filled with +melancholy evidences of incapacity and defeat in almost every +department of human activity--plans of abortive military campaigns, +prospectuses of moribund business enterprises, architectural and +engineering drawings of structures never to be reared, charts, +models, unfinished musical scores, finally a huge papier-mache +globe on which were traced the routes of Mr. Colman Hoyt's four +unsuccessful dashes for the North Pole. It depressed me, the sight +of this vast lumber-room, this collection of useless flotsam and +jetsam, cast up and rejected by the sea of strenuous life. Most +moving of all, a broken golf-club standing in a dusty corner, and +beside it a wofully scarred and battered ball. I pointed them out +to Indiman. + +"A fellow-sufferer," he said, and sighed deeply. + +Last of all we were conducted to the common room, a spacious +apartment immediately under the dome. At one end a huge stone +fireplace, in which a fire crackled cheerfully. + +"'Non Possumus,'" read Indiman, deciphering the motto chiselled +upon the chimney-breast. + +"An admirable sentiment indeed! Dr. Magnus, I venture to infer that +the Utinam Club is the child of your own brain. Permit me, sir, to +congratulate you--a glorious inception and carried out to +perfection." + +Dr. Magnus smiled frostily. "I thank you, Mr. Indiman," he said, +staring hard at him. "In a civilization so complex as ours the +Utinam undoubtedly fills a want. And now, gentlemen, if you will +excuse me; I have some affairs of moment. The club is yours; make +use of it as you will. You are already acquainted with Mr. Hoyt, I +believe. The other gentlemen--but opportunity will doubtless +serve." He bowed and withdrew. + +Indiman dropped into an easy-chair and lit a cigar. "Les +miserables," he said to me in an undertone. "Look at them." + +In truth, it was a strange company with whom we had foregathered. +There were perhaps a dozen men in the room, and each seemed +absorbed in the listless contemplation of his own dejected +personality. The large table in the centre of the room was laden +with newspapers and periodicals, but no one had taken the trouble +to displace the neat files in which they had been arranged. The +card-room adjoining was untenanted; the green-baize tables, with +their complement of shiny, new packs of cards and metal counters, +bore no evidence of use; in the billiard-room at the back a marker +slept restfully in his high-legged chair. Assuredly, the members of +the Utinam Club were not advocates of the strenuous life. + +It was after six o'clock now, and the big room was beginning to +fill up with later arrivals. Yet there was none of the cheerful hum +and bustle ordinarily characteristic of such a gathering. A man +would enter and pass to his place unfavored by even the courtesy of +a friendly glance; at least a score of men had made their first +appearance within the last quarter of an hour, and not a single +word of greeting or recognition had I heard exchanged. Among them +was Mr. Colman Hoyt, the unsuccessful Arctic explorer. He passed +close to where Indiman and I sat, yet never looked at us. An odd +set, these our fellow-members of the Utinam, and one naturally +wondered why they came to the club at all. But we were now to +learn. + +As I have said, the building was entirely windowless, ventilation +being secured by forced draught from an engine-room in the +basement. Consequently, artificial light was necessary at all +times, and a very agreeable quality of it was furnished by +electroliers concealed behind ground-glass slides in the walls and +ceilings of the various apartments. The light thus obtained was +diffused rather than direct, and, being colorless, it closely +approximated natural conditions, the delusion being heightened by +the construction of the wall panels so as to simulate windows. To +add again to the effect, these lights had been gradually lowered as +the day wore on. Now it must be almost dark in the outside world, +and it was twilight in the common room of the Utinam Club; I could +no longer distinguish between the motionless figures of the men +around me and the shadows that enveloped them. Even the fire was +dying out; in a few moments the darkness would become profound, and +I felt my pulse slow down with the chill of the thought. + +One single ember remained in the fireplace; I watched it gleaming +like a great red eye in its bed of ashes, then it winked and went +out, and at the same instant the last ray from the false windows +disappeared. Strain my eyes as I would, the sensitive retina +remained absolutely unaffected; the darkness had finally come, and +from one to another of that desolate company ran a little, +tremulous sigh, then the silence of complete negation. + +From the apex of the domed ceiling a sudden and wonderful +effulgence of rose-colored light streamed forth, flooding the great +room with glorious color and life. Magical were its effects. Men +straightened up in their chairs and looked about them, the flush of +returning animation in their cheeks, and their eyes bright with +questioning interest. A youngish chap leaned over and spoke +earnestly to his neighbor, then some one laughed aloud. Instantly +the flood-gates were opened; the air was vibrant with the hum of +conversation, the ringing of call-bells, and the sputtering of +fusees. A blue haze of cigarette-smoke formed itself above the +heads of the assemblage; the Utinam Club had come to its own again. + +The large folding-doors at the east end were now opened, disclosing +the supper-room beyond--a spacious apartment, and decorated with a +barbaric splendor of gilding and intricate plastic work. I remarked +particularly the preponderance of the red tints; indeed, no other +shade of color could I discover--but of this more particularly +hereafter. Indiman looked at me, and we trooped out with the rest-- +que voulez-vous? One must always dine. + +We found a small table; the napery and glass were exquisite, the +cuisine and service perfect. We surrendered ourselves to the +allurements of the hour. I was conscious of an unusual lightness +and exhilaration of spirit; Indiman's eyes were sparkling with +unwonted brilliancy. I raised my champagne-glass: "To the Utinam +Club," I said, with enthusiasm, and rather more loudly than I had +intended. The toast was at once re-echoed from every mouth, and a +burst of laughter followed. + +A late-comer entered and looked about the room somewhat +uncertainly, for all the tables had been taken. It was Mr. Colman +Hoyt. He saw us and smiled genially. "We have room here," called +out Indiman, and he joined us. + +"I am fortunate as ever," he said, as he took his seat. "New +friends, old wine; and our chef's sauce tartare is incomparable to- +night. What more can the heart of man desire?" + +"Not even the North Pole?" said Indiman. + +"Ah, the Pole! Bah! I can put my hand on it when I want it. Did I +tell you that I start to-morrow on my fifth expedition? Success is +certain. Will you honor me by drinking to it?" We drank solemnly. + +"I thought you were wearing a dark-green scarf," I interrupted, +somewhat irrelevantly, speaking to Indiman. + +"I am," he replied. + +"It is red," I insisted. "Not green at all." + +"Nonsense!" said Indiman, and thereupon Mr. Colman Hoyt burst into +a cackle of laughter. + +"Complementary colors," he said. "All the blue, green, and yellow +rays are excluded from this kindly light invented by our friend +Magnus; consequently there can be no sensation of those colors +within our vision." + +"A curious fancy," said Indiman. + +"Say rather the most glorious and beneficent of discoveries," +retorted Mr. Hoyt. "All life and vigor and power of achievement are +dependent upon the red end of the spectrum. Incapacity, failure, +disease, death-they are generated by the violet rays alone; +eliminate them, and the problem of existence is solved. All hail to +thee, O Magnus, and to thy incomparable genius! Light of lights! +All hail!" + +A score of voices took up the cry, and I know that I shouted with +the rest. Then I felt Indiman's hand upon my arm; my sober senses +partially returned. "Keep hold of your- self," he whispered, and +the warning came in time, I pushed away my wineglass, and +thereafter ate only enough of the exquisitely seasoned viands to +satisfy my hunger. And all the while Mr. Colman Hoyt babbled +foolishly about the white glories of the queen of the North; to- +morrow he should again be on the way to her dear embraces. "The +Pole, gentlemen; behold, I arrive; c'est moi!" + +We passed out into the general room. The card-tables were now full, +the billiard-balls rolled incessantly across the green cloth; from +an inner room came the unmistakable click of a roulette-wheel. Men +talked loudly of their projects and ambitions shortly to be +accomplished. An epic poet was about to publish his magnum opus, +the birth of a new star in the poetical firmament; a speculator had +made his great coup--to-morrow he would have the wheat market +cornered. + +"My novel!" cried one. "My symphony!" retorted another. A third +said no word, but looked at the miniature of a woman's face that he +held in the hollow of his hand--looked and smiled. + +The night wore away; nay, speeded were the better word, for no one +felt any suggestion even of weariness or satiety. Then suddenly the +rose glow grew dimmer; little by little the laughter died away and +the voices were hushed. A few of the bolder spirits set themselves +to stem the receding tide, but their blasphemies quickly trailed +away into weak incoherencies, and again silence conquered all. And +darkness fell. + +A servant crossed the room and drew aside the heavy velvet curtains +draping the false windows; the pure, colorless light streamed in, +but it disclosed a world in tinge all blue and green and indigo. +Our eyes, so long deprived of the rays emanating from the violet +end of the spectrum, were now affected by them alone; every object +was horribly transformed by the bluish-green bands surrounding and +outlining it. A man brushed carelessly past me; it was Colman Hoyt, +and his face was of a man already dead; his lips moved, but no +sound issued from them. He passed into the model-room connecting on +the west with the central hall; there was the sound of a fall, and +Indiman and I followed quickly. Yet not quickly enough, for across +the great globe upon which were traced the records of his four +unsuccessful expeditions lay the body of Colman Hoyt. He was a +heavy man, and he had evidently flung himself at his full weight +upon the sharp, arrow- pointed rod that served as the axis of this +miniature world; it had pierced to his very heart. The North Pole- +at last he had reached it. + +"Let us go," said Indiman to me, and we stole quickly away. + +Now, in the vestibule below, a young man who had entered in haste +pushed rudely past us and made for the row of private letter-boxes +fixed opposite the coat-room. He paused at box No. 82 and gazed +eagerly into it. The front was of glass, and I could see readily +that the box was empty. The young man had his pass-key in his hand, +but it was clearly useless to insert it, and he finally turned +away, his countenance displaying the bitterest sense of +disappointment. His wildly roving eye encountered that of Esper +Indiman. "Sir!" he began, impetuously, then checked himself, bowed +ceremoniously, and was gone. + + + + +IV + +The Private Letter-Box + + +I had agreed to meet Esper Indiman at the Utinam and dine there. +The weather had turned cold again, for it was the end of our +changeable March, and the fireplace in the common room of the club +was heaped high with hickory logs, a cheerful sight, were it not +for that odious motto, "Non Possumus," graven over the mantel-shelf +where it must inevitably meet every eye. Never could I read it +without a tightening at my heartstrings; a potency of blighting +evil seemed to lie in the very words. + +There were but two or three club members in the room, one of them +the young Mr. Sydenham, who had attracted my attention once or +twice before by the infinite wretchedness of his face. A mere boy, +too, hardly five-and-twenty at the most. He sat in a big chair, a +magazine with its leaves uncut lying in his lap. For an hour or +more he had not stirred; then he rang for a servant, directing him +to inquire for any mail that might have come in the afternoon +delivery. Nothing for Mr. Sydenham was the report, and again the +young man relapsed into his melancholy musing. An hour later, and +just after Indiman had joined me, Mr. Sydenham repeated his inquiry +about his letters, receiving the same negative answer--"Nothing for +Mr. Sydenham." Evidently the disappointment was not unexpected, but +it was none the less a bitter one. With a sigh which he hardly +attempted to stifle, the young man took up his uncut magazine and +made a pretence at examining its contents; I watched him with a +lively but silent pity; any active sympathy might have seemed +obtrusive. + +A servant stood at the young man's elbow holding a salver on which +lay a missive of some sort, a telegraphic message, to judge by the +flimsy, buff envelope. + +"Telegram, sir," said the man, at length. "For Mr. Sydenham; yes, +sir. Will you sign for it?" + +The boy turned slowly, and there was a shaking horror in his eyes +that made me feel sick. He signed the book and took the message +from the salver, apparently acting against a sense of the most +intense repulsion, and for all that unable to help himself. The +message once in his hand he did not seem to concern himself +overmuch with its possible import; presently the envelope fell from +his inert fingers and fluttered down at Indiman's feet. The latter +picked it up and handed it to the young man, who thanked him in a +voice barely audible. + +"The man is waiting to see if there is any answer," suggested +Indiman, quietly. + +Mr. Sydenham started, colored deeply, and tore open the envelope. +He read the message through carefully, then perused it for a second +and a third time, and sat motionless, staring into vacancy. + +Indiman leaned forward. "Well?" he said, sharply. + +The young man looked up; the cool confidence of Indiman's gaze +seemed suddenly to inspire in him a feeling of trust; he took the +risk; he handed the message to Indiman. "What answer would you +advise me to give?" he said. + +The message contained these words: + +"The Empire State express passes the Fifty-third Street bridge at +8.35 o'clock to-morrow morning. You can drop from the guard-rail. +Is life more than honor? Answer. V. S." + +Indiman looked at me, then he rose and took Mr. Sydenham by the +arm. "Let us go into the card-room," he said, quietly. "Thorp, will +you come?" + +The young man's story was very simple. He had held until lately the +position of cashier in the firm of Sandford & Sands, stock-brokers. +On January 15th a shortage of fifty thousand dollars had been +discovered in his books. Mr. Sandford being an intimate friend of +the elder Sydenham had declined to prosecute. That was all. + +"Let us proceed frankly, Mr. Sydenham," said Indiman. "Did you take +the money?" + +"I am beginning to think so," answered the young man, dully. + +"Come," said Indiman, encouragingly, "that does not sound like a +confession of guilt. Don't you know?" + +Mr. Sydenham shook his head. "I can't tell you," he answered, +hopelessly. "My accounts were in perfect order up to January 10th, +when I discovered that our bank balance showed a discrepancy of +fifty thousand dollars. I covered it over for the time, hoping to +find the source of the error. Five days later I told Mr. Sandford. +The money was gone, and that was all that I could say." + +"Let us recall the events of January 9th. Did you make your regular +deposit that day, and where?" + +"We keep our account at the Bank of Commerce. But that afternoon I +overlooked a package of bills in large denominations. I sent +another messenger over to the bank, but it was after three o'clock +and the deposit was refused. The boy brought the money back to me-- +the package contained fifty thousand dollars." + +"And then?" + +"I don't know. I might have locked it up in our own safe or carried +it home with me or pitched it out of the window. It is all a +blank." + +"Did you stay at the office later than usual that day?" + +"Yes; I was busy with some of Mr. Sandford's private affairs, and +that delayed me until all the others had gone. I left about five +o'clock." + +"And now who is V. S.? Pardon me, but the question is necessary." + +"Miss Valentine Sandford--Mr. Sandford's daughter. I was engaged to +be married to her." + +"Since when?" + +"I had proposed and was waiting for my answer. Then that very day +she sent me a telegram. It contained the single word 'yes' and was +signed by her initials. It came at the same moment that the +messenger brought back the money from the bank." + +"And it is the same V. S, who sends this message?" asked Indiman, +smoothing out the telegraph blank which he held in his hand. + +The young man took a bundle of papers from his breast-pocket. They +were all telegraphic messages, and each was a suggestion towards +self-destruction in one form or another. "Suicide's corner" at +Niagara, poison, the rope--all couched in language of devilish +ingenuity in innuendo, and ending in every instance with the +expression, "Is life more than honor? Answer. V. S." + +"I have had at least one every day," said the young man. "Sometimes +two or three. Generally in the morning, but they also come at any +hour." + +"And Miss Sandford?" + +"I wrote and told her of my terrible misfortune, released her from +the unannounced engagement, and begged her to believe in me until I +could clear myself. I have not seen her since the fatal day of the +15th of January." + +"And you have received from her only these--these messages?" + +"That is all." + +"And you think they come from her?" + +"No; or I should have killed myself long ago. But there are times +when I have to take a tight hold on myself; to-day is one of them," +he added, very simply. + +"Mr. Sydenham," said Indiman, solemnly, "I now know you to be an +innocent man. Had it been otherwise you would long since have +succumbed under this mysterious and terrible pressure." + +"I am innocent!" repeated the young man. "But to prove it?" + +"It shall be proved." + +"The money?" + +"It shall be found." + +"Through whom?" + +"Yourself. A simple lapse of memory is the undoubted explanation. +The gap must be bridged, that is all. Will you put yourself in my +hands?" + +"Unreservedly." + +"Good! I desire then that you should return to your home and wait +there until you hear from me. The address--thank you. You had +better leave the club at once; this atmosphere is not the most +wholesome for a man in your position." + +Mr. Sydenham proved most amenable to all of Indiman's suggestions, +and we did not lose sight of him until he was finally on his way +uptown in a Columbus Avenue car. + +"A good subject," remarked Indiman, "and it should be comparatively +easy to get at the submerged consciousness in his case. A simple +reconstruction of the scene should be sufficient." + +"You don't think the money was stolen, then?" + +"Not at all. It will be found in some safe place, its disposal +being an act of Sydenham's subliminal personality, of which his +normal consciousness knows nothing." + +"But why--" + +"The man was NOT himself that ninth day of January. He had received +a tremendous impression in the receipt of that message from Miss +Sandford. He was an accepted lover, and the consciousness, for the +time being, swept him off his feet. He was doing his work +mechanically, and it did not matter so long as it was only routine. +Then came the emergency, and, objectively, he was unable to cope +with it. The subjective personality took command and did the right +thing, for Sydenham is an honest man. What action the subliminal +self actually took is known only to itself, and no effort of +Sydenham's normal memory will suffice to recall it. But there are +other means of getting at the truth. The most practical is to +reproduce the situation as exactly as possible. Given the same +first causes and we get the identical results. First, now to see +Mr. Sandford, with whom luckily I have some acquaintance." + +It was like the playing of a game, the scene in Sandford & Sand's +office that following afternoon. The staff of clerks had been sent +home as soon as possible after three o'clock, all save the young +man who acted as bank messenger. The calendar on the wall had been +set back to January 9th, and the HERALD of that date lay half- +opened on Sydenham's old desk. It will be remembered that Sydenham +had been detained on some of Mr. Sandford's private business, and +it was perfectly feasible to reconstruct its details. Mr. Sandford +had been coached in his part by Indiman, and the preparations for +the experiment being finally perfected, Sydenham was called in. He +appeared, dressed in the same clothes that he had worn the month +before, looking a little pale, indeed, but resolute and collected. + +"Mr. Sydenham," said Indiman, keeping his eyes fixed on the young +man's face, "you will observe that this is January 9, 1903. Kindly +seat yourself at your desk, and remain there as passive as +possible. Wait now until we withdraw." + +Through the half-opened door of Mr. Sandford's private office we +could see distinctly all that passed. Sydenham sat motionless at +his desk; Alden, the bank messenger, was within call in the outer +office. The hands of the clock, which had been set back, pointed to +five minutes of three. + +A telegraph delivery boy entered and handed Sydenham a yellow +envelope. He signed for it and the boy withdrew. He opened it, and +instead of a written message drew out a fresh sprig of heliotrope. +Motionless and scarcely breathing, he sat and gazed at it as though +he could never fill his eyes with the sight. + +"Now," said Indiman, pushing Mr. Sandford into the room where the +young cashier sat. + +The conversation was a brief one, relating to the papers that Mr. +Sandford carried in his hand. + +"Leave them on your way up-town in my box at the safe-deposit +company," concluded Mr. Sandford. Then he took his hat and went +out. + +Sydenham swung back to his desk; the HERALD lying there was in his +way, and he tossed it onto the floor. Underneath lay a package of +bills of large denominations. + +The cashier acted quickly. "Alden!" he called, and the messenger +came running in. + +"I overlooked this package," said Sydenham; "it contains fifty +thousand dollars. Do you think you can get to the bank with it? You +have a minute and a half." + +The messenger seized the package and dashed away. Sydenham looked +again at the sprig of heliotrope; he pressed it passionately to his +lips. Then carefully placing it in his pocket-book, he began an +examination of the papers left by Mr. Sandford. The clock struck +three. + +The clerk Alden re-entered. "They wouldn't take it," he said, and +handed the package of bills to Sydenham. + +"Oh, very well," said the cashier, absently, "I'll take care of it. +That's all, Alden; you can go." + +For an hour or more Sydenham worked steadily. Then, gathering the +papers together, he rose, took off his office-coat, and began +making preparations to depart. Once he came into Mr. Sandford's +private office, where we were sitting, but apparently he did not +notice our presence. Indiman gripped my hand hard. "Going +splendidly," he whispered. + +The cashier put on his hat and top-coat. The legal papers were +carefully stowed in an inside pocket, and he was about to close +down his roll-top desk when the package of bank-bills met his eye. +He frowned perplexedly; then picking up the bundle he dropped it +into the same pocket with the papers belonging to Mr. Sandford. He +went out, closing the door behind him. + +We followed as quickly as we could, but this time luck was against +us--Sydenham had disappeared. + +"To the safe-deposit company," said Indiman, and we jumped into a +hansom. Mr. Sandford was there, and we waited impatiently for +Sydenham's appearance; it was the only chance of again picking up +the lost trail. + +There he came, walking slowly up Nassau Street, his manner a trifle +preoccupied and his eyes bent on the pavement. Opposite the safe- +deposit company he stopped and thrust his hand into a waistcoat- +pocket. He took it away empty and a terrible change came over his +face. With a quick movement he drew out the bundle of bank-notes +and regarded it fixedly. A cry burst from his lips; he reeled and +fell, the money still clutched in his hand. + +Instantly we were at his side. A coach was at hand, and we got him +into it and directed the driver to proceed to Indiman's lodgings. +The attack had been but a momentary one, and Sydenham revived as we +turned out of Park Row. He looked at us, then at the money in his +hand. + +"It has failed," he said, brokenly, and none of us could say a +word. "I came to myself," continued Sydenham, with forced calmness, +"there in Nassau Street; it was as though I had awakened from a +dream. The money--it was in my hand. I stood before the world, a +self- convicted thief. I thank you; you have done your best, but it +is useless." He passed the money to Mr. Sandford; mechanically his +hand went to the inside breast-pocket of his over- coat; he drew +out the package of legal papers bearing Mr. Sandford's name. "But-- +but," he stammered, "I don't understand--I left these in your box +at the safe-deposit company." + +"To be sure you did," answered Indiman, coolly. He pulled the +check-cord. "Drive back to the safe deposit," he called to the +hackman. + +"Now, then," said Indiman, in a quiet, matter-of-fact tone, "will +you tell me the conditions under which you had access to Mr. +Sandford's vault. Of course your name as an authorized agent of Mr. +Sandford was on the company's books. You had your pass-key, of +course?" + +"No," said Mr. Sandford. "There was but one pass-key, and that I +kept myself. When Mr. Sydenham had any business to do for me at the +safe-deposit vaults I would let him have the key temporarily." + +"You gave it to him on that particular day, the 9th of January?" +continued Indiman. + +"Yes." + +"Where is it now?" almost shouted Indiman. + +"Here," said Mr. Sandford, in surprise. "On my key-ring." + +"Exactly. There is the broken link in our psychological chain. When +Mr. Sydenham felt for the pass-key, which should have been in his +pocket, he discovered that it was missing. Instantly the continuity +of events was broken, the subliminal personality was again +submerged, and Mr. Sydenham's normal consciousness was re- +established. Mr. Sandford, you are perfectly aware of the fact that +these legal papers were properly deposited in your vault, and that +the pass-key was returned to you by Mr. Sydenham on the morning of +January 10th. Gentlemen, it is evident that we shall find the +original fifty thousand dollars lying in Mr. Sandford's strong- +box, where it was left by Mr. Sydenham on the afternoon of January +9th." + +I confess that I was mightily excited when the moment came to test +the correctness of Indiman's deductions. We were shown into a +private room, and, under Mr. Sandford's eye, the treasure-box +belonging to him was carried in and opened. Almost at the bottom +lay a long, brown Manila envelope fastened with three red rubber +bands. It contained fifty one-thousand- dollar bills. + +"I noticed that envelope several times," explained Mr. Sandford, +"but supposed it contained some mining stock. You see here is +another envelope identical in appearance and lying directly beneath +it. Mr. Sydenham never suggested even that he might have left the +missing money in my safe-deposit vault." + +"It never occurred to me that I could have done so," said Sydenham. +"I remembered making a deposit of the papers--but the money, no, I +had no recollection of having seen or touched it from the moment +that Alden brought it back from the bank and laid it on my desk." + +"Gentlemen," said Mr. Sandford, "I am indebted to you for much more +than the mere recovery of the money. But we will speak of that +again. Where can I put you down? Mr. Sydenham I shall carry off to +my house; I want to have a talk with him." + +But Indiman declined to re-enter the coach, pleading some further +business down-town, and, of course, I remained with him. The +carriage was about to drive off when Indiman put up his hand. + +"How stupid of me!" he exclaimed. "I had almost forgotten." He took +from the pocket of his overcoat a rather bulky package and handed +it to young Mr. Sydenham. "They'll explain themselves," he said, +smiling. The coach rolled away. + +"The missing letters from V. S.," said Indiman, in answer to my +look of inquiry. "An average of two a day, and all addressed to him +at the Utinam. Well, what was the poor girl to do? The young fool +had changed his lodgings and obliterated every possible trace of +his whereabouts. All Miss Sandford had to go on was the bare +intimation that he could be addressed at the Utinam Club. She might +as well have posted her communications in the North River." + +"I don't follow you." + +"Two days ago I put a dummy letter addressed to Sydenham in his +private lock-box at the Utinam. I had promised, you know, to send +him on his mail if he would keep away from the club, and +accordingly I had the key of the letter-box in my possession. Ten +minutes later I went again to the box and it was empty--that is, +you could see distinctly from one end of the box to the other, and +it was absolutely bare." + +"A duplicate key, of course." + +"Not at all. It is only a stupid person who descends to crime-- +except as a last resort." + +"Well, then?" + +"Did you ever attend any of the exhibitions at the old Egyptian +Hall? One of the favorite illusions was the trick cabinet in which +the performer seated himself in full view of the spectators. The +doors would be closed for an instant, and then, when reopened, the +man had disappeared. The full interior of the cabinet was plainly +visible; it stood on legs, which precluded the idea of a trap-door, +and it was incontestably shown that egress from the back, top, or +sides was impossible." + +"Yet the performer was gone?" + +"I said that the cabinet appeared to be empty--quite another +thing." + +"Go on." + +"It was a simple arrangement of plate-glass mirrors fitting closely +at the sides and backed by the distinctive pattern of wall-paper +with which the rest of the cabinet was covered. Immediately that +the doors were closed, the performer drew these false sides +outward, so that they met the centre post of the doors at an acute +angle. The true side walls were thereby exposed, and, of course, +they were papered to correspond with the rest of the interior. +Their reflection was doubled in the mirrors, making it appear to +the observer that the whole cabinet was open to his vision. The +truth was that he saw only half of it, the performer being +concealed behind the mirrors. The only possible point at which the +illusion could be detected was the angle where the mirrors joined, +and this was masked by the centre post at which the double doors +met. To conclude the trick, the doors were again closed, the +performer swung the mirrors back into place, and, presto! he was +back in the cabinet, smiling genially at the gaping crowd." + +"Then you think--" + +"I know. Lock-box No. 82 was constructed on the same principle in +miniature, the letter- slit being placed in such a position that +anything deposited in the box fell behind the mirrors, the whole +interior remaining apparently visible through the glass front, and +presumably empty. The owner of the box would naturally glance into +it before actually using his pass-key. Obviously, it were a waste +of time to go through the form of opening an EMPTY box, and so poor +Sydenham never got any of the letters that were daily deposited +there, for the receptacle is a large one and the secret place +behind the mirrors was almost full. The action of unlocking the box +operated upon an interior mechanism that swung back the mirrors at +the same instant that the door was pulled open. After seeing my +dummy disappear, I tried the experiment, and was amply rewarded. + +"There isn't much more to tell. When I saw the letters lying there +I knew that it was all right so far as the girl was concerned. I +had only to acquaint Miss Sandford with the circumstances in the +case to secure her further co-operation, for, of course, she had +never ceased to believe in her lover. She prepared and sent the +message which you saw delivered to Sydenham in Sandford's office +this afternoon. + +"But it was not the same as the one received by him on the actual +January 9th. That contained a word, 'yes,' and was signed by her +initials; this second one consisted simply of a sprig of +heliotrope." + +"Do you understand the language of flowers? The heliotrope means, +'Je t'adore,' and Sydenham understood it instantly, as you saw." + +"Yes; but why--" + +"To repeat the original message would not have impressed him as I +wished; it would simply have seemed part of the illusion which he +knew perfectly well we were endeavoring to create. The problem was +to suddenly startle him by a real communication from V. S., and, +above all, to have it of such a nature as to convince him that the +cloud between them had finally lifted. Now, without trust and +confidence, true love is impossible. The message of the sprig of +heliotrope told him all that he had been hungering and longing to +hear throughout these terrible two months; the shock was sufficient +to drive the normal consciousness from its seat and permit the +subliminal self to take control. In other words, it practically put +him back in the identical mental mood of the afternoon of January +9th, and that was the crucial point of the whole experiment. +Anything more?" + +"Who sent the false telegrams?" + +"Of course, you would ask that. I don't know." + +"Such a monstrous wickedness! It is inconceivable." + +"Yes, unless we admit the existence of a spirit of pure malevolence +seeking to drive an innocent man to self-destruction for no other +motive than that of doing evil for evil's sake. That such an +intelligence has been active in this case is certain; or how +explain the cheat of the letter-box, a necessary factor in the +problem, as you will admit?" + +"But you don't know." + +"Not yet," answered my friend Indiman. + +We dined down-town that evening, and it was about nine o'clock when +we called a hackney-coach and started homeward. As we drove on up +the Bowery an illuminated transparency caught our eyes. + +"'Fair and Bazaar,'" read Indiman. "'Benefit of the United House- +smiths' Benevolent Association.' What is a house-smith, Thorp? +Evidently we will have to go and find out for ourselves." He pulled +the check-cord and gave the driver the new direction. Pure +foolishness, of course, but Indiman was not to be put out of his +humor. + +Up one flight of stairs to a large, low-ceilinged hall that was +jammed to suffocation. A score of gayly trimmed booths wherein were +displayed various articles of feminine fallals and cheap bric-a- +brac, each presided over by a lady house-smith. "Or should it be +house-smithess?" asked Indiman. "Hullo! What's this?" + +Behind a long counter covered with red-paper muslin sat a dozen +young women of more or less pronounced personal charms, and a huge +placard announced that, kisses were on sale at the uniform price of +fifty cents. "Take your own choice." Smaller cards bore the various +cognomens assumed for the occasion by the fair venders of +osculatory delights. "Cleopatra," "The Fair One with Golden Locks," +"Kathleen Mavourneen," "Pocahontas," or more simply, albeit not +less mysteriously, "Miss A. B.," or "Mademoiselle X." Of course, +each had dressed the part as nearly as might be, and the exhibition +was certainly attractive to the masculine eye. In questionable +taste, no doubt, but one does not stand upon trifles when it is all +for sweet charity's sake. + +"My dear Thorp," said Indiman, with the utmost gravity, "have you +half a dollar in your pocket? Then come with me," and forthwith we +jammed and corkscrewed our way through the crowd until we reached +the long counter covered with red-paper muslin + + + + +V + +The Ninety-and-nine Kisses + + +The fair and bazaar of the United House-smiths' Benevolent +Association was assuredly a tremendous success, and not the least +of its attractions was the open market where kisses might be +purchased at the ridiculously small price of fifty cents each. But +"Cash before delivery" was the motto, and on the counter in front +of each young woman stood a brass bowl in which the purchaser +deposited his money--"Free list entirely suspended." One could see +that "The Fair One with Golden Locks," a large, full-fed blonde +with extraordinarily vivid red cheeks, had been doing a rushing +business; her bowl was overflowing with notes and coin. And the +others also had done well, all except "Mademoiselle D.," the girl +at the far end; she had not made a single sale. A slight little +thing, pale and somewhat anxious-looking; no wonder that customers +had passed her by. Then she looked up, and we both caught our +breath. What eyes! Eyes of the purest, serenest gray--gray of that +rare quality that holds no tint of either green or blue. Her eyes +were her one beauty indeed, but the superlative miracle of +loveliness is best seen when it stands alone. And these dolts of +house-smiths had passed on to sample the pink-and-white +confectionery at the other end of the counter. + +"One hundred, if you please," and Indiman laid a fifty-dollar bill +in the bowl of the girl with the gray eyes. The crowd stopped and +gaped, and "Mademoiselle D." turned from white to red and then to +white again. + +"Bought up the whole stock, boss?" asked a foolish-looking youth +whose collar was slowly but surely choking him to death. + +"Better take a couple on account," said the pert damsel attached to +the young fellow's arm; "they might turn sour on you, Mister Man." + +"Give 'em away with a pound of tea," put in a third joker. "Eh, +Josie?" + +"Let's get away from here," whispered Indiman to me. "The girl +looks as though she might faint." + +We pushed on through the crowd that continued to chaff us good- +naturedly--"joshing" they called it. Then we managed to struggle +into a sort of backwater at the side of the dais upon which an +alleged string band was trying to make good, as the scornful Miss +Josie remarked. + +"There's something wrong in this, Thorp," said Indiman to me, in an +undertone. "Did you notice the stout man who stood immediately +behind her?" + +"The chap with one ear a full size larger than the other? Yes, I +did." + +"He never takes his eyes from her, and I believe that the girl is +here against her will." + +"Indiman!--" I began, but he cut me short. + +"I know it, I tell you, and I'm going to take her away. Do you see +that electric-light switch on the wall behind you?" + +Back of the musicians' platform was a small wall cupboard holding +the usual apparatus for controlling the incandescent lights with +which the hall was illuminated. "Pull down both handles when I give +the signal," he went on, imperturbably. + +"What signal?" + +Indiman considered. "I'll take one of my kisses," he said, smiling. + +"I'll do nothing of the kind." + +"Oh yes, you will. Remember now--the instant that I bend down to +kiss her." + +He was gone, leaving me to curse his folly. I tried to overtake +him, but the foolish youth and his Josie blocked my way, +intentionally, it seemed; that was part of their joshing of the +stranger within the house-smiths' gates. I stepped up on the +platform, and looked for Indiman. He had just reached the counter +covered with red-paper muslin; he pushed his way up to the girl +with the gray eyes and said something to her. She seemed to shrink +away. Indiman turned for an instant and looked back at me, then he +bent down and kissed her. + +Without having had the slightest intention of so doing, I pulled +down both handles; the hall was in instant and utter darkness. For +a moment the following silence persisted, menacing and deadly; it +was as though panic had suddenly reared her frightful head, a wild +beast ready to spring. + +A girl's light laugh turned the scale. "Trying to raid the fruit- +stand, are you, bub?" went on Miss Josie, in her thin, cool voice. +"Thought you could pinch a couple in the dark of the moon; but nay, +nay, Thomas--those two smacks 'll just cost you supper for four. +I'm not sitting behind the bargain-counter to-day, thank you." + +A babel of cat-calls, oaths, and laughter broke out, but the +tension had been released and the danger was over. I pushed and +jammed through the crowd to the stairs. No one was attempting to +leave; in the hall they had just got the lights turned on again. I +started down. + +"Here, you!" + +I looked back; the stout man with the disproportionate ears stood +at the head of the stairs, hemmed in by the crowd. He panted and +shook his clinched fist at me. "You!--you!" he shouted, impotently. +I ran on. + +In the street below Indiman was helping the girl into the coach. He +turned as I ran up. + +"Good!" he said, and offered me his cigarette- case. + +"The big fellow is coming down," I urged. + +"Have a light," said Indiman. "And now, my son, allons!" + +I stepped into the coach, and Indiman after me. There was a sound +of angry voices from the hall above; two or three men dashed down +the stairway, others following. + +"Drive on!" shouted Indiman, and the carriage started. Then we both +turned and looked blankly at that empty back seat. + +Indiman bit his lip. "It is an old trick--leaving by the other +door," he said, quietly. "It was while we were lighting our +cigarettes; and that reminds me that I have decided to give up the +habit." He tossed his cigarette out of the window; the coach rolled +away. + +Private business called me to Washington the next day, and I had to +take the night train back, arriving in New York at the +uncomfortably early hour of seven. But it was some small +satisfaction to rap vigorously upon Indiman's door as I passed to +my own room. One always experiences a sense of virtue in being up +at unseasonable hours, and blessings should be shared with one's +friends. Later on we met at breakfast, and he did not thank me. + +The following paragraph in the "Personal" column of the HERALD +caught my eye. "Listen to this," I said, and read it aloud to my +sulky host: + +"'To Mademoiselle D.,--There are ninety-and-nine kisses still due +me, and I propose to collect. Box 90, Herald office (up-town), or +telephone 18,901 Madison Square. (Private wire.) "'HOUSE-SMITH.'" + +Esper Indiman smiled and touched an electric button. "The letters, +Bolder," he said, but the man had anticipated his request, and was +carrying in a salver heaped high with missives and papers. + +"I had the personal put in the HERALD the same night of our +adventure at the House- smiths' bazaar," said Indiman. "Also +repeated in to-day's issue." + +"It seems to be bearing a fine crop of replies." + +"There's a bushel-basket of 'em already--mostly from the alleged +humorist. Or else it's this sort of thing," and he tossed over an +extraordinary piece of stationery--white cream- laid, with edging +like a mourning band, only pink instead of black; think of that! + +Of course, the contents of the letter did not belie its exterior. +"Mr. House-smith" was informed that not only ninety-nine, but nine +hundred and ninety-nine, kisses were at his disposal whenever he +cared to communicate with Miss Delicia Millefleurs. The writing was +somewhat shaky, and "communicate" was spelled with one m. Moreover, +the general appearance of the epistle was marred by the presence of +a large blot. But Miss Millefleurs was plainly a young person of +instant ingenuity, and she had turned the disfigurement to good +purpose by drawing a circle around it and labelling it, "One on +account." + +"Then there's this," said Indiman, and handed me a sheet of +foolscap which had been folded and sealed without an envelope, +after the fashion of our great-grandfathers. On it was pasted a +strip of the tape used in electric-recording instruments, and the +characters were those of the Morse alphabet, rather an unusual +sight nowadays, when receiving messages by sound is the universal +practice. Underneath the row of dots and dashes had been written +their English equivalents in Indiman's small, close handwriting. +The transcribed message read: + +"One thousand (s) dollars apiece (s) offered for any or all of +ninety-nine (s) kisses, undelivered. Take car No. 6 (s), 'Blue +Line' crosstown, any (s) evening, and get off at West Fourth +Street. Purchase two pounds of the best (s) butter at the corner +grocery, and ask for a purple trading (s) stamp." + +"Quite as extravagant as the advertisement that called it forth," I +remarked. "To the wholly impartial mind it seems like nonsense." + +"'Ah, but what precious nonsense!'" quoted Indiman, musingly. Then, +suddenly: "Thorp, we need butter; I wish you'd step around to that +West Fourth Street grocery and get a couple of pounds--the best +butter, mind." + +I rose. "Certainly; back in half an hour." + +"Oh, this evening is time enough. Man, man, can't you see through a +ladder? They're after the girl with the gray eyes, and hope in this +way to get a clew to her whereabouts. Now, you can't fight shadows; +the only chance is to match them against each other. Do I make +myself quite clear?" + +"Not in the least." + +"I want to know who sends that message, and it's possible that the +answer is right under our eyes." He held up the strip of +telegraphic tape. "Do you see the letter S, enclosed in +parentheses, and repeated before several words?" + +"Means nothing, so far as I see." + +"Unless it's a habit with the operator to occasionally sound the +three dots that make up the letter S in the Morse alphabet-- +unconsciously, you know, and just as another man, in speaking, +might stutter or continually introduce a hesitating 'er' or 'um.'" + +"Impossible." + +"Nothing is impossible, my dear fellow." Here the bell of the desk- +telephone rang. "For example, this call may be from Mademoiselle D. +herself." He picked up the receiver and held it to his ear. "It +is," he said, looking over at me. + +The weather conditions happened to be particularly favorable for +telephonic communication; I could hear almost as distinctly, +standing on my side of the table, as Indiman himself. I started to +walk away, then I stopped, and announced my intention of listening +also; Indiman nodded assent. + +There was unmistakable annoyance and anxiety in the tones of the +voice that greeted us. "I have just seen your absurd +advertisement," it began. "I beg of you to let this matter drop, +instantly, finally." + +"A request without a reason," answered Indiman, "You owe me +something more than that." + +"There is danger--" + +"To me or to you?" + +"To yourself." + +"I am sorry, but you have indicated the sole condition which makes +my withdrawal possible." + +A little feminine sigh came from the other end of the wire. "Oh, +dear, it was so stupid of me to say that--to a man!" A pause. Then, +in a slightly vexed tone, "Supposing that it is a question of +minding one's own business." + +"Precisely what I am trying to do," said Indiman, humbly. "It is a +settlement that I am proposing." + +"I perceive, sir, that I am making myself ridiculous," and the +voice sounded cold and inconceivably distant. "I have the honor to +wish you a very good-morning." The telephone rang off sharply. + +I fancy that the same thought was in both our minds: Could this be +the same woman whom we had seen selling her kisses at an East Side +bazaar? The very thought was incredible. And remember that we had +not heard her voice before. Yet neither of us doubted, even for a +moment. + +"After all, it was only the one kiss that was actually sold and +delivered," said Indiman, half-defiantly. But he need not have +defended her to me. + +It was getting to be a very pretty problem as it stood, the one +obvious probability being that it was the girl herself who stood in +danger. What could we do? To discover the nature of the impending +peril and, above all, the personnel of the conspirators. And then +what? How were we to communicate with or warn the girl?--for, of +course, she had called up Indiman from a public pay-station, +leaving no clew to her identity or address. Well, there was still +the Personal column in the HERALD; it had reached her once and +might again. + +"I am going down-town to the main office of the Western Union," +said Indiman, "and may be away all day. If I shouldn't return by +dinner-time, you will carry out the instructions in the message. +Exactly, remember--car No. 6, and the best butter--each detail may +be important. About nine o'clock should be a good hour." + +"I understand," I said, and we parted. + +At exactly half after nine that evening I stepped off car No. 6 at +the crossing of West Fourth and Eleventh streets. The grocery was +on the northwest corner, and I entered without hesitation. + +Like many other big cities, New York (even excluding the +transpontine suburbs) is a collection of towns and villages rather +than a homogeneous municipality. Chelsea and Harlem and the upper +West Side--all these are distinct and separate centres of community +life. Greenwich Village knows naught of Yorkville, and the East +Side Ghetto has no dealings with the inhabitants of the French +quarter. + +Now the small area bounded by Waverley Place, Christopher, West +Fourth, and West Eleventh streets is also a law unto itself. The +neighborhood is respectable and severely old fashioned, the houses +large and comfortable, and the resident population almost entirely +native New-Yorkers in moderate circumstances. A village, then, with +its shops and school-houses and churches; it is as provincial in +its way as the Lonelyville of the comic weeklies. The grocery is +the village club, at least for the respectable part of the male +population, the men who would not be seen in a corner saloon. There +were half a dozen of the regulars now in the shop, seated on boxes +and chairs around the stove, for it was a raw and chilly day. They +looked up as I entered, but no one moved or spoke. Undoubtedly my +man was in the group, but how to pick him out. I walked to the +counter and addressed the young fellow who lounged behind it. + +"Two pounds of the best butter, please." + +"All out," was the unexpected reply. + +"All out!" I repeated, stupidly. + +"None of the best--that's what I said." + +"I wanted a purple trading-stamp," I went on, helplessly. + +"Anything over five cents' worth--jar of pickles, if you like." + +"No, not that. Here, give me--how much are those cigars?" + +"Five and ten." + +"Ten cents, then." + +The young man handed out the box with a nonchalant air. "Help +yourself," he said. + +I selected a cigar. "You're sure you haven't any butter--the BEST +butter?" + +"Ah, now, whadjer giving us? This ain't no Tiffany & Co. Best +butter? Uh! P'r'aps you'd like to take a peck of di'monds home wid +jer--the best di'monds, mind, all ready shelled and fried in gold- +dust. And just throw in a bunch of them German-silver banglelets +for the salad. Yessir; charge 'em to Mr. Astor, Astorville, N. G." + +The loungers about the stove sniggered audibly, but something in +the fellow's voice made me forget his insolence. I looked up and +into the eyes of Esper Indiman. + +I think I did it pretty well--the cool, ignoring stare with which +one is accustomed to put a boor out of countenance. + +"Let me have a light," I went on, quietly, and the pretended +grocer's boy was zealous to oblige, scratching the match himself +and leaning across the counter to hold the flame to the cigar end. + +"Coach waiting for you in front of the church," he whispered. +"Drive straight home and slowly--to give him a chance." + +I left the shop without troubling to glance at the loungers about +the fire; Indiman would attend to that part of the business. The +coach was in waiting at the Baptist Church, and the driver touched +his hat when I mentioned my name. I gave him the address, and told +him to drive slowly. As we turned into Seventh Avenue I looked back +and saw a cab following. + +An hour later Indiman came in and joined me in the library. "Now, +then!" I said, impatiently, after waiting to see him mix a high- +ball and light a tremendously black breva. Indiman is a little +provoking at times with his infinite deliberation. + +"Where were we?" he began. "Ah, yes, I had my theory about finding +the chap who wrote out that message. It was correct--absolutely +so," and Indiman puffed away in dreamy content, staring up at the +ceiling. + +"I know Mason of the main Western Union office quite well, and he +was most obliging. Recognized the peculiarity of the telegraphic +sending at once; there actually was a fellow who had a habit of +interjecting the superfluous S in his despatches. Name of Ewall, +and he was the operator in a sub-station near Jefferson Market. + +"Well, I posted up there and sounded him. He didn't know anything +about it at first, so I had to scare him a bit; he weakened then, +and told me what I wanted to know. + +"Of course it wasn't a real message; he had run it off on his +machine at the request of a queer-looking gentleman who had given +him a couple of dollars for his trouble. According to his +description, the man was stout and dark, with one ear--the left-- +decidedly larger than the other." + +"Aha! the fellow we saw at the bazaar. But he wasn't in the group +about the grocery stove." + +"Of course not, but he had his capper there." + +"Go on." + +"Well, I thanked Mr. Ewall for his information, and left him with a +solemn admonition to be more careful in the future about doing +business on the side. Then I sat down to consider. + +"Now, I was sure that the grocery and its proprietor, the two +pounds of the best butter, and the purple trading-stamp had nothing +to do with the real business of the evening. The game was simply to +identify the 'Mr. House-smith' who had advertised for his ninety- +and- nine kisses, and the clap-trap of the message in telegraphic +characters, and all the rest of it, were simply the kind of bait at +which so eccentric a person might be expected to bite. The +gentleman with one ear larger than the other desired to find the +elusive Mademoiselle D., erstwhile dispenser of kisses at an East +Side charity bazaar, and, consequently, he was following up every +possible clew. He wanted 'Mr. House- smith,' and I wanted him. + +"Fight shadows with shadows, remember; and so I took service with +my honest friend, David Brown, dealer in groceries at West Fourth +and Eleventh streets. He was rather offish at first, but Mattson, +at Police Head- quarters, had provided me with a special detective +badge, and Mr Brown was led to believe that I was working up a case +of graft. He lent me a jumper, and I was forthwith installed behind +the counter. + +"Everything went off according to schedule. The 'shadow' had his +cab in readiness and I had mine. He trailed you to No. 4020 Madison +Avenue, and I followed Mr. Shadow to the Central Detective Office. +It seems to have been a case of sleuth against sleuth, with the +match all square." + +"Anything else?" + +"Well, yes. As I came into the house just now, two men were waiting +for me in the vestibule. They went through me; but I didn't seem to +have what they wanted. I still retain possession of my watch and +purse." + +"So," I said, somewhat helplessly. "What's the next move on the +board?" + +"It is the last night of the supplementary opera season," answered +Indiman, "and we are going to dress and see what we can of +Tschaikowsky's 'Queen of Spades.' A novelty--first and only +performance outside of Russia, and Ternina heads the cast." + + "There is Mademoiselle D.," remarked Indiman, as his glass swept +the semicircle of the parterre. "The fourth box from the end." + +There were but three people in the party--the girl with the gray +eyes, an elderly man with a ribbon in his button-hole, and Jack +Crawfurd, whom everybody knows. + +The curtain fell on the third act, and immediately Crawfurd made +his appearance in the omnibus-box where we were sitting. + +"Come with me, mes enfants," he said, genially. "It seems that you +and the adorable Countess Gilda are old friends. She commands your +instant attendance. What, man! do you hesitate? I shall lose my +head an our sovereign lady be not instantly obeyed." + +The girl with the gray eyes greeted us with smiling unconcern. "Do +you know my uncle?" she asked, and we were forthwith presented to +his Excellency Baron Cassilis, the Russian ambassador to the United +States. Then the Countess Gilda addressed herself squarely to +Indiman. + +"I am in your debt, Mr. Indiman, and you must permit me to +discharge the obligation. My dear uncle, your purse." + +Indiman bowed and accepted the fifty-dollar bill tendered him. + +"Now we are quits," she said, smiling. + +"Not quite," he answered, hardily. He drew a half-dollar from his +waistcoat-pocket and offered it to her. A flood of color mantled +her brow, but she took the coin and slipped it into her glove. +"Well?" she asked, her small chin defiantly uptilted. + +"I have only one question," said Indiman, earnestly. "Is there +danger for you?" + +"None in the world." + +"Then I am quite satisfied." + +She softened at that. "Only a rather aggravating disappointment; it +does not matter now. But why will you men interfere in an +unoffending woman's affairs." + +"I had no idea--" + +"Of course not. However, we need not enter further into +particulars. Your friend in the orchestra-stall yonder will +doubtless enlighten you later on." A stout man with one ear +distinctly larger than the other deliberately faced about in his +seat and directed his glasses at our box. Immediately upon this the +curtain went up on the last act, and his Excellency held up his +hand to command silence. + +"Madame," said Indiman, as he handed the Countess Gilda to her +carriage, "I swear to you that the blunder I have unintentionally +committed shall be atoned for. I ask but a hint--the slightest of +clews." + +"With pleasure, monsieur. I give you, therefore, the third +appearance of the Queen of Spades. Au revoir! We sail to-morrow by +the Cunarder." + +The man with the disproportionate ears touched Indiman's elbow. +"Beg pardon, sir," he said, deferentially, "but I shall have to +have a word or two with you." + +We drove to the Utinam Club and found a secluded corner. "Now, what +is it, officer?" said Indiman. + +The detective looked rather sheepish. "I'm afraid we've made a mess +of it between us. Case of political blackmail, you see, and the +young lady thought she could handle it herself. And so she could +have done if we hadn't butted in, begging your pardon for so +saying." + +"Get to the point." + +"Well, then, it's a question of a letter belonging to a great +person in Roosha--written to or by her don't matter. The letter is +here in New York, and it isn't a question of money with the holder, +but power. There's only one thing to do in that case--steal it, and +the Countess thought she could turn the trick. So she went over on +the Rooshan East Side and laid her pipes to stand next to the old +party who holds the precious document. At the Baron's request I was +detailed from the Central Office and instructed to keep my eyes on +the young woman and my hands off the case. 'Course, then, I +couldn't do neither. I lost the girl when you walked off with her +at the house-smiths' bazaar, and then I had to stick in my oar and +answer your personal in the Herald. I laid what I thought was a +pretty smart trap. You fell into it, right enough." + +"So you were the fellow who had me searched and held up at my own +front door," said Indiman. "Confound your impudence! What did you +expect to get?" + +"Why, the letter, sir. I had figured it out that you was the black- +mailer." + +"Oh, the deuce! And in the mean time the real article had been put +on his or her guard by all this hullabaloo, and the Countess +Gilda's game was blocked." + +"That's it, sir. A mistake all round." + +"I should think so. Well, there's nothing more to be done. That's +all you know about the case?" + +"That's all, sir." + +"Never heard of the Queen of Spades in this connection?" + +"Never, sir." + +"Well, good-night, officer. Brownson's your name, eh? I shan't +forget it." + +"Good-night, sir." + +The night was fine, and we walked home. Over on Eighth Avenue a +masquerade ball was in progress; we passed under the brightly lit +windows of the hall in which it was being held. A masker stood at +the door, a woman dressed to impersonate the Queen of Spades. She +waved her hand to Indiman, who had chanced to look up; then she +plucked a rose from her bodice and tossed it over to him. He caught +the flower, as becomes a gallant man, but immediately walked on. + +"That was your cue--the Queen of Spades," I said. + +"Not at all. It is only the third time that counts. First at the +opera, and now here; the final and only important appearance is +still to come." + +At the next corner a wretchedly clad woman sat grinding a small +barrel-organ. "For the love of Mary!" she whimpered, and Indiman +thrust something into her waiting hand. He tried to hide the +action, but I had caught sight of the money--a yellow-backed bill +bearing the magic figures 50. + +"Did you notice the tune?" said Indiman, as we walked on. "The +Ninety-and-Nine." + + + + +VI + +The Queen of Spades + +I am very fond of Esper Indiman, but there are +times when he is positively unfit for human society. Last week, for +instance, when for three days on end we did not exchange a single +word, not even at dinner, where the amenities should come on at +least with the walnuts. I grant you that humdrum wears upon the +spirit, that the flatness of the daily road may be a harder thing +to get over than even Mr. Bunyan's hill Difficulty, but for a man +to surrender himself mind and body to solitaire argues weakness. +Moreover, it was a ridiculous combination of the cards that Indiman +invariably set himself to resolve; the chances were at least a +hundred to one against the solitaire coming out, and, indeed, I +never saw him get it but once. Under rather curious circumstances, +too--but I won't anticipate; let us begin with the beginning of the +adventure of the Queen of Spades. + +You will remember that there was a mislaid letter whose possession +had become a matter of supreme importance to a certain great person +in Russia. The Countess Gilda (she of the Ninety-and-nine Kisses) +had been on the point of obtaining the treasure, but the over- +confidence of my friend Indiman, coupled with the blunders of a +stupid detective, had brought about a premature explosion of the +train. To Indiman, apologetic and remorseful, the Countess Gilda +had vouchsafed a single pregnant utterance--"Wait for the third +appearance of the Queen of Spades." This was his cue; let him make +the most of it if he would repair the mischief that he had +unwittingly done. + +Now the opera, on the night preceding the Countess's departure for +Europe, had been Tschaikowsky's "Queen of Spades"; the inference +was inevitable that here was the first materialization of our +mysterious heroine. That same evening we had encountered, at an +Eighth Avenue ball, a masker whose costume had been designed upon +the familiar model of the court-card in question; so much for +number two. But Fortune had been almost too kind, and immediately +upon this promising beginning she had withdrawn her smiles. For +upward of a month nothing whatever had happened. As I have said, +Indiman played solitaire and I smoked as much as I could. Dull work +for all that it was the end of April, the height of the Easter +season, and New York was at its gayest. A brilliant show--yes, and +the same old one. Did you ever eat a quail a day for thirty days? +Why not for three hundred or three thousand days, supposing that +one is really fond of quail? + +For the thirty-fifth consecutive time the solitaire failed to come +out. Indiman gathered the cards, shuffled them with infinite +precision, and handed them to me to cut. I did so. Indiman took the +pack and flung it into the air; the cards fluttered in all +directions, and one came sailing straight for my nose. I put up my +hand and caught it--it was the Queen of Spades. + +"Here is the lady for the fateful third time," I remarked, +jestingly. But Indiman was nothing if not serious. He took the card +from me and studied it attentively. + +"Rather an interesting face, don't you think?" he said, musingly. +"Somewhat Semitic in physiognomy, you notice; that comes from the +almond-shaped eyes and the abnormally high arch of the brows. Would +you know her in the actual flesh--say, on Broadway? Brunette, of +course, jet-black hair banded a la Merode over the ears, a little +droop at the corners of her mouth. Voila! The Queen of Spades. Let +us go out and look for her." + +"A proposition," I remarked, judicially, "that savors of the +rankest lunacy. And yet, why not? The lady certainly made the +advances; it is an equivalent to an invitation to call. Pity she +doesn't put her address on her card." + +"Hym!" coughed Indiman, delicately. "That is a difficulty. But not +necessarily an insurmountable one. Let us consult the street +directory, with minds open and unprejudiced, and our faith will be +rewarded--doubt it not. + +"We will pass over the numbered streets and avenues," continued +Indiman. "I am not in the mood for mathematical subtleties, +although there is much of virtue in the digit 9, as every adept +knows. Names are our quest to-day, so listen to them as they run-- +Allen, Bleecker, Bayard, Dey, Division--now why Division, do you +suppose? What was divided, and who got the lion's share?" + +"A delicate allusion to some eighteenth-century graft," I +suggested. "Consult the antiquaries." + +"Oh, it's enough for our purpose that the division itself exists; +it must lie below the 'barbed-wire fence,' somewhere across the +line. To speak precisely, Division Street appears to start at +Chatham Square, and it runs eastward to Grand Street. We will take +the Third Avenue Elevated to Chatham Square, and then ask a +policeman. Nothing could be more simple." + +Descending the Elevated stairs, Division Street lay right before +our eyes, and further inquiry was superfluous. Indiman's spirits +had risen amazingly. "Why, it's only an elementary exercise," he +said, smilingly. "Divide an East Side street by a pack of cards, +and the quotient is the Queen of Spades; you simply cannot escape +from the conclusion. Forward, then." + +Now, Division Street IS something out of the ordinary, as down-town +thoroughfares go. It is the principal highway to that remote +Yiddish country whose capital is William H. Seward Square, and the +entire millinery and feminine tailoring business of the lower East +Side is centred at this its upper end. In the one short block from +Chatham Square to Market Street there are twenty-seven millinery +establishments--count them for yourself--and with one exception the +other shops are devoted to the sale of cloaks and mantuas and +tailor-made gowns. All on the eastward of the street, you notice. +There is a dollar and a shilling side in Division Street, just as +elsewhere. + +Talk of Bond Street and Fifth Avenue! Where will you find twenty- +seven millinery shops in an almost unbroken row? What a multiplied +vista of delight for feminine eyes--hats, hats, hats, as far as the +eye can reach. Black hats and white hats; red, blue, and greenery- +yallery hats; weird creations so loaded with gimp and passementerie +as to certainly weigh a pound or more; daring confections in gauze +and feathers; parterres of exotic blooms such as no earthly garden +ever held; hats with bows on 'em and hats with birds on 'em, and +hats with beasts on 'em; hats that twitter and hats that squawk; +hats of lordly velvet and hats of plebeian corduroy; felt hats, +straw hats, chip hats; wide brim and narrow brim; skewered, +beribboned, bebowed--finally, again, just hats, hats, hats, a +phantasmagoria of primary colors and gewgaws and fallalerie pure +and simple, before which the masculine brain fairly reels. But the +woman contemplates the show with serenity imperturbable: the hat +she wants is here somewhere, and it is only a matter of time and +patience to find it. + +There is always a Mont Blanc to overtop the lesser Alpine summits-- +a Koh-i-noor in whose splendor all inferior radiance is +extinguished. + +Indiman touched my elbow. "Look at that one," he murmured. + +Now that WAS a hat. To describe it--but let me first bespeak the +indulgence of my feminine readers. I am not an authority upon hats- +-most distinctly not; and I shall probably display my ignorance +with the first word out of my mouth. But what matter. I am simply +trying to tell of what these poor mortal eyes have seen. + +In effect, then, the foundation of the hat appeared to be a black +straw, with a wide, straight brim, the trimming being a gimcrackery +sort of material whose name for the moment has escaped me. Suppose +we call it barege, and let it go at that? The principal ornament +was a large, red apple in wax, pierced by a German-silver arrow, +but the really unique feature of the entire creation was the +parasol-like fringe that depended from the edge of the brim, a +continuous row of four-inch filaments upon which shining black +beads were closely strung. An over-bold device, perhaps, but it +certainly caught the eye; there was a barbaric suggestion in those +strings of glittering beads that made one think of the Congo and of +tomtoms beating brazenly in the moonlight. A hat that WAS a hat, as +I have previously remarked, and Indiman and I gazed upon it with +undisguised interest. It is hardly necessary to add that this +particular hat had the place of honor in the shop-window, it being +mounted upon the waxen model of a simpering lady with flaxen curls +and a complexion incomparable. Assuredly, then, the pearl of the +collection. + +"L. Hernandez," said Indiman, reading the sign over the door. +"Spanish Jew, I should say. Yes, and the Queen of Spades in +person," he added, in an undertone, for L. Hernandez was standing +in the open door-way of the shop and regarding us with a curious +fixity of glance. + +Now, through the summer-time it is the custom of the Division +Street modistes to occupy seats placed on the sidewalk. In a +business where competition is so strenuous one must be prepared to +catch the customer on the hop. Even in winter the larger +establishments will keep a scout on duty outside, and the lesser +proprietor must, at least, cast an occasional eye to windward, if +the balance of trade is to be preserved. Undoubtedly Madame +Hernandez was taking a purely business observation, and we had +chanced to fall within its focus. + +The resemblance was, indeed, striking. There was the banded hair +over the eyes, the slightly drooping mouth, the peculiar upspring +of the eyebrow arch--the Queen of Spades in person, as Indiman had +said. And this was her third appearance. + +Indiman removed his hat with a sweep. "Madame," he said, with +elaborate civility, "it is a beautiful day." + +"What of it?" retorted L. Hernandez, ungraciously enough. "Or +perhaps the sun isn't shining above Madison Square," she added, +sarcastically. A strange voice this, raucous in quality and +abnormally low in pitch. + +"I haven't noticed," said Indiman, with undisturbed good-humor. +"Alike upon the just and unjust, you know. Now if you will kindly +allow me to pass--" + +"What do you want in my shop?" + +"I desire to purchase that hat," replied Indiman, and pointed to +the atrocity in the window. + +"It is not for sale." + +"I am prepared to pay liberally for what strikes my fancy." He took +out a roll of bills. + +"The hat is not for sale." + +"Madame," said Indiman, with the utmost suavity, "are you in +business for your health?" + +"I am." + +"Oh, in that case--" + +"You may come inside; it tires me to be on my feet for so long. To +my sorrow I grow stout." + +"It is an affliction," murmured Indiman, sympathetically. We +followed her within. The shop was crammed from floor to ceiling +with bandboxes arranged in three or four rows, and glazed presses, +filled with feminine hats and bonnets, lined the walls. Near the +window was a small counter, behind which Madame L. Hernandez +immediately installed herself, and from this vantage-point she +proceeded to inspect us with cool deliberation, fanning herself the +while with a huge palm-leaf. "You wish to buy a hat?" she said, +tentatively. + +"That one," answered Indiman, stubbornly "--that hat on the model's +head." + +"Bah! Senor, it is fatiguing to fight, like children, with pillows +in the dark. You want that Russian letter. Why not say so?" + +For a full half-minute their eyes met in silent thrust and parry; +it was to be a duel, then, and each was an antagonist to be +respected. + +"If it is a question of money--" said Indiman, slowly. + +"It is not." + +"Then I must take it where I find it." + +"So it appears," answered L. Hernandez, placidly. "But you must +first find it. Eh, my bold young man?" + +"Be tranquil, madame--" + +"I am tranquil. You are but wasting your time." + +"I have it to spend in unlimited quantity. I am a solitaire- +player." + +"Oh, you play solitaire. How many variations do you know?" + +"One hundred and thirty-five." + +"I can count one hundred and forty-two." + +"Including the 'Bridge'?" + +"The famous 'Bridge'! Do you know it, then?" + +"I learned it from a Polish gentleman in Belgrade." + +"It is difficult." + +"Enormously so. It may come out once in a hundred times." + +Madame L. Hernandez produced a pack of cards from underneath the +counter. "Will you oblige me, senor? I am anxious to see the play." + +Indiman proceeded with the explanation. It was too intricate for me +to follow. I could only understand that, with the solitaire +properly resolved, the cards should finally divide themselves into +four packs, headed respectively by the ace of clubs, king of +diamonds, queen of spades, and knave of hearts. Indiman tried it +twice, but the combination would not come out. + +"We will try it again to-morrow," said Indiman, rising. + +"With pleasure. Good-day, gentlemen. Mind the step." + +As we walked towards Chatham Square a stout man joined us, a man +with one ear noticeably larger than the other. "Mr. Indiman--" he +began, deferentially. + +"What, you, Brownson?" + +"Yes, sir. I have an assignment on this job from the Central +Office. I saw you coming out of L. Hernandez's just now. Smooth old +bird, ain't it?" + +"You on this case?" said Indiman, stupefied. + +"Yes, sir. You see, the parties concerned finally determined to put +it into our hands, and they'd have been enough sight better off if +they'd done it in the beginning. Bless you! it's no great shakes of +a lay-out. There's the letter--a single sheet of note-paper written +in violet ink on one side only, and we know the party who has it up +her sleeve. L. Hernandez--I don't mind saying it, seeing that +you're also on. I'll do the trick within three days, or you can +boil my head for a corned-beef dinner." + +"Well, good luck to you, Brownson," said Indiman, absently. There +was a cab-rank here in Chatham Square, and we drove up-town to the +Utinam Club for a late luncheon. While we were waiting for our +filet to be prepared Indiman wrote a brief note and had it +despatched by messenger; it was addressed, as he showed me, to +Madame L. Hernandez,--Division Street. "I'm not going to have that +booby upset the apple-cart for a second time," he said, savagely. +"Now we shall have to wait for at least three days." + +This was on Monday; on Friday we presented ourselves again to +Madame L. Hernandez. She received us politely, almost graciously; +she sat in the great chair behind the counter, engaged in the truly +feminine occupation of putting up her hair in curl-papers. A pad of +stiff, white writing-paper lay on the counter before her, and from +it she tore the strips as she needed them. + +"I am tired of these bandeaux," she explained, smilingly. "My +friends tell me that curls will become me infinitely better." + +"Your friends have reason," acquiesced Indiman; "but tell me, +madame, did you receive my note?" + +"I did, senor, and I return you a thousand thanks. Ah, how these +pigs of detectives have tortured me!--you would never believe it. +Twice my apartments, at the back there, have been entered and +ransacked from end to end; I even suffered the indignity of being +personally searched by a dreadful newspaper woman who had answered +my advertisement for 'Improvers Wanted.' Chloroformed in broad +daylight in my own house!" + +"But they didn't get the letter?" + +"I was not born yesterday, senor." + +"Good!" said Indiman, heartily. "What imbeciles policemen can be!" + +"What, indeed! Behold, senor, I show you the ruin wrought by these +swine. This way." + +L. Hernandez rose, waddled stiffly to the back room, and threw open +the door. "There!" she exclaimed, dramatically. + +Evidently these were the lady's living apartments--a bed-chamber +and a smaller room at the left, in which were a gas-range and some +smaller culinary apparatus. It was plain that the intruders had +made thorough work in their search. The carpet had been removed and +the flooring partially torn up; the walls had been sounded for +secret receptacles, the pictures stripped of their backing, and the +chairs and bedstead pulled half to pieces. "Not a square inch of +anything have they left unprobed by their accursed needles," said +L. Hernandez, furiously. "It will take me a month, stiff as I am, +to get things to rights." + +"An outrage!" said Indiman, soothingly. "Shall we have a try at +crossing the 'Bridge'?" And forthwith they sat down to the great +solitaire with the utmost amity. But again it did not come out; the +combinations were insoluble. + +The next day we paid another visit to L. Hernandez. + +"The curl-papers do not seem to be very effective," remarked +Indiman, glancing at the familiar smooth bands of hair drawn +straight down from the forehead and over the ears. + +"Ah, these wretched bandeaux!" sighed madame; "they are +intractable. I shall have to wear my curl-papers by day as well as +by night. Excuse me, gentlemen, for a few minutes," and she +disappeared into the back room, to shortly reappear with the +rebellious bands tightly swathed in a dozen little rolls of twisted +paper. "Again the impassable 'Bridge,'" she said, gayly, and the +pair wrestled half a dozen times with the problem--of course, +unsuccessfully. + +On the following day the comedy was repeated. + +"Madame," said Indiman, gravely, "you have again forgotten your +curl-papers." + +"Senor, my memory is undoubtedly failing; I go to repair the +omission." Re-enter madame in curl-papers, and then the "Bridge" as +before; da capo for a week on end. + +"It seems impossible to get that accursed combination," said +Indiman, and he threw down the cards. Madame L. Hernandez smiled, +and there was a little silence. + +"Madame," said Indiman. + +"Senor." + +"You are not treating me fairly. You have allowed those stupid +detectives to search your apartments, and I demand an equal +privilege." + +"You shall have it, senor. I am going to make a complaint of the +affair at Police Headquarters. Perhaps Senor Thorp will kindly +accompany me?" + +"Excellent! I will remain here, and if the letter is within these +four walls I shall find it." + +"My best wishes, senor." + +I called a coach. Madame arrayed herself in a fur cloak and crowned +herself, curl-papers and all, with that atrocious hat from the +window stock, a grotesque figure of a woman in all conscience. But +I had nerved myself for the ordeal, and we drove away amid the +jeers and laughter of the street crowd. In an hour we returned. +Indiman was placidly smoking and working on his solitaire. + +"You were successful, senor?" + +"No, but I have hopes." + +"Ah! Well, good-day, gentlemen. Come again." + +"Of course there was nothing," said Indiman to me as we drove home. +"I even went through every bandbox." + +"Yet you have hopes?" + +"Yes." + +It was the second day following, and we were calling again upon L. +Hernandez. There was the usual badinage about the curl-papers, and +madame retired to her private apartments, carefully closing the +door behind her. + +"Now!" said Indiman. Hastily he pulled forward a cheval-glass, +placing it upon a particular spot and tilting the mirror to a +certain exact angle. When finally it was adjusted to his +satisfaction, he motioned to me to come and look. In the mirror was +plainly visible a vertically reversed reflection of L. Hernandez. +Standing in front of a long dressing-glass in her bedroom, she +deliberately removed her chevelure in its entirety and tossed it on +the table. It was a wig, then; but I was hardly prepared for the +secret that it had concealed--for the close- cropped head, with its +straw-colored hair, was unmistakably that of a man. + +"Look! look!" whispered Indiman. + +From a drawer L. Hernandez had taken a second wig already furnished +with curl-papers; the adjustment took but a minute or two; the door +opened, and she reappeared, ready for the inevitable solitaire. + +On the way home that night Indiman stopped at Police Headquarters, +but he did not see fit to make the nature of his inquiries known to +me. On the subject of the apparition in the mirror, however, he was +more communicative. + +"As you know," he said, "the partition that divides madame's +private apartments from the shop does not extend to the ceiling; +there is a gap of some three feet. I had previously noticed the +cheval-glass in the bedroom; it was a natural presumption that L. +Hernandez would take her stand in front of it while engaged in +making her toilet. Now this glass is tilted at a sharp angle, and +consequently the reflection must be projected upward to a +particular point on the ceiling. Supposing a small looking-glass to +be fixed at this point, the rays impinging upon it will be cast +downward and ON OUR SIDE OF THE PARTITION, for the angle of +reflection is always equal to that of incidence. We have, +therefore, only to place in position a second cheval-glass, +arranged at the proper inclination, to obtain a reproduction of the +original image, although, of course, it will appear to us as +upside-down. I have only to add that the day you escorted madame to +Police Headquarters I took the opportunity to fasten a small mirror +on the ceiling, trusting that it would not be noticed. Nor was it; +the trap worked perfectly--an optical siphon, as it may be called-- +and the secret was mine." + +"And now?" + +"Wait until to-morrow," said Indiman. + +For the fiftieth time the game of solitaire was in progress, and on +this occasion it seemed as though the combinations were actually +coming out. Remember, that in the final fall of the cards it was +necessary that they should be in four packs, headed by the ace of +clubs, king of diamonds, queen of spades, and knave of hearts. +Already the first two ranks had been completed; it all depended +upon the disposition of the few remaining cards. + +"The queen of spades is buried," said L. Hernandez, with a sneer. +"You have failed again." + +"I think not," replied Indiman, calmly. "I am sure that the last +card is the knave of hearts." This was my cue. I stepped to the +door and made an imperceptible signal to Brownson, who, with two +other plain-clothes men, was lounging in a door-way across the +street. They seemed eternally slow in obeying; I felt the muscles +in my throat contracting with nervous excitement as I turned again +to watch the solitaire. + +But two cards remained to be played; they lay face downward upon +the table. If the upper one were the queen of spades, the packets +would be completed in their proper order and the solitaire would be +made; if it were the knave of hearts, the game would again be lost. +Slowly--oh, so slowly--Indiman turned the first card. + +"Knave!" shouted L. Hernandez, exultingly. Then she stopped and +went white. It was not the knave of hearts, but the queen of +spades, and over it had been pasted a small carte-de-visite +photograph--that of a man dressed in the coarse uniform of one of +the Russian penal settlements. With lightning swiftness Indiman +leaned forward and twitched the wig from L. Hernandez's head; the +man himself sat there before our eyes. + +Brownson and his bull-dogs stood at the door, revolvers in hand. +But there was no need. The squat, ungainly figure had fallen +forward upon the counter, crushing the horrible nightmare of a hat +of which I have so often spoken, and which, quite by chance, as it +seemed, had been lying there. Brownson sprang forward and raised +the limp body. The red, waxen apple had been broken into a dozen +pieces. Among them lay the fragments of a fragile glass phial, and +the smell of almonds was in the air. + +"Prussic acid," said Brownson, sententiously. "He wasn't the kind +to be taken alive." + +Indiman mechanically turned over the last card; it was the knave of +hearts, and the famous solitaire of the "Bridge" had been made at +last. He slipped the cards into his pocket and rose to go. +"Brownson," he said, with a little catch in his voice, "I didn't +think that it would come to this, but it had to be, I suppose. Have +him put away decently, and send the account to me." + +"Very good, sir. But ain't it a pity about that letter. However, we +can take a good look now, and maybe we'll turn it up yet." + +"Perhaps so," said Indiman. + +"His real name was Gribedyoff, and he was implicated in the +assassination of Prince Trapasky," said Indiman to me as we sat +over our cigars that night. "A desperate fellow, one of the +'Blacks,' you know. I picked his picture out in a moment at Police +Headquarters, after seeing his reflection in the mirror. I knew it +was necessary to surprise him, and so I borrowed the photograph and +used it to transmogrify the queen of spades card. Just for an +instant he lost his nerve, but that was enough." + +"But, as Brownson said, how about the letter?" + +Indiman drew from his pocket the wig, to which the curl-papers were +still attached. He unrolled one and showed it to me. I could see +that the strip was written in French on one side of the paper and +in violet ink. "It will be easy enough to piece it together again," +he said. "Plain enough now, isn't it, why L. Hernandez cared not at +all how often Brownson's men rummaged table-drawers and chair- +seats. The letter was safe until the time should come to use it. +Only it never came." + +"I suppose you are going abroad?" + +"I shall sail Thursday." + +"And you will be gone how long?" + +"That depends, doesn't it, upon the pleasure of that most gracious +lady the Countess Gilda. I may be back in a fortnight, and in that +case I will make an engagement with you. We will take a ride +together on a trolley-car." + +"Agreed," said I. + +It was a warm afternoon in the middle of May, and I was lounging in +the deserted common room of the Utinam Club when Esper Indiman +walked in. We shook hands. + +"You landed to-day?" I asked. + +"Yes, by the Deutschland." + +It was impossible for me to utter the inquiry that rose to my lips. +Indiman hesitated just a trifle, then he went on: + +"I delivered my letter to the Countess, and she was most obliged. +She asked me to stay on, but I had a previous engagement to plead: +you remember that I had agreed to go on a trolley-ride on or about +this date?" + +"I remember," I answered. "Let us interview Oscar, then, upon the +subject of dinner; it will be cooler up at Thirty-fourth Street. +Afterwards we will have our adventure on the trolley." + +Well, we went and had our dinner, but, as you shall see, the +trolley-ride had to be indefinitely postponed. We had started down +Fifth Avenue, and near Madison Square we ran squarely into +Indiman's cousin, George Estes. He was standing near a brilliantly +illumined shop-window, and gazing intently at a small object that +lay in the hollow of his hand. + +"Oh, it's you," he said, absently. Then, with a little laugh, "What +do you think of this?" He held out to us a small button fashioned +of some semiprecious stone like Mexican opal; it glowed with an +elusive reddish lustre. + +"It looks almost alive," commented Indiman. + +"The vital spark, eh? Well, you're not so far out, for it means a +man's life." + +"What is it, George?" asked Indiman, gravely. + +"Not to-night, old chap. It may be a mistake--probably is. Or say +that I was kidding you." + +"That won't do, George. You've said both too much and too little. +Cab there!" he called, and a hansom drew up to the curb. + +"You'll excuse me, Thorp--a family affair." He motioned to the boy +to enter; he obeyed, sulkily enough, and they drove off. + + + + +VII + +The Opal Button + + +Now, as a matter of fact, I had no part in the affair of the opal +button; for on the very next day following our meeting with Estes I +came down with typhoid and spent the next two months in the +hospital. I saw little of Indiman during that time, but his seeming +neglect was fully explained by the story he told me the night I was +well enough to get back to 4020 Madison Avenue. + +"You remember, of course," began Indiman, "that I went off with +Estes that May evening with just an apology to you about a family +affair. Really, I knew nothing; but the boy's manner struck me as +peculiar, and, while the incident of the opal button was trifling +in itself, I was sure that there was something behind it. But when +I plumped the question squarely at Estes he had nothing to say +except that the jewel had been slipped into his hand while he stood +looking into a shop-window. Where it came from he did not know; +what it meant he either could not or would not tell. So I had to +drop the subject for the time. But it came up again of its own +accord four days later, the exact date being May 15th. So much by +way of preamble; the story proper I will read from my notes. + +"'De Quincey was right, and murder should be a fine art. But the +Borgias--only amateurs! The far-famed Aqua Tofana--pooh! Any +chemist will put it up for ten cents. Only be careful how you use +it. Chemical analysis has advanced somewhat since the day of the +divine Lucrezia, and a jury would convict without leaving their +seats.' + +"'Rather rough on your business, I should think,' said Estes, +speaking somewhat thickly, for the port had stopped with him +overfrequently of late. 'Is poisoning really out of date?' he +continued. + +"'As absolutely as crinoline and the novels of G. P. R. James,' +answered our host, lightly. But I, who was watching him closely, +saw his eyes harden. Estes had said more than one imprudent thing +that evening, and this time he had gone too far. I would have to +get the boy away somehow. + +"There were three of us dining with Balencourt that evening at his +chambers in the Argyle--Estes, Crawfurd, and myself; and as usual +we had had an excellent dinner, for Balencourt knew how to live. +Who was Balencourt? Well, nobody could answer that precisely, but +his letters of introduction had been unexceptionable and his checks +were always honored at Brown Brothers. Moreover, Crawfurd had met +him frequently at the Jockey Club in Paris, and there was his name +on White's books for any one to read. A man of forty-five perhaps, +clean-shaven, well set up, an inveterate globe-trotter, a prince +among raconteurs, and the most astounding polyglot I have ever met. +I myself have heard him talk Eskimo with one of Peary's natives, +and he had collated some of his researches into Iranic-Turanian +root-forms for the Philological Society. But let us go back to our +walnuts. + +"Crawfurd picked up the thread. 'Then the science of assassination +is a lost art,' he said, tentatively. + +"'Oh, I did not say that,' replied Balencourt, carelessly. 'There +are other ways--better ones.' + +"'You mean beyond the risk of detection?' + +"'Perfectly.' + +"'Eliminating the toxic poisons of all kinds?' + +"'If you like.' + +"'I doubt it.' said Crawfurd, with a little hesitation. + +"'And I deny it,' interrupted Estes, rudely, and stared straight at +Balencourt. A quick glance answered his challenge; it was like the +engaging of rapiers. + +"'Perhaps Mr. Estes desires proof,' said Balencourt, slowly. + +"'I do.' + +"'Let us say between--' + +"'To-night and the 1st of August.' + +"'That will suit me perfectly. My passage is booked on the +Teutoninc for the following Wednesday.' + +"'It is also the day set for my wedding to Miss Catherwood,' said +Estes, quietly. + +"Balencourt took it admirably. 'So you have obtained the decision +at last,' he said, smiling lightly. 'My felicitations.' + +"Crawfurd rose to his feet. The jovial flush had strained away from +his fat cheeks, and his jaw hung loose and pendulous. 'For God's +sake, fellows--' he began, but Balencourt stopped him with a +gesture. + +"'This is a private matter between Mr. Estes and myself, as he +knows full well. So far as you and Mr. Indiman are concerned, call +it what you like--a duel, or, better yet, a sporting proposition.' + +"'The stakes?' put in Crawfurd, feebly, for, shaken as he was, he +could still grasp at the definite idea included in the last-named +alternative. Sport and a wager--now he understood. + +"'The stakes?' repeated Balencourt. 'Well, they are hardly of a +nature that either Mr. Estes or myself can intrust them to the +keeping of a third party. But rest assured that the loser will pay; +it is a debt of honor.' + +"Up to this moment I had kept silence, but now I must make my one +try. 'He is but a boy,' I said, leaning my elbows on the table and +seeking to plumb the soul-depths in the cold, gray eyes of the man +who sat opposite to me. But Balencourt only laughed amusedly. + +"'Then he should not assume a man's--' + +"'Will you come now, Cousin Esper?' interrupted Estes. He pushed +his chair noisily back, and we all rose. + +"'You won't wait for coffee?' said our host. 'Just as you please.' +He touched the call-button, and Jarman entered to help us on with +our top-coats. Par parenthese, how account for the anomaly of this +scoundrel of a Balencourt possessing the most perfect of serving- +men? There never was anybody who could roll an umbrella like +Jarman, and I have been around a lot in my time. After the +catastrophe I tried my best to locate him, but without success. He +was gone; the pearl had dropped back into the unfathomable depths +of ocean. Perhaps he followed his master. + +"The door closed behind us, and we three stood in the street. 'A +cab?' I queried, and a passing hansom swung in towards the curb. + +"'I'd rather walk along with you, Cousin Esper,' said Estes. 'Jump +in, Mr. Crawfurd, and we'll pick you up later at the club.' + +"Crawfurd nodded and was forthwith driven away. I turned to Estes. + +"'What is it, George?' I asked. 'Remember, there's Elizabeth to be +considered in this.' + +"Now, while Estes is a second cousin of mine, 'Betty' Catherwood is +my niece, and so I considered that I had a double right to stick in +my oar. But I wasn't prepared for the depth of trouble that I +encountered in the glance George Estes turned on me. 'So bad as +that!' I finished, lamely. + +"'It won't take long in the telling,' began the boy, desperately. +'You remember that after I left Princeton I went to Germany for a +two years' course in international law under Langlotz; it was a pet +idea of the pater's.' + +"I nodded. + +"'Well, we all make fools of ourselves at one time or another, and +here is where I donned the cap and bells. You have heard'--here he +lowered his voice--'of the "Dawn."' + +"'The revolutionary society?' + +"'Yes; it's the active branch of the "Sunrise League"--the +practical work, you know. I joined it.' + +"I had nothing to say. George laughed a little dismally and went +on: + +"'Absurd, wasn't it? I, a citizen of the best and freest country on +earth to be making common cause with a lot of crack-brained +theorists who would replace constitutional government by the +"Lion's Mouth" and the "Council of Ten"--a world ruled by a secret +terror. But it seemed all right at the time. What was my life or +any one man's life to the progress of civilization? It was only +when I came to look at the means apart from the end that I realized +the horrible fallacy of it all.' + +"'You withdrew, of course.' + +"'You don't quite understand. One doesn't withdraw from the "Dawn." +He may cease to be identified actively with the propaganda, but he +is still subject to be called upon for a term of "service"--that's +the ghastly euphemism they use. You remember this and the night I +received it?' + +"He took a pasteboard box from his pocket and handed it to me. It +contained a small, red button, fashioned out of some semiprecious +stone resembling Mexican opal. + +"'It was the first summons,' continued Estes, 'and within three +days I should have been on my way to Berlin--to receive my +instructions.' + +"'You refused, then?' + +"'There was Betty,' said the boy, simply. + +"'You must understand,' he went on, 'that this "service" can only +be demanded once of a member. He may refuse compliance, if he +chooses, but in that case there is a forfeit to be paid, and it +becomes due after the third warning.' + +"'Well?' + +"'Must be paid, you understand. If not by the recalcitrant himself, +then by the agent of the "Forty" through whom the summons comes. +That makes it clear, doesn't it--Balencourt and his debt of honor?' + +"'When did you know--about him, I mean?' + +"'Here is the second button. Balencourt slipped it into my hand +just before we went out to dinner to-night.' + +"'It is incredible. Balencourt is a man and you are but a boy. To +take advantage of an act of youthful folly--' + +"'You forget that it is his life or mine,' interrupted Estes, +quietly. + +"'But, George, it is unthinkable. When he knows--but you did tell +him--about Betty--' + +"'That's just it, old chap. Balencourt asked her to marry him a +week ago, just before I received the first red button.' + +"The monstrousness of the thing struck me all of a heap. 'The +police,' I said, vaguely, but Estes shook his head. + +"'It is but postponing the bad quarter of an hour,' he said, +gently, 'and I don't think that I could put up with this sort of +thing indefinitely. Moreover, it wouldn't be fair to--to Betty. + +"'No,' he went on, 'it's better to have a limit set, just as it is +now--for at least Balencourt will keep his word. Once past the 1st +of August, I am safe.' + +"'We'll work within the limit, then,' I said, cheerfully. 'If we +three--Crawfurd, you, and I--can't match wits with one polyglot son +of the "Dawn," we might as well let the bottom drop out of the +Monroe Doctrine and be done with it.' + +"We had arrived at the club. For an instant our hands met. 'Not a +word to Betty,' he whispered. + +"'Of course.' Then we went up-stairs to the pipe-room, where we +found Crawfurd sitting gloomily over his fourth Scotch-and-soda. +The clocks were striking three when we took Estes back to his +apartments, and we both spent the night with him. The issue had +been fairly joined, and it was exactly two months and a half to the +1st of August. + +"The rest of May passed absolutely without incident, and sometimes +it was difficult to believe in the reality of the contest in which +we were engaged. Yet we omitted no precaution, and during the whole +fortnight Estes was never for a moment out of the sight of either +Crawfurd or myself. But no; I'll correct myself there, for we had +to allow him an hour and a half every evening with Betty, and I +used to mount guard in the street outside, measuring the cold and +unsympathetic flag-stones. And no thanks for it, either; indeed, +Betty's manner was distinctly top-loftical whenever we chanced to +meet, she being a young person of discernment, and perfectly well +aware that we were keeping her in the dark about something. But it +helped George to forget, and so I counted it in with the rest of +the day's work and held my peace. + +"As for the rest, there was nothing to be done except to keep a +couple of 'shadows' on Balencourt, and we had a full account of his +movements by eight o'clock every night--a regular ship's chart +worked out with time-stamps and neat entries in red ink, after the +accustomed fashion of Central Office men. So May and the first two +weeks in June dragged uneventfully along; the period of stress was +already half over. Then came Monday, the 15th of June, and with it +a little shock. Our man--I mean Balencourt--concluded to disappear, +and he did it as effectually as though there were no such thing as +a 'shadow' in existence. When the head-sleuth came that night to +report his discomfiture, I cut him short in his theorizing and +asked for the facts. But there was only the one--Balencourt was +certainly non est, and that was all there was to say. Whereupon we +banished the 'shadows' to the outer darkness whence they had come +and convened our original council of war. + +"One thing was plain--the danger of remaining longer in the city. +There are so many things that may happen in a crowd, and especially +if our friend Balencourt formed part of that unknown quantity. +There is always a chance of a chimney-pot tumbling about one's ears +or of being run down by some reckless chauffeur. And who is to know +the truth? Accidents will happen; they are wilful things and insist +upon keeping themselves in evidence. Imprimis, then, to get out of +town. But where? + +"'Hoodman's Ledge,' began Crawfurd, a little doubtfully, but I +caught him up with joyful decision. + +"'The very thing,' I said. 'I'll send a wire to the caretaker to- +night, and we'll be off by Thursday. I invite you all--for six +weeks. Why, of course, George, that includes Betty and her mother; +they were to come to me, anyway, in July.' + +"Now, Hoodman's Ledge is one of the innumerable small islands that +dot the Maine coast above Portland. A few years ago the fancy had +taken me to buy the island--it was only three acres in area--and +later on I had put up a house, nothing very elegant, but everything +for comfort, a model bachelor's establishment. For our present need +no better asylum could have offered. The island was small and +occupied only by my own domestic establishment. It lay in the bight +of Oliver's Bay, quite a mile from the nearest shore, and there was +but one other bit of land anywhere around--an uninhabited islet +known as 'The Thimble,' that lay a quarter of a mile due east. +Surely this isolation promised security. Here, if anywhere, we +might snap our fingers at the machinations of M. Balencourt and the +mysterious 'Forty.' It would be rather cold off the Maine coast +during this unseasonable summer, but there were fireplaces in +plenty and stacks of drift-wood. The only real difficulty lay in +persuading my estimable sister to cut short her Newport visit and +come to me a month earlier than usual. + +"Finally, I left it to Betty to manage. 'I can't explain myself any +clearer, my dear,' I ended up, rather lamely, 'but it will be +better for George. Will you do it?' + +"'So you won't trust me with the secret? No; you needn't protest-- +there is a secret, and I ought to know it. But you have put it so +cleverly that I haven't any choice in the matter. "Better for +George" indeed! Very good, mononcle; I'll obey orders. But remember +that it will be the worse for you later on, unless you can show +good and sufficient reason for this ridiculous mystery. Poor, dear +mamma! how she will hate to be plucked up--like an early radish.' +And thereupon Miss Betty sailed away with her small head tilted +skyward. + +"But she did manage it, and by Thursday night the party was +actually assembled at 'The Breakers.' There was a sou'easter on +that night, but the drift-wood burned stoutly in the wide chimney- +piece, with now and then a cheerful sputter as a few stray drops +sought to immolate themselves in the green and purple flames. + +"'Not so bad--eh, mamma?' said Betty, as she slipped another pillow +behind Mrs. catherwood's back and handed her the last volume of +'Gyp,' with the pages neatly cut. And then she actually smiled over +at me. I think I am beginning to understand Betty. + +"Again I pass over many uneventful days. 'Nothing doing,' as +Crawfurd put it, and laisser-faire was a good enough motto for our +side of the house. The two children, of course, were blissfully +happy. + +"Three, four, nearly six weeks, and no sign or sound from M'sieur +Balencourt. Not so surprising, after all, seeing that we were +living on an island surrounded on all sides by deep water and no +land within a mile except that little dot called 'The Thimble.' And +while we didn't make any parade of our precautions, Crawfurd and I +kept watch and watch, just as we used to do in the old Alert, on +the China station, twenty-odd years ago. Moreover, the gardener and +my boatman were men who could keep their eyes open and their mouths +shut, and, finally, there were the four dogs--two Great Danes, a +collie, and 'Snap,' the fox-terrier. It would have been a bold man +who sought to visit Hoodman's Ledge, uninvited, during that +particular month and a half. + +"It was the morning of the 1st of August, and I was lounging on the +piazza, Crawfurd being on duty at the time. The warm weather had +come at last. The air was so soft and delightful that the +scientific review I had been reading slipped from my hand and I +gave myself up to indolence, gazing lazily at the white pigeons +that were trading about the lawn, between the boat-house and a +rustic pavilion overlooking the tennis-court. One bird I marked in +particular, admiring his strong and graceful sweeps and dips as he +circled about, possessed, as it were, with the pure joy of motion. +I followed him as he sank down on a long slant to the lawn, swift +as a bolt from the blue; then I rubbed my eyes in amaze. It was a +pigeon of snowy whiteness that an instant before had been flying +free; it was a coal-black nondescript that now fluttered feebly +once or twice and then lay still on the gravelled path, close to +the stone sun-dial. I ran down the steps and bent over the pitiful +thing. Pfui!--the bird was but a charred and blackened lump of dead +flesh. There was a disagreeable odor of burned feathers in the air. +Mechanically my eye fell on the sun-dial; there was a spot the size +of a silver dollar on the side of the pedestal where the stone had +crumbled and disintegrated, as though it had been placed at the +focus of some immensely powerful burning-glass. I stepped behind +the sun-dial and looked out to sea. And there, in line with the +pedestal of the dial and the dead bird on the path, lay 'The +Thimble.' + +"Now, as I have said, 'The Thimble' was a rocky islet only a few +rods in extent, but densely wooded with spruce and blue-gum. The +general shape of the rock was that of a lady's thimble; hence the +name. Rather a picturesque object in the seascape, but, of course, +utterly valueless except for occasional picnic uses--a bit of No +Man's Land whose purpose in the economy of nature had hitherto +remained unfulfilled. But now? + +"I went back to the piazza and caught up a pair of stereo- +binoculars that were lying on the table. There, shining like a star +through the close curtain of green that veiled 'The Thimble,' was +the projecting end of a highly polished tube of steel. And even as +I gazed a man's face peered out as though in the act of sighting-- +Aram Balencourt! + +"Then I understood. The tube was the means of projecting some +enormously powerful heat-beam whose nature must be akin to that of +the so-called X-ray. The article I had been reading not ten minutes +ago--what was the title?--'Radium, the Wizard Metal'--that +incomprehensible substance, forever sending forth its terrible +emanations, yet never diminished by even the ten-thousandth part of +a grain--a natural force whose properties and functions were but +imperfectly understood, even by the learned men who had succeeded +in isolating it, an agent of such enormous potency that an ounce or +two might serve to put a battle-ship out of commission--a couple of +pounds and the universe itself were endangered. Even now from that +steel tube, sighted so carefully on the pedestal of the sun-dial, +billions of ions might be rushing, invisible to the eye, but +certain death to whatever of animal existence they chanced to +encounter. There was the pigeon lying dead on the walk. + +"'Do hurry, George,' called out Betty's thin, sweet treble. She +stood at the entrance to the pavilion and waved a tennis-racquet +impatiently. + +"'Coming,' was the cheerful response, and Estes turned the corner +of the house. He took the gravelled path at full speed. In an +instant or two at the farthest he would be passing between the sun- +dial and the dead pigeon, in line with those deadly radiations. + +"We had been playing a little single-wicket earlier in the day, and +a cricket-ball lay on the wicker table at my hand. I could not have +uttered a word or a cry to save my life--to save his--but instinct +held true. With a full, round-arm sweep the ball left my hand, +catching the boy squarely on the forehead. He fell within his +stride. + +"Betty was with us on the instant, but I seized and held her +despite her struggles. Naturally, she thought I had gone mad. Then +I looked over again at 'The Thimble,' just in time to see a sheet +of palest-colored flame shoot up from the island. The dense mass of +green foliage seemed to wither and consume away within the tick of +a clock. Through the glass I caught a glimpse of a dark figure that +rolled down to the water's edge, clutching feebly at the shifting +shingle. Perhaps a log, after all--it lay so still. + +"An instant later 'The Thimble' disappeared in a cloud of grayish +vapor, the dull sound of an explosion filled the ear, and the +ground under our feet trembled. There was nothing to be seen, even +with the glass, save a light scum covering the water and some +fragments of charred tree branches. But the air about us was full +of a fine dust that powdered Betty's hair, as though for a costume +ball, and made me cough consumedly. + +"Naturally, there were quite a number of explanations to make to +Miss Betty after George had been resuscitated--a slightly +disfigured hero, but still in the ring--but I spare you. The dear +girl listened quietly, but at the end she began to tremble, and I +won't say but that she cried a bit. It doesn't matter if she did, +and I think we all began to feel a little queer when we came to +think it over. However, it WAS over--no possible doubt about that. + +"'One thing I don't understand,' said Crawfurd. 'There were to be +three warnings, and Estes only received two of the red buttons.' +Whereupon Betty blushed, and drew a little package from her pocket. + +"'It came last night directed to George,' she said, 'but I forgot +to give it to him. It broke open in my pocket and it contained +this.' She held out to us the third red button. That was decent of +Balencourt--to have given the last warning. + +"There is only one possible hypothesis to account for the +catastrophe. Balencourt was dealing with a terrible force, whose +nature was but partially understood, even by science. He had +intended to use it to fulfil the vengeance of the 'Dawn' but +something had happened, and in an instant the monster had turned +and rended its master. That is all that we can know. + +"Two days later George and Betty were married, for they stuck to +the original date in spite of the fact that George, with a lump on +his forehead as big as the cricket-ball itself, did not make a +particularly presentable bridegroom. I carried an umbrella at the +function whose incomparable rolling was remarked upon by all. Need +I say that it was the same umbrella that Balencourt's man, Jarman, +had manipulated for me that fateful evening when we dined at the +Argyle. I shall never unroll that umbrella, even at the cost of a +wetting. To me it is a memento." + +"There's melodrama for you," said Indiman, a little shamefacedly as +he finished. "But one feels differently, you know, about taking +chances where a nice girl like Betty is concerned. Let me see; it's +still early. Do you feel up to taking that long-deferred ride on a +trolley-car? Good! We'll take the cross-town over to Eighth Avenue +and get into the heart of it at once." + +"That's an unlucky number," said Indiman, as we boarded a car. +"Sixteen hundred and twenty-four--the sum of the units is equal to +thirteen." + +"You're going to lose some money," I suggested. + +"The tip points that way," he replied. + + + + +VIII + +The Tip-top Tip + + +Do you know Abingdon Square? It is a small, irregularly shaped +triangle of asphalt situated on the lower West Side, and at the +intersecting-point of Eighth Avenue and Hudson Street. The houses +that front upon it have seen better days. Many of them are now the +quarters of cheap political clubs or centres of foreign +revolutionary propaganda. It is a neighborhood that has finally +lost all semblance to gentility and has become frankly and +unreservedly shabby. A square, mind you, and not a park, for there +is neither blade of grass nor tree in all of its dreary expanse. +Half a block to the north lies a minute gore of land surrounded by +an iron fence, and here are flowers and greenery upon which the eye +may rest and be satisfied. But in Abingdon Square proper there is +only the music-stand, that occupies the middle of the miniature +plaza, a hideous wooden structure in which one of the city bands +plays on alternate Sunday afternoons during the summer. However, +open space counts in the city, and the air circulates a trifle more +freely through the square than it does in the side streets--at +least, that is the opinion of the neighborhood people, and they +flock there on a hot night like seals at a blow-hole. Even the +submerged tenth must come up to breathe now and then. During the +dreadful passage of a hot wave from the West one may count them by +the dozens, coatless and even shirtless wretches, lying prone on +the flag-stones like fish made ready for the grid. Occasionally, a +street-cleaning "White Wings" will be compassionate enough to open +a fire-hydrant, under pretence of flushing the gutters, and then, +for a few minutes, there is joy in Abingdon Square. Women line the +curb, cooling their feet in the rushing flood; the men light their +pipes and contentedly watch the children as they paddle about. +There is the echo of mountain brooks in the gush of the water as it +roars from the hydrant. With eyes tight closed one may conjure up +the phantasma of green leaves waving and of meadows knee-deep with +lush grasses and starred with ox-eyes. Such is Abingdon Square on a +night in early August when first the dog-star begins to rage. + +Now my friend Esper Indiman is a social philosopher; life in all +its phases interests him tremendously. Consequently, he likes to +take long rides on trolley-cars. He calls them his vaudeville in +miniature, and sometimes the performance is amusing--I acknowledge +it freely. But to-night the actors were few and the play dull. I +began to yawn. The car, one of the Eighth Avenue line bound down- +town, swung round a curve into Abingdon Square, and Indiman touched +my arm. + +"What's going on over there?" he said. + +Although it was not a concert night, there was a crowd around the +band-stand. It looked as though some one was haranguing the +assemblage from the vantage-point of the music pavilion--a local +political orator or perhaps a street preacher. "Salvation Army," I +suggested. + +"Shall we take a look?" I nodded, and we alighted and pushed our +way to the front. + +It was a young man who stood there, rather a nice-looking chap, +with a broad forehead from which the thin, fair hair fell away in a +tumbled wave. He was attired in evening clothes, assuredly an +unusual sight in Abingdon Square, where they do not dress for +dinner, and the expression upon his countenance was that of +recklessness tempered with a certain half-humorous melancholy. "One +dollar," he repeated, as we came within sight and hearing. "Do I +hear no other bid? One dollar, one dollar. Will any gentleman make +it a half?" + +"I'll give fifty for your skull alone," spoke up a youngish, +sallow-faced man who stood directly opposite the stand. "On +condition," he added, in a lower tone, "that the goods are +delivered at Bellevue before the end of the week. Foot of Twenty- +sixth Street, you know." + +The young man smiled with a pathetic quizzicality. "Now, doctor," +he said, reproachfully, "there's no use in going over that ground +again. I made the terms of the sale perfectly plain, and there can +be no deviation from them." + +"Well, if that's your last word," retorted the unsuccessful bidder, +"I'll say good-evening." + +He turned to Indiman, who stood at his elbow. "A fakir," he +growled, disgustedly. "Now, I'll leave it to you, sir." + +"If you will acquaint me with the essential particulars," said +Indiman, "I shall be most happy to pronounce upon them." + +"In two words. This cheap josher has been offering to sell himself, +out and out, to the highest bidder. I make him a cash offer and he +takes water." + +"Pardon me," interrupted the young man in evening dress, "but your +bid is plainly for what the students in medical colleges call a +'subject.' Now, I expressly disclaimed any intention of terminating +my material existence at any fixed period in the future. On the +contrary, it is for the purpose of prolonging my life that I am +driven to this extraordinary procedure. It is myself, my talents, +and my services of which I desire to dispose. My skull, in which +you seem to take such an interest, goes, of course, with the +bargain. But I do not guarantee immediate delivery." + +"Your services," sneered the student of medicine. "May I inquire +into their nature and nominal cash valuation?" + +"I am an experienced leader of the cotillon," answered the young +man in evening clothes, with a sweet and serious dignity. + +"Umph!" + +"I play a fair hand at Bridge, and have an unexceptionable eye for +matching worsteds." + +"G-r-r!" + +"That about sums up my list of accomplishments, but I dare say that +I could learn to dig, for I have my full complement of limbs. +Finally, a rare and pretty talent for losing money and a penchant +for the unlucky side of everything." + +"Well, gentlemen," declared the student of medicine, with a snort, +"it's quite evident that we're all playing the fool together. I +wish you a very good-evening, and the devil take all crawfishers." +And with that he marched off, evidently in high dudgeon. A little +ripple of laughter swept over the upturned faces of the crowd. "One +dollar," repeated the young man, his voice full of a polite +weariness. "Do I hear no other bid? I offer myself, a human +chattel, at absolute sale; no reservations; warranted sound and +kind; no objection to the country; not afraid of the Elevated +railway." + +"Five dollars," said a voice at the rear, and a short, stout man, +with little, black, beadlike eyes, held up his hand to identify his +bid. "Joe Bardi," said a man to his neighbor. Both turned +interestedly. + +"And who is Joe Bardi?" inquired Indiman, blandly. + +"Business of shipping sailors. There's big money in it, they say." + +"Ah, yes, a crimp--isn't that what they call them?" + +"Right you are, mister. A hard one, too. It'll be a sharp man that +does for old Joe Bardi." + +"Five dollars," came again from the squat figure with its ratlike +eyes, and the young man in evening dress paled a little. He had +over-heard the colloquy between Indiman and the native Abingdonian, +and it is difficult to regard with equanimity the prospect of a +trip before the mast--to China, let us say. In an American ship, +too, more shame to us that it must be said. + +But the young man was thoroughbred. He had sat down to play a +desperate game with Fortune, and he could not withdraw with the +cards on the table. + +"Five dollars," he repeated, mechanically. "Five dollars. What am I +offered? Five dollars." + +"Want me to buy you dat, Mame?" said a half-grown boy of the +unmistakable tough type. "Whatjer soy? Five cases for dat mug! And +Tuesday ain't bargain-day, nuther." + +"Well, it looks like thirty cents," said Mame, critically. "In +Chinese money, too--thirty yen-yen. What you say, John?" The crowd +laughed again. + +"Five dollars." + +"Five dollars," repeated the young man, and there were little drops +of sweat on the broad, fair forehead. "Five dollars, five dollars. +Do I hear no other bid? Five dollars--going--going--" + +"Six." + +It was Indiman who spoke, and this time the crowd gaped in good +earnest. An indescribable emotion possessed for an instant the face +of the young man in evening clothes. Then he fell back upon his +first manner, half-petulant, half-mocking. "Six dollars I am bid," +he announced, briskly, and looked straight at the shipping agent. + +Joe Bardi hesitated. "And a half," he said, tentatively, as an +angler who feels the mouth of the fish that he fears may be +insecurely hooked. + +Indiman capped the bid promptly. "Seven dollars," he said. + +The crimp scowled. "Make it eight," he retorted. + +"Ten." + +The Italian hesitated again. This had the appearance of a contest, +and he was not of the sort who love a fight for its own sake. But +his cupidity had been powerfully aroused. There was a pretty profit +in advance money to be made if he could get this young fool's +signature on the ship's papers of the Southern Cross, outward bound +for Shanghai, on the morrow. He must make at least another try. It +might be that the intrusive stranger from the silk-stocking +district was only amusing himself and would presently withdraw. + +"Twelve," he said, and "fifteen," answered Indiman. + +The crowd laughed, and Joe Bardi's vanity was sorely touched. It +was not pleasant to be badgered in this unseemly manner while +engaged in beating one's own preserves. Discretion forsook him +forthwith. + +"Twenty-five," he bellowed. + +"Fifty." + +"A hundred, and be damned to you!" + +"Two hundred." + +There was a pause; the crowd held its breath in silent and joyous +expectancy. Joe Bardi passed a hand over his wet forehead and +pulled irresolutely upon his cigar. A severe-looking old man +expressed his entire disapproval of the proceedings. "It's against +the Constitution," he said, loudly. "How about the Fourteenth +Amendment? Well, the number doesn't matter anyway. Officer, I call +upon you to stop this unlawful and outrageous farce. A human being +selling himself on the auction block! The slave-market set up again +in this Christian city of New York! It's a crime against the +Constitution." + +But the policeman was a prudent person, and as yet he had seen no +cause to interfere. The proceedings were unusual, no doubt, and +they might be against the Constitution; he wouldn't like to say. It +was none of his business anyway; HE went by the code. + +"Bah!" snorted the old gentleman, and rushed away to find a city +magistrate. + +"Two hundred dollars," repeated the young man in evening clothes. +"Two hundred dollars. What am I bid? Going, going--" + +The shipping agent made a hasty mental calculation--there was no +profit in the transaction at anything over his last bid of an even +hundred. But he was tempted to go a little further and run up the +price on his adversary, thus punishing him for interfering in a +man's private business. Very good, but suppose the stranger +suddenly refused to follow the lead; then it would be Joe Bardi +himself who would be mulcted. Revenge would be sweet, but it was +too dangerous; he would stop where he was. + +"Two hundred, two hundred--going, going--" The crowd began to +banter the crimp. + +"Lift her again, Joe," called out one voice. "Open up that barrel +of plunks you've got stored away in your cellar," exhorted another +counsellor. "A nice, white slave--that's what you're needing in +your business," advised a third. But Joe Bardi kept his eyes on the +ground and said nothing. + +"Gone," said the young man in evening clothes. + +Indiman took four fifty-dollar bills from his wallet and handed +them to the young man. The latter glanced at the notes and stuffed +them carelessly into his waistcoat-pocket. Then, turning to +Indiman: + +"Sir," he said, with a profound seriousness, "I am now your +property. Ah! Pardon me--" + +Like a cat he had sprung between Indiman and the crimp. With a +dexterous upward fling of his arm the knife in the Italian's hand +went spinning into the air. This was something that came within the +policeman's accustomed sphere, and he took immediate charge of Mr. +Joe Bardi. It was all done in a most methodical manner, and ten +minutes later we were free to depart. A "cruiser" cab rattled by +and the three of us squeezed in. + +"To the Utinam Club," ordered Indiman. + +Seated at a table in the big dining-room of the club, we drank a +formal cocktail to our better acquaintance. + +"But I am afraid that you have made a bad bargain," said the young +man to Indiman. + +"Frankly, now, I doubt if I can be made to pay even three per cent +on the investment. That's no better than a government bond and not +half so safe." + +I have already collected one satisfactory dividend," said Indiman, +courteously. "That was cleverly done--to force the knife out of his +hand and into the air." + +"It's a part of the Japanese science of defence without weapons," +said the youth, blushing ingenuously. "Jiu-jitsu, you know. I took +some lessons of a chap in Tokio." + +"Moreover, there is your story," continued Indiman. "Will you favor +me with some particulars regarding yourself and the circumstances +leading up to our late meeting? The situation was an unusual one, +and the explanation should be interesting." + +"On the contrary," answered the young man, with a faint smile, "my +narrative is of the most commonplace character imaginable, save +only for the final chapter. But judge for yourself. + +"My name is Luke Harding, and, so far as I know, I have not a +single blood relation living--at least, none nearer than a third +cousin. Two years ago I inherited my paternal estate. It was too +small to support me in the manner of life to which I had been +accustomed, and at the same time it was large enough to effectually +deaden any inclination towards real work. As an inevitable +consequent, I became a speculator. Little by little my fortune has +disappeared in the abyss of stock gambling; now it is gone +entirely. To add to my misfortunes, my apartments were entered last +night by burglars and literally cleaned out. I must have been +drugged, for when I awoke this morning, with a bad headache, I +could remember nothing of what had happened; there were only +results to speak for themselves. The loot had been complete; the +scoundrels had even carried off my ordinary garments, leaving me-- +what exquisite irony!--only this suit of evening clothes wherewith +to cover my nakedness. Being somewhat sensitive to the proprieties, +I was obliged to remain within doors until darkness fell, and I +spent the time meditating upon my future course of action. As I +have said, I have no relatives to whom I could apply, and my +friends had already taxed themselves beyond reason in my behalf. It +was clear, then, that I was born unlucky, and I concluded that I +had no longer any right to a separate and independent existence. To +one of my temperament suicide is a difficult proposition. Finally, +I lit upon the idea which you have just witnessed in execution. A +healthy, intelligent young man--surely there must be some market +for his exclusive services? Fortunes used to be made in the African +slave-trade. + +"It only remains to add that I immediately started to realize upon +these reasonable expectations. I went to the plaza at Fifty-ninth +Street and Fifth Avenue and asked for bids. Unfortunately, no one +seemed to take me seriously, and a policeman obliged me to move on. +I had the same disheartening experience in front of Delmonico's and +again in the Turkish room of the Waldorf-Astoria. It is August, you +know, and the town is empty, but I was a bargain; I can say that +without affectation. Merely to have bought me on speculation, with +the idea of unloading on one of the Adirondack or White mountain +hotel resorts--it would have been impossible to lose. But I could +not get a bid, and so I shifted along down-town--Madison Square, +Union Square, then westward by Jefferson Market and West Tenth +Street. Ever edging a little closer to the river, you observe, and +yet, upon my honor, I was not conscious of any definite volition in +the matter; it was as though some one were gently pushing me along. +Then Abingdon Square and your entrance upon the boards of my little +drama--you and Mr. Bardi. Gentlemen, I thank you for your +attention." + +"I should say, Thorp," said Indiman, "that Mr. Harding is well +qualified for membership in the Utinam Club. Will you put him up +and I'll second him? The club," he added, by way of explanation to +our guest, "is an association of the unsuccessful in life--the non- +strenuous, the incapable--above all, the unlucky." + +"Rest assured that my eligibility is beyond question," answered Mr. +Harding, with a smile. "In a society where misfortune confers a +certain cachet I may confidently expect to attain distinction." + +"Do you really consider yourself an abnormally unlucky person?" +said Indiman, seriously. "I have a reason for asking." + +"Upon my soul," returned the young man, warmly. "I verily believe +that I have a genius for getting on the wrong side of things. If I +should wager you that I am alive at this moment there would be a +bolt out of the blue before the money could be paid over." + +A heavily built man of elderly appearance entered the dining-hall. +He was accompanied by a friend who might be a banker or broker. The +pair picked out a table on the opposite side of the room and +immediately plunged into earnest conversation, their heads close +together and speaking in guarded undertones. + +"The gentleman with the gray hair," said young Mr. Harding, +eagerly, "that is Senator Morrison, chairman of the committee on +foreign relations. He must be just in from Washington. Congress, +you know, is in extra session." + +"Ah, yes; an able man," said Indiman, politely. + +"He would know--he would know," muttered Harding, disjointedly. His +burning gaze fixed itself upon the two men at the distant table, as +though by sheer will-power he would surprise the secret of their +whispering lips. "He must--he does know." + +"What?" asked Indiman. + +"Man, man, it's a matter of millions! Panama Trading Company common +stock is quoted at 70, and everything depends upon the passage by +the Senate of the canal treaty. The committee must have come to a +decision, and Morrison knows. I tell you he knows--he knows. One +word--it would be enough--Wall Street--Panama common--" + +Indiman did not answer; he seemed preoccupied, indifferent even, +his chair pushed back from the table and his eyes half closed. Let +me explain that the small side-tables in the Utinam Club dining- +room are not set flush against the wall, as is usually the case, +but at some little distance from it. Consequently, when there is a +party of three at a table, one man sits on the inside with his back +to the wall, a sensible arrangement in that it allows the waiter +free access by the unoccupied outer side of the table. It so +happened that Indiman had this inside seat. + +Harding's lips moved mechanically. "The treaty, the treaty!" he +repeated again and again. "The committee reports to-morrow; the +Senate is certain to act upon its recommendation. If I only knew!" + +The conference at the other table was a brief one; its continuance +had been measured by the consumption, on the part of the Senator, +of a couple of biscuits and a glass of spirits-and-water. The two +men rose and left the dining-room, + +"Of course you are going back to-night, Senator," said the younger +man as they passed our table. + +"At midnight. A hard trip." + +"But a profitable one; don't forget that." They laughed and walked +on. + +For a little while we sat in silence over our cheese and salad. +Then Indiman spoke up, suddenly: + +"Mr. Harding." + +The young man looked at him dully. + +"The story of your persistent ill-fortune has interested me. But I +find it difficult to believe in the consistency of bad luck; it +must change sooner or later." + +"Not for me," answered the young man, with quick conviction. + +"I have a fancy to put that to the test. Take this card to my +brokers--you know them, Sandford & Sands, of New Street. I have +instructed them to place at your disposal a credit of one hundred +thousand dollars. You will be at their office to-morrow morning, +and at precisely ten o'clock you will receive from me a sealed +communication containing certain information upon which you can +rely absolutely. Use your credit according to your best judgment, +and report the results to me at eight o'clock to-morrow evening. +The address is on the card, and you will dine with me." + +"I thank you," said the young man, simply. "If such a thing were +possible--" He stopped and shook his head. + +"Nonsense!" said Indiman, bluffly. "You must believe in yourself, +man; it is the first requisite for success. To-morrow evening at +eight, then." + +Sitting over a final cigar in Indiman's library, he made me a +sharer in the mystery. "It is simply that the canal treaty will be +reported unfavorably to-morrow by the committee, and consequently +it will fail to pass the Senate. How do I know? I heard it from +Senator Morrison's own lips." + +"Well?" + +"As you know, the dining-hall of the Utinam Club is of a circular +shape, and it happens to possess certain peculiar acoustic +properties. In other words, it is a whispering-gallery, and it so +chanced that Senator Morrison sat at one of the definite points-- +they call them vocal foci, I think--and I at the other. That is the +whole story." + +"You are quite sure--there can be no mistake?" + +"Not the slightest doubt. The man with Morrison is a broker, and he +has the Senator's order to sell ten thousand Panama common at the +market to-morrow. When the news of the treaty's failure to pass +reaches Wall Street, by the regular channels, the stock will break +sharply and the profits on the deal should be enormous. No wonder +that Senator Morrison's flying trip to New York should be worth the +taking." + +"And Harding?" + +"It remains to be proven whether the fault lies in the man himself +or in his alleged bad luck. I am sending him the bare fact as to +the canal bill's fate, and it is for him to seize the skirts of +chance. I'll write the note now and deliver it at the office myself +in the morning. Then we will see." + +"We will see," I echoed, and we parted for the night. + +At one o'clock the following afternoon Indiman and I stood watching +the ticker in an up-town broker's office. + +"The Senate rejects the canal treaty," read out Indiman. "Now for +the next quotation of Panama common; the last sale was at 70 1/2. +Will you take the tape, Mr. Barnes?" + +There was an instant's pause in the click-click of the instrument, +the heart-gripping lull before the breaking of the tempest. Then +the wheels began to revolve again, and the white tape, our modern +thread of the Norns, sped through the twitching fingers of the +young chap to whom Indiman had yielded place. + +"Five hundred Pan. com., 68," he read out. "One thousand, 67 1/2; +four hundred, 67; two thousand, 65. I guess I've seen enough, +gentlemen; it's my--my finish." He gulped down something in his +throat and walked over to the water-cooler, + +"And enough for us," whispered Indiman. "Let us go." + +"It's the way of the world," I philosophized as we gained the +street. "One man up and another down. He is young; he will have his +chance again." + +"It is Harding's day," said Indiman. + +Panama common had closed at 50, a drop of twenty points; there was +a fortune to be made in selling even a few thousand shares short of +the market. It was Harding's day, indeed. + +Eight o'clock and Indiman and I sat awaiting his coming. The +electric bell rang sharply, and Bolder ushered in our protege. He +came forward, shook hands, accepted a cigar, and sat down. + +"You received my note?" said Indiman. + +"Yes." + +"What did you do?" + +"I bought five thousand Pan. com. at 70." + +"Oh, the deuce!" and Indiman stared blankly at his guest. + +"You see, it's no use--" began the young man, apologetically, but +Indiman cut him short. + +"No use! And with my message in your hand before the market opened- +-the exclusive, the absolute information--" + +"Here it is," said Mr. Harding, and handed Indiman his own note. +The latter glanced at the contents, and suddenly his face changed. + +"Read that, Thorp," he said, and tossed me the message. The letter +contained these words: + +"The canal treaty will pass the Senate. Use your own judgment." + +"In some inexplicable absence of mind I left out the all-important +'not,'" said Indiman, ruefully, "and it has cost me one hundred +thousand dollars. Mr. Harding, I beg your pardon. You are the +unluckiest man alive," and he went on to tell him of the +whispering-gallery and of the secret obtained in manner so +extraordinary. "And then, through my stupidity, worse than wasted," +he concluded. "I can't understand it; I read that note through +twice before I sealed it up. It is incredible." + +"No, it is my luck," said young Mr. Harding, and took a fresh +cigar. "Or, rather, your luck," he corrected himself, smilingly. +"Have you forgotten that I am now your property?" + +"God forbid!" said Indiman, hastily. "I give you back yourself-- +consideration of one dollar. You're a witness, Thorp. And now shall +we go in to dinner?" + +A position in a wholesale business house was secured for young Mr. +Harding, and for a month or two he seemed to be doing very well. +Then one day he resigned; a letter to Indiman gave the explanation. + +"He's going to marry a wealthy widow," read out Indiman. "They sail +on the Lucania next Saturday." + +"Then luck has turned for him," I said, heartily. "I'm glad of it." + +"Hym!" said Indiman. "Perhaps so." + +From the street came the sound of a hand- organ. It was playing +Verdi's "Celeste Aida," and so lovely is the aria that I could have +listened to it with pleasure, even when thus ground out +mechanically. But, unfortunately, an atrocious mistake had been +made in the preparation of the music cylinder. In the original the +final note of the first two bars is F natural, while in the third +bar the tonality is raised and the F becomes F sharp. The +transcriber had failed to make this change, and so had lost the +uplifting effect of the sharped F. All the life and color of the +phrase had been destroyed, and the result was intolerable. + +I fished out a quarter and rang for Bolder. "Send him away," I +said, somewhat impatiently. + +The servant returned looking puzzled. "The organ-grinder said I was +to give this to the gentleman," he said, and handed me a small +object. It was a brass baggage-check issued by the New York Central +Railway, from Cleveland to New York, and bore the number 18329. I +passed it to Indiman, ran to the window, and looked out. But the +organ-grinder was gone. + + + + +IX + +The Brass Baggage-Check + + +It is not every day in the week that a hand-organ plays "Celeste +Aida" under one's window with an F natural in the third bar where +the music rightfully calls for F sharp. Nor is it usual to send out +a quarter of a dollar to the man as an inducement for him to +retire, and then to receive in return a New York Central baggage- +check numbered 18329, and reading from Cleveland to New York. Esper +Indiman and I exchanged smiles. + +"This looks like the real thing," said my friend. "My dear Thorp, +there must be some rare element in your chemical make-up that +serves to precipitate these delightful mysteries. Adventures fairly +flock about us. We shall have to screen the doors and windows or be +overwhelmed. Seriously, I am infinitely obliged to you, for I had +started on my eleventh game of solitaire, and was beginning to feel +a trifle bored. But now--now there is something doing, as Mr. +Devery would remark. Let us start the ball rolling by giving Bolder +the third degree." + +Bolder, recalled, was disposed to be cheerfully communicable. +Certainly he would know the man again; he had a good look at him. +The sun was shining brightly, and it had fallen full on the +fellow's face. + +"Describe him, then," said Indiman, note- book in hand. + +Put to the test, Bolder was not so good a witness as we had hoped +for; he wandered and grew confused in his statements. Light hair? +Yes, it might have been that--though, now that he thought of it, +the shade was rather on the darkish order. An old man? Well, not +noticeably so; perhaps thirty-five or a little younger. + +"Or a little older--say fifty-five?" + +"Well, it might have been fifty-five, sir. I couldn't swear to it +exactly." + +"That will do, Bolder," said Indiman, and our witness retired +abashed. + +"Check number one," commented Indiman. "Suppose we try the Grand +Central now. We won't take out the carriage; the day is fine and I +want the walk." + +It was a beautiful morning in August, cool and clear, and we strode +along briskly. A hand-organ began playing in a side street, and we +stopped to listen. "It's the same aria," I said, excitedly-- +"'Celeste Aida.' What tremendous luck! No, it isn't; deuce take +it!" I went on, dejectedly. + +"But you just said it was the same," persisted Indiman. + +"With a difference," I hastened to explain. Now, Indiman is not +musical, and I had some trouble in convincing him that within the +compass of a semitone a veritable gulf may yawn. This particular +organ played the phrase in the third bar correctly--F sharp and not +F natural--and consequently it could not be the same instrument +that had vexed my ears half an hour ago at No. 4020 Madison Avenue. + +"There is a real difference, then?" said Indiman, thoughtfully. +"One that you would recognize again?" + +"At any place or time," I answered, confidently. "It is an absolute +means of identification, quite as much so as a glass eye would be +in a man's face." + +"Very good. We'll find that hand-organ, then, if we have to go +through 'Little Italy' with a drag-net. How beautifully the problem +is working out!--almost too beautifully." + +At the incoming baggage-room Indiman presented the check numbered +18329. A porter appeared with a large trunk loaded on a truck. +"City transfer?" he asked. + +"No, I'll take it with me," said Indiman. "Thorp, will you get a +hack." + +We were about to drive off, and I felt for my match-box. Provoking! +I must have left it at home, and I wanted a cigarette. "One +moment," I called, and jumped out, having caught sight of Ellison, +who had been with me in college. He was hurrying into the station. +I should be glad to have a word with him and secure a match at the +same time. But somehow I missed him in making my way through the +swinging doors. Ellison was nowhere to be seen, and I had to +content myself with getting a light at the cigar counter. I went +back to the carriage and climbed in. + +"It was Ellison," I explained. "A good chap, and I should have +liked to meet him." + +"Some other time, perhaps," said Indiman, politely, and we drove +off. + +"So you've got it," I said, staring up at the trunk that occupied +the box at the hackman's left. "It looks ordinary enough." + +"The porter told me that it came in last night on the Lake Shore +Limited," said Indiman. "Nothing remarkable about that, either." + +A sudden thought struck me. "By Jove! we're no better than +thieves," I said, frowningly. "The possession of a baggage-check +doesn't necessarily carry with it the ownership of the parcel for +which it calls. The rightful proprietor may be even now at the +Grand Central explaining the loss of the check and trying to +identify his property." + +Indiman looked a little blank. "Of course, your obvious theory may +be the true one," he said, slowly. "The hunting of mare's-nests is +a weakness of mine. But what are you about there?" + +"Telling the driver to take us back to the station," I answered, +with my hand on the check-cord. + +"I don't know about doing that--just now. There might be some +awkward explanations to make to your hypothetical owner. Or, +failing him, to the police." + +"It doesn't absolutely follow," he continued, "that there is an +owner or that he is anxious to claim and recover his property. He +may have substantial reasons for wanting to get rid of it. Remember +that the baggage-check was handed in at my door with the express +direction that it was to be given to the gentleman of the house. +We'll have to see it through, I think." + +I had nothing more to say, and shortly afterwards we pulled up at +No. 4020 Madison Avenue. Bolder and the hackman carried the trunk +in, and Indiman directed that it should be placed in the library, +the front room on the first landing. The cabman was paid and +dismissed, and we were left alone. + +"Now for it," said Indiman, gayly. "I have always preferred mutton +to lamb." + +The trunk was of the cheap variety, covered with brown paper that +vaguely simulated leather. It was perfectly new, and this was +probably its first trip on the road. The lock was of simple +construction. It should be easy to find a key to fit it, and one of +mine, with a little filing, did the trick. The bolt shot back, and +Indiman unhesitatingly threw up the lid. + +There was no tray in the trunk, and the interior space was filled +with some bulky article that had been carefully shrouded by +manifold layers of cloth wrappings. I know that the same thought +was in both our minds, but neither of us spoke. A keen-bladed ink- +eraser lay on the desk before me, and I handed it to Indiman. He +made a swift cut in the wrappings and drew the severed edges apart- +-a naked human foot protruded. To this hour I have only to shut my +eyes to immediately recall that horrid vision. I remember +particularly the purplish hue of the swollen veins, the +unmistakable rigidity of the joints and muscles. + +Indiman shut down the lid and turned the key in the lock. We +looked, white-faced, one at the other, then at the maid-servant who +stood not ten feet away. Had she been any nearer? + +"What is it, Mary?" said Indiman, sharply. + +The girl, confused and stammering, explained that she had come in +to sweep; she had no idea that Mr. Indiman was in the library. No, +the door was not locked, and she had just that moment walked in. +Indiman cut short her apologies, and, with a tolerable assumption +of indifference, dismissed her to her duties elsewhere. + +"Unfortunate," he remarked, with a frown. + +"I doubt if she could have seen anything," I answered, +reassuringly. "I should have heard her if she had come any nearer, +and the trunk was only open for a second or two." + +"Quite long enough for anything to happen," said Indiman." I say, +Thorp, but this is a go," he went on, cockily enough. Then suddenly +the steadiness went out of his voice, like a match-light in a high +wind, and he finished with a little, choking gasp, "Just the very-- +rummest go." + +I don't remember that we had a drink on the strength of it, but +it's more than probable. Then we sat down to consider. + +The natural, the obvious, and the only proper course of action was +to go at once to Police Headquarters and make a frank statement of +the case with its attendant circumstances. True, we were +undistinguished citizens, with neither pull nor influence, but +surely respectability must count for something, even as against +charges of admitted theft and suspected murder. If we owned up now +we should be subjected, doubtless, to more or less annoyance +growing out of the affair, but the position would be infinitely +less difficult than if we waited for events to force it upon us. +"Murder will out," I quoted. + +"So they say," answered Indiman, and stared thoughtfully at the +ceiling. + +And yet in the end we abandoned this eminently sane conclusion, +deciding that we would keep our own counsel and let the matter work +itself out. For such a crime as murder does not end with the actual +deed; the rupturing of the thousand and one ties that bind even the +most insignificant of lives to the general body of human existence +cannot be accomplished without some disturbance; a circle has +myriad points, and at any one of them the interrupted current may +again begin to flow. Perchance the message falls upon indifferent +ears or is too feeble and incoherent in itself to compel attention. +In this event the signals must necessarily grow weaker and more +infrequent until they finally cease altogether--the crime is now an +accomplished fact, the chapter is finally closed. Or, again, the +call may come as plangent and insistent as the stroke of a fire- +alarm; the whole community hears and instantly understands; the +murder is out. + +Now either of us could presume to measure the precise quality of +odic force inherent in the grisly mystery that lay under our hand; +the affair might range from the dignity of a cause celebre to the +commonplace of a purely commercial transaction--the economical +transportation of a medical college "subject." It was this very +uncertainty that fascinated our imaginations and so allowed the +sober judgment to be deposed. Our ostensible argument was that the +police would be sure to make a mess of the affair. If that idiot, +Detective Brownson, took hold of it, the goddess Justice might +throw up her hands as well as close her eyes. And inwardly we +desired to cherish our secret out of the same sense of fearful joy +with which one listens to a ghost story--we had tasted the coal- +black wine pressed from forbidden grapes, and we craved a yet +deeper draught. Finally, a connoisseur does not willingly +relinquish a good find, whatever the circumstances; there are +bibliomaniacs who will not hesitate to steal what they may not +otherwise procure. I myself know a charming woman who collects +Japanese sword-guards AT ANY COST (I have her husband's authority +for this statement). + +But, seriously again, the grip of the mystery was upon us; the +inclination had become irresistible to see the thing out, or at +least to let it run a little further, just as a child amuses itself +with fire--the desire to see what will happen. Later on it might be +necessary to pull up sharply, but the contingency would doubtless +provide for itself. The ultimate fact remained that here was a +genuine adventure, and as connoisseurs of romance we were bound to +exploit it to the utmost limit of our ability. So be it, then. + +"The finding of that organ-grinder is our first and obvious +procedure," said Indiman, slowly. "And the clew to his identity +lies, as you have explained, in his instrument." + +"The organ itself is a criminal; it murders 'Celeste Aida.'" + +"I believe that most of these instruments are rented from one +company," continued Indiman. "We can find out definitely at the +city License Bureau, and we might as well make that the starting- +point of our investigations. We have plenty of time before +luncheon; it is barely twelve o'clock." + +"But shouldn't we begin with--with the thing itself," I objected, +and glanced nervously at the big trunk standing in the middle of +the floor. The identity of the victim--it may be possible to +establish it--a most important point, surely." + +"I'll have to pass up that part of it--at least for the present," +said Indiman, frankly. "But we must get the box out of sight +somewhere. The weather"--and here he gave a little involuntary +shudder--"is getting warmer. We'd better get it down into the +cellar. I'll see if the way is clear." + +The servants were all busy in the upper part of the house, and we +succeeded in getting the trunk down into the cellar unobserved, +stowing it away temporarily in an empty coal-bin. On our way up- +stairs we encountered the maid, Mary, and something in the hasty +way in which she stood back to let us pass stirred again my vague +suspicions. But there was nothing to say or do; we must trust to +luck. + +Then there was no difficulty in finding the office of the company +that leases hand-organs to itinerant musicians, and the manager, an +Americanized Italian, was most courteous in answering our +inquiries. It appeared that this particular aria of "Celeste Aida" +was only included in the repertoire of some half-dozen of the older +instruments. It chanced that they were all in stock at the present +time, and it would be no trouble at all to let us hear them play. +"Our incomparable maestro--he is no longer remembered," said the +manager, mournfully. "The public--now it is that they demand what +you calla hot stuff--'Loosianner Loo' and the 'Lobster Intermezzo,' +Per Bacco! if they would but open their ears--la--la--there it +goes-- + +'"Ce-le-ste A-i-da, For-ma di-vi-na'-- + +Ah, gentlemen, THAT is musica." + +An amiable person, but we were wasting both his and our time. Each +one of the six organs reproduced the original notation of the aria, +and the imperfect instrument must therefore be in private hands. So +we returned thanks to Mr. Gualdo Sarto for his courtesy, and went +away somewhat disheartened. Haystacks are large places and needles +small objects. + +Two days went by--days spent in aimless wandering about the streets +waiting for a distant hand-organ to give tongue. Then a hot chase, +only to draw another blank. + +On the third day I came home alone about five o'clock. The weather +was really hot again, and I was tired out with tramping. Yet a +little chill ran down my spine as I happened to glance across the +street and caught sight of a man's face in an areaway. He had been +watching me; of that I was certain. + +I went up to the library and sat there waiting for Indiman. The man +in the areaway waited also. + +At half after six Indiman appeared. He, too, had been unsuccessful; +I could see it in his face before he spoke. I told him of the +suspicious loiterer across the street. Together we kept close watch +on the areaway, and after a while the fellow came out and strolled +off with what was intended to pass as jaunty indifference. But we +were not deceived. + +"That fool of a girl has talked," said Indiman. "Looks like it." + +"See here, Thorp, that thing in the cellar--we'll have to do +something at once." + +I nodded. + +"The flooring in the coal-bin is brick; it won't be difficult to +take up a section large enough for--" + +I nodded again. + +I shan't forget what we did that night--the stealing down into the +echoing cellar--the flickering of the candle-light on the white- +washed walls--the sound of the spade clinking against a casual +stone. + +How we worked! Like slaves under the lash--an actual lash of +terror. For we were afraid, frankly and honestly afraid, of what we +had done and of what we were doing. I know that the sweat fairly +poured off me. My word! but it WAS hot, and there was a fearful +significance in the thought that urged us on to even greater +exertions. + +It had to be done, and at last it was, the bricks neatly replaced +and the surplus earth packed away in gunny-sacks to be removed at +the first favorable opportunity. Then in the gray dawn we drew +ourselves wearily up-stairs, and, separating without a word, went +to our rooms. Was it pure, malignant chance that the maid, Mary, +passed me on her way down-stairs and glanced, with a curious, +shrinking repugnance, at my earth-stained and dusty clothes? I did +not care; I was dog-tired and I wanted but one thing--bed. I +reached my couch, fell sprawling upon it, and slept for seven hours +straight. + +It was a relief to awake from the phantasmagoria of horrors that +crowded my dreams. It was nearly two o'clock, and I had written to +my friend Ellison asking him to luncheon at that hour. The meal was +rather a silent one for two of us, but Ellison talked incessantly. +He was in high spirits, having just been appointed to a university +professorship in physiology--his specialty. "I've been busy getting +my lecture material together," he explained, and "I had a beastly +piece of bad luck the other day. My own fault, I suppose, but it +illustrates the point that our American baggage system is still far +from perfection. Now the European idea--" + +"Shall we go into the library for coffee," said Indiman, a little +abruptly, and I could see that Ellison's chatter was beginning to +get on his nerves; my own were vibrating like harp-strings. I +walked over to one of the library windows and looked out, just in +time to catch sight of a man backing quickly into the shadow of the +areaway opposite. + +From down the street came the sound of a childish voice singing. +Great Heavens! It was Verdi's aria "Celeste Aida," with F natural +in the third bar instead of F sharp. + +"I am going out for a few minutes," I said, carelessly. "Just +around the corner to get a special-delivery stamp. Of course you'll +wait, Ellison," and I gave Indiman a quick glance. He understood. + +Perhaps I was shadowed by the watchers in the areaway. I neither +knew nor cared. My one idea was to catch up with the child, and +this time luck was with me. + +The little girl acknowledged shyly that she had learned the tune +from a hand-organ. "It belongs to my uncle Bartolomeo," she +explained, proudly. "It is a good organ, signore. There are little +figures of men and women under the glass front, and when the musica +plays they dance--so." + +Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to +accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue. He spoke English +perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd. Well, we would find +some way of getting the truth out of him. + +A police-officer opened the door for me. So the blow had fallen +already. I went on up to the library, taking Bartolomeo with me. At +the door I waited a moment. + +Brownson sat at the long table, the picture of the zealous and +efficient guardian of public safety. The maid-servant, Mary, had +just been interrogated--of course, it was she who had betrayed us, +and Brownson was evidently her young man. What infernal luck! + +"Now, Mr Indiman--" said Brownson, sternly, "but be careful what +you say; it may be used against you." + +Indiman told the whole story without reserve, and Brownson listened +with cold incredulity. But Ellison seemed interested. + +"A baggage-check handed in at the door," commented the detective, +with judicial impassivity. "Where is this organ-grinder?" + +"Here," I answered, and entered with Uncle Bartolomeo. + +But the examination, severe as it was, revealed only the bare fact +that Bartolomeo had found the brass baggage-check lying on the +sidewalk in front of No. 4020 Madison Avenue. He was an honest man, +and, moreover, the acticle was of no use to him. He had given it to +the servant at the door to be handed over to the gentleman of the +house. That was all he knew. By the Holy Virgin, he had spoken the +truth! + +Brownson rang the call-bell. "Bring in the trunk," he said, curtly, +and forthwith two policemen appeared with the fatal box, just as it +had been exhumed from its resting-place in the coal-bin. "Hullo!" +blurted out Ellison, in vast surprise, and somehow my sinking +spirits revived with the word. + +"Who is this gentleman?" demanded Brownson, frowning at the +interruption. + +"Dr. Ellison," I answered. + +"Medicine?" + +"Yes." + +"Hum," said Brownson, importantly. "I will ask him to kindly take +charge--" + +"I should think so," broke in Ellison, cheerfully, "seeing that +it's my own property. I lost baggage-check No. 18329, from +Cleveland to New York, the night of my arrival in town, and +somewhere in this very neighborhood. The next morning I went to the +Grand Central to prove my ownership, but the trunk had been claimed +and carried away." + +"You are aware, Dr. Ellison," said Brownson, "that this trunk +contains--well, we all know what." + +"Oh, do we!" retorted Ellison, smartly. "Just stand back there." He +took a key from his pocket and unlocked the trunk. An irresistible +curiosity drew us forward again. Ellison seized the wrapping and +jerked it forcibly apart. I turned my eyes away, and Mary screamed +outright. + +"Did you never see an anatomical manikin before?" asked Ellison, +scornfully. "Made out of papier-mache, you know, and used for +demonstrations in physiology before college classes. They used to +come from Paris, but they're making them in Cleveland now, and +better than the French ones. I tell you I'm mighty glad to get my +'old man' back; he's just out of the shop and cost me a hundred- +dollar bill." + +Mr. Detective Brownson walked over to the trunk, gazed intently at +the manikin, and gingerly poked it once or twice in the ribs. He +turned red and swallowed at something in his throat. + +"So you wish to make a charge against these gentlemen?" he asked, +with almost a note of appeal in his voice. + +"Not I," answered Ellison, cheerfully. "It's all between friends, +and they can settle the matter with me over a petit souper at +Delmonico's. Good-day, officer." + + How quickly the echoes of the strenuous life die away. After the +storm and stress of those dreadful four days one would suppose that +peace at any price were the one thing worth while. And for a month +or more we were quite content with the humdrum of ordinary +existence. And then just because a game of patience would not make-- + + + + +X + +The Upset Apple-Cart + + +Indiman was playing solitaire and I was idly looking on. It so +happened that an important card, the ace of hearts, was buried, and +Indiman had tried every legitimate means to get it out without +success. + +"You can't do that," I said, decidedly, as Indiman was about to +make a move. He looked up, caught my eye fixed upon the game, and +colored deeply. Then he frowned and swept the cards into a +disorganized heap. + +"I really believe that I was on the point of cheating myself," he +said, soberly. "That argues a shameful flabbiness of the moral +fibre, doesn't it? A 'brace' game of solitaire! What a hideous +picture of degeneracy!" + +"Lay it on the weather," I suggested. "These gray November days +with their depressing atmosphere of finality may be held +responsible for anything." + +"Even my own pet extremity--the upsetting of an apple-cart. Really, +I'm getting dangerously close to it. Let's go out for a walk." + +Now, why did Tito Cecco, dealer in small fruits, choose this +precise day and hour to halt his barrow at our corner? Push-carts +are not allowed in Madison Avenue, anyway, and five minutes earlier +or later he would have been moved on by the policeman on the beat. +But in that mean time Esper Indiman and I had left the house. The +cart piled high with red and yellow apples confronted us, and a +dangerous glint came into Indiman's eye. + +"Indiman!" I implored. + +Too late! With the mischievous agility of a boy, Indiman seized the +hub of the near wheel and heaved it into the air. A little ripple +of apples swept across the asphalt roadway, then a veritable +cascade of the fruit. The light push-cart lay bottom up, its wheels +revolving feebly. Tito Cecco had become incapable of either speech +or motion. Then he caught the glimmer of the gold piece in +Indiman's fingers, and grabbed at it eagerly. + +It is a poor sort of catastrophe that does not attract the +attention of at least one pair of youthful eyes, and the vultures +are famous for their punctuality in the matter of invitations to +dinner. Where did all the boys come from, anyway; the street was +jammed with them, and reinforcements were constantly arriving. Tito +Cecco, having pouched Indiman's gold piece and righted his cart, +had hastily departed. He had made a good thing out of the +transaction, and explanations to policemen are awkward things-- +always so. + +The pile of fruit had disappeared with incredible swiftness, but +the boys themselves departed slowly, as though reluctant to leave a +region of such extraordinary windfalls. One little chap had fared +particularly well, for both his coat-pockets were stuffed and each +fist grabbed a big specimen of the beautiful fruit. A young fellow, +fresh-faced and country- looking, had been looking at the scene +from a little distance down the street. Now he walked up and spoke +to the small boy. + +"Give you a nickel, bub, for one of the red ones. They look just +like the apples up in Saco, Maine. Lord's sakes, how I wish I was +there!" + +The boy signified his willingness to make the bargain, but he +wanted to give a sporting color to the transaction. "Right or +left?" he asked, his hands held behind his back. + +"Left, of course," answered the yokel. + +"'Ain't I always been that?" + +The boy handed over the apple, received the promised nickel in +return, and departed with a joyous whoop. The young countryman held +up the apple and looked at it sentimentally. + +"Now, what under the canopy's that!" he exclaimed. There was a +piece of paper tightly twisted about the stem of the fruit. He +unfolded it carefully, for it could be seen that it bore a written +message. + +When a man with a complexion like a new red wagon turns pale it +means something. Indiman and I stepped up, for we really thought +that he was going to faint. + +"Much obliged, gentlemen. I'm all right now," said the young chap. +"But for the minute I was that struck. Say, gentlemen, you'll think +I'm a liar, but it was my own girl, Miss Mattie Townley, who wrote +that there letter and twisted it around an apple-stem. And she +wrote it to me--me, Ben Day. What do you think of that?" + +"This is a world of infinite chance," said Indiman, politely. + +"Look for yourself. I don't mind, and neither would Mattie." + +Indiman took the little scrawl of paper and I looked over his +shoulder. It read: + +"Ben Day, if you're not an altogether born fool, come back to Saco, +Maine. I never meant a word of what I said--you KNOW that. M. T." + +"S'pose you'd call it a lovers' quarrel," explained Mr. Ben Day. "I +just piked out of Saco, Maine, like a bear with a sore head, and +come down here to New York. For three months I 'ain't sent sign nor +sound to the home people, but she was bound to catch up with me. +And, by jinks! she just did. Wonder how many other Baldwin pippins +are taking the glad tidings round the country. I'd give a nickel +apiece for a million of 'em." An actual tear glistened in the young +fellow's eye. It was impossible not to sympathize, and we both +congratulated him heartily. + +"Of course, you're going back to Saco at once?" said Indiman. + +"If I could get the five-o'clock express there's a through +connection up north. I'd do it, too"--his voice fell suddenly-- +"only for--" + +"Only for what?" + +"This," and he held out a small package that he had been carrying. +It was box-shaped and neatly wrapped in light-brown paper. The +parcel was addressed to S. A. Davidge, 32 Edgewood Road, Exeter, +England, and it bore a pasted label that read, "From Redfield & +Company, Silversmiths, Maiden Lane, New York City." It also carried +the label of the Oceanic Express Company, marked, "Charges Paid" +and "per S.S. Russia" with the package number, 44,281, in indelible +pencil. + +"Well?" said Indiman, interrogatively. + +"You see, I was in a scrape on account of that thing, and I wanted +to put the matter straight. Up to ten o'clock this morning I was in +the employ of the Oceanic Express Company--one of the messengers, +you know, sir, who go out with the wagons. It was our first trip of +the day, and we had a big load of small stuff for the Russia, When +I had unloaded and checked up my sheet, No. 44,281 was missing. I +went back to the office, reported the loss, and was discharged on +the spot--they're hard as nails on anything like that. Well, I went +home pretty blue, for it's hard work finding a job nowadays, and I +didn't know which way to turn. I'd been keeping bachelor hall with +the driver of the wagon. He's a foreigner named Grenelli, and +claims to be an Italian. Maybe so, but he looks more like a German, +and he can talk half a dozen languages. I used to go with him to +the socialist meetings over on the East Side, and the Tower of +Babel isn't in it with those fellows. + +"An anarchist? Oh, I don't think so. Liked to shoot off his mouth +about the rights of man, and he was always down on taxes. But I +shouldn't call him an anarchist. Why, he was the driver of an +express wagon, and the two things don't jibe. + +"I should have said that Grenelli had been suspended during the +investigation into the loss, and of course we went home together. +We talked the thing over from end to end, but we couldn't explain +the disappearance of the package--neither of us. Of course, it was +me who was the real responsible party in the business, and +Grenelli, who naturally wanted to get back on his time, felt pretty +grouchy about it. Finally, I got mad, told him to go to blazes, and +cleared out of the house. + +"Well, about an hour after that I went home, and met Grenelli +coming out; he said that he was going down to the company stable. +At two o'clock he come back all out of breath, and he had the +package with him--yes, sir, that identical package that we'd been +looking for. Told me that it had been found under the driver's seat +wrapped up in one of the horse- blankets. Seems funny, too, for we +had hunted through that wagon-body a dozen times. + +"However, that makes no difference; we had the package, and I had +just started down-town to turn it in when I stopped to look at the +excitement here. Lucky for me, or I'd never had a bite of this +particular red apple, the sweetest pippin that orchard ever grew. +Excuse me, gentlemen, if I do the saphead act--by jinks! I FEEL +like it." + +"The sentiment does you honor, Mr. Day," said Indiman, gravely. +"You ought to take that five-o'clock train." + +"Wouldn't I like to!" sighed the enamoured youth. "But I can't go +down to the company office in Bowling Green and get back in time to +make it. It's three o'clock now." + +"You would not care to intrust the delivery of the package to me?" + +"Well, hardly," was the frank reply. "You see, mister, I've been +living in New York for three months, now, and I've cut most of my +eye-teeth. No offence, of course." + +"Certainly not." + +"You look straight goods, and I b'lieve I'd run almost any risk to +catch that train--well, by jinks! here comes Grenelli now; that +makes it all O.K." + +I did not like the looks of the man who presently joined us in +response to Ben Day's hail. I distrust, on principle, people with +thin, bloodless lips and obliquely set eyes. Yet the fellow spoke +pleasantly enough, and he readily undertook to clear young Day's +name and reputation with his former employers. The boy handed over +the parcel to Grenelli, and then, as he turned to go, begged the +honor of shaking hands with Indiman and myself, a permission +graciously granted. After all, we had borne no inconsiderable share +in the later developments of his good-fortune. Suppose Indiman had +NOT upset the apple-cart? + +"And now," said Indiman, turning to Grenelli and speaking with +great suavity, "I am going to ask the favor of a short interview. +My house is only two numbers away." + +Grenelli shook his head. "I've nothing to say to you--" he began, +defiantly. + +Indiman stepped quickly to the fellow's side, took his arm and +pressed it closely. He said a few words in an undertone, and to my +surprise Grenelli instantly submitted. We entered the house and +went to the library on the first floor front. Indiman took from his +side coat-pocket a cocked revolver and laid it on the table. So +that was the kind of persuasion that it had been necessary to apply +to secure Mr. Grenelli's attendance. One is apt to yield the point +when he feels a pistol-barrel prodding him in the ribs, and it is +no great trick to set a trigger-catch with the weapon in your +pocket. + +"Stand there," said Indiman, pointing to the far end of the table, +and the man obeyed. + +"And now, Grenelli," continued Indiman, bluntly, "I want the truth +about this affair. Bah, man! don't begin to shuffle about like +that. This isn't the original package delivered by Redfield & +Company to the Oceanic Express for shipment to England. You know it +and I know it, so we'll just acknowledge a true bill and go on with +the evidence. + +"A counterfeit, then, of the real thing. But why? That's what we're +after now. Simple robbery? Or is there another reason why this +particular package was intended to be shipped on the steamship +Russia, sailing to-day at four o'clock sharp? You see the point, +don't you? + +"I admit, Grenelli, that you are a clever man. Since the dynamite +outrage on the Icelandic six months ago great care has been taken +in the supervision of shipments, for the fast steamers and the +Oceanic Express Company require that the contents of every package +shall be visibly made known to them before it can be accepted. But +once it is inspected and officially labelled it goes through +without further difficulty, the steamship people being content with +the express company's guarantee. + +"And now be kind enough to give me your very best attention. This +morning, at ten o'clock, one of these officially registered +packages disappeared from the wagon that you were driving. At half- +past two this afternoon the parcel is returned to messenger Day, +coming through your hands. Now, how long did it take you to make up +this dummy--seal, stamp, and all? Of course, you had stolen what +you needed for the forgery from the company office--all but the +Redfield & Company label, and that you soaked off the original +package and reaffixed to this one. + +"It wasn't a plausible story that you told Day, but you knew the +boy wouldn't be particular over trifles. All he cared about was the +cloud upon his honesty. You figured that the package would be +returned, perfunctorily examined for identification, and +immediately sent on board the steamer. How much picrate or dynamite +does it take to knock out the biggest steamship afloat? You could +get enough of the stuff in a box of this size--couldn't you? And +how were you going to set it off? Clockwork, of course. But why +were you so stupid as to use a clumsy mechanism whose ticking could +be heard a block away? Listen to it now." + +In the succeeding silence the measured beat of the escapement was +plainly audible. There was a sinister significance in the sound +that I, for one, shall not easily forget. The man Grenelli paled +and took an involuntary backward step. + +"The steamship Russia" continued Indiman, in his calm, +inflectionless voice, "was booked to carry an unusually +distinguished company on this particular trip. The International +Peace Congress has been in session in New York during the past +fortnight. It adjourned Tuesday, and some thirty of the European +delegates had engaged passage on this boat. Now, consider for a +moment, Grenelli--what a catastrophe to the cause of universal +peace should anything happen to the Russia! For example, the +destruction of the ship and the consequent loss of life through the +explosion of an infernal machine smuggled into the cargo! What +confusion, what dismay, what terror! Then the poison of slow +suspicion, the dull but deadly undercurrent of racial resentments, +the question, growing daily more insistent, 'Who has done this +thing?' + +"It was an exquisite stroke of irony, Grenelli. I am connoisseur +enough to admire really good technique wherever I find it. The +nations assemble for a council of peace, and an invisible hand +hurls a firebrand into the very centre of the august circle! Puff! +The resolutions, with their well-rounded periods, go up into smoke +and the tramp of armed men is heard throughout the world. +Excellent! Oh, excellent, my good Grenelli! + +"But chance always takes a hand in a round game, and at the +psychological moment I come out of my house and upset an apple- +cart--your apple-cart, my good Grenelli. What incredible bad luck!- +-to be bowled out by a shiny, red-cheeked pippin from Mattie +Townley's orchard in Saco, Maine. You will remember a somewhat +similar incident in the Garden of Eden several thousand years ago. +Apples are certainly unwholesome fruit for the masculine digestion. +But I beg your pardon--you were about to say--" + +The man Grenelli glared at his tormentor. "What more do you want of +me?" he asked, sullenly. "There's the police--why don't you turn me +over to them and have done with it?" + +"For the very sufficient reason, my dear Grenelli, that the +evidence against you isn't strong enough. The package never reached +the Russia, and how are we going to prove your intentions. Besides, +in a matter of this sort, the question of tools is of small +importance compared with the identity of the intelligence that +employs them. Who and what is back of this affair? You, Grenelli, +are going to tell me." + +"Never!" + +"Don't be too hasty. Think it over. We have plenty of time before +us." + +"I don't understand." + +"You will presently. Thorp, my dear fellow, will you see that the +servants are cleared out of the house at once. Let them all go to +the show at the New Academy--at my expense, of course--and they +needn't return until noon to-morrow. Make them understand that +these are their orders. Then come back here, if you will." + +When I returned to the library I found Grenelli seated at one end +of the big centre-table and Indiman opposite him. In Indiman's +right hand was a revolver, and the express package, addressed to S. +A. Davidge, Exeter, England, lay on the table between them. The +arrangement looked studied. It gave me an uncomfortable feeling--a +well-founded one, as I was immediately to learn. + +"Take my place for a moment," said Indiman. He went to the clock on +the mantel- piece and stopped it. When he came back to the table he +had his watch in his hand; he laid it face downward by the pistol. +"Do you carry a timepiece?" he inquired of Grenelli. The prisoner +shook his head. "Very good," continued Indiman. "We are now ready +for our little experiment. Let me again have your best attention. + +"The box containing the infernal machine lies on the table there. +Mr. Grenelli knows at what hour the exploding mechanism is set to +act; I do not. But seeing that the Russia sails to-day at four +o'clock, we may assume that the explosion must be timed for to- +morrow morning, when the vessel would be well out to sea. +Certainly, not earlier; possibly some hours later. It makes no +particular difference, for we are going to sit quietly here at the +table with that curious box between us until something happens. +Either Mr. Grenelli is going to give me that information or--he +isn't. But in the latter case it will be of no further use to +either of us. Do I make myself quite clear?" + +The ticking of the mechanism concealed in the box sounded like the +blows of a trip-hammer. Grenelli lit a cigarette with a poor +affectation of bravado. "I can stand as much of it as you can," he +said, insolently. + +"You have the advantage of KNOWING how much," retorted Indiman. +"But we'll wait and see who's the best man. And in the mean time, +Thorp, old chap, I think you'd better cut your stick. Just bring up +some biscuits and a bottle of Scotch, and we'll get along as +comfortably as you please." + +But I declined to be sent away in this fashion for all that I was +horribly afraid. "I can't sit down at that table," I explained, +"but I'll keep coming in and out of the room as the spirit moves +me. Now, don't say a word; I've made up my mind." + +"Well, I sha'n't forget it," said Indiman, simply. Then, in an +undertone: "As a matter of absolute fact, the fellow is a coward, +and he'll weaken at the end. There isn't the slightest danger--be +sure of that." + +Hour by hour the early evening dragged away, and then began that +interminable night. I spent most of the time in the dining-room at +the back, smoking and pretending to read. Twice the book slipped +from my hand, and I woke with a horrid start from my cat-nap. Then +I would go softly to the library door and peep in. Always the same +tableau--the two men sitting opposite each other, alert, silent, +watchful, and between them the shaded lamp and that little box +lying in the circle of its light. + +At about four o'clock I came in and mended the fire in the grate, +for the house was growing chilly. Indiman looked over at me and +smiled brightly. "Well, it's good to be out of the old ruts, isn't +it?" he said. "'Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of +Cathay,' as some one has truthfully remarked. He was a philosopher, +that fellow. Wish we had him here with us to-night; we'd teach him +a thing or two more about what living really is." + +After that I walked up and down the dining- room floor pretty +steadily until the dawn began to steal over the chimney-pots of the +houses at the back. It wasn't a pretty sky that the light revealed, +dull and streaky looking, with a suggestion of coming rain. I stood +looking at it in an absent-minded, miserable sort of stupor; then I +heard Indiman calling me. + +"I'm out of cigars," he explained. "There's a box in the buffet; +and just put out the lamp, will you." + +Grenelli looked haggard in the gray light that streamed into the +room as I drew the curtains. He started, too, when he saw that the +day had come--it was quite perceptible. + +"I should like to know the time," he growled. "It's only fair." + +"To be sure," assented Indiman, and he pushed his watch, face +upward, into the middle of the table. The dial indicated half-past +seven, at which I was somewhat surprised, for I had not thought it +so late. But my own watch had run down, and it will be remembered +that Indiman had stopped the mantel-clock the night before. Half- +past seven it was, then, for all that the hour again struck me as +being rather advanced for a cloudy morning in mid-November. And +evidently Grenelli thought so too. He could hardly suppress the +exclamationtion that rose to his lips as he glanced at the dial. + +Ten minutes passed, and then Grenelli spoke. + +"If I tell you what you want to know," he said, "am I to be allowed +to leave the house at once?" + +"Yes." + +"And I am to be safe from arrest? At least, sufficient time will be +given--" + +"Bah!" interrupted Indiman, scornfully. "Come and go as you will. I +can break you like a rotten stick whenever it pleases me." + +Grenelli drew in his breath with a vicious hiss. "At five minutes +to eight I will tell you," he said, in a loud, overbearing voice. + +"Very good," answered Indiman, placidly. + +But the fellow's courage deserted him at the pinch, in accordance +with Indiman's prediction. He sat there dry-lipped and wet-browed, +a half- burned cigarette in his yellow-stained fingers, and his +eyes fixed immovably on Indiman's watch. It was barely a quarter to +the hour when he gave in. He wanted to cut the corner as closely as +he could, but his nerve was gone. "I will tell you--" he began. + +He stopped as abruptly as he had started. Suddenly the ticking of +the clock-work had ceased, and it was succeeded by a pause +infinitesimally brief and withal infinitely extended. Grenelli half +rose from his chair, his hands beating backward at the air. Then +came a curious premonitory whir of the hidden mechanism. The +metallic rattle of the gong was magnified in my ears to the +dimensions of a roll of thunder; then I saw that Indiman had torn +the wrappings from the box and had opened it. There was no +mistaking the object that lay within--a common American alarm- +clock. Grenelli looked at it, wide-eyed, then he rolled off his +chair in some sort of a fit, and Indiman and I were left to stare +each other out of countenance. + +"Plain enough, I think," said Indiman. "There WAS another box +containing the infernal machine, but Grenelli made up the dummy so +successfully as to deceive even himself. He got the two mixed up, +and this, the original and harmless package, was the one that +should have reached the Russia if Ben Day hadn't stopped to buy a +red apple. Of course, it was the ticking of the clock escapement +that misled him--and me. + +"The alarm mechanism must have been wound up and set just before +the clock left Redfield & Company's yesterday morning. Possibly a +practical joke on some clerk's part, but that doesn't matter. You +see, there is a twenty- four hour dial for the alarm, and it was +set at a little before XIX, corresponding to about a quarter of +seven." + +"But your watch says a quarter of eight," I objected. + +"I set it an hour ahead," answered Indiman. "I'm not altogether a +fool, and although I was certain that Grenelli would weaken, I +wanted some leeway for myself and you. Undoubtedly, the infernal +machine was timed for eight o'clock, and Grenelli knew it. He tried +to hold on long enough to insure our destruction, and yet get away +himself, but he couldn't be sure of those last few minutes. By-the- +way, the box containing the bomb must be at his house. It ought to +be put out of business at once. Can you get the fellow on his +feet?" + +But it took some time to bring the man around, and it was more than +half an hour later before we got away, the three of us together in +a hansom. I should say that the lodging occupied by Grenelli and +Day was the loft of a disused private stable, situated in a side +street, three or four blocks off, and the driver was instructed to +get there as quickly as possible. As we passed a jeweler's place +Grenelli glanced at the electric-clock dial in the window and saw +that it was twenty-five minutes of eight. He had been deceived, +then; he knew it instantly. "But it worked both ways," he sneered. +"I have my secret still." + +"Quite so," answered Indiman, and smiled. + +At the corner we were halted by a hail from the sidewalk. It was +Brownson, of the detective bureau. + +"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Indiman, but I want that man with you. +Charged with larceny of a package consigned to Oceanic Express +Company. I've been waiting for him all night." + +"By all means, officer," and the three of us got out. + +"I managed it pretty well, I think," continued Brownson. "Searched +every nook and corner of the stable where Grenelli and Day lived, +and finally I found the parcel. It answered precisely to the +description, and I sent it down by Officer Smith to the RUSSIA not +more than an hour ago." + +"To the RUSSIA! Why she sailed yesterday afternoon at four +o'clock." + +"Slight accident to her low-pressure cylinder," explained Brownson. +"She was delayed for several hours and was to sail early this +morning. I beg your pardon--why, excuse me, Mr. Indiman--" + +There was a public telephone in the corner shop, and Indiman dashed +into the booth, upsetting Officer Brownson into the gutter as he +rushed past him. The clerk at the pier of the Cis-Atlantic Company +answered that the RUSSIA had sailed a little before seven, and must +be in the lower bay by this time. Impossible to reach her, as the +morning was densely foggy and she carried no wireless apparatus. An +indescribable expression came into the man Grenelli's face as he +realized what this new turn of the kaleidoscope meant. But Indiman +and I involuntarily looked the other way. + +Officer Smith had returned from his mission, and apparently his +superior was not pleased with its outcome. + +"Block on the Elevated!" he exclaimed, disgustedly. "Always some +excuse. Then you missed the Russia?" + +"She had just been pulled into the stream when I reached the pier." + +"Where's the package?" + +"I brought it back with me." + +Now, to be honest, I jumped at that. It was possible that the booby +had the box under his coat, and it was now ten minutes of eight. +But Brownson, who didn't know, went on imperturbably. "You should +have handed it over to the representative of the express company. +What did you do with it?" + +"It's at the stable where Grenelli lived," explained Officer Smith. +"I locked it up in a bureau drawer, and here's the key." + +Brownson looked at his subordinate patronizingly. "You have much to +learn, young man--" he began. "Much to learn. Hallo! Something's +blown up down the block." + +Well, to sum up briefly, there was no stable left. Fortunately no +one had been injured by the explosion, and the outside damage was +confined to a few broken windows. We all went poking about in the +ruins looking for a clew to the mystery. + +"Here's that box, Brownson," said Indiman, suddenly. "The cover is +somewhat torn, but you can make out the address easily enough. It's +the lost property, certainly, and you've got the thief, too." He +handed the officer the package containing the alarm-clock. + +"That I have," answered the gratified Brownson. "Keep close eye on +Grenelli, Officer Smith, and I may be able to overlook your +shortcomings of this morning. I say, Mr. Indiman, but there's a +regular miracle in this 'ere business. Now, how do you suppose this +blessed little twopenny box ever come through an earthquake like +that there." + +"I'll never tell you," said Indiman. + +We had been dining with Ellison, the deferred settlement of that +little account which we had been owing him since August. However, +we made it up, interest and all. The occasion had been an +undeniably cheerful one, and it was close to midnight when we +finally separated. Ellison went on his way up-town and Indiman and +I stood on the corner waiting for a hansom, for as it chanced there +was not a single disengaged one in the rank before the restaurant. +"Here we are," said Indiman, and raised his stick as a four-wheeler +was about to pass us. But the driver made a negative sign and drove +on. "He has a fare, after all," said Indiman, with some annoyance. +"But look, Thorp!" + +The rolling shades at the doors had been closely drawn, but just as +the carriage came opposite us a sudden jolt displaced the spring +catch of the curtain and up it flew with a snap. There were two +persons in the cab, and the electric light from the corner shone +full upon them. The one nearest us was an undersized, swarthy-faced +person who wore a Turkish fez; his companion was a portly man +attired in evening clothes and having his head entirely enveloped +in a bag of some dark material gathered at the neck by a draw- +string. + +With an exclamation that might pass for a blood-curdling Levantine +oath the man of the fez seized the window-curtain and pulled it +down; the carriage rolled on. + +"An extraordinary spectacle," I remarked. "There ought to be a big +story behind that." + +"I admit," said Indiman, calmly, "that it is not usual for +gentlemen to drive about town with their heads done up in black +bags. Nevertheless, I doubt if there is much in the mystery worthy +of a connoisseur's attention. It strikes me as smacking of the +made-up, the theatric; it has something of the air commercial about +it--an advertisement, perhaps." + +"Nonsense!" I retorted, warmly. + +"Well, let the event decide. The cab's number--did you note it?" + +"No." + +"It was No. 872," said Indiman. + + + + +XI + +The Philadelphia Quizzing-Glass + + +Knowing that the number of the four-wheeler was 872, it was not a +difficult matter to begin the inquiry. But to secure any real +information--that was different. The driver, a respectable albeit +somewhat thick- headed Irishman, could offer only vague +recollections of his business for the night of November 16th. He +had been lucky enough to secure several fares, but there had been +nothing in the appearance of any of his passengers to attract his +attention. A gentleman in evening dress with his head tied up in a +black bag and accompanied by a man wearing a red fez! Certainly he +would have taken notice of anything like THAT. "Niver in my cab," +asseverated honest Mulvihill. "I've been hacking it for twenty +years and carried some quare cargoes. But of that sort--no, sorr!" + +Clearly there was nothing to be learned from the cabman, and he was +undoubtedly sincere in his protestations. The little peculiarities +of costume that had originally caught my eye were obviously +unsuited for public wear. The fez and the black bag had probably +been brought into use after the men of mystery had entered the cab, +and it was only through the accident of the suddenly released +window- shade that Esper Indiman and I had seen what we did. "No +thoroughfare" stood out plainly on this particular road. Then the +humor took me to try conclusions with Chance herself, the method a +la Indiman. I chucked a silver dollar to the cabman. "Whatever it's +worth to you in time and distance," I said. "Don't ask me any +questions--go as you please." + +Hackman Mulvihill was a humorist in his way and he wanted to spare +his horse. Six times in succession we made the circuit of Madison +Square and never once off the walk. I was on the point of +protesting, but I remembered the rules of the game and held my +tongue. Finally, we started down-town by way of Fourth Avenue. Near +Sixteenth Street and Union Square the cab pulled up to the curb, an +intimation that my chartered voyage was over. + +"And now which way?" I inquired, smilingly. + +Mr. Mulvihill regarded me with compassionate and somewhat +unflattering interest. "Be glory!" he said, frankly, "it's Bellevue +that ye'll be wanting afore long, and badly, too. Come, now, jist +jump in again and I'll rowl ye up there quiet and peaceable like. A +touch of liver, sorr. I know how it takes them. Maning a drop too +much of the 'red-eye,'" he added, under his breath. "Quiet, there, +Noddy, ye black divil." + +It was with some difficulty that I convinced this good Samaritan of +my mental and physical equilibrium. Finally he drove off, wagging +his head doubtfully. + +"But which way?" I shouted after him. He would not answer in words, +but pointed eastward with his whip-stock. Eastward then it was. + +Between Union Square and Second Avenue there are several blocks of +dwelling-houses--a once fashionable and still highly respectable +residential neighborhood. The particular street does not matter, +but I was proceeding in the general direction of Stuyvesant Square +and had crossed Third Avenue. + +Being on the lower or shady side it was something of a surprise to +receive a flash of sunlight directly in the eye. I stepped back. On +the pavement at my feet there floated a blot of quivering yellow +light; it danced directly towards me, and again I was blinded by +its dazzle. + +The reflection from a mirror, of course, but it took me several +minutes to determine its location. + +Ah, there it was--a peculiar combination, in polished copper, of +triple glasses fixed to the sill of a second-story window in the +house directly opposite. The device is in common use in +Philadelphia and Baltimore, but here in New York it must be classed +as an exotic. Its very name is unfamiliar, and I dub it the +"Philadelphia Quizzing-Glass" for want of a better term. You +understand, of course, that the mirrors are hinged together and +adjustable to any angle. It is consequently possible for an +observer sitting in the room to remain entirely out of sight and +yet command a view of all that passes in the street below. An +ingenious contrivance, then, for keeping one's self informed upon +the business of the neighborhood. But New-Yorkers, if not less +inquisitive, are more energetic than their Quaker cousins, and +prefer the direct method of leaning out of the window, or, if need +be, going down into the street itself. Still, there is something to +be said for the "quizzing -glass," for we may look upon it as the +range- finder of the domestic fortress, forewarning us of the +approach of the bore and the process- server. Obviously, the +ability to look round a corner may save us from many of the minor +complications that embitter modern life. + +I was under surveillance--that was certain. Now, should I submit to +the impertinence? It was easy to put an end to it by walking away. +But I had aspired to be a disciple of Esper Indiman, gentleman +adventurer, and here was a chance to take out a letter of marque on +my own account--one must look Fortune in the face to catch her +smile. And so I stood there immovable, until the dazzle in my eyes +cleared away signifying that the ordeal was at an end. Then I +lifted my hat and walked on, taking note of the house number--23l. + +The next day, Wednesday, it rained, but Thursday was clear, and it +was inevitable that I should pay a second visit to the house of the +quizzing-glass, as I had mentally christened it. Again I submitted +to a long scrutiny. Evidently the result was satisfactory, for the +door of the house was opened and a man ran quickly down the steps +and came towards me. He was a small man with an Oriental cast of +features and he wore a red fez. It sounds incredible, I admit, but +such was the fact. He addressed me civilly, but in somewhat +imperfect English. + +"Morning, sar. It is a fine walk-day." + +"Delightful," I assented. + +"My mistress, sar--the Lady Allegra--she will be obligated of the +honor to have your company dinner. You have no engagement +anticipatory?" He stood with his head cocked a trifle to one side, +smiling amiably. + +"To-night?" I asked. + +"That, sar, is my counselment. To-night, at clock nine." + +"Very good. I'll be here." + +Red-Fez shook his head deprecatingly. Finally, and after much +circumlocution, I gathered that I was not expected at No. 231. My +instructions were simply to be in waiting at the Worth Monument in +Madison Square at half-after eight; for the rest Red-Fez would hold +himself responsible. And upon this understanding we parted. + +"The Lady Allegra," I said, under my breath, as I walked home. "The +Lady Allegra." + +Up to this point I had kept my own counsel, but now I felt it my +duty to make a confidant of Indiman. He listened to my story with +grave attention. + +"It promises well--decidedly so," admitted Indiman. "Confound it! +If it were not for this unlucky accident of a sprained ankle--" and +he glanced ruefully at his injured limb encased in its plaster-of- +Paris form. + +"I like the name," I went on, somewhat irrelevantly. "The Lady +Allegra." + +"There are possibilities in it," assented Indiman, grumpily. "Will +you hand me my solitaire cards--and, for Heaven's sake! stop +kicking the lacquer off the andirons." + +"Oh, I beg your pardon." + +"Of course you understand what I mean. It isn't the andirons, but +the sight of your aggressively vigorous legs that moves me to +childish wrath. To be tied down here like a trussed pigeon! Better +leave me to my solitaire. I'll be more civilized after luncheon." +Whereupon I smiled and went out. + +Half-past eight o'clock; the Worth Monument; Red-Fez in a four- +wheeler; the carefully drawn window-curtains; the production of the +black silk bag with which to envelop my head--it all happened in +accordance with the playbill. At first I tried to keep some idea of +distance and direction, but I soon got confused and had to give it +up. I could only conjecture that the course was a long one, for I +heard a clock striking nine just as the cab stopped, and our pace +had been a rapid one. + +"Thisaway, sar," whispered my guide, and I yielded to the gentle +pressure of his hand on my arm. The street door closed behind me, I +felt myself guided up a pair of stairs, a sharp turn to the right, +and we had arrived. But where? Then I realized that the black silk +bag had been removed from my head and I was free to use my eyes. An +ironical permission, truly, for I found myself in absolute +darkness. Strain my vision as I might, not a ray of light met the +sensitive surface of the retina. The blackness stood about me like +a wall, immaterial, doubtless, but none the less impenetrable. + +Deprived of sight, every mental faculty was instantly concentrated +upon the single sense of hearing. My conductor had left me. There +was the sound of a closing door and of padded foot-falls that +trailed off into nothingness; then silence. + +Out of the void came a sharp click as of a well-oiled gun-lock. It +was followed by the first notes of a piano-forte accompaniment. A +soprano voice began singing Schubert's "Fischermadchen." What a +delicious timbre! The clear resonance of a crystal bell. + +The beautiful melody ceased, but still I seemed to hear the faint, +sweet overtones born of its final breath, thin auditory flames that +flickered for an instant against the blank wall of the subconscious +sense, and then in their turn were gone. Entranced and motionless, +I waited. + +A sudden burst of light flooded the room, the radiation being +indirect and proceeding from electroliers sunken behind the ceiling +cornice. The apartment was of medium size, evidently the middle one +of the ordinary series of three rooms characteristic of New York +City houses, and it was furnished most simply--merely a table of +Flemish oak with two leather- backed chairs to match and some rugs. +The walls and door spaces were hung with red velvet draperies, +which contrasted brilliantly with the gorgeous, gold-leafed +plastic-work of the cornices and ceiling. A convex mirror, framed +in massive silver gilt, hung on the side wall. A second look showed +that it was really a bull's-eye of crackled glass, opal-tinted and +translucent. It glowed as though illumined by some inward fire +(doubtless a concealed electric-light bulb), and the shifting play +of iridescent color was exquisitely beautiful. One could compare it +only with an imprisoned rainbow. I looked and wondered. + +"I have kept you waiting. A thousand apologies," said a voice at my +back. I turned to face a gentleman who must have entered from the +front room; so at least the draperies, still slightly swaying, +attested. A tall man, gray-haired, and of an extraordinary +thinness--a caricature of Don Quixote himself, if such a thing were +possible. + +"The Lady Allegra," he went on, "is unfortunately indisposed. She +begs me to tender her apologies and regrets. I am her ladyship's +resident physician, and my name is Gonzales." His eyes, hidden +behind smoked glasses, examined me attentively. + +I murmured some words of conventional regrets, and, truth to tell, +I was bitterly disappointed. I turned as though to go. + +"It is the Lady Allegra's wish that you should dine here this +evening," continued Dr. Gonzales. "Solus, it is true, but the +disappointment is a mutual one; of that you may be assured." Again +I bowed and intimated my willingness to obey. + +The dining-room was an apartment of unusual size, panelled in Santo +Domingo mahogany, the rich color of the wood standing in admirable +contrast to the dark-green, watered silk with which the walls were +covered. A magnificent tapestry, representing Dido's hunting-party +in honor of AEneas, filled nearly the whole of one side wall, and +on the chimney-breast opposite hung a mirror similar in appearance +to that in the drawing-room. The illumination of the room was +peculiar but effective--four bronze female figures, each holding in +her hands a globe of translucent glass through which a mellow +radiance diffused itself. + +The table, large enough to accommodate King Arthur and his knights, +was beautifully set with plate and crystal, but only two covers had +been laid. Red-Fez, who had now assumed the functions of a butler, +showed me to my place, and then took up his stand behind the empty +chair of his mistress. The two serving- men began immediately upon +their duties. + +It was an extraordinary repast, for to both my eye and my palate +the viands were utterly unknown. In fact, every dish had as its +basis a peculiar substance that in appearance faintly suggested +isinglass. But it had no taste, that I could discover, other than +the flavor communicated to it by the various sauces and dressings +with which it was served. It appeared first in the soup, and then, +omitting the fish course, I recognized it as the foundation of an +excellent vol-au-vent. It served again as a substitute for meat, +compressed and moulded in the form of French chops. There was even +a passable imitation of a green goose. I had a slice from the +breast, and it tasted very well. The philosophers tell us that +there is an infinite power in suggestion. That may account, in part +at least, for the complacency with which I accepted these +remarkable perversions of the ordinary menu. If ideas are the only +realities, my green goose might have come straight from Washington +Market itself. + +The two vegetables, cauliflower an gratin and boiled potatoes, were +good to look at and good to eat, although neither of them had ever +seen a garden. There was a salad, too, with an incomparable +dressing. Finally, an excellent pudding. The wines and mineral +waters, the liqueurs and the coffee, were genuine. The fantastic +cuisine of my hostess extended only to the solid portions of the +repast, and for this I was secretly thankful. I don't like chemical +burgundies, and the "health-food" mochas and javas are only +surprisingly good imitations of exceedingly bad coffee. + +The chair opposite me remained unfilled, but each course was served +at the cover as scrupulously as though the Lady Allegra were +actually present. It made me feel a trifle uncomfortable at the +first--the sight of that vacant chair set back a little from the +table, the napkin half unfolded, the full wineglasses, the plate +with its untouched food. And once, when the foot- man offered the +cauliflower to my invisible vis-a-vis, it seemed as though she +declined it. The man hesitated a second and then passed on without +putting a portion on the plate. For the moment I was foolish enough +to contemplate a similar refusal, but I reconsidered--I am very +fond of cauliflower. + +At the conclusion of dinner I took my cigar into the red drawing- +room. The lights had been lowered, and only the opalescent bull's- +eye glowed with undiminished brilliancy. I sat staring at it, and +the outrageous perplexity of the situation began to get on my +nerves. I must get out of here, and I half rose. Then I sank back, +forgetting everything but that marvellous voice. Again the Lady +Allegra was singing, and could I doubt that it was for me! David's +"Charmant Oiseau," and then the gay little gavotte from "Manon." + +What an astonishing repertoire--Chaminade, Schumann, Grieg, Richard +Strauss. Finally Schubert, and Schubert only, the last and the best +given, as it is meet, to him who is the master of all. The rainbow- +tinted orb of the wall mirror continued to hold my eyes; they +drooped and fell as the radiance grew fainter and yet fainter. + +When I awoke Red-Fez was standing at the bedside, hot-water can in +hand. "Morning, sar," he said, with gentle affability. "Will you +permit me to shaver you?" + +I jumped out of bed and went to the window. It was closed, although +a ventilator at the top admitted plenty of the outside air, and the +glass was of the opaque bull's-eye variety through which it is +impossible to see. I tried to throw up the sash, but it would not +budge. + +I submitted in silence to the ministrations of Red-Fez, not +choosing to enter into any discussion with a servant. But I was +sorely tempted to protest when he proceeded to array me in an +extraordinary robe of cardinal silk in lieu of the ordinary +masculine habiliments. Certainly I could not leave the house +enveloped in this ridiculous garment. My dress clothes would have +been bad enough, but there was no trace of them to be seen. +Evidently I should have to call Dr. Gonzales to account, and having +descended to the now familiar red drawing- room, I sent Red-Fez +with a request for an immediate audience. A few minutes later he +appeared. + +"Am I a prisoner here?" I asked, abruptly. + +"You await the Lady Allegra's pleasure," he answered, +imperturbably. "She is still indisposed. Possibly by to-night, but +I cannot say definitely." + +"I do not wish--" + +"Chut!" he interrupted, irritably. "It is a matter not of your +wishes but of her will. That is inevitable. Can you not +understand?" + +I looked at the immovable figures of two footmen at the door and +then walked out to breakfast. An excellent meal it was, although I +recognized that the food was only an ingenious variation upon the +theme of the night before; that mysterious substance resembling +isinglass was the basis of everything set before me. It was the +same with luncheon and again at dinner. And, as on the previous +night, it was an empty chair that confronted me. Well, what did it +matter, after all. Can you even imagine what Schubert's "Linden- +Tree" might be when perfectly sung? + +Is it an hallucination, then, that possesses me--some subtle +disturbance of the nerve-centres sapping the sources of will-power, +enfeebling even the physical energies? I do not know. Sometimes I +am ashamedly conscious that I do not greatly care. It is now a week +since I entered this house, and I have made but one attempt to +reassert my personal rights. Yesterday a sudden passion of +resolution seized me; at all hazards I must break the bonds imposed +upon me by this invisible enchantress. As I passed the door leading +to the red drawing- room I put my fingers in my ears--Ulysses and +the sirens. But when I reached the lower hall I walked plump into +Dr. Gonzales, who fixed me with a penetrating look. "Go back!" he +said, authoritatively. "The Lady Allegra sings--and for you." I +listened; it was, "Ah, fors e lui." + +I divide my time between the library on the third floor and the red +drawing-room, where the strange beauty of the opal-tinted mirror +holds me possessed for hours together. Remember that the Lady +Allegra still maintains her tantalizing role of inviolable +seclusion. It is through her voice alone that she impresses her +personality upon my senses. That seems ridiculous, does it not? But +then you have not heard her sing "Ah, fors e lui." + +Yet, after all, the end came quickly. I shall be equally succinct +in my chronicle of the events leading up to it. + +As usual I had dined alone, and had afterwards submitted to the +customary examination at the hands of Dr. Gonzales. Why he should +deem it necessary to take my pulse and temperature and then +ascertain my weight and power of grip with such scrupulous +exactitude I never troubled to inquire. Indeed, it seemed such a +puerile proceeding that I have hitherto refrained from even +mentioning it. To-night he seemed ill-pleased with the results of +his investigation. "You are losing weight," he said, severely, "and +you don't begin to grip within ten pounds of what you registered a +week ago." + +"What does it matter?" I answered, as in- differently as I felt. + +"You ought to eat more. No steam without fuel." + +"I am not hungry." + +"Bah!" he snorted, indignantly. "It is always the same story. +Another failure! But no, I will not suffer it. Sooner than that I +will have you penned and stuffed as though you were a Strasburg +goose." But I only laughed at his petulance and walked on to the +drawing- room. + +I laughed, I say, and yet I had begun vaguely to realize that +something was wrong. My head felt strangely light. I stumbled over +a corner of the rug, and would have fallen out of pure weakness if +I had not caught at the table for support. My respiration seemed +more rapid than usual and the sweat from the slight exertion beaded +my forehead. Then I forgot everything but that the Lady Allegra had +begun to sing. + +The desire, the impulse, they had crystallized into resolution. I +would wait no longer. This very night the walls of the fortress +should fall, unveiling the secret of this insolent loveliness, the +desire of all the world. Ah, my lady Allegra, was it chance alone +that led you to choose Isolde's "Liebestod" for this the supreme +enchantment? + +The music fell away into nothingness and I stepped forward, my hand +on the knob of the folding-doors that led to the front room. I +knocked twice--firmly, insistently. "Open!" I cried, and +immediately the door-knob yielded to my touch. + +"Stop!" + +Dr. Gonzales stood at the hall entrance to the drawing-room. I saw +something that gleamed like polished metal in his uplifted hand. +Then he fell back and disappeared. It seemed as though some +invisible force behind the portiere had taken sudden and +irresistible possession of him. What did I care. I went forward and +into the room, absolutely empty save for an upright cabinet of +mahogany placed on a central pedestal. It was tall enough to +conceal a person standing behind it, but it was not the Lady +Allegra who came forward to meet me. + +"Indiman!" I said, weakly. "Esper Indiman!" + +"The carriage is waiting," he said. "Come." + +"Never!" I retorted, passionately. "You don't understand--the Lady- +-Allegra--" + +Well, I suppose I must have fainted from sheer inanition, and so +Indiman explained it himself that next morning. + +"You had been half starved for over a week, and no wonder you +keeled over. No; you can't have another mouthful of that beef- +steak. You'll have to wait for luncheon." + +I sank back among the cushions of the couch rather resentfully. +"Well, at least you can go on and tell me," I said. + +"Certainly. There are cranks of all degrees, as you know. It was +your luck to fall into the hands of one of the king-pins of the +confraternity--Dr. Ferdinand Gonzales, alias Moses the Second. + +"He wanted a new subject for his experiments upon the physical +regeneration of the human race, and he caught you in his drag-net. +It was a close call for you, old chap." + +"I don't understand." + +"You have been starving to death for ten days, and yet eating three +meals a day right along. Nothing peculiar about that, eh?" + +"It WAS rather curious stuff. It looked like isinglass." + +"Perhaps it is. All I care about is the fact that the food you have +been eating doesn't contain a particle of nourishment for the human +system. But Moses the Second imagined that he had invented, or +rather rediscovered, the one perfect nutriment for the race-- +nothing less than manna." + +"Manna!" + +"Don't you remember the manna in the wilderness, the children of +Israel, and the forty years they fed upon it. Dr. Gonzales, who was +really a fine chemist before he went dotty, got the idee fixe that +all human ills were due to improper food. He tackled the problem, +at first scientifically, but later on he had a vision that he was +really the reincarnation of the Prophet Moses. Moses and manna--the +connection is obvious and the secret was soon in his possession. He +manufactured the stuff in his own laboratory and lived on it +himself--at least to the verge of physical extinction. Then he went +gunning for subjects, and you know the rest. The rubbish fills you +up without nourishing you, and what you lived on was really +stimulants alone--the wine and coffee." + +"But will you tell me--how did you chance to find--" + +"For the first few days I didn't dream of interfering--it was your +own adventure. But on Monday--that's yesterday, you know--I +determined to look things up a bit. So I walked into No. 231 and +scared Mr. Red-Fez into a few plain truths. His real name is +Dawson, you know." + +"Yes." + +"It was simply an immensely improved sort of phonograph that +Gonzales had invented. None of the harshness and squeakiness of +tone that you associate with the ordinary instrument. Partly a new +method of making the records and partly a system of qualifying +chambers that refine and purify the tones. It is wonderful enough +to deceive anybody, and, of course, he had all his records ready to +hand." + +"Then the Lady Allegra, the Lady Allegra--" + +"'Vox et preterea nihil,'" quoted Indiman. He left the room +quietly, and I lay there on the lounge staring up at the ceiling. +"'Vox et preterea nihil.'" + +Two months have passed and I am slowly recuperating in body and +mind. But there are some things not to be forgotten--for instance, +"Ah, fors e lui," when sung by the most beautiful voice in all the +world. + +Indiman proposes that we shall go to the Utinam Club, dine, and +spend the night. Well, we don't often indulge in that rather +questionable amusement, although we are accustomed to use the club +freely throughout the daytime. All the more reason, then, that once +in a while--I need a distraction and there are some interesting +psychological deductions--But hang casuistry; it is enough to say +that we did go. + +It is undeniably pleasant to be sitting here in the club dining- +room sharing a ruddy duck and a bottle of burgundy. Yes, and to +feel the cares, the disappointments, the burdens of life dropping +off one by one; to be able to dismiss them with a nod as one gives +an unfortunate beggar his conge. Ills that one need not bear; evils +that it is no longer necessary to endure--they have all been +eliminated by the simple process of excluding from the spectrum the +ultra blue-and-violet rays. A palpable evasion, of course. Call it +immoral, if you will, and I shall not lift the gauntlet. Why should +we quarrel over phrases when it is only required to return thanks +to the good Dr. Magnus for his beneficent discovery? That is enough +for me at least. Carpe diem, or, more precisely, noctem. + +It was Dr. Magnus himself who later on introduced us to Chivers in +the common room--Chivers, a little man of Semitic physiognomy, with +a hard, knobbed face and a screw of black beard. He addressed +himself effusively to Indiman, while the doctor and I remained +spectators, silent but interested. + +"A dealer in adventures, a specialist in the grotesque--ah, I like +that, Mr. Indiman. The rest of us"--this with a gesture +inexpressibly mean and fawning--"prefer to haggle over the lion's +skin after it has been cured and dressed. It's a mere question of +temperament, dear sir." + +"What have you to say to me?" inquired Indiman, abruptly. I could +see that he wanted to kick him. + +"I have an adventure--of the first class. I desire to dispose of +it." + +"Yes." + +"A noble, a surpassing adventure. Moreover, a commercial opening +that is not to be despised--fifty per cent on your capital every +six months." + +"Yes." + +"I offer you, then, my well-established business of adjuster of +averages, good-will and office fixtures included." + +"But I never even heard of such a profession. I know nothing about +averages and their adjustment." + +"What difference! It is the adventure that particularly concerns +you, is it not? The business--pouf! it runs itself." "And the +terms?" + +"I make them ridiculously easy. You are to take over the business, +including the lease of my offices in the Barowsky Brothers' bank +building, William H. Seward Square. In return for this +accommodation I am prepared to pay you the sum of ten thousand +dollars." Mr. Chivers grinned cheerfully as he concluded this +astounding proposition. He pulled ten new one-thousand-dollar bills +from his waistcoat-pocket and laid them on the table. + +Indiman regarded the little man thoughtfully. "You have been in +business for your health?" he inquired, with an affectation of +polite interest. + +"You have hit it exactly," returned the imperturbable Chivers. "I +was pretty rocky when I first went to William H. Seward Square. But +the air in that Yiddish country--wonderful, dear sir. Regard me; +punch, poke, pound where and how you like. Sound as a bell you'll +find me. Now I pass on. I yield place to you. The honor, dear sir, +is mine." + +"I confess that I am interested," said Indiman. "The conditions are +simply--" + +"Your personal day and night tenancy of the chambers in the +Barowsky Building for a period of not less than three months. I +should have explained that the rooms really form a bachelor's +suite, all furnished, of course." + +"There are papers to sign?" + +"Only the assumption of the office lease, and I'll give you a bill +of sale for the furniture." Mr. Chivers laid the documents before +Indiman; the latter glanced them over and drew out his fountain- +pen. A quick look, one of satisfaction and understanding, passed +between Chivers and Dr. Magnus. I caught it and tried to convey a +warning to my friend. But he had already affixed his signature to +the lease of the offices in the Barowsky bank building. Chivers did +the same for the bill of sale. + +Indiman gathered up the ten one-thousand-dollar bills and stuffed +them into his pocket. "Want a receipt?" he asked. + +"It is not necessary." + +"Well, at least, we must have a bumper to celebrate the conclusion +of the transaction. Waiter." + +We took a cab in the gray of the dawning hour and drove home. As +might have been predicted, my spirits had dropped to the zero-point +again. + +"I don't like it--frankly, I don't, old man. What if it should be a +trap?" + +Indiman laughed heartily. "Why, of course, it's a trap," he said. +"That's plain as a pike-staff, whatever a pike-staff itself may be. +It's the particular kind of a trap that interests me. The why and +the wherefore." + +Arrived at the house, Indiman handed a bill to the driver and we +ascended the steps. But the cabman seemed dissatisfied with his +treatment. "Hey, there!" he called once, and then again. Indiman +turned impatiently. + +"Well, what is it?" he asked + +"You can see for yourself, guv'nor. A mistake, ain't it?" + +It was one of the thousand-dollar bills that the honest cabby was +holding up. What a phenomenon in the way of a hackman! And yet the +New York night-hawks are no fools and thousand-dollar bills are +easy to trace. Indiman gave the man fifty dollars as a reward of +virtue and he was more than satisfied. But something still remained +on his conscience thus agreeably stimulated. + +"'Scuse me, guv'nor," he went on, "but here's another little job in +the same line of business. I drove a gentleman to your club early +in the evening, and he must have left it accidental in the cab. +Maybe you know him." + +It was a plain white envelope bearing the typewritten address: + +Mr. Orrin Chivers, Nos. 13-15 Barowsky Chambers, Seward Square, New +York. + +The envelope had been opened, but the enclosure still remained in +it. + +"Thank you," said Indiman. "I'll take charge of it." The cabman +touched his hat and drove away. + +We went up to the library and proceeded to examine the treasure +trove. It consisted of a long strip of thin bluish paper less than +a quarter of an inch in width and containing a succession of +apparently arbitrary and unmeaning characters written in ink. I +reproduce a section of the strip, which should make my description +more intelligible. + +Indiman looked at the hieroglyphics musingly. "Important--if true," +he murmured. + + + + +XII + +The Adjuster of Averages + + +It was on December 21st that Indiman took up his tenancy of the +offices in the Barowsky Building. I should have been glad to have +accompanied him, but he would not have it. It was the dealer's hand +at bridge and must be played alone. And owing to the accident of a +slight attack of grippe it was some ten days later before I was +able to call upon him in his new quarters. + +William H. Seward Square has its unique features. Lying in the +heart of the East Side, it is outside the regular lines of north +and south travel. There are thousands of otherwise well-informed +New-Yorkers to whom its very name is unknown. And yet it is an +important political centre, the capital of the Yiddish country, and +the recipient of many special favors at the hands of a paternal +municipality. There are still streets in the up-town districts +whose pavement is the antiquated Belgian blocks or even cobble- +stones, but none in Yiddishland; here everything is asphalted. You +may trust the district leader to take care of his own. + +A fine, stone building forms the principal architectural feature of +the square on the west side. It contains the free baths and would +be a credit to any part of the city. Most of the remaining space is +given over to the children for a playground. There is a semi- +enclosed gymnasium for the boys, hand-ball and tether-ball courts, +a separate enclosure for the girls and smaller children--in a word, +every form of amusement and exercise that is practicable in a +public institution of comparatively limited area. The children +enjoy it, too. They come in droves, and the swings and flying rings +are in constant use. + +It is like going to a foreign country. The shop signs, written in +Hebrew characters, suggest a combination of horseshoes and carpet- +tacks, and you may walk for blocks without hearing an English word +spoken. Ask your whereabouts of a street boy and he will quite +likely turn pale and edge away. He does not understand. You are an +alien, a foreign devil. + +The Barowsky Brothers' bank building is the show-place of the +district. It is a staring white structure covered with gilt +business signs and adorned with abortive minarets that give it an +air distinctly Oriental. The entrance hall and the banking-rooms +are sumptuous. They recall the Arabian Nights and the word-painting +of a circus poster. Mirrors, gilding, mosaics--it is all a dream of +luxury and impresses one with a realizing sense of the financial +standing of the Barowsky Brothers. You must have a good front in +the Yiddish country if you expect to handle other people's money. + +Esper Indiman, adjuster of averages, occupied a suite of rooms on +the fifth floor. I proceeded thither and found him in. We sat down +and smoked amicably. + +"How is business?" I asked. "Have you adjusted many averages to- +day? And, by-the-way, I'm rather taken with the title of your new +trade. 'Adjuster of averages'--there's an imposing note of +omnipotence in the words." + +"It's a perfectly legitimate occupation. You'll find it listed in +the business directory." + +"Of course, and never mind the details. I'm satisfied with its face +value, a brevet of vice-gerency. God knows there are plenty of +averages to be adjusted in this weary old world." + +"Well, I may have some accounts to balance before I take down my +sign," said Indiman, with a grim little smile. "I'm glad you came +in to-day, Thorp; I've been wanting to have a talk with you." + +"Fire away," I answered, flippantly. + +"Come into the back room," and he led the way. + +The suite ran through the building. There was a good-sized room +facing on the square, fitted up with ordinary office furniture; +back of that a bath-room, and then the rear office, which had been +turned into a bachelor's living-room. There were bookcases, rugs, +pictures, a big mahogany writing-table, an open fireplace, easy- +chairs--everything to make life comfortable. "And the couch over +there is my bed," concluded Indiman. "I'm pretty well fixed, you +see." + +"Decidedly so." + +"Intellectual diversion in abundance; even the artistic element is +not wholly wanting." + +He stepped over to a table in the far corner; a phonographic +machine of some kind stood upon it. Indiman touched a lever, and +again I heard that unforgettable melody, "Ah, fors e lui," and in +her voice--her voice! A cry escaped me. Indiman pushed me back into +my chair. "Be good enough to listen," he said, and I obeyed. + +"While you have been laid up," he began, "I have been amusing +myself with a little theory building. I had taken the liberty to +sequestrate the remarkable phonographic apparatus of your quondam +friend Dr. Gonzales; in fact, I carried it away in the same +carriage with your honorable self from the house of the +Philadelphia 'quizzing-glass.' The police didn't notice--that was +all. + +"Dr. Gonzales was a genius, and his instrument is a revolution in +phonographs--purity of tone, perfect enunciation, and all that. But +the really interesting thing (to me as to you) was not the machine, +but the records that it used. To whom belonged the voice that these +little disks and cylinders so faithfully reproduced? It was a real +woman who had poured the passion and sorrow of life into this +insentient mechanism. And the medium had been sufficient; your +heart had responded. + +"You were my friend, and I could not be indifferent to aught that +concerned you. We are, neither of us, sentimental, so the bare +statement of the fact is sufficient. You were on your back, and so +it was my part to go to work. I did. + +"It is unprofitable business looking for a needle in a hay-stack +when you can buy a packet of the best helix No. 8's at any shop for +a nickel. But after spending a blank week interviewing the makers +of phonographic records I began to feel doubtful of my economic +theory. Nowhere could I find the slightest trace of this particular +job of record-making. And then one day I ran across a chap named +Hugens, who was in the business in a small way. His place was three +blocks east of the Bowery, but I've forgotten the name of the cross +street. + +"It was the usual experience at first--no information--but +something told me that the man was lying. Finally, I pretended to +give up the inquiry and left the shop. It was after dark on a snowy +January afternoon, and I started to walk over to the Madison Avenue +cars. I dawdled along purposely so as to give the telephone time to +get in its work, and the affair turned out exactly as I had +foreseen. At Elm Street a couple of fellows jostled against me, and +when the mix-up was over the parcel containing my two sample +records was gone. That was all that had been wanted; my watch, pin, +and money had not been touched. + +"It was plain, then, that some one had an interest in preventing my +tracing up these particular records. Not Hugens, of course, but his +client, whoever he might be. Well, at least, it made the case more +interesting--yes, and more promising. Two nights later the house in +Madison Avenue was entered by second-story men while I was at +dinner. But the records and repeating apparatus had been removed to +the safe-deposit vaults, and my unknown opponent had drawn another +blank. + +"Getting exciting, wasn't it? And then for a month or more nothing +happened. You continued to convalesce and I kept on thinking. + +"This impersonal opposition--well, there had been something of the +same sort once or twice before. You remember, in particular, the +affair of the private letter-box. A devilish intelligence had been +at work there, and some day, as I told you, the mystery would be +cleared up. + +"Then did we ever know who Mr. Aram Balencourt really was? An agent +of the 'Forty'? Well, perhaps so, but I can't help thinking that +there was always a bigger man behind him. The same conclusion would +apply to the case of that poor wretch Grenelli in the affair of the +Russia and the box of dynamite. Some one with brains pulled the +strings to make all these marionettes dance. + +"Finally, there was your own adventure with the amiable Dr. +Gonzales. Did he ever remind you, even indefinitely, of some one +else whom you had known? Think carefully. Well, it doesn't matter. +I was deceived myself, and when I afterwards went to the Bellevue +insane pavilion to make some inquiries I found that he had long +since been discharged as cured. + +"There was just one hypothesis--the existence somewhere of a strong +and alert personality; a genius along mechanical and scientific +lines; a creature of abnormally developed mentality and +correspondingly defective ethical nature; an intelligence +absolutely passionless and ruthless, playing the game entirely for +its own sake, and equally indifferent to the end and to the means +used to attain it--in other words, a monster. Quite an elaborate +theory, you observe; but the difficulty was to fit it to the +individual. Looking back on the problem, I accuse myself of being +rather slow-witted. Right under my eyes and yet only an accident +opened them. + +"Well, you recall the night at the Utinam when we met Mr. Chivers +and I accepted his very liberal proposition to become an adjuster +of averages. Of course, it was a trap, but what connoisseur of the +adventure grotesque could refuse such a bait? All I wanted to know +was with whom I was expected to match wits. + +"Of course, the thousand-dollar bills were counterfeits--stage +money? Not at all; every one was as good as the gold it called for +at the sub-treasury. Bribery? From whom and for what? Doubtless I +should know later. As it happened, I found out a little ahead of +time. + +"You remember the incident of the honest cabman and the +hieroglyphic letter which he turned over to me? Here it is, +addressed, as you observe, to Mr. Chivers." + +Indiman drew from a locked drawer in the big centre-table the long +strip of bluish paper covered with its incomprehensible dashes. +"One of the oldest of devices for secret writing," he remarked. +"This slip of paper was originally wrapped about a cylinder of a +certain diameter and the message traced upon it, and it can only be +deciphered by rerolling it upon another cylinder of the same +diameter. Easy enough to find the right one by the empiric method-- +I mean experiment. Once you recognize the fundamental character of +the cryptogram the rest follows with ridiculous certainty. Behold!" + +Indiman took a long, round, slender stick from the mantel-piece and +proceeded to wrap the ribbon of bluish paper about it, touching +both ends with paste to keep the slip in place. It read in part: + +"He will not find the girl, but so long as those records remain in +his possession the possibility continues to exist. I leave it with +you to make the bargain, and if he is not altogether a fool he will +be content with his ten thousand dollars, and Nos. 13-15 Barowsky +Chambers will be again without a tenant. Otherwise--and it is +generally otherwise with these meddlers--there will have to be a +new adjustment of averages--what a felicitous phrase!--and this, as +usual, I will take upon myself. One way or the other, and, +personally, I don't care a straw which it is." + +The name signed to this curious epistle was David Magnus. + +"Our Dr. Magnus of the Utinam," explained Indiman, but I hardly +heard him. One overwhelming thought obscured everything else--there +was a real Lady Allegra, after all. That was it--to find her, and I +had the clew. I must go at once. But Indiman restrained me. + +"Yes, that is precisely what I want you to do, only let us first +understand the situation thoroughly. I intend remaining here during +the progress of the investigation, and if anything should happen--" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Pleasant rooms, aren't they?" and he looked about him approvingly. +"And yet three men have been found sitting dead in the particular +chair that I am now occupying." + +I only stared at him. + +"No marks of violence," continued Indiman. "Nothing to indicate +foul play; nothing, mind you. 'Dead by the visitation of God,' +according to the coroner, but I should call it an 'adjustment of +averages.' That is a felicitous phrase. I got my facts, by-the-way, +from the janitor. He is rather proud of the affair Barowsky, as we +may call it." + +"A monster, indeed!" I exclaimed, warmly. + +"Oh, we mustn't misjudge our good Dr. Magnus," said Indiman, +indulgently. "I used the word 'monster' in a purely psychological +sense. You can't call such a being immoral; he is simply unmoral." + +"Not even a criminal lunatic." + +"Certainly not. But I acknowledge that society would be justified +in protecting itself from such a creature. And it will." + +"But why should you remain here, exposed to danger?" + +"My dear Thorp, I want to play the game. I'm sure it's one worthy +of my best attention." + +We argued it out for an hour or more, but Indiman was not to be +moved from his position. So it came back to his original +proposition. I was to take up the search on the outside for the +Lady Allegra, and Indiman was to hold the fort at Nos. 13-15 +Barowsky Chambers. I rose to go. + +"You don't need these, do you?" he asked, a little doubtfully, +picking up one of the phonographic cylinders. I shook my head. As +though I could have forgotten the smallest inflection of that +voice! So we parted. + +It had resolved itself into the needle in a hay-stack, after all. +Where was I to look and for what? A voice! "Vox et preterea nihil," +to quote again that beloved Vergilian line. To the unprejudiced +mind it would seem hopeless enough, and yet I never doubted for an +instant but that I should find her. If a man is sure that the world +holds the one woman intended for him he may be equally confident +that their paths will somewhere, somehow, sometime intersect. + +It was the middle of the musical season, and I attended everything +from grand opera to music-hall. For the first and most obvious +procedure was to assume that the Lady Allegra was a professional +singer. Either that or in the very front rank of amateurs. As to +the latter, I had always been more or less in with the musical set, +and I knew of no one who came within a mile of filling my bill of +particulars. + +A professional, then, but not necessarily high up on the ladder. +Merit may wait a long time for its due recognition. So I did not +despise the humble field of vaudeville and of the continuous +performance houses. + +Week after week passed without result, and it was now the 1st of +March. I saw Indiman every few days and the game dragged equally +with him. Chivers had called half a dozen times, and was now openly +negotiating for the possession of the phonographic cylinders. But +Indiman fenced skilfully and kept him hanging on. + +One night I was strolling through East Houston Street. A +transparency caught my eye. It announced that a performance of +high-class vaudeville was in progress. I paid my dime and entered. + +A long, low-studded room, dim with tobacco-smoke and redolent of +stale beer. At the far end a small stage with faded red hangings. +The card read No. 7, and the programme informed me that the turn +was "A Bouquet of Ballads." A slight, fair-haired girl appeared on +the stage. Her cheeks were burning, and she kept her eyes fixed on +the floor. The piano jangled, and she began her song, Schubert's +"Linden-Tree." Her voice shook and quavered as she went on, but I +knew it. I had found the Lady Allegra. + +The audience listened indifferently. This sort of thing did not +appeal to East Houston Street sensibilities, and there was no +applause at the end. The girl essayed a few bars of her second +number, a popular air in trivial waltz time, but with even poorer +success. Then she broke down altogether and retired distressfully. +Cat-calls and jeers, of course. + +But one turn had been allotted to "Mavis," as she was called in the +bill, and I assumed that she would shortly leave the place. I went +outside and waited. Within ten minutes I saw her emerging from the +performer's entrance, cloaked and deeply veiled. But I could not be +mistaken. I stood stock-still like any fool as she passed close to +me. What was I to do? + +Then good-fortune smiled for once, and in gratitude for that +surpassing indulgence I hereby relinquish all claim upon the lady +for favors to come, now and forever. As the girl passed down the +street a couple of pasty-faced young men stepped forward. I saw her +stop and shrink away. A half-dozen steps and I had shoved in +between them. The presumptuous youths sprawled to opposite points +of the compass and I had drawn her hand through my arm. I could +feel it tremble, but I carried her onward exultantly, masterfully. +A man takes his own when he finds it. Then at the next street-lamp +I stopped and released her. Within the circle of the light we stood +and gazed into each other's eyes. + +The Lady Allegra who was! It seems odd to think of her now as Alice +Allaire--a pretty enough name but not particularly romantic. And +when she changes it to Thorp, as she has just promised to do--But +perhaps I am going a bit too fast. However, her story is simplicity +itself. + +My dear girl is an orphan, and six months ago she went to live with +her guardian and uncle, David Magnus. But the situation quickly +became intolerable. The attentions of the odious creature Olivers +were openly encouraged by Dr. Magnus, and the child, although +friendless and in a strange city, had no recourse but to run away. +Surely, her voice would secure her a living! But the weeks passed +and her store of money was running dangerously low. The Houston +Street vaudeville had been the one chance that had offered, and she +had hoped to make it good. But that first appearance had been her +last. After the fiasco of which I had been a witness she had been +discharged on the spot. We smile as we recall it now, but it had +been a terrible catastrophe to contemplate at the time. What would +you have done? + +We went straight to Indiman, and he listened with close attention. + +"You have property, then?" he asked. + +Miss Allaire looked troubled. "There is money. I even think it must +be a large estate. But I don't know; my uncle never spoke of my +affairs." + +"One of those cases where it is virtually impossible to prove +anything," said Indiman to me. "Nevertheless, Magnus would be quite +satisfied to have the absence of his niece made a permanent one--it +saves the bother of making any explanations whatever." + +"The phonographic records were the only clew," I observed. "At +least he thought so." + +"Yes, and consequently he has been working all this while to get +them away from me. We're ready now to make a deal, but I'd like to +know what stakes are on the table before playing a card." + +"There was an ante of ten thousand dollars, you remember." + +"Quite so. Well, Miss Allaire, if you are willing to have me play +the partie in your behalf--" + +"I could ask for nothing better," said the girl, quickly. + +"Agreed, then. And, really, I think it is the only chance. Magnus +is too clever a man not to have covered his tracks, and in an +ordinary legal battle you would probably be worsted. But he doesn't +want a fight if he can help it, and that is the club I propose to +use. Now you'll have to go, for I expect Chivers at two." + +I am glad that I glanced back for that last time as we left the +room. Indiman was smiling, his head thrown back and his eyes aglow. +The fight was on, and he was awaiting it as another man might his +bride. To be remembered at one's best; I know I should wish that +for myself. + +A fortnight passed. I had not heard a word from Indiman, and I +dared not intrude upon him without an invitation. I had taken Miss +Allaire to the Margaret Louise Home for Women, but two weeks is the +limit of residence there. What was to be done now? My own slender +funds were exhausted and Alice had not a penny. So we did the +wisest possible thing under the circumstances--or the most foolish, +whichever you care to term it. An hour after we had been married I +went down to Printing House Square and literally forced a city +editor's hand for an assignment to general reportorial work. At +least we should not starve. I informed Indiman by letter of the +event, but received no reply. + +On the afternoon of the 21st of March I was in the city room of the +Planet. Mr. Dodge, the city editor, beckoned to me. He spoke +quickly: + +"Our representative at Police Headquarters has just telephoned that +a man has been found dead in the Barowsky Brothers' bank building, +and there's some yarn to the effect that he is the fourth to die +alone in that particular office. Better go down and take a look at +things. May be a good story in it." + +So there was, but the Planet never published it; they accepted my +resignation in lieu of an explanation. + +I tried to think of indifferent matters as I hurried over to +William H. Seward Square, but my heart kept pounding against my +ribs. Could it be that Indiman--that he had lost the game? + +There was the usual crowd of curiosity-mongers hanging about the +bank building, and of course the police had taken charge. But the +sergeant happened to be well disposed towards newsmen, and my +Planet badge procured me instant admission to the scene of the +tragedy. I passed into the back room. I could see the rigid figure +sitting in the big chair. I forced myself to look at him squarely. + +The dead man was David Magnus. + +I went straight from William H. Seward Square to our boarding- +house. A bulky package had just come for me through a special- +delivery messenger. It contained negotiable securities to the +amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; also a half-dozen +sheets of letter-paper in Indiman's handwriting. I transcribe the +latter: + +"Congratulations, my dear Thorp, on your marriage. They're a bit +belated, I know, but I haven't been in the mood for writing of +late. Moreover, I wanted to make sure of Mrs. Thorp's dowry. I +enclose the proceeds of the campaign, and fancy that the settlement +isn't so far out of the way. But then our good friend Magnus never +expected that he would be called upon to pay it. Here's the story +as I wrote it down from day to day. + +"March 1. It's plain enough that Magnus has been embezzling the +fortune of his niece, Miss Allaire. From what the girl could tell +me of her late parent's mode of living I put them down as being +comfortably off, if not rich. So I have intimated that I might +consider an offer of fifty thousand dollars for the phonographic +records in my safe-deposit vault. At least I will now draw the +enemy's fire. + +"March 3. Chivers has called and affects to regard my proposition +as absurd. I have riposted by raising my price to seventy-five +thousand dollars. He protested angrily, and I immediately made it +one hundred thousand dollars. + +"March 8. Five days of silence and then another call from Chivers. +I met him with the statement that now I would not take less than +one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. He seemed flurried +and said that he would have to consult his principal. 'As you +like,' I remarked, carelessly, 'but it will then cost you one +hundred and fifty thousand dollars.' Magnus is evidently alarmed +and is wondering how much I really know. + +"March 9. No word from the hostile camp. The inference is that I +may now look for a move on my antagonists' part, 'Otherwise,' as he +says in that precious note, 'there will have to be a new adjustment +of averages.' Precisely. + +"The position is probably a dangerous one, and I must take the +obvious precautions. To begin with, I shall not leave these rooms +until the affair is over, and I have made arrangements with an up- +town restaurant to supply me with my meals in sealed vessels. I am +thus insured against a street assault and poison. But all this is +probably useless. The Magnus method of attack will be far more +subtle. + +"I have just written to Chivers that two hundred thousand dollars +will now be necessary if he wants those phonographic records. + +"March 11. I have had a talk with Louis, the janitor, about the +Barowsky 'affairs.' Three men found dead in the big chair that +faces the centre-table in my living-room. The date in every case +was the 21st of March. If not an extraordinary coincidence there is +food for reflection in this plain statement. It gives me ten clear +days, and I can eat my dinner to-night in comparative comfort. + +"March 12. I have assumed that the psychological moment is +scheduled for March 21st, but both the direction and the nature of +the blow are still unknown. I have made a minute examination of the +rooms and all that they contain, but can discover nothing in the +nature of a trap. There are no secret doors, no collapsing walls, +no hidden tubes for the dissemination of poisonous vapors. My +windows are not overlooked from any outside point of vantage, thus +eliminating the silent bullet of the air-gun. In a word, the +machinery of the melodrama seems to be entirely non-existent. And +yet I know that unless I can get the end of the clew before the +21st of March I shall sit dead in the big chair over there, just as +the three who have gone before me. + +"March 18. Still no answer from Chivers. I have sent him a final +communication fixing my price at two hundred and fifty thousand +dollars, and saying that unless the proposition is accepted within +three days further negotiations will be broken off. + +"March 19. The offer is accepted. At noon on Friday, the 21st, two +hundred and fifty thousand dollars in negotiable securities will be +placed in my hands, and I am to give in return an order on the +safe-deposit company for the phonographic plates. But there is one +paragraph in the letter that puzzles me. It reads: + +"'My client will come in person on Friday to conclude the business, +but only in the event of the day being bright and sunny. If rainy +or cloudy you may expect him at a somewhat earlier hour on Saturday +or the next clear day whichever it may be.' + +"Now what does this mean? On the face of it, a disinclination on +the part of an elderly gentleman to expose himself to these chill +March winds. But Magnus is not very old, and he does not look in +the least rheumatic. + +"I have forgotten to mention the one pecupeculiarity that I +discovered in the furniture of my living-room. The big chair is +immovably fixed to the floor, its heavy pivot-base being riveted +down to an iron bed-plate. And the chair itself is not made of +mahogany, as I had supposed, but of an unknown metallic alloy that +simulates the wood very closely. Well, I was prepared for something +like this. + +"Another interesting point. The windows in the living-room face in +a southerly direction, and the sun is now every day getting a +little farther round, penetrating a little deeper, at every noon +hour, into the room. On the 21st it will cross the line, and at +least one ray will illumine a spot that for several months has not +been touched by the difect sunlight. What spot? + +"It is nearing twelve o'clock, and as I sit in the big chair I can +see the bar of golden light creeping steadily onward. It reaches +the chair, and half-way around the pivot-base. Then the heavenly +clock begins its retrograde movement, and the ray of sunlight is +forced to retreat. But to-morrow it will come a little farther, and +so again on the day after. + +"Around the sash in the big window the architect has inserted a row +of glass bull's-eyes, a style of ornamentation suited to the semi- +Oriental tastes of William H. Seward Square. I go up and examine +them closely. They seem ordinary enough--but stop! The third from +the bottom; it has a peculiar depth and clearness. It might very +well be a lens--a burning-glass, to use the old-fashioned term. How +close has the sun drawn to this particular bull's-eye? To-morrow I +will take note. + +"March 20. At high noon the sun has reached within a hair's-breadth +of the third bull's-eye from the bottom. To-morrow it will surely +shine through my suspect, and if the latter be a true lens it will +concentrate, for several minutes, a high degree of heat at the +particular spot upon which its rays are focussed. That spot I have +found, by experiment, to be one of a series of small bosses set in +the pivot-base of the big chair. I applied the flame of a match and +immediately the metal boss began to soften. I understand now. The +boss is made of a fusible alloy that melts at a certain prearranged +temperature; it is simply a variation of the common safety plug +used in all the systems of mechanical protection against fire. At +noon to-morrow, March 21st, the rays of the sun will be +concentrated by the lens in the window-sash and will fall upon this +boss of fusible metal. The plug will melt, releasing a spring, let +us say, and a train of action will be set in motion. + +"The precise nature of that action I shall probably not discover. I +incline to the belief that it is of an electrical nature. A +connection is to be thereby established with one of the deadly +currents that can be tapped for the asking here in New York. It may +be objected that the men who died in the chair over there showed no +external marks of death by electrical shock. But the autopsy, if it +had been performed by Coroner Lunkhead, might have told a different +story. Magnus is as good an electrician as he is a chemist, and he +could easily rig up some kind of transformer reducing the power of +the current just enough to paralyze the victim--death by a myriad +of small shocks instead of one big one. Now it is plain why the +spider will not come to spring his trap unless the sun shines on +the 21st of March. If it doesn't, the play goes over to the next +clear day, only that the curtain will rise a minute or so earlier +in correspondence with the onward march of the sun-god, the +executioner in the cast of our drama. Well, I have made my +preparations to counter-check. To-morrow we shall see what we shall +see. + +"March 21. I have still an hour before the expressman will come for +the clock-case, and I must take the opportunity to finish my notes. +The dead man sits opposite me at the table, but that does not +matter. There is plenty of room for us both. + +"The day dawned clear and fine, and at ten o'clock the sun was +shining brightly. He will come then. + +"At eleven I began to wonder how Dr. Magnus proposes to witness my +last agonies without risk of suspicion attaching to his precious +self. If he is seen entering and leaving my room this morning he +may be called upon for an explanation later. One cannot be too +careful in playing the delicate role of the amateur assassin. + +"But I have wronged my excellent friend. He has foreseen the +difficulty and provided against it. At precisely half after eleven +a couple of expressmen delivered what purported to be a clock-case +at my outer office. It was addressed to me and I receipted for it +without hesitation. + +"'I understand that we are to call for it again at two o'clock,' +said one of the men. 'That'll give you time to pack up the other +clock?' + +"'Very good,' said I. + +"'And Mr. Gill said that you would set the case out on the landing +if you had to leave the office before we got back. I'll put the +receipt under the door.' + +"'I understand,' I answered, carelessly. 'Get yourself some +cigars,' and I slipped a half-dollar in the man's hand. He thanked +me and withdrew. I sat down and waited. + +"The lid of the case was removable from the inside. I watched the +screws fall one after another to the floor. Then the lid followed, +and Dr. Magnus stood before me. His eyes, distorted horribly by the +extra powerful lenses of his spectacles, fixed me with a steady +look. He came close as though to assure himself that there was no +mistake. His face almost touched mine. He put on his second and +third pair of glasses, and again I felt like the fly under the +microscope. + +"We did not go through the farce of exchanging salutations. This +was war and we should both know it. It was now nearly noon and the +sun was rapidly approaching the zenith. I led the way into the rear +room. + +"'Here are the securities,' said Magnus. I looked them over and +announced myself as satisfied. + +"'Kindly sit down and write me out an order on the safe-deposit +company,' he went on, in rather a petulant tone. He was standing by +the big chair. He bent forward as though to turn it in my +direction. + +"The psychological moment had come, but the trick was even easier +than I had anticipated. Being in a stooping posture, he was +partially off his balance. A sharp jerk at his coat-collar and he +was seated in the big chair. He bit at my hand savagely as a dog +snaps, but I had been too quick for him. Then a couple of turns of +stout window-cord put everything secure. + +"The man seemed dazed. He made no attempt to release himself. He +did not even speak. But then his lips were dry. They opened and +shut mechanically. His eyes, staring through their triple glasses, +were turned towards the window. The sunlight, shining in full +strength, was creeping steadily towards the row of bull's-eyes on +the right of the sash. It lay in a broad, golden band on the +polished floor. + +"A decrepit fly crawled out of a crack and made feebly for the +welcome warmth. The prisoner's feet were free and he advanced one +of them slowly, stealthily towards the miserable insect, then +smashed ruthlessly down upon it. In my turn I looked away, gazing +steadily at the window and the sun beyond. A few minutes now and we +would know. + +"A little cloud no bigger than a man's hand. It was travelling +directly towards the sun's disk. Suppose now that its veil +obscured, at the final moment, the fatal ray. He saw it too. +Together we watched it slowly drifting through the brilliant blue +of the sky--a little cloud no bigger than a man's hand. + +"The currents of air in the upper regions first accelerated and +then retarded the progress of the vaporous island. It seemed to +stop; then it hung for an instant directly on the lower limb of the +great ball of light. A sensation of intolerable cold pervaded my +entire body. Involuntarily I shut my eyes. + +"I forced myself to look. The cloud had disappeared. Its +imponderable essence had been absorbed into the clear ether as a +drop of water sizzles into nothingness on a red-hot stove. The +sunlight, shining through the third bull's- eye from the bottom, +was instantly transformed into a single concentrated beam. The +heat-ray impinged upon the boss of fusible metal. I saw the alloy +begin to melt. I turned and ran into the other room. + +"Twenty minutes of silence and then I re- entered. I was horribly +afraid, but he sat there quiet and still. I unwound the cord and +threw it out of the window. It was clouding over in earnest now. +These March days are so changeable. + +"It is close to two o'clock, and I must be getting ready to depart. +I have set the clock- case out in the passageway, and the lids and +screws are in readiness. The expressman will doubtless be punctual. +He will carry the case down-stairs and load it on his wagon. I +shall be delivered in due course at my destination. What is it to +be? Well, I shall have plenty of time in which to reflect upon the +possibilities of the journey that lies before me. + +"One moment in which to seal up these notes, together with the +bundle of securities. Fortunately, I have a special-delivery stamp +in my pocket, and I can post the packet in the mail-chute. Best +wishes, my dear Thorp, for the future happiness of yourself and +your charming wife. You have now given a hostage to fortune and +will no longer care to sail on uncertain seas. But the Wanderlust +in my blood seems to be ineradicable. Again the gates of chance are +opening before me and I am eager to enter in. Good-bye." + +Here the record ends abruptly. And there has been no sequel. Not +the slightest sound nor sign has been vouchsafed from the void. He +who was Esper Indiman is gone, like a stone dropped into the gulf, +and I have lost something that is not easily replaced--a friend. +But since it is his wish, there is nothing more to be said. He may +return--a message may come-- + +The gates of chance! Well, it is exactly a year and a day since +that eventful afternoon when Esper Indiman's visiting-card was +thrust into my unconscious hand. I have travelled along some +strange ways in the course of that twelvemonth, and henceforth I +shall be content to trudge along the common high-road of life. The +gates of chance--for me they are closed forever. But I look over at +my wife's dear face and know that it is better so. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Gates of Chance +by Van Tassel Sutphen + diff --git a/old/thgts10.zip b/old/thgts10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f41f9c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/thgts10.zip |