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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/5150.txt b/5150.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ab76f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/5150.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10005 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ear in the Wall, by Arthur B. Reeve + +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 Ear in the Wall + +Author: Arthur B. Reeve + +Posting Date: September 15, 2012 [EBook #5150] +Release Date: February, 2004 +First Posted: May 15, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EAR IN THE WALL *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +THE EAR IN THE WALL + +BY + +ARTHUR B. REEVE + +FRONTISPIECE BY WILL FOSTER + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I THE VANISHER + + II THE BLACK BOOK + + III THE SAFE ROBBERY + + IV THE ANONYMOUS LETTER + + V THE SUFFRAGETTE SECRETARY + + VI THE WOMAN DETECTIVE + + VII THE GANG LEADER + + VIII THE SHYSTER LAWYER + + IX THE JURY FIXER + + X THE AFTERNOON DANCE + + XI THE TYPEWRITER CLUE + + XII THE "PORTRAIT PARLE" + + XIII THE CONVICTION + + XIV THE BEAUTY PARLOUR + + XV THE PHANTOM CIRCUIT + + XVI THE SANITARIUM + + XVII THE SOCIETY SCANDAL + +XVIII THE WALL STREET WOLF + + XIX THE ESCAPE + + XX THE METRIC PHOTOGRAPH + + XXI THE MORGUE + + XXII THE CANARD + +XXIII THE CONFESSION + + XXIV THE DEBACLE OF DORGAN + + XXV THE BLOOD CRYSTALS + + XXVI THE WHITE SLAVE + +XXVII THE ELECTION NIGHT + + + + +I + +THE VANISHER + + +"Hello, Jameson, is Kennedy in?" + +I glanced up from the evening papers to encounter the square-jawed, +alert face of District Attorney Carton in the doorway of our apartment. + +"How do you do, Judge?" I exclaimed. "No, but I expect him any second +now. Won't you sit down?" + +The District Attorney dropped, rather wearily I thought, into a chair +and looked at his watch. + +I had made Carton's acquaintance some years before as a cub reporter on +the Star while he was a judge of an inferior court. Our acquaintance +had grown through several political campaigns in which I had had +assignments that brought me into contact with him. More recently some +special writing had led me across his trail again in telling the story +of his clean-up of graft in the city. At present his weariness was +easily accounted for. He was in the midst of the fight of his life for +re-election against the so-called "System," headed by Boss Dorgan, in +which he had gone far in exposing evils that ranged all the way from +vice and the drug traffic to bald election frauds. + +"I expect a Mrs. Blackwell here in a few minutes," he remarked, +glancing again at his watch. His eye caught the headline of the news +story I had been reading and he added quickly, "What do the boys on the +Star think of that Blackwell case, anyhow?" + +It was, I may say, a case deeply shrouded in mystery--the disappearance +without warning of a beautiful young girl, Betty Blackwell, barely +eighteen. Her family, the police, and now the District Attorney had +sought to solve it in vain. Some had thought it a kidnaping, others a +suicide, and others had even hinted at murder. All sorts of theories +had been advanced without in the least changing the original dominant +note of mystery. Photographs of the young woman had been published +broadcast, I knew, without eliciting a word in reply. Young men whom +she had known and girls with whom she had been intimate had been +questioned without so much as a clue being obtained. Reports that she +had been seen had come in from all over the country, as they always do +in such cases. All had been investigated and had turned out to be based +on nothing more than imagination. The mystery remained unsolved. + +"Well," I replied, "of course there's a lot of talk now in the papers +about aphasia and amnesia and all that stuff. But, you know, we +reporters are a sceptical lot. We have to be shown. I can't say we put +much faith in THAT." + +"But what is your explanation? You fellows always have an opinion. +Sometimes I think the newspapermen are our best detectives." + +"I can't say that we have any opinion in this case--yet," I returned +frankly. "When a girl just simply disappears on Fifth Avenue and there +isn't even the hint of a clue as to any place she went or how, +well--oh, there's Kennedy now. Put it up to him." + +"We were just talking of that Betty Blackwell disappearance case," +resumed Carton, when the greetings were over. "What do you think of it?" + +"Think of it?" repeated Kennedy promptly with a keen glance at the +District Attorney; "why, Judge, I think of it the same as you evidently +do. If you didn't think it was a case that was in some way connected +with your vice and graft investigation, you wouldn't be here. And if I +didn't feel that it promised surprising results, aside from the +interest I always have naturally in solving such mysteries, I wouldn't +be ready to take up the offer which you came here to make." + +"You're a wizard, Kennedy," laughed Carton, though it was easily seen +that he was both pleased and relieved to think that he had enlisted +Craig's services so easily. + +"Not much of a wizard. In the first place, I know the fight you're +making. Also, I know that you wouldn't go to the police in the present +state of armed truce between your office and Headquarters. You want +someone outside. Well, I'm more than willing to be that person. The +whole thing, in its larger aspects, interests me. Betty Blackwell in +particular, arouses my sympathies. That's all." + +"Exactly, Kennedy. This fight I'm in is going to be the fight of my +life. Just now, in addition to everything else, people are looking to +me to find Betty Blackwell. Her mother was in to see me today; there +isn't much that she could add to what has already been said. Betty was +a most attractive girl. The family is an excellent one, but in reduced +circumstances. She had been used to a great deal as a child, but now, +since the death of her father, she has had to go to work--and you know +what that means to a girl like that." + +Carton laid down a new photograph which the newspapers had not printed +yet. Betty Blackwell was slender, petite, chic. Her dark hair was +carefully groomed, and there was an air with which she wore her clothes +and carried herself, even in a portrait, which showed that she was no +ordinary girl. + +Her soft brown eyes had that magnetic look which is dangerous to their +owner if she does not know how to control it, eyes that arrested one's +gaze, invited notice. Even the lens must have felt the spell. It had +caught, also, the soft richness of the skin of her oval face and full +throat and neck. Indeed one could not help remarking that she was +really the girl to grace a fortune. Only a turn of the hand of that +fickle goddess had prevented her from doing so. + +I had picked up one of the evening papers and was looking at the +newspaper half-tone which more than failed to do justice to her. Just +then my eye happened on an item which I had been about to discuss with +Carton when Kennedy entered. + +"As a scientist, does the amnesia theory appeal to you, Craig?" I +asked. "Now, here is an explanation by one of the special writers, +headed, 'Personalities Lost Through Amnesia.' Listen." + +The article was brief: + +Mysterious disappearances, such as that of Betty Blackwell, have +alarmed the public and baffled the police before this--disappearances +that have in their suddenness, apparent lack of purpose, and +inexplicability much in common with her case. Leaving out of account +the class of disappearances for their own convenience--embezzlers, +blackmailers, and so forth--there is still a large number of recorded +cases where the subjects have dropped out of sight without apparent +cause or reason and have left behind them untarnished reputations and +solvent back accounts. Of these, a small percentage are found to have +met with violence; others have been victims of suicidal mania, and +sooner or later a clue has come to light which has established the +fact. The dead are often easier to find than the living. + +Of the remaining small proportion, there are on record, however, a +number of carefully authenticated cases where the subject has been the +victim of a sudden and complete loss of memory. + +This dislocation of memory is a variety of aphasia known as amnesia, +and when the memory is recurrently lost and restored, we have +alternating personality. The Society for Psychical Research and many +eminent psychologists, among them the late William James, Dr. Weir +Mitchell, Dr. Hodgson of Boston, and Dr. A. E. Osborn of San Francisco, +have reported many cases of alternating personality. + +Studious efforts are being made to understand and to explain the +strange type of mental phenomena exhibited in these cases, but as yet +no one has given a clear and comprehensive explanation of them. Such +cases are by no means always connected with disappearances, and +exhaustive studies have been made of types of alternating personality +that have from first to last been carefully watched by scientists of +the first rank. + +The variety known as the ambulatory type, where the patient suddenly +loses all knowledge of his own identity and of the past and takes +himself off, leaving no trace or clue, is the variety which the present +case of Miss Blackwell seems to suggest. + +There followed a number of most interesting cases and an elaborate +argument by the writer to show that Betty Blackwell was a victim of +this psychological aberration, that she was, in other words, "a +vanisher." + +I laid down the paper with a questioning look at Kennedy. + +"As a scientist," he replied deliberately, "the theory, of course, does +appeal to me, especially in the ingenious way in which that writer +applied it. However, as a detective"--he shook his head slowly--"I must +deal with facts--not speculations. It leaves much to be explained, to +say the least." + +Just then the door buzzer sounded and Carton himself sprang to answer +it. + +"That's Mrs. Blackwell now--her mother. I told her that I was going to +take the case to you, Kennedy, and took the liberty of asking her to +come up here to meet you. Good-afternoon, Mrs. Blackwell. Let me +introduce Professor Kennedy and Mr. Jameson, of whom I spoke to you." + +She bowed and murmured a tremulous greeting. Kennedy placed a chair for +her and she thanked him. + +Mrs. Blackwell was a slender little woman in black, well past middle +age. Her face and dress spoke of years of economy, even of privation, +but her manner was plainly that of a woman of gentle breeding and +former luxury. She was precisely of the type of decayed gentlewoman +that one meets often in the city, especially at some of the +middle-class boarding-houses. + +Deeply as the disappearance of her daughter had affected her, Mrs. +Blackwell was facing it bravely. That was her nature. One could imagine +that only when Betty was actually found would this plucky little woman +collapse. Instinctively, one felt that she claimed his assistance in +the unequal fight she was waging against the complexities of modern +life for which she had been so ill prepared. + +"I do hope you will be able to find my daughter," she began, +controlling her voice with an effort. "Mr. Carton has been so kind, +more than kind, I am sure, in getting your aid. The police seem to be +able to do nothing. They make out reports, put me off, tell me they are +making progress--but they don't find Betty." + +There was a tragic pathos in the way she said it. + +"Betty was such a good girl, too," she went on, her emotions rising. +"Oh, I was so proud of her when she got her position down in Wall +Street, with the broker, Mr. Langhorne." + +"Tell Mr. Kennedy just what you told me of her disappearance," put in +Carton. + +Again Mrs. Blackwell controlled her feelings. "I don't know much about +it," she faltered, "but last Saturday, when she left the office early, +she said she was going to do some shopping on Fifth Avenue. I know she +went there, did shop a bit, then walked on the Avenue several blocks. +But after that there is no trace of her." + +"You have heard nothing, have no idea where she might have gone--even +for a time?" queried Kennedy. + +He asked it with a keen look at the face of Mrs. Blackwell. I recalled +one case where a girl had disappeared in which Kennedy had always +asserted that if the family had been perfectly frank at the start much +more might have been accomplished in unravelling the mystery. + +There was evident sincerity in Mrs. Blackwell as she replied quickly, +"Absolutely none. Another girl from the office was with her part of the +time, then left her to take the subway. We don't live far uptown. It +wouldn't have taken Betty long to get home, even if she had walked, +after that, through a crowded street, too." + +"Of course, she may have met a friend, may have gone somewhere with the +friend," put in Kennedy, as if trying out the remark to see what effect +it might have. + +"Where could she go?" asked Mrs. Blackwell in naive surprise, looking +at him with a counterpart of the eyes we had seen in the picture. "I +hope you don't think that Betty---" + +The little widow was on the verge of tears again at the mere hint that +her daughter might have had friends that were not all, perhaps, that +they should be. + +Carton came to the rescue. "Miss Blackwell," he interposed, "was a very +attractive girl, very. She had hosts of admirers, as every attractive +girl must have. Most of them, all of them, as far as Mrs. Blackwell +knows and I have been able to find out, were young men at the office +where she worked, or friends of that sort--not the ordinary clerk, but +of the rising, younger, self-made generation. Still, they don't seem to +have interested her particularly as far as I have been able to +discover. She merely liked them. There is absolutely nothing known to +point to the fact that she was any different from thousands of girls in +that respect. She was vivacious, full of fun and life, a girl any +fellow would have been more than proud to take to a dance. She was +ambitious, I suppose, but nothing more." + +"Betty was not a bad girl," asserted Mrs. Blackwell vehemently. "She +was a good girl. I don't believe there was much, in fact anything +important, on which she did not make me her confidante. Yes, she was +ambitious. So am I. I have always hoped that Betty would bring our +family--her younger sister--back to the station where we were before +the panic wiped out our fortune and killed my husband. That is all." + +"Yes," added Carton, "nothing at all is known that would make one think +that she was what young men call a 'good fellow' with them." + +Kennedy looked up, but said nothing. I thought I could read the +unspoken word on his lips, as he glanced from Carton to Mrs. Blackwell, +"known." + +She had risen and was facing us. + +"Is there no one in all this great city," appealed the distracted +little woman with outstretched arms, "who can find my daughter? Is it +possible that a girl can disappear in broad daylight in the streets and +never be heard of again? Oh, won't you find her? Tell me she is +safe--that she is still the little girl I---" + +Her voice failed and she was crying softly in her lace handkerchief. It +was touching and I saw that Kennedy was deeply moved, although at once +to his practical mind the thought must have occurred that nothing was +to be gained by further questions of Mrs. Blackwell. + +"Believe me, Mrs. Blackwell," he said in a low tone, taking her hand, +"I will do all that is in my power to find her." + +"Thank you," murmured the mother, overcome. + +A moment later, however, she had recovered her composure to some degree +and rose to go. There was a flattering look of relief on her face which +in itself must have been ample reward to Craig, a retainer worth more +to him in a case like this than money. + +"I'm going back to my office," remarked Carton. "If I learn anything, I +shall let you know." + +The District Attorney went out with Mrs. Blackwell. Busy as he was, he +had time to turn aside to help this bereaved woman, and I admired him +for it. + +"Do you think it is one of those cases like some that Carton has +uncovered on the East Side and among girls newly arrived in the city?" +I asked Craig when the door was shut. + +"Can't say," he returned, in an abstracted study. + +"It's awful if it is," I pursued. "And if it is, I suppose all that +will result from it will be a momentary thrill of the +newspaper-readers, and then they will fall back on the old saying that +after all it is only a result of human nature that such things +happen--they always have happened and always will--that old line of +talk." + +"That sort of thing is NOT a result of human nature," returned Kennedy +earnestly. "It's a System. I mean to say that if it should turn out to +be connected with the vice investigations of Carton, and not a case of +aphasia, such a disappearance you would find to be due to the +persistent, cunning, and unprincipled exploitation of young girls. + +"No, Walter, it is not that women are weak or that men are inherently +vicious. That doesn't account for a case like this. Then, too, some +mawkish people to-day are fond of putting the whole evil on low wages +as a cause. It isn't that--alone. It isn't even lack of education or of +moral training. Human nature is not so bad in the mass as some good +people think. No, don't you, as a reporter, see it? It is big business, +in its way, that Carton is fighting--big business in the commercialized +ruin of girls, such, perhaps, as Betty Blackwell--a vicious system that +enmeshes even those who are its tools. I'm glad if I can have a chance +to help smash it. + +"Now, I'll tell you what I want you to do, just so that we can start +this thing with a clear understanding of what it amounts to. I want you +to look up just what the situation is. I know there is an army of +'vanishers' in New York. I want to know something about them in the +mass. Can't you dig up something from your Star connections?" + +Kennedy had some matters concerning other cases to clear up before he +felt free to devote his whole time to this. As there was nothing we +could do immediately, I spent some time getting at the facts he wanted. +Indeed, it did not take me long to discover that the disappearance of +Betty Blackwell, in spite of the prominence it had been given, was by +no means an isolated case. I found that the Star alone had chronicled +scores of such disappearances during the past few months, cases of +girls who had simply been swallowed up in the big city. They were the +daughters of neither the rich nor of the poor, most of them, but girls +rather in ordinary circumstances. + +Even the police records showed upward of a thousand missing young +girls, ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-one years and I knew that +the police lists scarcely approximated the total number of missing +persons in the great city, especially in those cases where a hesitancy +on the part of parents and relatives often concealed the loss from +public records. + +I came away with the impression that there were literally hundreds of +cases every bit as baffling as that of Betty Blackwell, of young girls +who had left absolutely no trace behind, who had made no preparations +for departure and of whom few had been heard from since they +disappeared. Many from homes of refinement and even high financial +standing had disappeared, leaving no clues behind. It was not alone the +daughters of the poor that were affected--it was all society. + +Many reasons, I found, had been assigned for the disappearances. I knew +that there must be many causes at work, that no one cause could be +responsible for all or perhaps a majority of the cases. There were +suicides and murders and elopements, family troubles, poverty, desire +for freedom and adventure; innumerable complex causes, even down to +kidnapping. + +The question was, however, which of these causes had been in operation +in the case of Betty Blackwell? Where had she gone? Where had this +whole army of vanishers disappeared? Were these disappearances merely +accidents--or was there an epidemic of amnesia? I could bring myself to +no such conclusions, but was forced to answer my own queries in lieu of +an answer from Kennedy, by propounding another. Was there an organized +band? + +And, after I had tried to reason it all out, I still found myself back +at the original question, as I rejoined Kennedy at the laboratory, +"Where had they all--where had Betty Blackwell gone?" + + + + +II + +THE BLACK BOOK + + +I had scarcely finished pouring out my suspicions to Kennedy when the +telephone rang. + +It was Carton on the wire, in a state of unsuppressed excitement. +Kennedy answered the call himself, but the conversation was brief and, +to me, unenlightening, until he hung up the receiver. + +"Dorgan--the Boss," he exclaimed, "has just found a detectaphone in his +private dining-room at Gastron's." + +At once I saw the importance of the news and for the moment it obscured +even the case of Betty Blackwell. + +Dorgan was the political boss of the city at that time, apparently +entrenched, with an organization that seemed impregnable. I knew him as +a big, bullnecked fellow, taciturn to the point of surliness, owing his +influence to his ability to "deliver the goods" in the shape of graft +of all sorts, the archenemy of Carton, a type of politician who now is +rapidly passing. + +"Carton wants to see us immediately at his office," added Craig, +jamming his hat on his head. "Come on." + +Without waiting for further comment or answer from me, Kennedy, caught +by the infectious excitement of Carton's message, dashed from our +apartment and a few minutes later we were whirling downtown on the +subway. + +"You know, I suppose," he whispered rather hoarsely above the rumble +and roar of the train, but so as not to be overheard, "that Dorgan +always has kept a suite of rooms at Gastron's, on Fifth Avenue, for +dinners and conferences." + +I nodded. Some of the things that must have gone on in the secret suite +in the fashionable restaurant I knew would make interesting reading, if +the walls had ears. + +"Apparently he must have found out about the eavesdropping in time and +nipped it," pursued Kennedy. + +"What do you mean?" I asked, for I had not been able to gather much +from the one-sided conversation over the telephone, and the lightning +change from the case of Betty Blackwell to this had left me somewhat +bewildered. "What has he done?" + +"Smashed the transmitter of the machine," replied Kennedy tersely. "Cut +the wires." + +"Where did it lead?" I asked. "How do you know?" + +Kennedy shook his head. Either he did not know, yet, or he felt that +the subway was no place in which to continue the conversation beyond +the mere skeleton that he had given me. + +We finished the ride in comparative silence and hurried into Carton's +office down in the Criminal Courts Building. + +Carton greeted us cordially, with an air of intense relief, as if he +were glad to have been able to turn to Kennedy in the growing +perplexities that beset him. + +What surprised me most, however, was that, seated beside his desk, in +an easy chair, was a striking looking woman, not exactly young, but of +an age that is perhaps more interesting than youth, certainly more +sophisticated. She, too, I noticed, had a tense, excited expression on +her face. As Kennedy and I entered she had looked us over searchingly. + +"Let me present Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Jameson, Mrs. Ogleby," said Carton +quickly. "Both of them know as much about how experts use those little +mechanical eavesdroppers as anyone--except the inventor." + +We bowed and waited for an explanation. + +"You understand," continued Carton slowly to us in a tone that enjoined +secrecy, "Mrs. Ogleby, who is a friend of Mr. Murtha, Dorgan's +right-hand man, naturally is alarmed and doesn't want her name to +appear in this thing." + +"Oh--it is terrible--terrible," Mrs. Ogleby chimed in in great +agitation. "I don't care about anything else. But, my reputation--it +will be ruined if they connect my name with the case. As soon as I +heard of it--I thought of you, Mr. Carton. I came here immediately. +There must be some way in which you can protect me--some way that you +can get along without using--" + +"But, my dear Mrs. Ogleby," interrupted the District Attorney, "I have +told you half a dozen times, I think, that I didn't put the +detectaphone in--" + +"Yes, but you will get the record," she persisted excitedly. "Can't you +do something?" she pleaded. + +I fancied that she said it with the air of one who almost had some +right in the matter. + +"Mrs. Ogleby," reiterated Carton earnestly, "I will do all I can--on my +word of honour--to protect your name, but--" + +He paused and looked at us helplessly. + +"What was it that was overheard?" asked Craig point-blank, watching +Mrs. Ogleby's face carefully. + +"Why," she replied nervously, "there was a big dinner last night which +Mr. Dorgan gave at Gastron's. Mr. Murtha took me and--oh--there were +lots of others--" She stopped suddenly. + +"Yes," prompted Kennedy. "Who else was there?" + +She was on her guard, however. Evidently she had come to Carton for one +purpose and that was solely to protect herself against the scandal +which she thought might attach to having been present at one of the +rather notorious little affairs of the Boss. + +"Really," she answered, colouring slightly, "I can't tell you. I +mustn't say a word about who was there--or anything about it. Good +heavens--it is bad enough as it is--to think that my name may be +dragged into politics and all sorts of false stories set in motion +about me. You must protect me, Mr. Carton, you must." + +"How did you find out about the detectaphone being there?" asked +Kennedy. + +"Why," she replied evasively, "I thought it was just an ordinary little +social dinner. That's what Mr. Murtha told me it was. I didn't think +anyone outside was interested in it or in who was there or what went +on. But, this morning, a--a friend--called me up and told me--something +that made me think others besides those invited knew of it, knew too +much." + +She paused, then resumed hastily to forestall questioning, "I began to +think it over myself, and the more I thought of it, the stranger it +seemed that anyone else, outside, should know. I began to wonder how it +leaked out, for I understood that it was a strictly private affair. I +asked Mr. Murtha and he told Mr. Dorgan. Mr. Dorgan at once guessed +that there had been something queer. He looked about his rooms there, +and, sure enough, they found the detectaphone concealed in the wall. I +can't tell any more," she added, facing Carton and using her bewitching +eyes to their best advantage. "I can't ask you to shield Mr. Dorgan and +Mr. Murtha. They are your opponents. But I have done nothing to you, +Mr. Carton. You must suppress--that part of it--about me. Why, it would +ruin---" + +She cut her words short. But I knew what she meant, and to a certain +extent I could understand, if not sympathize with her. Her husband, +Martin Ogleby, club-man and man about town, had a reputation none too +savoury. But, man-like, I knew, he would condone not even the +appearance of anything that caused gossip in his wife's actions. I +could understand how desperate she felt. + +"But, my dear lady," repeated Carton, in a manner that showed that he +felt keenly, for some reason or other, the appeal she was making to +him, "must I say again that I had nothing whatever to do with it? I +have sent for Mr. Kennedy and---" + +"Nothing--on your honour?" she asked, facing him squarely. + +"Nothing--on my honour," he asserted frankly. + +She appeared to be dazed. Apparently all along she had assumed that +Carton must be the person to see, that he alone could do anything for +her, would do something. + +Her face paled as she met his earnest look. She had risen and now, half +chagrined, half frightened, she stood irresolute. Her lips quivered and +tears stood in her eyes as she realized that, instead of protecting +herself by her confidence, she had, perhaps, made matters worse by +telling an outsider. + +Carton, too, had risen and in a low voice which we could not overhear +was trying to reassure her. + +In her confusion she was moving toward the door, utterly oblivious, +now, to us. Carton tactfully took her arm and led her to a private +entrance that opened from his office down the corridor and out of sight +of the watchful eyes of the reporters and attendants in the outer hall. + +I did not understand just what it was all about, but I could see +Kennedy's eye following Carton keenly. + +"What was that--a plant?" he asked, still trying to read Carton's face, +as he returned to us alone a moment later. "Did she come to see whether +you got the record?" + +"No--I don't think so," replied Carton quickly. "No, I think that was +all on the level--her part of it." + +"But who did put in the instrument, really--did you?" asked Kennedy, +still quizzing. + +"No," exclaimed Carton hastily, this time meeting Craig's eye frankly. +"No. I wish I had. Why--the fact is, I don't know who did--no one seems +to know, yet, evidently. But," he added, leaning forward and speaking +rapidly, "I think I could give a shrewd guess." + +Kennedy said nothing, but nodded encouragingly. + +"I think," continued Carton impressively, "that it must have been +Langhorne and the Wall Street crowd he represents." + +"Langhorne," repeated Kennedy, his mind working rapidly. "Why, it was +his stenographer that Miss Blackwell was. Why do you suspect Langhorne?" + +"Because," exclaimed Carton, more excited than ever at Kennedy's quick +deduction, bringing his fist down on the desk to emphasize his own +suspicion, "because they aren't getting their share of the graft that +Dorgan is passing out--probably are sore, and think that if they can +get something on the Boss or some of those who are close to him, they +may force him to take them into partnership in the deals." + +Carton looked from Kennedy to me, to see what impression his theory +made. On me at least it did make an impression. Hartley Langhorne, I +knew, was a Wall Street broker and speculator who dealt in real estate, +securities, in fact in anything that would appeal to a plunger as +promising a quick and easy return. + +Kennedy made no direct comment on the theory. "In what shape is the +record, do you suppose?" he asked merely. + +"I gathered from Mrs. Ogleby," returned Carton watchfully, "that it had +been taken down by a stenographer at the receiving end of the +detectaphone, transcribed in typewriting, and loosely bound in a book +of limp black leather. Oh," he concluded, "Dorgan would give almost +anything to find out what is in that little record, you may be sure. +Perhaps even, rather than have such a thing out, he would come to terms +with Langhorne." + +Kennedy said nothing. He was merely absorbing the case as Carton +presented it. + +"Don't you see?" continued the District Attorney, pacing his office and +gazing now and then out of the window, "here's this record hidden away +somewhere in the city. If I could only get it--I'd win my fight against +Dorgan--and Mrs. Ogleby need not suffer for her mistake in coming to +me, at all." + +He was apparently thinking aloud. Kennedy did not attempt to quiz him. +He was considering the importance of the situation. For, as I have +said, it was at the height of the political campaign in which Carton +had been renominated independently by the Reform League--of which, more +later. + +"You don't think that Langhorne is really in the inner ring, then?" +questioned Craig. + +"No, not yet." + +"Well, then," I put in hastily, "can't you approach him or someone +close to him, and get---" + +"Say," interrupted Carton, "anything that took place in that private +dining-room at Gastron's would be just as likely to incriminate +Langhorne and some of his crowd as not. It is a difference in degree of +graft--that is all. They don't want an open fight. It was just a piece +of finesse on Langhorne's part. You may be sure of that. No, neither of +them wants a fight. That's the last thing. They're both afraid. What +Langhorne wanted was a line on Dorgan. And we should never have known +anything about this Black Book, if some of the women, I suppose, hadn't +talked too much. Mrs. Ogleby added two and two and got five. She +thought it must be I who put the instrument in." + +Carton was growing more and more excited again, "It's exasperating," he +continued. "There's the record--somewhere--if I could only get it. +Think of it, Kennedy--an election going on and never so much talk about +graft and vice before!" + +"What was in the book--mostly, do you imagine?" asked Craig, still +imperturbable. + +Carton shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, almost anything. For instance, you +know, Dorgan has just put through a new scheme of city planning--with +the able assistance of some theoretical reformers. That will be a big +piece of real estate graft, unless I am mistaken. Langhorne and his +crowd know it. They don't want to be frozen out." + +As they talked, I had been revolving the thing over in my head. +Dorgan's little parties, as reported privately among the men on the +Star whom I knew, were notorious. The more I considered, the more +possible phases of the problem I thought of. It was not even impossible +that in some way it might bear on the Betty Blackwell case. + +"Do you think Dorgan and Murtha are hunting the book as anxiously +as--some others?" I ventured. + +"You have heard of the character of some of those dinners?" answered +Carton by asking another question, then went on: "Why, Dorgan has had +some of our leading lawyers, financiers, and legislators there. He +usually surrounds them with brilliant, clever women, as unscrupulous as +himself, and--well--you can imagine the result. Poor little Mrs. +Ogleby," he added sympathetically. "They could twist her any way they +chose for their purposes." + +My own impression had been that Mrs. Ogleby was better able to take +care of herself than his words gave her credit for, but I said nothing. + +Carton paused before the window and gazed out at the Bridge of Sighs +that led from his building across to the city prison. + +"What a record that Black Book must hold!" he exclaimed meditatively. +"Why, if it was only that I could 'get' Murtha--I'd be happy," he +added, turning to us. + +Murtha, as I have said, was Boss Dorgan's right bower, a clever and +unscrupulous politician and leader in a district where he succeeded +somehow or other in absolutely crushing opposition. I had run across +him now and then in the course of my newspaper career and, aside from +his well-known character in delivering the "goods" to the organization +whenever it was necessary, I had found him a most interesting character. + +It was due to such men as Murtha that the organization kept its grip, +though one wave of reform after another lashed its fury on it. For +Murtha understood his people. He worked at politics every hour--whether +it was patting the babies of the district on the head, or bailing their +fathers out of jail, handing out shoes to the shiftless or judiciously +distributing coal and ice to the deserving. + +Yet I had seen enough to know the inherent viciousness of the +circle--of how the organization took dollars from the people with one +concealed hand and distributed pennies from the other hand, held aloft +and in the spotlight. Again and again, Kennedy and I in our excursions +into scientific warfare on crime in the underworld had run squarely up +against the refined as well as the debased creatures of the "System." +Pyramided on what looked like open-handed charity and good-fellowship +we had seen vice and crime of all degrees. + +And yet, somehow or other, I must confess to a sort of admiration for +Murtha and his stamp--if for nothing else than because of the frankness +with which he did what he sought to do. Neither Kennedy nor I could be +accused of undue sympathy with the System, yet, like many who had been +brought in close contact with it, it had earned our respect in many +ways. + +And so, I contemplated the situation with more than ordinary interest. +Carton wanted the Black Book to use in order to win his political fight +for a clean city and to prosecute the grafters. Dorgan wanted it in +order to suppress and thus protect himself and Murtha. Mrs. Ogleby +wanted it to save her good name and prevent even the appearance of +scandal. Langhorne wanted it in order to coerce Dorgan to share in the +graft, yet was afraid of Carton also. + +Was ever a situation of such peculiar, mixed motives? + +"I would move heaven and earth for that Black Book!" exclaimed Carton +finally, turning from the window and facing us. + +Kennedy, too, had risen. + +"You can count on me, then, Carton," he said simply, as the +recollection of the many fights in which we had stood shoulder to +shoulder with the young District Attorney came over him. + +A moment later Carton had us each by the hand. + +"Thank you," he cried. "I knew you fellows would be with me." + + + + +III + +THE SAFE ROBBERY + + +It was late that night that Kennedy and I left Carton after laying out +a campaign and setting in motion various forces, official and +unofficial, which might serve to keep us in touch with what Dorgan and +the organization were doing. + +Not until the following morning, however, did anything new develop in +such a way that we could work on it. + +Kennedy had picked up the morning papers which had been left at the +door of our apartment and was hastily running his eye over the +headlines on the first page, as was his custom. + +"By Jove, Walter," I heard him exclaim. "What do you think of that--a +robbery below the deadline--and in Langhorne's office, too." + +I hurried out of my room and glanced at the papers, also. Sure enough, +there it was: + +SAFE ROBBED IN WALL ST. OFFICE + +Door Into Office of Langhorne & Westlake, Brokers, Forced and Safe +Robbed. + +One of the strangest robberies ever perpetrated was pulled off last +night in the office of Langhorne & Westlake, the brokers, at-----Wall +Street, some time during the regular closing time of the office and +eight o'clock. + +Mr. Langhorne had returned to his office after dining with some friends +in order to work on some papers. When he arrived, about eight o'clock, +he found that the door had been forced. The office was in darkness, but +when he switched on the lights it was discovered that the office safe +had been entered. + +Nothing was said about the manner in which the safe robbery was +perpetrated, but it is understood to have been very peculiar. So far no +details have been announced and the robbery was not reported to the +police until a late hour. + +Mr. Langhorne, when seen by the reporters, stated positively that +nothing of great value had been taken and that the firm would not +suffer in any way as a result of the robbery. + +One of the stenographers in the office, Miss Betty Blackwell, who acted +as private secretary to Mr. Langhorne, is missing and the case has +already attracted wide attention. Whether or not her disappearance had +anything to do with the robbery is not known. + +"Naturally he would not report it to the police," commented Kennedy; +"that is, if it had anything to do with that Black Book, as I am sure +that it must have had." + +"It was certainly a most peculiar affair if it did not," I remarked. +"There must be some way of finding that out. It's strange about Betty +Blackwell." + +Kennedy was turning something over in his mind. "Of course," he +remarked, "we don't want to come out into the open just yet, but it +would be interesting to know what happened down there at Langhorne's. +Have you any objection to going down with me and posing as a reporter +from the Star?" + +"None whatever," I returned. + +We stopped at the laboratory on the campus of the University where +Craig still retained his professorship. Kennedy secured a rather bulky +piece of apparatus, which, as nearly as I can describe, consisted of a +steel frame, which could be attached by screws to any wooden table. It +contained a lower plate which could move forward and back, two lateral +uprights stiffened by curved braces, and a cross piece of steel +attached by strong bolts to the tops of the posts. In the face of the +machine was a dial with a pointer. + +Kennedy quickly took the apparatus apart and made it up into two +packages so that between us we could carry it easily, and at about the +time that Wall Street offices were opening we were on our way downtown. + +Langhorne proved to be a tall, rather slim, man of what might be called +youngish middle age. One did not have to be introduced to him to read +his character or his occupation. Every line of his faultlessly fitting +clothes and every expression of his keen and carefully cared-for face +betokened the plunger, the man who lived by his wits and found the +process both fascinating and congenial. + +"Mr. Langhorne," began Kennedy, after I had taken upon myself the duty +of introducing ourselves as reporters, "we are preparing an article for +our paper about a new apparatus which the Star has imported especially +from Paris. It is a machine invented by Monsieur Bertillon just before +he died, for the purpose of furnishing exact measurements of the +muscular efforts exerted in the violent entry of a door or desk by +making it possible to reproduce the traces of the work that a burglar +has left on doors and articles of furniture. We've been waiting for a +case that the instrument would fit into and it seemed to us that +perhaps it might be of some use to you in getting at the real robber of +your office. Would you mind if we made an attempt to apply it?" + +Langhorne could not very well refuse to allow us to try the thing, +though it was plainly evident that he did not want to talk and did not +relish the publicity that the news of the morning had brought him. + +Kennedy had laid the apparatus down on a table as he spoke and was +assembling the parts which he had separated in order to carry it. + +"These are the marks on the door, I presume?" he continued, examining +some indentations of the woodwork near the lock. + +Langhorne assented. + +"The door was open when you returned?" asked Kennedy. + +"Closed," replied Langhorne briefly. "Before I put the key into the +lock, I turned the knob, as I have a habit of doing. Instead of +catching, it yielded and the door swung open without any trouble." + +He repeated the story substantially as we had already read it in the +papers. + +Kennedy had taken a step or two into the office, and was now facing the +safe. It was not a large safe, but was one of the most modern +construction and was supposed to be burglar proof. + +"And you say you lost practically nothing?" persisted Craig. + +"Nothing of importance," reiterated Langhorne. + +Kennedy had been watching him closely. The man was at least baffling. +There was nothing excited or perturbed about his manner. Indeed, one +might easily have thought that it was not his safe at all that had been +robbed. I wondered whether, after all, he had had the Black Book. +Certainly, I felt, if he had lost it he was very cool about the loss. + +Craig had by this time reached the safe itself. In spite of Langhorne's +reluctance, his assurance had taken Kennedy even up to the point which +he wished. He was examining the safe. + +On the front it showed no evidence of having been "souped" or drilled. +There was not a mark on it. Nor, as we learned later from the police, +was there any evidence of a finger-print having been left by the +burglar. + +Langhorne now but ill concealed his interest. It was natural, too, for +here he had one of the most modern of small strong-boxes, built up of +the latest chrome steel and designed to withstand any reasonable +assault of cracksman or fire. + +I was on the point of inquiring how on earth it had been possible to +rob the safe, when Kennedy, standing on a chair, as Langhorne directed, +uttered a low exclamation. + +I craned my neck to look also. + +There, in the very top of the safe, yawned a huge hole large enough to +thrust one's arm through, with something to spare. + +As I looked at the yawning dark hole in the top of what had been only a +short time ago a safe worthy of the latest state of the art, it seemed +incomprehensible. + +Try as I could to reason it out, I could find no explanation. How it +had been possible for a burglar to make such an opening in the little +more than two hours between closing and the arrival of Langhorne after +dinner, I could not even guess. As far as I knew it would have taken +many long hours of patient labour with the finest bits to have made +anything at all comparable to the destruction which we saw before us. + +A score of questions were on my lips, but I said nothing, although I +could not help noticing the strange look on Langhorne's face. It +plainly showed that he would like to have known what had taken place +during the two or more hours when his office had been unguarded, yet +was averse to betraying any such interest. + +Mystified as I was by what I saw, I was even more amazed at the cool +manner in which Kennedy passed it all by. + +He seemed merely to be giving the hole in the top of the safe a passing +glance, as though it was of no importance that someone should have in +such an incredibly short time made a hole through which one might +easily reach his arm and secure anything he wanted out of the interior +of the powerful little safe. + +Langhorne, too, seemed surprised at Kennedy's matter of fact passing by +of what was almost beyond the range of possibility. + +"After all," remarked Kennedy, "it is not the safe that we care to +study so much as the door. For one thing, I want to make sure whether +the marks show a genuine breaking and entering or whether they were +placed there afterwards merely to cover the trail, supposing someone +had used a key to get into the office." + +The remark suggested many things to me. Was it that he meant to imply +that, after all, the missing Betty Blackwell had had something to do +with it? In fact, could the thing have been done by a woman? + +"Most persons," remarked Craig, as he studied the marks on the door, +"don't know enough about jimmies. Against them an ordinary door-lock or +window-catch is no protection. With a jimmy eighteen inches long, even +an anemic burglar can exert a pressure sufficient to lift two tons. Not +one door-lock in ten thousand can stand this strain. It's like using a +hammer to kill a fly. Really, the only use of locks is to keep out +sneak thieves and to compel the modern, scientific educated burglar to +make a noise. This fellow, however, was no sneak thief." + +He continued to adjust the machine which he had brought. Langhorne +watched minutely, but did not say anything. + +"Bertillon used to call this his mechanical burglar detector," +continued Kennedy. "As you see, this frame carries two dynamometers of +unequal power. The stronger, which has a high maximum capacity of +several tons, is designed for the measurement of vertical efforts. The +other measures horizontal efforts. The test is made by inserting the +end of a jimmy or other burglar's tool and endeavouring to produce +impressions similar to those which have been found on doors or windows. +The index of the dynamometer moves in such a way as to make a permanent +record of the pressure exerted. The horizontal or traction dynamometer +registers the other component of pressure." + +He pressed down on the machine. "There was a pressure here of +considerably over two tons," he remarked at length, "with a very high +horizontal traction of over four hundred pounds. What I wanted to get +at was whether this could have been done by a man, woman, or child, or +perhaps by several persons. In this case, it was clearly no mere fake +to cover up the opening of the door by a key. It was a genuine attempt. +Nor could it have been done by a woman. No, that is the work of a man, +a powerful man, too, accustomed to the use of the jimmy." + +I fancied that a shade of satisfaction crossed the otherwise impassive +face of Langhorne. Was it because the Bertillon dynamometer appeared at +first sight to exonerate Betty Blackwell, at least so far, from any +connection with the crime? It was difficult to say. + +Important though it was, however, to clear up at the start just what +sort of person was connected with the breaking of the door I could not +but feel that Kennedy had some purpose in deferring and minimizing for +the present what, to me at least, was the greater mystery, the entering +of the safe itself. + +He was still studying and comparing the marks on the door and the +record made on the dynamometer, when the office telephone rang and +Langhorne was summoned to answer it. Instead of taking the call in his +own office, he chose to answer it at the switchboard, perhaps because +that would allow him to keep an eye also on us. + +Whatever his purpose, it likewise enabled us to keep an ear on him, and +it was with surprise which both Kennedy and I had great difficulty in +concealing, that we heard him reply, "Hello--yes--oh, Mrs. Ogleby, +good-morning. How are you? That's good. So you, too, read the papers. +No, I haven't lost anything of importance, thank you. Nothing serious, +you know. The papers like to get hold of such things and play them up. +I have a couple of reporters here now. Heaven knows what they are +doing, but I can foresee some more unpaid advertising for the firm in +it. Thank you again for your interest. You haven't forgotten the studio +dance I'm giving on the twelfth? No--that's fine. I hope you'll come, +even if Martin has another engagement. Fine. Well-good-bye." + +He hung up the receiver with a mingled air of gratification and +exasperation, I fancied. + +"Haven't you fellows finished yet?" he asked finally, coming over to +us, a little brusquely. + +"Just about," returned Kennedy, who had by this time begun slowly to +dismember and pack up the dynamometer, determined to take advantage of +every minute both to observe Langhorne and to fix in his mind the +general lay-out of the office. + +"Everybody seems to be interested in me this morning," he observed, for +the moment forgetting the embargo he had imposed on his own words. + +As for myself, I saw at once that others besides ourselves were keenly +interested in this robbery. + +"There," remarked Kennedy when at last he had finished packing up the +dynamometer into two packages. "At least, Mr. Langhorne, you have the +satisfaction of knowing that it was in all probability a man, a strong +man, and one experienced in forcing doors who succeeded in entering +your office during your brief absence last night." + +Langhorne shrugged his shoulders non-committally, but it was evident +that he was greatly relieved and he could not conceal his interest in +what Kennedy was doing, even though he had succeeded in conveying the +impression that it was a matter of indifference to him. + +"I suppose you keep a great many of your valuable papers in safety +deposit vaults," ventured Kennedy, finishing up the wrapping of the two +packages, "as well as your personal papers perhaps at home." + +He made the remark in a casual manner, but Langhorne was too keen to +fall into the trap. + +"Really," he said with an air of finality, "I must decline to be +interviewed at present. Good-day, gentlemen." + +"A slippery customer," was Craig's comment when we reached the street +outside the office. "By the way, evidently Mrs. Ogleby is leaving no +stone unturned in her effort to locate that Black Book and protect +herself." + +I said nothing. Langhorne's manner, self-confident to the point of +bravado, had baffled me. I began to feel that even if he had lost the +detectaphone record, his was the nature to carry out the bluff of still +having it, in much the same manner that he would have played the market +on a shoestring or made the most of an unfilled four-card flush in a +game of poker. + +Kennedy was far from being discouraged, however. Indeed, it seemed as +if he really enjoyed matching his wit against the subtlety of a man +like Langhorne, even more than against one the type of Dorgan and +Murtha. + +"I want to see Carton and I don't want to carry these bundles all over +the city," he remarked, changing the subject for the moment, as he +turned into a public pay station. "I'll ring him up and have him meet +us at the laboratory, if I can." + +A moment later he emerged, excited, perspiring from the closeness of +the telephone booth. + +"Carton has some news--a letter--that's all he would say," he +exclaimed. "He'll meet us at the laboratory." + +We hastily resumed our uptown journey. + +"What do you think it is?" I asked. "About Betty Blackwell?" + +Kennedy shook his head non-committally. "I don't know. But he has some +of his county detectives watching Dorgan and Murtha in that Black Book +case, I know. They are worried. It doesn't look as though they, at +least, had the record--that is, if Langhorne has really lost it." + +I wondered whether Langhorne might not, after all, as Kennedy had +hinted, have concealed it elsewhere. The activity of Dorgan and Murtha +might indicate that they knew more about the robbery than appeared yet +on the surface. Had they failed in it? Had they been double-crossed by +the man they had chosen for the work, assuming that they knew of and +had planned the "job"? + +The safe-breaking and the way Langhorne took it had served to +complicate the case even further. While we had before been reasonably +sure that Langhorne had the book, now we were sure of nothing. + + + + +IV + +THE ANONYMOUS LETTER + + +"What do you make of that?" inquired Carton half an hour later as he +met us breathlessly at the laboratory. + +He unfolded a letter over which he had evidently been puzzling +considerably. It was written, or rather typewritten, on plain paper. +The envelope was plain and bore no marks of identification, except +possibly that it had been mailed uptown. + +The letter ran: + +DEAR SIR: + +Although this is an anonymous letter, I beg that you will not consider +it such, since it will be plain to you that there is good reason for my +wishing to remain nameless. + +I want to tell you of some things that have taken place recently at a +little hotel in the West Fifties. No doubt you know of the place +already--the Little Montmartre. + +There are several young and wealthy men who frequent this resort. I do +not dare tell you their names, but one is a well-known club-man and man +about town, another is a banker and broker, also well known, and a +third is a lawyer. I might also mention an intimate friend of theirs, +though not of their position in society--a doctor who has somewhat of a +reputation among the class of people who frequent the Little +Montmartre, ready to furnish them with anything from a medical +certificate to drugs and treatment. + +I have read a great deal in the newspapers lately of the disappearance +of Betty Blackwell, and her case interests me. I think you will find +that it will repay you to look into the hint I have given. I don't +think it is necessary to say any more. Indeed it may be dangerous to +me, and I beg that you will not even show this letter to anyone except +those associated with you and then, please, only with the understanding +that it is to go no farther. + +Betty Blackwell is not at this hotel, but I am sure that some of those +whose wild orgies have scandalized even the Little Montmartre know +something about her. + + Yours truly, + AN OUTCAST. + +Kennedy looked up quickly at Carton as he finished reading the letter. + +"Typical," he remarked. "Anonymous letters occasionally are of a +friendly nature, but usually they reflect with more or less severity +upon the conduct or character of someone. They usually receive little +attention, but sometimes they are of the most serious character. In +many instances they are most important links in chains of evidence +pointing to grave crimes. + +"It is possible to draw certain conclusions from such letters at once. +For instance, it is a surprising fact that in a large number of cases +the anonymous letter writer is a woman, who may write what it does not +seem possible she could write. Such letters often by their writing, +materials used, composition and general form indicate at once the sex +of the writer and frequently show nationality, age, education, and +occupation. These facts may often point to the probable author. + +"Now in this case the writer evidently was well educated. Assumed +illiteracy is a frequent disguise, but it is impossible for an author +to assume a literacy he or she does not possess. Then, too, women are +more apt to assume the characteristics of men than men of women. There +are many things to be considered. Too bad it wasn't in ordinary +handwriting. That would have shown much more. However, we shall try our +best with what we have here. What impressed you about it?" + +"Well," remarked Carton, "the thing that impressed me was that as usual +and as I fully expected, the trail leads right back to protected vice +and commercialized graft. This Little Montmartre is one of the swellest +of such resorts in the city, the legitimate successor to the scores and +hundreds of places which the authorities and the vice investigators +have closed recently. In fact, Kennedy, I consider it more dangerous, +because it is run, on the surface at least, just like any of the +first-class hotels. There's no violation of law there, at least not +openly." + +Craig had continued to examine the letter closely. "So, you have +already investigated the Little Montmartre?" he queried, drawing from +his pocket a little strip of glass and laying it down carefully over +the letter. + +"Indeed I have," returned the District Attorney, watching Kennedy +curiously. "It is a place with a very unsavoury reputation. And yet I +have been able to get nothing on it. They are so confounded clever. +There is never any outward violation of law; they adhere strictly to +the letter of the rule of outward decency." + +Over the typewritten characters Kennedy had placed the strip of glass +and I could see that it was ruled into little oblongs, into each of +which one of the type of the typewritten sheet seemed to fall. +Apparently he had forgotten the contents of the letter in his interest +in the text itself. He held the paper up to the light and seemed to +study its texture and thickness. Then he examined the typed characters +more closely with a little pocket magnifying glass, his lips moving as +if he were counting something. Next he seized a mass of correspondence +on his desk and began comparing the letter with others, apparently to +determine just the shade of writing of the ribbon. Finally he gave it +up and leaned back in his chair regarding us. + +"It is written in the regular pica type," he remarked thoughtfully, +"and on a machine that has seen considerable rough usage, although it +is not an old machine. It will take me a little time to identify the +make, but after I have done that, I think I could identify the +particular machine itself the moment I saw it. You see, it is only a +clue that would serve to fix it once you found that machine. The point +is, after all, to find it. But once found, I am sure we shall be close +to the source of the letter. I may keep this and study it at my +leisure?" + +"Certainly." + +For a moment Carton was silent. Then it seemed as though the matter of +Betty Blackwell brought to mind what he had read in the morning papers. + +"That robbery of Langhorne's safe was a most peculiar thing, wasn't +it?" he meditated. "I suppose you know what Miss Blackwell was?" + +"Langhorne's stenographer and secretary, of course," I replied quickly. + +"Yes, I know. But I mean what she had actually done? I don't believe +you do. My county detectives found out only last night." Kennedy paused +in his rummaging among some bottles to which he had turned at the +mention of the safe robbery. "No--what was it?" he asked. + +Carton bent forward as if our own walls might have ears and said in a +low voice: "She was the operator who took down the detectaphone +conversations at the other end of the wire in a furnished room in the +house next to Gastron's." + +He drew back to see what effect the intelligence had on us, then +resumed slowly: "Yes, I've had my men out on the case. That is what +they think. I believe she often executed little confidential +commissions for Langhorne, sometimes things that took her on short +trips out of town. There is a possibility that she may be on a mission +of that sort. But I think--it's this Black Book case that involves her +now." + +"Langhorne wouldn't talk much about anything," I put in, hastily +remembering his manner. "He may not be responsible--but from his +actions I'd wager he knows more about her than appears." + +"Just so," agreed Carton. "If my men can find out that she was the +operator who 'listened in' and got the notes and the transcript of the +Black Book, then she becomes a person of importance in the case and the +fact must be known to others who are interested. Why," he pursued, +"don't you see what it means? If she is out of the way, there is no one +to swear to the accuracy of the notes in the record, no one to identify +the voices--even if we do manage finally to locate the thing." + +"Dorgan and the rest are certainly leaving nothing undone to shake the +validity of the record," ruminated Kennedy, accepting for the moment at +least Carton's explanation of the disappearance of Miss Blackwell. +"Have you any idea what might have happened to her?" + +Carton shook his head negatively. "There are several explanations," he +replied slowly. "As far as we have been able to find out she led a +model life, at home with her mother and sister. Except for the few +commissions for Langhorne and lately when she was out rather late +taking the detectaphone notes, she was very quiet,--in fact devoted to +her mother and the education of her younger sister." + +"What sort of place was it in which the receivers of the detectaphone +were located--do you know?" asked Kennedy quickly. + +"Yes, it seems to be a very respectable boardinghouse," answered +Carton. "She came there with a grip about a week ago and hired a room, +saying she was out of town a great deal. Just about the same time a +young man, who posed as a student in electrical engineering at some +school uptown, left. It must have been he who installed the +detectaphone--perhaps with the aid of a waiter in Gastron's. At any +rate, she seems to have been alone in the boarding-house--that is, I +mean, not acquainted with any of the other guests--during the time when +she was taking down the record. Dorgan traced the wires, outside the +two buildings, to her rooms, but she was not there. In fact there was +nothing there but a grip with a few articles that give no clue to +anything. Somehow she must have heard of it, for no one knows anything +about her, since then." + +"Perhaps Langhorne is keeping her out of the way so that no one can +tamper with her testimony," I suggested. + +"It's possible," said Carton in a tone that showed that he did not +believe in that explanation. "How about that safe robbery, Kennedy? +Some of the papers hinted that she might have known something of that. +I had a man down there watching, afterwards, but I had cautioned him to +be careful and keep under cover. One of the elevator boys told him that +the robbers had made a hole in the safe. What did he mean? Did you see +it?" + +Rapidly Kennedy sketched what we had done, telling the story of how the +dynamometer had at least partly exonerated Betty Blackwell. + +When he reached the description of the hole in the safe, Carton was +absolutely incredulous. As for myself, it presented a mystery which I +found absolutely inexplicable. How it was possible in such a short time +to make a hole in a safe by any known means, I could not understand. In +fact, if I had not seen it myself, I should have been even more +sceptical than Carton. + +Kennedy, however, made no reply immediately to our expressions of +doubt. He had found and set apart from the rest a couple of little +glass bottles with ground glass stoppers. Then he took a thick piece of +steel and laid it across a couple of blocks of wood, under which was a +second steel plate. + +Without a word of explanation, he took the glass stopper out of the +larger bottle and poured some of the contents on the upper plate of +steel. There it lay, a little mound of reddish powder. Then he took a +little powder of another kind from the other bottle. + +He lighted a match and ignited the second pile of powder. + +"Stand back--close to the wall--shield your eyes," he called to us. + +He had dropped the burning mass on the red powder and in two or three +leaps he joined us at the far end of the room. + +Almost instantly a dazzling, intense flame broke out. It seemed to +sizzle and crackle. With bated breath we waited and, as best we could, +shielding our eyes from the glare, watched. + +It was almost incredible, but that glowing mass of powder seemed +literally to be sinking, sinking right down into the cold steel. In +tense silence we waited. On the ceiling we could see the reflection of +the molten mass in the cup which it had burned for itself in the cold +steel plate. + +At last it fell through to the lower piece of steel, on which it burnt +itself out--fell through as the burning roof of a frame building might +have fallen into the building. + +Neither Carton nor I spoke a word, but as we now cautiously advanced +with Kennedy and peered over the steel plate we instinctively turned to +Craig for an explanation. Carton seemed to regard him as if he were +some uncanny mortal. For, there in the steel plate, was a hole. As I +looked at the clean-cut edges, I saw that it was smaller but identical +in nature with that which we had seen in the safe in Langhorne's office. + +"Wonderful!" ejaculated Carton. "What is it?" + +"Thermit," was all Kennedy said, as just a trace of a smile of +satisfaction flitted over his face. + +"Thermit?" echoed Carton, still as mystified as before. + +"Yes, an invention of a chemist named Goldschmidt, of Essen, Germany. +It is composed of iron oxide, such as conies off a blacksmith's anvil +or the rolls of a rolling-mill, and powdered metallic aluminum. You +could thrust a red-hot bar into it without setting it off, but when you +light a little magnesium powder and drop it on thermit, a combustion is +started that quickly reaches fifty-four hundred degrees Fahrenheit. It +has the peculiar property of concentrating its heat to the immediate +spot on which it is placed. It is one of the most powerful oxidizing +agents known, and it doesn't even melt the rest of the steel surface. +You see how it ate its way directly through this plate. Steel, hard or +soft, tempered, annealed, chrome, or Harveyized--it all burns just as +fast and just as easily. And it's comparatively inexpensive, also. This +is an experiment Goldschmidt it fond of showing his students--burning +holes in one--and two-inch steel plates. It is the same with a +safe--only you need more of the stuff. Either black or red thermit will +do the trick equally well, however." + +Neither of us said anything. There was nothing to say except to feel +and express amazement. + +"Someone uncommonly clever or instructed by someone uncommonly clever, +must have done that job at Langhorne's," added Craig. "Have you any +idea who might pull off such a thing for Dorgan or Murtha?" he asked of +Carton. + +"There's a possible suspect," answered Carton slowly, "but since I've +seen this wonderful exhibition of what thermit can do, I'm almost +ashamed to mention his name. He's not in the class that would be likely +to use such things." + +"Oh," laughed Kennedy, "never think it. Don't you suppose the crooks +read the scientific and technical papers? Believe me, they have known +about thermit as long as I have. Safes are constructed now that are +proof against even that, and other methods of attack. No indeed, your +modern scientific cracksman keeps abreast of the times in his field +better than you imagine. Our only protection is that fortunately +science always keeps several laps ahead of him in the race--and +besides, we have organized society to meet all such perils. It may be +that the very cleverness of the fellow will be his own undoing. The +unusual criminal is often that much the easier to run down. It narrows +the number of suspects." + +"Well," rejoined Carton, not as confident now as when he had first met +us in the laboratory, "then there is a possible suspect--a fellow known +in the underworld as 'Dopey' Jack--Jack Rubano. He's a clever +fellow--no doubt. But I hardly think he's capable of that, although I +should call him a rather advanced yeggman." + +"What makes you suspect him?" asked Kennedy eagerly. + +"Well," temporized Carton, "I haven't anything 'on' him in this +connection, it's true. But we've been trying to find him and can't seem +to locate him in connection with primary frauds in Murtha's own +district. Dopey Jack is the leader of a gang of gunmen over there and +is Murtha's first lieutenant whenever there is a tough political battle +of the organization either at the primaries or on Election Day." + +"Has a record, I suppose?" prompted Kennedy. + +"Would have--if it wasn't for the influence of Murtha," rejoined Carton. + +I had heard, in knocking about the city, of Dopey Jack Rubano. That was +the picturesque title by which he was known to the police and his +enemies as well as to his devoted followers. A few years before, he had +begun his career fighting in "preliminaries" at the prize fight clubs +on the lower East Side. + +He had begun life with a better chance than most slum boys, for he had +rugged health and an unusually sturdy body. His very strength had been +his ruin. Working decently for wages, he had been told by other petty +gang leaders that he was a "sucker," when he could get many times as +much for boxing a few rounds at some "athletic" club. He tried out the +game with many willing instructors and found that it was easy money. + +Jack began to wear better clothes and study the methods of other young +men who never worked but always seemed to have plenty of money. They +were his pals and showed him how it was done. It wasn't long before he +learned that he could often get more by hitting a man with a blackjack +than by using his fists in the roped ring. Then, too, there were +various ways of blackmail and extortion that were simple, safe, and +lucrative. He might be arrested, but he early found that by making +himself useful to some politicians, they could fix that minor +difficulty in the life. + +Thus because he was not only strong and brutal, but had a sort of +ability and some education, Dopey Jack quickly rose to a position of +minor leadership--had his own incipient "gang," his own "lobbygows." +His following increased as he rose in gangland, and finally he came to +be closely associated with Murtha himself on one hand and the "guns" +and other criminals of the underworld who frequented the stuss games, +where they gambled away the products of their crimes, on the other. + +Everyone knew Dopey Jack. He had been charged with many crimes, but +always through the aid of "the big fellows" he avoided the penitentiary +and every fresh and futile attempt to end his career increased the +numbers and reverence of his followers. His had been the history and he +was the pattern now of practically every gang leader of consequence in +the city. The fight club had been his testing ground. There he had +learned the code, which can be summarized in two words, "Don't squeal." +For gangland hates nothing so much as a "snitch." As a beginner he +could be trusted to commit any crime assigned to him and go to prison, +perhaps the chair, rather than betray a leader. As a leader he had +those under him trained in the same code. That still was his code to +those above him in the System. + +"We want him for frauds at the primaries," repeated Carton, "at least, +if we can find him, we can hold him on that for a time. I thought +perhaps he might know something of the robbery--and about the +disappearance of the girl, too. + +"Oh," he continued, "there are lots of things against him. Why, only +last week there was a dance of a rival association of gang leaders. +Against them Dopey Jack led a band of his own followers and in the +ensuing pistol battle a passer-by was killed. Of course we can't +connect Dopey Jack with his death, but--then we know as well as we know +anything in gangland that he was responsible." + +"I suppose it isn't impossible that he may know something about the +disappearance of Miss Blackwell," remarked Kennedy. + +"No," replied Carton, "not at all, although, so far, there is +absolutely no clue as far as I can figure out. She may have been bought +off or she may have been kidnapped." + +"In either case the missing girl must be found," said Craig. "We must +get someone interested in her case who knows something about what may +happen to a girl in New York." + +Carton had been revolving the matter in his mind. "By George," he +exclaimed suddenly, "I think I know just the person to take up that +case for us--it's quite in her line. Can you spare the time to run down +to the Reform League headquarters with me?" + +"Nothing could be more important, just at the minute," replied Craig. + +The telephone buzzed and he answered it, a moment later handing the +receiver to Carton. + +"It's your office," he said. "One of the assistant district attorneys +wants you on the wire." + +As Carton hung up the receiver he turned to us with a look of great +satisfaction. + +"Dopey Jack has just been arrested," he announced. "He has shut up like +an oyster, but we think we can at least hold him for a few days this +time until we sift down some of these clues." + + + + +V + +THE SUFFRAGETTE SECRETARY + + +Carton took us directly to the campaign headquarters of the Reform +League, where his fight for political life was being conducted. + +We found the offices in the tower of a skyscraper, whence was pouring +forth a torrent of appeal to the people, in printed and oral form of +every kind, urging them to stand shoulder to shoulder for good +government and vote the "ring" out of power. + +There seemed to me to be a different tone to the place from that which +I had ordinarily associated with political headquarters in previous +campaigns. There was a notable absence of the old-fashioned politicians +and of the air of intrigue laden with tobacco. + +Rather, there was an air of earnestness and efficiency, which was +decidedly encouraging and hopeful. It seemed to speak of a new era in +politics when things were to be done in the open instead of at secret +meetings and scandalous dinners, as Dorgan did them at Gastron's. + +Maps of the city were hanging on the walls, some stuck full of various +coloured pins, denoting the condition of the canvass. Other maps of the +city in colours, divided into all sorts of districts, told how fared +the battle in the various strongholds of Boss Dorgan and Sub-boss +Murtha. + +Huge systems of card indexes, loose leaf devices, labour-saving +appliances for getting out a vast amount of campaign "literature" in a +hurry; in short, a perfect system, such as a great, well-managed +business might have been proud of, were in evidence everywhere one +looked. + +Work was going ahead in every department under high pressure, for the +campaign, which had been more than usually heated, was now drawing to a +close. Indeed, it would have taken no great astuteness, even without +one's being told, to deduce merely from the surroundings that the +people here were engaged in the annual struggle of seeking the votes of +their fellow-citizens for reform and were nearly worn out by the +arduous endeavour. + +It had been, as I have said, the bitterest campaign in years. Formerly +the reformers had been of the "silk-stocking" type, but now a new and +younger generation was coming upon the stage, a generation which had +been trained to achieve results, ambitious to attain what in former +years had been considered impossible. The Reform League was making a +stiff campaign and the System was, by the same token, more frightened +than ever before. + +Carton was fortunate in having shaken off the thralldom of the old +bosses even before the popular uprising against them had assumed such +proportions as to warrant anyone in taking his political life in his +hands by defying the powers that ruled behind the scenes. In fact, the +Reform League itself owed its existence to a fortunate conjunction of +both moral and economic conditions which demanded progress. + +Of course, the League did not have such a big "barrel" as their +opponents under Dorgan. But, at least they did have many willing +workers, men and women, who were ready to sacrifice something for the +advancement of the principles for which they stood. + +In one part of the suite of offices which had been leased by the +League, Carton had had assigned to him an office of his own, and it was +to this office that he led us, after a word with the boy who guarded +the approach to the door, and an exchange of greetings with various +workers and visitors in the outside office. + +We seated ourselves while Carton ran his eye through some letters that +had been left on his desk for his attention. + +A moment later the door of his office opened and a young lady in a very +stunning street dress, with a pretty little rakish hat and a +tantalizing veil, stood a moment, hesitated, and then was about to turn +back with an apology for intruding on what looked like a conference. + +"Good-morning, Miss Ashton," greeted Carton, laying down the letters +instantly. "You're just the person I want to see." + +The girl, with a portfolio of papers in her hand, smiled and he quickly +crossed the room and held the door open, as he whispered a word or two +to her. + +She was a handsome girl, something more than even pretty. The lithe +gracefulness of her figure spoke of familiarity with both tennis and +tango, and her face with its well-chiselled profile denoted +intellectuality from which no touch of really feminine charm had been +removed by the fearsome process of the creation of the modern woman. +Sincerity as well as humour looked out from the liquid depths of her +blue eyes beneath the wavy masses of blonde hair. She was good to look +at and we looked, irresistibly. + +"Let me introduce Professor Kennedy and Mr. Jameson, Miss Ashton," +began Carton, adding: "Of course you have heard of Miss Margaret +Ashton, the suffragist leader? She is the head of our press bureau, you +know. She's making a great fight for us here--a winning fight." + +It seemed from the heightened look of determination which set Carton's +face in deeper lines that Miss Ashton had that indispensable political +quality of inspiring both confidence and enthusiasm in those who worked +with her. + +"It is indeed a great pleasure to meet you," remarked Kennedy. "Both +Mr. Jameson and myself have heard and read a great deal about your +work, though we seem never before to have had the pleasure of meeting +you." + +Miss Ashton, I recalled, was a very clever girl, a graduate of a famous +woman's college, and had had several years of newspaper experience +before she became a leader in the cause of equal suffrage. + +The Ashtons were well known in society and it was a sore trial to some +of her conservative friends that she should reject what they considered +the proper "sphere" for women and choose to go out into life and devote +herself to doing something that was worth while, rather than to fritter +her time and energy away on the gaiety and inconsequentiality of social +life. + +Among those friends, I had understood, was Hartley Langhorne himself. +He was older than Miss Ashton, but had belonged to the same social +circle and had always held her in high regard. In fact the attentions +he paid her had long been noticeable, the more so as she seemed +politely unaffected by them. + +Carton had scarcely more than introduced us, yet already I felt sure +that I scented a romance behind the ordinarily prosaic conduct of a +campaign press bureau. + +It is far from my intention even to hint that the ability or success of +the head of the press bureau were not all her own or were in any degree +overrated. But it struck me, both then and often later, that the +candidate for District Attorney had an extraordinary interest in the +newspaper campaign, much more, for instance, than in the speakers' +bureau. I am sure that it was not wholly accounted for by the fact that +publicity is playing a more and more important part in political +campaigning. + +Nevertheless, as we came to know afterwards such innovations as her +card index system by election districts all over the city, showing the +attitude of the various newspaper editors, local leaders, and other +influential citizens, recording changes of sentiment and possible +openings for future work, all were very full and valuable. Kennedy, who +had a regular pigeon-hole mind for facts himself, was visibly impressed +by the huge mechanical memory built up by Miss Ashton. + +Though he said nothing to me, I knew that Craig also had observed the +state of affairs between the reform candidate and the suffrage leader. + +"You see, Miss Ashton," explained Carton, "someone has placed a +detectaphone in the private dining-room of Dorgan at Gastron's. I heard +of it first through Mrs. Ogleby, who attended one of the dinners and +was terribly afraid her name would be connected with them if the record +should ever be published." + +"Mrs. Ogleby?" cried Miss Ashton quickly. "She--at a dinner--with Mr. +Murtha? I--I can't believe it." + +Carton said nothing. Whether he knew more about Mrs. Ogleby than he +cared to tell, I could not even guess. + +As he went on briefly summarizing the story, Miss Ashton shot a quick +glance or two at him. + +Carton noticed it, but appeared not to do so. "I suppose," he +concluded, "that she thought I was the only person capable of +eavesdropping. As a matter of fact, I think the instrument was put in +by Hartley Langhorne as part of the fight that is going on fiercely +under the surface in the organization." + +It was Carton's turn now, I fancied, to observe Miss Ashton more +closely. As far as I could see, the information was a matter of perfect +indifference to her. + +Carton did not say it in so many words, but one could not help +gathering that rather than seem to be pursuing a possible rival and +using his official position in order to do it, he was not considering +Langhorne in any other light than as a mere actor in the drama between +himself and Dorgan and Murtha. + +"Now," he concluded, "the point of the whole thing is this, Miss +Ashton. We have learned that Betty Blackwell--you know the case--who +took the notes over the detectaphone for the Black Book, has suddenly +and mysteriously disappeared. If she is gone, it may be difficult to +prove anything, even if we get the book. Miss Blackwell happens to be a +stenographer in the office of Langhorne & Westlake." + +For the first time, Miss Ashton seemed to show a sign of embarrassment. +Evidently she would just as well have had Miss Blackwell in some other +connection. + +"Perhaps you would rather have nothing to do with it," suggested +Carton, "but I know that you were always interested in things of the +sort that happen to girls in the city and thought perhaps you could +advise us, even if you don't feel like personally taking up the case." + +"Oh, it doesn't--matter," she murmured. "Of course, the first thing for +us to do is, as you say, to find what has become of Betty Blackwell." + +Carton turned suddenly at the word "us," but Miss Ashton was still +studying the pattern of the rug. + +"Do you know any more about her?" she asked at length. + +As fully as possible the District Attorney repeated what he had already +told us. Miss Ashton seemed to be more than interested in the story of +the disappearance of Langhorne's stenographer. + +As Carton unfolded the meagre details of what we knew so far, Miss +Ashton appeared to be torn by conflicting opinions. The more she +thought of what might possibly have happened to the unfortunate girl, +the more aroused about the case she seemed to become. + +Carton had evidently calculated on enlisting her sympathies, knowing +how she felt toward many of the social and economic injustices toward +women, and particularly girls. + +"If Mr. Murtha or Mr. Dorgan is responsible in any way for any harm to +her," she said finally, her earnest eyes now ablaze with indignation, +"I shall not rest until someone is punished." + +Kennedy had been watching her emotions keenly, I suspect, to see +whether she connected Langhorne in any way with the disappearance. I +could see it interested him that she did not seem even to consider that +Langhorne might be responsible. Whether her intuition was correct or +not, it was at least better at present than any guess that we three +might have made. + +"They control so many forces for evil," she went on, "that there is no +telling what they might command against a defenceless girl like her +when it is a question of their political power." + +"Then," pursued Kennedy, pacing the floor thoughtfully, "the next +question is, How are we to proceed? The first step naturally will be +the investigation of this Little Montmartre. How is it to be done? I +presume you don't want to go up there and look the place over yourself, +do you, Carton?" + +"Most certainly not," said Carton emphatically. "Not if you want this +case to go any further. Why, I can't walk around a corner now without a +general scurry for the cyclone cellars. They all know me, and those who +don't are watching for me. On the contrary, if you are going to start +there I had better execute a flank movement in Queens or Jersey to +divert attention. Really, I mean it. I had better keep in the +background. But I'll tell you what I would like to do." + +Carton hesitated and came to a full stop. + +"What's the matter?" asked Kennedy quickly, noticing the hesitation. + +"Why--I--er--didn't know just how you'd take a suggestion--that's all." + +"Thankfully. What is it?" + +"You know young Haxworth?" + +"You mean the son of the millionaire who is investigating vice and whom +the newspapers are poking fun at?" + +"Yes. Those papers make me tired. He has been working, you know, with +me in this matter. He is really serious about it, too. He has a corps +of investigators of his own already. Well, there is one of them, a +woman detective named Clare Kendall, who is the brains of the whole +Haxworth outfit. If you would be willing to have them--er--to have her +co-operate with you, I think I could persuade Haxworth---" + +"Oh," broke in Kennedy with a laugh. "I see. You think perhaps there +might be some professional jealousy? On the contrary, it solves a +problem I was already considering. Of course we shall need a woman in +this case, one with a rare amount of discretion and ability. Yes, by +all means let us call in Miss Kendall, and let us take every advantage +we can of what she has already accomplished." + +Carton seized the telephone. + +"Tell her to meet us at my laboratory in half an hour," interposed +Kennedy. "You will come along?" + +"I can't. Court opens in twenty minutes and there is a motion I must +argue myself." + +Miss Ashton appeared to be greatly gratified at Craig's reception of +the suggestion, and Carton noticed it. + +"Oh, yes," recollected Carton, "by the way, as I was on my way down +here, my office called up and told me that they had succeeded in +locating and arresting Dopey Jack. That ought to please you,--it will +mean cutting down the number of those East Side 'rackets' considerably +if we succeed with him." + +"Good!" she exclaimed. "Yes, I don't think there were any worse affairs +than the dances of that Jack Rubano Association. They have got hold of +more young girls and caused more tragedies than any other gang. If you +need any help in getting together evidence, Mr. Carton, I shall be only +too glad to help you. I have several old scores myself to settle with +that young tough." + +"Thank you," said Carton. "I shall need your help, if we are to do +anything. Of course, we can hold him only for primary frauds just now, +but I may be able to do something about that dance that he broke up as +a shooting affray." + +Miss Ashton nodded encouragingly. + +"And," he went on, "it's barely possible that he may know something, or +some of his followers may, about the robbery of Mr. Langhorne's +safe,--if not about the complete and mysterious disappearance of Betty +Blackwell." + +"They'd stop at nothing to save their precious skins," commented Miss +Ashton. "Perhaps that is a good lead. At any rate I can suggest that to +the various societies and other agencies which I intend to set in +motion trying to trace what has happened to her. You can have him held +until they have time to report?" + +"I shall make it a point to do so at any cost," he returned, "and I can +say only this, that we are all deeply indebted to you for the interest +you have shown in the case." + +"Not at all," she replied enthusiastically, evidently having overcome +the first hesitation which had existed because Miss Blackwell had been +Langhorne's stenographer. + +Miss Ashton had quickly jotted down in her notebook the best +description we could give of the missing girl, her address, and other +facts about her, and a list of those whom she meant to start at work on +the case. + +For a moment she hesitated over one name, then with a sudden resolution +wrote it down. + +"I intend to see Hartley Langhorne about it, too," she added frankly. +"Perhaps he may tell something of importance, after all." + +I am sure that this final resolution cost her more than all the rest. +Carton would never have asked it of her, yet was gratified that she saw +it to be her duty to leave nothing undone in tracing the girl, not even +considering the possibility of offending Langhorne. + +"Decent people don't seem to realize," she remarked as she shut her +little notebook and slipped it back into her chatelaine, "how the +System and the underworld really do affect them. They think it is all +something apart from the rest of us, and never consider how closely we +are all bound together and how easy it is for the lowest and most +vicious stratum in the social order to pass over and affect the +highest." + +"That's exactly the point," agreed Carton. "Take this very case. It +goes from Wall Street to gangland, from Gastron's down to the +underworld gambling joints of Dopey Jack and the rest." + +"Society--gambling," mused Miss Ashton, taking out her notebook again. +"That reminds me of Martin Ogleby. I must see Mary and try to warn her +against some of those sporty friends of her husband's." + +"Please, Miss Ashton," put in Carton quickly, "don't mention that I +have told you of the detectaphone record. It might do more harm than +good, just at present. For a time at least, I think we should try to +keep under cover." + +Whether or not that was his real reason, he turned now to Kennedy for +support. We had been, for the most part, silent spectators of what had +been happening. + +"I think so--for the present--at least as far as our knowledge of the +Black Book goes," acquiesced Craig. He had turned to Miss Ashton and +made no effort to conceal the admiration which he felt for her, after +even so brief an acquaintance. "I think Miss Ashton can be depended +upon to play her part in the game perfectly. I, for one, want to thank +her most heartily for the way in which she has joined us." + +"Thank you," she smiled, as she rose to go to her own office. "Oh, you +can always depend on me," she assured us as she gathered up her +portfolio of papers, "where there are the interests of a girl like +Betty Blackwell involved!" + + + + +VI + +THE WOMAN DETECTIVE + + +Half an hour later, a tall, striking, self-reliant young woman with an +engaging smile opened the laboratory door and asked for Professor +Kennedy. + +"Miss Kendall?" Craig inquired, coming forward to meet her. + +She was dark-haired, with regular features and an expression which +showed a high degree of intelligence. Her clear grey eyes seemed to +penetrate and tear the mask off you. It was not only her features and +eyes that showed intelligence, but her gown showed that without +sacrificing neatness she had deliberately toned down the existing +fashions which so admirably fitted in with her figure in order that she +might not appear noticeable. It was clever, for if there is anything a +good detective must do it is to prevent people from looking twice. + +I knew something of her history already. She had begun on a rather +difficult case for one of the large agencies and after a few years of +experience had decided that there was a field for an independent woman +detective who would appeal particularly to women themselves. Unaided +she had fought her way to a position of keen rivalry now with the best +men in the profession. + +Narrowly I watched Kennedy. Here, I felt instinctively, were the "new" +woman and the "new" man, if there are such things. I wondered just how +they would hit it off together. For the moment, at least, Clare Kendall +was an absorbing study, as she greeted us with a frank, jerky +straight-arm handshake. + +"Mr. Carton," she said directly, "has told me that he received an +anonymous letter this morning. May I see it?" + +There are times when the so-called "new" woman's assumed masculine +brusqueness is a trifle jarring, as well as often missing the point. +But with Clare Kendall one did not feel that she was eternally trying +to assert that she was the equal or the superior of someone else, +although she was, as far as the majority of detectives I have met are +concerned. It was rather that she was different; in fact, almost from +the start I felt that she was indispensable. She seemed to have that +ability to go straight to the point at issue, a sort of faculty of +intuition which is often more valuable than anything else, the ability +to feel or sense things for which at first there was no actual proof. +No good detective ever lacks that sort of instinct, and Clare Kendall, +being a woman, had it in large degree. But she had more. She had the +ability to go further and get the facts and actual proof; for, as she +often said during the course of a case, "Woman's intuition may not be +good evidence in a court of law, but it is one of the best means to get +good evidence that will convince a court of law." + +"My investigators have been watching that place for some time," she +remarked as she finished the letter. "Of course, having been closely in +touch with this sort of thing for several months in my work, I have had +all the opportunity in the world to observe and collect information. +The letter does not surprise me." + +"Then you think it is a good tip?" asked Kennedy. + +"Decidedly, although without the letter I should not have started +there, I think. Still, as nearly as I can gather, there is a rather +nondescript crowd connected in one way or another with the Montmartre. +For instance, there is a pretty tough character who seems to be +connected with the people there, my investigators tell me. It is a +fellow named 'Ike the Dropper,' one of those strong-arm men who have +migrated up from the East Side to the White Light District. At least my +investigators have told me they have seen him there, for I have never +bothered with the place myself. There has been plenty of work elsewhere +which promised immediate results. I'm glad to have a chance to tackle +this place, though, with your help." + +"What do you think of the rest of the letter?" asked Craig. + +"I think I could make a pretty shrewd guess from what I have heard, as +to the identity of some of those hinted at. I'm not sure, but I think +the lawyer may be a Mr. Kahn, a clever enough attorney who has a large +theatrical clientele and none too savoury a reputation as a local +politician. The banker may be Mr. Langhorne, although he is not exactly +a young man. Still, I know he has been associated with the place. As +for the club-man I should guess that that was Martin Ogleby." + +Kennedy and I exchanged glances of surprise. + +"As a first step," said Kennedy, at length, "I am going to write a +letter to Betty Blackwell, care of the Little Montmartre--or perhaps +you had better do the actual writing of it, Miss Kendall. A woman's +hand will look less suspicious." + +"What shall I write?" she asked. + +"Just a few lines. Tell her that you are one of the girls in the +office, that you have heard she was at the Montmartre--anything. The +actual writing doesn't make any difference. I merely want to see what +happens." + +Miss Kendall quickly wrote a little note and handed it to him. + +"Then direct this envelope," he said, reaching into a drawer of his +desk and bringing out a plain white one. "And let me seal it." + +Carefully he sealed and stamped the letter and handed it to me to post. + +"You will dine with us, Miss Kendall?" he asked. "Then we will plan the +next step in our campaign." + +"I shall be glad to do so," she replied. + +Fifteen minutes later I had dropped the letter in the drop of a branch +of the general post-office to ensure its more prompt delivery, and it +was on its way through the mails to accomplish the purpose Kennedy may +have contemplated. + +"Just now it is more important for us to become acquainted with this +Little Montmartre," he remarked. "I suppose, Miss Kendall, we may +depend on you to join us?" + +"Indeed you may," she replied energetically. "There is nothing that we +would welcome more than evidence that would lead to the closing of that +place." + +Kennedy seemed to be impressed by the frankness and energy of the young +woman. + +"Perhaps if we three should go there, hire a private dining-room, and +look about without making any move against the place that would excite +suspicion, we might at least find out what it is that we are fighting. +Of course we must dine somewhere, and up there at the same time we can +plan our campaign." + +"I think that would be ripping," she laughed, as the humour of the +situation dawned on her. "Why, we shall be laying our plans right in +the heart of the enemy's country and they will never realize it. +Perhaps, too, we may get a glimpse of some of those people mentioned in +the anonymous letter." + +To Clare Kendall it was simply another phase of the game which she had +been playing against the forces of evil in the city. + +The Little Montmartre was, as I already knew, one of the smaller hotels +in a side street just off Broadway, eight or ten stories in height, of +modern construction, and for all the world exactly like a score of +other of the smaller hostelries of the famous city of hotels. + +Clare, Craig, and myself pulled up before the entrance in a taxicab, +that seeming to be the accepted method of entering with eclat. A boy +opened the door. I jumped out and settled with the driver without a +demur at the usual overcharge, while Craig assisted Clare. + +Laughing and chatting, we entered the bronze plate-glass doors and +walked slowly down a richly carpeted corridor. It was elegantly +furnished and decorated with large palms set at intervals, quite the +equal in luxuriousness, though on a smaller scale, of any of the larger +and well-known hotels. Beautifully marked marbles and expensive +hangings greeted the eye at every turn. Faultlessly liveried servants +solicitously waited about for tips. + +Craig and Clare, who were slightly ahead of me, turned quickly into a +little alcove, or reception room and Craig placed a chair for her. +Farther down the corridor I could see the office, and beyond a large +main dining-room from which strains of music came and now and then the +buzz of conversation and laughter from gay parties at the immaculately +white tables. + +"Boy," called Kennedy quietly, catching the eye of a passing bell hop +and unostentatiously slipping a quarter into his hand, which closed +over the coin almost automatically, "the head waiter, please. +Oh--er--by the way--what is his name?" + +"Julius," returned the boy, to whom the proceeding seemed to present +nothing novel, although the whole atmosphere of the place was beyond +his years. "I'll get him in a minute, sir. He's in the main +dining-room. He's having some trouble with the cabaret singers. One of +them is late--as usual." + +We sat in the easy chairs watching the people passing and repassing in +the corridor. There was no effort at concealment here. + +A few minutes later Julius appeared, a young man, tall and rather +good-looking, suave and easy. A word or two with Kennedy followed, +during which a greenback changed hands--in fact that seemed to be the +open sesame to everything here--and we were in the elevator decorously +escorted by the polished Julius. + +The door of the elevator shut noiselessly and it shot up to the next +floor. Julius preceded us down the thickly carpeted corridor leading +the way to a large apartment, or rather a suite of rooms, as handsomely +furnished as any in other hotels. He switched on the lights and left +us, with the remark, "When you want the waiter or anything, just press +the button." + +In the largest of the rooms was a dining-table and several chairs of +Jacobean oak. A heavy sideboard and serving-table stood against +opposite walls. Another, smaller room was furnished very attractively +as a sitting-room. Deep, easy chairs stood in the corners and a wide, +capacious davenport stretched across one wall. In another nook was a +little divan or cosy corner. + +Electric bulbs burned pinkly in the chandeliers and on silver +candelabra on the table, giving a half light that was very romantic and +fascinating. From a curtained window that opened upon an interior court +we could catch strains from the cabaret singers below in the main +dining-room. Everything was new and bright. + +Kennedy pressed the button and a waiter brought a menu, imposing in +length and breath-taking in rates. + +"The cost of vice seems to have gone up with the cost of living," +remarked Miss Kendall, as the waiter disappeared as silently as he had +responded to the bell. It was a phrase that stuck in my head, so apt +was it in describing the anomalous state of things we found as the case +unrolled. + +Craig ordered, now and then consulting Clare about some detail. The +care and attention devoted to us could not have been more punctilious +if it had been an elaborate dinner party. + +"Well," he remarked, as the waiter at last closed the door of the +private dining-room to give the order in downstairs in the kitchen, +"the Little Montmartre makes a brave showing. I suppose it will be some +time before the dinner arrives, though. There is certainly some +piquancy to this," he added, looking about at the furnishings. + +"Yes," remarked Miss Kendall, "risque from the moment you enter the +door." + +She said it with an impersonal tone as if there were complete +detachment between herself as an observer and as a guest of the +Montmartre. + +"Miss Kendall," asked Kennedy, "did you notice anything particularly +downstairs? I'd like to check up my own impressions by yours." + +"I noticed that Titian beauty in the hotel office as we left the +reception room and entered the elevator." + +Craig smiled. + +"So did I. I thought you would be both woman enough and detective +enough to notice her. Well, I suppose if a man likes that sort of girl +that's the sort of girl he likes. That's point number one. But did you +notice anything else--as we came in, for instance?" + +"No--except that everything seems to be a matter of scientific +management here to get the most out of the suckers. This is no place +for a piker. It all seems to run so smoothly, too. Still, I'm sure that +our investigators might get something on the place if they kept right +after it, although on the surface it doesn't look as if any law was +being openly violated here. What do you mean? What is your point number +two?" + +"In the front window," resumed Craig, "just as you enter, I noticed one +of those little oblong signs printed neatly in black on white--'Dr. +Vernon Harris, M. D.' You recall that the letter said something about a +doctor who was very friendly with that clique the writer mentioned? +It's even money that this Harris is the one the writer meant. I suppose +he is the 'house physician' of this gilded palace." + +Clare nodded appreciatively. "Quite right," she agreed. "Just how do +you think he might be involved?" + +"Of course I can't say. But I think, without going any further, that a +man like that in a place like this will bear watching anyway, without +our needing more than the fact that he is here. Naturally we don't know +anything about him as a doctor, but he must have some training; and in +an environment like this--well, a little training may be a dangerous +thing." + +"The letter said something about drugs," mused Clare. + +"Yes," added Kennedy. "As you know, alcohol is absolutely necessary to +a thing like this. Girls must keep gay and attractive; they must meet +men with a bright, unfaltering look, and alcohol just dulls the edge of +conscience. Besides, look over that wine list--it fills the till of the +Montmartre, judging by the prices. But then, alcohol palls when the +pace is as swift as it seems to be here. Even more essential are drugs. +You know, after all, it is no wonder so many drug fiends and drunkards +are created by this life. Now, a doctor who is not over-scrupulous, and +he would have to be not over-scrupulous to be here at all, would find a +gold mine in the dispensing of drugs and the toning up of drug fiends +and others who have been going the pace too rapidly." + +"Yes," she said. "We have found that some of these doctors are a great +factor in the life of various sections of the city where they hang out. +I know one who is deeply in the local politics and boasts that any +resort that patronizes him is immune. Yes, that's a good point about +Dr. Harris." + +"I suppose your investigators have had more or less to do with watching +the progress of drug habits?" ventured Craig. + +"Very much," she replied, catching the drift of his remarks. "We have +found, for instance, that there are a great many cases where it seems +that drugs have been used in luring young and innocent girls. Not the +old knockout drops--chloral, you know--but modern drugs, not so +powerful, perhaps, but more insidious, and in that respect, I suppose, +more dangerous. There are cocaine fiends, opium smokers; oh, lots of +them. But those we find in the slums mostly. Still, I suppose there are +all kinds of drugs up here in the White Light District--belladonna to +keep the eyes bright, arsenic to whiten the complexion, and so on." + +"Yes," asserted Craig. "This section of the city may not be so brutal +in its drug taking as others, but it is here--yes, and it is over on +Fifth Avenue, too, right in society. Before we get through I'm sure +we'll both learn much more than we even dream of now." + +The door opened after a discreet tap from the waiter and the lavish +dinner which Craig had ordered appeared. The door stayed open for a +moment as the bus boy carried in the dishes. A rustle of skirts and low +musical laughter was wafted in to us and we caught a glimpse of another +gay party passing down the hall. + +"How many private dining-rooms are there?" asked Craig of the waiter. + +"Just this one, sir, and the next one, which is smaller," replied the +model waiter, with the air of one who could be blind and deaf and dumb +if he chose. + +"Oh, then we were lucky to get this." + +"Yes, sir. It is really best to telephone first to Julius to make sure +and have one of the rooms reserved, sir." + +Craig made a mental note of the information. The party in the next room +were hilariously ordering, mostly from the wine list. None of us had +recognized any of them, nor had they paid much attention to us. + +Craig had eaten little, although the food was very good. + +"It's a shame to come here and not see the whole place," he remarked. +"I wonder if you would excuse me while I drop downstairs to look over +things there--perhaps ingratiate myself with that Titian? Tell Miss +Kendall about our visit to Langhorne's office while I am gone, Walter." + +There was not much that I could tell except the bare facts, but I +thought that Miss Kendall seemed especially interested in the broker's +reticence about his stenographer. + +I had scarcely finished when Craig returned. A glance at his face told +me that even in this brief time something had happened. + +"Did you meet the Titian?" I asked. + +"Yes. She is the stenographer and sometimes works the switchboard of +the telephone. I happened to strike the office while the clerk was at +dinner and she was alone. While I was talking to her I was looking +about and my eye happened to fall on one of the letter boxes back of +the desk, marked 'Dr. Harris.' Well, at once I had an overwhelming +desire to get a note which I saw sticking in it. So I called up a +telephone number, just as a blind, and while she was at the switchboard +I slipped the note into my pocket. Here it is." + +He had laid an envelope down before us. It was in a woman's hand, +written hastily. + +"I'd like to know what was in it without Dr. Harris knowing it," he +remarked. "Now, the secret service agents abroad have raised +letter-opening to a fine art. Some kinds of paper can be steamed open +without leaving a trace, and then they follow that simple operation by +reburnishing the flap with a bone instrument. But that won't do. It +might make this ink run." + +Among the ornaments were several with flat wooden bases. Kennedy took +one and placed it on the edge of the table, which was perfectly square. +Then he placed the envelope between the table and the base. + +"When other methods fail," he went on, "they place the envelope between +two pieces of wood with the edges projecting about a thirty-second of +an inch." + +He had first flattened the edge of the envelope, then roughened it, and +finally slit it open. + +"Scientific letter-opening," he remarked, as he pulled out a little +note written on the hotel paper. It read: + +DEAR HARRY: + +Called you up twice and then dropped into the hotel, but you seem to be +out all the time. Have something VERY IMPORTANT to tell you. Shall be +busy to-night and in the morning, but will be at the dansant at the +Futurist Tea Room to-morrow afternoon about four. Be sure to be there. + + MARIE. + +"I shall," commented Kennedy. "Now the question is, how to seal up this +letter so that he won't know it has been opened. I saw some of this +very strong mucilage in the office. Ring the bell, Walter. I'll get +that impervious waiter to borrow it for a moment." + +Five minutes later he had applied a hair line of the strong, colourless +gum to the inside of the envelope and had united the edges under +pressure between the two pieces of wood. As soon as it was dry he +excused himself again and went back to the office, where he managed to +secure an opportunity to stick the letter back in the box and chat for +a few minutes longer with the Titian. + +"There's a wild cabaret down in the main dining-room," he reported on +his return. "I think we might just as well have a glimpse of it before +we go." + +Kennedy paid the cheque, which by this time had mounted like a +taximeter running wild, and we drifted into the dining-room, a rather +attractive hall, panelled in Flemish oak with artificial flowers and +leaves about, and here and there a little bird concealed in a cage in +the paper foliage. + +As cabarets go, it was not bad, although I could imagine how wild it +might become in the evening or on special occasion. + +"That Dr. Harris interests me," remarked Kennedy across the table at +us. "We must get something in writing from him in some way. And then +there's that girl in the office, too. She seems to be right in with all +these people here." + +Evidently the cabaret had little of interest to Miss Kendall, who, +after a glance that took in the whole dining-room and disclosed none +there in the gay crowd who, as far as we could see, had any relation to +the case, seemed bored. + +Craig noticed it and at once rose to go. + +As we passed out and into the corridor, Miss Kendall turned and +whispered, "Look over at the desk--Dr. Harris." + +Sure enough, chatting with the stenographer was a man with one of those +black bags which doctors carry. He was a young man in appearance, one +of those whom one sees in the White Light District, with unnaturally +bright eyes which speak of late hours and a fast pace. He wore a flower +in his buttonhole--a very fetching touch with some women. Debonair, +dapper, dashing, his face was not one readily forgotten. As we passed +hurriedly I observed that he had torn open the note and had thrown the +envelope, unsuspectingly, into the basket. + + + + +VII + +THE GANG LEADER + + +With the arrest of Dopey Jack, it seemed as if all the forces of the +gang world were solidified for the final battle. + +Carton had been engaged in a struggle with the System so long that he +knew just how to get action, the magistrates he could depend on, the +various pitfalls that surrounded the snaring of one high in gangland, +the judges who would fix bail that was prohibitively high. + +As he had anticipated and prepared for, every wire was pulled to secure +the release of Rubano. But Carton was fortunate in having under him a +group of young and alert assistants. It took the combined energies of +his office, however, to carry the thing through and Kennedy and I did +not see Carton again for some time. + +Meanwhile we were busy gathering as much information as we could about +those who were likely to figure in the case. It was remarkable, but we +found that the influence of Dorgan and Murtha was felt in the most +unexpected quarters. People who would have talked to us on almost any +other subject, absolutely refused to become mixed up in this affair. It +was as though the System practised terrorism on a large scale. + +Late in the afternoon we met in Carton's office, to compare notes on +the progress made during the day. + +The District Attorney greeted us enthusiastically. + +"Well," he exclaimed as he dropped into his big office chair, "this has +been a hard day for me--but I've succeeded." + +"How?" queried Kennedy. + +"Of course the newspapers haven't got it yet," pursued Carton, "but it +happened that there was a Grand Jury sitting and considering election +cases. It went hard, but I made them consider this case of Dopey Jack. +I don't know how it happened, but I seem to have succeeded in forcing +action in record time. They have found an indictment on the election +charges, and if that falls through, we shall have time to set up other +charges against him. In fact we are 'going to the mat,' so to speak, +with this case." + +The office telephone rang and after a few sentences of congratulation, +Carton turned to us, his spirits even higher than before. "That was one +of my assistants," he explained, "one of the cleverest. The trial will +be before Judge Pomeroy in General Sessions and it will be an early +trial. Pomeroy is one of the best of them, too--about to retire, and +wants to leave a good record on the bench behind him. Things are +shaping up as well as we could wish for." + +The door opened and one of Carton's clerks started to announce the name +of a visitor. + +"Mr. Carton, Mr.--" + +"Murtha," drawled a deep voice, as the owner of the name strode in, +impatiently brushing aside the clerk. "Hello, Carton," greeted the +Sub-boss aggressively. + +"Hello, Murtha," returned Carton, retaining his good temper and seeing +the humour of the situation, where the practice of years was reversed +and the mountain was coming to Mahomet. "This is a +little--er--informal--but I'm glad to see you, nevertheless," he added +quietly. "Won't you sit down? By the way, meet Mr. Kennedy and Mr. +Jameson. Is there anything I can do for you?" + +Murtha shook hands with us suspiciously, but did not sit down. He +continued to stand, his hat tilted back over his head and his huge +hands jammed down into his trousers pockets. + +"What's this I hear about Jack Rubano, Carton?" he opened fire. "They +tell me you have arrested him and secured an indictment." + +"They tell the truth," returned Carton shortly. "The Grand Jury +indicted Dopey Jack this afternoon. The trial---" + +"Dopey Jack," quoted Murtha in disgusted tones. "That's the way it is +nowadays. Give a dog a bad name--why,--I suppose this bad name's going +to stick to him all his life, now. It ain't right. You know, Carton, as +well as I do that if they charged him with just plain fighting and got +him before a jury, all you would have to say would be, 'Gentlemen, the +defendant at the bar is the notorious gangster, Dopey Jack.' And the +jurors wouldn't wait to hear any more, but'd say, 'Guilty!' just like +that. And he'd go up the river for the top term. That's what a boy like +that gets once the papers give him such an awful reputation. It's +fierce!" + +Carton shook his head. "Oh, Murtha," he remonstrated with just a +twinkle in his eye, "you don't think I believe that sort of soft stuff, +do you? I've had my eye on this 'boy'--he's twenty-eight, by the +way--too long. You needn't tell me anything about his respectable old +father and his sorrowing mother and weeping sister. Murtha, I've been +in this business too long for that heart throb stuff. Leave that to the +lawyers the System will hire for him. Let's cut that out, between +ourselves, and get down to brass tacks." + +It was a new and awkward role for Murtha as suppliant, and he evidently +did not relish it. Aside from his own interest in Dopey Jack, who was +one of his indispensables, it was apparent that he came as an emissary +from Dorgan himself to spy out the land and perhaps reach some kind of +understanding. + +He glanced about at us, with a look that broadly hinted that he would +prefer to see Carton alone. Carton made no move to ask us to leave and +Kennedy met the boss's look calmly. Murtha smothered his rage, although +I knew he would with pleasure have had us stuck up or blackjacked. + +"See here, Carton." he blurted out at length, approaching the desk of +the District Attorney and lowering his big voice as much as he was +capable, "can't we reach some kind of agreement between ourselves? You +let up on Rubano--and--well, I might be able to get some of my friends +to let up on Carton. See?" + +He was conveying as guardedly as he could a proposal that if the +District Attorney would consent to turn his back while the law stumbled +in one of the numerous pitfalls that beset a criminal prosecution, the +organization would deliver the goods, quietly pass the word along to +knife its own man and allow Carton to be re-elected. + +I studied Carton's face intently. To a man of another stripe, the +proposal might have been alluring. It meant that although the +organization ticket won, he would, in the public eye at least, have the +credit of beating the System, of going into office unhampered, of +having assured beyond doubt what was at best only problematical with +the Reform League. + +Carton did not hesitate a moment. I thought I saw in his face the same +hardening of the lines of his features in grim determination that I had +seen when he had been talking to Miss Ashton. I knew that, among other +things, he was thinking how impossible it would be for him ever to face +her again in the old way, if he sold out, even in a negative way, to +the System. + +Murtha had shot his huge face forward and was peering keenly at the man +before him. + +"You'll--think it over?" he asked. + +"I will not--I most certainly will not," returned Carton, for the first +time showing exasperation, at the very assumption of Murtha. "Mr. +Murtha," he went on, rising and leaning forward over the desk, "we are +going to have a fair election, if I can make it. I may be beaten--I may +win. But I will be beaten, if at all, by the old methods. If I win--it +will be that I win--honestly." + +A half sneer crossed Murtha's face. He neither understood nor cared to +understand the kind of game Carton played. + +"You'll never get anything on that boy," blustered Murtha. "Do you +suppose I'm fool enough to come here and make a dishonest +proposition--here--right in front of your own friends?" he added, +turning to us. "--I ain't asking any favours, or anything dishonest. +His lawyers know what they can do and what you can do. It ain't because +I care a hang about you, Carton, that I'm here. If you want to know the +truth, it's because you can make trouble, Carton,--that's all. You +can't convict him, in the end, because--you can't. There's nothing 'on' +him. But you can make trouble. We'll win out in the end, of course." + +"In other words, you think the Reform League has you beaten?" suggested +Carton quietly. + +"No," ejaculated Murtha with an oath. "We don't know--but maybe YOU +have us beaten. But not the League. We don't want you for District +Attorney, Carton. You know it. But here's a practical proposition. All +you have to do is just to let this Rubano case take its natural course. +That's all I ask." + +He dwelt on the word "natural" as if it were in itself convincing. +"Why," he resumed, "what foolishness it is for you to throw away all +your chances just for the sake of hounding one poor fellow from the +East Side. It ain't right, Carton,--you, powerful, holding an important +office, and he a poor boy that never had a chance and has made the most +of what little nature gave him. Why, I've known that boy ever since he +hardly came up to my waist. I tell you, there ain't a judge on the +bench that wouldn't listen to what we can show about him--hounded by +police, hounded by the District Attorney, driven from pillar to post, +and---" + +"You will have a chance to tell the story in court," cut in Carton. +"Pomeroy will try the case." + +"Pomeroy?" repeated Murtha in a tone that quite disguised the anger he +felt that it should come up before the one judge the System feared and +could not control. "Now, look here, Carton. We're all practical men. +Your friend--er--Kennedy, here, he's practical." + +Murtha had turned toward us. He was now the Murtha I had heard of +before, the kind that can use a handshake or a playful slap on the +back, as between man and man, to work wonders in getting action or +carrying a point. Far from despising such men as Murtha, I think we all +rather admired his good qualities. It was his point of view, his +method, his aim that were wrong. As for the man himself he was +human--in fact, I often thought far more human than some of the +reformers. + +"I'll leave it to Kennedy," he resumed. "Suppose you were running a +race. You knew you were going to win. Would you deliberately stop and +stick your foot out, in order to trip up the man who was coming in +second?" + +"I don't know that the cases are parallel," returned Kennedy with an +amused smile. + +Murtha kept his good nature admirably. + +"Then you would stick your foot out--and perhaps lose the race +yourself?" persisted Murtha. + +"I'll relieve Kennedy of answering that," interrupted Carton, "not +because I don't think he can do it better than I can, perhaps, but +because this is my fight--my race." + +"Well," asked Murtha persuasively, "you'll think it over, first, won't +you?" + +Carton was looking at his opponent keenly, as if trying to take his +measure. He had some scheme in mind and Kennedy was watching the faces +of both men intently. + +"This race," began Carton slowly, in a manner that showed he wanted to +change the subject, "is different from any other in the politics of the +city as either of us have ever known it, Murtha." + +Murtha made as though he would object to the proposition, but Carton +hurried on, giving him no chance to inject anything into the +conversation. + +"It may be possible--it is possible," shot out the young District +Attorney, "to make use of secret records--conversations--at +conferences--dinners--records that have been taken by a new invention +that seems to be revolutionizing politics all over the country." + +The look that crossed Murtha's face was positively apoplectic. The +veins in his forehead stood out like whipcords. + +He started to speak, but choked off the words before he had uttered +them. I could almost read his mind. Carton had said nothing directly +about the Black Book, and Murtha had caught himself just in time not to +betray anything about it. + +"So," he shouted at last, "you are going to try some of those fine +little scientific tricks on us, are you?" + +He was pacing up and down the room, storming and threatening by turns. + +"I want to tell you, Carton," pursued Murtha, "that you're up against a +crowd who were playing this game before you were born. You reformers +think you are pretty smooth. But we know a thing or two about you and +what you are doing. Besides," he leaned over the desk again, "Carton, +there ain't many men that can afford to throw stones. I admit my life +hasn't been perfect--but, then I ain't posing as any saint. I don't +mind telling you that the organization, as you call it, is looking into +some of the things that you reformers have done. It may be that some of +your people--some of the ladies," he insinuated, "don't look on life in +the broad-minded way that some of the rest do. Mind you--I ain't making +any threats, but when it comes to gossip and scandal and +mud-slinging--look out for the little old organization--that's all!" + +Carton had set his tenacious jaw. "You can go as far as you like, +Murtha," was all he said, with a grim smile. + +Murtha looked at him a moment, then his manner changed. + +"Carton," he said in a milder tone, at length, "what's the use of all +this bluffing? You and I understand each other. These men +understand--life. It's a game--that's what it is--a game. Sometimes one +move is right, sometimes another. You know what you want to accomplish +here in this city. I show you a way to do it. Don't answer me," +persisted Murtha, raising a hand, "just--think it over." + +Carton had taken a step forward, the tense look on his face unchanged. +"No," he exclaimed, and we could almost hear his jaw snap as if it had +been a trap. "No--I'll not think it over. I'll not yield an inch. Dopey +Jack goes to trial before election." + +As Carton bit off the words, Murtha became almost beside himself with +rage and chagrin. He was white and red by turns. For a moment I feared +that he might do Carton personal violence. + +"Carton," he ground out, as he reached the door, "you will regret this." + +"I hope not," returned the other summoning with a mighty effort at +least the appearance of suavity. "Good-bye." + +The only answer was the vicious slam which Murtha gave the door. + +As the echo died, the District Attorney turned to us. "Apparently, +then, Dorgan did not secure the Black Book," was all he said, "even +supposing Dopey Jack planned and executed that robbery of Langhorne." + + + + +VIII + +THE SHYSTER LAWYER + + +That's a declaration of war," remarked Kennedy, as Carton resumed his +seat at the desk unconcernedly after the stormy ending of the interview +with Murtha. + +"I suppose it is," agreed the District Attorney, "and I can't say that +I am sorry." + +"Nor I," added Craig. "But it settles one thing. We are now out in what +I call the 'open' investigation. They have forced us from cover. We +shall have to be prepared to take quick action now, whatever move they +may make." + +Together we were speculating on the various moves that the System might +make and how we might prepare in advance for them. + +Evidently, however, we were not yet through with these indirect +dealings with the Boss. The System was thorough, if nothing else, and +prompt. We had about decided to continue our conference over the dinner +table in some uptown restaurant, when the officer stationed in the hall +poked his head in the door and announced another visitor for the +District Attorney. + +This time the entrance was exactly the opposite to the bluster of +Murtha. The man who sidled deferentially into the room, a moment after +Carton had said he would see him, was a middle-sized fellow, with a +high, slightly bald forehead, a shifty expression in his sharp ferret +eyes, and a nervous, self-confident manner that must have been very +impressive before the ignorant. "My name is Kahn," he introduced +himself. "I'm a lawyer." + +Carton nodded recognition. + +Although I had never seen the man before, I recollected the name which +Miss Kendall had mentioned. He was one of the best known lawyers of the +System. He had begun his career as an "ambulance chaser," had risen +later to the dignity of a police court lawyer, and now was of the type +that might be called, for want of a better name, a high class +"shyster"--unscrupulous, sharp, cunning. + +Shyster, I believe, has been defined as a legal knave, a lawyer who +practises in an unprofessional or tricky manner. Kahn was all that--and +still more. If he had been less successful, he would have been the +black sheep of the overcrowded legal flock. Ideals he had none. His +claws reached out to grab the pittance of the poverty-stricken client +as well as the fee of the wealthy. He had risen from hospitals to +police courts, coroner's court, and criminal courts, at last attaining +the dignity of offices opposite an entrance to the criminal courts +building, from which vantage point his underlings surveyed the scene of +operations like vultures hovering over bewildered cattle. + +Carton knew him. Kahn was the leader among some score of men more or +less well dressed, of more or less evil appearance, who are constantly +prowling from one end to the other of the broad first floor of the +criminal courts building during the hours of the day that justice is +being administered there. + +These are the shyster lawyers and their runners and agents who prey +upon the men and women whom misfortune or crime have delivered into the +hands of the law. Others of the same species are wandering about the +galleries on other floors of the building, each with a furtive eye for +those who may be in trouble themselves or those who seem to be in need +of legal assistance for a relative or friend in trouble. + +Perhaps the majority of lawyers practising in the courts are reputable +to the highest degree, and many of the rest merely to a safe degree. +Many devote themselves to philanthropic work whenever a prisoner is +penniless. But the percentage of shysters is high. Kahn belonged in the +latter class, although his days of doing dirty work himself were +passed. He had a large force of incipient shysters for that purpose. As +for himself, he handled only the big cases in which he veneered the +dirty work by a sort of finesse. + +Kahn bowed and smiled ingratiatingly. "Mr. Carton," he began in a +conciliatory tone, "I have intruded on your valuable time in the +interest of my client, Mr. Jack Rubano." + +"Huh!" grunted Carton. "So they've retained you, have they, Ike?" he +mused familiarly, closely regarding the visitor. + +Kahn, far from resenting the familiarity, seemed rather to enjoy it and +take it as his due measure of fame. + +"Yes, Mr. Carton, they have retained me. I have just had a talk with +the prisoner in the Tombs and have gone over his case very carefully, +sir." + +Carton nodded, but said nothing, willing to let Kahn do the talking for +the present until he exposed his hand. + +"He has told me all about his case," pursued Kahn evenly. "It is not +such a bad case. I can tell you that, Mr. Carton, because I didn't have +to resort to the 'friend of the judge' gag in order to show him that he +had a good chance." + +Kahn looked knowingly at Carton. At least he was frank about his own +game before us; in fact, utterly shameless, it seemed to me. Probably +it was because he knew it was no use, that Carton had no illusions +about him. Still, there was an uncanny bravado about it all. Kahn was +indeed very successful in making the worst appear the better reason. He +knew it and knew that Carton knew it. That was his stock in trade. + +He had seated himself in a chair by the District Attorney's desk and as +he talked was hitching it closer and closer, for men of Kahn's stamp +seem unable to talk without getting into almost personal contact with +those with whom they are talking. Carton drew back and folded his hands +back of his head as he listened, still silent. + +"You know, Mr. Carton," he insinuated, "it is a very different thing to +be sure in your own mind that a man is guilty from being able to prove +it in court. There are all sorts of delays that may be granted, +witnesses are hard to hold together, in fact there are many +difficulties that arise in the best of cases." + +"You don't need to tell me that, Kahn," replied Carton quietly. + +"I know it, Mr. Carton," rejoined the other apologetically. "I was just +using that as a preface to what I have to say." + +He took another hitch of the chair nearer Carton and lowered his voice +impressively. "The point, sir, at which I am driving is simply this. +There must be some way in which we can reach an agreement, compromise +this case, satisfactorily to the people with a minimum of time and +expense--some way in which the indictment or the pleadings can be +amended so that it can be wound up and--you understand--both of us +win--instead of dragging it out and perhaps you losing the case in the +end." + +Carton shook his head. "No, Kahn," he said in a low tone, but firmly, +"no compromise." + +Kahn bent his ferret eyes on Carton's face as if to bore through into +his very mind. + +"No," added the District Attorney, "Murtha was just here, and I may as +well repeat what I said to him--although I might fairly assume that he +went from this room directly across the street to your office and that +you know it already. This case has gone too far, it has too many other +ramifications for me to consent to relax on it one iota." + +Kahn was baffled, but he was cleverer than Murtha and did not show it. + +"Surely," he urged, "you must realize that it is not worth your while +at such a critical time for yourself to waste energies on a case when +there are so many more profitable things that you could do. The fact is +that I would be the last one to propose anything that was not open and +above board and to our mutual advantage. There must be some way in +which we can reach an agreement which will be satisfactory to all +parties in interest, sir." + +"Kahn," repeated Carton a little testily, "how often must I repeat to +you and your people that I am NOT going to compromise this case in any +shape, form, or manner? I am going to fight it out on the lines I have +indicated if I have to disrupt this entire office to get men to do it. +I have plenty to do seeking re-election, but my first duty is to act as +public prosecutor in the office to which I have been already elected. +Otherwise, it would be a poor recommendation to the people to return me +to the same position. No, you are merely wasting your time and ours +talking compromise." + +Kahn had been surveying Carton keenly, now and then taking a shifty +glance at Kennedy and myself. + +As Carton rapped out the last words, as if in the nature of an +ultimatum, Kahn gazed at him in amazement. Here was a man whom he knew +he could neither bribe, bully, or bulldoze. + +"You must consider this, too," he added pointedly. "There has been a +good deal of mud-slinging in this campaign. We may find it necessary to +go back into the antecedents and motives of those who represent the +people in this case." + +It was a subtle threat. Just what it implied I could not even guess, +nor did Carton betray anything by look or word. Carton had voluntarily +placed himself in the open and in a position from which he could not +retreat. Evidently, now, he was willing to force the fight, if the +other side would accept the issue. It meant much to him but he did not +balk at it. + +"No, Kahn," he repeated firmly, "no compromise." + +Kahn drew back a bit and hastily scanned the face of the prosecutor. +Evidently he saw nothing in it to encourage him. Yet he was too smooth +to let his temper rise, as Murtha had. By the same token I fancied him +a more dangerous opponent. There was something positively uncanny about +his assurance. + +Kahn rose slowly. "Then it is war--without quarter?" asked Kahn +shrewdly. + +"War--without quarter," repeated Carton positively. + +He withdrew quietly, with an almost feline tread, quite in contrast +with the bluster of Murtha. I felt for the first time a sort of sinking +sensation, as I began to realize the varied character of the assault +that was preparing. + +Not so, Carton and Kennedy. It seemed that every event that more +clearly defined our position and that of our opponents added zest to +the fight for them. And I had sufficient confidence in the combination +to know that their feelings were justified. + +Carton silently pulled down and locked the top of his desk, then for a +moment we debated where we should dine. We decided on a quiet hotel +uptown and, leaving word where we could be found, hurried along for the +first real relaxation and refreshment after a crowded day's work. + +If, however, we thought we could escape even for a few minutes we were +mightily mistaken. We had not fairly done justice to the roast when a +boy in buttons came down the line of tables. + +"Mr. Carton--please." + +The District Attorney crooked his finger at the page. + +"You're wanted at the telephone, sir." + +Carton rose and excused himself. + +The message must have given him food of another kind, for when he +returned after a long absence, he pushed aside the now cold roast and +joined us in the coffee and cigars. + +"One of my men," he announced, "has been doing some shadowing for me. +Evidently, both Murtha and Kahn having failed, they are resorting to +other tactics. It looks as if they had in some way, probably from some +corrupt official of the court or employee in charge of the jury list, +obtained a copy of the panel which Justice Pomeroy has summoned for the +case." + +"It ought to be a simple thing to empanel another set of talesmen and +let these fellows serve in some other part of the court," I suggested, +considering the matter hastily. + +"Much better to let it rest as it is," cut in Craig quickly, "and try +to catch Kahn with the goods. It would be great to catch one of these +clever fellows trying to 'fix' the jury, as well as intimidate +witnesses, as he already hinted himself." + +"Just the thing," exclaimed Carton, whose keen sense of proportion +showed what a valuable political asset such a coup would make in +addition to its effect on the case. + +"We'll get Kahn right, if we have a chance," planned Craig. "You are +acquainted more or less with his habits, I suppose. Where does Kahn +hang out? Most fellows like him have a sort of Amen Corner where they +meet their henchmen, issue orders, receive reports and carry on +business that wouldn't do for an office downtown." + +"Why, I believe he goes to Farrell's--has an interest in the place, I +think." + +Farrell's, we recognized, as a rather well-known all-night cafe which +managed to survive the excise vicissitudes by dint of having no cabaret +or entertainment. + +We finished the dinner in silence, Kennedy turning various schemes over +in his mind, and rejecting them one after another. + +"There's nothing we can do immediately, I suppose," he remarked at +length. "But if you and Carton care to come up to the laboratory with +me, I might in time of peace prepare for war. I have a little apparatus +up there which I think may fit in somehow and if it does, Mr. Kahn's +days of jury fixing are numbered." + +A few minutes later, we found ourselves in Kennedy's laboratory, where +he had gathered together an amazing collection of paraphernalia in the +warfare of science against crime which he had been waging during the +years that I had known him. + +Carton looked about in silent admiration. As for myself, although one +might have thought it was an old story with me, I had found that no +sooner had I become familiar with one piece of apparatus to perform one +duty, than another situation, entirely different and unprecedented in +our cases arose which called for another, entirely new. I had learned +to have implicit confidence in Kennedy's ability to meet each new +emergency with something fully capable of solving the problem. + +From a cabinet, Kennedy took out what looked like the little black +leather box of a camera, with, however, a most peculiar looking lens. + + + + +IX + +THE JURY FIXER + + +"Let's visit Farrell's," remarked Craig, after looking over the +apparatus and slinging it over his shoulder. + +It was early yet, and the theatres were not out, so that there were +comparatively few people in the famous all-night cafe. We entered the +bar cautiously and looked about. Kahn at least was not there. + +In the back of this part of the cafe were several booths, open to +conform to the law, yet sufficiently screened so that there was at +least a little privacy. + +Above the booths was a line of transoms. + +"What's back there?" asked Kennedy, under his breath. + +"A back room," returned Carton. + +"Perhaps Kahn is there," Craig suggested. "Walter, you're the one whom +he would least likely recognize. Suppose you just stick your head in +the door and look about as quietly as you can." + +I lounged back, glanced at the records of sporting events posted on the +wall at the end of the bar, then, casually, as if looking for someone, +swung the double-hinged door that led from the bar into the back room. + +The room was empty except for one man, turned sidewise to the door, +reading a paper, but in a position so that he could see anyone who +entered. I had not opened the door widely enough to be noticed, but I +now let it swing back hastily. It was Kahn, pompously sipping something +he had ordered. + +"He's back there," I whispered to Kennedy, as I returned, excitedly +motioning toward one of the transoms over the booths back of which Kahn +was seated. + +"Right there?" he queried. + +"Just about," I answered. + +A moment later Kennedy led the way over to the booth under the transom +and we sat down. A waiter hovered near us. Craig silenced him quickly +with a substantial order and a good-sized tip. + +From our position, if we sat well within the booth, we were effectually +hidden unless someone purposely came down and looked in on us. We +watched Kennedy curiously. He had unslung the little black camera-like +box and to it attached a pair of fine wires and a small pocket storage +battery which he carried. + +Then he looked up at the transom. It was far too high for us to hear +through, even if those in the back room talked fairly loud. Standing on +the leather wall seats of the booth to listen or even to look over was +out of the question, for it would be sure to excite suspicion among the +waiters, or the customers who were continually passing in and out of +the place. + +Kennedy was watching his chance, and when the cafe emptied itself after +being deluged between the acts from a neighbouring theatre, he jumped +up quickly in the seat, stood on his toes and craned his neck through +the diagonally opened transom. Before any of the waiters, who were busy +clearing up the results of the last theatre raid, had a chance to +notice him, Craig had slipped the little black box into the shadow of +the corner. + +From it dangled down the fine wires, not noticeable. + +"He's sitting just back of us yet," reported Kennedy. "I don't know +about that flaming arc light in the middle of the room, but I think it +will be all right. Anyhow, we shall have to take a chance. It looks to +me as if he were waiting for someone--didn't it to you, Walter?" + +I nodded acquiescence. + +"He has wasted no time in getting down to work," put in Carton, who had +been a silent spectator of the preparations of Kennedy. "What's that +thing you put on the ledge up there--a detectaphone?" + +Kennedy smiled. "No--they're too clever to do any talking, at least in +a place like this, I'm afraid," he said, carefully hiding the wires and +the battery beside him in the shadow of the corner of the booth. "It +may be that nothing will happen, anyhow, but if it does we can at least +have the satisfaction of having tried to get something. Carton, you had +better sit as far back in the booth as I am. The longer we can stay +here unnoticed the better. Let Walter sit on the outside." + +We changed places. + +"Lawyers have been complaining to me lately," remarked Carton in a well +modulated voice, "about jury fixing. Some of them say it has been going +on on a large scale and I have had several of my county detectives +working on it. But they haven't landed anything yet,--except rumours, +like this one about the Dopey Jack jury. I've had them out posing as +jurymen who could be 'approached' and would arrange terms for other +bribable jurymen." + +"And you mean to say that that's going on right here in this city?" I +asked, scenting a possible newspaper story. + +"This campaign I have started," he replied, "is only the beginning of +our work in breaking up the organized business of jury bribing. I mean +to put an end to the work of what I have reason to believe is a secret +ring of jury fixers. Why, I understand that the prices for 'hanging' a +jury range all the way from five to five hundred dollars, or even +higher in an important case. The size of the jury fixer's 'cut' depends +upon the amount the client is willing to pay for having his case made +either a disagreement or a dismissal. Usually a bonus is demanded for a +dismissal in criminal cases. But such things are very difficult to--" + +"Sh!" I cautioned, for from my vantage point I saw two men approaching. + +They saw me in the booth, but not the rest of us, and turned to enter +the next one. Though they were talking in low tones, we could catch +words and phrases now and then, which told us that we ourselves would +have to be very careful about being overheard. + +"We've got to be careful," one of them remarked in a scarcely audible +undertone. "Carton has detectives mingling with the talesmen in every +court of importance in the city." + +The reply of the other was not audible, but Carton leaned over to us +and whispered, "One of Kahn's runners, I think." + +Apparently Kahn was taking extreme precautions and wanted everything in +readiness so that whatever was to be done would go off smoothly. +Kennedy glanced up at the little black leather box perched high above +on the sill of the partition. + +"The chief says that a thousand dollars is the highest price that he +can afford for 'hanging' this jury--providing you get on it, or any of +your friends." + +The other man, whose voice was not of the vibrating, penetrating +quality of the runner, seemed to hesitate and be inclined to argue. + +"We've had 'em as low as five dollars," went on the runner, at which +Carton exchanged a knowing glance with us. "But in a special case, like +this, we realize that they come high." + +The other man grumbled a bit and we could catch the word, "risky." + +Back and forth the argument went. The runner, however, was a worthy +representative of his chief, for at last he succeeded in carrying both +his point and his price. + +"All right," we heard him say at last, "the chief is in the back room. +Wait until I see whether he is alone." + +The runner rose and went around to the swinging door. From the other +side of the transom we could, as we had expected, hear nothing. A +moment later the runner returned. + +"Go in and see him," he whispered. + +The man rose and made his way through the swinging door into the back +room. + +None of us said a word, but Kennedy was literally on his toes with +excitement. He was holding the little battery in his hand and after +waiting a few moments pressed what looked like a push button. + +He could not restrain his impatience longer, but had jumped up on the +leather seat and for a moment looked at the black leather box, then +through the half open transom, as best he could. + +"Press it--press it!" he whispered to Carton, pointing at the push +button, as he turned a little handle on the box, then quickly dropped +down and resumed his seat. + +"Craig--one of the waiters," I cried hurriedly. + +The outside bar had been filling up as the evening advanced and the +sight of a man standing on one of the seats had attracted the attention +of a patron. A waiter had followed his curious gaze and saw Kennedy. + +With a quick pull on the wire, Kennedy jerked the black leather box +from its high perch and deftly caught it as it fell. + +"Say--what are youse guys doin', huh?" demanded the waiter pugnaciously. + +Carton and I had risen and stood between the man and Craig. + +The sound of voices in high pitch was enough to attract a crowd ever +ready to watch a scrap. Mindful of the famous "flying wedge" of waiters +at Farrell's for the purpose of hustling objectionable and obstreperous +customers with despatch to the sidewalk, I was prepared for anything. + +The runner who was sitting alone in the next booth, leaned out and +gazed around the corner into ours. + +"Carton!" he shouted in a tone that could have been heard on the street. + +The effect of the name of the District Attorney was magical. For the +moment, the crowd fell back. Before the tough waiters or anyone else +could make up their minds just what to do, Kennedy, who had tucked the +box into his capacious side pocket, took each of us by the arm and we +shoved our way through the crowd. + +The head waiter followed us to the door, but offered no resistance. In +fact no one seemed to know just what to do and it was all over so +quickly that even Kahn himself had not time to get a glimpse of us +through the swinging door. + +A moment later we had piled into a taxicab at the curb and were +speeding through the now deserted streets uptown to the laboratory. + +Kennedy was jubilant. "I may have almost precipitated a riot," he +chortled, "but I'm glad I stood up. I think it must have been at the +psychological moment." + +At the laboratory he threw off his coat and prepared to plunge into +work with various mysterious pans of chemicals, baths, jars, and +beakers. + +"What is it?" asked Carton, as Kennedy carefully took out the dark +leather box, shielding it from the glare of a mercury vapour light. + +"A camera with a newly-invented electrically operated between-lens +shutter of great illumination and efficiency," he explained. "It has +always been practically impossible to get such pictures as I wanted, +but this new shutter has so much greater speed than anything else ever +invented before, that it is possible to use it in this sort of +detective work. I've proved its speed up to one two-thousandth of a +second. It may or may not have worked, but if it has we've caught +someone, right in the act." + +Kennedy had a "studio" of his own which was quite equal to the +emergency of developing the two pictures which he had taken with the +new camera. + +Late as it was, we waited for him to finish, just as we would have +waited down in the Star office if one of our staff photographers had +come in with something important. + +At last Kennedy emerged from his workshop. As he did so, he slapped +down two untoned prints. + +Both were necessarily indistinct owing to the conditions under which +they had had to be taken. But they were quite sufficient for the +purpose. + +As Carton bent over the second one, which showed Kahn in the very act +of handing over a roll of bills to the rather anemic man whom his +runner had brought to him, Carton addressed the photograph as if it had +been Kahn himself. + +"I have you at last," he cried. "This is the end of your secret ring of +jury fixers. I think that will about settle the case of Kahn, if not of +Dopey Jack, when we get ready to spring it. Kennedy, make another set +of prints and let me lock them in a safe deposit vault. That's as +precious to me as if it were the Black Book itself!" + +Craig laughed. "Not such a bad evening's work, after all," he remarked, +clearing things up. "Do you realize what time it is?" + +Carton glanced perfunctorily at his watch. "I had forgotten time," he +returned. + +"Yes," agreed Craig, "but to-morrow is another day, you know. I don't +object to staying up all night, or even several nights, but there +doesn't seem to be anything more that we can do now, and it may be that +we shall need our strength later. This is, after all, only a beginning +in getting at the man higher up." + +"The man highest up," corrected Carton, with elation as we parted on +the campus, Kennedy and I to go to our apartment. + +"See you in the morning, Carton," bade Kennedy. "By that time, no +doubt, there will be some news of the Black Book." + +We arrived at our apartment a few minutes later. On the floor was some +mail which Kennedy quickly ran over. It did not appear to be of any +importance--that is, it had no bearing on the case which was now +absorbing our attention. + +"Well, what do you think of that?" he exclaimed as he tore open one +diminutive letter. "That was thoughtful, anyhow. She must have sent us +that a few minutes after we left headquarters." + +He handed me an engraved card. It was from Miss Ashton, inviting us to +a non-partisan suffrage evening at her studio in her home, to be +followed by a dance. + +Underneath she had written a few words of special invitation, ending, +"I shall try to have some people there who may be able to help us in +the Betty Blackwell matter." + + + + +X + +THE AFTERNOON DANCE + + +It was early the following morning that I missed Kennedy from our +apartment. Naturally I guessed from my previous experiences with that +gentleman that he would most likely be found at his laboratory, and I +did not worry, but put the finishing touches on a special article for +the Star which I had promised for that day and had already nearly +completed. + +Consequently it was not until the forenoon that I sauntered around to +the Chemistry Building. Precisely as I had expected, I found Kennedy +there at work. + +I had been there scarcely a quarter of an hour when the door opened and +Clare Kendall entered with a cheery greeting. It was evident that she +had something to report. + +"The letter to Betty Blackwell which you sent to the Montmartre has +come back, unopened," she announced, taking from her handbag a letter +stamped with the post-office form indicating that the addressee could +not be found and that the letter was returned to the sender. The +stamped hand of the post-office pointed to the upper left-hand corner +where Clare had written in a fictitious name and used an address to +which she frequently had mail sent when she wanted it secret. + +"Only on the back," she pursued, turning the letter over, "there are +some queer smudges. What are they? They don't look like dirt." + +Kennedy glanced at it only casually, as if he had fully expected the +incident to turn out as it did. + +"Not unopened, Miss Kendall," he commented. "We have already had a +little scientific letter-opening. This was a case of scientific +letter-sealing. That was a specially prepared envelope." + +He reached down into his desk and pulled out another, sealed it +carefully, dried it, then held it over a steaming pan of water until +the gum was softened and it could be opened again. On the back were +smudges just like those on the letter that had been returned. + +"On the thin line of gum on the flap of the envelope," he explained, "I +have placed first a coating of tannin, over which is the gum. Then on +the part of the envelope to which the flap adheres when it is sealed I +placed some iron sulphate. When I sealed the envelope so carefully I +brought the two together separated only by the thin film of gum. Now +when steam is applied to soften the gum, the usual method of the +letter-opener, the tannin and the sulphate are brought together. They +run and leave these blots or dark smudges. So, you see, someone has +been found at the Montmartre, even if it is not Betty Blackwell +herself, who has interest enough in the case to open a letter to her +before handing it back to the postman. That shows us that we are on the +right trail at least, even if it does not tell us who is at the end of +the trail. Here's another thing; This 'Marie' is a new one. We must +find out about her." + +"At the Futurist Tea Room at four this afternoon, when she meets our +good friend, young Dr. Harris," reminded Clare. "Between cabarets and +tea rooms I don't know whether this is work or play." + +"It's work, all right," smiled Kennedy, adding, "at least it would be +if it weren't lightened by your help." + +It was the middle of the afternoon when Craig and I left the laboratory +to keep our appointment with Miss Kendall at the Futurist Tea Room, +where we hoped to find Dr. Harris's friend "Marie," who seemed to want +to see him so badly. + +A long line of touring and town cars as well as taxicabs bore eloquent +testimony not only to the popularity of this tea room and cabaret, but +to the growth of afternoon dancing. One never realizes how large a +leisure class there is in the city until after a visit to anything from +a baseball game to a matinee--and a dance. People seemed literally to +be flocking to the Futurist. They seemed to like its congeniality, its +tone, its "atmosphere." + +As we left our hats to the tender mercies of the "boys" who had the +checking concession we could see that the place was rapidly filling up. + +"If we are to get a table that we want here, we'd better get it now," +remarked Kennedy, slipping the inevitable piece of change to the head +waiter. "If we sit over there in that sort of little bower we can see +when Miss Kendall arrives and we shall not be so conspicuous ourselves, +either." + +The Futurist was not an especially ornate place, although a great deal +of money had evidently been expended in fitting it up to attract a +recherche clientele. + +Our table, which Kennedy had indicated, was, as he had said, in a sort +of little recess, where we could see without being much observed +ourselves, although that seemed almost an impossibility in such a +place. In fact, I noticed before we had had time to seat ourselves that +we had already attracted the attention of two show girls who sat down +the aisle and were amusing themselves at watching us by means of a +mirror. It would not have been very difficult to persuade them to +dispense with the mirror. + +A moment later Clare Kendall entered and paused at the door an instant, +absorbing the gay scene as only a woman and a detective could. Craig +rose and advanced to meet her, and as she caught sight of us her face +brightened. The show girls eyed her narrowly and with but slight +approval. + +"We feel more at ease with a lady in the party," remarked Craig, as +they reached the table and I rose to greet her. "Two men alone here are +quite as noticeable as two ladies. Walter, I know, was quite +uncomfortable." + +"To say nothing of the fact which you omitted," I retaliated, "that it +is a pleasure to be with Miss Kendall--even if we must talk shop all +the time." + +Clare smiled, for her quick intuition had already taken in and +dismissed as of no importance the two show girls. We ordered as a +matter of course, then settled back for a long interval until the +waiter out of the goodness of his heart might retrieve whatever was +possible from the mob of servitors where refreshments were dispensed. + +"Opposite us," whispered Clare, resting her chin on her interlocked +fingers and her elbows on the tip-edge of the table, "do you see that +athletic-looking young lady, who seems to be ready for anything from +tea to tango? Well, the man with her is Martin Ogleby." + +Ogleby was of the tall, sloping-shouldered variety, whom one can see on +the Avenue and in the clubs and hotels in such numbers that it almost +seems that there must be an establishment for turning them out, even +down to a trademark concealed somewhere about them, "Made in England." +Only Ogleby seemed a little different in the respect that one felt that +if all the others were stamped by the same die, he was the die, at +least. Compared to him many of the others took on the appearance of +spurious counterfeits. + +"Dr. Harris," Craig whispered, indicating to us the direction with his +eyes. + +Outside on a settee, we could see in the corridor a man waiting, +restless and ill at ease. Now and then he looked covertly at his watch +as if he expected someone who was late and he wondered if anything +could be amiss. + +Just then a superbly gowned woman alighted from a cab. The starter +bowed as if she were familiar. It was evident that this was the woman +for whom Harris waited, the "Marie" of the letter. + +She was a carefully groomed woman, as artificial as French heels. Yet +indeed it was that studied artificiality which constituted her chief +attraction. As Harris greeted her I noted that Clare was amazed at the +daring cut of her gown, which excited comment even at the Futurist. + +Her smooth, full, well-rounded face with its dark olive skin and just a +faint trace of colour on either cheek, her snappy hazel eyes whose fire +was heightened by the penciling of the eyebrows, all were a marvel of +the dexterity of her artificial beautifier. And yet in spite of all +there was an air of unextinguishable coarseness about her which it was +difficult to describe, but easy to feel. "Her lips are too thick and +her mouth too large," remarked Clare, "and yet in some incomprehensible +way she gives you the impression of daintiness. What is it?" + +"The woman is frankly deceptive from the tip of her aigrette to the +toes of her shoes," observed Craig. + +"And yet," smiled Clare, watching with interest the little stir her +arrival had made among the revellers, "you can see that she is the envy +of every woman here who has slaved and toiled for that same effect +without approaching within miles of it or attracting one quarter the +notice for her pains that this woman receives." + +Dr. Harris was evidently in his element at the attention which his +companion attracted. They seemed to be on very good terms indeed, and +one felt that Bohemianism could go no further. + +They paused, fortunately, at a just vacated table around an "L" from us +and sat down. For once waiters seemed to vie in serving rather than in +neglecting. + +By this time I had gained the impression that the Futurist was all that +its name implied--not up to the minute, but decidedly ahead of it. +There was an exotic flavour to the place, a peculiar fascination, that +was foreign rather than American, at seeing demi-monde and decency +rubbing elbows. I felt sure that a large percentage of the women there +were really young married women, whose first step downward was truly +nothing worse than saying they had been at their whist clubs when in +reality it was tango and tea. What the end might be to one who let the +fascination blind her perspective I could imagine. + +Dr. Harris and "Marie" were nearer the dancing floor than we were, but +seemed oblivious to it. Now and then as the music changed we could +catch a word or two. + +He was evidently making an effort to be gay, to counteract the feeling +which she had concealed as she came in, but which had the upper hand +now that they were seated. + +"Won't you dance?" I heard him say. + +"No, Harry. I came here to tell you about how things are going." + +There was a harshness about her voice which I recognized as belonging +exclusively to one class of women in the city. She lowered it as she +went on talking earnestly. + +"It looks as though someone has squealed, but who--" I caught in the +fragmentary lulls of the revelry. + +"I didn't know it was as bad as that," Dr. Harris remarked. + +They talked almost in whispers for several moments while I strained my +ears to catch a syllable, but without success. What were they talking +about? Was it about Dopey Jack? Or did they know something about Betty +Blackwell? Perhaps it was about the Black Book. Even when the music +stopped they talked without dropping a word. + +The music started again. There was no mistaking the appeal that the +rocking whirl of the rhythmic dance made. From the side of the table +where Kennedy was seated he could catch an occasional glimpse of the +face of Marie. I noticed that he had torn a blank page off the back of +the menu and with a stub of a pencil was half idly writing. + +At the top he had placed the word, "Nose," followed by "straight, with +nostrils a trifle flaring," and some other words I could not quite +catch. Beneath that he had written "Ears," which in turn was followed +by some words which he was setting down carefully. Eyes, chin, and +mouth followed, until I began to realize that he was making a sort of +scientific analysis of the woman's features. + +"I shall need some more--" I caught as the music softened unexpectedly. + +A singer on the little platform was varying the programme now by a solo +and I shifted my chair so as to get a better view and at the same time +also a look at the table around the corner from us. + +As I did so I saw Dr. Harris reach into his breast pocket and take out +a little package which he quickly handed to Marie. As their hands met, +their eyes met also. I fancied that the doctor struggled to +demagnetize, so to speak, the look which she gave him. + +"You'll come to see me--afterwards?" she asked, dropping the little +package into her handbag of gold mesh and rattling the various +accoutrements of beautification which tinkled next to it. + +Harris nodded. + +"You're a life saver to some--" floated over to me from Marie. + +The solo had been completed and the applause was dying away. + +"... tells me he needs ... badly off ... don't forget to see ..." + +The words came in intervals. What they meant I did not know, but I +strove to remember them. Evidently Marie and a host of others were +depending on Harris for something. At any rate, it seemed, now that she +had talked she felt easier in mind, as one does after carrying a weight +a long time in secret. + +"Tanguez-vous?" he asked as the orchestra struck up again. + +"Yes--thank you, Harry--just one." + +We watched the couple attentively as they were alternately lost and +found in the dizzy swaying mass. The music became wilder and they threw +themselves into the abandon of the dance. + +They had been absorbed so much in each other and the unburdening of +whatever it was she had wanted to tell him, that neither had noticed +the other couple on the other side of the floor whose presence had +divided our own attention. + +Martin Ogleby and his partner were not dancing. It was warm and they +were among the lucky ones who had succeeded in getting something +besides a cheque from the waiters. Two tall glasses of ginger ale with +a long curl of lemon peel sepentining through the cracked ice stood +before them. + +The dance had brought Dr. Harris and Marie squarely around to within a +few feet of where Ogleby was sitting. As Harris swung around she faced +Ogleby in such a way that he could not avoid her, nor could she have +possibly missed seeing him. + +For a moment their eyes met. Not a muscle in either face moved. It was +as if they were perfect strangers. She turned and murmured something to +her partner. Ogleby leaned over, without the least confusion, and made +a witty remark to his partner. It was over in a minute. The acting of +both could not have been better if they had deliberately practised +their parts. What did it mean? + +As the dance concluded I saw Ogleby glance hastily over in the +direction of Marie. He gave a quick smile of recognition, as much as to +say "Thank you." + +It was evident now that both Dr. Harris and Marie, whoever she was, +were getting ready to leave. As they rose to move to the door, Kennedy +quickly paid our own cheque, leaving the change to the waiter, and +without seeming to do so we followed them. + +Harris was standing near the starter with his hat off, apparently +making his adieux. Deftly Kennedy managed to slip in behind so as to be +next in line for a cab. + +"Walter and I will follow Harris if they separate," he whispered to +Clare Kendall. "You follow the woman." + +The afternoon was verging toward dinner and people were literally +bribing the taxicab starter. Our own cab stood next in line behind that +which Harris had called. + +"I have certainly enjoyed this little glimpse of Bohemia," commented +Kennedy to Miss Kendall as we waited. "I shouldn't mind if detective +work took me more often to afternoon dances. There, they are going down +the steps. Here's the cab I called. Let me know how things turn out. +Goodbye. Here--chauffeur, around that way--where that other cab is +going--the lady will tell you where to drive." + +Harris hesitated a moment as if considering whether to take a cab +himself, then slowly turned and strolled down the street. + +We followed, slowly also. There was something unreal about the bright +afternoon sunshine after the atmosphere of the Futurist Tea Room, where +everything had been done to promote the illusion of night. + +Harris walked along meditatively, crossing one street after another, +not as if debating where he was going, but rather in no great hurry to +get there. + +Instead of going down Broadway he swerved into Seventh Avenue, then +after a few blocks turned into a side street, quickened his pace, and +at last dived down into a basement under a saloon. + +It was a wretched neighbourhood, one of those which reminds one of the +life of an animal undergoing a metamorphosis. Once it had evidently +been a rather nice residential section. The movement of population +uptown had left it stranded to the real estate speculators, less +desirable to live in, but more valuable for the future. The moving in +of anyone who could be got to live there had led to rapid deterioration +and a mixed population of whites and negroes against the day when the +upward sweep of business should bring the final transformation into +office and loft buildings. But for the present it was decaying, out of +repair, a mass of cheap rooming-houses, tenements, and mixed races. + +The joint into which Harris had gone was the only evidence of anything +like prosperity on the block, and that evidence was confined to the two +entrances on the street, one leading into the ground floor and the +other down a flight of steps to the basement. + +"Do you want to go in?" asked Kennedy in a tone that indicated that he +himself was going. + +Just then a negro, dazzling in the whiteness of his collar and the +brilliancy of his checked suit, came up the stairs accompanied by a +light mulatto. + +"It's a black and tan joint," Craig went on, "at least +downstairs--negro cabaret, and all that sort of thing." + +"I'm game," I replied. + +We stumbled down the worn steps, past a swinging door near which stood +the proprietor with a careful eye on arrivals and departures. The place +was deceiving from the outside. It really extended through two houses, +and even at this early hour it was fairly crowded. + +There were negroes of all degrees of shading, down to those who were +almost white. Scattered about at the various tables were perhaps half a +dozen white women, tawdry imitations of the faster set at the Futurist +which we had just left, the leftovers of a previous generation in the +Tenderloin. There was also a fair sprinkling of white men, equally +degraded. White men and coloured women, white women and coloured men, +chatted here and there, but for the most part the habitues were +negroes. At any rate the levelling down seemed to have produced +something like an equality of races in viciousness. + +As we sat down at a table, Kennedy remarked: "They used to drift down +to Chinatown, a good many of these relics. You used to see them in the +old 'suicide halls' of the Bowery, too. But that is all passing away +now. Reform and agitation have closed up those old dives. Now they try +to veneer it over with electric lights and bright varnish, but I +suppose it comes to the same thing. After they are cast off Broadway, +the next step lower is the black and tan joint. After that it is +suicide, unless it is death." + +"I don't think this is any improvement over the--the bad old days," I +ventured. + +Kennedy shook his head in agreement. "There's Harris, down there in the +back, talking to someone, a white man, alone." + +A waiter came over to us grinning, for we had assumed the role of +sightseers. + +"Who is that, 'way back there, with his chair tipped to the wall, +talking to the man with his back to us?" asked Kennedy. + +"Ike the Dropper, sah," informed the waiter with obvious pride that +such a celebrity should be harboured here. + +I looked with a feeling akin to awe at the famous character who, in +common with many others of his type, had migrated uptown from the +proverbial haunts of the gunmen on the East Side in search of pastures +new and untroubled. + +Ike the Dropper may have once been a strong-arm man, but at present I +knew that he was chiefly noted for the fact, and he and his kind were +reputed to be living on the earnings of women to whom they were +supposed to afford "protection." I reflected on the passing glories of +brutality which had sunk so low. + +There were noise and life a plenty here. At a discordant box of a piano +a negro performer was playing with a keen appreciation of time if of +nothing else, and two others with voices that might not have been +unpopular in a decent minstrel show were rendering a popular air. They +wore battered straw hats and a make-up which was intended to be +grotesque. + +From time to time, as the pianist was moved, he played snatches of the +same music as that which we had heard at the Futurist, and between us +and Harris and Ike the Dropper several couples were one-stepping, each +in their own sweet way. As the music became more lively their dancing +came more and more to resemble some of the almost brutal Apache dances +of Paris, in that the man seemed to exert sheer force and the woman +agility in avoiding him. It was an entirely new phase of afternoon +dancing, an entirely new "leisure class," this strange combination of +Bohemia and Senegambia. + +At a table next to us, so near that we could almost rub elbows with +them, sat a white man and a white woman. They had been talking in low +tones, but I could catch whole sentences now and then, for they seemed +to be making no extraordinary effort at concealment. + +"He was framing a sucker to get away with a whole front," I heard the +man say, "or with a poke or a souper, but instead he got dropped by a +flatty and was canned for a sleep." + +"Two dips--pickpockets," whispered Craig. "Someone was trying to take +everything a victim had, or at least his pocketbook or watch, but +instead he was arrested by a detective and locked up over night." + +"Good work," I laughed. "You are 'some' translator." + +I looked at our neighbours with a certain amount of respect. Were they +framing up something themselves? At any rate I felt that I would rather +see them here and know what they were than to be jostled by them in a +street car. The sleek proprietor kept a careful eye on them and I knew +that a sort of unwritten law would prevent them from trying on anything +that would endanger their welcome in a joint none too savoury already. + +Nevertheless I was quite interested in the bits of pickpocket argot +that floated across to us, expressions like "crossing the mit," +"nipping a slang," a "mouthpiece," "making a holler" and innumerable +other choice bits as unintelligible to me as "Beowulf." + +After a few minutes the woman got up and went out, leaving the man +still sitting at the table. Of course it was none of my business what +they were doing, I suppose, but I could not help being interested. + +That diversion being ended, I joined Kennedy in his scrutiny of Harris +and his choice friend. Of course at our distance it was absolutely +impossible to gain any idea of what they were talking about, and indeed +our chief concern was not to attract any attention. Whatever it was, +they were very earnest about it and paid no attention to us. + +The dancing had ceased and the two "artists" were entertaining the +select audience with some choice bits of ragtime. We could see Ike the +Dropper and Dr. Harris still talking. + +Suddenly Kennedy nudged me. I looked up in time to see Dr. Harris reach +into his inside breast pocket again and quietly slip out a package much +like that which we had already seen him hand to Marie at the Futurist. +Ike took it, looked at it a moment with some satisfaction, then stuffed +it down carefully into the right-hand outside pocket of his coat. + +"I wonder what that is that Harris seems to be passing out to them?" +mused Craig. + +"Drugs, perhaps," I ventured offhand. + +"Maybe. I'd like to know for certain." + +Just then Harris and Ike rose and walked down on the other side of the +place toward the door. Kennedy turned his head so that even if they +should look in our direction they would not see his face. I did the +same. Fortunately neither seemed interested in the other occupants. +Harris having evidently fulfilled his mission, whether of delivering +the package or receiving news which Ike seemed to be pouring into his +ear, had but one thought, to escape from a place which was evidently +distasteful to him. At the door they paused for a moment and spoke with +the proprietor. He nodded reassuringly once or twice to Dr. Harris, +much to the relief, I thought, of that gentleman. + +Kennedy was chafing under the restraint which kept him in the +background and prevented any of his wizardry of mechanical +eavesdropping. I fancied that his roving eye was considering various +means of utilizing his seemingly inexhaustible ingenuity if occasion +should arise. + +At last Harris managed to shake hands good-bye and disappeared up the +steps to the sidewalk still followed by Ike. + +Kennedy leaned over and looked the "dip" sitting alone back of us +squarely in the face. + +"Would you like to make twenty-five dollars--just like that?" he asked +with a quick gesture that accorded very well with the slang. + +The man looked at him very suspiciously, as if considering what kind of +new game this was. + +"That was your gun moll who just went out, wasn't it?" pursued Kennedy +with assurance. + +"Aw, come off. Whatyer givin' us?" responded the man half angrily. + +"Don't stall. I know. I'm not one of the bulls, either. It's just a +plain proposition. Will you or won't you take twenty-five of easy +money?" + +Kennedy's manner seemed to mystify him. For a moment he looked us over, +then seemed to decide that we were all right. + +"How?" he asked in a harsh but not wholly ungracious whisper. "I'll tip +yer off if the boss is lookin'. He don't like no frame-ups in here." + +"You saw Ike the Dropper go out with that man?" + +"The guy with the glasses?" + +"Yes." + +"Well?" + +"The guy with the glasses gave Ike a little package which Ike put into +the right-hand outside pocket of his coat. Now it's worth twenty-five +beans to me to get that package--get me?" + +"I gotyer. Slip me a five now and the other twenty if I get it." + +Kennedy appeared to consider. + +"I'm on the level," pursued the dip. "Me and the goil is in hard luck +with a mouthpiece who wants fifty bucks to beat the case for one of the +best tools we ever had in our mob that they got right to-day." + +"From that I take it that one of your pals needs fifty dollars for a +lawyer to get him out of jail. Well, I'll take a chance. Bring the +package to me at--well, the Prince Henry cafe. I'll be there at seven +o'clock." + +The pickpocket nodded, slid from his place and sidled out of the joint +without attracting any attention. + +"What's the lay?" I asked. + +"Oh, I just want that package, that's all. Come on, Walter. We might as +well go before any of these yellow girls speak to us and frame up +something on us." + +The proprietor bowed as much as to say, "Come again and bring your +friends." + + + + +XI + +THE TYPEWRITER CLUE + + +Ike was nowhere to be seen when we reached the street, but down the +block we caught sight of Dr. Harris on the next corner. Kennedy +hastened our pace until we were safely in his wake, then managed to +keep just a few paces behind him. + +Instead of turning into the street where the Futurist was, Harris kept +on up Broadway. It was easy enough to follow him in the crowd now +without being perceived. + +He turned into the street where the Little Montmartre was preparing for +a long evening of entertainment. We turned, and to cover ourselves got +into a conversation with a hack driver who seemed suddenly to have +sprung from nowhere with the cryptic whisper, "Drive you to the Ladies' +Club, gents?" + +Out of the tail of his eye Kennedy watched Harris. Instead of turning +into the Montmartre and his office, he went past to a high-stooped +brownstone house, two doors away, climbed the steps and entered. + +We sauntered down the street and looked quickly at the house. A brass +sign on the wall beside the door read, "Mme. Margot's Beauty Shop." + +"I see," commented Kennedy. "You know women of the type who frequent +the Futurist and the Montmartre are always running to the hairdressing +and manicure parlours. They make themselves 'beautiful' under the +expert care of the various specialists and beauty doctors. Then, too, +they keep in touch that way with what is going on in the demi-monde. +That is their club, so to speak. It is part of the beauty shop's trade +to impart such information--at least of a beauty shop in this +neighbourhood." + +I regarded the place curiously. + +"Come, Walter, don't stare," nudged Kennedy. "Let's take a turn down to +the Prince Henry and wait. We can get a bite to eat, too." + +I had hardly expected that the pickpocket would play fair, but +evidently the lure of the remaining twenty dollars was too strong. We +had scarcely finished our dinner when he came in. + +"Here it is," he whispered. "The house man here at the Prince Henry +knows me. Slip me the twenty." + +Kennedy leisurely tore the wrappings from the packet. + +"I suppose you have already looked at this first and found that it +isn't worth anything to you compared to twenty dollars. Anyhow, you +kept your word. Hello--what is it?" + +He had disclosed several small packets. Inside each, sealed, was a +peculiar glistening whitish powder. + +"H'm," mused Kennedy, "another job for the chemist. Here's the +bankroll." + +"Thanks," grinned the dip as he disappeared through the revolving door. + +We had returned to the laboratory that night where Kennedy was +preparing to experiment on the white powder which he had secured in the +packet that came from Dr. Harris. The door opened and Clare Kendall +entered. + +"I've been calling you up all over town," she said, "and couldn't find +you. I have something that will interest you, I think. You said you +wanted something written by Dr. Harris. Well, there it is." + +She laid a sheet of typewriting on the laboratory table. + +"How did you get it?" asked Kennedy in eager approbation. + +"When I left you at the Futurist Tea Room to follow that woman Marie in +the cab, I had a good deal of trouble. I guess people thought I was +crazy, the way I was ordering that driver about, but he was so stupid +and he would get tangled up in the traffic on Fifth Avenue. Still, I +managed to hang on, principally because I had a notion already that she +was going to the Montmartre. Sure enough, she turned down that block, +but she didn't go into the hotel after all. She stopped and went into a +place two doors down--Mme. Margot's Beauty Parlour." + +"Just where we finally saw Harris go," exclaimed Kennedy. "I beg your +pardon for interrupting." + +"Of course I couldn't go in right after her, so I drove around the +corner. Then it occurred to me that it would be a good time to stop in +to see Dr. Harris--when he was out. You know my experience with the +fakers has made me pretty good at faking up ailments. Then, too, I knew +that it would be easy when he was not there. I said I was an old +patient and had an appointment and that I'd wait, although I knew those +were not his regular office hours. He has an alleged trained nurse +there all the time. She let me into his waiting-room on the second +floor in front--you remember the private dining-rooms are in back. I +waited in momentary fear that he WOULD come back. You see, I had a +scheme of my own. Well, I waited until at last the nurse had to leave +the office for a short time. + +"That was my chance. I tiptoed over to his desk in the next room. On it +were a lot of letters. I looked over them but could find nothing that +seemed to be of interest. They were all letters from other people. But +they showed that he must have quite an extensive practice, and that he +is not over-scrupulous. I didn't want to take anything that would +excite suspicion unless I had to. Just then I heard someone coming down +the corridor from the elevator. I had just time to get back to a chair +in the waiting-room when the door opened and there was that Titian from +the office, you remember. She saw me without recognizing me, went in +and laid some papers on his desk. As soon as she was gone, I went in +again and looked them over. Here was one that she had copied for him." + +Kennedy had been carefully scrutinizing the sheet of paper as she told +how she obtained it. + +"It couldn't be better as far as our purposes are concerned," he +congratulated. "It seems to consist of some notes he had made and +wished to preserve about drugs." + +I leaned over and read: + +VERONAL.--Diethylmalonyl or diethylbarbituric acid. A hypnotic used +extensively. White, crystalline, odourless, slightly bitter. Best in +ten to fifteen grain cachets. Does not affect circulatory or +respiratory systems or temperature. Toxicity low: 135 gr. taken with no +serious result. Unreasonable use for insomnia, however, may lead to +death. + +HEROIN.--Constant use of heroin has been known to lead to-- + +I looked inquiringly at Kennedy. + +"Just some fragmentary notes which he had evidently been making. Rather +interesting in themselves as showing perhaps something of his practice, +but not necessarily incriminating." + +While we were discussing the contents of the notes, Kennedy had laid +over the typewritten sheet the rules and graduated strip of glass which +he had used in examining the strange letter signed "An Outcast." + +A moment later he pulled the letter itself from a drawer and laid the +two pieces of writing side by side, comparing them, going from one to +the other successively. + +"People generally, who have not investigated the subject," he remarked +as he worked, "hold the opinion that the typewriter has no +individuality. Fortunately that is not true. The typewriting machine +does not always afford an effective protection to the criminal. On the +contrary, the typewriting may be a direct means of tracing a document +to its source and showing it to be what it really is. This is +especially true of typewritten anonymous letters. Without careful +investigation it is impossible to say what can be determined from the +examination of any particular piece of typewriting, but typewriting can +often be positively identified as being the work of a certain +particular typewriting machine and even the date of writing can +sometimes be found out." + +He had been carefully counting something under the lens of a pocket +glass. "Even the number of threads to the inch in the ribbon, as shown +in the type impression, plainly seen and accurately measured by the +microscope or in an enlarged photograph, may show something about the +identity of a disputed writing." + +He was pointing to a letter "r." Under the glass I noticed that there +was a break in the little curl at the top. + +"Now if you find such a break in the same letter in another piece of +typewriting, what would you think?" + +"That they were from the same machine," I replied. + +"Not so fast," he cautioned. "True, it might raise a presumption that +it was from the same machine. But the laws of chance would be against +your enthusiasm, Walter." + +"Of course," I admitted on second thought. + +"It's just like the finger-print theory. There must be a sort of +summation of individual characteristics. Now here's a broken 'l' and +there is an 'a' that is twisted. Now, if the same defects are found in +another piece of writing, that makes the presumption all the stronger, +and when you have massed together a number of such characteristics it +raises the presumption to a mathematical certainty, does it not?" + +I nodded and he went on. "The faces of many letters inevitably become +broken, worn, or battered. Not only does that tend to identify a +particular machine, but it is sometimes possible, if you have certain +admitted standard specimens of writing covering a long period, to tell +just when a disputed writing was made. There are two steps in such an +inquiry, the first the determination of the fact that a document was +written on a certain particular kind of machine and the second that it +was written on a certain individual machine of that make. I have here +specimens of the writing of all the leading machines. It is easy to +pick out the make used, say in the 'Outcast' letter. Moreover, as I +said when I first saw that letter, it is in the regular pica type. So +are they all, but as ninety-five per cent, use the pica style that in +itself proved nothing." + +"What is that bit of ruled glass?" asked Clare, bending over the +letters in deep interest. + +"In ordinary typewriting," replied Craig, "each letter occupies an +imaginary square, ten to the inch horizontally and six to the inch +vertically. Typewriting letters are in line both ways. This ruled glass +plate is an alinement test plate for detecting defects in alinement. I +have also here another glass plate in which the lines diverge each at a +very slightly different angle--a typewriting protractor for measuring +the slant of divergence of various letters that have become twisted, so +to speak. + +"When it is in perfect alinement the letter occupies the middle of each +square and when out of alinement it may be in any of the four corners, +or either side of the middle position or at the top or bottom above or +below the middle. That, you see, makes nine positions in all--or eight +possible divergences from normal in this particular alone." + +Clare had been using the protractor herself, quickly familiarizing +herself with it. + +"Another possible divergence," went on Kennedy, "is the perpendicular +position of the letter in relation to the line. That is of great value +in individualizing a machine. It is very seldom that machines, even +when they are new, are perfect in this particular. It does not seem +much until you magnify it. Then anyone can see it, and it is a +characteristic that is fixed, continuous, and not much changed by +variations in speed or methods of writing. + +"Here's another thing. Typewriter faces are not flat like printing +type, but are concaved to conform to the curve of the printing surface +of the roller. When they are properly adjusted all portions should +print uniformly. But when they are slightly out of position in any +direction the two curved surfaces of type and roller are not exactly +parallel and therefore don't come together with uniform pressure. The +result is a difference in intensity in different parts of the +impression." + +It was fascinating to see Craig at work over such minute points which +we had never suspected in so common a thing as ordinary typewriting. + +"Then you can identify these letters positively?" asked Clare. + +"Positively," answered Craig. "If two machines of the same make were +perfect to begin with and in perfect condition--which is never found to +be the case when they are critically examined--the work from one would +be theoretically indistinguishable from that of another until actual +use had affected them differently. The work of any number of machines +begins inevitably to diverge as soon as they are used. Since there are +thousands of possible particulars in which differences may develop, it +very soon becomes possible to identify positively the work of a +particular typewriting machine." + +"How about the operator?" I asked curiously. + +"Different habits of touch, spacing, speed, arrangement, and +punctuation all may also tend to show that a particular piece of +writing was or was not done by one operator. In other words, +typewriting individuality in many cases is of the most positive and +convincing character and reaches a degree of certainty which may almost +be described as absolute proof. The identification of a typewritten +document in many cases is exactly parallel to the identification of an +individual who precisely answers a general description as to features, +complexion, size, and in addition matches a long detailed list of +scars, birthmarks, deformities, and individual peculiarities." + +Together we three began an exhaustive examination of the letters, and +as Kennedy called off the various characteristics of each type on the +standard keyboard we checked them up. It did not take long to convince +us, nor would it have failed to convince the most sceptical, that both +had come from the same source and the same writer. + +"You see," concluded Kennedy triumphantly, "we have advanced a long +step nearer the solution of at least one of the problems of this case." + +Miss Kendall had evidently been thinking quickly and turning the matter +over in her mind. + +"But," she spoke up quickly, "even that does not point to the same +person as the author--not the writer, but the author--of the three +pieces of writing." + +"No indeed," agreed Craig. "There is much left to be done. As a matter +of fact, there might have been one author, or there might have been +two, although all the mechanical work was done by one person. But we +are at least sure that we have localized the source of the writing. We +know that it is from the Montmartre that the letter came. We know that +it is in some way that that place and some of the people who frequent +it are connected with the disappearance of Betty Blackwell." + +"In other words," supplied Clare, "we are going to get at the truth +through that Titian-haired stenographer." + +"Exactly." + +Clare had risen to go. + +"It quite takes my breath away to think that we are really making such +progress against the impregnable Montmartre. At various times my +investigators have been piecing together little bits of information +about that place. I shall have the whole record put together to-night. +I shall let you know about it the first thing in the morning." + +The door had scarcely closed when Kennedy turned quickly to me and +remarked, "That girl has something on her mind. I wonder what it is?" + + + + +XII + +THE "PORTRAIT PARLE" + + +What it was that Clare Kendall had on her mind, appeared the following +day. + +"There's something I want to try," she volunteered, evidently unable to +repress it any longer. "I have a plan--or half a plan. Don't you think +it would be just the thing, under the circumstances, to ring up +District Attorney Carton, tell him what we have accomplished and take +him into our confidence? Perhaps he can suggest something. At any rate +we have all got to work together, for there is going to be a great +fight when they find out how far we have gone." + +"Bully idea," agreed Craig. + +Twenty minutes later we were seated in the District Attorney's office +in the Criminal Courts Building, pouring into his sympathetic ear the +story of our progress so far. + +Carton seemed to be delighted, as Kennedy proceeded to outline the +case, at the fact that he and Miss Kendall had found it possible to +co-operate. His own experience in trying to get others to work with the +District Attorney's office, particularly the police, had been quite the +reverse. + +"I wish to heaven you could get the right kind of evidence against the +Montmartre gang," he sighed. "It is a gang, too--a high-class gang. In +fact--well, it must be done. That place is a blot on the city. The +police never have really tried to get anything on it. Miss Kendall +never could, could you? I admit I never have. It seems to be understood +that it is practically impossible to prove anything against it. They +openly defy us. The thing can't go on. It demoralizes all our other +work. Just one good blow at the Montmartre and we could drive every one +of these vile crooks to cover." He brought his fist down with a thud on +the desk, swung around in his chair, and emphasized his words with his +forefinger. + +"And yet, I know as well as I know that you are all in this room that +graft is being paid to the police and the politicians by that place and +in fact by all those places along there. If we are to do anything with +them, that must be proved. That is the first step and I'm glad the +whole thing hinges on the Blackwell case. People always sit up and take +notice when there is something personal involved, some human interest +which even the newspapers can see. That Montmartre crowd, whoever they +are, must be made to feel the strong arm of the law. That's what I am +in this office to do. Now, Kennedy, there must be some way to catch +those crooks with the goods." + +"They aren't ordinary crooks, you know," ruminated Kennedy. + +"I know they are not. But you and Miss Kendall and Jameson ought to be +able to think out a scheme." + +"But you see, Mr. Carton," put in Clare, "this is a brand new +situation. Your gambling and vice and graft exposures have made all of +them so wary that they won't pass a bill from their right to their left +pockets for fear it is marked." + +Carton laughed. + +"Well, you are a brand new combination against them. Let me see; you +want suggestions. Why don't you use the detectaphone--get our own +little Black Book?" + +Kennedy shook his head. + +"The detectaphone is all right, as Dorgan knows. It might work again. +But I don't think I'll take any chances. No, these grafters wouldn't +say 'Thank you' in an open boat in mid-ocean, for fear of wireless, +now. They've been educated up to a lot of things lately. No, it must be +something new. What do you know about graft up there?" + +"The people who are running those places in the fifties are making +barrels of money," summarized Carton quickly. "No one ever interferes +with them, either. I know from reliable sources, too, that the police +are 'getting theirs.' But although I know it I can't prove it; I can't +even tell who is getting it. But once a week a collector for the police +calls around in that district and shakes them all down. By Jove, to-day +is the day. The trouble with it all is that they have made the thing so +underground that no one but the principals know anything about it--not +even the agents. I guess you are right about the detectaphone." + +"To-day's the day, is it?" mused Craig. + +"So I understand." + +"I think I can get them with a new machine they never dreamed of," +exclaimed Kennedy, who had been turning something over in his mind. + +He reached for the telephone and called the Montmartre. + +"Julius, please," he said when they answered; then, placing his hand +over the transmitter, he turned to Clare. "That was your friend the +Titian, Miss Kendall." + +"No friend of mine if she happens to remember seeing me in Dr. Harris's +office the other day. Still, I doubt if she would." + +"Hello--Julius? Good morning. How about a private dining-room for +three, Julius?" + +We could not hear the reply, but Craig added quickly, "I thought there +were two?" + +Evidently the answer was in the affirmative, for Craig asked next, +"Well, can't we have the small one?" + +He hung up the receiver with a satisfied smile after closing with +"That's the way to talk. Thank you, Julius. Good-bye." + +"What was the difficulty?" I asked. + +"Why, I thought I'd take a chance--and it took. Now figure it out for +yourself. Carton says it's dough day, so to speak, up there. What is +more natural than that the money for all those places leased to various +people should be passed over in a place that is public and yet is not +public? For instance, there is the Montmartre itself. Now think it out. +Where would that be done in the Montmartre? Why, in one of the private +dining-rooms, of course." + +"That seems reasonable," agreed Carton. + +"That was the way I doped it," pursued Craig. "I thought I'd confirm it +if I could. You remember they told us to call up always if I wanted a +private dining-room and it would be reserved for me. So it was the most +natural thing in the world for me to call up. If they had said yes, I +should have been disappointed. But they said no, and straightway I +wanted one of those rooms the worst way. One seems to be engaged--the +large one. He said nothing about the other, so I asked him. Since I +knew about it, he could hardly say no. Well, I have engaged it for +lunch--an early luncheon, too." + +"It sounds all right, as though you were on the right trail," remarked +Carton. "But, remember, only the best sort of evidence will go against +those people. They can afford to hire the best lawyers that money can +retain. And be careful not to let them get anything on you, for they +are fearful liars, and they'll go the limit to discredit you." + +"Trust us," assured Craig. "Now, Miss Kendall, if you will give us the +pleasure of lunching with you at the Montmartre again, I think we may +be able to get the Judge just the sort of open and shut evidence he is +after." + +"I shall be glad to do it. I'm ready now." + +Kennedy glanced at his watch. "It's a little early yet. If we take a +taxicab we shall have plenty of time to stop at the laboratory on our +way." + +Arriving at the laboratory, he went to a drawer, from which he took a +little box which contained a long tube, and carefully placed it in the +breast pocket of his coat. Then from a chest of tools he drew several +steel sections that apparently fitted together, and began stuffing the +parts into various pockets. + +"Here, Walter," he said, "these make me bulge like a yeggman with his +outfit under his coat. Can't you help me with some of these parts?" + +I jammed several into various pockets--heavy pieces of metal--and we +were ready. + +Our previous visits to the Montmartre seemed to have given us the +entree and the precaution of telephoning made it even easier. Indeed, +it appeared that about all that was necessary there was to be known and +to be thought "right." We carefully avoided the office, where the +stenographer might possibly have recognized Clare, and entered the +elevator. + +"Is Dr. Harris in?" asked Craig, both by way of getting information and +showing that he was no stranger. + +The black elevator boy gave an ivory grin. "No, sah. He done gone on +one o' them things." + +Another question developed the fact that whenever Harris was away it +was generally assumed that he was tinting the metropolis vermilion from +the Battery to the Bronx. + +We passed down the hall to the smaller of the two dining-rooms, and as +we went by the larger we could see the door open and that no one was +there. + +We had ordered and the waiter had scarcely shut the door before Kennedy +had divested himself of the heavy steel sections which he had hidden in +his pockets. I did the same. + +With a quick glance he seemed to be observing just how the furniture +was placed. The smaller dining-room was quite as elaborately furnished +as the larger, though of course the furniture was more crowded. + +He moved the settee and was on his knees in a corner. "Let me see," he +considered. "There was nothing on this side of the larger room except +the divan in the centre." + +As nearly as he could judge he was measuring off just where the divan +stood on the opposite side of the wall, and its height. Then he began +fitting together the pieces of steel. As he added one to another, I saw +that they made a sectional brace and bit of his own design, a long, +vicious-looking affair such as a burglar might have been glad to own. + +Carefully he started to bore through the plaster and lath back of the +settee and to one side of where the divan must have been. He was making +just as small a hole as possible, now and then stopping to listen. + +There was no noise from the next room, but a tap on the door announced +the waiter with luncheon. He shoved the settee back and joined us. The +discreet waiter placed the food on the table and departed without a +word or look. Kennedy resumed his work and we left the luncheon still +untasted. + +The bit seemed to have gone through as Kennedy, turning it carefully, +withdrew it now and then to make sure. At last he seemed to be +satisfied with the opening he had made. + +From the package in his breast pocket he drew a long brass tube which +looked as if it might be a putty-blower. Slowly he inserted it into the +hole he had bored. + +"What is it?" I asked, unable to restrain my curiosity longer. + +"I felt sure that there would be no talking done in that room, +especially as we are in this one and anyone knows that even if you +can't put a detectaphone in a room, it will often work if merely placed +against a wall or door, on the other side, in the next room. So I +thought I'd use this instead. Put your eye down here." + +I did so and was amazed to find that through a hole less than a quarter +of an inch in diameter the brass tube enabled me to see the entire room +next to us. + +I looked up at Kennedy in surprise. "What do you think of this, Miss +Kendall?" I asked, moving the settee out of her way. "What do you call +it?" + +"That is a detectascope," he replied, "a little contrivance which makes +use of the fish-eye lens. + +"Yes. The detectascope enables you to see what is going on in another +room. The focus may be altered in range so that the faces of those in +the room may be recognized and the act of passing money or signing +cheques, for instance, may be detected. The instrument is fashioned +somewhat after the cytoscope of the doctors, with which the human +interior may be seen." + +"Very remarkable," exclaimed Clare. "But I can't understand how it is +possible to see so much through such a little tube. Why, I almost fancy +I can see more in that room than I could with my own eyes if I were +placed so that I could not move my head." + +Kennedy laughed. + +"That's the secret," he went on. "For instance, take a drop of water. +Professor Wood of Johns Hopkins has demonstrated recently the +remarkable refracting power of a drop of water, using the camera and +the drop of water as a lens. It is especially interesting to scientists +because it illustrates the range of vision of some fishes. They have +eyes that see over half a circle. Hence the lens gets its name--'the +fish-eye lens.' A globe refracts the light that reaches it from all +directions, and if it is placed as the lens is in the detectascope so +that one half of it catches the light, all this light will be refracted +through it. Ordinary lenses, because of their flatness, have a range of +only a few degrees, the widest in use, I believe, taking in only +ninety-six degrees, or a little over a quarter of a circle. So you see +my detectascope has a range almost twice as wide as that of any other +lens." + +The little tube was fascinating, and although there was no one in the +next room yet, I could not resist the desire to keep on looking through +it. + +"Since you are so interested, Walter," laughed Craig, "we'll appoint +you to take the first shift at watching. Meanwhile we may as well eat +since we shall certainly have to pay. When you are tired or hungry I'll +take a turn." + +Kennedy and I had been taking turns at watching through the +detectascope while Miss Kendall told us more about how she had come to +be associated with the organization to clean up New York. + +"We have struck some delicate situations before," she was saying, +"times when it meant either that we must surrender and compromise the +work of the investigation or offend an interest that might turn out to +be more powerful than we realized. Our rule from the start was, 'No +Compromise.' You know the moment you compromise with one, all the +others hear it and it weakens your position. We've made some powerful +enemies, but our idea is that as long as we keep perfectly straight and +honest they will never be able to beat us. We shall win in the end, +because so far it has never come to a show-down, when we appealed to +the public itself, that the public had not risen and backed us +strongly." + +I had come to have the utmost confidence in Clare Kendall and her frank +way of handling a ticklish yet most important subject without fear or +prudishness. There was a refreshing newness about her method. It was +neither the holier-than-thou attitude of many religionists, nor the +smug monopoly of all knowledge of the social worker, nor the brutal +wantonness of the man or woman of the world who excuses everything +"because it is human nature, always has been and always will be." + +"We have no illusions on the subject," she pursued. "We don't expect to +change human nature until the individual standard changes. But we are +convinced of this--and it is as far as we go and is what we are out to +accomplish--and that is that we can, and are going to, smash protected, +commercialized vice as one of the big businesses of New York." + +"Sh-h," cautioned Kennedy, whose turn it happened to be just then to +watch. "Someone has just entered the room." + +"Who is it?" I whispered eagerly. + +"A man. I can't see his face. His back is toward me, but there is +something familiar about him. There--he is turning around. For Heaven's +sake--it's Ike the Dropper!" + +We had already recounted to Miss Kendall our experiences in following +Dr. Harris to the black and tan joint and the meeting with Ike the +Dropper. + +"Then Ike the Dropper is the collector for the police or the +politicians higher up," she exclaimed under her breath. "If we learned +nothing more, that would be enough. It would tell us whom to watch." + +Hastily we took turns at getting a good look at Ike through the +wonderful little detectascope. Then Kennedy resumed his watch, +whispering now and then what he saw. Apparently Ike had proceeded to +make himself comfortable in the luxurious surroundings of the private +dining-room, against the arrival of the graft payers. + +"I wonder who the man higher up is," whispered Miss Kendall. + +"Someone is coming in," reported Kennedy. "By George, it is that +stenographer from the office downstairs. She is handing him an +envelope. Good for her! He tried to kiss her and she backed away in +disgust. The scoundrel! + +"Isn't it clever, though? Not a word is said by anyone. I don't suppose +she could swear to knowing anything about what is in the envelope. +There she goes out. He is opening the envelope and counting out the +money--ten one-hundred-dollar bills. There they go into the fob pocket +of his trousers. I imagined he learned something from my pick-pocket. +That is the safest pocket a man has. That little contribution, I take +it, was from the Montmartre itself." + +Then followed an interval in which Ike puffed away on his cigar in +silent state. + +"Here's another now," announced Craig. "Another woman. I never saw her +before." + +Both Miss Kendall and I looked and neither of us recognized her. She +was slim and would have been young-looking if she had not made such +obvious efforts to imitate the healthy colour of the cheeks which she +probably would have had if she had lived sensibly and left cosmetics +alone. + +Kennedy was hastily jotting down some notes on the back of an envelope. + +"They are going through the same proceedings again. I guess Ike doesn't +like her. There she goes. Only two hundred this time." + +Another wait followed, during which Ike smoked down his cigar and +lighted another from the stub. Then the door opened again. + +Kennedy motioned quickly to Clare to look through the detectascope. +Meanwhile he pulled from his pocket the piece of paper he had written +on and torn from the back of the menu at the Futurist. + +"Marie!" exclaimed Clare under her breath. + +"The same," whispered Kennedy. "Miss Kendall, you have the true 'camera +eye' of the born detective. Now--please--let me see if I can get what +occurs." + +She yielded her place to him. + +"Three hundred more," he murmured. "Marie must be in the game, though. +He didn't wait for her to leave before he tore open the envelope. Now +they are burning the envelopes in the ash tray. And still not a word. +This is clever, clever. Think of it--fifteen hundred dollars of easy +money like that! I wonder how much of it sticks to Ike's hands on the +way up. He must have a capacious fob pocket for that. Say, he's a +regular fellow with the ladies, Ike is. Only this one doesn't seem to +resent it. By George, I wonder if this fellow Ike isn't giving the +police or the politicians the double-cross. He couldn't be on such +intimate terms with one who was paying graft to him as collector +otherwise; do you think so?" + +Craig looked up without waiting for an answer. "You will excuse any +levity, but that was some kiss she just gave him." + +Kennedy resumed his position for looking through the detectascope, +occasionally glancing down at the notes he had made the day before and +now and then making a slight alteration. + +"There. She is going away now. Well, I guess the collection is all +over. He has his hat on and a third cigar, ready to go as soon as +somebody signals that the coast is clear. That was a good day's work +for Ike and the man higher up, whoever he is. Ah--there he goes. It was +a signal from the waiter he was after. Now we may as well finish this +luncheon. It cost enough." + +For several minutes we ate in silence. + +"I wish I could have followed Ike," observed Craig. "But of course it +would have been of no use. To go out right after him would have given +the whole thing away." + +"Who is that dark-haired, dark-skinned woman, Marie, do you suppose?" +asked Clare. "Sometimes I almost think she is part negro." + +"I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if you were right. If +you have any investigators to spare, they might try to find out who she +is and something of her history. I will give them a copy of these notes +which I intend to turn over to the Department of Justice men who have +been making the white slave investigation for the Federal Government." + +Kennedy had laid the notes which he had made on the menu before us and +was copying them. Both Clare and I leaned over to read them. It was +Greek to me: + +Nose--straight, base elevated, nostrils thick, slightly flaring. + +Ears--lobe descending oval, traversed by a hollow, antitragus concave; +lobe separated from cheek. + +Lips--large. + +Mouth--large. + +Chin--receding. + +There was much more that he had jotted down and added to the +description. + +"Oh," exclaimed Clare, as she ran through the writing, "that is this +new portrait parle, the spoken picture, isn't it?" + +"Yes," replied Kennedy. "You may know that the Government has been +using it in its white slave inquiry and has several thousands of such +descriptions. Under the circumstances, I understand that the Government +agents find it superior to finger-prints. Finger-prints are all right +for identification, as we have found right here, for instance, in the +Night Court. But Bertillon's new portrait parle is the thing for +apprehension." + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"Well, take the case before us. We have had no chance to finger-print +that woman and what good would it do if we had? No one could recognize +her that way until she was arrested or some means had been taken to get +the prints again. + +"But the portrait parle is scientific apprehension, the step that comes +before scientific identification by finger-prints. It means giving the +detective an actual portrait of the person he is sent after without +burdening him with a photograph. As descriptions are now given, +together with a photograph, a person is described as of such a weight, +height, general appearance, and so on. A clever crook knows that. He +knows how to change his appearance so that there are few even of the +best detectives who can recognize him. This new system describes the +features so that a man can carry them in his mind systematically, +features that cannot be changed. + +"Take the nose, for example," explained Kennedy. "There are only three +kinds, as Bertillon calls them--convex, straight, and concave. A +detective, we will say, is sent out after a man with a concave nose or, +as in this case a woman with a straight nose. Thus he is freed from the +necessity of taking a second glance at two-thirds of the women, +roughly, that he meets--that is, theoretically. He passes by all with +convex and concave noses. + +"There are four classes of ears--triangular, square, oval, and round, +as they may be called. Having narrowed his search to women with +straight noses, the detective needs to concern himself with only +one-fourth of the women with straight noses. Having come down to women +with straight noses and, say, oval ears, he will eliminate all those +that do not have the mouth, lips, chin, eyes, forehead, and so on that +have been given him. Besides that, there are other striking differences +in noses and ears that make his work much easier than you would +imagine, once he has been trained to observe such things quickly." + +"It sounds all right," I agreed haltingly. + +"It is all right, too," he argued warmly. "The proof of it is its use +in Paris and other cities abroad and the fact that it has been imported +here to New York in the Police Department and has been used by the +Government. I could tell you many interesting stories about how it has +succeeded where photographs would have failed." + +I had been reading over the description again and trying to apply it. + +"For instance," Craig resumed thoughtfully. "I believe that this woman +is a mulatto, but that is a long way from proving it. Still, I hope +that by using the portrait parle and other things we may be able to +draw the loose threads together into a net that will catch +her--providing, of course, that she ought to be caught." + +He had finished making copies of the portrait parle and had called for +a cheque for the lunch. + +"So you see," he concluded, "this is without any doubt the woman we saw +at the Futurist, whom Miss Kendall followed to Madame Margot's Beauty +Shop, two doors down." + +Kennedy handed a copy to Miss Kendall. + +"Using that and whatever other means you may have, Miss Kendall," he +said, "I wish that you would try to find this woman and all you can +about her. Walter, take this other copy and see Carton. I think he has +a county detective who knows the system. I shall spend the rest of the +day getting in touch with the Federal authorities in this city and in +Washington trying to find out whether they know anything about her." + +We left the Montmartre with as much care as we had entered and +seemingly without having yet aroused any suspicion. The rest of the day +was spent in setting to work those whom we felt we could trust to use +the portrait parle to locate the mysterious dark-haired Marie who +seemed to cross our trail at every turn, yet who proved so elusive. + + + + +XIII + +THE CONVICTION + + +Meanwhile, the organization was using every effort to get possession of +the Black Book, as Kennedy had suspected. + +Miss Ashton had been busy on the case of the missing Betty Blackwell, +but as yet there was no report from any of the agencies which she had +set in motion to locate the girl. She had seen Langhorne, and, although +she did not say much about the result of the interview, I felt sure +that it had resulted in a further estrangement between them, perhaps a +suspicion on the part of Langhorne that Carton had been responsible for +it. + +In as tactful a way as possible, Miss Ashton had also warned Mrs. +Ogleby of the danger she ran, but, as I had already supposed, the +warning had been unnecessary. The rumours about the detectaphone record +of the dinner had been quite enough. As for the dinner itself, what +happened, and who were present, it remained still a mystery, perhaps +only to be explained when at last we managed to locate the book. + +Since the visit of Kahn, we had had no direct or indirect +communications with either Dorgan or Murtha. They were, however, far +from inactive, and I felt that their very secrecy, which had always +been the strong card of the organization, boded no good. Although both +Carton and Kennedy were straining every nerve to make progress in the +case, there was indeed very little to report, either the next day or +for some time after the episode which had placed Kahn in our power. + +Carton was careful not to say anything about the graphic record we had +taken of Kahn's attempt to throw the case. It was better so, he felt. +The jury fixing evidence would keep and it would prove all the stronger +trump to play when the right occasion arose. That time rapidly +approached, now, with the day set for the trial of Dopey Jack. + +The morning of the trial found both Kennedy and myself in the part of +General Sessions to which the case had been assigned to be tried under +Justice Pomeroy. + +To one who would watch the sieve through which justice vigorously tries +to separate the wheat from the chaff, the innocent from the guilty, a +visit to General Sessions is the best means. For it is fed through the +channels that lead through the police courts, the Grand Jury chambers, +and the District Attorney's office. There one can study the largest +assortment of criminals outside of a penal institution, from the Artful +Dodger and Bill Sykes, Fagin and Jim the Penman, to the most modern of +noted crooks of fact or fiction, all done here in real flesh and blood. +It is the busiest of criminal courts. More serious offenders against +the law are sentenced here than in any other court in New York. The +final chapter in nearly every big crime is written there, sooner or +later. + +As we crowded in, thanks to the courtesy of Carton, we found a roomy +chamber, with high ceiling, and grey, impressive walls in the southeast +corner of the second floor of the Criminal Courts Building. Heavy +carved oaken doors afforded entrance and exit for the hundreds of +lawyers, witnesses, friends, and relatives of defendants and +complainants who flocked thither. + +Rows upon rows of dark-brown stained chairs filled the west half of the +courtroom, facing a three-foot railing that enclosed a jury box and +space reserved for counsel tables, the clerk and the District Attorney +representing the people. + +At the extreme east rose in severe dignity the dais or bench above +which ascended a draped canopy of rich brown plush. Here Justice +Pomeroy presided, in his robes of silk, a striking, white-haired figure +of a man, whose face was seamed and whose eyes were keen with thought +and observation. + +Across the street, reached by the famous Bridge of Sighs, loomed the +great grey hulk of stone and steel bars, the city prison, usually +referred to as "The Tombs." As if there had been some cunning design in +the juxtaposition, the massive jail reared itself outside the windows +as an object lesson. It was a perpetual warning to the lawbreaker. Its +towers and projections jutted out as so many rocks on a dangerous shore +where had been wrecked thousands of promising careers just embarked on +the troublesome seas of life. + +Skirting the line of southern windows through which The Tombs was +visible, ran a steel wire screen, eight feet high, marking off a narrow +chute that hugged the walls to a door at the rear of the courtroom +leading to the detention pen. Ordinarily prisoners were brought over +the Bridge of Sighs in small droves and herded in the detention pens +just outside the courtroom until their cases were called. + +The line-up of prisoners at such times awaiting their turn at the bar +of justice affords ample opportunity for study to the professional or +the amateur criminalist. + +Almost daily in this court one might look upon murderers, bank looters, +clever forgers, taxicab robbers, safe crackers, highwaymen, +second-story men, shoplifters, pickpockets, thieves, big and +little--all sorts and conditions of crooks come to pay the price. + +The court was crowded, for the gang leaders knew that this was a +show-down for them. Carton himself, not one of his assistants, was to +conduct the case. If Dopey Jack, who had violated almost every law in +the revised statutes and had never suffered anything worse than a +suspended sentence, could not get off, then no one could. And it was +unthinkable that Dopey should not only be arrested and held in jail +without bail, but even be convicted on such a trivial matter as slight +irregularities that swung the primaries in a large section of the city +for his superior, "higher up." + +Rubano's father, a decent, sorrowing old man, sat in the rear of the +courtroom, probably wondering how it had all happened, for he came +evidently of a clean, law-abiding family. + +But there was nothing in the appearance of the insolent criminal at the +bar to show that he was of the same breed. He was no longer the +athlete, whom "prize fighting" had inculcated with principles of +manliness and fair play as well as a strong body. All that, as I had +seen often before, was a pitiful lie. He was rat-eyed and soft-handed. +His skin had the pastiness that comes of more exposure to the glare of +vile dance halls than the sunlight of day. His black hair was slicked +down; he was faultlessly tailored and his shoes had those high, bulging +toes which are the extreme of Fourteenth Street fashion. + +Outside, overflowing into the corridor, were gangsters, followers and +friends of Dopey Jack. Only an overpowering show of force preserved the +orderliness of the court from their boasting, bragging, and threats. + +The work of selecting the jury began, and we watched it carefully. +Kahn, cool and cunning, had evidently no idea of what Carton was +holding out against him. In the panel I could see the anemic-looking +fellow whom we had caught with the goods up at Farrell's. Carton's men +had shadowed him and had learned of every man with whom he had spoken. +As each, for some reason or other, was objected to by Carton, Kahn +began to show exasperation. + +At last the anemic fellow came up for examination. Kahn accepted him. + +For a moment Carton seemed to fumble among his papers, without even +looking at the prospective juror. Then he drew out the print which +Kennedy had made. Quietly, without letting anyone else see it, he +deliberately walked to Kahn's table and showed it to the lawyer, +without a word, in fact without anyone else in the court knowing +anything about it. + +Kahn's face was a study, as he realized for the first time what it was +that Carton and Kennedy had been doing that night at Farrell's. He +paled. His hand shook. It was with the utmost effort that he could +control his voice. He had been cornered and the yellow streak in him +showed through. + +In a husky voice he withdrew the juror, and Carton, in the same cold, +self-possessed manner resumed his former position, not even a trace of +a smile on his features. + +It was all done so quickly that scarcely a soul in the court besides +ourselves realized that anything had happened. + +"Isn't he going to say anything about it?" I whispered to Craig. + +"That will come later," was all that Kennedy replied, his eyes riveted +still on Carton. + +Though no one besides ourselves realized it, Carton had thrown a +bombshell that had demolished the defence. Others noticed it, but as +yet did not know the cause. Kahn, the great Kahn by whom all the forces +of the underworld had conjured, was completely unnerved. Carton had +fixed it so that he could not retreat and leave the case to someone +else. He had knocked the props from under his defence by uncannily +turning down every man whom he had any reason of suspecting of having +been approached. Then he had given Kahn just a glimpse of the evidence +that hinted at what was in store for himself personally. Kahn was never +the same after that. + +Judge Pomeroy, who had been following the progress of the case +attentively, threw another bombshell when he announced that he would +direct that the names of the jurors be kept secret until it was +absolutely necessary to disclose them, a most unusual proceeding +designed to protect them from reprisals of gangmen. + +At last the real trial began. Carton had been careful to see that none +of the witnesses for the people should be "stiffened" as the process +was elegantly expressed by those of Dopey Jack's class--in other words, +intimidated, bribed, or otherwise rendered innocuous. One after +another, Carton rammed home the facts of the case, the fraudulent +registration and voting, the use of the names of dead men to pad the +polling lists, the bribery of election officials at the primaries--the +whole sordid, debasing story of how Dopey Jack had intimidated and +swung one entire district. + +It was clever, as he presented it, with scarcely a reference to the +name of Murtha, the beneficiary of such tactics--as though, perhaps, +Murtha's case was in his mind separate and would be attended to later +when his turn came. + +Rapidly, concisely, convincingly, Carton presented the facts. Now and +then Kahn would rise to object to something as incompetent, irrelevant, +and immaterial. But there was lacking something in his method. It was +not the old Kahn. In fact, one almost felt that Carton was disappointed +in his adversary, that he would have preferred a stiff, straight from +the shoulder, stand-up fight. + +Now and then we could hear a whisper circulating about among the +spectators. What was the matter with Kahn? Was he ill? Gangdom was in a +daze itself, little knowing the smooth stone that Carton had slung +between the eyes of the great underworld Goliath of the law. + +At last Carton's case was all in, and Kahn rose to present his own, a +forced smile on his face. + +There was an attempt at a demonstration, but Judge Pomeroy rapped +sharply for order, and alert court attendants were about to nip +effectively any such outburst. Still, it was enough to show the +undercurrent of open defiance of the court, of law, of the people. + +What it was no one but ourselves knew but Kahn was not himself. Others +saw it, but did not understand. They had waited patiently through the +sledge-hammer pounding of Carton, waiting expectantly for Kahn to +explode a mine that would demolish the work of the District Attorney as +if it had been so much paper. Carton had figuratively dampened the +fuse. It sputtered, but the mine did not explode. + +Once or twice there were flashes of the old Kahn, but for the most part +he seemed to have crumpled up. Often I thought he was not the equal of +even a police court lawyer. The spectators seemed to know that +something was wrong, though they could not tell just what it was. +Kahn's colleagues whispered among themselves. He made his points, but +they lacked the fire and dash and audacity that once had caused the +epigram that Kahn's appearance in court indicated two things--the guilt +of the accused and a verdict of acquittal. + +Even Justice Pomeroy seemed to notice it. Kahn had tried many a case +before him and the old judge had a wholesome respect for the wiley +lawyer. But to-day the court found nothing so grave as the strange +dilatoriness of the counsel. + +Once the judge had to interfere with the remark, "I may remind the +learned counsel for the defence that the court intends to finish this +case before adjournment for the day, if possible; if not, then we shall +sit to-night." + +Kahn seemed not to grasp the situation, as he had of old. He actually +hurried up the presentation of the case, oblivious to the now black +looks that were directed at him by his own client. If he had expected +to recover his old-time equanimity as the case proceeded, he failed. +For no one better than he knew what that little photograph of Carton's +meant--disgrace, disbarment, perhaps prison itself. What was this Dopey +Jack when ruin stared himself so relentlessly in the face in the person +of Carton, calm and cool? + +At last the summing up was concluded and both sides rested. Judge +Pomeroy charged the jury, I thought with eminent fairness and +impartiality, even, perhaps, glossing over some points which Kahn's +weak presentation might have allowed him to make more of if Kahn had +been bolder and stronger in pressing them. + +The jury filed out and the anxious waiting began. On all sides was the +buzz of conversation. Kahn himself sat silent, gazing for the most part +at the papers before him. There must have been some wrangling of the +jury, for twice hope of the gangsters revived when they sent in for the +record. + +But it was not over an hour later when the jury finally filed back +again into their box. As Judge Pomeroy faced them and asked the usual +question, the spectators hung, breathless, on the words of the foreman +as the jurors stood up silently in their places. There was a tense hush +in the courtroom, as every eye was fastened on the face of the foreman. + +The hush seemed to embarrass him. But finally he found his voice. +Nervously, as if he were taking his own life in his hands he delivered +the verdict. + +"We find the defendant guilty as charged in the indictment!" + +Instantly, before anyone could move, the dignified judge faced the +prisoner deliberately. + +"You have heard the verdict," he said colourlessly. "I shall sentence +you Friday." + +Three court attendants were at Dopey Jack's side in a moment, but none +too soon. The pent-up feeling of the man idolized by blackmailers, and +man-killers, and batteners on street-women, who held nothing as +disgrace but a sign of respect for law or remorse for capture, burst +forth. + +He cast one baleful look at Kahn as they hurried him to the +wire-screened passageway. "It's all a frame-up--a damned frame-up!" he +shouted. + +As he disappeared a murmer of amazement ran through the room. The +unthinkable had happened. An East Side idol had fallen. + + + + +XIV + +THE BEAUTY PARLOUR + + +"It seems strange," remarked Kennedy the following morning when we had +met in his laboratory for our daily conference to plan our campaign, +"that although we seem to be on the right trail we have not a word yet +about Betty Blackwell herself. Carton has just telephoned that her +mother, poor woman, is worrying her heart out and is a mere shadow of +her former self." + +"We must get some word," asserted Miss Kendall. "This silence is almost +like the silence of death." + +"I'm afraid I shall have to impose on you that task," said Kennedy +thoughtfully to her. "There seems to be no course open to us but to +transfer our watch from Dr. Harris to this Marie. Of course it is too +early to hear from our search by means of the portrait parle. But we +have both seen Dr. Harris and Marie enter the beauty parlour of Madame +Margot. Now, I don't mean to cast aspersions on your own good looks, +Miss Kendall. They are of the sort with which no beauty parlour except +Nature can compete." + +A girl of another type than Clare would probably have read a half dozen +meanings into his sincere compliment. But then, I reflected that a man +of another type than Craig could not have made the remark without +expecting her to do so. There was a frankness between them which, I +must confess, considerably relieved me. I was not prepared to lose +Kennedy, even to Miss Kendall. + +She smiled. "You want me to try a course in artificial beautification, +don't you?" + +"Yes. Walter doesn't need it, and as for me, nothing could make me a +modern Adonis. Seriously, though, a man couldn't get in there, I +suppose. At least that is one of the many things I want you to find +out. Under the circumstances, you are the only person in whom I have +confidence enough to believe that she can get at the facts there. Find +out all you can about the character of the place and the people who +frequent it. And if you can learn anything about that Madame Margot who +runs the place, so much the better." + +"I'll try," she said simply. + +Kennedy resumed his tests of the powder in the packets which Dr. Harris +had been distributing, and I endeavoured to make myself as little in +the way as possible. It was not until the close of the afternoon that a +taxicab drove up and deposited Miss Kendall at the door. + +"What luck?" greeted Kennedy eagerly, as she entered. "Do you feel +thoroughly beautified?" + +"Don't make me smile," she replied, as she swept in with an air that +would have done credit to the star in a comic opera. "I'd hate to crack +or even crease the enamel on my face. I've been steamed and frozen, +beaten and painted and---" + +"I'm sorry to have been the cause of such cruel and unusual +punishment," apologized Craig. + +"No, indeed. Why, I enjoyed it. Let me tell you about the place." + +She leaned against the laboratory table, certainly an incongruous +picture in her new role as contrasted with the stained and dirty +background of paraphernalia of medico-legal investigation. I could not +help feeling that if Clare Kendall ever had decided to go in for such +things, Marie herself would have had to look sharp to her laurels. + +"As you enter the place," she began, "you feel a delightful warmth and +there is an odour of attar of roses in the air. There are thick +half-inch carpets that make walking a pleasure and dreamy Sleepy Hollow +rockers that make it an impossibility. It is all very fascinating. + +"There are dull-green lattices, little gateways with roses, white +enamel with cute little diamond panes of glass for windows, inviting +bowers of artificial flowers and dim yellow lights. It makes you feel +like a sybarite just to see it. It's a cosmetic Arcadia for that +fundamental feminine longing for beauty. + +"Well, first there are the little dressing-rooms, each with a bed, a +dresser and mirror, and everything in such good taste. After you leave +them you go to a white, steamy room and there they bake you. It's a +long process of gentle showers, hot and cold, after that, and massage. + +"I thought I was through. But it seems that I had only just started. +There was a battery of white manicure tables, and then the hairdressers +and the artists who lay on these complexions--what do you think of +mine? I can't begin to tell all the secrets of the curls and puffs, and +reinforcements, hygienic rolls, transformations, fluffy puffers, and +all that, or of the complexions. Why, you can choose a complexion, like +wall-paper or upholstery. They can make you as pale as a sickly heroine +or they can make you as yellow as a bathing girl. There is nothing they +can't do. I asked just for fun. I could have come out as dusky as a +gipsy. + +"They tried electrolysis on my eyebrows, and one attendant suggested a +hypodermic injection of perfume. Ever hear of that? She thought 'new +mown hay' was the best to saturate the skin with. Then another +suggested, as long as I had chosen this moonbeam make-up, that perhaps +I'd like a couple of dimples. They could make them permanent or lasting +only a few hours. I declined. But there is nothing so wild that they +haven't either thought of themselves or imported from Paris or +somewhere else. I heard them discussing someone who wanted odd +eyes--made by pouring in certain liquids. They don't seem to care how +they affect sight, hearing, skin, or health. It is decoration run mad." + +"How about the people there?" asked Kennedy. + +"Oh, I must tell you about that. There's so much to tell, I hardly know +where to begin--or stop. I saw some flashy people. You know one +customer attracts her friends and so on. There is every class there +from the demi-monde up to actresses and really truly society. And they +have things for all prices from the comparatively cheap to the most +extravagant. They're very accommodating and, in a way, democratic." + +"Did it seem--straight?" asked Kennedy. + +"On the surface, yes, as far as I could judge. But I'll have to go back +again for that. For instance, there was one thing that seemed queer to +me. I had finished the steaming and freezing and was resting. A maid +brought a tray of cigarettes, those dainty little thin ones with gilt +tips. There seemed to be several kinds. I managed to try some of them. +One at least I know was doped, although I only had a whiff of it. I +think after they got to know you they'd serve anything from a cocktail +in a teacup to the latest fads. I am sure that I saw one woman taking +some veronal in her coffee." + +"Veronal?" commented Craig. "Then that may be where Dr. Harris comes +in." + +"Partly, I think. I've got to find out more about what is hidden there. +Once I heard a man's voice and I know it was Dr. Harris's." + +"Harris! Why, the elevator boy at the Montmartre said he was painting +the town," I observed. + +"I don't believe it. I think he has all he can do keeping up with the +beauty shop. You see, it is more than a massage parlour. They do real +decorative surgery, as it is called. They'll engage to give you a new +skin as soft and pink as a baby's. Or they will straighten a nose, or +turn an ear. They have light treatment for complexions--the ruby ray, +the violet ray, the phosphorescent ray. + +"You would laugh at the fake science that is being handed out to those +gullible fools. They can get rid of freckles and superfluous hair, of +course. But they'll even tell you that they can change your mouth and +chin, your eyes, your cheeks. I should be positively afraid of some of +their electrical appliances there. They sweat down your figure or build +it up--just as you please. + +"Oh, no one need be plain in these days, not as long as Madame Margot's +exists. That is where I think Dr. Harris comes in. He can pose as a +full-fledged, blown-in-the-bottle cosmetic surgeon. I'll bet there is +no limit to the agonized beautification that they can put you through +if they think they can play you for a sucker." + +"By the way, did you see Madame Margot herself?" asked Craig. + +"No. I made all sorts of discreet inquiries after her, but they seemed +to know nothing. The nearest I could get was a hint from one of the +girls that she was away. But I'll tell you whom I think I heard, +talking to the man whose voice sounded like Dr. Harris's, and that was +Marie. Of course I couldn't see, but in the part of the shop that looks +like a fake hospital I heard two voices and I would wager that Marie is +going through some of this beautification herself. Of course she is. +You remember how artificial she looked?" + +"Did you see anyone else?" + +"Oh, yes. You know the place is two doors from the Montmartre. Well, I +think they have some connection with that place between them and the +Montmartre. Anyhow it looks as if they did, for after I had been there +a little while a girl came in, apparently from nowhere. She was the +girl we saw paying money to Ike the Dropper, you remember--the one none +of us recognized? There's something in that next house, and she seems +to have charge of it." + +"Well, you have done a good day's work," complimented Kennedy. + +"I feel that I have made a start, anyhow," she admitted. "There is a +lot yet to be learned of Margot's. You remember it was early in the day +that I was there. I want to go back sometime in the afternoon or +evening." + +"Dr. Harris is apparently the oracle on beauty," mused Kennedy. + +"Yes. He must make a lot of money there." + +"They must have some graft, though, besides the beauty parlour," went +on Kennedy. "They wouldn't be giving up money to Ike the Dropper if +that was all there was." + +"No, and that is where the doped cigarette comes in. That is why I want +to go again. I imagine it's like the Montmartre. They have to know you +and think you are all right before you get the real inside of the +place." + +"I don't doubt it." + +"I can't go around looking like a chorus girl," remarked Miss Kendall +finally, with a glance at a little mirror she carried in her bag. +"I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me until I get rid of this +beautification." + +The telephone rang sharply. + +As Kennedy answered, we gathered that it was Carton. A few minutes of +conversation, mostly on Carton's part, followed. Kennedy hung up the +receiver with an exclamation of vexation. + +"I'm afraid I did wrong to start anything with the portrait parle yet," +he said. "Why, this thing we are investigating has so many queer turns +that you hardly know whom to trust." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I don't know who could have given the thing away, but Carton says it +wasn't an hour after the inquiries began about Marie that it became +known in the underworld that she was being looked for in this way. Oh, +they are clever, those grafters. They have all sorts of ways of keeping +in touch. I suppose they remember they had one experience with the +portrait parle and it has made them as wary as a burglar is over +finger-prints. Carton tells me that Marie has disappeared." + +"I could swear I heard her or someone at Margot's," said Clare. + +"And Harris has disappeared. Of course you thought you overheard him, +too. But you may have been mistaken." + +"Why?" + +"As nearly as Carton can find out," said Kennedy quickly, "Marie is +Madame Margot herself." + + + + +XV + +THE PHANTOM CIRCUIT + + +"I want to go to Margot's again to-day," volunteered Miss Kendall the +following morning, adding with a smile, "You see, I've got the habit. +Really, though, there is a mystery about that place that fascinates me. +I want to find out more about this Marie, or Margot, or whoever it was +that I thought I heard there. And then those doped cigarettes interest +me. You see, I haven't forgotten what you said about dope the first +time we talked about Dr. Harris. They will be more free with me, too, +now that I am no longer a stranger." + +"That is a good idea," agreed Kennedy, who was now chafing under the +enforced inaction of the case. "I hope that this time they will let you +into some of the secrets. There is one thing, though, I wish you'd look +out for especially." + +"What do you mean?" she asked. + +"I should like to know what ways there are of communicating with the +outside. You realize, of course, that it is very easy for them, if they +come to suspect you, to frame up something in a place like that. There +are strong-arm women as well as men, and I'm not at all sure that there +may not be some men besides Dr. Harris who are acquainted with that +place. At any rate Dr. Harris is unscrupulous enough himself." + +"I shall make it a point to observe that," she said as she left us. "I +hope I'll have something to tell you when I come back." + +"Walter," remarked Craig as the door closed, "that is one of the gamest +girls I ever knew." + +I looked across at him inquiringly. + +"Don't worry, my boy," he added, reading my expression. "She's not of +the marrying kind, any more than I am." + +The morning passed and half of the afternoon without any word from Miss +Kendall. Kennedy was plainly becoming uneasy, when a hurried footstep +in the hall was followed by a more hurried opening of the door. + +"Let me sit down, just a minute, to collect myself," panted Miss +Kendall, pressing her hands to her temples where the blue veins stood +out and literally throbbed. "I'm all in." + +"Why, what is the matter?" asked Kennedy, placing a chair and switching +on an electric fan, while he quickly found a bottle of restorative +salts which was always handy for emergencies in the laboratory. + +"Oh--such a time as I've had! Wait--let me see whether I can recollect +it in order." + +A few minutes later she resumed. "I went in, as before. There seemed to +be quite a change in the way they treated me. I must have made a good +impression the first time. A second visit seemed to have opened the way +for everything. Evidently they think I am all right. + +"Well, I went through much the same thing as I did before, only I tried +to make it not quite so elaborate, down to the point where several of +us were sitting in loose robes in the lounging-room. That was the part, +you know, that interested me before. + +"The maid came in with the cigarettes and I smoked one of the doped +ones. They watch everything that you do so closely there, and the +moment I smoked one they offered me another. I don't know what was in +them, but I fancy there must be just a trace of opium. They made me +feel exhilarated, then just a bit drowsy. I managed to make away with +the second without inhaling much of the smoke, for my head was in a +whirl by this time. It wasn't so much that I was afraid I couldn't take +care of myself as it was that I was afraid that it would blunt the +keenness of my observation and I might miss something." + +"Besides the cigarettes, was there anything else?" asked Craig. + +"Yes, indeed. I didn't see anyone there I recognized, but I heard some +of them talk. One was taking a little veronal; another said something +about heroin. It was high-toned hitting the pipe, if you call it +that--a Turkish bath, followed by massage, and then a safe complement +of anything you wanted, taken leisurely by these aristocratic dope +fiends. + +"There was one woman there who I am sure was snuffing cocaine. She had +a little gold and enamelled box like a snuff box beside her from which +she would take from time to time a pinch of some white crystals and +inhale it vigorously, now and then taking a little sip of a liqueur +that was brought in to her." + +"That's the way," observed Kennedy. "There are always a considerable +number of inhuman beings who are willing to make capital out of the +weaknesses of others. This illicit sale of cocaine is one example. Such +conditions have existed with the opium products a long time. Now it +seems to be the 'coke fiend.'" + +"I was glad I did just as I did," resumed Clare, "because it wasn't +long before I saw that the thing to do was to feign drowsiness. A maid +came over to me and in a most plausible and insinuating way hinted that +perhaps I might feel like resting and that if the noise in the beauty +parlour annoyed me, they had the entire next house--the one next to the +Montmartre, you know--which had been fitted up as a dormitory." + +"You didn't go?" cut in Craig immediately. + +"I did not. I pleaded an engagement. Why, the place is a regular dope +joint." + +"Exactly. I suspected as much as you went along. Everything seems to +have moved uptown lately, to have been veneered over to meet the +fastidious second decade of the twentieth century. But underneath it +all are the same old vices. I'm glad you didn't attempt to go into the +next house. Anyhow, now we are certain about the character of the +place. Did you notice anything about the means of communicating with +the outside--the telephones, for instance?" + +Miss Kendall was evidently feeling much better now. + +"Oh, yes," she answered. "I took particular care to observe that. They +have a telephone, but there is a girl who attends to it, although they +don't really need one. She listens to everything. Then, too, in the +other house--You remember I spoke about the girl whom we saw paying Ike +the Dropper? It seems that she has a similar position at the telephone +over there." + +"So they have two telephones," repeated Craig. + +"Yes." + +"Good. There are always likely to be some desperate characters in +places like that. If we ever have anyone go into that dope joint we +must have some way of keeping in touch and protecting the person." + +Miss Kendall had gone home for a few hours of rest after her exciting +experience. Craig was idly tapping with his fingers on the broad arm of +his chair. + +Suddenly he jumped up. "I'm going up there to look that joint over from +the outside," he announced. + +We walked past the front of it without seeing anything in particular, +then turned the corner and were on the Avenue. Kennedy paused and +looked at a cheap apartment house on which was a sign, "Flats to Let." + +"I think I'll get the janitor to show me one of them," he said. + +One was on the first floor in the rear. Kennedy did not seem to be very +much interested in the rent. A glance out of the window sufficed to +show him that he could see the back of the Montmartre and some of the +houses. It took only a minute to hire it, at least conditionally, and a +bill to the janitor gave us a key. + +"What are you going to do?" + +"We can't do anything just yet, but it will be dark by the time I get +over to the laboratory and back and then we can do something." + +That night we started prowling over the back fences down the street. +Fortunately it was a very black night and Craig was careful not to use +even the electric bull's-eye which he had brought over from the +laboratory together with some wire and telephone instruments. + +As we crouched in the shadow of one of the fences, he remarked: "Just +as I expected; the telephone wires run along the tops of the fences. +Here's where they run into 72--that's the beauty parlour. These run +into 70--that's the dope joint. Then next comes the Montmartre itself, +reaching all the way back as far as the lot extends." + +We had come up close to the backs of the houses by this time. The +shades were all drawn and the blinds were closed in both of them, so +that we had really nothing to fear provided we kept quiet. Besides the +back yards looked unkempt, as if no one cared much about them. + +Kennedy flashed the electric bull's-eye momentarily on the wires. They +branched off from the back fence down the party fence to the houses, +both sets on one fence. + +"Good!" he exclaimed. "It is better than I hoped. The two sets go on up +to the first floor together, then separate. One set goes into the +beauty parlour; the other into the dope joint." + +Craig had quietly climbed up on a shed over the basements of both the +houses. He was working quickly with all the dexterity of a lineman. To +two of the four wires he had attached one other. Then to two others he +attached another, all the connections being made at exactly +corresponding points. + +The next step was to lead these two newly connected wires to a window +on the first floor of the house next to the Montmartre. He fastened +them lightly to the closed shutter, let himself down to the yard again +and we beat a slow and careful retreat to our flat. + +In one of the yards down near the corner, however, he paused. Here was +an iron box fastened to one of the fences, a switch box or something of +the sort belonging to the telephone company. To it were led all the +wires from the various houses on the block and to each wire was +fastened a little ticket on which was scrawled in indelible pencil the +number of the house to which the wire ran. + +Kennedy found the two pairs that ran to 70 and 72, cut in on them in +the same way that he had done before and fastened two other wires, one +to each pair. This pair he led along and into the flat. + +"I've fixed it," he explained, "so that anyone who can get into that +room on the back of the first floor of the dope joint can communicate +with the outside very easily over the telephone, without being +overheard, either." + +"How?" I asked completely mystified by the apparent simplicity of the +proceeding. + +"I have left two wires sticking on the outside shutter of that room," +he replied. "All that anyone who gets into that room has to do is to +open the window softly, reach out and secure them. With them fastened +to a transmitter which I have, he can talk to me in the flat around the +corner and no one will ever know it." + +There was nothing more that we could do that night and we waited +impatiently until Clare Kendall came to make her daily report in the +morning. + +"The question is, whom are we going to get whom we can trust to go to +that dope joint and explore it?" remarked Kennedy, after we had +finished telling Miss Kendall about our experiences of the night before. + +"Carton must have someone who can take a course in beauty and dope," I +replied. "Or perhaps Miss Kendall has one of her investigators whom she +can trust." + +"If the thing gets too rough," added Craig, "whoever is in there can +telephone to us, if she will only be careful first to get that back +room in the 'dormitory,' as they call it. Then all we'll have to do +will be to jump in there and---" + +"I'll do it," interrupted Clare. + +"No, Miss Kendall," denied Kennedy firmly. + +"Let me do it. There is no one whom I can trust more than myself. +Besides, I know the places now." + +She said it with an air of quiet determination, as if she had been +thinking it over ever since she returned from her visit of the day +before. + +Kennedy and Miss Kendall faced each other for a moment. It was evident +that it was against just this that he had been trying to provide. On +her part it was equally evident that she had made up her mind. + +"Miss Kendall," said Kennedy, meeting her calm eye, "you are the most +nervy detective, barring none, that it has ever been my pleasure to +meet. I yield under protest." + +I must say that it was with a great deal of misgiving that I saw Clare +enter Margot's. We had gone as far as the corner with her, had watched +her go in, and then hurried into the unfurnished apartment which Craig +had rented on the Avenue. + +As we sat on the rickety chairs which we had borrowed from the janitor +under pretence of wanting to reach something, the minutes that passed +seemed like hours. + +I wondered what had happened to the plucky girl in her devotion to the +cause in which she had enlisted, and several times I could see from the +expression of Craig's face that he more and more regretted that he had +given in to her and had allowed her to go, instead of adhering to his +original plan. From what she had told us about the two places, I tried +to imagine what she was doing, but each time I ended by having an +increased feeling of apprehension. + +Kennedy sat grimly silent with the receiver of the telephone glued to +his ear, straining his hearing to catch even the faintest sound. + +At last his face brightened. + +"She's there all right," he exclaimed to me. "Managed to make them +think in the beauty parlour that she was a dope fiend and pretty far +gone. Insisted that she must have the back room on the first floor +because she was afraid of fire. She kept the door open so that she +would not miss anything, but it was a long time before she got a chance +to reach out of the window and get the wires and connect them with the +instruments I gave her. But it's all right now. + +"Yes, Miss Kendall, right here, listening to everything you get a +chance to say. Only be careful. There is no use spoiling the game by +trying to talk to me until you have all that you think you can obtain +in the way of evidence. Don't let them think you have any means of +communication with the outside or they'll go to any length to silence +you. We'll be here all the time and the moment you think there is any +danger, call us." + +Kennedy seemed visibly relieved by the message. + +"She says that she has found out a great deal already, but didn't dare +take the time to tell it just yet," he explained. "By the way, Walter, +while we are waiting, I wish you would go out and see whether there is +a policeman on fixed post anywhere around here." + +Five minutes later when I returned, having located the nearest peg post +a long block away on Broadway, Kennedy raised a warning hand. She was +telephoning again. + +"She says that attendants come and go in her room so often that it's +hard to get a chance to say anything, but she is sure that there is +someone hidden there, perhaps Marie or Madame Margot, whoever she is, +or it may even be Betty Blackwell. They watch very closely." + +"But," I asked, almost in a whisper, as if someone over there might +hear me, "isn't this a very dangerous proceeding, Craig? It seems to me +you are taking long chances. Suppose one of the telephone girls in +either house, whom she told us keep such sharp watch over the wires, +should happen to be calling up or answering a call. She would hear +someone else talking over the wire and it wouldn't be difficult for her +to decide who it was. Then there'd be a row." + +"Not a chance," smiled Kennedy. "No one except ourselves, not even +Central, can hear a word of what is said over these connections I have +made. This is what is called a phantom circuit." + +"A phantom circuit?" I repeated. "What kind of a weird thing is that?" + +"It is possible to superimpose another circuit over the four telephone +wires of two existing circuits, making a so-called phantom line," he +explained, as we waited for the next message. "It seems fantastic at +first, but it is really in accordance with the laws of electricity. You +use each pair of wires as if it were one wire and do not interfere in +the least with them, but are perfectly independent of both. The current +for the third circuit enters the two wires of one of the first +circuits, divides, reunites, so to speak, at the other end, then +returns through the wires of the second circuit, dividing and reuniting +again, thus just balancing the two divisions of the current and not +causing any effect on either of the two original circuits. Rather +wonderful, isn't it?" + +"I should say that it was," I marvelled. "I am glad I see it actually +working rather than have to believe it second hand." + +"It's all due to a special repeating coil of high efficiency absolutely +balanced as to resistances, number of turns of wire, and so on which I +have used--Yes--Miss Kendall--we are here. Now please don't let things +go on too far. At the first sign of danger, call. We can get in all +right. You have the evidence now that will hold in any court as far as +closing up that joint goes, and I'll take a chance of breaking +into--well, Hades, to get to you. Good-bye. + +"I guess it is Hades there," he resumed to me. "She has just telephoned +that one of the dope fiends upstairs--a man, so that you see they admit +both men and women there, after all--had become violent and Harris had +to be called to quiet him before he ran amuck. She said she was +absolutely sure, this time at least, that it was Harris. As I was +saying about this phantom circuit, it is used a good deal now. +Sometimes they superimpose a telephone conversation over the proper +arrangement of telegraph messages and vice versa. + +"What's that?" cried Craig, suddenly breaking off. "They heard you +talking that last time, and you have locked the door against them? They +are battering it down? Move something heavy, if you can, up against +it--the bureau, anything to brace it. We'll be there directly. Come on, +Walter. There isn't time to get around Broadway for that fixed post +cop. We must do it ourselves. Hurry." + +Craig dashed breathlessly out on the street. I followed closely. + +"Hurry," he panted. "Those people haven't any use for anyone that they +think will snitch on them." + +As we turned the corner, we ran squarely into a sergeant slowly going +his rounds with eyes conveniently closed to what he was paid not to see. + +Kennedy stopped and grabbed his arm. + +"There's a girl up here in 72 who is being mistreated," he cried. +"Come. You must help us get her out." + +"Aw, g'wan. Whatyer givin' us? 72? That's a residence." + +"Say--look here. I've got your number. You'll be up on the most serious +charges of your whole career if you don't act on the information I +have. All of Ike the Dropper's money'll go for attorney's fees and +someone will land in Sing Sing. Now, come!" + +We had gained the steps of the house. Outside all was dark, blank, and +bare. There was every evidence of the most excessive outward order and +decency--not a sign of the conflict that was raging within. + +Before the policeman could pull the bell, which would have been a first +warning of trouble to the inmates, Kennedy had jumped from the high +stoop to a narrow balcony running along the front windows of the first +story, had smashed the glass into splinters with a heavy object which +he had carried concealed under his coat, and was engaged in a herculean +effort to wrench apart some iron bars which had been carefully +concealed behind the discreetly drawn shades. + +As one yielded, he panted, "No use to try the door. The grill work +inside guards that too well. There goes another." + +Inside now we could hear cries that told us that the whole house was +roused, that even the worst of the drug fiends had come at least partly +to his senses and begun to realize his peril. From Margot's beauty +parlour a couple of girls and a man staggered forth in a vain effort to +seem to leave quietly. + +"Close that place, too, officer," cried Kennedy to the now astounded +policeman. "We'll attend to this house." + +The sergeant slowly lumbered across in time to let two more couples +escape. It was evident that he hated the job; indeed, would have +arrested Kennedy in the old days before Carton had thrown such a scare +into the grafters. But Kennedy's assurance had flabbergasted him and he +obeyed. + +Another bar yielded, and another. Together we squeezed in and found +ourselves in a dark front parlour. There was nothing to distinguish it +from any ordinary reception room in the blackness. + +Hurried footsteps were heard as if several people were retreating into +the next house. Down the hall we hastened to the back room. + +A second we listened. All was silent. Was Clare safe? It looked +ominous. Still the door, partly battered in, was closed. + +"Miss Kendall!" called Craig, bending down close to the door. + +"Is it you, Professor Kennedy?" came back a faint voice from the other +side. + +"Yes. Are you all right?" + +There was no answer, but she was evidently tugging at something which +appeared to be a heavy piece of furniture braced against the door. At +last the bolt was slipped back, and there in the doorway she swayed, +half exhausted but safe. + +"Yes, all right," murmured Clare, bracing herself against the +chiffonier which she had moved away from the door, "just a little shaky +from the drugs--but all right. Don't bother about me, now. I can take +care of myself. I'll feel better in a minute. Upstairs--that is where I +think that woman is. Please, please don't--I'm all right--truly. +Upstairs." + +Kennedy had taken her gently by the arm and she sank down in an easy +chair. + +"Please hurry," she implored. "You may be too late." + +She had risen again in spite of us and was out in the lower hall. We +could hear a footstep on the stairs. + +"There she goes, the woman who has been hiding up there, Madame--" + +Clare cut the words short. + +A woman had hastily descended the steps, evidently seeing her +opportunity to escape while we were in the back of the house. She had +reached the street door, which now was open, and the flaming arc light +in front of the house shone brightly on her. + +I looked, expecting to see our dark-haired, olive-skinned Marie. I +stared in amazement. Instead, this woman was fair, her hair was flaxen, +her figure more slim, even her features were different. She was a +stranger. I could not recollect ever having seen her. + +Again I strained my eyes, thinking it might be Betty Blackwell at last, +but this woman bore no resemblance apparently to her. She looked older, +more mature. + +In my haste I noted that she had a bandage about her face, as if she +had been injured recently, for there seemed to be blood on it where it +had worked itself loose in her flight. She gave one glance at us, and +quickened her pace at seeing us so close. The bandage, already loose, +slipped off her face and fell to the floor. Still she did not seem +other than a stranger to me, though I had a half-formed notion that I +had seen that face somewhere before. She did not stop to pick the +bandage up. She had gained the door and was down the front step on the +sidewalk before we could stop her. + +Taxicabs in droves seemed to have collected, like buzzards over a dead +body. They were doing a thriving business carrying away those who +sought to escape. Into one by which a man was waiting in the shadow the +woman hurried. The man looked for all the world like Dr. Harris. An +instant later the chauffeur was gone. + +The policeman had the front door of Madame Margot's covered all right, +so efficiently that he was neglecting everything else. From the +basement now and then a scurrying figure catapulted itself out and was +lost in the curious crowd that always collects at any time of day or +night on a New York street when there is any excitement. + +"It is of no use to expect to capture anyone now," exclaimed Craig, as +we hurried back into the dope joint. "I hardly expected to do it. All I +panted was to protect Miss Kendall. But we have the evidence against +this joint that will close it for good." + +He stooped and picked up the bandage. + +"I think I'll keep that," he remarked thoughtfully. "I wonder what that +blonde woman wore that for?" + +"She MUST be up there," reiterated Clare, who had followed us. "I heard +them talking, it seemed to me only the moment before I heard you in the +hall." + +The excitement seemed now to have the effect of quieting her unstrung +nerves and carrying her through. + +"Let us go upstairs," said Kennedy. + +From room to room we hurried in the darkness, lighting the lights. They +were all empty, yet each one gave its mute testimony to the character +of its use and its former occupants. There were opium lay-outs with +pipes, lamps, yen haucks, and other paraphernalia in some. In others +had been cocaine snuffers. There seemed to be everything for drug users +of every kind. + +At last in a small room in front on the top floor we came upon a girl, +half insensible from a drug. She was vainly trying to make herself +presentable for the street, ramblingly talking to herself in the +meantime. + +Again my hopes rose that we had found either the mysterious Marie +Margot or Betty Blackwell. A second glance caused us all to pause in +surprise and disappointment. + +It was the Titian-haired girl from the Montmartre office. + +Miss Kendall, recovering from the effects of the drugs which she had +been compelled to take in her heroic attempt to get at the dope joint, +was endeavouring to quiet the girl from the Montmartre, who, now +vaguely recollecting us, seemed to realize that something had gone +wrong and was trembling and crying pitifully. + +"What's the matter with her?" I asked. + +"Chloral," replied Miss Kendall in a low voice aside. "I suppose she +has had a wild night which she has followed by chloral to quiet her +nerves, with little effect. Didn't you ever see them? They will go into +a drug store in this part of the city where such things are sold, weak, +shaky, nervous wrecks. The clerk will sell them the stuff and they will +retire for a moment into the telephone booth. Sometimes they will come +out looking as though they had never felt a moment's effect from their +wild debauches. But there are other times when they are too weakened to +get over it so quickly. That is her case, poor girl." + +The soothing hand which she laid on the girl's throbbing head was quite +in contrast with the manner in which I recalled her to have spoken of +the girl when first we saw her at the Montmartre. She must have seen +the look of surprise on my face. + +"I can't condemn these girls too strongly when I see them themselves," +she remarked. "It would be so easy for them to stop and lead a decent +life, if they only would forget the white lights and the gay life that +allures them. It is when they are so down and out that I long to give +them a hand to help them up again and show them how foolish it is to +make slaves of themselves." + +"Call a cab, Walter," said Kennedy, who had been observing the girl +closely. "There is nothing more that we can expect to accomplish here. +Everybody has escaped by this time. But we must get this poor girl in a +private hospital or sanitarium where she can recover." + +Clare had disappeared. A moment later she returned from the room she +had had downstairs with her hat on. + +"I'm going with her," she announced simply. + +"What--you, Miss Kendall?" + +"Yes. If a girl ever needed a friend, it is this girl now. There is +nothing I can do for the moment. I will take care of her in my +apartment until she is herself again." + +The girl seemed to half understand, and to be grateful to Clare. +Kennedy watched her hovering over the drug victim without attempting to +express the admiration which he felt. + +Just as the cab was announced, he drew Miss Kendall aside. "You're a +trump," he said frankly. "Most people would pass by on the other side +from such as she is." + +They talked for a moment as to the best place to go, then decided on a +quiet little place uptown where convalescents were taken in. + +"I think you can still be working on the case, if you care to do so," +suggested Craig as Miss Kendall and her charge were leaving. + +"How?" she asked. + +"When you get her to this sanitarium, try to be with her as much as you +can. I think if anyone can get anything out of her, you can. Remember +it is more than this girl's rescue that is at stake. If she can be got +to talk she may prove an important link toward piecing together the +solution of the mystery of Betty Blackwell. She must know many of the +inside secrets of the Montmartre," he added significantly. + +They had gone, and Craig and I had started to go also when we came +across a negro caretaker who seemed to have stuck by the place during +all the excitement. + +"Do you know that girl who just went out?" asked Craig. + +"No, sah," she replied glibly. + +"Look here," demanded Craig, facing her. "You know better than that. +She has been here before, and you know it. I've a good mind to have you +held for being in charge of this place. If I do, all the Marie Margots +and Ike the Droppers can't get you out again." + +The negress seemed to understand that this was no ordinary raid. + +"Who is she?" demanded Craig. + +"I dunno, sah. She come from next door." + +"I know she did. She's the girl in the office of the Montmartre. Now, +you know her. What is her name?" + +The negress seemed to consider a moment, then quickly answered, "Dey +always calls her Miss Sybil here, sah, Sybil Seymour, sah." + +"Thank you. I knew you had some name for her. Come, Walter. This is +over for the present. A raid without arrests, too! It will be all over +town in half an hour. If we are going to do anything it must be done +quickly." + +We called on Carton and lost no time in having the men he could spare +placed in watching the railroads and steamship lines to prevent if we +could any of the gang from getting out of the city that way. It was a +night of hard work with no results. I began to wonder whether they +might not have escaped finally after all. There seemed to be no trace. +Harris had disappeared, there was no clue to Marie Margot, no trace of +the new blonde woman, not a syllable yet about Betty Blackwell. + + + + +XVI + +THE SANITARIUM + + +"It seems as if the forces of Dorgan are demoralized," I remarked the +afternoon after the raid on Margot's. + +"We have them on the run--that's true," agreed Kennedy, "but there's +plenty of fight in them, yet. We're not through, by any means." + +Still, the lightning swiftness of Carton's attack had taken their +breath away, temporarily, at least. Already he had started proceedings +to disbar Kahn, as well as to prosecute him in the courts. According to +the reports that came to us Murtha himself seemed dazed at the blow +that had fallen. Some of our informants asserted that he was drinking +heavily; others denied it. Whatever it was, however, Murtha was changed. + +As for Dorgan, he was never much in the limelight anyhow and was less +so now than ever. He preferred to work through others, while he himself +kept in the background. He had never held any but a minor office, and +that in the beginning of his career. Interviews and photographs he +eschewed as if forbidden by his political religion. Since the discovery +of the detectaphone in his suite at Gastron's he had had his rooms +thoroughly overhauled, lest by any chance there might be another of the +magic little instruments concealed in the very walls, and having +satisfied himself that there was not, he instituted a watch of private +detectives to prevent a repetition of the unfortunate incident. + +Whoever it was who had obtained the Black Book was keeping very quiet +about it, and I imagined that it was being held up as a sort of sword +of Damocles, dangling over his head, until such time as its possessor +chose to strike the final blow. Of course, we did not and could not +know what was going on behind the scenes with the Silent Boss, what +drama was being enacted between Dorgan and the Wall Street group, +headed by Langhorne. Langhorne himself was inscrutable. I had heard +that Dorgan had once in an unguarded moment expressed a derogatory +opinion of the social leanings of Langhorne. But that was in the days +before Dorgan had acquired a country place on Long Island and a taste +for golf and expensive motors. Now, in his way, Dorgan was quite as +fastidious as any of those he had once affected to despise. It amused +Langhorne. But it had not furthered his ambitions of being taken into +the inner circle of Dorgan's confidence. Hence, I inferred, this bitter +internecine strife within the organization itself. + +Whatever was brewing inside the organization, I felt that we should +soon know, for this was the day on which Justice Pomeroy had announced +he would sentence Dopey Jack. + +It was a very different sort of crowd that overflowed the courtroom +that morning from that which had so boldly flocked to the trial as if +it were to make a Roman holiday of justice. + +The very tone was different. There was a tense look on many a face, as +if the owner were asking himself the question, "What are we coming to? +If this can happen to Dopey Jack, what might not happen to me?" + +Even the lawyers were changed. Kahn, as a result of the proceedings +that Carton had instituted, had yielded the case to another, perhaps no +better than himself, but wiser, after the fact. Instead of demanding +anything, as a sort of prescriptive right, the new attorney actually +adopted the unheard of measure of appealing to the clemency of the +court. The shades of all the previous bosses and gangsters must have +turned in disgust at the unwonted sight. But certain it was that no one +could see the relaxation of a muscle on the face of Justice Pomeroy as +the lawyer proceeded with his specious plea. He heard Carton, also, in +the same impassive manner, as in a few brief and pointed sentences he +ripped apart the sophistries of his opponent. + +The spectators fairly held their breath as the prisoner now stood +before the tribune of justice. + +"Jack Rubano," he began impressively, "you have been convicted by +twelve of your peers--so the law looks on them, although the fact is +that any honest man is immeasurably your superior. Even before that, +Rubano, the District Attorney having looked into all the facts +surrounding this charge had come to the conclusion that the evidence +was sufficiently strong to convict you. You were convicted in his mind. +In my mind, of course, there could be no prejudgment. But now that a +jury has found you guilty, I may say that you have a record that is +more than enough to disgrace a man twice your age. True, you have never +been punished. But this is not the time or place for me to criticise my +colleagues on the bench for letting you off. Others of your associates +have served terms in prison for things no whit worse than you have done +repeatedly. I shall be glad to meet some of them at this bar in the +near future." + +The justice paused, then extended a long, lean accusatory finger out +from the rostrum at the gangster. "Rubano," he concluded, "your crime +is particularly heinous--debauching the very foundations of the +state--the elections. I sentence you to not less than three nor more +than five years in State's prison, at hard labour." + +There was an audible gasp in the big courtroom, as the judge snapped +shut his square jaw, bull-dog fashion. It was as though he had snapped +the backbone of the System. + +The prisoner was hurried from the room before there was a chance for a +demonstration. It was unnecessary, however. It seemed as if all the +jaunty bravado of the underworld was gone out of it. Slowly the crowd +filed out, whispering. + +Dopey Jack, Murtha's right-hand man, had been sentenced to State's +prison! + +Outside the courtroom Carton received an ovation. As quickly as he +could, he escaped from the newspapermen, and Kennedy was the first to +grasp his hand. + +But the most pleasing congratulation came from Miss Ashton, who had +dropped in with two or three friends from the Reform League. + +"I'm so glad, Mr. Carton--for your sake," she added very prettily, with +just a trace of heightened colour in her cheeks and eyes that showed +her sincere pleasure at the outcome of the case. "And then, too," she +went on, "it may have some bearing on the case of that girl who has +disappeared. So far, no one seems to have been able to find a trace of +her. She just seems to have dropped out as if she had been spirited +away." + +"We must find her," returned Carton, thanking her for her good wishes +in a manner which he had done to none of the rest of us, and in fact +forgetful now that any of us were about. "I shall start right in on +Dopey Jack to see if I can get anything out of him, although I don't +think he is one that will prove a squealer in any way. I hope we can +have something to report soon." + +Others were pressing around him and Miss Ashton moved away, although I +thought his handshakes were perhaps a little less cordial after she had +gone. + +I turned once to survey the crowd and down the gallery, near a pillar I +saw Langhorne, his eyes turned fixedly in our direction, and a deep +scowl on his face. Evidently he had no relish for the proceedings, at +least that part in which Carton had just figured, whatever his personal +feelings may have been toward the culprit. A moment later he saw me +looking at him, turned abruptly and walked toward the stone staircase +that led down to the main floor. But I could not get that scowl out of +my mind as I watched his tall, erect figure stalking away. + +Neither Murtha, nor, of course, Dorgan, were there, though I knew that +they had many emissaries present who would report to them every detail +of what had happened, down perhaps to the congratulations of Miss +Ashton. Somehow, I could not get out of my head a feeling that she +would afford them, in some way, a point of attack on Carton and that +the unscrupulous organization would stop at nothing in order to save +its own life and ruin his. + +Carton had not only his work at the District Attorney's office to +direct, but some things to clear up at the Reform League headquarters, +as well as a campaign speech to make. + +"I'm afraid I shan't be able to see much of you, to-day," he apologized +to Kennedy, "but you're going to Miss Ashton's suffrage evening and +dance, aren't you?" + +"I should like to go," temporized Kennedy. + +Carton glanced about to see whether there was anyone in earshot. "I +think you had better go," he added. "She has secured a promise from +Langhorne to be there, as well as several of the organization leaders. +It is a thoroughly non-partisan affair--and she can get them all +together. You know the organization is being educated. When people of +the prominence of the Ashtons take up suffrage and make special +requests to have certain persons come to a thing like that, they can +hardly refuse. In fact, no one commits himself to anything by being +present, whereas, absence might mean hostility, and there are lots of +the women in the organization that believe in suffrage, now. Yes, we'd +better go. It will be a chance to observe some people we want to watch." + +"We'll go," agreed Kennedy. "Can't we all go together?" + +"Surely," replied Carton, gratified, I could see, by having succeeded +in swelling the crowd that would be present and thus adding to the +success of Miss Ashton's affair. "Drop into the office here, and I'll +be ready. Good-bye--and thanks for your aid, both of you." + +We left the Criminal Courts Building with the crowd that was slowly +dispersing, still talking over the unexpected and unprecedented end of +the trial. + +As we paused on the broad flight of steps that led down to the street +on this side, Kennedy jogged my elbow, and, following his eyes, I saw a +woman, apparently alone, just stepping into a town car at the curb. + +There was something familiar about her, but her face was turned from me +and I could not quite place her. + +"Mrs. Ogleby," Kennedy remarked. "I didn't see her in the courtroom. +She must have been there, though, or perhaps outside in the corridor. +Evidently she felt some interest in the outcome of the case." + +He had caught just a glimpse of her face and now that he pronounced her +name I recognized her, though I should not have otherwise. + +The car drove off with the rattle of the changing gears into high +speed, before we had a chance to determine whether it was otherwise +empty or not. + +"Why was she here?" I asked. + +Kennedy shook his head, but did not venture a reply to the question +that was in his own mind. I felt that it must have something to do with +her fears regarding the Black Book. Had she, too, surmised that Murtha +had employed his henchman, Dopey Jack, to recover the book from +Langhorne? Had she feared that Dopey Jack might in some moment of heat, +for revenge, drop some hint of the robbery--whether it had been really +successful or not? + +It was my turn to call Kennedy's attention to something, now, for +standing sidewise as I was, I could see the angles of the building back +of him. + +"Don't turn--yet," I cautioned, "but just around the corner back of +you, Langhorne is standing. Evidently he has been watching Mrs. Ogleby, +too." + +Kennedy drew a cigarette from his case, tried to light it, let the +match go out, and then as if to shield himself from the wind, stepped +back and turned. + +Langhorne, however, had seen us, and an instant later had disappeared. + +Without a word further Kennedy led the way around the corner to the +subway and we started uptown, I knew this time, for the laboratory. + +He made no comment on the case, but I knew he had in mind some plan or +other for the next move and that it would probably involve something at +the suffrage meeting at Miss Ashton's that evening. + +During the rest of the day, Craig was busy testing and re-testing a +peculiar piece of apparatus, while now and then he would despatch me on +various errands which I knew were more as an outlet for my excitement +than of any practical importance. + +The apparatus, as far as I could make it out, consisted of a simple +little oaken box, oblong in shape, in the face of which were two square +little holes with side walls of cedar, converging pyramid-like in the +interior of the box and ending in what looked to be little round black +discs. + +I had just returned with a hundred feet or so of the best silk-covered +flexible wire, when he had evidently completed his work. Two of the +boxes were already wrapped up. I started to show him the wire, but +after a glance he accepted it as exactly what he had wanted and made it +into a smaller package, which he handed to me. + +"I think we might be journeying down to Carton's office," he added, +looking impatiently at his watch. + +It was still early and we did not hurry. + +Carton, however, was waiting for us anxiously. "I've called you at the +laboratory and the apartment--all over," he cried. "Where have you +been?" + +"Just on the way down," returned Kennedy. "Why, what has happened?" + +"Then you haven't heard it?" asked Carton excitedly, without waiting +for Craig's answer. "Murtha has been committed to a sanitarium." + +Kennedy and I stared at him. + +"Pat Murtha," ejaculated Craig, "in a sanitarium?" + +"Exactly. Paresis--they say--absolutely irresponsible." + +Coming as it did as a climax to the quick and unexpected succession of +events of the past few days, it was no wonder that it seemed impossible. + +What did it mean? Was it merely a sham? Or was it a result of his +excesses? Or had Carton's relentless pursuit, the raid of Margot's, and +the conviction of Dopey Jack, driven the Smiling Boss really insane? + + + + +XVII + +THE SOCIETY SCANDAL + + +Nothing else was talked about at the suffrage reception at Miss +Ashton's that evening, not even suffrage, as much as the strange fate +that seemed to have befallen Murtha. + +And, as usual with an event like that, stories of all sorts, even the +wildest improbabilities, were current. Some even went so far as to +insinuate that Dorgan had purposely quickened the pace of life for +Murtha by the dinners at Gastron's in order to get him out of the way, +fearing that with his power within the organization Murtha might become +a serious rival to himself. + +Whether there was any truth in the rumour or not, it was certain that +Dorgan was of the stamp that could brook no rivals. In fact, that had +been at the bottom of the warfare between himself and Langhorne. +Certain also was it that the dinners and conferences at the now famous +suite of the Silent Boss were reputed to have been often verging on, if +not actually crossing, the line of the scandalous. + +Miss Ashton's guests assembled in force, coming from all classes of +society, all parties in politics, and all religions. Her object had +been to show that, although she personally was working with the Reform +League, suffrage itself was a broad general issue. The two or three +hundred guests of the evening surely demonstrated it and testified to +the popularity of Miss Ashton personally, as well. + +She had planned to hold the meeting in the big drawing-room of the +Ashton mansion, but the audience overflowed into the library and other +rooms. As the people assembled, it was interesting to see how for the +moment at least they threw off the bitterness of the political campaign +and met each other on what might be called neutral ground. Dorgan +himself had been invited, but, in accordance with his custom of never +appearing in public if he could help it, did not come. Langhorne was +present, however, and I saw him once talking to a group of labour union +leaders and later to Justice Pomeroy, an evidence of how successful the +meeting was in hiding, if not burying, the hatchet. + +Carton, naturally, was the lion of the evening, though he tried hard to +keep in the background. I was amused to see his efforts. In fleeing +from the congratulations of some of his own and Miss Ashton's society +friends, he would run into a group of newspaper men and women who were +lying in wait for him. Shaking himself loose from them would result in +finding himself the centre of an enthusiastic crowd of Reform Leaguers. + +Mrs. Ogleby was there, also, and both Kennedy and I watched her +curiously. I wondered whether she might not feel just a little relieved +to think that Murtha was seemingly out of the way for the present. Her +knowledge of the Black Book which had first given the tip to Carton had +always been a mystery to Kennedy and was one of the problems which I +knew he would like to solve to-night. She was keenly observant of +Carton, which led us to suppose that she had not yet got out of her +mind the idea that somehow it was he who had been responsible for the +detectaphone record which so many of those present were struggling to +obtain. Though Langhorne studiously avoided her, I noticed that each +kept an eye on the other, and I felt that there was something common to +both of them. + +It was with an unexpressed air of relief to several members of the +party that Miss Ashton at last rapped for order and after a short, +pithy, pointed speech of introduction presented the several speakers of +the evening. It was, like the audience, a well-balanced programme, +which showed the tactfulness and political acumen of Miss Ashton. I +shall pass over the speeches, however, as they had no direct bearing on +the mystery which Kennedy and I found so engrossing. + +The meeting had been cleverly planned so that in spite of its +accomplishing much for the propaganda work of the "cause," it did not +become tiresome and the speaking was followed by the entrance of one of +the best little orchestras for dance music in the city. + +Instantly, the scene transformed itself from a suffrage meeting to a +social function that was unique. Leaders of the smart set rubbed +elbows, and seemed to enjoy it, with working girls and agitators. +Conservative and radical, millionaire and muckraker succumbed to the +spell of the Ashton hospitality and the lure of the new dances. It was +a novel experience for all, a levelling-up of society, as contrasted to +some of the levelling-down that we had recently seen. + +Kennedy and I, having no mood as things stood for the festivities, drew +aside and watched the kaleidoscopic whirl of the dancers. Across from +us was a wide doorway that opened into a spacious conservatory, a nook +of tropical and temperate beauty. Several couples had wandered in there +to rest and, as the orchestra struck up something new that seemed to +have the "punch" to its timeful measures, they gradually rejoined the +dancers. + +It had evidently suggested an idea to Kennedy, for a moment later he +led me toward the coat room and uncovered the package which he had +brought consisting of the two oaken boxes I had seen him adjusting in +the laboratory. + +We managed to reach the conservatory and found in a corner a veritable +bower with a wide rustic seat under some palms. Quickly Kennedy +deposited in the shadow of one of them an oaken box, sticking into it +the plugs on the ends of the wires that I had brought. It was an easy +matter here in the dim half light to conceal the wire behind the plants +and a moment later he tossed the end through a swinging window in the +glass and closed the window. + +Casually we edged our way out among the dancers and around to the room +into which he had thrown the wire. It was a breakfast room, I think, +but at any rate we could not remain there for it was quite easy to see +into it through the crystal walls of the conservatory. There was, +however, what seemed to be a little pantry at the other end, and to +this Kennedy deftly led the wires and then plugged them in on the other +oaken box. + +He turned a lever. Instantly from the wizard-like little box issued +forth the strains of the dance music of the orchestra and the rhythmic +shuffle of feet. Now and then a merry laugh or a snatch of gay +conversation floated in to us. Though we were effectually cut off from +both sight and hearing in the pantry, it was as though we had been +sitting on the rustic bench in the conservatory. + +"What is it?" I asked in amazement, gazing at the wonderful little +instrument before us. + +"A vocaphone," he explained, moving the switch and cutting off the +sound instantly, "an improved detectaphone--something that can be used +both in practical business, professional, and home affairs as a loud +speaking telephone, and, as I expect to use it here, for special cases +of detective work. You remember the detectaphone instruments which we +have used?" + +Indeed I did. It had helped us out of several very tight +situations--and seemed now to have been used to get the organization +into a very tight political place. + +"Well, the vocaphone," went on Kennedy, "does even more than the +detectaphone. You see, it talks right out. Those little apertures in +the face act like megaphone horns increasing the volume of sound." He +indicated the switch with his finger and then another point to which it +could be moved. "Besides," he went on enthusiastically, "this machine +talks both ways. I have only to turn the switch to that point and a +voice will speak out in the conservatory just as if we were there +instead of talking here." + +He turned the switch so that it carried the sounds only in our +direction. The last strains of the dance music were being followed by +the hearty applause of the dancers. + +As the encore struck up again, a voice, almost as if it were in the +little room alongside us, said, "Why, hello, Maty, why aren't you +dancing?" + +There was an unmistakable air of familiarity about it and about the +reply, "Why aren't you, Hartley?" + +"Because I've been looking for a chance to have a quiet word with you," +the man rejoined. + +"Langhorne and Mrs. Ogleby," cried Craig excitedly. + +"Sh!" I cautioned, "they might hear us." + +He laughed. "Not unless I turn the switch further." + +"I saw you down at the Criminal Courts Building this morning," went on +the man, "but you didn't see me. What did you think of Carton?" + +I fancied there was a trace of sarcasm or jealousy in his tone. At any +rate, woman-like, she did not answer that question, but went on to the +one which it implied. + +"I didn't go to see Carton. He is nothing to me, has not been for +months. I was only amusing myself when I knew him--leading him on, +playing with him, then." She paused, then turned the attack on him. +"What did you think of Miss Ashton? You thought I didn't see you, but +you hardly took your eyes off her while I was in the hallway waiting to +hear the verdict." + +It was Langhorne's turn to defend himself. "It wasn't so much Margaret +Ashton as that fellow Carton I was watching," he answered hastily. + +"Then you--you haven't forgotten poor little me?" she inquired with a +sincere plaintiveness in her voice. + +"Mary," he said, lowering his voice, "I have tried to forget +you--tried, because I had no right to remember you in the old way--not +while you and Martin remained together. Margaret and I had always been +friends--but I think Carton and this sort of thing,"--he waved his hand +I imagined at the suffrage dancers--"have brought us to the parting of +the ways. Perhaps it is better. I'm not so sure that it isn't best." + +"And yet," she said slowly, "you are piqued--piqued that another should +have won where you failed--even if the prize isn't just what you might +wish." + +Langhorne assented by silence. "Hartley," she went on at length, "you +said a moment ago you had tried to forget me--" + +"But can't," he cut in with almost passionate fierceness. "That was +what hurt me when I--er--heard that you had gone with Murtha to that +dinner of Dorgan's. I couldn't help trying to warn you of it. I know +Martin neglects you. But I was mad--mad clean through when I saw you +playing with Carton a few months ago. I don't know anything about +it--don't want to. Maybe he was innocent and you were tempting him. I +don't care. It angered me--angered me worse than ever when I saw later +that he was winning with Margaret Ashton. Everywhere, he seemed to be +crossing my trail, to be my nemesis. I--I wish I was Dorgan--I wish I +could fight." + +Langhorne checked himself before he said too much. As it was I saw that +it had been he who had told Mrs. Ogleby that the Black Book existed. He +had not told her that he had made it, if in fact he had, and she had +let the thing out, never thinking Langhorne had been the eavesdropper, +but supposing it must be Carton. + +"Why--why did you go to that dinner with Murtha?" he asked finally, +with a trace of reproach in his tone. + +"Why? Why not?" she answered defiantly. "What do I care about Martin? +Why should I not have my--my freedom, too? I went because it was wild, +unconventional, perhaps wrong. I felt that way. If--if I had felt that +you cared--perhaps--I could have been--more discreet." + +"I do care," he blurted out. "I--I only wish I had known you as well as +I do now--before you married--that's all." + +"Is there no way to correct the mistake?" she asked softly. "Must +marriage end all--all happiness?" + +Langhorne said nothing, but I could almost hear his breathing over the +vocaphone, which picked up and magnified even whispers. + +"Mary," he said in a deep, passionate voice, "I--I will defend +you--from this Murtha thing--if it ever gets out. I know it is always +on your mind--that you couldn't keep away from that trial for fear that +Carton, or Murtha, or SOMEBODY might say something by chance or drop +some hint about it. Trust me." + +"Then we can be--friends?" + +"Lovers!" he cried fiercely. + +There was a half-smothered exclamation over the faithful little +vocaphone, a little flurried rustle of silk and a long, passionate sigh. + +"Hartley," she whispered. + +"What is it, Mary?" he asked tensely. + +"We must be careful. Carton MUST be defeated. He must not have the +power--to use that--record." + +"No," ground out Langhorne. "Wait--he shall not. By the way, aren't +those orchids gorgeous?" + +The encore had ceased and over the vocaphone we could hear gaily +chatting couples wandering into the conservatory. The two conspirators +rose and parted silently, without exciting suspicion. + +For several minutes we listened to snatches of the usual vapid chatter +that dancing seems to induce. Then the orchestra blared forth with +another of the seductive popular pieces. + +Kennedy and I looked at each other, amazed. From the underworld up to +the smart set, the trail of graft was the same, debauching and blunting +all that it touched. Here we saw the making of a full-fledged scandal +in one of the highest circles. + +We had scarcely recovered from our surprise at the startling +disclosures of the vocaphone, when we heard two voices again above the +music, two men this time. + +"What--you here?" inquired a voice which we recognized immediately as +that of Langhorne. + +"Yes," replied the other voice, evidently of a young man. "I came in +with the swells to keep my eye peeled on what was going on." + +The voice itself was unfamiliar, yet it had a tough accent which +denoted infallibly the section of the city where it was acquired. It +was one of the gangsters. + +"What's up, Ike?" demanded Langhorne suspiciously. + +Craig looked at me significantly. It was Ike the Dropper! + +The other lowered his voice. "I don't mind telling you, Mr. Langhorne. +You're in the organization and we ain't got no grudge against you. It's +Carton." + +"Carton?" repeated Langhorne, and one could feel the expectant catch in +his breath, as he added quickly: "You mean you fellows are going to try +to get him right?" + +"Bet your life," swaggered Ike, believing himself safe. "How?" + +The gangster hesitated, then reassured by Langhorne, said: "He's +ordered a taxicab. We got it for him--a driver who is a right guy +and'll drive him down where there's a bunch of the fellows. They ain't +goner do nothing serious--but--well, he won't campaign much from a +hospital cot," he added sagely. "Say--here he comes now with that girl. +I better beat it." + +Langhorne also managed to get away apparently, or else Carton and Miss +Ashton were too engrossed in one another to notice him, for we heard no +word of greeting. + +A moment later Carton's and Miss Ashton's voices were audible. + +"Must you go?" she was saying. + +"I'm afraid so," he apologized. "I've a speech to prepare for to-morrow +and I've had several hard days. It's been a splendid evening, Miss +Ashton--splendid. I've enjoyed it ever so much and I think it has +accomplished more than a hundred meetings--besides the publicity it +will get for the cause. Shall I see you to-morrow at headquarters?" + +"I shall make it a point to drop in," she answered in a tone as +unmistakable. + +"Mr. Carton--your cab is waiting, sir," announced a servant with an +apology for intruding. "At the side entrance, sir, so that you can get +away quietly, sir." + +Carton thanked him. + +I looked at Kennedy anxiously. If Carton slipped away in this fashion +before we could warn him, what might not happen? We could hardly expect +to get around and through the press of the dancers in time. + +"I hate to go, Miss Ashton," he was adding. "I'd stay--if I saw any +prospect of the others going. But--you see--this is the first time +to-night--that I've had a word with you--alone." + +It was not only an emergency, but there were limits to Kennedy's +eavesdropping propensities, and spying on Carton's love affairs was +quite another thing from Langhorne's. + +Quickly Craig turned the lever all the way over. + +"Carton--Miss Ashton--this is Kennedy," he called. "Back of the big +palm you'll find a vocaphone. Don't take that cab! They are going to +stick you up. Wait--I'll explain all in a moment!" + + + + +XVIII + +THE WALL STREET WOLF + + +It was a startled couple that we found when we reached the +conservatory. As we made our hasty explanation, Carton overwhelmed us +with thanks for the prompt and effective manner in which Kennedy had +saved him from the machinations of the defeated gangsters. + +Miss Ashton, who would have kept her nerves under control throughout +any emergency, actually turned pale as she learned of the danger that +had been so narrowly averted. I am sure that her feelings, which she +made no effort to conceal, must have been such as to reassure Carton if +he had still any doubt on that score. + +The delay in his coming out, however, had been just enough to arouse +suspicion, and by the time that we reached the side entrance to the +house both Ike and the night-hawk taxicab which had evidently been +drafted into service had disappeared, leaving no clue. + +The result of the discovery over the vocaphone was that none of us left +Miss Ashton's until much later than we had expected. + +Langhorne, apparently, had gone shortly after he left the conservatory +the last time, and Mrs. Ogleby had preceded him. When at last we +managed to convince Miss Ashton that it was perfectly safe for Carton +to go, nothing would suffice except that we should accompany him as a +sort of bodyguard to his home. We did so, without encountering any +adventure more thrilling than seeing an argument between a policeman +and a late reveller. + +"I can't thank you fellows too much," complimented Carton as we left +him. "I was hunting around for you, but I thought you had found a +suffrage meeting too slow and had gone." + +"On the contrary," returned Kennedy, equivocally, "we found it far from +slow." + +Carton did not appreciate the tenor of the remark and Craig was not +disposed to enlighten him. + +"What do you suppose Mrs. Ogleby meant in her references to Carton?" +mused Kennedy when we reached our own apartment. + +"I can't say," I replied, "unless before he came to really know Miss +Ashton, they were intimate." + +Kennedy shook his head. "Why will men in a public capacity get mixed up +with women of the adventuress type like that, even innocently?" he +ruminated. "Mark my words, she or someone else will make trouble for +him before we get through." + +It was a thought that had lately been in my own mind, for we had had +several hints of that nature. + +Kennedy said no more, but he had started my mind on a train of +speculative thought. I could not imagine that a woman of Mrs. Ogleby's +type could ever have really appealed to Carton, but that did not +preclude the possibility that some unscrupulous person might make use +of the intimacy for base purposes. Then, too, there was the threat that +I had heard agreed on by both Langhorne and herself over the vocaphone. + +What would be the next step of the organization now in its sworn +warfare on Carton, I could not imagine. But we did not have long to +wait. Early the following forenoon an urgent message came to Kennedy +from Carton to meet him at his office. + +"Kennedy," he said, "I don't know how to thank you for the many times +you have pulled me through, and I'm almost ashamed to keep on calling +on you." + +"It's a big fight," hastened Craig. "You have opponents who know the +game in its every crooked turn. If I can be only a small cog on a wheel +that crushes them, I shall be only too glad. Your face tells me that +something particularly unpleasant has happened." + +"It has," admitted Carton, smoothing out some of the wrinkles at the +mere sight of Craig. + +He paused a moment, as if he were himself in doubt as to just what the +trouble was. + +"Someone has been impersonating me over the telephone," he began. "All +day long there have been reports coming into my office asking me +whether it was true that I had agreed to accept the offer of Dorgan +that Murtha made, you know,--that is, practically to let up on the +organization if they would let up on me." + +"Yes," prompted Kennedy, "but, impersonation--what do you mean by that?" + +"Why, early to-day someone called me up, said he was Dorgan, and asked +if I would have any objection to meeting him. I said I would meet +him--only it would do no good. Then, apparently, the same person called +up Dorgan and said he was myself, asking if he had any objection to +meeting me. Dorgan said he'd see. Whoever it was, he almost succeeded +in bringing about the fool thing--would have done it, if I hadn't got +wise to the fact that there was something funny about it. I called up +Dorgan. He said he'd meet me, as long as I had approached him first. I +said I hadn't. We swore a little and called the fake meeting off. But +it was too late. It got into the papers. Now, you'd think it wouldn't +make any difference to either of us. It doesn't to him. People will +think he tried to slip one over on ME. But it does make a difference to +me. People will think I'm trying to sell out." + +Carton showed plainly his vexation at the affair. + +"The old scheme!" exclaimed Kennedy. "That's the plan that has been +used by a man down in Wall Street that they call, 'the Wolf.' He is a +star impersonator--will call up two sworn enemies and put over +something on them that double-crosses both." + +"Wall Street," mused Carton. "That reminds me of another batch of +rumours that have been flying around. They were that I had made a deal +with Langhorne by which I agreed to support him in his fight to get +something in the contracts of the new city planning scheme in return +for his support of the part of the organization he could swing to me in +the election,--another lie." + +"It might have been Langhorne himself, playing the wolf," I suggested. + +Kennedy had reached for the telephone book. "Also, it might have been +Kahn," he added. "I see he has an office in Wall Street, too. He has +been the legal beneficiary of several shady transactions down there." + +"Oh," put in Carton, "it might have been any of them--they're all +capable of it from Dorgan down. If Murtha was only out, I'd be inclined +to suspect him." + +He tossed over a typewritten sheet of paper. "That's the statement I +gave out to the press," he explained. + +It read: "My attention has been called to the alleged activities of +some person or persons who through telephone calls and underground +methods are seeking to undermine confidence in my integrity. A more +despicable method of attempting to arouse distrust I cannot imagine. It +is criminal and if anyone can assist me in placing the responsibility +where it belongs I shall be glad to prosecute to the limit." + +"That's all right," assented Kennedy, "but I don't think it will have +any effect. You see, this sort of thing is too easy for anyone to be +scared off from. All he has to do is to go to a pay station and call up +there. You couldn't very well trace that." + +He stopped abruptly and his face puckered with thought. + +"There ought to be some way, though," I murmured, without knowing just +what the way might be, "to tell whether it is Dorgan and the +organization crowd, or Langhorne and his pool, or Kahn and the other +shysters." + +"There IS a way," cried Kennedy at last. "You fellows wait here while I +make a flying trip up to the laboratory. If anyone calls us, just put +him off--tell him to call up later." + +Carton continued to direct the work of his office, of which there had +been no interruptions even during the stress of the campaign. Now and +then the telephone rang and each time Carton would motion to me, and +say, "You take it, Jameson. If it seems perfectly regular then pass it +over to me." + +Several routine calls came in, this way, followed by one from Miss +Ashton, which Carton prolonged much beyond the mere time needed to +discuss a phase of the Reform League campaign. + +He had scarcely hung up the receiver, when the bell tinkled +insistently, as though central had had an urgent call which the last +conversation had held up. + +I took down the receiver, and almost before I could answer the inquiry, +a voice began, "This is the editor of the Wall Street Record, Mr. +Carton. Have you heard anything of the rumours about Hartley Langhorne +and his pool being insolvent? The Street has been flooded with +stories--" + +"One moment," I managed to interrupt. "This is not Mr. Carton, although +this is his office. No--he's out. Yes, he'll certainly be back in half +an hour. Ring up then." + +I repeated the scrap of gossip that had filtered through to me, which +Carton received in quite as much perplexity as I had. + +"Seems as if everybody was getting knocked," he commented. + +"That may be a blind, though," I suggested. + +He nodded. I think we both realized how helpless we were when Kennedy +was away. In fact we made even our guesses with a sort of lack of +confidence. + +It was therefore with a sense of relief that we welcomed him a few +minutes later as he hurried into the office, almost breathless from his +trip uptown and back. + +"Has anyone called up?" he inquired unceremoniously, unwrapping a small +parcel which he carried. + +I told him as briefly as I could what had happened. He nodded, without +making any audible comment, but in a manner that seemed to show no +surprise. + +"I want to get this thing installed before anyone else calls," he +explained, setting to work immediately. + +"What is it?" I asked, regarding the affair, which included something +that looked like a phonograph cylinder. + +"An invention that has just been perfected," he replied without +delaying his preparations, "by which it is possible for messages to be +sent over the telephone and automatically registered, even in the +absence of anyone at the receiving end. Up to the present it has been +practicable to take phonograph records only by the direct action of the +human voice upon the diaphragm of the instrument. Not long ago there +was submitted to the French Academy of Sciences an apparatus by which +the receiver of the telephone can be put into communication with a +phonograph and a perfect record obtained of the voice of the speaker at +the other end of the wire, his message being reproduced at will by +merely pressing a button." + +"Wouldn't the telegraphone do?" I asked, remembering our use of that +instrument in other cases. + +"It would record," he replied, "but I want a phonograph record. Nothing +else will do in this case. You'll see why, before I get through. +Besides, this apparatus isn't complicated. Between the diaphragm of the +telephone receiver and that of the phonographic microphone is fitted an +air chamber of adjustable size, open to the outer atmosphere by a small +hole to prevent compression. I think," he added with a smile, "it will +afford a pretty good means of collecting souvenirs of friends by +preserving the sound of their voices through the telephone." For +several minutes we waited. + +"I don't think I ever heard of such effrontery, such open, bare-faced +chicanery," fumed Carton impatiently. + +"We'll catch the fellow yet," replied Kennedy confidently. "And I think +we'll find him a bad lot." + + + + +XIX + +THE ESCAPE + + +At last the telephone rang and Carton answered it eagerly. As he did +so, he quickly motioned to us to go to the outside office where we, +too, could listen on extensions. + +"Yes, this is Mr. Carton," we heard him say. + +"This is the editor of the Wall Street Record," came back the reply in +a tone that showed no hesitation or compunction if it was lying. "I +suppose you have heard the rumours that are current downtown that +Hartley Langhorne and the people associated with him have gone broke in +the pool they formed to get control of the public utilities that would +put them in a position to capture the city betterment contracts?" + +"No--I hadn't heard it," answered Carton, with difficulty restraining +himself from quizzing the informant about himself. Kennedy was +motioning to him that that was enough. "I'm sure I can't express any +opinion at all for publication on the subject," he concluded brusquely, +jamming down the receiver on the hook before his interlocutor had a +chance to ask another question. + +The bell continued to ring, but Craig seized the receiver off its hook +again and called back, "Mr. Carton has gone for the day," hanging it up +again with a bang. + +"Call up the Record now," advised Craig, disconnecting the recording +instrument he had brought. "See what the editor has to say." + +"This is the District Attorney's office," said Carton a moment later +when he got the number. "You just called me." + +"I called you?" asked the editor, non-plussed. + +"About a rumour current in Wall Street." + +"Rumour? No, sir. It must be some mistake." + +"I guess so. Sorry to have troubled you. Good-bye." + +Carton looked from one to the other of us. "You see," he said in +disgust, "there it is again. That's the sort of thing that has been +going on all day. How do I know what that fellow is doing now--perhaps +using my name?" + +I had no answer to his implied query as to who was the "wolf" and what +he might be up to. As for Kennedy, while he showed plainly that he had +his suspicions which he expected to confirm absolutely, he did not care +to say anything about them yet. + +"Two can play at 'wolf,'" he said quietly, calling up the headquarters +of Dorgan's organization. + +I wondered what he would say, but was disappointed to find that it was +a merely trivial conversation about some inconsequential thing, as +though Kennedy had merely wished to get in touch with the "Silent +Boss." Next he called up the sanitarium to which Murtha had been +committed, and after posing as Murtha's personal physician managed to +have the rules relaxed to the extent of exchanging a few sentences with +him. + +"How did he seem--irrational?" asked Carton with interest, for I don't +think the District Attorney had complete confidence in the commonly +announced cause of Murtha's enforced retirement. + +Kennedy shook his head doubtfully. "Sounded pretty far gone," was all +he said, turning over the pages of the telephone book as he looked for +another number. + +This time it was Kahn whom he called up, and he had some difficulty +locating him, for Kahn had two offices and was busily engaged in +preparing a defence to the charges preferred against him for the jury +fixing episode. + +Among others whom he called up was Langhorne, and the conversation with +him was as perfunctory as possible, consisting merely in repeating his +name, followed by an apology from Kennedy for "calling the wrong +number." + +In each case, Craig was careful to have his little recording instrument +working, taking down every word that was uttered and when he had +finished he detached it, looking at the cylinder with unconcealed +satisfaction. + +"I'm going up to the laboratory again," he announced, as Carton looked +at him inquiringly. "The investigation that I have in mind will take +time, but I shall hurry it along as fast as I possibly can. I don't +want any question about the accuracy of my conclusions." + +We left Carton, who promised to meet us late in the afternoon at the +laboratory, and started uptown. Instead, however, of going up directly, +Craig telephoned first to Clare Kendall to shadow Mrs. Ogleby. + +The rest of the day he spent in making microphotographs of the +phonograph cylinder and studying them very attentively under his +high-powered lens. + +Toward the close of the afternoon the first report of Miss Kendall, who +had been "trailing" Mrs. Ogleby, came in. We were not surprised to +learn that she had met Langhorne in the Futurist Tea Room in the middle +of the afternoon and that they had talked long and earnestly. What did +surprise us, though, was her suspicion that she had crossed the trail +of someone else who was shadowing Mrs. Ogleby. + +Kennedy made no comment, though I could see that he was vitally +interested. What was the significance of the added mystery? Someone +else had an interest in watching her movements. At once I thought of +Dorgan. Could he have known of the intimacy of his guest at the Gastron +dinner with Langhorne, rather than with Murtha, with whom she had gone? +Suddenly another explanation occurred to me. What was more likely than +that Martin Ogleby should have heard of his wife's escapade? He would +certainly learn now to his surprise of her meeting with Langhorne. What +would happen then? + +Kennedy had about finished with his microphotographic work and was +checking it over to satisfy himself of the results, when Carton, as he +had promised, dropped in on us. + +"What are you doing now?" he asked curiously, looking at the prints and +paraphernalia scattered about. "By the way, I've been inquiring into +the commitment of Murtha to that sanitarium for the insane. On the +surface it all seems perfectly regular. It appears that, unknown even +to many of his most intimate friends, he has been suffering from a +complication of diseases, the result of his high life, and they have at +last affected his brain, as they were bound to do in time. Still, I +don't like his 'next friends' in the case. One is his personal +physician--I don't know much about him. But Dorgan is one of the +others." + +"We'll have to look into it," agreed Kennedy. "Meanwhile, would you +like to know who your 'wolf' is that has been spreading rumours about +broadcast?" + +"I would indeed," exclaimed Carton eagerly. "You were right about the +statement I issued. It had no more effect than so many unspoken words. +The fellow has kept right on. He even had the nerve to call up Miss +Ashton in my name and try to find out whether she had any trace of the +missing Betty Blackwell. How do you suppose they found out that she was +interested?" + +"Not a very difficult thing," replied Kennedy. "Miss Ashton must have +told several organizations, and the grafters always watch such +societies pretty closely. What did she say?" + +"Nothing," answered Carton. "I had thought that they might try +something of the sort and fortunately I warned her to disregard any +telephone messages unless they came certainly from me. We agreed on a +little secret formula, a sort of password, to be used, and I flatter +myself that the 'wolf' won't be able to accomplish much in that +direction. You say you have discovered a clue? How did you get it?" + +Kennedy picked up one of the microphotographs which showed an +enlargement of the marks on the phonograph cylinder. He showed it to us +and we gazed curiously at the enigmatic markings, greatly magnified. To +me, it looked like a collection of series of lines. By close scrutiny I +was able to make out that the lines were wavy and more or less +continuous, being made up of collections of finer lines,--lines within +lines, as it were. + +An analysis of their composition showed that the centre of larger lines +was composed of three continuous series of markings which looked, under +the lens, for all the world like the impressions of an endless straight +series of molar teeth. Flanking these three tooth-like impressions were +other lines--varying in width and in number--I should say, about four, +both above and below the tooth-like impressions. When highly magnified +one could distinguish roughly parallel parts of what at even a low +magnification looked like a single line. + +"I have been studying voice analysis lately," explained Kennedy, +"particularly with reference to the singing voice. Mr. Edison has made +thousands and thousands of studies of voices to determine which are +scientifically perfect for singing. That side of it did not interest me +particularly. I have been seeking to use the discovery rather for +detective purposes." + +He paused and with a fine needle traced out some of the lines on the +photographs before us. + +"That," he went on, "is a highly magnified photograph of a minute +section of the phonographic record of the voice that called you up, +Carton, as editor of the Wall Street Record. The upper and lower lines, +with long regular waves, are formed by a voice with no overtones. Those +three broader lines in the middle, with rhythmic ripples, show the +overtones." + +Carton and I followed, fascinated by the minuteness of his +investigation and knowledge. + +"You see," he explained, "when a voice or a passage of music sounds or +is sung before a phonograph, its modulations received upon the +diaphragm are written by the needle point upon the surface of the +cylinder or disc in a series of fine waving or zig-zag lines of +infinitely varying depth and breadth. + +"Close familiarity with such records for about forty years has taught +Mr. Edison the precise meaning of each slightest variation in the +lines. I have taken up and elaborated his idea. By examining them under +the microscope one can analyze each tone with mathematical accuracy and +can almost hear it--just as a musician reading the score of a song can +almost hear the notes." + +"Wonderful," ejaculated Carton. "And you mean to say that in that way +you can actually identify a voice?" + +Kennedy nodded. "By examining the records in the laboratory, looking +them over under a microscope--yes. I can count the overtones, say, in a +singing voice, and it is on the overtones that the richness depends. I +can recognize a voice--mathematically. In short," Craig concluded +enthusiastically, "it is what you might call the Bertillon measurement, +the finger-print, the portrait parle of the human voice!" + +Incredible as it seemed, we were forced to believe, for there on the +table lay the graphic evidence which he had just so painstakingly +interpreted. + +"Who was it?" asked Carton breathlessly. + +Kennedy picked up another microphotograph. "That is the record I took +of one of the calls I made--merely for the purpose of obtaining samples +of voices to compare with this of the impersonator. The two agree in +every essential detail and none of the others could be confounded by an +expert who studied them. Your 'wolf' was your old friend Kahn!" + +"Fighting back at me by his usual underhand methods," exclaimed Carton +in profound disgust. + +"Or else trying himself to get control of the Black Book," added +Kennedy. "If you will stop to think a moment, his shafts have been +levelled quite as much at discrediting Langhorne as yourself. He might +hope to kill two birds with one stone--and incidentally save himself." + +"You mean that he wants to lay a foundation now for questioning the +accuracy of the Black Book if it ever comes to light?" + +"Perhaps," assented Kennedy carefully. + +"Surely we should take some steps to protect ourselves from his +impostures," hastened Carton. + +"I have no objections to your calling him up and telling him that we +know what he is up to and can trace it to him--provided you don't tell +him how we did it--yet." + +Carton had seized the telephone and was hastily calling every place in +which Kahn was likely to be. He was not at either of his offices, nor +at Farrell's, but at each place successively Carton left a message +which told the story and which he could hardly fail to receive soon. + +As Carton finished, Kennedy seemed to be emerging from a brown study. +He rose slowly and put on his hat. + +"Your story about Murtha's commitment interests me," he remarked, +"particularly since you mentioned Dorgan's name in connection with it. +I've been thinking about Murtha myself a good deal since I heard about +his condition. I want to see him myself." + +Carton hesitated a minute. "I can break an engagement I had to speak +to-night," he said. "Yes, I'll go with you. It's more important to look +to the foundations than to the building just now." + +A few minutes later we were all on our way in a touring car to the +private sanitarium up in Westchester, where it had been announced that +Murtha had been taken. + +I had apprehended that we would have a great deal of difficulty either +in getting admitted at all or in seeing Murtha himself. We arrived at +the sanitarium, a large building enclosed by a high brick wall, and +evidently once a fine country estate, at just about dusk. To my +surprise, as we stopped at the entrance, we had no difficulty in being +admitted. + +For a moment, as we waited in the richly furnished reception room, I +listened to the sounds that issued from other parts of the building. +Something was clearly afoot, for things were in a state of disorder. I +had not an extensive acquaintance with asylums for the care and +treatment of the insane, but the atmosphere of excitement which +palpably pervaded the air was not what one would have expected. I began +to think of Poe's Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether, and wonder whether +there might not have been a revolution in the place and the patients +have taken charge of their keepers. + +At last one of the attendants passed the door. No one had paid any +attention to us since our admission and this man, too, was going to +pass us without notice. + +"I beg your pardon," interrupted Kennedy, who had heard his footsteps +approaching and had placed himself in the hallway so that the attendant +could not pass, "but we have called to see Mr. Murtha." + +The attendant eyed us curiously. I expected him to say that it was +against the rules, or to question our right to see the patient. + +"I'm afraid you're too late," he said briefly, instead. + +"Too late?" queried Kennedy sharply. "What do you mean?" + +The man answered promptly as if that were the quickest way to get back +to his own errand. + +"Mr. Murtha escaped from his keepers this evening, just after dinner, +and there is no trace of him." + + + + +XX + +THE METRIC PHOTOGRAPH + + +Murtha's escape from the sanitarium had again thrown our calculations +into chaos. We rode back to the city in silence, and even Kennedy had +no explanation to offer. + +Even at a late hour that night, although a widespread alarm had been +sent out for him, no trace of the missing man could be found. The next +morning's papers, of course, were full of the strange disappearance, +but gave no hint of his discovery. In fact, all day the search was +continued by the authorities, but without result. + +On the face of it, it seemed incredible that a man who was so well +known, especially to the thousands of police and others in the official +and political life of the city, could remain at large unrecognized. +Still, I recalled other cases where prominent men had disappeared. The +facts in Murtha's case spoke for themselves. + +Comparatively little occurred during the day, although the political +campaign which had begun with the primaries many weeks before was now +drawing nearer its close and the campaigners were getting ready for the +final spurt to the finish. + +With Kennedy's unmasking of the unprincipled activities of Kahn, that +worthy changed his tactics, or at least dropped out of our sight. Mrs. +Ogleby lunched with Langhorne and I began to suspect that the shadow +that had been placed on her could not have been engaged by Martin +Ogleby, for he was not the kind who would take reports of the sort +complaisantly. Someone else must be interested. + +As for the Black Book itself, I wondered more as time went on that no +one made use of it. Even though we gained no hint from Langhorne after +the peculiar robbery of his safe, it was impossible to tell whether or +not he still retained the detectaphone record. On the other hand, if +Dorgan had obtained it by using the services of someone in the criminal +hierarchy that Murtha had built up, it would not have been likely that +we would have heard anything about it. We were in the position of men +fighting several adversaries in the dark without knowing exactly whom +we fought. + +We had just finished dinner, that night, Kennedy and I, and, as had +been the case in most of the waking hours of the previous twenty-four, +had been speculating on the possible solution of the mysterious +dropping out of sight of Murtha. The evening papers had contained +nothing that the morning papers had not already published and Kennedy +had tossed the last of an armful into the scrap basket when the buzzer +on the door of our apartment sounded. + +A young man stood there as I opened the door, and handed me a note, as +he touched his hat. "A message for Professor Kennedy from Mr. Carton, +sir," he announced. + +I recognized him as Carton's valet as he stood impatiently waiting for +Craig to read the letter. + +"It's all right--there's no answer--I'll see him immediately," nodded +Kennedy, tossing the hasty scrawl over to me as the valet disappeared. + +"My study at home has been robbed, probably by sneak thieves," read the +note. "Would you like to look it over? I can't find anything missing +except a bundle of old and valueless photographs. Carton." + +"Looks as if someone thought Carton might have got that Black Book from +Langhorne," I commented, following the line on which I had been +thinking at the time. + +"And the taking of the photographs was merely a blind, after not +finding it?" Kennedy queried, I cannot say much impressed by my theory. + +"Perhaps," I acquiesced weakly, as we went out. + +Instead of turning in the direction of Carton's immediately, Kennedy +walked across the campus toward the Chemistry Building. At the +laboratory we loaded ourselves with a large and heavy oblong case +containing a camera and a tripod. + +The Cartons lived in an old section of the city which still retained +something of its aristocratic air, having been passed by, as it were, +like an eddy in the stream of business that swirled uptown, engulfing +everything. + +It was an old four-story brownstone house which had been occupied by +his father and grandfather before him, and now was the home of Carton, +his mother, and his sister. + +"I'm glad to see you," Carton met us at the door. "This isn't quite as +classy a robbery as Langhorne's--but it's just as mysterious. Must have +happened while the family were at dinner. That's why I said it was a +robbery by a sneak thief." + +He was leading the way to his study, which was in an extension of the +house, in the rear. + +"I hope you've left things as they were," ventured Craig. + +"I did," assured Carton. "I know your penchant for such things and +almost the first thought I had was that you'd prefer it that way. So I +shut the door and sent William after you. By the way, what have you +done with him?" + +"Nothing," returned Craig. "Isn't he back yet?" + +"No--oh, well I don't need him right away." + +"And nothing was taken except some old photographs?" asked Craig, +looking intently at Carton's face. + +"That is all I can find missing," he returned frankly. + +Kennedy's examination of the looted study was minute, taking in the +window through which the thief had apparently entered, the cabinet he +had forced, and the situation in general. Finally he set up his camera +with most particular care and took several flashlight pictures of the +window, the cabinet, the doors--including the study--from every angle. +Outside he examined the extension and back of the house carefully, +noting possible ways of getting from the side street across the fences +into the Carton yard. + +With Carton we returned to Craig's splendidly equipped photographic +studio and while Carton and I made the best of our time by discussing +various phases of the case, Kennedy employed the interval in developing +his plates. + +He had ten or a dozen prints, all of exactly the same size, mounted on +stiff cardboard in a space with scales and figures on all four margins. +Carton and I puzzled over them. + +"Those are metric photographs, such as Bertillon of Paris used to +take," Craig explained. "By means of the scales and tables and other +methods that have been worked out, we can determine from those pictures +distances and many other things almost as well as if we were on the +spot ourselves. Bertillon cleared up many crimes with this help, such +as the mystery of the shooting in the Hotel Quai d'Orsay and other +cases. The metric photograph, I believe, will in time rank with other +devices in the study of crime." + +He was going over the photographs carefully. + +"For instance," he continued, "in order to solve the riddle of a crime, +the detective's first task is to study the scene topographically. Plans +and elevations of a room or house are made. The position of each object +is painstakingly noted. In addition, the all-seeing eye of the camera +is called into requisition. The plundered room is photographed, as in +this case. I might have done it by placing a foot rule on a table and +taking that in the picture. But a more scientific and accurate method +has been devised by Bertillon. His camera lens is always used at a +fixed height from the ground and forms its image on the plate at an +exact focus. The print made from the negative is mounted on a card in a +space of definite size, along the edges of which a metric scale is +printed. In the way he has worked it out, the distance between any two +points in the picture can be determined. With a topographical plan and +a metric photograph one can study a crime, as a general studies the map +of a strange country. There were several peculiar things that I +observed at your house, Carton, and I have here an indelible record of +the scene of the crime. Preserved in this way, it cannot be questioned. +You are sure that the only thing missing is the photographs?" + +Carton nodded, "I never keep anything valuable lying around." + +"Well," resumed Kennedy, "the photographs were in this cabinet. There +are other cabinets, but none of them seems to have been disturbed. +Therefore the thief must have known just what he was after. The marks +made in breaking the lock were not those of a jimmy, but of a +screwdriver. No amazing command of the resources of science is needed +so far. All that is necessary is a little scientific common sense." + +Carton glanced at me, and I smiled, for it always did seem so easy, +when Craig did it, and so impossible when we tried to go it alone. + +"Now, how did the robber get in?" he continued, thoroughly engrossed in +his study. "All the windows were supposedly locked. I saw that a pane +had been partly cut from this window at the side--and the pieces were +there to show it. But consider the outside, a moment. To reach that +window even a tall man must have stood on a ladder or something. There +were no marks of a ladder or even of any person in the soft soil of the +garden under the window. What is more, that window was cut from the +inside. The marks of the diamond which cut it plainly show that. +Scientific common sense again." + +"Then it must have been someone in the house or at least familiar with +it?" I exclaimed. + +Kennedy shook his head affirmatively. + +I had been wondering who it could be. Certainly this was not the work +of Dopey Jack, even if the far cleverer attempt on Langhorne's safe had +been. But it might have been one of his gang. I had not got as far as +trying to reason out the why of the crime. + +"Call up your house, Carton," asked Craig. "See if William, your valet, +has returned." + +Carton did so, and a moment later turned to us with a look of +perplexity on his face. "No," he reported, "he hasn't come back yet. I +can't imagine where he is." + +"He won't come back," asserted Kennedy positively. "It was an inside +job--and he did it." + +Carton gasped astonishment. + +"At any rate," pursued Kennedy, "one thing we have which the police +greatly neglect--a record. We have made some progress in reconstructing +the crime, as Bertillon used to call it." + +"Strange that he should take only photographs," I mused. + +"What were they?" asked Kennedy, and again I saw that he was looking +intently at Carton's face. + +"Nothing much," returned Carton unhesitatingly, "just some personal +photographs--of no real value except to me. Most of them were amateur +photographs, too, pictures of myself in various groups at different +times and places that I kept for the associations." + +"Nothing that might be used by an enemy for any purpose?" suggested +Kennedy. + +Carton laughed. "More likely to be used by friends," he replied frankly. + +Still, I felt that there must have been some sinister purpose back of +the robbery. In that respect it was like the scientific cracking of +Langhorne's safe. Langhorne, too, though he had been robbed, had been +careful to disclaim the loss of anything of value. I frankly had not +believed Langhorne, yet Carton was not of the same type and I felt that +his open face would surely have disclosed to us any real loss that he +suffered or apprehension that he felt over the robbery. + +I was forced to give it up, and I think Kennedy, too, had decided not +to worry over the crossing of any bridges until at least we knew that +there were bridges to be crossed. + +Carton was worried more by the discovery that one he had trusted even +as a valet had proved unfaithful. He knew, however, as well as we did +that one of the commonest methods of the underworld when they wished to +pull off a robbery was to corrupt one of the servants of a house. +Still, it looked strange, for the laying of such an elaborate plan +usually preceded only big robberies, such as jewelery or silver. For +myself, I was forced back on my first theory that someone had concluded +that Carton had the Black Book, had concocted this elaborate scheme to +get what was really of more value than much jewelry, and had found out +that Carton did not have the precious detectaphone record, after all. I +knew that there were those who would have gone to any length to get it. + +A general alarm was given, through the police, for the apprehension of +William, but we had small hope that anything would result from it, for +at that time Carton's enemies controlled the police and I am not sure +but that they would have been just a little more dilatory in +apprehending one who had done Carton an injury than if it had been +someone else. It was too soon, that night, of course, to expect to +learn anything, anyhow. + +It was quite late, but it had been a confining day for Kennedy who had +spent the hours while not working on Carton's case in some of the +ceaseless and recondite investigations of his own to which he was +always turning his restless mind. + +"Suppose we walk a little way downtown with Carton?" he suggested. + +I was not averse, and by the time we arrived in the white light belt of +Broadway the theatres were letting out. + +Above the gaiety of the crowds one could hear the shrill cry of some +belated newsboys, calling an "Extra Special"--the only superlative left +to one of the more enterprising papers whose every issue was an "Extra." + +Kennedy bought one, with the laughing remark, "Perhaps it's about your +robbery, Carton." + +It was only a second before the smile on his face changed to a look of +extreme gravity. We crowded about him. In red ink across the head of +the paper were the words: + +"BODY OF MURTHA, MISSING, FOUND IN MORGUE" + +Down in a lower corner, in a little box into which late news could be +dropped, also in red ink, was the brief account: + +This morning the body of an unknown man was found in The Bronx near the +Westchester Railroad tracks. He had been run over and badly mutilated. +After lying all day in the local morgue, it was transferred, still +unidentified, to the city Morgue downtown. + +Early this evening one of the night attendants recognized the +unidentified body as that of Murtha, "the Smiling Boss," whose escape +day before yesterday from an asylum in Westchester has remained a +mystery until now. + +"Well--what do you--think of that!" ejaculated Carton. +"Murtha--dead--and I thought the whole thing was a job they were +putting up on me!" + +Kennedy crooked his finger at a cabby who was alertly violating the new +ordinance and soliciting fares away from a public cab stand. + +"The Morgue--quick!" he ordered, not even noticing the flabbergasted +look on the jehu's face, who was not accustomed to carrying people +thither from the primrose path of Broadway quite so rapidly. + + + + +XXI + +THE MORGUE + + +There had come a lull in the activities which never entirely cease, +night or day, in the dingy building at the foot of East Twenty-sixth +Street. Across the street in the municipal lodging-house the city's +homeless were housed for the night. Even ever wakeful Bellevue Hospital +nearby was comparatively quiet. + +The last "dead boat" which carries the city's unclaimed corpses away +for burial had long ago left, when we arrived. The anxious callers who +pass all day through the portals of the mortuary chamber seeking lost +friends and relatives had disappeared. Except for the night keeper and +one or two assistants, the Morgue was empty save of the overcrowded +dead. + +Years before, as a cub reporter on the Star, I had had the gruesome +assignment once of the Morgue. It was the same old place after all +these years and it gave me the same creepy sensations now as it did +then. Even the taxicab driver seemed glad to set down his fares and +speed away. + +It was ghoulish. I felt then and I did still that instead of +contributing to the amelioration of conditions that could not be +otherwise than harrowing, everything about the old Morgue lent itself +to the increase of the horror of the surroundings. + +As Kennedy, Carton, and I entered, we found that the principal chamber +in the place was circular. Its walls were lined with the ends of +caskets, which, fitting close into drawer-like apertures were +constantly enveloped in the refrigerated air. + +It seemed, even at that hour, that if these receptacles were even +adequate to contain all of the daily tenants of the Morgue, much of the +anguish and distress inseparable from such a place might be spared +those who of necessity must visit the place seeking their dead. As it +was, even for those bound by no blood ties to the unfortunates who +found their way to the city Morgue, the room was a veritable chamber of +horror. + +We stood in horrified amazement at what we saw. On the floor, which +should be kept clear, lay the overflow of the day's intake. Bodies for +which there was no room in the cooling boxes, others which were yet +awaiting claimants, and still more awaiting transfer to the public +burying ground, lay about in their rough coffins, many of them brutally +exposed. + +It seemed, too, that if ever there was a time when conditions might +have been expected to have halfway adjusted themselves to the pressure +which by day brought out all too clearly the hopeless inadequacy of the +facilities provided by the city to perform one of its most important +and inevitable functions, it was at that early morning hour of our +visit. Presumably preparation had been completed for the busy day about +to open by setting all into some semblance of respectful order. But +such was not the case. It was impossible. + +In one group, I recall, which an attendant said had been awaiting his +removal for a couple of days, the rough board coffins, painted the +uniform brown of the city's institutions, lay open, without so much as +face coverings over the dead. + +They lay as they had been sent in from various hospitals. Most of them +were bereft of all the decencies usual with the dead, in striking +contrast, however, with the bodies from Bellevue, which were all +closely swathed in bandages and shrouds. + +One body, that of a negro, which had been sent in to the Morgue from a +Harlem hospital, lay just as it came, utterly bare, exposing to public +view all the gruesome marks of the autopsy. I wondered whether anything +like that might be found to be the fate of the once jovial and popular +Murtha, when we found him. + +I almost forgot our mission in the horror of the place, for, nearby was +an even more heartrending sight. Piled in several heaps much higher +than a man's head and as carelessly as cordwood were the tiny coffins +holding the babies which the authorities are called on by the poor of +the city to bury in large numbers--far too poor to meet the cost of the +cheapest decent burial. Atop the stack of regulation coffins were the +nondescript receptacles made use of by the very poor--the most pathetic +a tiny box from the corner grocery. The bodies, some dozens of them, +lay like so much merchandise, awaiting shipment. + +"What a barbarity!" I heard Craig mutter, for even he, though now and +then forced to visit the place when one of his cases took him there, +especially when it was concerned with an autopsy, had never become +hardened to it. + +Often I had heard him denounce the primitive appointments, especially +in the autopsy rooms. The archaic attempts to utilize the Morgue for +scientific investigation were the occasion for practices that shocked +even the initiated. For the lack of suitable depositories for the +products of autopsies, these objects were plainly visible in rude +profusion when a door was opened to draw out a body for inspection. +About and around the slabs whereon the human bodies lay, in bottles and +in plates, this material which had no place except in the cabinets of a +laboratory was inhumanly displayed in profusion, close to corpses for +which a morgue is expected to provide some degree of reverential care. + +"You see," apologized the keeper, not averse to throwing the blame on +someone else, for it indeed was not his but the city's fault, "one +reason why so many bodies have to remain uncared for is that I could +show you cooling box after cooling box with some subject which figured +during the past few months in the police records. Why victims of +murders committed long ago should be held indefinitely, and their +growing numbers make it impossible to give proper places to each day's +temporary bodies, I can't say. Sometimes," he added with a sly dig at +Carton, "the only explanation seems to be that the District Attorney's +office has requested the preservation of the grisly relics." + +I could see that Carton was making a mental note that the practice +would be ended as far as his office was concerned. + +"So--you saw the story in the newspapers about Mr. Murtha," repeated +the keeper, not displeased to see us and at the publicity it gave him. +"It was I that discovered him--and yet many's the times some of the +boys that must have handled the body since it was picked up beside the +tracks must have seen him. It was too late to get anyone to take the +body away to-night, but the arrangements have all been made, and it +will be done early in the morning before anyone else sees Pat Murtha +here, as he shouldn't be. We've done what we could for him +ourselves--he was a fine gentleman and many's the boy that owes a boost +up in life to him." + +Reverentially even the hardened keeper drew out one of the best of the +drawer-like boxes. On the slab before us lay the body. Carton drew +back, excitedly, shocked. + +"It IS Murtha!" he exclaimed. + +I, too, looked at it quickly. The name as Carton pronounced it, in such +a place, had, to me at least, an unpleasant likeness to "murder." + +Kennedy had bent down and was examining the mutilated body minutely. + +"How do you suppose such a thing is possible--that he could lie about +the city, even here until the night keeper came on,--unknown?" asked +Carton, aghast. + +"I don't know," I said, "but I imagine that in connection with the +actual inadequacy of the equipment one would find reflected the same +makeshift character in the attitude and actions of those who handle the +city's dead. It used to be the case, at least, that the facilities for +keeping records were often almost totally neglected, and not through +the fault of the Morgue keepers, entirely. But, I understand it is +better now." + +"This is terrible," repeated Carton, averting his face. "Really, +Jameson, it makes me feel like a hound, for ever thinking that Murtha +might have been putting up a game on me. Poor old Murtha--I should have +preferred to remember him as the 'Smiling Boss' as everyone always +called him!" + +I called to mind the last time we had seen Murtha, in Carton's office +as the bearer of an offer which had made Carton almost beside himself +with anger at the thought of the insult that he would compromise with +the organization. What a contrast, this, with the Murtha who, in turn, +had been trembling with passion at Carton's refusal! + +And yet I could not but reflect on the strangeness of it all--the fact +that the organization, of which Murtha was a part, had by its neglect +and failure to care for the human side of government when there was +graft to be collected, brought about the very conditions which had made +possible such neglect of the district leader's body, as it had been +bandied back and forth, unwittingly by many who owed their very +positions to the organization. + +I could not help but think that if he had served humanity with one-half +the zeal which he had served graft, this could not have happened. + +The more I contemplated the case, the more tragic did it seem to me. I +longed for the assignment of writing the story for the Star--the chance +I would have had in the old days to bring in a story that would have +got me a nod of approval from my superior. I determined, as soon as +possible, to get the Star on the wire and try to express some of the +thoughts that were surging through my brain in the face of this awful +and unexpected occurrence. + +There he lay, alone, uncared for except by such rude hands as those of +the Morgue attendants. I could not help reflecting on the strange +vicissitudes of human life, and death, which levelled all distinctions +between men of high and low degree. Murtha had almost literally sprung +from the streets. His career had been one possible only in the social +and political conditions of his times. And now he had only by the +narrowest chance escaped a burial in a pauper's grave at the hands of +the city which he had helped Dorgan to debauch. + +Carton, too, I could see was overwhelmed. For the moment he did not +even think of how this blow to the System might affect his own chances. +It was only the pitiful wreck of a human being before us that he saw. + +I was not an expert on study of wounds, such as was Kennedy, who was +examining Murtha's body with minute care, now and then muttering under +his breath at the rough and careless handling it had received in its +various transfers about the city. But there were some terrible wounds +and disfigurements on the body, which added even more to the horror of +the case. + +One thing, I felt, was fortunate. Murtha had had no family. There had +been plenty of scandal about him, but as far as I knew there was no one +except his old cronies in the organization to be shocked by his loss, +no living tragedy left in the wake of this. + +"How do you suppose it happened?" I asked the night keeper. + +He shook his head doubtfully. "No one knows, of course," he replied +slowly. "But I think the big fellow got worse up there in that asylum. +He wasn't used to anything but having his own way, you know. They say +he must have waited his chance, after the dinner hour, when things were +quiet, and then slipped out while no one was looking. He may have been +crazy, but you can bet your life Pat Murtha was the smartest crazy man +they ever had up there. THEY couldn't hold him." + +"I see," I said, struck by the faith which the man had inspired even in +those who held the lowest of city positions. "But I meant how do you +suppose he was killed?" + +The attendant looked at me thoughtfully a while. "Young man," he +answered, "I ain't saying nothing and it may have been an accident +after all. Have you ever been up in that part of town?" + +I had not and said so. + +"Well," he continued, "those electric trains do sneak up on a fellow +fast. It may have been an accident, all right. The coroner up there +said so, and I guess he ought to know. It must have been late at +night--perhaps he was wandering away from the ordinary roads for fear +of being recaptured. No one knows--I guess no one will know, ever. But +it's a sad day for many of the boys. He helped a lot of 'em. And Mr. +Dorgan--he knows what a loss it is, too. I hear that it's hit the Chief +hard." + +The attendant, rough though he was and hardened by the daily succession +of tragedies, could not restrain an honest catch in his voice over the +passing of the "big fellow," as some of them called the "Smiling Boss." +It was a pretty good object lesson on the power of the system which the +organization had built up, how Murtha, and even the more distant Dorgan +himself, had endeared himself to his followers and henchmen. Perhaps it +was corrupt, but it was at least human, and that was a great deal in a +world full of inhumanities. In the face of what had happened, one felt +that much might be forgiven Murtha for his shortcomings, especially as +the era of the Murthas and Dorgans was plainly passing. + +"Here at least," whispered Carton, as we withdrew to a corner to escape +the palling atmosphere, "is one who won't worry about what happens to +that Black Book any more. I wonder what he really knew about it--what +secrets he carried away with him?" + +"I can't say," I returned. "But, one thing it does. It must relieve +Mrs. Ogleby's fears a bit. With Murtha out of the way there is one less +to gossip about what went on at Gastron's that night of the dinner." + +He said nothing and just then Kennedy straightened up, as though he had +finished his examination. We hurried over to him. I thought the look on +Craig's face was peculiar. + +"What is it--what did you find?" both Carton and I asked. + +Kennedy did not answer immediately. + +"I--I can't say," he answered slowly at length, as we thanked the +Morgue keeper for his courtesy and left the place. "In fact I'd rather +not say--until I know." + +I knew from previous experiences that it was of no use to try to quiz +Kennedy. He was a veritable Gradgrind for facts, facts, facts. As for +myself, I could not help wondering whether, after all, Murtha might not +have been the victim of foul play--and, if so, by whom? + + + + +XXII + +THE CANARD + + +We did not have to wait long for the secret of the robbery of Carton to +come out. It was not in any "extras," or in the morning papers the next +day, but it came through a secret source of information to the Reform +League. + +"A clerk in the employ of the organization who is really a detective +employed by the Reform League," groaned Carton, as he told us the story +himself the next morning at his office, "has just given us the +information that they have prepared a long and circumstantial story +about me--about my intimacy with Mrs. Ogleby and Murtha and some +others. The story of the robbery of my study is in the papers this +morning. To-morrow they plan to publish some photographs--alleged to +have been stolen." + +"Photographs--Mrs. Ogleby," repeated Kennedy. "Real ones?" + +"No," exclaimed Carton quickly, "of course not--fakes. Don't you see +the scheme? First they lay a foundation in the robbery, knowing that +the public is satisfied with sensations, and that they will be sure to +believe that the robbery was put up by some muckrakers to obtain +material for an expose. I wasn't worried last night. I knew I had +nothing to conceal." + +"Then what of it?" I asked naively. + +"A good deal of it," returned Carton excitedly, "The story is to be, as +I understand it, that the fake pictures were among those stolen from me +and that in a roundabout way they came into the possession of someone +in the organization, without their knowing who the thief was. Of course +they don't know who took them and the original plates or films are +destroyed, but they've concocted some means of putting a date on them +early in the spring." + +"What are they that they should take such pains with them?" persisted +Kennedy, looking fixedly at Carton. + +Carton met his look without flinching. "They are supposed to be +photographs of myself," he repeated. "One purports to represent me in a +group composed of Mrs. Ogleby, Murtha, another woman whom I do not even +know, and myself. I am standing between Murtha and Mrs. Ogleby and we +look very familiar. Another is a picture of the same four riding in a +car, owned by Murtha. Oh, there are several of them, of that sort." + +He paused as a dozen unspoken questions framed themselves in my mind. +"I don't hesitate to admit," he added, "that a few months ago I knew +Mrs. Ogleby--socially. But there was nothing to it. I never knew Murtha +well, and the other woman I never saw. At various times I have been +present at affairs where she was, but I know that no pictures were ever +taken, and even if there had been, I would not care, provided they told +the truth about them. What I do care about is the sworn allegation +that, I understand, is to accompany these--these fakes." + +His voice broke. "It's a lie from start to finish, but just think of +it, Kennedy," he went on. "Here is the story, and here, too, are the +pictures--at least they will be, in print, to-morrow. Now, you know +nothing could hurt the reform ticket worse than to have a scandal like +this raised at this time. There may be just enough people to believe +that there is some basis for the suspicion to turn the tide against me. +If it were earlier in the campaign, I might accept the issue, fight it +out to a finish, and in the turn of events I should have really the +best sort of campaign material. But it is too late now to expose such a +knavish trick on the Saturday before election." + +"Can't we buy them off?" I ventured, perplexed beyond measure at this +new and unexpected turn of events. + +"No, I won't," persisted Carton, shutting his square jaw doggedly. "I +won't be held up--even if that is possible." + +"Miss Ashton on the wire," announced a boy from the outer office. + +The look on Carton's face was a study. I saw directly what was the +trouble--far more important to him than a mere election. + +"Tell her--I'm out--will be back soon," he muttered, for the first time +hesitating to speak to her. + +"You see," he continued blackly, "I'll fight if it takes my last +dollar, but I won't allow myself to be blackmailed out of a cent--no, +not a cent," he thundered, a heightened look of determination fixing +the lines on his face as he brought his fist down with a rattling bang +on the desk. + +Kennedy was saying nothing. He was letting Carton ease his mind of the +load which had been suddenly thrust upon it. Carton was now excitedly +pacing the floor. + +"They believe plainly," he continued, growing more excited as he paced +up and down, "that the pictures will of course be accepted by the +public as among those stolen from me, and in that, I suppose, they are +right. The public will swallow it. If I say I'll prosecute, they'll +laugh and tell me to go ahead, that they didn't steal the pictures. Our +informant tells us that a hundred copies have been made of each and +that they have them ready to drop into the mail to the leading hundred +papers, not only of this city but of the state, in time for them to +appear Sunday. They think that no amount of denying on our part can +destroy the effect." + +"That's it," I persisted. "The only way is to buy them off." + +"But, Jameson," argued Carton, "I repeat--they are false. It is a plot +of Dorgan's, the last fight of a boss, driven into a corner, for his +life. And it is meaner than if he had attempted to forge a letter. +Pictures appeal to the eye much more than letters. That's what makes +the thing so dangerous. Dorgan knows how to make the best use of such a +roorback on the eve of an election and even if I not only deny but +prove that they are a fake, I'm afraid the harm will be done. I can't +reach all the voters in time. Ten see such a charge to one who sees the +denial." + +He looked from one to the other of us helplessly. "If we had a week or +two, it might be all right. But I can't make any move to-day without +making a fool of myself, nothing until they are published, as the last +big thing of the campaign. Monday and Tuesday morning do not give me +time to reply in the papers and hammer it in. Even if they were out +now, it would not give me time to make of it an asset instead of a +liability. And then, too, it means that I am diverted by this thing, +that I let up in the final efforts that we have so carefully planned to +cap the campaign. That in itself is as much as Dorgan wants, anyway." + +Kennedy had been, so far, little more than an interested listener, but +now he asked pointedly, "You have copies of the pictures?" + +"No--but I've been promised them this morning." + +"H'm," mused Craig, turning the crisis over in his mind. "We've had +alleged stolen and forged letters before, but alleged stolen and forged +photographs are new. I'm not surprised that you are alarmed, +Carton,--nor that Walter suggests buying them off. But I agree with +you, Carton--it's best to fight, to admit nothing, as you would imply +by any other method." + +"Then you think you can trace down the forger of those pictures before +it is too late?" urged Carton, leaning forward almost like a prisoner +in the dock to catch the words of the foreman of the jury. + +"I haven't said I can do that--yet," measured Craig with provoking +slowness. + +"Say, Kennedy, you're not going to desert me?" reproached Carton. + +Kennedy laughed as he put his hand on Carton's shoulder. + +"I've been afraid of something like this," he said, "ever since I began +to realize that you had once been--er--foolish enough to become even +slightly acquainted with that adventuress, Mrs. Ogleby. My advice is to +fight, not to get in wrong by trying to dicker, for that might amount +to confession, and suit Dorgan's purpose just as well. Photographs," he +added sententiously, "are like statistics. They don't lie unless the +people who make them do. But it's hard to tell what a liar can +accomplish with either, in an election. I--I don't know that I'd desert +you--if the pictures were true. I'd be sure there was some other +explanation." + +"I knew it," responded Carton heartily. "Your hand on that, Kennedy. +Say, I think I've shaken hands with half the male population of this +city since I was nominated, but this means more than any of them. Spare +no reasonable expense and--get the goods, no matter whom it hits higher +up--Langhorne--anybody. And, for God's sake get it in time--there's +more than an election that hangs on it!" + +Carton looked Kennedy squarely in the eye again, and we all understood +what it was he meant that was at stake. It might be possible after all +to gloss over almost anything and win the election, but none of us +dared to think what it might mean if Miss Ashton not only suspected +that Carton had been fraternizing with the bosses but also that there +had been or by some possibility could be anything really in common +between him and Mrs. Ogleby. + +That, after all, I saw was the real question. How would Miss Ashton +take it? Could she ever forgive him if it were possible for Langhorne +to turn the tables and point with scorn at the man who had once been +his rival for her hand? What might be the effect on her of any +disillusionment, of any ridicule that Langhorne might artfully heap up? +As we left Carton, I shared with Kennedy his eagerness to get at the +truth, now, and win the fight--the two fights. + +"I want to see Miss Ashton, first," remarked Kennedy when we were +outside. + +Personally I thought that it was a risky business, but felt that +Kennedy must know best. + +When we arrived at the Reform League headquarters, the clerks and girls +had already set to work, and the office was a hive of industry in the +rush of winding up the campaign. Typewriters were clicking, clippings +were being snipped out of a huge stack of newspapers and pasted into +large scrapbooks, circulars were being folded and made ready to mail +for the final appeal. + +Carton's office there had been in the centre of the suite. On one side +were the cashier and bookkeeper, the clerical force and the speakers' +bureau, where spellbinders of all degrees were getting instructions, +final tours were being laid out, and reports received of meetings +already held. + +On the other side was the press bureau, with its large and active +force, in charge of Miss Ashton. + +As we entered we saw Miss Ashton very busy over something. Her back was +toward us, but the moment she turned at hearing us we could see that +something was the matter. + +Kennedy wasted no time in coming to the point of his visit. We had +scarcely seated ourselves beside her desk when he leaned over and said +in a low voice, "Miss Ashton, I think I can trust you. I have called to +see you about a matter of vital importance to Mr. Carton." + +She did not betray even by a fleeting look on her proud face what the +true state of her feelings was. + +"I don't know whether you know, but an attempt is being made to slander +Mr. Carton," went on Kennedy. + +Still she said nothing, though it was evident that she was thinking +much. + +"I suppose in a large force like this that it is not impossible that +your political enemies may have a spy or two," observed Kennedy, +glancing about at the score or more clerks busily engaged in getting +out the "literature." + +"I have sometimes thought that myself," she murmured, "but of course I +don't know. There isn't anything for them to discover in THIS office, +though." + +Kennedy looked up quickly at the significant stress on the word "this." +She saw that Kennedy was watching. Margaret Ashton might have made a +good actress, that is, in something in which her personal feelings were +not involved, as they were in this case. She was now pale and agitated. + +"I--I can't believe it," she managed to say. "Oh, Mr. Kennedy--I would +almost rather not have known it at all,--only I suppose I must have +known it sooner or later." + +"Believe me, Miss Ashton," soothed Kennedy, "you ought to know. It is +on you that I depend for many things. But, tell me, how do you know +already? I didn't think--it was known." + +She was still pale, and replied nervously, "Our detective in the +organization brought the pictures up here--one of the girls opened them +by mistake--it got about the office--I couldn't help but know." + +"Miss Ashton," remonstrated Kennedy soothingly, "I beg you to be calm. +I had no idea you would take it like this, no idea. Please, please. +Remember pictures can lie--just like words." + +"I--I hope you're right," she managed to reply slowly. "I'm all broken +up by it. I'm ready to resign. My faith in human nature is shaken. No, +I won't say anything about Mr. Carton to anyone. But it cuts me to have +to think that Hartley Langhorne may have been right. He always used to +say that every man had his price. I am afraid this will do great harm +to the cause of reform and through it to the woman suffrage cause which +made me cast myself in with the League. I--I can hardly believe--" + +Kennedy was still looking earnestly at her. "Miss Ashton," he implored, +"believe nothing. Remember one of the first rules of politics in the +organization you are fighting is loyalty. Wait until--" + +"Wait?" she echoed. "How can I? I hate Mr. Carton for--for even +knowing--" she paused just in time to substitute Mr. Murtha for Mrs. +Ogleby--"such men as Mr. Murtha--secretly." + +She bit her lip at thus betraying her feelings, but what she had seen +had evidently affected her deeply. It was as though the feet of her +idol had turned to clay. + +"Just think it over," urged Kennedy. "Don't be too harsh. Don't do +anything rash. Suspend judgment. You won't regret it." + +Kennedy was apparently doing some rapid thinking. "Let me have the +photographs," he asked at length. + +"They are in Mr. Carton's office," she answered, as if she would not +soil her hands by touching the filthy things. + +We excused ourselves and went into Carton's office. + +There they were wrapped up, and across the package was written by one +of the clerks, "Opened by mistake." + +Kennedy opened the package again. Sure enough, there were the +photographs--as plain as they could be, the group including Carton, +Mrs. Ogleby, Murtha, and another woman, standing on the porch of a +gabled building in the sunshine, again the four speeding in a touring +car, of which the number could be read faintly, and other less +interesting snapshots. + +As I looked at them I said nothing, but I must admit that the whole +thing began to assume a suspicious look in my mind in connection with +various hints I had heard dropped by organization men about probing +into the past, and other insinuations. I felt that far from aiding +Carton, things were now getting darker. There was nothing but his +unsupported word that he had not been in such groups to counterbalance +the existence of the actual pictures themselves, on the surface a +graphic clincher to Dorgan's story. Kennedy, however, after an +examination of the photographs clung no less tenaciously to a purpose +he already had in mind, and instead of leaving them for Carton, took +them himself, leaving a note instead. + +He stopped again to speak to Margaret Ashton. I did not hear all of the +conversation, but one phrase struck me, "And the worst of it is that he +called me up a little while ago and tried to act toward me in the same +old way--and that after I know what I know. I--I could detect it in his +voice. He knew he was concealing something from me." + +What Kennedy said to her, I do not know, but I don't think it had much +effect. + +"That's the most difficult and unfortunate part of the whole affair," +he sighed as we left. "She believes it." + +I had no comment that was worth while. What was to be done? If people +believed it generally, Carton was ruined. + + + + +XXIII + +THE CONFESSION + + +Dorgan was putting up a bold fight, at any rate. Everyone, and most of +all his opponents who had once thought they had him on the run, was +forced to admit that. Moreover, one could not help wondering at his +audacity, whatever might be the opinion of his dishonesty. + +But I was quite as much struck by the nerve of Carton. In the face of +gathering misfortunes many a man of less stern mettle might have gone +to pieces. Not so with the fighting District Attorney. It seemed to +spur him on to greater efforts. + +It was a titanic struggle, this between Carton and Dorgan, and had +reached the point where quarter was given or asked by neither. + +Kennedy had retired to his laboratory with the photographs and was +studying them with an increasing interest. + +It was toward the close of the afternoon when the telephone rang and +Kennedy motioned to me to answer it. + +"If it's Carton," he said quickly, "tell him I'm not here. I'm not +ready for him yet and I can't be interrupted." + +I took down the receiver, prepared to perjure my immortal soul. It was +indeed Carton, bursting with news and demanding to see Kennedy +immediately. + +Almost before I had finished with the carefully framed, glib excuse +that I was to make, he shouted to me over the wire, "What do you think, +Jameson? Tell him to come down right away. The impossible has happened. +I have got under Dopey Jack's guard--he has confessed. It's big. Tell +Kennedy I'll wait here at my office until he comes." + +He had hung up the receiver before I could question him further. I +think it cured Kennedy, temporarily of asking me to fib for him over +the telephone. He was as anxious as I to see Carton, now, and plunged +into the remaining work on the photographs eagerly. + +He finished much sooner than he would, otherwise, and only to preserve +the decency of the excuse that I had made did not hasten down to the +Criminal Courts Building before a reasonable time had elapsed. As we +entered Carton's office we could tell from the very atmosphere of the +halls that something was happening. The reporters in their little room +outside were on the qui vive and I heard a whisper and a busy +scratching of pencils as we passed in and the presence of someone else +in the District Attorney's office was noted. + +Carton met us in a little ante-room. He was all excitement himself, but +I could see that it was a clouded triumph. His mind was really +elsewhere than on the confession that he was getting. Although he did +not ask us, I knew that he was thinking only of Margaret Ashton and how +to regain the ground that he had apparently lost with her. Still, he +said nothing about the photographs. I wondered whether it was because +of his confidence that Kennedy would pull him through. + +"You know," he whispered, "I have been working with my assistants on +Dopey Jack ever since the conviction, hoping to get a confession from +him, holding out all sorts of promises if he would turn state's +evidence and threats if he didn't. It all had no effect. But Murtha's +death seems to have changed all that. I don't know why--whether he +thinks it was due to foul play or not, for he won't say anything about +that and evidently doesn't know--but it seems to have changed him." + +Carton said it as though at last a ray of light had struck in on an +otherwise black situation, and that was indeed the case. + +"I suppose," suggested Craig, "that as long as Murtha was alive he +would rather have died than say anything that would incriminate him. +That's the law of the gang world. But with Murtha no longer to be +shielded, perhaps he feels released. Besides, it must begin to look to +him as though the organization had abandoned him and was letting him +shift pretty much for himself." + +"That's it," agreed Carton. "He has never got it out of his head that +Kahn swung the case against him and I've been careful not to dwell on +the truth of that Kahn episode." + +Carton led us into his main office, where Rubano was seated with two of +Carton's assistants who were quizzing him industriously and obtaining +an amazing amount of information about gang life and political +corruption. In fact, like most criminals when they do confess, Dopey +Jack was in danger of confessing too much, in sheer pride at his own +prowess as a bad man. + +Outside, I knew that it was being well noised abroad, in fact I had +nodded to an old friend on the Star who had whispered to me that the +editor had already called him up and offered to give Rubano any sum for +a series of articles for the Sunday supplement on life in the +underworld. I knew, then, that the organization had heard of it, by +this time--too late. + +Most of the confession was completed by the time we arrived, but as it +had all been carefully taken down we knew we had missed nothing. + +"You see, Mr. Carton," Rubano was saying as we three entered and he +turned from the assistant who was quizzing him, "it's like this. I +can't tell you all about the System. No one can. You understand that. +All any of us know is the men next to us--above and below. We may have +opinions, hear gossip, but that's no good as evidence." + +"I understand," reassured Carton. "I don't expect that. You must tell +me the gossip and rumours, but all I am bartering a pardon for is what +you really know, and you've got to make good, or the deal is off, see?" + +He said it in a tone that Dopey Jack could understand and the gangster +protested. "Well, Mr. Carton, haven't I made good?" + +"You have so far," grudgingly admitted Carton who was greedy for +everything down to the uttermost scrap that might lead to other things. +"Now, who was the man above you, to whom you reported?" + +"Mr. Murtha, of course," replied Jack, surprised that anyone should ask +so simple a question. + +"That's all right," explained Carton. "I knew it, but I wanted you on +record as saying it. And above Murtha?" + +"Why, you know it is Dorgan," replied Dopey, "only, as I say, I can't +prove that for you any better than you can." + +"He has already told about his associates and those he had working +under him," explained Carton, turning to us. "Now Langhorne--what do +you know about him?" + +"Know about Langhorne--the fellow that was--that I robbed?" repeated +Jack. + +"You robbed?" cut in Kennedy. "So you knew about thermit, then?" + +Dopey smiled with a sort of pride in his work, much as if he had +received a splendid recommendation. + +"Yes," he replied. "I knew about it--got it from a peterman who has +studied safes and all that sort of thing. I heard he had some secret, +so one night I takes him up to Farrell's and gets him stewed and he +tells me. Then when I wants to use it, bingo! there I am with the +goods." + +"And the girl--Betty Blackwell--what did she have to do with it?" +pursued Craig. "Did you get into the office, learn Langhorne's habits, +and so on, from her?" + +Dopey Jack looked at us in disgust. "Say," he replied, "if I wanted a +skirt to help me in such a job, believe me I know plenty that could put +it all over that girl. Naw, I did it all myself. I picked the lock, +burnt the safe with that powder the guy give me, and took out something +in soft leather, a lot of typewriting." + +We were all on our feet in unrestrained excitement. It was the Black +Book at last! + +"Yes," prompted Carton, "and what then--what did you do with it?" + +"Gave it to Mr. Murtha, of course," came back the matter-of-fact answer +of the young tough. + +"What did he do with it?" demanded Carton. + +Dopey Jack shook his head dubiously. "It ain't no use trying to kid +you, Mr. Carton. If I told you a fake you'd find it out. I'd tell you +what he did, if I knew, but I don't--on the level. He just took it. +Maybe he burnt it--I don't know. I did my work." + +Unprincipled as the young man was, I could not help the feeling that in +this case he was telling only the truth as he knew it. + +We looked at each other aghast. What if Murtha had got it and had +destroyed it before his death? That was an end of the dreams we had +built on its capture. On the other hand, if he had hidden it there was +small likelihood now of finding it. The only chance, as far as I could +see, was that he had passed it along to someone else. And of that Dopey +Jack obviously knew nothing. + +Still, his information was quite valuable enough. He had given us the +first definite information we had received of it. + +Carton, his assistants, and Kennedy now vigorously proceeded in a sort +of kid glove third degree, without getting any further than convincing +themselves that Rubano genuinely did not know. + +"But the stenographer," reiterated Carton, returning to the line of +attack which he had temporarily abandoned. "Something became of her. +She disappeared and even her family haven't a trace of her, nor any +other institutions in the city. We've got something on you, there, +Rubano." + +Jack laughed. "Mr. Carton," he answered easily, "the police put me +through the mill on that without finding anything, and I don't believe +you have anything. But just to show you that I'm on the square with +you, I don't mind telling you that I got her away." + +It was dramatic, the off-hand way in which the gangster told of this +mystery that had perplexed us. + +"Got her away--how--where?" demanded Carton fiercely. + +"Mr Murtha gave me some money--a wad. I don't know who gave it to him, +but it wasn't his money. It was to pay her to stay away till this all +blew over. Oh, they made it worth her while. So I dolled up and saw +her--and she fell for it--a pretty good sized wad," he repeated, as +though he wished some of it had stuck to his own hands. + +We fairly gasped at the ease and simplicity with which the fellow +bandied facts that had been beyond our discovery for days. Here was +another link in our chain. We could not prove it, but in all +probability it was Dorgan who furnished the money. Even if the Black +Book were lost, it was possible that in the retentive memory of this +girl there might be much that would take its place. She had seen a +chance for providing for the future of herself and her family. All she +had to do was to take it and keep quiet. + +"You know where she is, then?" shot out Kennedy suddenly. + +"No--not now," returned Dopey. "She was told to meet me at the Little +Montmartre. She did. I don't think she knew what kind of place it was, +or she wouldn't have come." + +He paused, as though he had something on his mind. + +"Go on," urged Kennedy. "Tell all. You must tell all." + +"I was just thinking," he hesitated. "I remember I saw Ike the Dropper +and Marie Margot there that day, too, with Martin Ogleby--" + +"Martin Ogleby!" interrupted Carton in surprise. + +"Yes, Martin Ogleby. He hangs about the Montmartre and the Futurist, +all those joints. Say--I've been thinking a heap since this case of +mine came up. I wonder whether it was all on the level--with me. I gave +the money. But was that a stall? Perhaps they tried to get back. +Perhaps she played into their hands--I saw her watching the sports, +there, and believe me, there are some swell lookers. Oh well, _I_ don't +know. All I know is my part. I don't know anything that happened after +that. I can't tell what I don't know, can I, Mr. Carton?" + +"Not very well," smiled the prosecutor. "But you can tell us anything +you suspect." + +"I don't know what I suspect. I was only a part of the machine. Only +after I read that she disappeared, I began to think there might have +been some funny business--I don't know." + +Eager as we were, we could only accept this unsatisfactory explanation +of the whereabouts of Betty. + +"After all, I was only a part," reiterated Jack. "You better ask +Ike--that's all." + +Just then the telephone buzzed. Carton was busy and Kennedy, who +happened to be nearest, answered it. I fancied that there was a puzzled +expression on his face, as he placed his hand over the transmitter and +said to Carton, "Here--it's for you. Take it. By the way, where's that +thing I left down here for recording voices?" + +"Here in my desk. But you took the cylinder with you." + +"Haven't you got another? Don't you ever use them for dictating +letters?" + +Carton nodded and sent his stenographer to get a new one. + +"Just a minute, please," cut in Kennedy. "Mr. Carton will be here in a +few moments, now." + +Carton took the telephone and placed his hand over it, until, with a +nod from Kennedy as he affixed the machine, he answered. + +"Yes--this is the District Attorney," we heard him answer. "What? +Rubano? Why you can't talk to him. He's a convicted man. Here? How do +you know he's here? No--I wouldn't let you talk to him if he was. Who +are you, anyway? What's that--you threaten him--you threaten me? You'll +get us both, will you? Well, I want to tell you, you can go plumb--the +deuce! The fellow's cut himself off!" + +As Carton finished, a peculiar smile played about Rubano's features. "I +expected that, but not so soon," he said quietly. "New York'll be no +place for me, Mr. Carton, after this. You've got to keep your word and +smuggle me out. South Africa, you know--you promised." + +"I'll keep my word, Rubano, too," assured Carton. "The nerve of that +fellow. Where's Kennedy?" + +We looked about. Craig had slipped out quietly during the telephone +conversation. Before we could start a search for him, he returned. + +"I thought there was something peculiar about the voice," he explained. +"That was why I wanted a record of it. While you were talking I got +your switchboard operator to connect me with central on another wire. +The call was from a pay station on the west side. There wasn't a chance +to get the fellow, of course--but I have the voice record, anyhow." + +Dopey Jack's confession occupied most of the evening and it was late +when we got away. Carton was overjoyed at the result of his pressure, +and eager to know, on the other hand, whether Kennedy had made any +progress yet with his study of the photographs. + +I could have told him beforehand, however, that Craig would say nothing +and he did not. Besides, he had the added mystery of the new phonograph +cylinder to engross him, with the result that we parted from Carton, a +little piqued at being left out of Craig's confidence, but helpless. + +As for me, I knew it was useless to trail after Kennedy and when he +announced that he was going back to the laboratory, I balked and, in +spite of my interest in the case, went home to our apartment to bed, +while Kennedy made a night of it. + +What he discovered I knew no better in the morning than when I left +him, except that he seemed highly elated. + +Leisurely he dressed, none the worse for his late work and after +devouring the papers as if there were nothing else in the world so +important, he waited until the middle of the morning before doing +anything further. + +"I merely wanted to give Dorgan a chance to get to his office," he +surprised me with, finally. "Come, Walter, I think he must be there +now." + +Amazed at his temerity in bearding Dorgan in his very den, I could do +nothing but accompany him, though I much feared it was almost like +inviting homicide. + +The Boss's office was full of politicians, for it was now approaching +"dough day," when the purse strings of the organization were loosed and +a flood of potent argument poured forth to turn the tide of election by +the force of the only thing that talks loud enough for some men to +hear. Somehow, Kennedy managed to see the Boss. + +"Mr. Dorgan," began Kennedy quietly, when we were seated alone in the +little Sanctum of the Boss, "you will pardon me if I seem to be a +little slow in coming to the business that has brought me here this +morning. First of all I may say that you probably share the idea that +ever since the days of Daguerre photography has been regarded as the +one infallible means of portraying faithfully any object, scene, or +action. Indeed, a photograph is admitted in court as irrefutable +evidence. For, when everything else fails, a picture made through the +photographic lens almost invariably turns the tide. However, such a +picture upon which the fate of an important case may rest should be +subjected to critical examination, for it is an established fact that a +photograph may be made as untruthful as it may be reliable." + +He paused. Dorgan was regarding him keenly, but saying nothing. Kennedy +did not mind, as he resumed. + +"Combination photographs change entirely the character of the initial +negative and have been made for the past fifty years. The earliest, +simplest, and most harmless photographic deception is the printing of +clouds in a bare sky. But the retoucher with his pencil and etching +tool to-day is very skilful. A workman of ordinary ability can +introduce a person taken in a studio into an open-air scene well +blended and in complete harmony without a visible trace of falsity." + +Dorgan was growing interested. + +"I need say nothing of how one head can be put on another body in a +picture," pursued Craig, "nor need I say what a double exposure will +do. There is almost no limit to the changes that may be wrought in form +and feature. It is possible to represent a person crossing Broadway or +walking on Riverside Drive, places he may never have visited. Thus a +person charged with an offence may be able to prove an alibi by the aid +of a skilfully prepared combination photograph. + +"Where, then," asked Kennedy, "can photography be considered as +irrefutable evidence? The realism may convince all, except the expert +and the initiated after careful study. A shrewd judge will be careful +to insist that in every case the negative be submitted and examined for +possible alterations by a clever manipulator." + +Kennedy bent his gaze on Dorgan. "Now, I do not accuse you, sir, of +anything. But a photograph has come into my possession in which Mr. +Carton is represented as standing in a group on a porch, with Mr. +Murtha, Mrs. Ogleby, and an unknown woman. The first three are in poses +that show the utmost friendliness. I do not hesitate to say that was +originally a photograph of yourself, Mr. Murtha, Mrs. Ogleby, and a +woman whom you know well. It is a pretty raw deal, a fake in which +Carton has been substituted by very excellent photographic forgery." + +"A fake--huh!" repeated Dorgan, contemptuously. "How about the story of +them? There's no negative. You've got to show me that the original +print stolen from Carton, we'll say, is a fake. You can't do it. No, +sir, those pictures were taken this summer." + +Kennedy quietly laid down the bundle of photographs copied from those +alleged to have been stolen from Carton. He was pointing to a shadow of +a gable on the house. + +"You see that shadow of the gable, Dorgan?" he asked. "Perhaps you +never heard of it, but it is possible to tell the exact time at which a +photograph was taken from a study of the shadows. It is possible in +theory and practice, and it can be trusted absolutely. Almost any +scientist, Dorgan, may be called in to bear testimony in court +nowadays, but you probably think the astronomer is one of the least +likely. + +"Well, the shadow in this picture can be made to prove an alibi for +someone. Notice. It is seen prominently to the right, and its exact +location on the house is an easy matter. The identification of the +gable casting the shadow ought to be easy. To be exact, I have figured +it out as 19.62 feet high. The shadow is 14.23 feet down, 13.10 feet +east, and 3.43 feet north. You see, I am exact. I have to be. In one +minute it moves 0.080 feet upward, 0.053 feet to the right, and 0.096 +feet in its apparent path. It passes the width of a weatherboard, 0.37 +foot, in four minutes and thirty-seven seconds." + +Kennedy was talking rapidly of data which he had derived from the study +of the photograph as from plumb line, level, compass, and tape, +astronomical triangle, vertices, zenith, pole, and sun, declination, +azimuth, solar time, parallactic angles, refraction, and a dozen other +bewildering terms. + +"In spherical trigonometry," he concluded, "to solve the problem three +elements must be known. I know four. Therefore, I can take each of the +known, treat it as unknown, and have four ways to check my result. I +find that the time might have been either three o'clock, twenty-one +minutes and twelve seconds in the afternoon, or 3:21:31 or 3:21:29, or +3:21:33. The average is 3: 21:26 and there can be no appreciable error +except for a few seconds. I tell you that to show you how close I can +come. The important thing, however, is that the date must have been one +of two days, either May 22 or July 22. Between these two dates we must +decide on evidence other than the shadow. It must have been in May, as +the immature condition of the foliage shows. But even if it had been in +July, that would be far from the date you allege. Why, I could even +tell you the year. Then, too, I could look up the weather records and +tell something from them. I can really answer, with an assurance and +accuracy superior to the photographer himself, if you could produce him +and he were honest, as to the real date. The original picture, aside +from being doctored, was actually taken last May. Science is not +fallible, but exact in this matter." + +Kennedy felt that he had scored a palpable hit. Dorgan was speechless. +Still, Craig hurried on. + +"But, you may ask, how about the automobile picture? That also is an +unblushing fake. Of course I must prove that. In the first place you +know that the general public has come to recognize the distortion of a +photograph as denoting speed. A picture of a car in a race that doesn't +lean is rejected. People demand to see speed, speed, more speed, even +in pictures. Distortion does indeed show speed, but that, too, can be +faked. + +"Almost everyone knows that the image is projected upside down by the +lens on the plate, and that the bottom of the picture is taken before +the top. The camera mechanism admits light, which makes the picture, in +the manner of a roller blind curtain. The slit travels from the top to +the bottom and, the image on the plate being projected upside down, the +bottom of the object appears on the top of the plate. For instance, the +wheels are taken before the head of the driver. If the car is moving +quickly, the image moves on the plate and each successive part is taken +a little in advance of the last. The whole leans forward. By widening +the slit and slowing the speed of the shutter, there is more distortion. + +"Now, that is just what has been done. A picture has been taken of a +car owned once by Murtha, probably at rest, with perhaps yourself, +Murtha, Mrs. Ogleby, and your friend in it. The matter of faking Carton +or anyone else is simple. If, with an enlarging lantern, the image of +this faked picture is thrown on the printing paper like a lantern +slide, and if the right-hand side is moved a little further away than +the left, the top further away than the bottom, you can in that way +print a fraudulent high-speed picture ahead. + +"True, everything else in the picture, even if motionless, is +distorted, and the difference between this faking and the distortion of +the shutter can be seen by an expert. But it will pass with most +people. In this case, however," added Kennedy suddenly, "the faker was +so sure of it that he was careless. Instead of getting the plate +further from the paper on the right, he did so on the left. It was +further away on the bottom than on the top. He got the distortion, all +right, enough to satisfy anyone. But it is distortion in the wrong +direction! The top of the wheel, which goes fastest and ought to be +most indistinct, is, in the fake, as sharp as any other part. It is a +small mistake that was made, but fatal. Your picture is not of a joy +ride at all. It is really high speed--backwards! It is too raw, too +raw." + +"You don't think people are going to swallow all that stuff, do you?" +asked Dorgan coolly, in spite of the exposures. "What of it all?" he +asked surlily. "I have nothing to do with it, anyhow. Why do you come +to me? Take it to the proper authorities." + +"Shall I?" asked Kennedy quietly, leaning over and whispering a few +words in Dorgan's ear. I could not hear what he said, but Dorgan +appeared to be fairly staggered. + +When Kennedy passed out of the Boss's office there was a look of quiet +satisfaction on his face which I could not fathom. Not a word could I +extract from him on the subject, either. I was still in the dark as to +the result of his visit. + + + + +XXIV + +THE DEBACLE OF DORGAN + + +Sunday morning came and with it the huge batch of papers which we +always took. I looked at them eagerly, though Kennedy did not seem to +evince much interest, to see whether the Carton photographs had been +used. There were none. + +Kennedy employed the time in directing some work of his own and had +disappeared, I knew not where, though I surmised it was on one of his +periodic excursions into the underworld in which he often knocked +about, collecting all sorts of valuable and interesting bits of +information to fit together in the mosaic of a case. + +Monday came, also, the last day before the election, with its lull in +the heart-breaking activities of the campaign. There were still no +pictures published, but Kennedy was working in the laboratory over a +peculiar piece of apparatus. + +"I've been helping out my own shadows," was all the explanation he +vouchsafed of his disappearances, as he continued to work. + +"Watching Mrs. Ogleby?" I hinted. + +"No, I didn't interfere any more with Miss Kendall. This was someone +else--in another part of the city." + +He said it with an air that seemed to imply that I would learn all +about it shortly and I did not pursue the subject. + +Meanwhile, he was arranging something on the top of a large, flat +table. It seemed to be an instrument in two parts, composed of many +levers and discs and magnets, each part with a roll of paper about five +inches wide. + +On one was a sort of stylus with two silk cords attached at right +angles to each other near the point. On the other was a capillary glass +tube at the junction of two aluminum arms, also at right angles to each +other. + +It was quite like old times to see Kennedy at work in his laboratory +again, and I watched him curiously. Two sets of wires were attached to +each of the instruments, and they led out of the window to some other +wires which had been strung by telephone linemen only a few hours +before. + +Craig had scarcely completed his preparations when Carton arrived. +Things were going all right in the campaign again, I knew, at least as +far as appeared on the surface. But his face showed that Carton was +clearly dissatisfied with what Craig had apparently accomplished, for, +as yet, he had not told Carton about his discovery after studying the +photographs, and matters between Carton and Margaret Ashton stood in +the same strained condition that they had when last we saw her. + +I must say that I, too, was keenly disappointed by the lack of +developments in this phase of the case. Aside from the fact that the +photographs had not actually been published, the whole thing seemed to +me to be a mess. What had Craig said to Dorgan? Above all, what was his +game? Was he playing to spare the girl's feelings merely by allowing +the election to go on without a scandal to Carton? I knew the result of +the election was now the least of Carton's worries. + +Carton did not say much, but he showed that he thought it high time for +Kennedy to do something. + +We were seated about the flat table, wondering when Kennedy would break +his silence, when suddenly, as if by a spirit hand, the stylus before +us began to move across one of the rolls of paper. + +We watched it uncomprehendingly. + +At last I saw that it was actually writing the words. "How is it +working?" + +Quickly Craig seized the stylus on the lower part of the instrument and +wrote in his characteristic scrawl, "All right, go ahead." + +"What is the thing?" asked Carton, momentarily forgetting his own +worries at the new marvel before us. + +"An instrument that was invented many years ago, but has only recently +been perfected for practical, every-day use, the telautograph, the +long-distance writer," replied Kennedy, as we waited. "You see, with +what amounts to an ordinary pencil I have written on the paper of the +transmitter. The silk cord attached to the pencil regulates the current +which controls another capillary glass tube-pen at the other end of the +line. The receiving pen moves simultaneously with my stylus. It is the +same principle as the pantagraph, cut in half as it were, one half +here, the other half at the other end of the line, two telephone wires +in this case connecting the halves. Ah,--that's it. The pencil of the +receiving instrument is writing again. Just a moment. Let us see what +it is." + +I almost gasped in astonishment at the words that I saw. I looked +again, for I could not believe my eyes. Still, there it was. My first +glance had been correct, impossible as it was. + +"I, Patrick Murtha," wrote the pen. + +"What is it?" asked Carton, awestruck. "A dead hand?" + +"Stop a minute," wrote Kennedy hastily. + +We bent over him closely. Craig had drawn from a packet several +letters, which he had evidently secured in some way from the effects of +Murtha. Carefully, minutely, he compared the words before us with the +signatures at the bottom of the letters. + +"It is genuine!" he cried excitedly. + +"Genuine!" Carton and I echoed. + +What did he mean? Was this some kind of spiritism? Had Kennedy turned +medium and sought a message from the other world to solve the +inexplicable problems of this? It was weird, uncanny, unthinkable. We +turned to him blankly for an explanation of the mystery. + +"That wasn't Murtha at all whose body we saw at the Morgue," he hurried +to explain. "That was all a frame-up. I thought as soon as I saw it +that there was something queer." + +I recalled now the peculiar look on his face which I had interpreted as +indicating that he thought Murtha had been the victim of foul play. + +"And the other night, when we were in Carton's office and someone +called up threatening you, Carton, and Dopey Jack, I saw at once that +the voice was concealed. Yet there was something about it that was +familiar, though I couldn't quite place it. I had heard that voice +before, perhaps while we were getting the records to discover the +'wolf.' It occurred to me that if I had a record of it I might identify +it by comparing it with those we had already taken. I got the record. I +studied it. I compared it with what I already had, line, and wave, and +overtone. You can imagine how I felt when I found there was only one +voice with which it corresponded, and that man was supposed to be dead. +Something more than intuition as I looked at the body that night had +roused my suspicions. Now they were confirmed. Fancy how that +information must have burned in my mind, during these days while I knew +that Murtha was alive, but could say nothing!" + +Neither Carton nor I could say a word as we thought of this voice from +the dead, as it almost seemed. + +"I hadn't found him," continued Craig, "but I knew he had used a pay +station on the West Side. I began shadowing everyone who might have +helped him, Dorgan, Kahn, Langhorne, all. I didn't find him. They were +too clever. He was hiding somewhere in the city, a changed personality, +waiting for the thing to blow over. He knew that of all places a city +is the best to hide in, and of all cities New York is safest. + +"But, though I didn't actually find his hiding place, I had enough on +some of his friends so that I could get word to him that his secret was +known to me, at least. I made him an offer of safety. He need not come +out of his hiding place and I would agree to let him go where and when +he pleased without further pursuit from me, if he would let me install +a telautograph in a neutral place which he could select and the other +end in this laboratory. I myself do not know where the other place is. +Only a mechanic sworn to secrecy knows and neither Murtha nor myself +know him. If Murtha comes across, I have given my word of honour that +before the world he shall remain a dead man, free to go where he +pleases and enjoy such of his fortune as he was able to fix so that he +could carry it with him into his new life." + +Carton and I were entranced by the romance of the thing. + +Murtha was alive! + +The commitment to the asylum, the escape, the search, the finding of a +substitute body, mutilated beyond ordinary recognition, the mysterious +transfers, and finally the identification in the Morgue--all had been +part of an elaborately staged play! + +We saw it all, now. Carton had got too close to him in the conviction +of Dopey Jack and the proceedings against Kahn. He had seen the +handwriting on the wall for himself. In Carton's gradual climbing, step +by step, for the man higher up, he would have been the next to go. + +Murtha had decided that it was time to get out, to save himself. + +Suddenly, I saw another aspect of it. By dropping out as though dead, +he destroyed a link in the chain that would reach Dorgan. There was no +way of repairing that link if he were dead. It was missing and missing +for good. + +Dorgan had known it. Had it been a hint as to that which had finally +clinched whatever it was that Kennedy had whispered to the Silent Boss +that morning when we had seen him in his office? + +All these thoughts and more flashed through my head with lightning-like +rapidity. + +The telautograph was writing again, obedient to Kennedy's signal that +he was satisfied with the signature. + +"... in consideration of Craig Kennedy's agreement to destroy even this +record, agree to give him such information as he has asked for, after +which no further demands are to be made and the facts as already +publicly recorded are to stand." + +"Just witness it," asked Kennedy of us. "It is a gentleman's agreement +among us all." + +Nervously we set our names to the thing, only too eager to keep the +secret if we could further the case on which we had been almost +literally sweating blood so long. + +Prepared though we were for some startling disclosures, it was, +nevertheless, with a feeling almost of faintness that we saw the stylus +above moving again. + +"The Black Book, as you call it," it wrote, "has been sent by messenger +to be deposited in escrow with the Gotham Trust Company to be +delivered, Tuesday, the third of November, on the written order of +Craig Kennedy and John Carton. An officer of the trust company will +notify you of its receipt immediately, which will close the entire +transaction as far as I am concerned." + +Kennedy could not wait. He had already seized his own telephone and was +calling a number. + +"They have it," he announced a moment later, scrawling the information +on the transmitter of the telautograph. + +A moment it was still, then it wrote again. + +"Good-bye and good luck," it traced. "Murtha!" + +The Smiling Boss could not resist his little joke at the end, even now. + +"Can--we--get it?" asked Carton, almost stunned at the unexpected turn +of events. + +"No," cautioned Kennedy, "not yet. To-morrow. I made the same promise +to Murtha that I made to Dorgan, when I went to him with Walter, +although Walter did not hear it. This is to be a fair fight, for the +election, now." + +"Then," said Carton earnestly, "I may as well tell you that I shall not +sleep to-night. I can't, even if I can use the book only after election +in the clean-up of the city!" + +Kennedy laughed. + +"Perhaps I can entertain you with some other things," he said +gleefully, adding, "About those photographs." + +Carton was as good as his word. He did not sleep, and the greater part +of the night we spent in telling him about what Craig had discovered by +his scientific analysis of the faked pictures. + +At last morning came. Though Kennedy and I had slept soundly in our +apartment, Carton had in reality only dozed in a chair, after we closed +the laboratory. + +Slowly the hours slipped away until the trust company opened. + +We were the first to be admitted, with our order ready signed and +personally delivered. + +As the officer handed over the package, Craig tore the wrapper off +eagerly. + +There, at last, was the Black Book! + +Carton almost seized it from Kennedy, turning the pages, skimming over +it, gloating like a veritable miser. + +It was the debacle of Dorgan--the end of the man highest up! + + + + +XXV + +THE BLOOD CRYSTALS + + +Much as we had accomplished, we had not found Betty Blackwell. Except +for her shadowing of Mrs. Ogleby, Clare Kendall had devoted her time to +winning the confidence of the poor girl, Sybil Seymour, whom we had +rescued from Margot's. Meanwhile, the estrangement of Carton and +Margaret Ashton threw a cloud over even our success. + +During the rest of the morning Craig was at work again in the +laboratory. He was busily engaged in testing something through his +powerful microscopes and had a large number of curious microphotographs +spread out on the table. As I watched him, apparently there was nothing +but the blood-stained gauze bandage which had been fastened to the face +of the strange, light-haired woman, and on the stains on this bandage +he was concentrating his attention. I could not imagine what he +expected to discover from it. + +I waited for Kennedy to speak, but he was too busy more than to notice +that I had come in. I fell to thinking of that woman. And the more I +thought of the fair face, the more I was puzzled by it. I felt somehow +or other that I had seen it somewhere before, yet could not place it. + +A second time I examined the unpublished photograph of Betty Blackwell +as well as the pictures that had been published. The only conclusion +that I could come to was that it could not be she, for although she was +light-haired and of fair complexion, the face as I remembered it was +that of a mature woman who was much larger than the slight Betty. I was +sure of that. + +Every time I reasoned it out I came to the same contradictory +conclusion that I had seen her, and I hadn't. I gave it up, and as +Kennedy seemed indisposed to enlighten me, I went for a stroll about +the campus, returning as if drawn back to him by a lodestone. + +About him was still the litter of test tubes, the photographs, the +microscopes; and he was more absorbed in his delicate work than ever. + +He looked up from his examination of a little glass slide and I could +see by the crow's feet in the corners of his eyes that he was not +looking so much at me as through me at a very puzzling problem. + +"Walter," he remarked at length, "did you notice anything in particular +about that blonde woman who dashed down the steps into the taxicab and +escaped from the dope joint?" + +"I should say that I did," I returned, glad to ease my mind of what had +been perplexing me ever since. "I don't want to appear to be foolish, +but, frankly, I thought I had seen her before, and then when I tried to +place her I found that I could not recognize her at all. She seemed to +be familiar, and yet when I tried to place her I could think of no one +with just those features. It was a foolish impression, I suppose." + +"That's exactly it," he exclaimed. "I thought at first it was just a +foolish impression, too, an intuition which my later judgment rejected. +But often those first impressions put you on the track of the truth. I +reconsidered. You remember she had dropped that bandage from her face +with the blood-stain on it. I picked it up and it occurred to me to try +a little experiment with these blood-stains which might show something." + +He paused a moment and fingered some of the microphotographs. + +"What would you say," he went on, "if I should tell you that a +pronounced blonde, with a fair complexion and thin, almost hooked, +nose, was in reality a negress?" + +"If it were anyone but you, Craig," I replied frankly, "I'd be tempted +to call him something. But you--well, what's the answer? How do you +know?" + +"I wonder if you have ever heard of the Reichert blood test? Well, the +Carnegie Institution has recently published an account of it. Professor +Edward Reichert of the University of Pennsylvania has discovered that +the blood crystals of all animals and men show characteristic +differences. + +"It has even been suggested that before the studies are over +photographs of blood corpuscles may be used to identify criminals, +almost like fingerprints. There is much that can be discovered already +by the use of these hemoglobin clues. That hemoglobin, or red colouring +matter of the blood, forms crystals has been known for a long time. +These crystals vary in different animals, as they are studied under the +polarizing microscope, both in form and molecular structure. That is of +immense importance for the scientific criminologist. + +"A man's blood is not like the blood of any other living creature, +either fish, flesh, or fowl. Further, it is said that the blood of a +woman or a man and of different individuals shows differences that will +reveal themselves under certain tests. You can take blood from any +number of animals and the scientists to-day can tell that it is not +human blood, but the blood, say, of an animal. + +"The scientists now can go further. They even hope soon to be able to +tell the difference between individuals so closely that they can trace +parentage by these tests. Already they can actually distinguish among +the races of men, whether a certain sample of blood, by its crystals, +is from a Chinaman, a Caucasian, or a negro. Each gives its own +characteristic crystal. The Caucasian shows that he is more closely +related to one group of primates; the negro to another. It is +scientific proof of evolution. + +"It is all the more wonderful, Walter, when you consider that these +crystals are only 1-2250th of an inch in length and 1-9000th of an inch +in width." + +"How do you study them?" I asked. + +"The method I employed was to take a little of the blood and add some +oxalate of ammonium to it, then shake it up thoroughly with ether to +free the hemoglobin from the corpuscles. I then separated the ether +carefully from the rest of the blood mixture and put a few drops of it +on a slide, covered them with a cover slip and sealed the edges with +balsam. Gradually the crystals appear and they can be studied and +photographed in the usual way--not only the shapes of the crystals, but +also the relation that their angles bear to each other. So it is +impossible to mistake the blood of one animal for another or of one +race, like the white race, for that of another, like the black. In fact +the physical characteristics by which some physicians profess to detect +the presence of negro blood are held by other authorities to be +valueless. But not so with this test." + +"And you have discovered in this case?" I asked. + +"That the blood on the bandage from the face of that woman who escaped +was not the blood of a pure Caucasian. She shows traces of negro blood, +in fact exactly what would have been expected of a mulatto." + +It dawned on me that the woman must have been Marie, after all; at +least that that was what he meant. + +"But," I objected, "one look at her face was enough to show that she +was not the dark-skinned Marie with her straight nose, her dark hair +and other features. This woman was fair, had a nose that was almost +hooked and hair that was almost flaxen. Remember the portrait parle." + +"Just so--the portrait parle. That is what I am remembering. You recall +Carton discovered that in some way these people found out that we were +using it? What would they do? Why, they have thought out the only +possible way in which to beat it, don't you see? + +"Marie, Madame Margot, whatever you call her, had a beauty parlour. Oh, +they are clever, these people. They reasoned it all out. What was a +beauty parlour, a cosmetic surgery, for, if it could not be used to +save them? They knew we had her scientific description. What was the +thing to do, then? Why, change it, of course, change her!" + +Kennedy was quite excited now. + +"You know what Miss Kendall said of decorative surgery, there? They +change noses, ears, foreheads, chins, even eyes. They put the thing up +to Dr. Harris with his knives and bandages and lotions. He must work +quickly. It would take all his time. So he disappeared into Margot's +and stayed there. Marie also stayed there until such time as she might +be able to walk out, another person entirely. Harris must have had +charge of her features. The attendants in Margot's had charge of her +complexion and hair--those were the things in which they specialized. + +"Don't you see it all now? She could retire a few days into the dope +joint next door and she would emerge literally a new woman ready to +face us, even with Bertillon's portrait parle against her." + +It was amazing how quickly Kennedy pieced the facts together into an +explanation. + +"Yes," he concluded triumphantly, "that blonde woman was our +dark-skinned mulatto made over--Marie. But they can't escape the power +of science, even by using science themselves. She might change her +identity to our eyes, but she could not before the Reichert test and +the microscope. No, the Ethiopian could not change her skin before the +eye of science." + +It was late in the afternoon that Kennedy received a hurried telephone +call from Miss Kendall. I could tell by the scraps of conversation +which I overheard that it was most important. + +"That girl, Sybil Seymour, has broken down," was all he said as he +turned from the instrument. "She will be here to-day with Miss Kendall. +You must see Carton immediately. Tell him not to fail to be here, at +the laboratory, this afternoon at three, sharp." + +He was gone before I could question him further and there was nothing +for me to do but to execute the commission he had laid on me. + +I met Carton at his club, relating to him all that I could about the +progress of the case. He seemed interested but I could see that his +mind was really not on it. The estrangement between him and Margaret +Ashton outweighed success in this case and even in the election. + +Half an hour before the appointed time, however, we arrived at the +laboratory in Carton's car, to find Kennedy already there, putting the +finishing touches on the preparations he was making to receive his +"guests." + +"Dorgan will be here," he answered, evading Carton's question as to +what he had discovered. + +"Dorgan?" we repeated in surprise. + +"Yes. I have made arrangements to have Martin Ogleby, too. They won't +dare stay away. Ike the Dropper, Dr. Harris, and Marie Margot have not +been found yet, but Miss Kendall will bring Sybil Seymour. Then we +shall see." + +The door opened. It was Ogleby. He bowed stiffly, but before he could +say anything, a noise outside heralded the arrival of someone else. + +It proved to be Dorgan, who had come from an opposite direction. Dorgan +seemed to treat the whole affair with contempt, which he took pleasure +in showing. He was cool and calm, master of himself, in any situation +no matter how hostile. + +As we waited, the strained silence, broken only by an occasional +whisper between Carton and Kennedy, was relieved even by the arrival of +Miss Kendall and Sybil Seymour in a cab. As they entered I fancied that +a friendship had sprung up between the two, that Miss Kendall had won +her fight for the girl. Indeed, I suspect that it was the first time in +years that the girl had had a really disinterested friend of either sex. + +I thought Ogleby visibly winced as he caught sight of Miss Seymour. He +evidently had not expected her, and I thought that perhaps he had no +relish for the recollection of the Montmartre which her presence +suggested. + +Miss Seymour, now like herself as she had appeared first behind the +desk at the hotel, only subdued and serious, seemed ill at ease. +Dorgan, on the other hand, bowed to her brazenly and mockingly. He was +evidently preparing against any surprises which Craig might have in +store, and maintained his usual surly silence. + +"Perhaps," hemmed Ogleby, clearing his throat and looking at his watch +ostentatiously, "Professor Kennedy can inform us regarding the purpose +of this extra-legal proceeding? Some of us, I know, have other +engagements. I would suggest that you begin, Professor." + +He placed a sarcastic emphasis on the word "professor," as the two men +faced each other--Craig tall, clean-cut, earnest; Ogleby polished, +smooth, keen. + +"Very well," replied Craig with that steel-trap snap of his jaws which +I knew boded ill for someone. + +"It is not necessary for me to repeat what has happened at the +Montmartre and the beauty parlour adjoining it," began Kennedy +deliberately. "One thing, however, I want to say. Twice, now, I have +seen Dr. Harris handing out packets of drugs--once to Ike the Dropper, +agent for the police and a corrupt politician, and once to a mulatto +woman, almost white, who conducted the beauty parlour and dope joint +which I have mentioned, a friend and associate of Ike the Dropper, a +constant go-between from Ike to the corrupt person higher up. + +"This woman, whom I have just mentioned, we have been seeking by use of +Bertillon's new system of the portrait parle. She has escaped, for the +time, by a very clever ruse, by changing her very face in the beauty +parlour. She is Madame Margot herself!" + +Not a word was breathed by any of the little audience as they hung on +Kennedy's words. + +"Why was it necessary to get Betty Blackwell out of the way?" he asked +suddenly, then without waiting for an answer, "You know and District +Attorney Carton knows. Someone was afraid of Carton and his crusade. +Someone wanted to destroy the value of that Black Book, which I now +have. The only safety lay in removing the person whose evidence would +be required in court to establish it--Betty Blackwell. And the manner? +What more natural than to use the dope fiends and the degenerates of +the Montmartre gang?" + +"That's silly," interrupted Ogleby contemptuously. + +"Silly? You can say that--you, the tool of that--that monster?" + +It was a woman's voice that interrupted. I turned. Sybil Seymour, her +face blazing with resentment, had risen and was facing Ogleby squarely. + +"You lie!" exclaimed the Silent Boss, forgetting both his silence and +his superciliousness. + +The situation was tense as the girl faced him. + +"Go on, Sybil," urged Clare. + +"Be careful, woman," cried Dorgan roughly. + +Sybil Seymour turned quickly to her new assailant. "You are the man for +whom we were all coined into dollars," she scorned, +"Dorgan--politician, man higher up! You reaped the profits through your +dirty agent, Ike the Dropper, and those over him, even the police you +controlled. Dr. Harris, Marie Margot, all are your tools--and the worst +of them all is this man Martin Ogleby!" + +Dorgan's face was livid. For once in his life he was speechless rather +than silent, as the girl poured out the inside gossip of the Montmartre +which Kennedy had now stamped with the earmarks of legal proof. + +She had turned from Dorgan, as if from an unclean animal and was now +facing Ogleby. + +"As for you, Martin Ogleby, they call you a club-man and society +leader. Do you want to know what club I think you really belong to--you +who have involved one girl after another in the meshes of this devilish +System? You belong to the Abduction Club--that is what I would call +it--you--you libertine!" + + + + +XXVI + +THE WHITE SLAVE + + +Carton had sprung to his feet at the direct charge and was facing +Ogleby. + +"Is that true--about the Montmartre?" he demanded. + +Ogleby fairly sputtered. "She lies," he almost hissed. + +"Just a moment," interrupted Dorgan. "What has that to do with Miss +Blackwell, anyhow?" + +Sybil Seymour did not pause. + +"It is true," she reiterated. "This is what it has to do with Betty +Blackwell. Listen. He is the man who led me on, who would have done the +same to Betty Blackwell. I yielded, but she fought. They could not +conquer her--neither by drugs nor drink, nor by clothes, nor a good +time, nor force. I saw it all in the Montmartre and the beauty +parlour--all." + +"Lies--all lies," hissed Ogleby, beside himself with anger. + +"No, no," cried Sybil. "I do not lie. Mr. Carton and this good woman, +Miss Kendall, who is working for him, are the first people I have seen +since you, Martin Ogleby, brought me to the Montmartre, who have ever +given me a chance to become again what I was before you and your +friends got me." + +"Have a care, young woman," interrupted Dorgan, recovering himself as +she proceeded. "There are laws and--" + +"I don't care a rap about laws such as yours. As for gangs--that was +what you were going to say--I'd snap my fingers in the face of Ike the +Dropper himself if he were here. You could kill me, but I would tell +the truth. + +"Let me tell you my case," she continued, turning in appeal to the rest +of us, "the case of a poor girl in a small city near New York, who +liked a good time, liked pretty clothes, a ride in an automobile, +theatres, excitement, bright lights, night life. I liked them. He knew +that. He led me on, made me like him. And when I began to show the +strain of the pace--we all show it more than the men--he cast me aside, +like a squeezed-out lemon." + +Sybil Seymour was talking rapidly, but she was not hysterical. + +"Already you know Betty Blackwell's story--part of it," she hurried on. +"Miss Kendall has told me--how she was bribed to disappear. But beyond +that--what?" + +For a moment she paused. No one said a word. Here at last was the one +person who held the key to the mystery. + +"She did disappear. She kept her word. At last she had money, the one +thing she had longed for. At last she was able to gratify those desires +to play the fashionable lady which her family had always felt. What +more natural, then, than while she must keep in hiding to make one +visit to the beauty parlour to which so many society women +went--Margot's? It was there that she went on the day that she +disappeared." + +We were hanging breathlessly now on the words of the girl as she +untangled the sordid story. + +"And then?" prompted Kennedy. + +"Then came into play another arm of the System," she replied. "They +tried to make sure that she would disappear. They tried the same arts +on her that they had on me--this man and the gang about him. He played +on her love of beauty and Madame Margot helped him. He used the +Montmartre and the Futurist to fascinate her, but still she was not +his. She let herself drift along, perhaps because she knew that her +family was every bit the equal socially of his own. Madame Margot tried +drugs; first the doped cigarette, then drugs that had to be forced on +her. She kept her in that joint for days by force; and there where I +went for relief day after day from my own bitter thoughts I saw her, in +that hell which Miss Kendall now by her evidence will close forever. +Still she would not yield. + +"I saw it all. Maybe you will say I was jealous because I had lost him. +I was not. I hated him. You do not know how close hate can be to love +in the heart of a woman. I could not help it. I had to write a letter +that might save her. + +"Miss Kendall has told me about the typewritten letters; how you, +Professor Kennedy, traced them to the Montmartre. I wrote them, I +admit, for these people. I wrote that stuff about drugs for Dr. Harris. +And I wrote the first letter of all to the District Attorney. I wrote +it for myself and signed it as I am--God forgive me--'An Outcast.'" + +The poor girl, overwrought by the strain of the confession that laid +bare her very soul, sank back in her chair and cried, as Miss Kendall +gently tried to soothe her. + +Dorgan and Ogleby listened sullenly. Never in their lives had they +dreamed of such a situation as this. + +There was no air of triumph about Kennedy now over the confession, +which with the aid of Miss Kendall, he had staged so effectively. +Rather it was a spirit of earnestness, of retribution, justice. + +"You know all this?" he inquired gently of the girl. + +"I saw it," she said simply, raising her bowed head. + +Dorgan had been doing some quick thinking. He leaned over and whispered +quickly to Ogleby. + +"Why was she not discovered then when these detectives broke into the +private house--an act which they themselves will have to answer for +when the time comes?" demanded Ogleby. + +It seemed as if the mere sound of his voice roused the girl. + +"Because it was dangerous to keep her there any longer," she replied. +"I heard the talk about the hotel, the rumour that someone was using +this new French detective scheme. I heard them blame the District +Attorney--who was clever enough to have others working on the case whom +you did not know. While you were watching his officers, Mr. Kennedy and +Miss Kendall were gathering evidence almost under your very eyes. + +"But you were panic-stricken. You and your agents wanted to remove the +danger of discovery. Dr. Harris and Marie Margot had a plan which you +grasped at eagerly. There was Ike the Dropper, that scoundrel who lives +on women. Between them you would spirit her away. You were glad to have +them do it, little realizing that, with every step, they had you +involved deeper and worse. You forgot everything, all honour and +manhood in your panic; you were ready to consent, to urge any course +that would relieve you--and you have taken the course that involves you +worse than any other." + +"Who will believe a story like that?" demanded Ogleby. "What are +you--according to your own confession? Am I to be charged with +everything this gang, as you call it, does? You are their agent, +perhaps working for this blackmailing crew. But I tell you, I will +fight, I will not be blackened by--" + +Sybil laughed, half hysterically. + +"Blackened?" she repeated. "You who would put this thing all off on +others who worked for you, who played on your vices and passions, not +because you were weak, but because you thought you were above the law! + +"You did not care what became of that girl, so long as she was where +she could not accuse you. You left her to that gang, to Ike, to Marie, +to Harris." She paused a moment, and flashed a quick glance of scorn at +him. "Do you want to know what has become of her, what you are +responsible for? + +"I will tell you. They had other ideas than just getting her out of the +way of your selfish career. They are in this life for money. Betty +Blackwell to them was a marketable article, a piece of merchandise in +the terrible traffic which they carry on. If she had been yielding, +like the rest of us, she might now be apparently free, yet held by a +bondage as powerful and unescapable as if it were of iron, a life from +which she could not escape. But she was not yielding. They would break +her. Perhaps you have tried to ease your conscience, if you have any, +by the thought that it is they, not you, who have her hidden away +somewhere now. You cannot escape that way; it was you who made her, who +made others of us, what we are." + +"Let her rave, Ogleby," sneered Dorgan. + +"Yes--raving, that's it," echoed Ogleby. But his expression belied him. + +"There it is," she continued. "You have not even an opinion of your +own. You repeat even the remarks of others. They have you in their +power. You have put yourself there." + +"All very pretty," remarked Dorgan with biting sarcasm. "All very +cleverly thought out. So nice here! Wait until you have to tell that +story in court. You know the first rule of equity? Do you go into court +with clean hands? There is a day of reckoning coming to you, young +woman, and to these other meddlers here--whether they are playing +politics or meddling just because they are old-maidish busy-bodies." + +She was facing the politician with burning cheeks. + +"You," she scorned, "belong to an age that is passing away. You cannot +understand these people like Miss Kendall, like Mr. Carton, who cannot +be bought and controlled like your other creatures. You do not know how +the underworld can turn on the upperworld. You would not pull us +up--you shoved us down deeper, in your greed. But if we go down, we +shall drag you, too. What have we to lose? You and your creatures, like +Martin Ogleby, have taken everything from us. We--" + +"Come, Ogleby," interposed Dorgan, deliberately turning his back on her +and slowly placing his hat on his half-bald head. "We are indebted to +Professor Kennedy for a pleasant entertainment. When he has another +show equally original we trust he will not forget the first-nighters +who have enjoyed this farce." + +Dorgan had reached the door and had his hand on the knob. I had +expected Kennedy to reply. But he said nothing. Instead his hand stole +along the edge of the table beside which he was standing. + +"Good-night," bowed Dorgan with mock solemnity. "Thank you for laying +the cards on the table. We shall know how to play--" + +Dorgan cut the words short. + +Kennedy had touched the button of an electric attachment which was +under the table by which he could lock every door and window of the +laboratory instantly and silently. + +"Well?" demanded Dorgan fiercely, though there was a tremble in his +voice that had never been heard before. + +"Where is Betty Blackwell?" demanded Craig, turning to Sybil Seymour. +"Where did they take her?" + +We hung breathlessly on the answer. Was she being held as a white slave +in some obscure den? I knew that that did not mean that she was +necessarily imprisoned behind locked doors and barred windows, although +even that might be the case. I knew that the restraint might be just as +effective, even though it was not actually or wholly physical. + +An ordinary girl, I reasoned, with little knowledge of her rights or of +the powers which she might call to her aid if she knew how to summon +them, might she not be so hemmed in by the forces into whose hands she +had fallen as to be practically held in bonds which she could not break? + +Here was Sybil herself! Once she had been like Betty Blackwell. Indeed, +when she seemed to have every chance to escape she did not. She knew +how she could be pursued, hounded at every turn, forced back, and her +only course was to sink deeper into the life. The thought of what might +be accomplished by drugs startled me. + +Clare bent over the poor girl reassuringly. What was it that seemed to +freeze her tongue now? Was it still some vestige of the old fear under +which she had been held so long? Clare strove, although we could not +hear what she was saying, to calm her. + +At last Sybil raised her head, with a wild cry, as if she were sealing +her own doom. + +"It was Ike. He kept us all in terror. Oh, if he hears he will kill +me," she blurted out. + +"Where did he take her?" asked Clare. + +She had broken down the girl's last fear. + +"To that place on the West Side--that black and tan joint, where Marie +Margot came from before the gang took her in." + +"Carton," called Kennedy. "You and Walter will take Miss Kendall and +Miss Seymour. Let me see. Dorgan, Ogleby, and myself will ride in the +taxicab." + +Carton was toying ostentatiously with a police whistle as Dorgan +hesitated, then entered the cab. + +I think at the joint, as we pulled up with a rush after our wild ride +downtown, they must have thought that a party of revellers had dropped +in to see the sights. It was perhaps just as well that they did, for +there was no alarm at first. + +As we entered the black and tan joint, I took another long look at its +forbidding exterior. Below, it was a saloon and dance hall; above, it +was a "hotel." It was weatherbeaten, dirty, and unsightly, without, +except for the entrance; unsanitary, ramshackle, within, except for the +tawdry decorations. At every window were awnings and all were down, +although it was on the shady side of the street in the daytime and it +was now getting late. That was the mute sign post to the initiated of +the character of the place. + +Instead of turning downstairs where we had gone on our other visit, +Kennedy led the way up through a door that read, "Hotel +Entrance--Office." + +A clerk at a desk in a little alcove on the second floor mechanically +pushed out a register at us, then seeming to sense trouble, pulled it +back quickly and with his foot gave a sharp kick at the door of a +little safe, locking the combination. + +"I'm looking for someone," was all Kennedy said. "This is the District +Attorney. We'll go through--" + +"Yes, you will!" + +It was Ike the Dropper. He had heard the commotion, and, seeing ladies, +came to the conclusion that it was not a police plainclothes raid, but +some new game of the reformers. + +He stopped short in amazement at the sight of Dorgan and Ogleby. + +"Well--I'll be--" + +"Carton! Walter!" shouted Kennedy. "Take care of him. Watch out for a +knife or gun. He's soft, though. Carton--the whistle!" + +Our struggle with the redoubtable Ike was short and quickly over. +Sullen, and with torn clothes and bleeding face, we held him until the +policeman arrived, and turned him over to the law. + +At a room on the same floor Craig knocked. + +"Come in," answered a woman's voice. + +He pushed open the door. There was the woman who had fled so +precipitately from the dope joint. + +Evidently she did not recognize us. "You are under arrest," announced +Kennedy. + +The blonde woman laughed mockingly. + +"Under arrest? For what?" + +"You are Marie Margot. Never mind about your alias. All the arts of +your employees and Dr. Harris himself cannot change you so that I +cannot recognize you. You may feel safe from the portrait parle, but +there are other means of detection that you never dreamed of. Where is +Betty Blackwell? Marie, it's all off!" + +All the brazen assurance with which she had met us was gone. She looked +from one to the other and read that it was the end. With a shriek, she +suddenly darted past us, out of the door. Down the hall was Ike the +Dropper with the policeman and Carton. Beside her was a stairway +leading to the upper floors. She chose the stairs. + +Following Kennedy we hurried through the hotel, from one dirty room to +another, with their loose and creaking floors, rotten and filthy, +sagging as we walked, covered with matting that was rotting away. Damp +and unventilated, the air was heavy and filled with foul odours of +tobacco, perfumery, and cheap disinfectants. There seemed to have been +no attempt to keep the place clean. + +The rooms were small and separated by thin partitions through which +conversations in even low tones could be heard. The furniture was cheap +and worn with constant use. + +Downstairs we could hear the uproar as the news spread that the +District Attorney was raiding the place. As fast as they could the +sordid crowd in the dance hall and cabaret was disappearing. Now and +then we could hear a door bang, a hasty conference, and then silence as +some of the inmates realized that upstairs all escape was cut off. + +On the top floor we came to a door, locked and bolted. With all the +force that he could gather in the narrow hall, Kennedy catapulted +himself against it. It yielded in its rottenness with a crash. + +A woman, in all her finery, lay across the foot of a bed, a formless +heap. Kennedy turned her over. It was Marie, motionless, but still +breathing faintly. In an armchair, with his hands hanging limply down +almost to the floor, his head sagging forward on his chest, sprawled +Harris. + +Kennedy picked up a little silver receptacle on the floor where it lay +near his right hand. It was nearly empty, but as he looked from it +quickly to the two insensible figures before us he muttered: "Morphine. +They have robbed the law of its punishment." + +He bent over the suicides, but it was too late to do anything for them. +They had paid the price. + +"My heavens!" he exclaimed suddenly, as a thought flashed over his +mind. "I hope they have not carried the secret of Betty Blackwell with +them to the grave. Where is Miss Kendall?" + +Down the hall, cut off from the rest of the hotel into a sort of +private suite, Clare had entered one of the rooms and was bending over +a pale, wan shadow of a girl, tossing restlessly on a bed. The room was +scantily furnished with a dilapidated bureau in one corner and a +rickety washstand equipped with a dirty washbowl and pitcher. A few +cheap chromos on the walls were the only decorations, and a small badly +soiled rug covered a floor innocent for many years of soap. + +I looked sharply at the girl lying before us. Somehow it did not occur +to me who she was. She was so worn that anyone might safely have +transported her through the streets and never have been questioned, in +spite of the fact that every paper in the country which prints pictures +had published her photograph, not once but many times. + +It was Betty Blackwell at last, struggling against the drugs that had +been forced on her, half conscious, but with one firm and acute feeling +left--resistance to the end. + +Kennedy had dropped on his knees before her and was examining her +closely. + +"Open the windows--more air," he ordered. "Walter, see if you can find +some ice water and a little stimulant." + +While Craig was taking such restorative measures as were possible on +the spur of the moment, Miss Kendall gently massaged her head and hands. + +She seemed to understand that she was in the hands of friends, and +though she did not know us her mute look of thanks was touching. + +"Don't get excited, my dear," breathed Miss Kendall into her ear. "You +will be all right soon." + +As the wronged girl relaxed from her constant tension of watching, it +seemed as if she fell into a stupor. Now and then she moaned feebly, +and words, half-formed, seemed to come to her lips only to die away. + +Suddenly she seemed to have a vision more vivid than the rest. + +"No--no--Mr. Ogleby--leave me. Where--my mother--oh, where is mother?" +she cried hysterically, sitting bolt upright and staring at us without +seeing us. + +Kennedy passed the broad palm of his hand over her forehead and +murmured, "There, there, you are all right now." Then he added to us: +"I did not send for her mother because I wasn't sure that we might find +her even as well as this. Will someone find Carton? Get the address and +send a messenger for Mrs. Blackwell." + +Sybil was on her knees by the bedside of the girl, holding Betty's hand +in both of her own. + +"You poor, poor girl," she cried softly. "It is--dreadful." + +She had sunk her head into the worn and dirty covers of the bed. +Kennedy reached over and took hold of her arm. "She will be all right, +soon," he said reassuringly. "Miss Kendall will take good care of her." + +As we descended the stairs, we could see Carton at the foot. A patrol +wagon had been backed up to the curb in front and the inmates of the +place were being taken out, protesting violently at being detained. + +Further down the hall, by the "office," Dorgan and Ogleby were +storming, protesting that "influence" would "break" everyone concerned, +from Carton down to the innocent patrolmen. + +Kennedy listened a moment, then turned to Clare Kendall. + +"I will leave Miss Blackwell in your care," he said quietly. "It is on +her we must rely to prove the contents of the Black Book." + +Clare nodded, as, with a clang, Carton drove off with his prisoners to +see them safely entered on the "blotter." + +"Our work is over," remarked Kennedy, turning again to Miss Kendall, in +a tone as if he might have said more, but refrained. + +Looking Craig frankly in the eye, she extended her hand in that same +cordial straight-arm shake with which she had first greeted us, and +added, "But not the memory of this fight we have won." + + + + +XXVII + +THE ELECTION NIGHT + + +It was election night. Kennedy and Carton had arranged between them +that we were all to receive the returns at the headquarters of the +Reform League, where one of the papers which was particularly +interested, had installed several special wires. + +The polls had scarcely closed when Kennedy and I, who had voted early, +if not often, in spite of our strenuous day, hastened up to the +headquarters. Already it was a scene of activity. + +The first election district had come in, one on the lower East Side, +which was a stronghold of Dorgan, where the count could be made +quickly, for there were no split tickets there. Dorgan had drawn first +blood. + +"I hope it isn't an omen," smiled Carton, like a good sport. + +Kennedy smiled quietly. + +We looked about, but Miss Ashton was not there. I wondered why not and +where she was. + +The first returns had scarcely begun to filter in, though, when Craig +leaned over and whispered to me to go out and find her, either at her +home, or if not there, at a woman's club of which she was one of the +leading members. + +I found her at home and sent up my card. She had apparently lost +interest in the election and it was with difficulty that I could +persuade her to accompany me to the League headquarters. However, I +argued the case with what ability I had and finally she consented. + +The other members of the Ashton family had monopolized the cars and we +were obliged to take a taxicab. As our driver threaded his way slowly +and carefully through the thronged streets it gave us a splendid chance +to see some of the enthusiasm. I think it did Margaret Ashton good, +too, to get out, instead of brooding over the events of the past few +days, as she had seen them. Her heightened colour made her more +attractive than ever. + +The excitement of any other night in the year paled to insignificance +before this. + +Distracted crowds everywhere were cheering and blowing horns. Now a +series of wild shouts broke forth from the dense mass of people before +a newspaper bulletin board. Now came sullen groans, hisses, and +catcalls, or all together, with cheers, as the returns swung in another +direction. Not even baseball could call out such a crowd as this. + +Enterprising newspapers had established places at which they flashed +out the returns on huge sheets on every prominent corner. Some of them +had bands, and moving pictures, and elaborate forms of entertainment +for the crowds. + +Now and then, where the crowd was more than usually dense, we had to +make a wide detour. Even the quieter streets seemed alive. On some boys +had built huge bonfires from barrels and boxes that had been saved +religiously for weeks or surreptitiously purloined from the grocer or +the patient house-holder. About the fires, they kept an ever watchful +eye for the descent of their two sworn enemies--the policeman and the +rival gang privateering in the name of a hostile candidate. + +Boys with armfuls of newspapers were everywhere, selling news that in +the rapid-fire change of the statistics seemed almost archeologically +old. + +Lights blazed on every side. Automobiles honked and ground their gears. +The lobster palaces, where for weeks, Francois, Carl, and William had +been taking small treasury notes for tables reserved against the +occasion, were thronged. In theatres people squirmed uneasily until the +ends of acts, in order to listen to returns read from the stage before +the curtain. Police were everywhere. People with horns, and bells, and +all manner of noise-making devices, with confetti and "ticklers" pushed +up on one side of Broadway and down on the other. + +At every square they congested foot and vehicle traffic, as they paused +ravenously to feed on the meagre bulletins of news. + +Yet back of all the noise and human energy, as a newspaperman, I could +think only of the silent, systematic gathering and editing of the news, +of the busy scenes that each journal's office presented, the haste, the +excitement, the thrill in the very smell of the printer's ink. + +Miss Ashton, I was glad to note, as we proceeded downtown, fell more +and more into the spirit of the adventure. + +High up in the League headquarters in the tower, when we arrived, it +was almost like a newspaper office, to me. A corps of clerks was +tabulating returns, comparing official and semi-official reports. As +first the city swung one way, then another, our hopes rose and fell. + +I could not help noticing, however, after a while that Miss Ashton +seemed cold and ill at ease. There was such a crowd there of Leaguers +and their friends that it was easily possible for her not to meet +Carton. But as I circulated about in the throng, I came upon him. +Carton looked worried and was paying less attention to the returns than +seemed natural. It was evident that, in spite of the crowd, she had +avoided him and he hesitated to seek her out. + +There were so many things to think of thrusting themselves into one's +attention that I could follow none consistently. First I found myself +wondering about Carton and Miss Ashton. Before I knew it I was +delivering a snap judgment on whether the uptown residence district +returns would be large enough to overcome the hostile downtown vote. I +was frankly amazed, now, to see how strongly the city as a whole was +turning to the Reform League. + +A boy, pushing through the crowd, came upon Kennedy and myself, talking +to Miss Ashton. He shoved a message quickly into Craig's hand and +disappeared. + +"For heaven's sake!" he exclaimed as he tore open the envelope and +read. "What do you think of that? My shadows report that Martin Ogleby +has been arrested and his confession will be enough, with the Black +Book and Betty Blackwell, to indict Dorgan. Kahn has committed suicide! +Hartley Langhorne has sailed for Paris on the French line, with Mrs. +Ogleby!" + +"Mary Ogleby--eloped?" repeated Miss Ashton, aghast. + +The very name seemed to call up unpleasant associations and her face +plainly showed it. Kennedy had said nothing to her since the day when +he had pleaded with her to suspend judgment. + +"By the way," he said in a low voice, leaning over toward her, "have +you heard that those pictures of her were faked? It was really Dorgan, +and some crook photographer cut out his face and substituted Carton's. +We got the Black Book, this morning, too, and it tells the story of +Mrs. Ogleby's misadventures--as well as a lot of much more important +things. We got it from Mr. Murtha and---" + +"Mr. Murtha?" she inquired, in surprise. + +"It is a secret, but I think I can violate it to a certain extent for +Mr. Carton is a party to it and--" + +Kennedy paused. He was speaking with the assurance of one who assumed +that John Carton and Margaret Ashton had no secrets. She saw it, and +coloured deeply. + +Then he lowered his voice further to a whisper and when he finished, +her face was even a deeper scarlet. But her eyes had a brightness they +had lacked for days. And I could see the emotion she felt as her slight +form quivered with excitement. + +Kennedy excused himself and we worked our way through the press toward +Carton. + +"Dorgan has lost his nerve!" ejaculated Craig as we came up with him, +watching district after district which showed that the Boss's usual +pluralities were being seriously reduced. + +"Lost his nerve?" repeated Carton. + +"Yes. I told him I would publish the whole affair of the photographs +just as I knew it, not caring whom it hit. I advised him to read his +revised statutes again about money in elections and I added the threat, +'There will be no "dough day" or it will be carried to the limit, +Dorgan, and I will resurrect Murtha in an hour!' You should have seen +his face! There was no dough day. That's what I meant when I said it +was to be a fair fight. You see the effect on the returns." + +Carton was absolutely speechless. The tears stood in his eyes as he +grasped Kennedy's hand, then swung around to me. + +A terrific cheer broke out among the clerks in the outer office. One of +them rushed in with a still unblotted report. + +Kennedy seized it and read: + +"Dorgan concedes the city by a safe plurality to Carton, fifty-two +election districts estimated. This clinches the Reform League victory." + +I turned to Carton. + +Behind us, through the crowd, had followed a young lady and now Carton +had no ears for anything except the pretty apology of Margaret Ashton. + +Kennedy pulled me toward the door. + +"We might as well concede Miss Ashton to Carton," he beamed. "Let's go +out and watch the crowd." + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ear in the Wall, by Arthur B. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Ear in the Wall + +Author: Arthur B. Reeve + +Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5150] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 15, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE EAR IN THE WALL *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + +THE EAR IN THE WALL + +BY + +ARTHUR B. REEVE + +FRONTISPIECE BY WILL FOSTER + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I THE VANISHER + + II THE BLACK BOOK + + III THE SAFE ROBBERY + + IV THE ANONYMOUS LETTER + + V THE SUFFRAGETTE SECRETARY + + VI THE WOMAN DETECTIVE + + VII THE GANG LEADER + + VIII THE SHYSTER LAWYER + + IX THE JURY FIXER + + X THE AFTERNOON DANCE + + XI THE TYPEWRITER CLUE + + XII THE "PORTRAIT PARLE" + + XIII THE CONVICTION + + XIV THE BEAUTY PARLOUR + + XV THE PHANTOM CIRCUIT + + XVI THE SANITARIUM + + XVII THE SOCIETY SCANDAL + +XVIII THE WALL STREET WOLF + + XIX THE ESCAPE + + XX THE METRIC PHOTOGRAPH + + XXI THE MORGUE + + XXII THE CANARD + +XXIII THE CONFESSION + + XXIV THE DEBACLE OF DORGAN + + XXV THE BLOOD CRYSTALS + + XXVI THE WHITE SLAVE + +XXVII THE ELECTION NIGHT + + + + +I + +THE VANISHER + + +"Hello, Jameson, is Kennedy in?" + +I glanced up from the evening papers to encounter the square- +jawed, alert face of District Attorney Carton in the doorway of +our apartment. + +"How do you do, Judge?" I exclaimed. "No, but I expect him any +second now. Won't you sit down?" + +The District Attorney dropped, rather wearily I thought, into a +chair and looked at his watch. + +I had made Carton's acquaintance some years before as a cub +reporter on the Star while he was a judge of an inferior court. +Our acquaintance had grown through several political campaigns in +which I had had assignments that brought me into contact with him. +More recently some special writing had led me across his trail +again in telling the story of his clean-up of graft in the city. +At present his weariness was easily accounted for. He was in the +midst of the fight of his life for re-election against the so- +called "System," headed by Boss Dorgan, in which he had gone far +in exposing evils that ranged all the way from vice and the drug +traffic to bald election frauds. + +"I expect a Mrs. Blackwell here in a few minutes," he remarked, +glancing again at his watch. His eye caught the headline of the +news story I had been reading and he added quickly, "What do the +boys on the Star think of that Blackwell case, anyhow?" + +It was, I may say, a case deeply shrouded in mystery--the +disappearance without warning of a beautiful young girl, Betty +Blackwell, barely eighteen. Her family, the police, and now the +District Attorney had sought to solve it in vain. Some had thought +it a kidnaping, others a suicide, and others had even hinted at +murder. All sorts of theories had been advanced without in the +least changing the original dominant note of mystery. Photographs +of the young woman had been published broadcast, I knew, without +eliciting a word in reply. Young men whom she had known and girls +with whom she had been intimate had been questioned without so +much as a clue being obtained. Reports that she had been seen had +come in from all over the country, as they always do in such +cases. All had been investigated and had turned out to be based on +nothing more than imagination. The mystery remained unsolved. + +"Well," I replied, "of course there's a lot of talk now in the +papers about aphasia and amnesia and all that stuff. But, you +know, we reporters are a sceptical lot. We have to be shown. I +can't say we put much faith in THAT." + +"But what is your explanation? You fellows always have an opinion. +Sometimes I think the newspapermen are our best detectives." + +"I can't say that we have any opinion in this case--yet," I +returned frankly. "When a girl just simply disappears on Fifth +Avenue and there isn't even the hint of a clue as to any place she +went or how, well--oh, there's Kennedy now. Put it up to him." + +"We were just talking of that Betty Blackwell disappearance case," +resumed Carton, when the greetings were over. "What do you think +of it?" + +"Think of it?" repeated Kennedy promptly with a keen glance at the +District Attorney; "why, Judge, I think of it the same as you +evidently do. If you didn't think it was a case that was in some +way connected with your vice and graft investigation, you wouldn't +be here. And if I didn't feel that it promised surprising results, +aside from the interest I always have naturally in solving such +mysteries, I wouldn't be ready to take up the offer which you came +here to make." + +"You're a wizard, Kennedy," laughed Carton, though it was easily +seen that he was both pleased and relieved to think that he had +enlisted Craig's services so easily. + +"Not much of a wizard. In the first place, I know the fight you're +making. Also, I know that you wouldn't go to the police in the +present state of armed truce between your office and Headquarters. +You want someone outside. Well, I'm more than willing to be that +person. The whole thing, in its larger aspects, interests me. +Betty Blackwell in particular, arouses my sympathies. That's all." + +"Exactly, Kennedy. This fight I'm in is going to be the fight of +my life. Just now, in addition to everything else, people are +looking to me to find Betty Blackwell. Her mother was in to see me +today; there isn't much that she could add to what has already +been said. Betty was a most attractive girl. The family is an +excellent one, but in reduced circumstances. She had been used to +a great deal as a child, but now, since the death of her father, +she has had to go to work--and you know what that means to a girl +like that." + +Carton laid down a new photograph which the newspapers had not +printed yet. Betty Blackwell was slender, petite, chic. Her dark +hair was carefully groomed, and there was an air with which she +wore her clothes and carried herself, even in a portrait, which +showed that she was no ordinary girl. + +Her soft brown eyes had that magnetic look which is dangerous to +their owner if she does not know how to control it, eyes that +arrested one's gaze, invited notice. Even the lens must have felt +the spell. It had caught, also, the soft richness of the skin of +her oval face and full throat and neck. Indeed one could not help +remarking that she was really the girl to grace a fortune. Only a +turn of the hand of that fickle goddess had prevented her from +doing so. + +I had picked up one of the evening papers and was looking at the +newspaper half-tone which more than failed to do justice to her. +Just then my eye happened on an item which I had been about to +discuss with Carton when Kennedy entered. + +"As a scientist, does the amnesia theory appeal to you, Craig?" I +asked. "Now, here is an explanation by one of the special writers, +headed, 'Personalities Lost Through Amnesia.' Listen." + +The article was brief: + +Mysterious disappearances, such as that of Betty Blackwell, have +alarmed the public and baffled the police before this-- +disappearances that have in their suddenness, apparent lack of +purpose, and inexplicability much in common with her case. Leaving +out of account the class of disappearances for their own +convenience--embezzlers, blackmailers, and so forth--there is +still a large number of recorded cases where the subjects have +dropped out of sight without apparent cause or reason and have +left behind them untarnished reputations and solvent back +accounts. Of these, a small percentage are found to have met with +violence; others have been victims of suicidal mania, and sooner +or later a clue has come to light which has established the fact. +The dead are often easier to find than the living. + +Of the remaining small proportion, there are on record, however, a +number of carefully authenticated cases where the subject has been +the victim of a sudden and complete loss of memory. + +This dislocation of memory is a variety of aphasia known as +amnesia, and when the memory is recurrently lost and restored, we +have alternating personality. The Society for Psychical Research +and many eminent psychologists, among them the late William James, +Dr. Weir Mitchell, Dr. Hodgson of Boston, and Dr. A. E. Osborn of +San Francisco, have reported many cases of alternating +personality. + +Studious efforts are being made to understand and to explain the +strange type of mental phenomena exhibited in these cases, but as +yet no one has given a clear and comprehensive explanation of +them. Such cases are by no means always connected with +disappearances, and exhaustive studies have been made of types of +alternating personality that have from first to last been +carefully watched by scientists of the first rank. + +The variety known as the ambulatory type, where the patient +suddenly loses all knowledge of his own identity and of the past +and takes himself off, leaving no trace or clue, is the variety +which the present case of Miss Blackwell seems to suggest. + +There followed a number of most interesting cases and an elaborate +argument by the writer to show that Betty Blackwell was a victim +of this psychological aberration, that she was, in other words, "a +vanisher." + +I laid down the paper with a questioning look at Kennedy. + +"As a scientist," he replied deliberately, "the theory, of course, +does appeal to me, especially in the ingenious way in which that +writer applied it. However, as a detective"--he shook his head +slowly--"I must deal with facts--not speculations. It leaves much +to be explained, to say the least," + +Just then the door buzzer sounded and Carton himself sprang to +answer it. + +"That's Mrs. Blackwell now--her mother. I told her that I was +going to take the case to you, Kennedy, and took the liberty of +asking her to come up here to meet you. Good-afternoon, Mrs. +Blackwell. Let me introduce Professor Kennedy and Mr. Jameson, of +whom I spoke to you." + +She bowed and murmured a tremulous greeting. Kennedy placed a +chair for her and she thanked him. + +Mrs. Blackwell was a slender little woman in black, well past +middle age. Her face and dress spoke of years of economy, even of +privation, but her manner was plainly that of a woman of gentle +breeding and former luxury. She was precisely of the type of +decayed gentlewoman that one meets often in the city, especially +at some of the middle-class boarding-houses. + +Deeply as the disappearance of her daughter had affected her, Mrs. +Blackwell was facing it bravely. That was her nature. One could +imagine that only when Betty was actually found would this plucky +little woman collapse. Instinctively, one felt that she claimed +his assistance in the unequal fight she was waging against the +complexities of modern life for which she had been so ill +prepared. + +"I do hope you will be able to find my daughter," she began, +controlling her voice with an effort. "Mr. Carton has been so +kind, more than kind, I am sure, in getting your aid. The police +seem to be able to do nothing. They make out reports, put me off, +tell me they are making progress--but they don't find Betty." + +There was a tragic pathos in the way she said it. + +"Betty was such a good girl, too," she went on, her emotions +rising. "Oh, I was so proud of her when she got her position down +in Wall Street, with the broker, Mr. Langhorne." + +"Tell Mr. Kennedy just what you told me of her disappearance," put +in Carton. + +Again Mrs. Blackwell controlled her feelings. "I don't know much +about it," she faltered, "but last Saturday, when she left the +office early, she said she was going to do some shopping on Fifth +Avenue. I know she went there, did shop a bit, then walked on the +Avenue several blocks. But after that there is no trace of her." + +"You have heard nothing, have no idea where she might have gone-- +even for a time?" queried Kennedy. + +He asked it with a keen look at the face of Mrs. Blackwell. I +recalled one case where a girl had disappeared in which Kennedy +had always asserted that if the family had been perfectly frank at +the start much more might have been accomplished in unravelling +the mystery. + +There was evident sincerity in Mrs. Blackwell as she replied +quickly, "Absolutely none. Another girl from the office was with +her part of the time, then left her to take the subway. We don't +live far uptown. It wouldn't have taken Betty long to get home, +even if she had walked, after that, through a crowded street, +too." + +"Of course, she may have met a friend, may have gone somewhere +with the friend," put in Kennedy, as if trying out the remark to +see what effect it might have. + +"Where could she go?" asked Mrs. Blackwell in naive surprise, +looking at him with a counterpart of the eyes we had seen in the +picture. "I hope you don't think that Betty---" + +The little widow was on the verge of tears again at the mere hint +that her daughter might have had friends that were not all, +perhaps, that they should be. + +Carton came to the rescue. "Miss Blackwell," he interposed, "was a +very attractive girl, very. She had hosts of admirers, as every +attractive girl must have. Most of them, all of them, as far as +Mrs. Blackwell knows and I have been able to find out, were young +men at the office where she worked, or friends of that sort--not +the ordinary clerk, but of the rising, younger, self-made +generation. Still, they don't seem to have interested her +particularly as far as I have been able to discover. She merely +liked them. There is absolutely nothing known to point to the fact +that she was any different from thousands of girls in that +respect. She was vivacious, full of fun and life, a girl any +fellow would have been more than proud to take to a dance. She was +ambitious, I suppose, but nothing more." + +"Betty was not a bad girl," asserted Mrs. Blackwell vehemently. +"She was a good girl. I don't believe there was much, in fact +anything important, on which she did not make me her confidante. +Yes, she was ambitious. So am I. I have always hoped that Betty +would bring our family--her younger sister--back to the station +where we were before the panic wiped out our fortune and killed my +husband. That is all." + +"Yes," added Carton, "nothing at all is known that would make one +think that she was what young men call a 'good fellow' with them." + +Kennedy looked up, but said nothing. I thought I could read the +unspoken word on his lips, as he glanced from Carton to Mrs. +Blackwell, "known." + +She had risen and was facing us. + +"Is there no one in all this great city," appealed the distracted +little woman with outstretched arms, "who can find my daughter? Is +it possible that a girl can disappear in broad daylight in the +streets and never be heard of again? Oh, won't you find her? Tell +me she is safe--that she is still the little girl I---" + +Her voice failed and she was crying softly in her lace +handkerchief. It was touching and I saw that Kennedy was deeply +moved, although at once to his practical mind the thought must +have occurred that nothing was to be gained by further questions +of Mrs. Blackwell. + +"Believe me, Mrs. Blackwell," he said in a low tone, taking her +hand, "I will do all that is in my power to find her." + +"Thank you," murmured the mother, overcome. + +A moment later, however, she had recovered her composure to some +degree and rose to go. There was a flattering look of relief on +her face which in itself must have been ample reward to Craig, a +retainer worth more to him in a case like this than money. + +"I'm going back to my office," remarked Carton. "If I learn +anything, I shall let you know." + +The District Attorney went out with Mrs. Blackwell. Busy as he +was, he had time to turn aside to help this bereaved woman, and I +admired him for it. + +"Do you think it is one of those cases like some that Carton has +uncovered on the East Side and among girls newly arrived in the +city?" I asked Craig when the door was shut. + +"Can't say," he returned, in an abstracted study. + +"It's awful if it is," I pursued. "And if it is, I suppose all +that will result from it will be a momentary thrill of the +newspaper-readers, and then they will fall back on the old saying +that after all it is only a result of human nature that such +things happen--they always have happened and always will--that old +line of talk." + +"That sort of thing is NOT a result of human nature," returned +Kennedy earnestly. "It's a System. I mean to say that if it should +turn out to be connected with the vice investigations of Carton, +and not a case of aphasia, such a disappearance you would find to +be due to the persistent, cunning, and unprincipled exploitation +of young girls. + +"No, Walter, it is not that women are weak or that men are +inherently vicious. That doesn't account for a case like this. +Then, too, some mawkish people to-day are fond of putting the +whole evil on low wages as a cause. It isn't that--alone. It isn't +even lack of education or of moral training. Human nature is not +so bad in the mass as some good people think. No, don't you, as a +reporter, see it? It is big business, in its way, that Carton is +fighting--big business in the commercialized ruin of girls, such, +perhaps, as Betty Blackwell--a vicious system that enmeshes even +those who are its tools. I'm glad if I can have a chance to help +smash it. + +"Now, I'll tell you what I want you to do, just so that we can +start this thing with a clear understanding of what it amounts to. +I want you to look up just what the situation is. I know there is +an army of 'vanishers' in New York. I want to know something about +them in the mass. Can't you dig up something from your Star +connections?" + +Kennedy had some matters concerning other cases to clear up before +he felt free to devote his whole time to this. As there was +nothing we could do immediately, I spent some time getting at the +facts he wanted. Indeed, it did not take me long to discover that +the disappearance of Betty Blackwell, in spite of the prominence +it had been given, was by no means an isolated case. I found that +the Star alone had chronicled scores of such disappearances during +the past few months, cases of girls who had simply been swallowed +up in the big city. They were the daughters of neither the rich +nor of the poor, most of them, but girls rather in ordinary +circumstances. + +Even the police records showed upward of a thousand missing young +girls, ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-one years and I knew +that the police lists scarcely approximated the total number of +missing persons in the great city, especially in those cases where +a hesitancy on the part of parents and relatives often concealed +the loss from public records. + +I came away with the impression that there were literally hundreds +of cases every bit as baffling as that of Betty Blackwell, of +young girls who had left absolutely no trace behind, who had made +no preparations for departure and of whom few had been heard from +since they disappeared. Many from homes of refinement and even +high financial standing had disappeared, leaving no clues behind. +It was not alone the daughters of the poor that were affected--it +was all society. + +Many reasons, I found, had been assigned for the disappearances. I +knew that there must be many causes at work, that no one cause +could be responsible for all or perhaps a majority of the cases. +There were suicides and murders and elopements, family troubles, +poverty, desire for freedom and adventure; innumerable complex +causes, even down to kidnapping. + +The question was, however, which of these causes had been in +operation in the case of Betty Blackwell? Where had she gone? +Where had this whole army of vanishers disappeared? Were these +disappearances merely accidents--or was there an epidemic of +amnesia? I could bring myself to no such conclusions, but was +forced to answer my own queries in lieu of an answer from Kennedy, +by propounding another. Was there an organized band? + +And, after I had tried to reason it all out, I still found myself +back at the original question, as I rejoined Kennedy at the +laboratory, "Where had they all--where had Betty Blackwell gone?" + + + + +II + +THE BLACK BOOK + + +I had scarcely finished pouring out my suspicions to Kennedy when +the telephone rang. + +It was Carton on the wire, in a state of unsuppressed excitement. +Kennedy answered the call himself, but the conversation was brief +and, to me, unenlightening, until he hung up the receiver. + +"Dorgan--the Boss," he exclaimed, "has just found a detectaphone +in his private dining-room at Gastron's." + +At once I saw the importance of the news and for the moment it +obscured even the case of Betty Blackwell. + +Dorgan was the political boss of the city at that time, apparently +entrenched, with an organization that seemed impregnable. I knew +him as a big, bullnecked fellow, taciturn to the point of +surliness, owing his influence to his ability to "deliver the +goods" in the shape of graft of all sorts, the archenemy of +Carton, a type of politician who now is rapidly passing. + +"Carton wants to see us immediately at his office," added Craig, +jamming his hat on his head. "Come on." + +Without waiting for further comment or answer from me, Kennedy, +caught by the infectious excitement of Carton's message, dashed +from our apartment and a few minutes later we were whirling +downtown on the subway. + +"You know, I suppose," he whispered rather hoarsely above the +rumble and roar of the train, but so as not to be overheard, "that +Dorgan always has kept a suite of rooms at Gastron's, on Fifth +Avenue, for dinners and conferences." + +I nodded. Some of the things that must have gone on in the secret +suite in the fashionable restaurant I knew would make interesting +reading, if the walls had ears. + +"Apparently he must have found out about the eavesdropping in time +and nipped it," pursued Kennedy. + +"What do you mean?" I asked, for I had not been able to gather +much from the one-sided conversation over the telephone, and the +lightning change from the case of Betty Blackwell to this had left +me somewhat bewildered. "What has he done?" + +"Smashed the transmitter of the machine," replied Kennedy tersely. +"Cut the wires." + +"Where did it lead?" I asked. "How do you know?" + +Kennedy shook his head. Either he did not know, yet, or he felt +that the subway was no place in which to continue the conversation +beyond the mere skeleton that he had given me. + +We finished the ride in comparative silence and hurried into +Carton's office down in the Criminal Courts Building. + +Carton greeted us cordially, with an air of intense relief, as if +he were glad to have been able to turn to Kennedy in the growing +perplexities that beset him. + +What surprised me most, however, was that, seated beside his desk, +in an easy chair, was a striking looking woman, not exactly young, +but of an age that is perhaps more interesting than youth, +certainly more sophisticated. She, too, I noticed, had a tense, +excited expression on her face. As Kennedy and I entered she had +looked us over searchingly. + +"Let me present Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Jameson, Mrs. Ogleby," said +Carton quickly. "Both of them know as much about how experts use +those little mechanical eavesdroppers as anyone--except the +inventor." + +We bowed and waited for an explanation. + +"You understand," continued Carton slowly to us in a tone that +enjoined secrecy, "Mrs. Ogleby, who is a friend of Mr. Murtha, +Dorgan's right-hand man, naturally is alarmed and doesn't want her +name to appear in this thing." + +"Oh--it is terrible--terrible," Mrs. Ogleby chimed in in great +agitation. "I don't care about anything else. But, my reputation-- +it will be ruined if they connect my name with the case. As soon +as I heard of it--I thought of you, Mr. Carton. I came here +immediately. There must be some way in which you can protect me-- +some way that you can get along without using--" + +"But, my dear Mrs. Ogleby," interrupted the District Attorney, "I +have told you half a dozen times, I think, that I didn't put the +detectaphone in--" + +"Yes, but you will get the record," she persisted excitedly. +"Can't you do something?" she pleaded. + +I fancied that she said it with the air of one who almost had some +right in the matter. + +"Mrs. Ogleby," reiterated Carton earnestly, "I will do all I can-- +on my word of honour--to protect your name, but--" + +He paused and looked at us helplessly. + +"What was it that was overheard?" asked Craig point-blank, +watching Mrs. Ogleby's face carefully. + +"Why," she replied nervously, "there was a big dinner last night +which Mr. Dorgan gave at Gastron's. Mr. Murtha took me and--oh-- +there were lots of others--" She stopped suddenly. + +"Yes," prompted Kennedy. "Who else was there?" + +She was on her guard, however. Evidently she had come to Carton +for one purpose and that was solely to protect herself against the +scandal which she thought might attach to having been present at +one of the rather notorious little affairs of the Boss. + +"Really," she answered, colouring slightly, "I can't tell you. I +mustn't say a word about who was there--or anything about it. Good +heavens--it is bad enough as it is--to think that my name may be +dragged into politics and all sorts of false stories set in motion +about me. You must protect me, Mr. Carton, you must." + +"How did you find out about the detectaphone being there?" asked +Kennedy. + +"Why," she replied evasively, "I thought it was just an ordinary +little social dinner. That's what Mr. Murtha told me it was. I +didn't think anyone outside was interested in it or in who was +there or what went on. But, this morning, a--a friend--called me +up and told me--something that made me think others besides those +invited knew of it, knew too much." + +She paused, then resumed hastily to forestall questioning, "I +began to think it over myself, and the more I thought of it, the +stranger it seemed that anyone else, outside, should know. I began +to wonder how it leaked out, for I understood that it was a +strictly private affair. I asked Mr. Murtha and he told Mr. +Dorgan. Mr. Dorgan at once guessed that there had been something +queer. He looked about his rooms there, and, sure enough, they +found the detectaphone concealed in the wall. I can't tell any +more," she added, facing Carton and using her bewitching eyes to +their best advantage. "I can't ask you to shield Mr. Dorgan and +Mr. Murtha. They are your opponents. But I have done nothing to +you, Mr. Carton. You must suppress--that part of it--about me. +Why, it would ruin---" + +She cut her words short. But I knew what she meant, and to a +certain extent I could understand, if not sympathize with her. Her +husband, Martin Ogleby, club-man and man about town, had a +reputation none too savoury. But, man-like, I knew, he would +condone not even the appearance of anything that caused gossip in +his wife's actions. I could understand how desperate she felt. + +"But, my dear lady," repeated Carton, in a manner that showed that +he felt keenly, for some reason or other, the appeal she was +making to him, "must I say again that I had nothing whatever to do +with it? I have sent for Mr. Kennedy and---" + +"Nothing--on your honour?" she asked, facing him squarely. + +"Nothing--on my honour," he asserted frankly. + +She appeared to be dazed. Apparently all along she had assumed +that Carton must be the person to see, that he alone could do +anything for her, would do something. + +Her face paled as she met his earnest look. She had risen and now, +half chagrined, half frightened, she stood irresolute. Her lips +quivered and tears stood in her eyes as she realized that, instead +of protecting herself by her confidence, she had, perhaps, made +matters worse by telling an outsider. + +Carton, too, had risen and in a low voice which we could not +overhear was trying to reassure her. + +In her confusion she was moving toward the door, utterly +oblivious, now, to us. Carton tactfully took her arm and led her +to a private entrance that opened from his office down the +corridor and out of sight of the watchful eyes of the reporters +and attendants in the outer hall. + +I did not understand just what it was all about, but I could see +Kennedy's eye following Carton keenly. + +"What was that--a plant?" he asked, still trying to read Carton's +face, as he returned to us alone a moment later. "Did she come to +see whether you got the record?" + +"No--I don't think so," replied Carton quickly. "No, I think that +was all on the level--her part of it." + +"But who did put in the instrument, really--did you?" asked +Kennedy, still quizzing. + +"No," exclaimed Carton hastily, this time meeting Craig's eye +frankly. "No. I wish I had. Why--the fact is, I don't know who +did--no one seems to know, yet, evidently. But," he added, leaning +forward and speaking rapidly, "I think I could give a shrewd +guess." + +Kennedy said nothing, but nodded encouragingly. + +"I think," continued Carton impressively, "that it must have been +Langhorne and the Wall Street crowd he represents." + +"Langhorne," repeated Kennedy, his mind working rapidly. "Why, it +was his stenographer that Miss Blackwell was. Why do you suspect +Langhorne?" + +"Because," exclaimed Carton, more excited than ever at Kennedy's +quick deduction, bringing his fist down on the desk to emphasize +his own suspicion, "because they aren't getting their share of the +graft that Dorgan is passing out--probably are sore, and think +that if they can get something on the Boss or some of those who +are close to him, they may force him to take them into partnership +in the deals." + +Carton looked from Kennedy to me, to see what impression his +theory made. On me at least it did make an impression. Hartley +Langhorne, I knew, was a Wall Street broker and speculator who +dealt in real estate, securities, in fact in anything that would +appeal to a plunger as promising a quick and easy return. + +Kennedy made no direct comment on the theory. "In what shape is +the record, do you suppose?" he asked merely. + +"I gathered from Mrs. Ogleby," returned Carton watchfully, "that +it had been taken down by a stenographer at the receiving end of +the detectaphone, transcribed in typewriting, and loosely bound in +a book of limp black leather. Oh," he concluded, "Dorgan would +give almost anything to find out what is in that little record, +you may be sure. Perhaps even, rather than have such a thing out, +he would come to terms with Langhorne." + +Kennedy said nothing. He was merely absorbing the case as Carton +presented it. + +"Don't you see?" continued the District Attorney, pacing his +office and gazing now and then out of the window, "here's this +record hidden away somewhere in the city. If I could only get it-- +I'd win my fight against Dorgan--and Mrs. Ogleby need not suffer +for her mistake in coming to me, at all." + +He was apparently thinking aloud. Kennedy did not attempt to quiz +him. He was considering the importance of the situation. For, as I +have said, it was at the height of the political campaign in which +Carton had been renominated independently by the Reform League--of +which, more later. + +"You don't think that Langhorne is really in the inner ring, +then?" questioned Craig. + +"No, not yet." + +"Well, then," I put in hastily, "can't you approach him or someone +close to him, and get---" + +"Say," interrupted Carton, "anything that took place in that +private dining-room at Gastron's would be just as likely to +incriminate Langhorne and some of his crowd as not. It is a +difference in degree of graft--that is all. They don't want an +open fight. It was just a piece of finesse on Langhorne's part. +You may be sure of that. No, neither of them wants a fight. That's +the last thing. They're both afraid. What Langhorne wanted was a +line on Dorgan. And we should never have known anything about this +Black Book, if some of the women, I suppose, hadn't talked too +much. Mrs. Ogleby added two and two and got five. She thought it +must be I who put the instrument in." + +Carton was growing more and more excited again, "It's +exasperating," he continued. "There's the record--somewhere--if I +could only get it. Think of it, Kennedy--an election going on and +never so much talk about graft and vice before!" + +"What was in the book--mostly, do you imagine?" asked Craig, still +imperturbable. + +Carton shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, almost anything. For instance, +you know, Dorgan has just put through a new scheme of city +planning--with the able assistance of some theoretical reformers. +That will be a big piece of real estate graft, unless I am +mistaken. Langhorne and his crowd know it. They don't want to be +frozen out." + +As they talked, I had been revolving the thing over in my head. +Dorgan's little parties, as reported privately among the men on +the Star whom I knew, were notorious. The more I considered, the +more possible phases of the problem I thought of. It was not even +impossible that in some way it might bear on the Betty Blackwell +case. + +"Do you think Dorgan and Murtha are hunting the book as anxiously +as--some others?" I ventured. + +"You have heard of the character of some of those dinners?" +answered Carton by asking another question, then went on: "Why, +Dorgan has had some of our leading lawyers, financiers, and +legislators there. He usually surrounds them with brilliant, +clever women, as unscrupulous as himself, and--well--you can +imagine the result. Poor little Mrs. Ogleby," he added +sympathetically. "They could twist her any way they chose for +their purposes." + +My own impression had been that Mrs. Ogleby was better able to +take care of herself than his words gave her credit for, but I +said nothing. + +Carton paused before the window and gazed out at the Bridge of +Sighs that led from his building across to the city prison. + +"What a record that Black Book must hold!" he exclaimed +meditatively. "Why, if it was only that I could 'get' Murtha--I'd +be happy," he added, turning to us. + +Murtha, as I have said, was Boss Dorgan's right bower, a clever +and unscrupulous politician and leader in a district where he +succeeded somehow or other in absolutely crushing opposition. I +had run across him now and then in the course of my newspaper +career and, aside from his well-known character in delivering the +"goods" to the organization whenever it was necessary, I had found +him a most interesting character. + +It was due to such men as Murtha that the organization kept its +grip, though one wave of reform after another lashed its fury on +it. For Murtha understood his people. He worked at politics every +hour--whether it was patting the babies of the district on the +head, or bailing their fathers out of jail, handing out shoes to +the shiftless or judiciously distributing coal and ice to the +deserving. + +Yet I had seen enough to know the inherent viciousness of the +circle--of how the organization took dollars from the people with +one concealed hand and distributed pennies from the other hand, +held aloft and in the spotlight. Again and again, Kennedy and I in +our excursions into scientific warfare on crime in the underworld +had run squarely up against the refined as well as the debased +creatures of the "System." Pyramided on what looked like open- +handed charity and good-fellowship we had seen vice and crime of +all degrees. + +And yet, somehow or other, I must confess to a sort of admiration +for Murtha and his stamp--if for nothing else than because of the +frankness with which he did what he sought to do. Neither Kennedy +nor I could be accused of undue sympathy with the System, yet, +like many who had been brought in close contact with it, it had +earned our respect in many ways. + +And so, I contemplated the situation with more than ordinary +interest. Carton wanted the Black Book to use in order to win his +political fight for a clean city and to prosecute the grafters. +Dorgan wanted it in order to suppress and thus protect himself and +Murtha. Mrs. Ogleby wanted it to save her good name and prevent +even the appearance of scandal. Langhorne wanted it in order to +coerce Dorgan to share in the graft, yet was afraid of Carton +also. + +Was ever a situation of such peculiar, mixed motives? + +"I would move heaven and earth for that Black Book!" exclaimed +Carton finally, turning from the window and facing us. + +Kennedy, too, had risen. + +"You can count on me, then, Carton," he said simply, as the +recollection of the many fights in which we had stood shoulder to +shoulder with the young District Attorney came over him. + +A moment later Carton had us each by the hand. + +"Thank you," he cried. "I knew you fellows would be with me." + + + + +III + +THE SAFE ROBBERY + + +It was late that night that Kennedy and I left Carton after laying +out a campaign and setting in motion various forces, official and +unofficial, which might serve to keep us in touch with what Dorgan +and the organization were doing. + +Not until the following morning, however, did anything new develop +in such a way that we could work on it. + +Kennedy had picked up the morning papers which had been left at +the door of our apartment and was hastily running his eye over the +headlines on the first page, as was his custom. + +"By Jove, Walter," I heard him exclaim. "What do you think of +that--a robbery below the deadline--and in Langhorne's office, +too." + +I hurried out of my room and glanced at the papers, also. Sure +enough, there it was: + +SAFE ROBBED IN WALL ST. OFFICE + +Door Into Office of Langhorne & Westlake, Brokers, Forced and Safe +Robbed. + +One of the strangest robberies ever perpetrated was pulled off +last night in the office of Langhorne & Westlake, the brokers, at- +----Wall Street, some time during the regular closing time of the +office and eight o'clock. + +Mr. Langhorne had returned to his office after dining with some +friends in order to work on some papers. When he arrived, about +eight o'clock, he found that the door had been forced. The office +was in darkness, but when he switched on the lights it was +discovered that the office safe had been entered. + +Nothing was said about the manner in which the safe robbery was +perpetrated, but it is understood to have been very peculiar. So +far no details have been announced and the robbery was not +reported to the police until a late hour. + +Mr. Langhorne, when seen by the reporters, stated positively that +nothing of great value had been taken and that the firm would not +suffer in any way as a result of the robbery. + +One of the stenographers in the office, Miss Betty Blackwell, who +acted as private secretary to Mr. Langhorne, is missing and the +case has already attracted wide attention. Whether or not her +disappearance had anything to do with the robbery is not known. + +"Naturally he would not report it to the police," commented +Kennedy; "that is, if it had anything to do with that Black Book, +as I am sure that it must have had." + +"It was certainly a most peculiar affair if it did not," I +remarked. "There must be some way of finding that out. It's +strange about Betty Blackwell." + +Kennedy was turning something over in his mind. "Of course," he +remarked, "we don't want to come out into the open just yet, but +it would be interesting to know what happened down there at +Langhorne's. Have you any objection to going down with me and +posing as a reporter from the Star?" + +"None whatever," I returned. + +We stopped at the laboratory on the campus of the University where +Craig still retained his professorship. Kennedy secured a rather +bulky piece of apparatus, which, as nearly as I can describe, +consisted of a steel frame, which could be attached by screws to +any wooden table. It contained a lower plate which could move +forward and back, two lateral uprights stiffened by curved braces, +and a cross piece of steel attached by strong bolts to the tops of +the posts. In the face of the machine was a dial with a pointer. + +Kennedy quickly took the apparatus apart and made it up into two +packages so that between us we could carry it easily, and at about +the time that Wall Street offices were opening we were on our way +downtown. + +Langhorne proved to be a tall, rather slim, man of what might be +called youngish middle age. One did not have to be introduced to +him to read his character or his occupation. Every line of his +faultlessly fitting clothes and every expression of his keen and +carefully cared-for face betokened the plunger, the man who lived +by his wits and found the process both fascinating and congenial. + +"Mr. Langhorne," began Kennedy, after I had taken upon myself the +duty of introducing ourselves as reporters, "we are preparing an +article for our paper about a new apparatus which the Star has +imported especially from Paris. It is a machine invented by +Monsieur Bertillon just before he died, for the purpose of +furnishing exact measurements of the muscular efforts exerted in +the violent entry of a door or desk by making it possible to +reproduce the traces of the work that a burglar has left on doors +and articles of furniture. We've been waiting for a case that the +instrument would fit into and it seemed to us that perhaps it +might be of some use to you in getting at the real robber of your +office. Would you mind if we made an attempt to apply it?" + +Langhorne could not very well refuse to allow us to try the thing, +though it was plainly evident that he did not want to talk and did +not relish the publicity that the news of the morning had brought +him. + +Kennedy had laid the apparatus down on a table as he spoke and was +assembling the parts which he had separated in order to carry it. + +"These are the marks on the door, I presume?" he continued, +examining some indentations of the woodwork near the lock. + +Langhorne assented. + +"The door was open when you returned?" asked Kennedy. + +"Closed," replied Langhorne briefly. "Before I put the key into +the lock, I turned the knob, as I have a habit of doing. Instead +of catching, it yielded and the door swung open without any +trouble." + +He repeated the story substantially as we had already read it in +the papers. + +Kennedy had taken a step or two into the office, and was now +facing the safe. It was not a large safe, but was one of the most +modern construction and was supposed to be burglar proof. + +"And you say you lost practically nothing?" persisted Craig. + +"Nothing of importance," reiterated Langhorne. + +Kennedy had been watching him closely. The man was at least +baffling. There was nothing excited or perturbed about his manner. +Indeed, one might easily have thought that it was not his safe at +all that had been robbed. I wondered whether, after all, he had +had the Black Book. Certainly, I felt, if he had lost it he was +very cool about the loss. + +Craig had by this time reached the safe itself. In spite of +Langhorne's reluctance, his assurance had taken Kennedy even up to +the point which he wished. He was examining the safe. + +On the front it showed no evidence of having been "souped" or +drilled. There was not a mark on it. Nor, as we learned later from +the police, was there any evidence of a finger-print having been +left by the burglar. + +Langhorne now but ill concealed his interest. It was natural, too, +for here he had one of the most modern of small strong-boxes, +built up of the latest chrome steel and designed to withstand any +reasonable assault of cracksman or fire. + +I was on the point of inquiring how on earth it had been possible +to rob the safe, when Kennedy, standing on a chair, as Langhorne +directed, uttered a low exclamation. + +I craned my neck to look also. + +There, in the very top of the safe, yawned a huge hole large +enough to thrust one's arm through, with something to spare. + +As I looked at the yawning dark hole in the top of what had been +only a short time ago a safe worthy of the latest state of the +art, it seemed incomprehensible. + +Try as I could to reason it out, I could find no explanation. How +it had been possible for a burglar to make such an opening in the +little more than two hours between closing and the arrival of +Langhorne after dinner, I could not even guess. As far as I knew +it would have taken many long hours of patient labour with the +finest bits to have made anything at all comparable to the +destruction which we saw before us. + +A score of questions were on my lips, but I said nothing, although +I could not help noticing the strange look on Langhorne's face. It +plainly showed that he would like to have known what had taken +place during the two or more hours when his office had been +unguarded, yet was averse to betraying any such interest. + +Mystified as I was by what I saw, I was even more amazed at the +cool manner in which Kennedy passed it all by. + +He seemed merely to be giving the hole in the top of the safe a +passing glance, as though it was of no importance that someone +should have in such an incredibly short time made a hole through +which one might easily reach his arm and secure anything he wanted +out of the interior of the powerful little safe. + +Langhorne, too, seemed surprised at Kennedy's matter of fact +passing by of what was almost beyond the range of possibility. + +"After all," remarked Kennedy, "it is not the safe that we care to +study so much as the door. For one thing, I want to make sure +whether the marks show a genuine breaking and entering or whether +they were placed there afterwards merely to cover the trail, +supposing someone had used a key to get into the office." + +The remark suggested many things to me. Was it that he meant to +imply that, after all, the missing Betty Blackwell had had +something to do with it? In fact, could the thing have been done +by a woman? + +"Most persons," remarked Craig, as he studied the marks on the +door, "don't know enough about jimmies. Against them an ordinary +door-lock or window-catch is no protection. With a jimmy eighteen +inches long, even an anemic burglar can exert a pressure +sufficient to lift two tons. Not one door-lock in ten thousand can +stand this strain. It's like using a hammer to kill a fly. Really, +the only use of locks is to keep out sneak thieves and to compel +the modern, scientific educated burglar to make a noise. This +fellow, however, was no sneak thief." + +He continued to adjust the machine which he had brought. Langhorne +watched minutely, but did not say anything. + +"Bertillon used to call this his mechanical burglar detector," +continued Kennedy. "As you see, this frame carries two +dynamometers of unequal power. The stronger, which has a high +maximum capacity of several tons, is designed for the measurement +of vertical efforts. The other measures horizontal efforts. The +test is made by inserting the end of a jimmy or other burglar's +tool and endeavouring to produce impressions similar to those +which have been found on doors or windows. The index of the +dynamometer moves in such a way as to make a permanent record of +the pressure exerted. The horizontal or traction dynamometer +registers the other component of pressure." + +He pressed down on the machine. "There was a pressure here of +considerably over two tons," he remarked at length, "with a very +high horizontal traction of over four hundred pounds. What I +wanted to get at was whether this could have been done by a man, +woman, or child, or perhaps by several persons. In this case, it +was clearly no mere fake to cover up the opening of the door by a +key. It was a genuine attempt. Nor could it have been done by a +woman. No, that is the work of a man, a powerful man, too, +accustomed to the use of the jimmy." + +I fancied that a shade of satisfaction crossed the otherwise +impassive face of Langhorne. Was it because the Bertillon +dynamometer appeared at first sight to exonerate Betty Blackwell, +at least so far, from any connection with the crime? It was +difficult to say. + +Important though it was, however, to clear up at the start just +what sort of person was connected with the breaking of the door I +could not but feel that Kennedy had some purpose in deferring and +minimizing for the present what, to me at least, was the greater +mystery, the entering of the safe itself. + +He was still studying and comparing the marks on the door and the +record made on the dynamometer, when the office telephone rang and +Langhorne was summoned to answer it. Instead of taking the call in +his own office, he chose to answer it at the switchboard, perhaps +because that would allow him to keep an eye also on us. + +Whatever his purpose, it likewise enabled us to keep an ear on +him, and it was with surprise which both Kennedy and I had great +difficulty in concealing, that we heard him reply, "Hello--yes-- +oh, Mrs. Ogleby, good-morning. How are you? That's good. So you, +too, read the papers. No, I haven't lost anything of importance, +thank you. Nothing serious, you know. The papers like to get hold +of such things and play them up. I have a couple of reporters here +now. Heaven knows what they are doing, but I can foresee some more +unpaid advertising for the firm in it. Thank you again for your +interest. You haven't forgotten the studio dance I'm giving on the +twelfth? No--that's fine. I hope you'll come, even if Martin has +another engagement. Fine. Well-good-bye." + +He hung up the receiver with a mingled air of gratification and +exasperation, I fancied. + +"Haven't you fellows finished yet?" he asked finally, coming over +to us, a little brusquely. + +"Just about," returned Kennedy, who had by this time begun slowly +to dismember and pack up the dynamometer, determined to take +advantage of every minute both to observe Langhorne and to fix in +his mind the general lay-out of the office. + +"Everybody seems to be interested in me this morning," he +observed, for the moment forgetting the embargo he had imposed on +his own words. + +As for myself, I saw at once that others besides ourselves were +keenly interested in this robbery. + +"There," remarked Kennedy when at last he had finished packing up +the dynamometer into two packages. "At least, Mr. Langhorne, you +have the satisfaction of knowing that it was in all probability a +man, a strong man, and one experienced in forcing doors who +succeeded in entering your office during your brief absence last +night" + +Langhorne shrugged his shoulders non-committally, but it was +evident that he was greatly relieved and he could not conceal his +interest in what Kennedy was doing, even though he had succeeded +in conveying the impression that it was a matter of indifference +to him. + +"I suppose you keep a great many of your valuable papers in safety +deposit vaults," ventured Kennedy, finishing up the wrapping of +the two packages, "as well as your personal papers perhaps at +home." + +He made the remark in a casual manner, but Langhorne was too keen +to fall into the trap. + +"Really," he said with an air of finality, "I must decline to be +interviewed at present. Good-day, gentlemen." + +"A slippery customer," was Craig's comment when we reached the +street outside the office. "By the way, evidently Mrs. Ogleby is +leaving no stone unturned in her effort to locate that Black Book +and protect herself." + +I said nothing. Langhorne's manner, self-confident to the point of +bravado, had baffled me. I began to feel that even if he had lost +the detectaphone record, his was the nature to carry out the bluff +of still having it, in much the same manner that he would have +played the market on a shoestring or made the most of an unfilled +four-card flush in a game of poker. + +Kennedy was far from being discouraged, however. Indeed, it seemed +as if he really enjoyed matching his wit against the subtlety of a +man like Langhorne, even more than against one the type of Dorgan +and Murtha. + +"I want to see Carton and I don't want to carry these bundles all +over the city," he remarked, changing the subject for the moment, +as he turned into a public pay station. "I'll ring him up and have +him meet us at the laboratory, if I can." + +A moment later he emerged, excited, perspiring from the closeness +of the telephone booth. + +"Carton has some news--a letter--that's all he would say," he +exclaimed. "He'll meet us at the laboratory." + +We hastily resumed our uptown journey. + +"What do you think it is?" I asked. "About Betty Blackwell?" + +Kennedy shook his head non-committally. "I don't know. But he has +some of his county detectives watching Dorgan and Murtha in that +Black Book case, I know. They are worried. It doesn't look as +though they, at least, had the record--that is, if Langhorne has +really lost it." + +I wondered whether Langhorne might not, after all, as Kennedy had +hinted, have concealed it elsewhere. The activity of Dorgan and +Murtha might indicate that they knew more about the robbery than +appeared yet on the surface. Had they failed in it? Had they been +double-crossed by the man they had chosen for the work, assuming +that they knew of and had planned the "job"? + +The safe-breaking and the way Langhorne took it had served to +complicate the case even further. While we had before been +reasonably sure that Langhorne had the book, now we were sure of +nothing. + + + + +IV + +THE ANONYMOUS LETTER + + +"What do you make of that?" inquired Carton half an hour later as +he met us breathlessly at the laboratory. + +He unfolded a letter over which he had evidently been puzzling +considerably. It was written, or rather typewritten, on plain +paper. The envelope was plain and bore no marks of identification, +except possibly that it had been mailed uptown. + +The letter ran: + +DEAR SIR: + +Although this is an anonymous letter, I beg that you will not +consider it such, since it will be plain to you that there is good +reason for my wishing to remain nameless. + +I want to tell you of some things that have taken place recently +at a little hotel in the West Fifties. No doubt you know of the +place already--the Little Montmartre. + +There are several young and wealthy men who frequent this resort. +I do not dare tell you their names, but one is a well-known club- +man and man about town, another is a banker and broker, also well +known, and a third is a lawyer. I might also mention an intimate +friend of theirs, though not of their position in society--a +doctor who has somewhat of a reputation among the class of people +who frequent the Little Montmartre, ready to furnish them with +anything from a medical certificate to drugs and treatment. + +I have read a great deal in the newspapers lately of the +disappearance of Betty Blackwell, and her case interests me. I +think you will find that it will repay you to look into the hint I +have given. I don't think it is necessary to say any more. Indeed +it may be dangerous to me, and I beg that you will not even show +this letter to anyone except those associated with you and then, +please, only with the understanding that it is to go no farther. + +Betty Blackwell is not at this hotel, but I am sure that some of +those whose wild orgies have scandalized even the Little +Montmartre know something about her. + + Yours truly, + AN OUTCAST. + +Kennedy looked up quickly at Carton as he finished reading the +letter. + +"Typical," he remarked. "Anonymous letters occasionally are of a +friendly nature, but usually they reflect with more or less +severity upon the conduct or character of someone. They usually +receive little attention, but sometimes they are of the most +serious character. In many instances they are most important links +in chains of evidence pointing to grave crimes. + +"It is possible to draw certain conclusions from such letters at +once. For instance, it is a surprising fact that in a large number +of cases the anonymous letter writer is a woman, who may write +what it does not seem possible she could write. Such letters often +by their writing, materials used, composition and general form +indicate at once the sex of the writer and frequently show +nationality, age, education, and occupation. These facts may often +point to the probable author. + +"Now in this case the writer evidently was well educated. Assumed +illiteracy is a frequent disguise, but it is impossible for an +author to assume a literacy he or she does not possess. Then, too, +women are more apt to assume the characteristics of men than men +of women. There are many things to be considered. Too bad it +wasn't in ordinary handwriting. That would have shown much more. +However, we shall try our best with what we have here. What +impressed you about it?" + +"Well," remarked Carton, "the thing that impressed me was that as +usual and as I fully expected, the trail leads right back to +protected vice and commercialized graft. This Little Montmartre is +one of the swellest of such resorts in the city, the legitimate +successor to the scores and hundreds of places which the +authorities and the vice investigators have closed recently. In +fact, Kennedy, I consider it more dangerous, because it is run, on +the surface at least, just like any of the first-class hotels. +There's no violation of law there, at least not openly." + +Craig had continued to examine the letter closely. "So, you have +already investigated the Little Montmartre?" he queried, drawing +from his pocket a little strip of glass and laying it down +carefully over the letter. + +"Indeed I have," returned the District Attorney, watching Kennedy +curiously. "It is a place with a very unsavoury reputation. And +yet I have been able to get nothing on it. They are so confounded +clever. There is never any outward violation of law; they adhere +strictly to the letter of the rule of outward decency." + +Over the typewritten characters Kennedy had placed the strip of +glass and I could see that it was ruled into little oblongs, into +each of which one of the type of the typewritten sheet seemed to +fall. Apparently he had forgotten the contents of the letter in +his interest in the text itself. He held the paper up to the light +and seemed to study its texture and thickness. Then he examined +the typed characters more closely with a little pocket magnifying +glass, his lips moving as if he were counting something. Next he +seized a mass of correspondence on his desk and began comparing +the letter with others, apparently to determine just the shade of +writing of the ribbon. Finally he gave it up and leaned back in +his chair regarding us. + +"It is written in the regular pica type," he remarked +thoughtfully, "and on a machine that has seen considerable rough +usage, although it is not an old machine. It will take me a little +time to identify the make, but after I have done that, I think I +could identify the particular machine itself the moment I saw it. +You see, it is only a clue that would serve to fix it once you +found that machine. The point is, after all, to find it. But once +found, I am sure we shall be close to the source of the letter. I +may keep this and study it at my leisure?" + +"Certainly." + +For a moment Carton was silent. Then it seemed as though the +matter of Betty Blackwell brought to mind what he had read in the +morning papers. + +"That robbery of Langhorne's safe was a most peculiar thing, +wasn't it?" he meditated. "I suppose you know what Miss Blackwell +was?" + +"Langhorne's stenographer and secretary, of course," I replied +quickly. + +"Yes, I know. But I mean what she had actually done? I don't +believe you do. My county detectives found out only last night." +Kennedy paused in his rummaging among some bottles to which he had +turned at the mention of the safe robbery. "No--what was it?" he +asked. + +Carton bent forward as if our own walls might have ears and said +in a low voice: "She was the operator who took down the +detectaphone conversations at the other end of the wire in a +furnished room in the house next to Gastron's." + +He drew back to see what effect the intelligence had on us, then +resumed slowly: "Yes, I've had my men out on the case. That is +what they think. I believe she often executed little confidential +commissions for Langhorne, sometimes things that took her on short +trips out of town. There is a possibility that she may be on a +mission of that sort. But I think--it's this Black Book case that +involves her now." + +"Langhorne wouldn't talk much about anything," I put in, hastily +remembering his manner. "He may not be responsible--but from his +actions I'd wager he knows more about her than appears." + +"Just so," agreed Carton. "If my men can find out that she was the +operator who 'listened in' and got the notes and the transcript of +the Black Book, then she becomes a person of importance in the +case and the fact must be known to others who are interested. +Why," he pursued, "don't you see what it means? If she is out of +the way, there is no one to swear to the accuracy of the notes in +the record, no one to identify the voices--even if we do manage +finally to locate the thing." + +"Dorgan and the rest are certainly leaving nothing undone to shake +the validity of the record," ruminated Kennedy, accepting for the +moment at least Carton's explanation of the disappearance of Miss +Blackwell. "Have you any idea what might have happened to her?" + +Carton shook his head negatively. "There are several +explanations," he replied slowly. "As far as we have been able to +find out she led a model life, at home with her mother and sister. +Except for the few commissions for Langhorne and lately when she +was out rather late taking the detectaphone notes, she was very +quiet,--in fact devoted to her mother and the education of her +younger sister." + +"What sort of place was it in which the receivers of the +detectaphone were located--do you know?" asked Kennedy quickly. + +"Yes, it seems to be a very respectable boardinghouse," answered +Carton. "She came there with a grip about a week ago and hired a +room, saying she was out of town a great deal. Just about the same +time a young man, who posed as a student in electrical engineering +at some school uptown, left. It must have been he who installed +the detectaphone--perhaps with the aid of a waiter in Gastron's. +At any rate, she seems to have been alone in the boarding-house-- +that is, I mean, not acquainted with any of the other guests-- +during the time when she was taking down the record. Dorgan traced +the wires, outside the two buildings, to her rooms, but she was +not there. In fact there was nothing there but a grip with a few +articles that give no clue to anything. Somehow she must have +heard of it, for no one knows anything about her, since then." + +"Perhaps Langhorne is keeping her out of the way so that no one +can tamper with her testimony," I suggested. + +"It's possible," said Carton in a tone that showed that he did not +believe in that explanation. "How about that safe robbery, +Kennedy? Some of the papers hinted that she might have known +something of that. I had a man down there watching, afterwards, +but I had cautioned him to be careful and keep under cover. One of +the elevator boys told him that the robbers had made a hole in the +safe. What did he mean? Did you see it?" + +Rapidly Kennedy sketched what we had done, telling the story of +how the dynamometer had at least partly exonerated Betty +Blackwell. + +When he reached the description of the hole in the safe, Carton +was absolutely incredulous. As for myself, it presented a mystery +which I found absolutely inexplicable. How it was possible in such +a short time to make a hole in a safe by any known means, I could +not understand. In fact, if I had not seen it myself, I should +have been even more sceptical than Carton. + +Kennedy, however, made no reply immediately to our expressions of +doubt. He had found and set apart from the rest a couple of little +glass bottles with ground glass stoppers. Then he took a thick +piece of steel and laid it across a couple of blocks of wood, +under which was a second steel plate. + +Without a word of explanation, he took the glass stopper out of +the larger bottle and poured some of the contents on the upper +plate of steel. There it lay, a little mound of reddish powder. +Then he took a little powder of another kind from the other +bottle. + +He lighted a match and ignited the second pile of powder. + +"Stand back--close to the wall--shield your eyes," he called to +us. + +He had dropped the burning mass on the red powder and in two or +three leaps he joined us at the far end of the room. + +Almost instantly a dazzling, intense flame broke out. It seemed to +sizzle and crackle. With bated breath we waited and, as best we +could, shielding our eyes from the glare, watched. + +It was almost incredible, but that glowing mass of powder seemed +literally to be sinking, sinking right down into the cold steel. +In tense silence we waited. On the ceiling we could see the +reflection of the molten mass in the cup which it had burned for +itself in the cold steel plate. + +At last it fell through to the lower piece of steel, on which it +burnt itself out--fell through as the burning roof of a frame +building might have fallen into the building. + +Neither Carton nor I spoke a word, but as we now cautiously +advanced with Kennedy and peered over the steel plate we +instinctively turned to Craig for an explanation. Carton seemed to +regard him as if he were some uncanny mortal. For, there in the +steel plate, was a hole. As I looked at the clean-cut edges, I saw +that it was smaller but identical in nature with that which we had +seen in the safe in Langhorne's office. + +"Wonderful!" ejaculated Carton. "What is it?" + +"Thermit," was all Kennedy said, as just a trace of a smile of +satisfaction flitted over his face. + +"Thermit?" echoed Carton, still as mystified as before. + +"Yes, an invention of a chemist named Goldschmidt, of Essen, +Germany. It is composed of iron oxide, such as conies off a +blacksmith's anvil or the rolls of a rolling-mill, and powdered +metallic aluminum. You could thrust a red-hot bar into it without +setting it off, but when you light a little magnesium powder and +drop it on thermit, a combustion is started that quickly reaches +fifty-four hundred degrees Fahrenheit. It has the peculiar +property of concentrating its heat to the immediate spot on which +it is placed. It is one of the most powerful oxidizing agents +known, and it doesn't even melt the rest of the steel surface. You +see how it ate its way directly through this plate. Steel, hard or +soft, tempered, annealed, chrome, or Harveyized--it all burns just +as fast and just as easily. And it's comparatively inexpensive, +also. This is an experiment Goldschmidt it fond of showing his +students--burning holes in one--and two-inch steel plates. It is +the same with a safe--only you need more of the stuff. Either +black or red thermit will do the trick equally well, however." + +Neither of us said anything. There was nothing to say except to +feel and express amazement. + +"Someone uncommonly clever or instructed by someone uncommonly +clever, must have done that job at Langhorne's," added Craig. +"Have you any idea who might pull off such a thing for Dorgan or +Murtha?" he asked of Carton. + +"There's a possible suspect," answered Carton slowly, "but since +I've seen this wonderful exhibition of what thermit can do, I'm +almost ashamed to mention his name. He's not in the class that +would be likely to use such things." + +"Oh," laughed Kennedy, "never think it. Don't you suppose the +crooks read the scientific and technical papers? Believe me, they +have known about thermit as long as I have. Safes are constructed +now that are proof against even that, and other methods of attack. +No indeed, your modern scientific cracksman keeps abreast of the +times in his field better than you imagine. Our only protection is +that fortunately science always keeps several laps ahead of him in +the race--and besides, we have organized society to meet all such +perils. It may be that the very cleverness of the fellow will be +his own undoing. The unusual criminal is often that much the +easier to run down. It narrows the number of suspects." + +"Well," rejoined Carton, not as confident now as when he had first +met us in the laboratory, "then there is a possible suspect--a +fellow known in the underworld as 'Dopey' Jack--Jack Rubano. He's +a clever fellow--no doubt. But I hardly think he's capable of +that, although I should call him a rather advanced yeggman." + +"What makes you suspect him?" asked Kennedy eagerly. + +"Well," temporized Carton, "I haven't anything 'on' him in this +connection, it's true. But we've been trying to find him and can't +seem to locate him in connection with primary frauds in Murtha's +own district. Dopey Jack is the leader of a gang of gunmen over +there and is Murtha's first lieutenant whenever there is a tough +political battle of the organization either at the primaries or on +Election Day." + +"Has a record, I suppose?" prompted Kennedy. + +"Would have--if it wasn't for the influence of Murtha," rejoined +Carton. + +I had heard, in knocking about the city, of Dopey Jack Rubano. +That was the picturesque title by which he was known to the police +and his enemies as well as to his devoted followers. A few years +before, he had begun his career fighting in "preliminaries" at the +prize fight clubs on the lower East Side. + +He had begun life with a better chance than most slum boys, for he +had rugged health and an unusually sturdy body. His very strength +had been his ruin. Working decently for wages, he had been told by +other petty gang leaders that he was a "sucker," when he could get +many times as much for boxing a few rounds at some "athletic" +club. He tried out the game with many willing instructors and +found that it was easy money. + +Jack began to wear better clothes and study the methods of other +young men who never worked but always seemed to have plenty of +money. They were his pals and showed him how it was done. It +wasn't long before he learned that he could often get more by +hitting a man with a blackjack than by using his fists in the +roped ring. Then, too, there were various ways of blackmail and +extortion that were simple, safe, and lucrative. He might be +arrested, but he early found that by making himself useful to some +politicians, they could fix that minor difficulty in the life. + +Thus because he was not only strong and brutal, but had a sort of +ability and some education, Dopey Jack quickly rose to a position +of minor leadership--had his own incipient "gang," his own +"lobbygows." His following increased as he rose in gangland, and +finally he came to be closely associated with Murtha himself on +one hand and the "guns" and other criminals of the underworld who +frequented the stuss games, where they gambled away the products +of their crimes, on the other. + +Everyone knew Dopey Jack. He had been charged with many crimes, +but always through the aid of "the big fellows" he avoided the +penitentiary and every fresh and futile attempt to end his career +increased the numbers and reverence of his followers. His had been +the history and he was the pattern now of practically every gang +leader of consequence in the city. The fight club had been his +testing ground. There he had learned the code, which can be +summarized in two words, "Don't squeal." For gangland hates +nothing so much as a "snitch." As a beginner he could be trusted +to commit any crime assigned to him and go to prison, perhaps the +chair, rather than betray a leader. As a leader he had those under +him trained in the same code. That still was his code to those +above him in the System. + +"We want him for frauds at the primaries," repeated Carton, "at +least, if we can find him, we can hold him on that for a time. I +thought perhaps he might know something of the robbery--and about +the disappearance of the girl, too. + +"Oh," he continued, "there are lots of things against him. Why, +only last week there was a dance of a rival association of gang +leaders. Against them Dopey Jack led a band of his own followers +and in the ensuing pistol battle a passer-by was killed. Of course +we can't connect Dopey Jack with his death, but--then we know as +well as we know anything in gangland that he was responsible." + +"I suppose it isn't impossible that he may know something about +the disappearance of Miss Blackwell," remarked Kennedy. + +"No," replied Carton, "not at all, although, so far, there is +absolutely no clue as far as I can figure out. She may have been +bought off or she may have been kidnapped." + +"In either case the missing girl must be found," said Craig. "We +must get someone interested in her case who knows something about +what may happen to a girl in New York." + +Carton had been revolving the matter in his mind. "By George," he +exclaimed suddenly, "I think I know just the person to take up +that case for us--it's quite in her line. Can you spare the time +to run down to the Reform League headquarters with me?" + +"Nothing could be more important, just at the minute," replied +Craig. + +The telephone buzzed and he answered it, a moment later handing +the receiver to Carton. + +"It's your office," he said. "One of the assistant district +attorneys wants you on the wire." + +As Carton hung up the receiver he turned to us with a look of +great satisfaction. + +"Dopey Jack has just been arrested," he announced. "He has shut up +like an oyster, but we think we can at least hold him for a few +days this time until we sift down some of these clues." + + + + +V + +THE SUFFRAGETTE SECRETARY + + +Carton took us directly to the campaign headquarters of the Reform +League, where his fight for political life was being conducted. + +We found the offices in the tower of a skyscraper, whence was +pouring forth a torrent of appeal to the people, in printed and +oral form of every kind, urging them to stand shoulder to shoulder +for good government and vote the "ring" out of power. + +There seemed to me to be a different tone to the place from that +which I had ordinarily associated with political headquarters in +previous campaigns. There was a notable absence of the old- +fashioned politicians and of the air of intrigue laden with +tobacco. + +Rather, there was an air of earnestness and efficiency, which was +decidedly encouraging and hopeful. It seemed to speak of a new era +in politics when things were to be done in the open instead of at +secret meetings and scandalous dinners, as Dorgan did them at +Gastron's. + +Maps of the city were hanging on the walls, some stuck full of +various coloured pins, denoting the condition of the canvass. +Other maps of the city in colours, divided into all sorts of +districts, told how fared the battle in the various strongholds of +Boss Dorgan and Sub-boss Murtha. + +Huge systems of card indexes, loose leaf devices, labour-saving +appliances for getting out a vast amount of campaign "literature" +in a hurry; in short, a perfect system, such as a great, well- +managed business might have been proud of, were in evidence +everywhere one looked. + +Work was going ahead in every department under high pressure, for +the campaign, which had been more than usually heated, was now +drawing to a close. Indeed, it would have taken no great +astuteness, even without one's being told, to deduce merely from +the surroundings that the people here were engaged in the annual +struggle of seeking the votes of their fellow-citizens for reform +and were nearly worn out by the arduous endeavour. + +It had been, as I have said, the bitterest campaign in years. +Formerly the reformers had been of the "silk-stocking" type, but +now a new and younger generation was coming upon the stage, a +generation which had been trained to achieve results, ambitious to +attain what in former years had been considered impossible. The +Reform League was making a stiff campaign and the System was, by +the same token, more frightened than ever before. + +Carton was fortunate in having shaken off the thralldom of the old +bosses even before the popular uprising against them had assumed +such proportions as to warrant anyone in taking his political life +in his hands by defying the powers that ruled behind the scenes. +In fact, the Reform League itself owed its existence to a +fortunate conjunction of both moral and economic conditions which +demanded progress. + +Of course, the League did not have such a big "barrel" as their +opponents under Dorgan. But, at least they did have many willing +workers, men and women, who were ready to sacrifice something for +the advancement of the principles for which they stood. + +In one part of the suite of offices which had been leased by the +League, Carton had had assigned to him an office of his own, and +it was to this office that he led us, after a word with the boy +who guarded the approach to the door, and an exchange of greetings +with various workers and visitors in the outside office. + +We seated ourselves while Carton ran his eye through some letters +that had been left on his desk for his attention. + +A moment later the door of his office opened and a young lady in a +very stunning street dress, with a pretty little rakish hat and a +tantalizing veil, stood a moment, hesitated, and then was about to +turn back with an apology for intruding on what looked like a +conference. + +"Good-morning, Miss Ashton," greeted Carton, laying down the +letters instantly. "You're just the person I want to see." + +The girl, with a portfolio of papers in her hand, smiled and he +quickly crossed the room and held the door open, as he whispered a +word or two to her. + +She was a handsome girl, something more than even pretty. The +lithe gracefulness of her figure spoke of familiarity with both +tennis and tango, and her face with its well-chiselled profile +denoted intellectuality from which no touch of really feminine +charm had been removed by the fearsome process of the creation of +the modern woman. Sincerity as well as humour looked out from the +liquid depths of her blue eyes beneath the wavy masses of blonde +hair. She was good to look at and we looked, irresistibly. + +"Let me introduce Professor Kennedy and Mr. Jameson, Miss Ashton," +began Carton, adding: "Of course you have heard of Miss Margaret +Ashton, the suffragist leader? She is the head of our press +bureau, you know. She's making a great fight for us here--a +winning fight." + +It seemed from the heightened look of determination which set +Carton's face in deeper lines that Miss Ashton had that +indispensable political quality of inspiring both confidence and +enthusiasm in those who worked with her. + +"It is indeed a great pleasure to meet you," remarked Kennedy. +"Both Mr. Jameson and myself have heard and read a great deal +about your work, though we seem never before to have had the +pleasure of meeting you." + +Miss Ashton, I recalled, was a very clever girl, a graduate of a +famous woman's college, and had had several years of newspaper +experience before she became a leader in the cause of equal +suffrage. + +The Ashtons were well known in society and it was a sore trial to +some of her conservative friends that she should reject what they +considered the proper "sphere" for women and choose to go out into +life and devote herself to doing something that was worth while, +rather than to fritter her time and energy away on the gaiety and +inconsequentiality of social life. + +Among those friends, I had understood, was Hartley Langhorne +himself. He was older than Miss Ashton, but had belonged to the +same social circle and had always held her in high regard. In fact +the attentions he paid her had long been noticeable, the more so +as she seemed politely unaffected by them. + +Carton had scarcely more than introduced us, yet already I felt +sure that I scented a romance behind the ordinarily prosaic +conduct of a campaign press bureau. + +It is far from my intention even to hint that the ability or +success of the head of the press bureau were not all her own or +were in any degree overrated. But it struck me, both then and +often later, that the candidate for District Attorney had an +extraordinary interest in the newspaper campaign, much more, for +instance, than in the speakers' bureau. I am sure that it was not +wholly accounted for by the fact that publicity is playing a more +and more important part in political campaigning. + +Nevertheless, as we came to know afterwards such innovations as +her card index system by election districts all over the city, +showing the attitude of the various newspaper editors, local +leaders, and other influential citizens, recording changes of +sentiment and possible openings for future work, all were very +full and valuable. Kennedy, who had a regular pigeon-hole mind for +facts himself, was visibly impressed by the huge mechanical memory +built up by Miss Ashton. + +Though he said nothing to me, I knew that Craig also had observed +the state of affairs between the reform candidate and the suffrage +leader. + +"You see, Miss Ashton," explained Carton, "someone has placed a +detectaphone in the private dining-room of Dorgan at Gastron's. I +heard of it first through Mrs. Ogleby, who attended one of the +dinners and was terribly afraid her name would be connected with +them if the record should ever be published." + +"Mrs. Ogleby?" cried Miss Ashton quickly. "She--at a dinner--with +Mr. Murtha? I--I can't believe it." + +Carton said nothing. Whether he knew more about Mrs. Ogleby than +he cared to tell, I could not even guess. + +As he went on briefly summarizing the story, Miss Ashton shot a +quick glance or two at him. + +Carton noticed it, but appeared not to do so. "I suppose," he +concluded, "that she thought I was the only person capable of +eavesdropping. As a matter of fact, I think the instrument was put +in by Hartley Langhorne as part of the fight that is going on +fiercely under the surface in the organization." + +It was Carton's turn now, I fancied, to observe Miss Ashton more +closely. As far as I could see, the information was a matter of +perfect indifference to her. + +Carton did not say it in so many words, but one could not help +gathering that rather than seem to be pursuing a possible rival +and using his official position in order to do it, he was not +considering Langhorne in any other light than as a mere actor in +the drama between himself and Dorgan and Murtha. + +"Now," he concluded, "the point of the whole thing is this, Miss +Ashton. We have learned that Betty Blackwell--you know the case-- +who took the notes over the detectaphone for the Black Book, has +suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. If she is gone, it may be +difficult to prove anything, even if we get the book. Miss +Blackwell happens to be a stenographer in the office of Langhorne +& Westlake." + +For the first time, Miss Ashton seemed to show a sign of +embarrassment. Evidently she would just as well have had Miss +Blackwell in some other connection. + +"Perhaps you would rather have nothing to do with it," suggested +Carton, "but I know that you were always interested in things of +the sort that happen to girls in the city and thought perhaps you +could advise us, even if you don't feel like personally taking up +the case." + +"Oh, it doesn't--matter," she murmured. "Of course, the first +thing for us to do is, as you say, to find what has become of +Betty Blackwell." + +Carton turned suddenly at the word "us," but Miss Ashton was still +studying the pattern of the rug. + +"Do you know any more about her?" she asked at length. + +As fully as possible the District Attorney repeated what he had +already told us. Miss Ashton seemed to be more than interested in +the story of the disappearance of Langhorne's stenographer. + +As Carton unfolded the meagre details of what we knew so far, Miss +Ashton appeared to be torn by conflicting opinions. The more she +thought of what might possibly have happened to the unfortunate +girl, the more aroused about the case she seemed to become. + +Carton had evidently calculated on enlisting her sympathies, +knowing how she felt toward many of the social and economic +injustices toward women, and particularly girls. + +"If Mr. Murtha or Mr. Dorgan is responsible in any way for any +harm to her," she said finally, her earnest eyes now ablaze with +indignation, "I shall not rest until someone is punished." + +Kennedy had been watching her emotions keenly, I suspect, to see +whether she connected Langhorne in any way with the disappearance. +I could see it interested him that she did not seem even to +consider that Langhorne might be responsible. Whether her +intuition was correct or not, it was at least better at present +than any guess that we three might have made. + +"They control so many forces for evil," she went on, "that there +is no telling what they might command against a defenceless girl +like her when it is a question of their political power." + +"Then," pursued Kennedy, pacing the floor thoughtfully, "the next +question is, How are we to proceed? The first step naturally will +be the investigation of this Little Montmartre. How is it to be +done? I presume you don't want to go up there and look the place +over yourself, do you, Carton?" + +"Most certainly not," said Carton emphatically. "Not if you want +this case to go any further. Why, I can't walk around a corner now +without a general scurry for the cyclone cellars. They all know +me, and those who don't are watching for me. On the contrary, if +you are going to start there I had better execute a flank movement +in Queens or Jersey to divert attention. Really, I mean it. I had +better keep in the background. But I'll tell you what I would like +to do." + +Carton hesitated and came to a full stop. + +"What's the matter?" asked Kennedy quickly, noticing the +hesitation. + +"Why--I--er--didn't know just how you'd take a suggestion--that's +all." + +"Thankfully. What is it?" + +"You know young Haxworth?" + +"You mean the son of the millionaire who is investigating vice and +whom the newspapers are poking fun at?" + +"Yes. Those papers make me tired. He has been working, you know, +with me in this matter. He is really serious about it, too. He has +a corps of investigators of his own already. Well, there is one of +them, a woman detective named Clare Kendall, who is the brains of +the whole Haxworth outfit. If you would be willing to have them-- +er--to have her co-operate with you, I think I could persuade +Haxworth---" + +"Oh," broke in Kennedy with a laugh. "I see. You think perhaps +there might be some professional jealousy? On the contrary, it +solves a problem I was already considering. Of course we shall +need a woman in this case, one with a rare amount of discretion +and ability. Yes, by all means let us call in Miss Kendall, and +let us take every advantage we can of what she has already +accomplished." + +Carton seized the telephone. + +"Tell her to meet us at my laboratory in half an hour," interposed +Kennedy. "You will come along?" + +"I can't. Court opens in twenty minutes and there is a motion I +must argue myself." + +Miss Ashton appeared to be greatly gratified at Craig's reception +of the suggestion, and Carton noticed it + +"Oh, yes," recollected Carton, "by the way, as I was on my way +down here, my office called up and told me that they had succeeded +in locating and arresting Dopey Jack. That ought to please you,-- +it will mean cutting down the number of those East Side 'rackets' +considerably if we succeed with him." + +"Good!" she exclaimed. "Yes, I don't think there were any worse +affairs than the dances of that Jack Rubano Association. They have +got hold of more young girls and caused more tragedies than any +other gang. If you need any help in getting together evidence, Mr. +Carton, I shall be only too glad to help you. I have several old +scores myself to settle with that young tough." + +"Thank you," said Carton. "I shall need your help, if we are to do +anything. Of course, we can hold him only for primary frauds just +now, but I may be able to do something about that dance that he +broke up as a shooting affray." + +Miss Ashton nodded encouragingly. + +"And," he went on, "it's barely possible that he may know +something, or some of his followers may, about the robbery of Mr. +Langhorne's safe,--if not about the complete and mysterious +disappearance of Betty Blackwell." + +"They'd stop at nothing to save their precious skins," commented +Miss Ashton. "Perhaps that is a good lead. At any rate I can +suggest that to the various societies and other agencies which I +intend to set in motion trying to trace what has happened to her. +You can have him held until they have time to report?" + +"I shall make it a point to do so at any cost," he returned, "and +I can say only this, that we are all deeply indebted to you for +the interest you have shown in the case." + +"Not at all," she replied enthusiastically, evidently having +overcome the first hesitation which had existed because Miss +Blackwell had been Langhorne's stenographer. + +Miss Ashton had quickly jotted down in her notebook the best +description we could give of the missing girl, her address, and +other facts about her, and a list of those whom she meant to start +at work on the case. + +For a moment she hesitated over one name, then with a sudden +resolution wrote it down. + +"I intend to see Hartley Langhorne about it, too," she added +frankly. "Perhaps he may tell something of importance, after all." + +I am sure that this final resolution cost her more than all the +rest. Carton would never have asked it of her, yet was gratified +that she saw it to be her duty to leave nothing undone in tracing +the girl, not even considering the possibility of offending +Langhorne. + +"Decent people don't seem to realize," she remarked as she shut +her little notebook and slipped it back into her chatelaine, "how +the System and the underworld really do affect them. They think it +is all something apart from the rest of us, and never consider how +closely we are all bound together and how easy it is for the +lowest and most vicious stratum in the social order to pass over +and affect the highest." + +"That's exactly the point," agreed Carton. "Take this very case. +It goes from Wall Street to gangland, from Gastron's down to the +underworld gambling joints of Dopey Jack and the rest." + +"Society--gambling," mused Miss Ashton, taking out her notebook +again. "That reminds me of Martin Ogleby. I must see Mary and try +to warn her against some of those sporty friends of her +husband's." + +"Please, Miss Ashton," put in Carton quickly, "don't mention that +I have told you of the detectaphone record. It might do more harm +than good, just at present. For a time at least, I think we should +try to keep under cover." + +Whether or not that was his real reason, he turned now to Kennedy +for support. We had been, for the most part, silent spectators of +what had been happening. + +"I think so--for the present--at least as far as our knowledge of +the Black Book goes," acquiesced Craig. He had turned to Miss +Ashton and made no effort to conceal the admiration which he felt +for her, after even so brief an acquaintance. "I think Miss Ashton +can be depended upon to play her part in the game perfectly. I, +for one, want to thank her most heartily for the way in which she +has joined us." + +"Thank you," she smiled, as she rose to go to her own office. "Oh, +you can always depend on me," she assured us as she gathered up +her portfolio of papers, "where there are the interests of a girl +like Betty Blackwell involved!" + + + + +VI + +THE WOMAN DETECTIVE + + +Half an hour later, a tall, striking, self-reliant young woman +with an engaging smile opened the laboratory door and asked for +Professor Kennedy. + +"Miss Kendall?" Craig inquired, coming forward to meet her. + +She was dark-haired, with regular features and an expression which +showed a high degree of intelligence. Her clear grey eyes seemed +to penetrate and tear the mask off you. It was not only her +features and eyes that showed intelligence, but her gown showed +that without sacrificing neatness she had deliberately toned down +the existing fashions which so admirably fitted in with her figure +in order that she might not appear noticeable. It was clever, for +if there is anything a good detective must do it is to prevent +people from looking twice. + +I knew something of her history already. She had begun on a rather +difficult case for one of the large agencies and after a few years +of experience had decided that there was a field for an +independent woman detective who would appeal particularly to women +themselves. Unaided she had fought her way to a position of keen +rivalry now with the best men in the profession. + +Narrowly I watched Kennedy. Here, I felt instinctively, were the +"new" woman and the "new" man, if there are such things. I +wondered just how they would hit it off together. For the moment, +at least, Clare Kendall was an absorbing study, as she greeted us +with a frank, jerky straight-arm handshake. + +"Mr. Carton," she said directly, "has told me that he received an +anonymous letter this morning. May I see it?" + +There are times when the so-called "new" woman's assumed masculine +brusqueness is a trifle jarring, as well as often missing the +point. But with Clare Kendall one did not feel that she was +eternally trying to assert that she was the equal or the superior +of someone else, although she was, as far as the majority of +detectives I have met are concerned. It was rather that she was +different; in fact, almost from the start I felt that she was +indispensable. She seemed to have that ability to go straight to +the point at issue, a sort of faculty of intuition which is often +more valuable than anything else, the ability to feel or sense +things for which at first there was no actual proof. No good +detective ever lacks that sort of instinct, and Clare Kendall, +being a woman, had it in large degree. But she had more. She had +the ability to go further and get the facts and actual proof; for, +as she often said during the course of a case, "Woman's intuition +may not be good evidence in a court of law, but it is one of the +best means to get good evidence that will convince a court of +law." + +"My investigators have been watching that place for some time," +she remarked as she finished the letter. "Of course, having been +closely in touch with this sort of thing for several months in my +work, I have had all the opportunity in the world to observe and +collect information. The letter does not surprise me." + +"Then you think it is a good tip?" asked Kennedy. + +"Decidedly, although without the letter I should not have started +there, I think. Still, as nearly as I can gather, there is a +rather nondescript crowd connected in one way or another with the +Montmartre. For instance, there is a pretty tough character who +seems to be connected with the people there, my investigators tell +me. It is a fellow named 'Ike the Dropper,' one of those strong- +arm men who have migrated up from the East Side to the White Light +District. At least my investigators have told me they have seen +him there, for I have never bothered with the place myself. There +has been plenty of work elsewhere which promised immediate +results. I'm glad to have a chance to tackle this place, though, +with your help." + +"What do you think of the rest of the letter?" asked Craig. + +"I think I could make a pretty shrewd guess from what I have +heard, as to the identity of some of those hinted at. I'm not +sure, but I think the lawyer may be a Mr. Kahn, a clever enough +attorney who has a large theatrical clientele and none too savoury +a reputation as a local politician. The banker may be Mr. +Langhorne, although he is not exactly a young man. Still, I know +he has been associated with the place. As for the club-man I +should guess that that was Martin Ogleby." + +Kennedy and I exchanged glances of surprise. + +"As a first step," said Kennedy, at length, "I am going to write a +letter to Betty Blackwell, care of the Little Montmartre--or +perhaps you had better do the actual writing of it, Miss Kendall. +A woman's hand will look less suspicious." + +"What shall I write?" she asked. + +"Just a few lines. Tell her that you are one of the girls in the +office, that you have heard she was at the Montmartre--anything. +The actual writing doesn't make any difference. I merely want to +see what happens." + +Miss Kendall quickly wrote a little note and handed it to him. + +"Then direct this envelope," he said, reaching into a drawer of +his desk and bringing out a plain white one. "And let me seal it." + +Carefully he sealed and stamped the letter and handed it to me to +post. + +"You will dine with us, Miss Kendall?" he asked. "Then we will +plan the next step in our campaign." + +"I shall be glad to do so," she replied. + +Fifteen minutes later I had dropped the letter in the drop of a +branch of the general post-office to ensure its more prompt +delivery, and it was on its way through the mails to accomplish +the purpose Kennedy may have contemplated. + +"Just now it is more important for us to become acquainted with +this Little Montmartre," he remarked. "I suppose, Miss Kendall, we +may depend on you to join us?" + +"Indeed you may," she replied energetically. "There is nothing +that we would welcome more than evidence that would lead to the +closing of that place." + +Kennedy seemed to be impressed by the frankness and energy of the +young woman. + +"Perhaps if we three should go there, hire a private dining-room, +and look about without making any move against the place that +would excite suspicion, we might at least find out what it is that +we are fighting. Of course we must dine somewhere, and up there at +the same time we can plan our campaign." + +"I think that would be ripping," she laughed, as the humour of the +situation dawned on her. "Why, we shall be laying our plans right +in the heart of the enemy's country and they will never realize +it. Perhaps, too, we may get a glimpse of some of those people +mentioned in the anonymous letter." + +To Clare Kendall it was simply another phase of the game which she +had been playing against the forces of evil in the city. + +The Little Montmartre was, as I already knew, one of the smaller +hotels in a side street just off Broadway, eight or ten stories in +height, of modern construction, and for all the world exactly like +a score of other of the smaller hostelries of the famous city of +hotels. + +Clare, Craig, and myself pulled up before the entrance in a +taxicab, that seeming to be the accepted method of entering with +eclat. A boy opened the door. I jumped out and settled with the +driver without a demur at the usual overcharge, while Craig +assisted Clare. + +Laughing and chatting, we entered the bronze plate-glass doors and +walked slowly down a richly carpeted corridor. It was elegantly +furnished and decorated with large palms set at intervals, quite +the equal in luxuriousness, though on a smaller scale, of any of +the larger and well-known hotels. Beautifully marked marbles and +expensive hangings greeted the eye at every turn. Faultlessly +liveried servants solicitously waited about for tips. + +Craig and Clare, who were slightly ahead of me, turned quickly +into a little alcove, or reception room and Craig placed a chair +for her. Farther down the corridor I could see the office, and +beyond a large main dining-room from which strains of music came +and now and then the buzz of conversation and laughter from gay +parties at the immaculately white tables. + +"Boy," called Kennedy quietly, catching the eye of a passing bell +hop and unostentatiously slipping a quarter into his hand, which +closed over the coin almost automatically, "the head waiter, +please. Oh--er--by the way--what is his name?" + +"Julius," returned the boy, to whom the proceeding seemed to +present nothing novel, although the whole atmosphere of the place +was beyond his years. "I'll get him in a minute, sir. He's in the +main dining-room. He's having some trouble with the cabaret +singers. One of them is late--as usual." + +We sat in the easy chairs watching the people passing and +repassing in the corridor. There was no effort at concealment +here. + +A few minutes later Julius appeared, a young man, tall and rather +good-looking, suave and easy. A word or two with Kennedy followed, +during which a greenback changed hands--in fact that seemed to be +the open sesame to everything here--and we were in the elevator +decorously escorted by the polished Julius. + +The door of the elevator shut noiselessly and it shot up to the +next floor. Julius preceded us down the thickly carpeted corridor +leading the way to a large apartment, or rather a suite of rooms, +as handsomely furnished as any in other hotels. He switched on the +lights and left us, with the remark, "When you want the waiter or +anything, just press the button." + +In the largest of the rooms was a dining-table and several chairs +of Jacobean oak. A heavy sideboard and serving-table stood against +opposite walls. Another, smaller room was furnished very +attractively as a sitting-room. Deep, easy chairs stood in the +corners and a wide, capacious davenport stretched across one wall. +In another nook was a little divan or cosy corner. + +Electric bulbs burned pinkly in the chandeliers and on silver +candelabra on the table, giving a half light that was very +romantic and fascinating. From a curtained window that opened upon +an interior court we could catch strains from the cabaret singers +below in the main dining-room. Everything was new and bright. + +Kennedy pressed the button and a waiter brought a menu, imposing +in length and breath-taking in rates. + +"The cost of vice seems to have gone up with the cost of living," +remarked Miss Kendall, as the waiter disappeared as silently as he +had responded to the bell. It was a phrase that stuck in my head, +so apt was it in describing the anomalous state of things we found +as the case unrolled. + +Craig ordered, now and then consulting Clare about some detail. +The care and attention devoted to us could not have been more +punctilious if it had been an elaborate dinner party. + +"Well," he remarked, as the waiter at last closed the door of the +private dining-room to give the order in downstairs in the +kitchen, "the Little Montmartre makes a brave showing. I suppose +it will be some time before the dinner arrives, though. There is +certainly some piquancy to this," he added, looking about at the +furnishings. + +"Yes," remarked Miss Kendall, "risque from the moment you enter +the door." + +She said it with an impersonal tone as if there were complete +detachment between herself as an observer and as a guest of the +Montmartre. + +"Miss Kendall," asked Kennedy, "did you notice anything +particularly downstairs? I'd like to check up my own impressions +by yours." + +"I noticed that Titian beauty in the hotel office as we left the +reception room and entered the elevator." + +Craig smiled. + +"So did I. I thought you would be both woman enough and detective +enough to notice her. Well, I suppose if a man likes that sort of +girl that's the sort of girl he likes. That's point number one. +But did you notice anything else--as we came in, for instance?" + +"No--except that everything seems to be a matter of scientific +management here to get the most out of the suckers. This is no +place for a piker. It all seems to run so smoothly, too. Still, +I'm sure that our investigators might get something on the place +if they kept right after it, although on the surface it doesn't +look as if any law was being openly violated here. What do you +mean? What is your point number two?" + +"In the front window," resumed Craig, "just as you enter, I +noticed one of those little oblong signs printed neatly in black +on white--'Dr. Vernon Harris, M. D.' You recall that the letter +said something about a doctor who was very friendly with that +clique the writer mentioned? It's even money that this Harris is +the one the writer meant. I suppose he is the 'house physician' of +this gilded palace." + +Clare nodded appreciatively. "Quite right," she agreed. "Just how +do you think he might be involved?" + +"Of course I can't say. But I think, without going any further, +that a man like that in a place like this will bear watching +anyway, without our needing more than the fact that he is here. +Naturally we don't know anything about him as a doctor, but he +must have some training; and in an environment like this--well, a +little training may be a dangerous thing." + +"The letter said something about drugs," mused Clare. + +"Yes," added Kennedy. "As you know, alcohol is absolutely +necessary to a thing like this. Girls must keep gay and +attractive; they must meet men with a bright, unfaltering look, +and alcohol just dulls the edge of conscience. Besides, look over +that wine list--it fills the till of the Montmartre, judging by +the prices. But then, alcohol palls when the pace is as swift as +it seems to be here. Even more essential are drugs. You know, +after all, it is no wonder so many drug fiends and drunkards are +created by this life. Now, a doctor who is not over-scrupulous, +and he would have to be not over-scrupulous to be here at all, +would find a gold mine in the dispensing of drugs and the toning +up of drug fiends and others who have been going the pace too +rapidly." + +"Yes," she said. "We have found that some of these doctors are a +great factor in the life of various sections of the city where +they hang out. I know one who is deeply in the local politics and +boasts that any resort that patronizes him is immune. Yes, that's +a good point about Dr. Harris." + +"I suppose your investigators have had more or less to do with +watching the progress of drug habits?" ventured Craig. + +"Very much," she replied, catching the drift of his remarks. "We +have found, for instance, that there are a great many cases where +it seems that drugs have been used in luring young and innocent +girls. Not the old knockout drops--chloral, you know--but modern +drugs, not so powerful, perhaps, but more insidious, and in that +respect, I suppose, more dangerous. There are cocaine fiends, +opium smokers; oh, lots of them. But those we find in the slums +mostly. Still, I suppose there are all kinds of drugs up here in +the White Light District--belladonna to keep the eyes bright, +arsenic to whiten the complexion, and so on." + +"Yes," asserted Craig. "This section of the city may not be so +brutal in its drug taking as others, but it is here--yes, and it +is over on Fifth Avenue, too, right in society. Before we get +through I'm sure we'll both learn much more than we even dream of +now." + +The door opened after a discreet tap from the waiter and the +lavish dinner which Craig had ordered appeared. The door stayed +open for a moment as the bus boy carried in the dishes. A rustle +of skirts and low musical laughter was wafted in to us and we +caught a glimpse of another gay party passing down the hall. + +"How many private dining-rooms are there?" asked Craig of the +waiter. + +"Just this one, sir, and the next one, which is smaller," replied +the model waiter, with the air of one who could be blind and deaf +and dumb if he chose. + +"Oh, then we were lucky to get this." + +"Yes, sir. It is really best to telephone first to Julius to make +sure and have one of the rooms reserved, sir." + +Craig made a mental note of the information. The party in the next +room were hilariously ordering, mostly from the wine list. None of +us had recognized any of them, nor had they paid much attention to +us. + +Craig had eaten little, although the food was very good. + +"It's a shame to come here and not see the whole place," he +remarked. "I wonder if you would excuse me while I drop downstairs +to look over things there--perhaps ingratiate myself with that +Titian? Tell Miss Kendall about our visit to Langhorne's office +while I am gone, Walter." + +There was not much that I could tell except the bare facts, but I +thought that Miss Kendall seemed especially interested in the +broker's reticence about his stenographer. + +I had scarcely finished when Craig returned. A glance at his face +told me that even in this brief time something had happened. + +"Did you meet the Titian?" I asked. + +"Yes. She is the stenographer and sometimes works the switchboard +of the telephone. I happened to strike the office while the clerk +was at dinner and she was alone. While I was talking to her I was +looking about and my eye happened to fall on one of the letter +boxes back of the desk, marked 'Dr. Harris.' Well, at once I had +an overwhelming desire to get a note which I saw sticking in it. +So I called up a telephone number, just as a blind, and while she +was at the switchboard I slipped the note into my pocket. Here it +is." + +He had laid an envelope down before us. It was in a woman's hand, +written hastily. + +"I'd like to know what was in it without Dr. Harris knowing it," +he remarked. "Now, the secret service agents abroad have raised +letter-opening to a fine art. Some kinds of paper can be steamed +open without leaving a trace, and then they follow that simple +operation by reburnishing the flap with a bone instrument. But +that won't do. It might make this ink run." + +Among the ornaments were several with flat wooden bases. Kennedy +took one and placed it on the edge of the table, which was +perfectly square. Then he placed the envelope between the table +and the base. + +"When other methods fail," he went on, "they place the envelope +between two pieces of wood with the edges projecting about a +thirty-second of an inch." + +He had first flattened the edge of the envelope, then roughened +it, and finally slit it open. + +"Scientific letter-opening," he remarked, as he pulled out a +little note written on the hotel paper. It read: + +DEAR HARRY: + +Called you up twice and then dropped into the hotel, but you seem +to be out all the time. Have something VERY IMPORTANT to tell you. +Shall be busy to-night and in the morning, but will be at the +dansant at the Futurist Tea Room to-morrow afternoon about four. +Be sure to be there. + + MARIE. + +"I shall," commented Kennedy. "Now the question is, how to seal up +this letter so that he won't know it has been opened. I saw some +of this very strong mucilage in the office. Ring the bell, Walter. +I'll get that impervious waiter to borrow it for a moment." + +Five minutes later he had applied a hair line of the strong, +colourless gum to the inside of the envelope and had united the +edges under pressure between the two pieces of wood. As soon as it +was dry he excused himself again and went back to the office, +where he managed to secure an opportunity to stick the letter back +in the box and chat for a few minutes longer with the Titian. + +"There's a wild cabaret down in the main dining-room," he reported +on his return. "I think we might just as well have a glimpse of it +before we go." + +Kennedy paid the cheque, which by this time had mounted like a +taximeter running wild, and we drifted into the dining-room, a +rather attractive hall, panelled in Flemish oak with artificial +flowers and leaves about, and here and there a little bird +concealed in a cage in the paper foliage. + +As cabarets go, it was not bad, although I could imagine how wild +it might become in the evening or on special occasion. + +"That Dr. Harris interests me," remarked Kennedy across the table +at us. "We must get something in writing from him in some way. And +then there's that girl in the office, too. She seems to be right +in with all these people here." + +Evidently the cabaret had little of interest to Miss Kendall, who, +after a glance that took in the whole dining-room and disclosed +none there in the gay crowd who, as far as we could see, had any +relation to the case, seemed bored. + +Craig noticed it and at once rose to go. + +As we passed out and into the corridor, Miss Kendall turned and +whispered, "Look over at the desk--Dr. Harris." + +Sure enough, chatting with the stenographer was a man with one of +those black bags which doctors carry. He was a young man in +appearance, one of those whom one sees in the White Light +District, with unnaturally bright eyes which speak of late hours +and a fast pace. He wore a flower in his buttonhole--a very +fetching touch with some women. Debonair, dapper, dashing, his +face was not one readily forgotten. As we passed hurriedly I +observed that he had torn open the note and had thrown the +envelope, unsuspectingly, into the basket. + + + + +VII + +THE GANG LEADER + + +With the arrest of Dopey Jack, it seemed as if all the forces of +the gang world were solidified for the final battle. + +Carton had been engaged in a struggle with the System so long that +he knew just how to get action, the magistrates he could depend +on, the various pitfalls that surrounded the snaring of one high +in gangland, the judges who would fix bail that was prohibitively +high. + +As he had anticipated and prepared for, every wire was pulled to +secure the release of Rubano. But Carton was fortunate in having +under him a group of young and alert assistants. It took the +combined energies of his office, however, to carry the thing +through and Kennedy and I did not see Carton again for some time. + +Meanwhile we were busy gathering as much information as we could +about those who were likely to figure in the case. It was +remarkable, but we found that the influence of Dorgan and Murtha +was felt in the most unexpected quarters. People who would have +talked to us on almost any other subject, absolutely refused to +become mixed up in this affair. It was as though the System +practised terrorism on a large scale. + +Late in the afternoon we met in Carton's office, to compare notes +on the progress made during the day. + +The District Attorney greeted us enthusiastically. + +"Well," he exclaimed as he dropped into his big office chair, +"this has been a hard day for me--but I've succeeded." + +"How?" queried Kennedy. + +"Of course the newspapers haven't got it yet," pursued Carton, +"but it happened that there was a Grand Jury sitting and +considering election cases. It went hard, but I made them consider +this case of Dopey Jack. I don't know how it happened, but I seem +to have succeeded in forcing action in record time. They have +found an indictment on the election charges, and if that falls +through, we shall have time to set up other charges against him. +In fact we are 'going to the mat,' so to speak, with this case." + +The office telephone rang and after a few sentences of +congratulation, Carton turned to us, his spirits even higher than +before. "That was one of my assistants," he explained, "one of the +cleverest. The trial will be before Judge Pomeroy in General +Sessions and it will be an early trial. Pomeroy is one of the best +of them, too--about to retire, and wants to leave a good record on +the bench behind him. Things are shaping up as well as we could +wish for." + +The door opened and one of Carton's clerks started to announce the +name of a visitor. + +"Mr. Carton, Mr.--" + +"Murtha," drawled a deep voice, as the owner of the name strode +in, impatiently brushing aside the clerk. "Hello, Carton," greeted +the Sub-boss aggressively. + +"Hello, Murtha," returned Carton, retaining his good temper and +seeing the humour of the situation, where the practice of years +was reversed and the mountain was coming to Mahomet. "This is a +little--er--informal--but I'm glad to see you, nevertheless," he +added quietly. "Won't you sit down? By the way, meet Mr. Kennedy +and Mr. Jameson. Is there anything I can do for you?" + +Murtha shook hands with us suspiciously, but did not sit down. He +continued to stand, his hat tilted back over his head and his huge +hands jammed down into his trousers pockets. + +"What's this I hear about Jack Rubano, Carton?" he opened fire. +"They tell me you have arrested him and secured an indictment." + +"They tell the truth," returned Carton shortly. "The Grand Jury +indicted Dopey Jack this afternoon. The trial---" + +"Dopey Jack," quoted Murtha in disgusted tones. "That's the way it +is nowadays. Give a dog a bad name--why,--I suppose this bad +name's going to stick to him all his life, now. It ain't right. +You know, Carton, as well as I do that if they charged him with +just plain fighting and got him before a jury, all you would have +to say would be, 'Gentlemen, the defendant at the bar is the +notorious gangster, Dopey Jack.' And the jurors wouldn't wait to +hear any more, but'd say, 'Guilty!' just like that. And he'd go up +the river for the top term. That's what a boy like that gets once +the papers give him such an awful reputation. It's fierce!" + +Carton shook his head. "Oh, Murtha," he remonstrated with just a +twinkle in his eye, "you don't think I believe that sort of soft +stuff, do you? I've had my eye on this 'boy'--he's twenty-eight, +by the way--too long. You needn't tell me anything about his +respectable old father and his sorrowing mother and weeping +sister. Murtha, I've been in this business too long for that heart +throb stuff. Leave that to the lawyers the System will hire for +him. Let's cut that out, between ourselves, and get down to brass +tacks." + +It was a new and awkward role for Murtha as suppliant, and he +evidently did not relish it. Aside from his own interest in Dopey +Jack, who was one of his indispensables, it was apparent that he +came as an emissary from Dorgan himself to spy out the land and +perhaps reach some kind of understanding. + +He glanced about at us, with a look that broadly hinted that he +would prefer to see Carton alone. Carton made no move to ask us to +leave and Kennedy met the boss's look calmly. Murtha smothered his +rage, although I knew he would with pleasure have had us stuck up +or blackjacked. + +"See here, Carton." he blurted out at length, approaching the desk +of the District Attorney and lowering his big voice as much as he +was capable, "can't we reach some kind of agreement between +ourselves? You let up on Rubano--and--well, I might be able to get +some of my friends to let up on Carton. See?" + +He was conveying as guardedly as he could a proposal that if the +District Attorney would consent to turn his back while the law +stumbled in one of the numerous pitfalls that beset a criminal +prosecution, the organization would deliver the goods, quietly +pass the word along to knife its own man and allow Carton to be +re-elected. + +I studied Carton's face intently. To a man of another stripe, the +proposal might have been alluring. It meant that although the +organization ticket won, he would, in the public eye at least, +have the credit of beating the System, of going into office +unhampered, of having assured beyond doubt what was at best only +problematical with the Reform League. + +Carton did not hesitate a moment. I thought I saw in his face the +same hardening of the lines of his features in grim determination +that I had seen when he had been talking to Miss Ashton. I knew +that, among other things, he was thinking how impossible it would +be for him ever to face her again in the old way, if he sold out, +even in a negative way, to the System. + +Murtha had shot his huge face forward and was peering keenly at +the man before him. + +"You'll--think it over?" he asked. + +"I will not--I most certainly will not," returned Carton, for the +first time showing exasperation, at the very assumption of Murtha. +"Mr. Murtha," he went on, rising and leaning forward over the +desk, "we are going to have a fair election, if I can make it. I +may be beaten--I may win. But I will be beaten, if at all, by the +old methods. If I win--it will be that I win--honestly." + +A half sneer crossed Murtha's face. He neither understood nor +cared to understand the kind of game Carton played. + +"You'll never get anything on that boy," blustered Murtha. "Do you +suppose I'm fool enough to come here and make a dishonest +proposition--here--right in front of your own friends?" he added, +turning to us. "--I ain't asking any favours, or anything +dishonest. His lawyers know what they can do and what you can do. +It ain't because I care a hang about you, Carton, that I'm here. +If you want to know the truth, it's because you can make trouble, +Carton,--that's all. You can't convict him, in the end, because-- +you can't. There's nothing 'on' him. But you can make trouble. +We'll win out in the end, of course." + +"In other words, you think the Reform League has you beaten?" +suggested Carton quietly. + +"No," ejaculated Murtha with an oath. "We don't know--but maybe +YOU have us beaten. But not the League. We don't want you for +District Attorney, Carton. You know it. But here's a practical +proposition. All you have to do is just to let this Rubano case +take its natural course. That's all I ask." + +He dwelt on the word "natural" as if it were in itself convincing. +"Why," he resumed, "what foolishness it is for you to throw away +all your chances just for the sake of hounding one poor fellow +from the East Side. It ain't right, Carton,--you, powerful, +holding an important office, and he a poor boy that never had a +chance and has made the most of what little nature gave him. Why, +I've known that boy ever since he hardly came up to my waist. I +tell you, there ain't a judge on the bench that wouldn't listen to +what we can show about him--hounded by police, hounded by the +District Attorney, driven from pillar to post, and---" + +"You will have a chance to tell the story in court," cut in +Carton. "Pomeroy will try the case." + +"Pomeroy?" repeated Murtha in a tone that quite disguised the +anger he felt that it should come up before the one judge the +System feared and could not control. "Now, look here, Carton. +We're all practical men. Your friend--er--Kennedy, here, he's +practical." + +Murtha had turned toward us. He was now the Murtha I had heard of +before, the kind that can use a handshake or a playful slap on the +back, as between man and man, to work wonders in getting action or +carrying a point. Far from despising such men as Murtha, I think +we all rather admired his good qualities. It was his point of +view, his method, his aim that were wrong. As for the man himself +he was human--in fact, I often thought far more human than some of +the reformers. + +"I'll leave it to Kennedy," he resumed. "Suppose you were running +a race. You knew you were going to win. Would you deliberately +stop and stick your foot out, in order to trip up the man who was +coming in second?" + +"I don't know that the cases are parallel," returned Kennedy with +an amused smile. + +Murtha kept his good nature admirably. + +"Then you would stick your foot out--and perhaps lose the race +yourself?" persisted Murtha. + +"I'll relieve Kennedy of answering that," interrupted Carton, "not +because I don't think he can do it better than I can, perhaps, but +because this is my fight--my race." + +"Well," asked Murtha persuasively, "you'll think it over, first, +won't you?" + +Carton was looking at his opponent keenly, as if trying to take +his measure. He had some scheme in mind and Kennedy was watching +the faces of both men intently. + +"This race," began Carton slowly, in a manner that showed he +wanted to change the subject, "is different from any other in the +politics of the city as either of us have ever known it, Murtha." + +Murtha made as though he would object to the proposition, but +Carton hurried on, giving him no chance to inject anything into +the conversation. + +"It may be possible--it is possible," shot out the young District +Attorney, "to make use of secret records--conversations--at +conferences--dinners--records that have been taken by a new +invention that seems to be revolutionizing politics all over the +country." + +The look that crossed Murtha's face was positively apoplectic. The +veins in his forehead stood out like whipcords. + +He started to speak, but choked off the words before he had +uttered them. I could almost read his mind. Carton had said +nothing directly about the Black Book, and Murtha had caught +himself just in time not to betray anything about it. + +"So," he shouted at last, "you are going to try some of those fine +little scientific tricks on us, are you?" + +He was pacing up and down the room, storming and threatening by +turns. + +"I want to tell you, Carton," pursued Murtha, "that you're up +against a crowd who were playing this game before you were born. +You reformers think you are pretty smooth. But we know a thing or +two about you and what you are doing. Besides," he leaned over the +desk again, "Carton, there ain't many men that can afford to throw +stones. I admit my life hasn't been perfect--but, then I ain't +posing as any saint. I don't mind telling you that the +organization, as you call it, is looking into some of the things +that you reformers have done. It may be that some of your people-- +some of the ladies," he insinuated, "don't look on life in the +broad-minded way that some of the rest do. Mind you--I ain't +making any threats, but when it comes to gossip and scandal and +mud-slinging--look out for the little old organization--that's +all!" + +Carton had set his tenacious jaw. "You can go as far as you like, +Murtha," was all he said, with a grim smile. + +Murtha looked at him a moment, then his manner changed. + +"Carton," he said in a milder tone, at length, "what's the use of +all this bluffing? You and I understand each other. These men +understand--life. It's a game--that's what it is--a game. +Sometimes one move is right, sometimes another. You know what you +want to accomplish here in this city. I show you a way to do it. +Don't answer me," persisted Murtha, raising a hand, "just--think +it over." + +Carton had taken a step forward, the tense look on his face +unchanged. "No," he exclaimed, and we could almost hear his jaw +snap as if it had been a trap. "No--I'll not think it over. I'll +not yield an inch. Dopey Jack goes to trial before election." + +As Carton bit off the words, Murtha became almost beside himself +with rage and chagrin. He was white and red by turns. For a moment +I feared that he might do Carton personal violence. + +"Carton," he ground out, as he reached the door, "you will regret +this." + +"I hope not," returned the other summoning with a mighty effort at +least the appearance of suavity. "Good-bye." + +The only answer was the vicious slam which Murtha gave the door. + +As the echo died, the District Attorney turned to us. "Apparently, +then, Dorgan did not secure the Black Book," was all he said, +"even supposing Dopey Jack planned and executed that robbery of +Langhorne." + + + + +VIII + +THE SHYSTER LAWYER + + +That's a declaration of war," remarked Kennedy, as Carton resumed +his seat at the desk unconcernedly after the stormy ending of the +interview with Murtha. + +"I suppose it is," agreed the District Attorney, "and I can't say +that I am sorry." + +"Nor I," added Craig. "But it settles one thing. We are now out in +what I call the 'open' investigation. They have forced us from +cover. We shall have to be prepared to take quick action now, +whatever move they may make." + +Together we were speculating on the various moves that the System +might make and how we might prepare in advance for them. + +Evidently, however, we were not yet through with these indirect +dealings with the Boss. The System was thorough, if nothing else, +and prompt. We had about decided to continue our conference over +the dinner table in some uptown restaurant, when the officer +stationed in the hall poked his head in the door and announced +another visitor for the District Attorney. + +This time the entrance was exactly the opposite to the bluster of +Murtha. The man who sidled deferentially into the room, a moment +after Carton had said he would see him, was a middle-sized fellow, +with a high, slightly bald forehead, a shifty expression in his +sharp ferret eyes, and a nervous, self-confident manner that must +have been very impressive before the ignorant. "My name is Kahn," +he introduced himself. "I'm a lawyer." + +Carton nodded recognition. + +Although I had never seen the man before, I recollected the name +which Miss Kendall had mentioned. He was one of the best known +lawyers of the System. He had begun his career as an "ambulance +chaser," had risen later to the dignity of a police court lawyer, +and now was of the type that might be called, for want of a better +name, a high class "shyster"--unscrupulous, sharp, cunning. + +Shyster, I believe, has been defined as a legal knave, a lawyer +who practises in an unprofessional or tricky manner. Kahn was all +that--and still more. If he had been less successful, he would +have been the black sheep of the overcrowded legal flock. Ideals +he had none. His claws reached out to grab the pittance of the +poverty-stricken client as well as the fee of the wealthy. He had +risen from hospitals to police courts, coroner's court, and +criminal courts, at last attaining the dignity of offices opposite +an entrance to the criminal courts building, from which vantage +point his underlings surveyed the scene of operations like +vultures hovering over bewildered cattle. + +Carton knew him. Kahn was the leader among some score of men more +or less well dressed, of more or less evil appearance, who are +constantly prowling from one end to the other of the broad first +floor of the criminal courts building during the hours of the day +that justice is being administered there. + +These are the shyster lawyers and their runners and agents who +prey upon the men and women whom misfortune or crime have +delivered into the hands of the law. Others of the same species +are wandering about the galleries on other floors of the building, +each with a furtive eye for those who may be in trouble themselves +or those who seem to be in need of legal assistance for a relative +or friend in trouble. + +Perhaps the majority of lawyers practising in the courts are +reputable to the highest degree, and many of the rest merely to a +safe degree. Many devote themselves to philanthropic work whenever +a prisoner is penniless. But the percentage of shysters is high. +Kahn belonged in the latter class, although his days of doing +dirty work himself were passed. He had a large force of incipient +shysters for that purpose. As for himself, he handled only the big +cases in which he veneered the dirty work by a sort of finesse. + +Kahn bowed and smiled ingratiatingly. "Mr. Carton," he began in a +conciliatory tone, "I have intruded on your valuable time in the +interest of my client, Mr. Jack Rubano." + +"Huh!" grunted Carton. "So they've retained you, have they, Ike?" +he mused familiarly, closely regarding the visitor. + +Kahn, far from resenting the familiarity, seemed rather to enjoy +it and take it as his due measure of fame. + +"Yes, Mr. Carton, they have retained me. I have just had a talk +with the prisoner in the Tombs and have gone over his case very +carefully, sir." + +Carton nodded, but said nothing, willing to let Kahn do the +talking for the present until he exposed his hand. + +"He has told me all about his case," pursued Kahn evenly. "It is +not such a bad case. I can tell you that, Mr. Carton, because I +didn't have to resort to the 'friend of the judge' gag in order to +show him that he had a good chance." + +Kahn looked knowingly at Carton. At least he was frank about his +own game before us; in fact, utterly shameless, it seemed to me. +Probably it was because he knew it was no use, that Carton had no +illusions about him. Still, there was an uncanny bravado about it +all. Kahn was indeed very successful in making the worst appear +the better reason. He knew it and knew that Carton knew it. That +was his stock in trade. + +He had seated himself in a chair by the District Attorney's desk +and as he talked was hitching it closer and closer, for men of +Kahn's stamp seem unable to talk without getting into almost +personal contact with those with whom they are talking. Carton +drew back and folded his hands back of his head as he listened, +still silent. + +"You know, Mr. Carton," he insinuated, "it is a very different +thing to be sure in your own mind that a man is guilty from being +able to prove it in court. There are all sorts of delays that may +be granted, witnesses are hard to hold together, in fact there are +many difficulties that arise in the best of cases." + +"You don't need to tell me that, Kahn," replied Carton quietly. + +"I know it, Mr. Carton," rejoined the other apologetically. "I was +just using that as a preface to what I have to say." + +He took another hitch of the chair nearer Carton and lowered his +voice impressively. "The point, sir, at which I am driving is +simply this. There must be some way in which we can reach an +agreement, compromise this case, satisfactorily to the people with +a minimum of time and expense--some way in which the indictment or +the pleadings can be amended so that it can be wound up and--you +understand--both of us win--instead of dragging it out and perhaps +you losing the case in the end." + +Carton shook his head. "No, Kahn," he said in a low tone, but +firmly, "no compromise." + +Kahn bent his ferret eyes on Carton's face as if to bore through +into his very mind. + +"No," added the District Attorney, "Murtha was just here, and I +may as well repeat what I said to him--although I might fairly +assume that he went from this room directly across the street to +your office and that you know it already. This case has gone too +far, it has too many other ramifications for me to consent to +relax on it one iota." + +Kahn was baffled, but he was cleverer than Murtha and did not show +it. + +"Surely," he urged, "you must realize that it is not worth your +while at such a critical time for yourself to waste energies on a +case when there are so many more profitable things that you could +do. The fact is that I would be the last one to propose anything +that was not open and above board and to our mutual advantage. +There must be some way in which we can reach an agreement which +will be satisfactory to all parties in interest, sir." + +"Kahn," repeated Carton a little testily, "how often must I repeat +to you and your people that I am NOT going to compromise this case +in any shape, form, or manner? I am going to fight it out on the +lines I have indicated if I have to disrupt this entire office to +get men to do it. I have plenty to do seeking re-election, but my +first duty is to act as public prosecutor in the office to which I +have been already elected. Otherwise, it would be a poor +recommendation to the people to return me to the same position. +No, you are merely wasting your time and ours talking compromise." + +Kahn had been surveying Carton keenly, now and then taking a +shifty glance at Kennedy and myself. + +As Carton rapped out the last words, as if in the nature of an +ultimatum, Kahn gazed at him in amazement. Here was a man whom he +knew he could neither bribe, bully, or bulldoze. + +"You must consider this, too," he added pointedly. "There has been +a good deal of mud-slinging in this campaign. We may find it +necessary to go back into the antecedents and motives of those who +represent the people in this case." + +It was a subtle threat. Just what it implied I could not even +guess, nor did Carton betray anything by look or word. Carton had +voluntarily placed himself in the open and in a position from +which he could not retreat. Evidently, now, he was willing to +force the fight, if the other side would accept the issue. It +meant much to him but he did not balk at it. + +"No, Kahn," he repeated firmly, "no compromise." + +Kahn drew back a bit and hastily scanned the face of the +prosecutor. Evidently he saw nothing in it to encourage him. Yet +he was too smooth to let his temper rise, as Murtha had. By the +same token I fancied him a more dangerous opponent. There was +something positively uncanny about his assurance. + +Kahn rose slowly. "Then it is war--without quarter?" asked Kahn +shrewdly. + +"War--without quarter," repeated Carton positively. + +He withdrew quietly, with an almost feline tread, quite in +contrast with the bluster of Murtha. I felt for the first time a +sort of sinking sensation, as I began to realize the varied +character of the assault that was preparing. + +Not so, Carton and Kennedy. It seemed that every event that more +clearly defined our position and that of our opponents added zest +to the fight for them. And I had sufficient confidence in the +combination to know that their feelings were justified. + +Carton silently pulled down and locked the top of his desk, then +for a moment we debated where we should dine. We decided on a +quiet hotel uptown and, leaving word where we could be found, +hurried along for the first real relaxation and refreshment after +a crowded day's work. + +If, however, we thought we could escape even for a few minutes we +were mightily mistaken. We had not fairly done justice to the +roast when a boy in buttons came down the line of tables. + +"Mr. Carton--please." + +The District Attorney crooked his finger at the page. + +"You're wanted at the telephone, sir." + +Carton rose and excused himself. + +The message must have given him food of another kind, for when he +returned after a long absence, he pushed aside the now cold roast +and joined us in the coffee and cigars. + +"One of my men," he announced, "has been doing some shadowing for +me. Evidently, both Murtha and Kahn having failed, they are +resorting to other tactics. It looks as if they had in some way, +probably from some corrupt official of the court or employee in +charge of the jury list, obtained a copy of the panel which +Justice Pomeroy has summoned for the case." + +"It ought to be a simple thing to empanel another set of talesmen +and let these fellows serve in some other part of the court," I +suggested, considering the matter hastily. + +"Much better to let it rest as it is," cut in Craig quickly, "and +try to catch Kahn with the goods. It would be great to catch one +of these clever fellows trying to 'fix' the jury, as well as +intimidate witnesses, as he already hinted himself." + +"Just the thing," exclaimed Carton, whose keen sense of proportion +showed what a valuable political asset such a coup would make in +addition to its effect on the case. + +"We'll get Kahn right, if we have a chance," planned Craig. "You +are acquainted more or less with his habits, I suppose. Where does +Kahn hang out? Most fellows like him have a sort of Amen Corner +where they meet their henchmen, issue orders, receive reports and +carry on business that wouldn't do for an office downtown." + +"Why, I believe he goes to Farrell's--has an interest in the +place, I think." + +Farrell's, we recognized, as a rather well-known all-night cafe +which managed to survive the excise vicissitudes by dint of having +no cabaret or entertainment. + +We finished the dinner in silence, Kennedy turning various schemes +over in his mind, and rejecting them one after another. + +"There's nothing we can do immediately, I suppose," he remarked at +length. "But if you and Carton care to come up to the laboratory +with me, I might in time of peace prepare for war. I have a little +apparatus up there which I think may fit in somehow and if it +does, Mr. Kahn's days of jury fixing are numbered." + +A few minutes later, we found ourselves in Kennedy's laboratory, +where he had gathered together an amazing collection of +paraphernalia in the warfare of science against crime which he had +been waging during the years that I had known him. + +Carton looked about in silent admiration. As for myself, although +one might have thought it was an old story with me, I had found +that no sooner had I become familiar with one piece of apparatus +to perform one duty, than another situation, entirely different +and unprecedented in our cases arose which called for another, +entirely new. I had learned to have implicit confidence in +Kennedy's ability to meet each new emergency with something fully +capable of solving the problem. + +From a cabinet, Kennedy took out what looked like the little black +leather box of a camera, with, however, a most peculiar looking +lens. + + + + +IX + +THE JURY FIXER + + +"Let's visit Farrell's," remarked Craig, after looking over the +apparatus and slinging it over his shoulder. + +It was early yet, and the theatres were not out, so that there +were comparatively few people in the famous all-night cafe. We +entered the bar cautiously and looked about. Kahn at least was not +there. + +In the back of this part of the cafe were several booths, open to +conform to the law, yet sufficiently screened so that there was at +least a little privacy. + +Above the booths was a line of transoms. + +"What's back there?" asked Kennedy, under his breath. + +"A back room," returned Carton. + +"Perhaps Kahn is there," Craig suggested. "Walter, you're the one +whom he would least likely recognize. Suppose you just stick your +head in the door and look about as quietly as you can." + +I lounged back, glanced at the records of sporting events posted +on the wall at the end of the bar, then, casually, as if looking +for someone, swung the double-hinged door that led from the bar +into the back room. + +The room was empty except for one man, turned sidewise to the +door, reading a paper, but in a position so that he could see +anyone who entered. I had not opened the door widely enough to be +noticed, but I now let it swing back hastily. It was Kahn, +pompously sipping something he had ordered. + +"He's back there," I whispered to Kennedy, as I returned, +excitedly motioning toward one of the transoms over the booths +back of which Kahn was seated. + +"Right there?" he queried. + +"Just about," I answered. + +A moment later Kennedy led the way over to the booth under the +transom and we sat down. A waiter hovered near us. Craig silenced +him quickly with a substantial order and a good-sized tip. + +From our position, if we sat well within the booth, we were +effectually hidden unless someone purposely came down and looked +in on us. We watched Kennedy curiously. He had unslung the little +black camera-like box and to it attached a pair of fine wires and +a small pocket storage battery which he carried. + +Then he looked up at the transom. It was far too high for us to +hear through, even if those in the back room talked fairly loud. +Standing on the leather wall seats of the booth to listen or even +to look over was out of the question, for it would be sure to +excite suspicion among the waiters, or the customers who were +continually passing in and out of the place. + +Kennedy was watching his chance, and when the cafe emptied itself +after being deluged between the acts from a neighbouring theatre, +he jumped up quickly in the seat, stood on his toes and craned his +neck through the diagonally opened transom. Before any of the +waiters, who were busy clearing up the results of the last theatre +raid, had a chance to notice him, Craig had slipped the little +black box into the shadow of the corner. + +From it dangled down the fine wires, not noticeable. + +"He's sitting just back of us yet," reported Kennedy. "I don't +know about that flaming arc light in the middle of the room, but I +think it will be all right. Anyhow, we shall have to take a +chance. It looks to me as if he were waiting for someone--didn't +it to you, Walter?" + +I nodded acquiescence. + +"He has wasted no time in getting down to work," put in Carton, +who had been a silent spectator of the preparations of Kennedy. +"What's that thing you put on the ledge up there--a detectaphone?" + +Kennedy smiled. "No--they're too clever to do any talking, at +least in a place like this, I'm afraid," he said, carefully hiding +the wires and the battery beside him in the shadow of the corner +of the booth. "It may be that nothing will happen, anyhow, but if +it does we can at least have the satisfaction of having tried to +get something. Carton, you had better sit as far back in the booth +as I am. The longer we can stay here unnoticed the better. Let +Walter sit on the outside." + +We changed places. + +"Lawyers have been complaining to me lately," remarked Carton in a +well modulated voice, "about jury fixing. Some of them say it has +been going on on a large scale and I have had several of my county +detectives working on it. But they haven't landed anything yet,-- +except rumours, like this one about the Dopey Jack jury. I've had +them out posing as jurymen who could be 'approached' and would +arrange terms for other bribable jurymen." + +"And you mean to say that that's going on right here in this +city?" I asked, scenting a possible newspaper story. + +"This campaign I have started," he replied, "is only the beginning +of our work in breaking up the organized business of jury bribing. +I mean to put an end to the work of what I have reason to believe +is a secret ring of jury fixers. Why, I understand that the prices +for 'hanging' a jury range all the way from five to five hundred +dollars, or even higher in an important case. The size of the jury +fixer's 'cut' depends upon the amount the client is willing to pay +for having his case made either a disagreement or a dismissal. +Usually a bonus is demanded for a dismissal in criminal cases. But +such things are very difficult to--" + +"Sh!" I cautioned, for from my vantage point I saw two men +approaching. + +They saw me in the booth, but not the rest of us, and turned to +enter the next one. Though they were talking in low tones, we +could catch words and phrases now and then, which told us that we +ourselves would have to be very careful about being overheard. + +"We've got to be careful," one of them remarked in a scarcely +audible undertone. "Carton has detectives mingling with the +talesmen in every court of importance in the city." + +The reply of the other was not audible, but Carton leaned over to +us and whispered, "One of Kahn's runners, I think." + +Apparently Kahn was taking extreme precautions and wanted +everything in readiness so that whatever was to be done would go +off smoothly. Kennedy glanced up at the little black leather box +perched high above on the sill of the partition. + +"The chief says that a thousand dollars is the highest price that +he can afford for 'hanging' this jury--providing you get on it, or +any of your friends." + +The other man, whose voice was not of the vibrating, penetrating +quality of the runner, seemed to hesitate and be inclined to +argue. + +"We've had 'em as low as five dollars," went on the runner, at +which Carton exchanged a knowing glance with us. "But in a special +case, like this, we realize that they come high." + +The other man grumbled a bit and we could catch the word, "risky." + +Back and forth the argument went. The runner, however, was a +worthy representative of his chief, for at last he succeeded in +carrying both his point and his price. + +"All right," we heard him say at last, "the chief is in the back +room. Wait until I see whether he is alone." + +The runner rose and went around to the swinging door. From the +other side of the transom we could, as we had expected, hear +nothing. A moment later the runner returned. + +"Go in and see him," he whispered. + +The man rose and made his way through the swinging door into the +back room. + +None of us said a word, but Kennedy was literally on his toes with +excitement. He was holding the little battery in his hand and +after waiting a few moments pressed what looked like a push +button. + +He could not restrain his impatience longer, but had jumped up on +the leather seat and for a moment looked at the black leather box, +then through the half open transom, as best he could. + +"Press it--press it!" he whispered to Carton, pointing at the push +button, as he turned a little handle on the box, then quickly +dropped down and resumed his seat. + +"Craig--one of the waiters," I cried hurriedly. + +The outside bar had been filling up as the evening advanced and +the sight of a man standing on one of the seats had attracted the +attention of a patron. A waiter had followed his curious gaze and +saw Kennedy. + +With a quick pull on the wire, Kennedy jerked the black leather +box from its high perch and deftly caught it as it fell. + +"Say--what are youse guys doin', huh?" demanded the waiter +pugnaciously. + +Carton and I had risen and stood between the man and Craig. + +The sound of voices in high pitch was enough to attract a crowd +ever ready to watch a scrap. Mindful of the famous "flying wedge" +of waiters at Farrell's for the purpose of hustling objectionable +and obstreperous customers with despatch to the sidewalk, I was +prepared for anything. + +The runner who was sitting alone in the next booth, leaned out and +gazed around the corner into ours. + +"Carton!" he shouted in a tone that could have been heard on the +street. + +The effect of the name of the District Attorney was magical. For +the moment, the crowd fell back. Before the tough waiters or +anyone else could make up their minds just what to do, Kennedy, +who had tucked the box into his capacious side pocket, took each +of us by the arm and we shoved our way through the crowd. + +The head waiter followed us to the door, but offered no +resistance. In fact no one seemed to know just what to do and it +was all over so quickly that even Kahn himself had not time to get +a glimpse of us through the swinging door. + +A moment later we had piled into a taxicab at the curb and were +speeding through the now deserted streets uptown to the +laboratory. + +Kennedy was jubilant. "I may have almost precipitated a riot," he +chortled, "but I'm glad I stood up. I think it must have been at +the psychological moment." + +At the laboratory he threw off his coat and prepared to plunge +into work with various mysterious pans of chemicals, baths, jars, +and beakers. + +"What is it?" asked Carton, as Kennedy carefully took out the dark +leather box, shielding it from the glare of a mercury vapour +light. + +"A camera with a newly-invented electrically operated between-lens +shutter of great illumination and efficiency," he explained. "It +has always been practically impossible to get such pictures as I +wanted, but this new shutter has so much greater speed than +anything else ever invented before, that it is possible to use it +in this sort of detective work. I've proved its speed up to one +two-thousandth of a second. It may or may not have worked, but if +it has we've caught someone, right in the act." + +Kennedy had a "studio" of his own which was quite equal to the +emergency of developing the two pictures which he had taken with +the new camera. + +Late as it was, we waited for him to finish, just as we would have +waited down in the Star office if one of our staff photographers +had come in with something important. + +At last Kennedy emerged from his workshop. As he did so, he +slapped down two untoned prints. + +Both were necessarily indistinct owing to the conditions under +which they had had to be taken. But they were quite sufficient for +the purpose. + +As Carton bent over the second one, which showed Kahn in the very +act of handing over a roll of bills to the rather anemic man whom +his runner had brought to him, Carton addressed the photograph as +if it had been Kahn himself. + +"I have you at last," he cried. "This is the end of your secret +ring of jury fixers. I think that will about settle the case of +Kahn, if not of Dopey Jack, when we get ready to spring it. +Kennedy, make another set of prints and let me lock them in a safe +deposit vault. That's as precious to me as if it were the Black +Book itself!" + +Craig laughed. "Not such a bad evening's work, after all," he +remarked, clearing things up. "Do you realize what time it is?" + +Carton glanced perfunctorily at his watch. "I had forgotten time," +he returned. + +"Yes," agreed Craig, "but to-morrow is another day, you know. I +don't object to staying up all night, or even several nights, but +there doesn't seem to be anything more that we can do now, and it +may be that we shall need our strength later. This is, after all, +only a beginning in getting at the man higher up." + +"The man highest up," corrected Carton, with elation as we parted +on the campus, Kennedy and I to go to our apartment. + +"See you in the morning, Carton," bade Kennedy. "By that time, no +doubt, there will be some news of the Black Book." + +We arrived at our apartment a few minutes later. On the floor was +some mail which Kennedy quickly ran over. It did not appear to be +of any importance--that is, it had no bearing on the case which +was now absorbing our attention. + +"Well, what do you think of that?" he exclaimed as he tore open +one diminutive letter. "That was thoughtful, anyhow. She must have +sent us that a few minutes after we left headquarters." + +He handed me an engraved card. It was from Miss Ashton, inviting +us to a non-partisan suffrage evening at her studio in her home, +to be followed by a dance. + +Underneath she had written a few words of special invitation, +ending, "I shall try to have some people there who may be able to +help us in the Betty Blackwell matter." + + + + +X + +THE AFTERNOON DANCE + + +It was early the following morning that I missed Kennedy from our +apartment. Naturally I guessed from my previous experiences with +that gentleman that he would most likely be found at his +laboratory, and I did not worry, but put the finishing touches on +a special article for the Star which I had promised for that day +and had already nearly completed. + +Consequently it was not until the forenoon that I sauntered around +to the Chemistry Building. Precisely as I had expected, I found +Kennedy there at work. + +I had been there scarcely a quarter of an hour when the door +opened and Clare Kendall entered with a cheery greeting. It was +evident that she had something to report. + +"The letter to Betty Blackwell which you sent to the Montmartre +has come back, unopened," she announced, taking from her handbag a +letter stamped with the post-office form indicating that the +addressee could not be found and that the letter was returned to +the sender. The stamped hand of the post-office pointed to the +upper left-hand corner where Clare had written in a fictitious +name and used an address to which she frequently had mail sent +when she wanted it secret. + +"Only on the back," she pursued, turning the letter over, "there +are some queer smudges. What are they? They don't look like dirt." + +Kennedy glanced at it only casually, as if he had fully expected +the incident to turn out as it did. + +"Not unopened, Miss Kendall," he commented. "We have already had a +little scientific letter-opening. This was a case of scientific +letter-sealing. That was a specially prepared envelope." + +He reached down into his desk and pulled out another, sealed it +carefully, dried it, then held it over a steaming pan of water +until the gum was softened and it could be opened again. On the +back were smudges just like those on the letter that had been +returned. + +"On the thin line of gum on the flap of the envelope," he +explained, "I have placed first a coating of tannin, over which is +the gum. Then on the part of the envelope to which the flap +adheres when it is sealed I placed some iron sulphate. When I +sealed the envelope so carefully I brought the two together +separated only by the thin film of gum. Now when steam is applied +to soften the gum, the usual method of the letter-opener, the +tannin and the sulphate are brought together. They run and leave +these blots or dark smudges. So, you see, someone has been found +at the Montmartre, even if it is not Betty Blackwell herself, who +has interest enough in the case to open a letter to her before +handing it back to the postman. That shows us that we are on the +right trail at least, even if it does not tell us who is at the +end of the trail. Here's another thing; This 'Marie' is a new one. +We must find out about her." + +"At the Futurist Tea Room at four this afternoon, when she meets +our good friend, young Dr. Harris," reminded Clare. "Between +cabarets and tea rooms I don't know whether this is work or play." + +"It's work, all right," smiled Kennedy, adding, "at least it would +be if it weren't lightened by your help." + +It was the middle of the afternoon when Craig and I left the +laboratory to keep our appointment with Miss Kendall at the +Futurist Tea Room, where we hoped to find Dr. Harris's friend +"Marie," who seemed to want to see him so badly. + +A long line of touring and town cars as well as taxicabs bore +eloquent testimony not only to the popularity of this tea room and +cabaret, but to the growth of afternoon dancing. One never +realizes how large a leisure class there is in the city until +after a visit to anything from a baseball game to a matinee--and a +dance. People seemed literally to be flocking to the Futurist. +They seemed to like its congeniality, its tone, its "atmosphere." + +As we left our hats to the tender mercies of the "boys" who had +the checking concession we could see that the place was rapidly +filling up. + +"If we are to get a table that we want here, we'd better get it +now," remarked Kennedy, slipping the inevitable piece of change to +the head waiter. "If we sit over there in that sort of little +bower we can see when Miss Kendall arrives and we shall not be so +conspicuous ourselves, either." + +The Futurist was not an especially ornate place, although a great +deal of money had evidently been expended in fitting it up to +attract a recherche clientele. + +Our table, which Kennedy had indicated, was, as he had said, in a +sort of little recess, where we could see without being much +observed ourselves, although that seemed almost an impossibility +in such a place. In fact, I noticed before we had had time to seat +ourselves that we had already attracted the attention of two show +girls who sat down the aisle and were amusing themselves at +watching us by means of a mirror. It would not have been very +difficult to persuade them to dispense with the mirror. + +A moment later Clare Kendall entered and paused at the door an +instant, absorbing the gay scene as only a woman and a detective +could. Craig rose and advanced to meet her, and as she caught +sight of us her face brightened. The show girls eyed her narrowly +and with but slight approval. + +"We feel more at ease with a lady in the party," remarked Craig, +as they reached the table and I rose to greet her. "Two men alone +here are quite as noticeable as two ladies. Walter, I know, was +quite uncomfortable." + +"To say nothing of the fact which you omitted," I retaliated, +"that it is a pleasure to be with Miss Kendall--even if we must +talk shop all the time." + +Clare smiled, for her quick intuition had already taken in and +dismissed as of no importance the two show girls. We ordered as a +matter of course, then settled back for a long interval until the +waiter out of the goodness of his heart might retrieve whatever +was possible from the mob of servitors where refreshments were +dispensed. + +"Opposite us," whispered Clare, resting her chin on her +interlocked fingers and her elbows on the tip-edge of the table, +"do you see that athletic-looking young lady, who seems to be +ready for anything from tea to tango? Well, the man with her is +Martin Ogleby." + +Ogleby was of the tall, sloping-shouldered variety, whom one can +see on the Avenue and in the clubs and hotels in such numbers that +it almost seems that there must be an establishment for turning +them out, even down to a trademark concealed somewhere about them, +"Made in England." Only Ogleby seemed a little different in the +respect that one felt that if all the others were stamped by the +same die, he was the die, at least. Compared to him many of the +others took on the appearance of spurious counterfeits. + +"Dr. Harris," Craig whispered, indicating to us the direction with +his eyes. + +Outside on a settee, we could see in the corridor a man waiting, +restless and ill at ease. Now and then he looked covertly at his +watch as if he expected someone who was late and he wondered if +anything could be amiss. + +Just then a superbly gowned woman alighted from a cab. The starter +bowed as if she were familiar. It was evident that this was the +woman for whom Harris waited, the "Marie" of the letter. + +She was a carefully groomed woman, as artificial as French heels. +Yet indeed it was that studied artificiality which constituted her +chief attraction. As Harris greeted her I noted that Clare was +amazed at the daring cut of her gown, which excited comment even +at the Futurist. + +Her smooth, full, well-rounded face with its dark olive skin and +just a faint trace of colour on either cheek, her snappy hazel +eyes whose fire was heightened by the penciling of the eyebrows, +all were a marvel of the dexterity of her artificial beautifier. +And yet in spite of all there was an air of unextinguishable +coarseness about her which it was difficult to describe, but easy +to feel. "Her lips are too thick and her mouth too large," +remarked Clare, "and yet in some incomprehensible way she gives +you the impression of daintiness. What is it?" + +"The woman is frankly deceptive from the tip of her aigrette to +the toes of her shoes," observed Craig. + +"And yet," smiled Clare, watching with interest the little stir +her arrival had made among the revellers, "you can see that she is +the envy of every woman here who has slaved and toiled for that +same effect without approaching within miles of it or attracting +one quarter the notice for her pains that this woman receives." + +Dr. Harris was evidently in his element at the attention which his +companion attracted. They seemed to be on very good terms indeed, +and one felt that Bohemianism could go no further. + +They paused, fortunately, at a just vacated table around an "L" +from us and sat down. For once waiters seemed to vie in serving +rather than in neglecting. + +By this time I had gained the impression that the Futurist was all +that its name implied--not up to the minute, but decidedly ahead +of it. There was an exotic flavour to the place, a peculiar +fascination, that was foreign rather than American, at seeing +demi-monde and decency rubbing elbows. I felt sure that a large +percentage of the women there were really young married women, +whose first step downward was truly nothing worse than saying they +had been at their whist clubs when in reality it was tango and +tea. What the end might be to one who let the fascination blind +her perspective I could imagine. + +Dr. Harris and "Marie" were nearer the dancing floor than we were, +but seemed oblivious to it. Now and then as the music changed we +could catch a word or two. + +He was evidently making an effort to be gay, to counteract the +feeling which she had concealed as she came in, but which had the +upper hand now that they were seated. + +"Won't you dance?" I heard him say. + +"No, Harry. I came here to tell you about how things are going." + +There was a harshness about her voice which I recognized as +belonging exclusively to one class of women in the city. She +lowered it as she went on talking earnestly. + +"It looks as though someone has squealed, but who--" I caught in +the fragmentary lulls of the revelry. + +"I didn't know it was as bad as that," Dr. Harris remarked. + +They talked almost in whispers for several moments while I +strained my ears to catch a syllable, but without success. What +were they talking about? Was it about Dopey Jack? Or did they know +something about Betty Blackwell? Perhaps it was about the Black +Book. Even when the music stopped they talked without dropping a +word. + +The music started again. There was no mistaking the appeal that +the rocking whirl of the rhythmic dance made. From the side of the +table where Kennedy was seated he could catch an occasional +glimpse of the face of Marie. I noticed that he had torn a blank +page off the back of the menu and with a stub of a pencil was half +idly writing. + +At the top he had placed the word, "Nose," followed by "straight, +with nostrils a trifle flaring," and some other words I could not +quite catch. Beneath that he had written "Ears," which in turn was +followed by some words which he was setting down carefully. Eyes, +chin, and mouth followed, until I began to realize that he was +making a sort of scientific analysis of the woman's features. + +"I shall need some more--" I caught as the music softened +unexpectedly. + +A singer on the little platform was varying the programme now by a +solo and I shifted my chair so as to get a better view and at the +same time also a look at the table around the corner from us. + +As I did so I saw Dr. Harris reach into his breast pocket and take +out a little package which he quickly handed to Marie. As their +hands met, their eyes met also. I fancied that the doctor +struggled to demagnetize, so to speak, the look which she gave +him. + +"You'll come to see me--afterwards?" she asked, dropping the +little package into her handbag of gold mesh and rattling the +various accoutrements of beautification which tinkled next to it. + +Harris nodded. + +"You're a life saver to some--" floated over to me from Marie. + +The solo had been completed and the applause was dying away. + +" ... tells me he needs ... badly off ... don't forget to see ..." + +The words came in intervals. What they meant I did not know, but I +strove to remember them. Evidently Marie and a host of others were +depending on Harris for something. At any rate, it seemed, now +that she had talked she felt easier in mind, as one does after +carrying a weight a long time in secret. + +"Tanguez-vous?" he asked as the orchestra struck up again. + +"Yes--thank you, Harry--just one." + +We watched the couple attentively as they were alternately lost +and found in the dizzy swaying mass. The music became wilder and +they threw themselves into the abandon of the dance. + +They had been absorbed so much in each other and the unburdening +of whatever it was she had wanted to tell him, that neither had +noticed the other couple on the other side of the floor whose +presence had divided our own attention. + +Martin Ogleby and his partner were not dancing. It was warm and +they were among the lucky ones who had succeeded in getting +something besides a cheque from the waiters. Two tall glasses of +ginger ale with a long curl of lemon peel sepentining through the +cracked ice stood before them. + +The dance had brought Dr. Harris and Marie squarely around to +within a few feet of where Ogleby was sitting. As Harris swung +around she faced Ogleby in such a way that he could not avoid her, +nor could she have possibly missed seeing him. + +For a moment their eyes met. Not a muscle in either face moved. It +was as if they were perfect strangers. She turned and murmured +something to her partner. Ogleby leaned over, without the least +confusion, and made a witty remark to his partner. It was over in +a minute. The acting of both could not have been better if they +had deliberately practised their parts. What did it mean? + +As the dance concluded I saw Ogleby glance hastily over in the +direction of Marie. He gave a quick smile of recognition, as much +as to say "Thank you." + +It was evident now that both Dr. Harris and Marie, whoever she +was, were getting ready to leave. As they rose to move to the +door, Kennedy quickly paid our own cheque, leaving the change to +the waiter, and without seeming to do so we followed them. + +Harris was standing near the starter with his hat off, apparently +making his adieux. Deftly Kennedy managed to slip in behind so as +to be next in line for a cab. + +"Walter and I will follow Harris if they separate," he whispered +to Clare Kendall. "You follow the woman." + +The afternoon was verging toward dinner and people were literally +bribing the taxicab starter. Our own cab stood next in line behind +that which Harris had called. + +"I have certainly enjoyed this little glimpse of Bohemia," +commented Kennedy to Miss Kendall as we waited. "I shouldn't mind +if detective work took me more often to afternoon dances. There, +they are going down the steps. Here's the cab I called. Let me +know how things turn out. Goodbye. Here--chauffeur, around that +way--where that other cab is going--the lady will tell you where +to drive." + +Harris hesitated a moment as if considering whether to take a cab +himself, then slowly turned and strolled down the street. + +We followed, slowly also. There was something unreal about the +bright afternoon sunshine after the atmosphere of the Futurist Tea +Room, where everything had been done to promote the illusion of +night. + +Harris walked along meditatively, crossing one street after +another, not as if debating where he was going, but rather in no +great hurry to get there. + +Instead of going down Broadway he swerved into Seventh Avenue, +then after a few blocks turned into a side street, quickened his +pace, and at last dived down into a basement under a saloon. + +It was a wretched neighbourhood, one of those which reminds one of +the life of an animal undergoing a metamorphosis. Once it had +evidently been a rather nice residential section. The movement of +population uptown had left it stranded to the real estate +speculators, less desirable to live in, but more valuable for the +future. The moving in of anyone who could be got to live there had +led to rapid deterioration and a mixed population of whites and +negroes against the day when the upward sweep of business should +bring the final transformation into office and loft buildings. But +for the present it was decaying, out of repair, a mass of cheap +rooming-houses, tenements, and mixed races. + +The joint into which Harris had gone was the only evidence of +anything like prosperity on the block, and that evidence was +confined to the two entrances on the street, one leading into the +ground floor and the other down a flight of steps to the basement. + +"Do you want to go in?" asked Kennedy in a tone that indicated +that he himself was going. + +Just then a negro, dazzling in the whiteness of his collar and the +brilliancy of his checked suit, came up the stairs accompanied by +a light mulatto. + +"It's a black and tan joint," Craig went on, "at least downstairs- +-negro cabaret, and all that sort of thing." + +"I'm game," I replied. + +We stumbled down the worn steps, past a swinging door near which +stood the proprietor with a careful eye on arrivals and +departures. The place was deceiving from the outside. It really +extended through two houses, and even at this early hour it was +fairly crowded. + +There were negroes of all degrees of shading, down to those who +were almost white. Scattered about at the various tables were +perhaps half a dozen white women, tawdry imitations of the faster +set at the Futurist which we had just left, the leftovers of a +previous generation in the Tenderloin. There was also a fair +sprinkling of white men, equally degraded. White men and coloured +women, white women and coloured men, chatted here and there, but +for the most part the habitues were negroes. At any rate the +levelling down seemed to have produced something like an equality +of races in viciousness. + +As we sat down at a table, Kennedy remarked: "They used to drift +down to Chinatown, a good many of these relics. You used to see +them in the old 'suicide halls' of the Bowery, too. But that is +all passing away now. Reform and agitation have closed up those +old dives. Now they try to veneer it over with electric lights and +bright varnish, but I suppose it comes to the same thing. After +they are cast off Broadway, the next step lower is the black and +tan joint. After that it is suicide, unless it is death." + +"I don't think this is any improvement over the--the bad old +days," I ventured. + +Kennedy shook his head in agreement. "There's Harris, down there +in the back, talking to someone, a white man, alone." + +A waiter came over to us grinning, for we had assumed the role of +sightseers. + +"Who is that, 'way back there, with his chair tipped to the wall, +talking to the man with his back to us?" asked Kennedy. + +"Ike the Dropper, sah," informed the waiter with obvious pride +that such a celebrity should be harboured here. + +I looked with a feeling akin to awe at the famous character who, +in common with many others of his type, had migrated uptown from +the proverbial haunts of the gunmen on the East Side in search of +pastures new and untroubled. + +Ike the Dropper may have once been a strong-arm man, but at +present I knew that he was chiefly noted for the fact, and he and +his kind were reputed to be living on the earnings of women to +whom they were supposed to afford "protection." I reflected on the +passing glories of brutality which had sunk so low. + +There were noise and life a plenty here. At a discordant box of a +piano a negro performer was playing with a keen appreciation of +time if of nothing else, and two others with voices that might not +have been unpopular in a decent minstrel show were rendering a +popular air. They wore battered straw hats and a make-up which was +intended to be grotesque. + +From time to time, as the pianist was moved, he played snatches of +the same music as that which we had heard at the Futurist, and +between us and Harris and Ike the Dropper several couples were +one-stepping, each in their own sweet way. As the music became +more lively their dancing came more and more to resemble some of +the almost brutal Apache dances of Paris, in that the man seemed +to exert sheer force and the woman agility in avoiding him. It was +an entirely new phase of afternoon dancing, an entirely new +"leisure class," this strange combination of Bohemia and +Senegambia. + +At a table next to us, so near that we could almost rub elbows +with them, sat a white man and a white woman. They had been +talking in low tones, but I could catch whole sentences now and +then, for they seemed to be making no extraordinary effort at +concealment. + +"He was framing a sucker to get away with a whole front," I heard +the man say, "or with a poke or a souper, but instead he got +dropped by a flatty and was canned for a sleep." + +"Two dips--pickpockets," whispered Craig. "Someone was trying to +take everything a victim had, or at least his pocketbook or watch, +but instead he was arrested by a detective and locked up over +night." + +"Good work," I laughed. "You are 'some' translator." + +I looked at our neighbours with a certain amount of respect. Were +they framing up something themselves? At any rate I felt that I +would rather see them here and know what they were than to be +jostled by them in a street car. The sleek proprietor kept a +careful eye on them and I knew that a sort of unwritten law would +prevent them from trying on anything that would endanger their +welcome in a joint none too savoury already. + +Nevertheless I was quite interested in the bits of pickpocket +argot that floated across to us, expressions like "crossing the +mit," "nipping a slang," a "mouthpiece," "making a holler" and +innumerable other choice bits as unintelligible to me as +"Beowulf." + +After a few minutes the woman got up and went out, leaving the man +still sitting at the table. Of course it was none of my business +what they were doing, I suppose, but I could not help being +interested. + +That diversion being ended, I joined Kennedy in his scrutiny of +Harris and his choice friend. Of course at our distance it was +absolutely impossible to gain any idea of what they were talking +about, and indeed our chief concern was not to attract any +attention. Whatever it was, they were very earnest about it and +paid no attention to us. + +The dancing had ceased and the two "artists" were entertaining the +select audience with some choice bits of ragtime. We could see Ike +the Dropper and Dr. Harris still talking. + +Suddenly Kennedy nudged me. I looked up in time to see Dr. Harris +reach into his inside breast pocket again and quietly slip out a +package much like that which we had already seen him hand to Marie +at the Futurist. Ike took it, looked at it a moment with some +satisfaction, then stuffed it down carefully into the right-hand +outside pocket of his coat. + +"I wonder what that is that Harris seems to be passing out to +them?" mused Craig. + +"Drugs, perhaps," I ventured offhand. + +"Maybe. I'd like to know for certain." + +Just then Harris and Ike rose and walked down on the other side of +the place toward the door. Kennedy turned his head so that even if +they should look in our direction they would not see his face. I +did the same. Fortunately neither seemed interested in the other +occupants. Harris having evidently fulfilled his mission, whether +of delivering the package or receiving news which Ike seemed to be +pouring into his ear, had but one thought, to escape from a place +which was evidently distasteful to him. At the door they paused +for a moment and spoke with the proprietor. He nodded reassuringly +once or twice to Dr. Harris, much to the relief, I thought, of +that gentleman. + +Kennedy was chafing under the restraint which kept him in the +background and prevented any of his wizardry of mechanical +eavesdropping. I fancied that his roving eye was considering +various means of utilizing his seemingly inexhaustible ingenuity +if occasion should arise. + +At last Harris managed to shake hands good-bye and disappeared up +the steps to the sidewalk still followed by Ike. + +Kennedy leaned over and looked the "dip" sitting alone back of us +squarely in the face. + +"Would you like to make twenty-five dollars--just like that?" he +asked with a quick gesture that accorded very well with the slang. + +The man looked at him very suspiciously, as if considering what +kind of new game this was. + +"That was your gun moll who just went out, wasn't it?" pursued +Kennedy with assurance. + +"Aw, come off. Whatyer givin' us?" responded the man half angrily. + +"Don't stall. I know. I'm not one of the bulls, either. It's just +a plain proposition. Will you or won't you take twenty-five of +easy money?" + +Kennedy's manner seemed to mystify him. For a moment he looked us +over, then seemed to decide that we were all right. + +"How?" he asked in a harsh but not wholly ungracious whisper. +"I'll tip yer off if the boss is lookin'. He don't like no frame- +ups in here." + +"You saw Ike the Dropper go out with that man?" + +"The guy with the glasses?" + +"Yes." + +"Well?" + +"The guy with the glasses gave Ike a little package which Ike put +into the right-hand outside pocket of his coat. Now it's worth +twenty-five beans to me to get that package--get me?" + +"I gotyer. Slip me a five now and the other twenty if I get it." + +Kennedy appeared to consider. + +"I'm on the level," pursued the dip. "Me and the goil is in hard +luck with a mouthpiece who wants fifty bucks to beat the case for +one of the best tools we ever had in our mob that they got right +to-day." + +"From that I take it that one of your pals needs fifty dollars for +a lawyer to get him out of jail. Well, I'll take a chance. Bring +the package to me at--well, the Prince Henry cafe. I'll be there +at seven o'clock." + +The pickpocket nodded, slid from his place and sidled out of the +joint without attracting any attention. + +"What's the lay?" I asked. + +"Oh, I just want that package, that's all. Come on, Walter. We +might as well go before any of these yellow girls speak to us and +frame up something on us." + +The proprietor bowed as much as to say, "Come again and bring your +friends." + + + + +XI + +THE TYPEWRITER CLUE + + +Ike was nowhere to be seen when we reached the street, but down +the block we caught sight of Dr. Harris on the next corner. +Kennedy hastened our pace until we were safely in his wake, then +managed to keep just a few paces behind him. + +Instead of turning into the street where the Futurist was, Harris +kept on up Broadway. It was easy enough to follow him in the crowd +now without being perceived. + +He turned into the street where the Little Montmartre was +preparing for a long evening of entertainment. We turned, and to +cover ourselves got into a conversation with a hack driver who +seemed suddenly to have sprung from nowhere with the cryptic +whisper, "Drive you to the Ladies' Club, gents?" + +Out of the tail of his eye Kennedy watched Harris. Instead of +turning into the Montmartre and his office, he went past to a +high-stooped brownstone house, two doors away, climbed the steps +and entered. + +We sauntered down the street and looked quickly at the house. A +brass sign on the wall beside the door read, "Mme. Margot's Beauty +Shop." + +"I see," commented Kennedy. "You know women of the type who +frequent the Futurist and the Montmartre are always running to the +hairdressing and manicure parlours. They make themselves +'beautiful' under the expert care of the various specialists and +beauty doctors. Then, too, they keep in touch that way with what +is going on in the demi-monde. That is their club, so to speak. It +is part of the beauty shop's trade to impart such information--at +least of a beauty shop in this neighbourhood." + +I regarded the place curiously. + +"Come, Walter, don't stare," nudged Kennedy. "Let's take a turn +down to the Prince Henry and wait. We can get a bite to eat, too." + +I had hardly expected that the pickpocket would play fair, but +evidently the lure of the remaining twenty dollars was too strong. +We had scarcely finished our dinner when he came in. + +"Here it is," he whispered. "The house man here at the Prince +Henry knows me. Slip me the twenty." + +Kennedy leisurely tore the wrappings from the packet. + +"I suppose you have already looked at this first and found that it +isn't worth anything to you compared to twenty dollars. Anyhow, +you kept your word. Hello--what is it?" + +He had disclosed several small packets. Inside each, sealed, was a +peculiar glistening whitish powder. + +"H'm," mused Kennedy, "another job for the chemist. Here's the +bankroll." + +"Thanks," grinned the dip as he disappeared through the revolving +door. + +We had returned to the laboratory that night where Kennedy was +preparing to experiment on the white powder which he had secured +in the packet that came from Dr. Harris. The door opened and Clare +Kendall entered. + +"I've been calling you up all over town," she said, "and couldn't +find you. I have something that will interest you, I think. You +said you wanted something written by Dr. Harris. Well, there it +is." + +She laid a sheet of typewriting on the laboratory table. + +"How did you get it?" asked Kennedy in eager approbation. + +"When I left you at the Futurist Tea Room to follow that woman +Marie in the cab, I had a good deal of trouble. I guess people +thought I was crazy, the way I was ordering that driver about, but +he was so stupid and he would get tangled up in the traffic on +Fifth Avenue. Still, I managed to hang on, principally because I +had a notion already that she was going to the Montmartre. Sure +enough, she turned down that block, but she didn't go into the +hotel after all. She stopped and went into a place two doors down- +-Mme. Margot's Beauty Parlour." + +"Just where we finally saw Harris go," exclaimed Kennedy. "I beg +your pardon for interrupting." + +"Of course I couldn't go in right after her, so I drove around the +corner. Then it occurred to me that it would be a good time to +stop in to see Dr. Harris--when he was out. You know my experience +with the fakers has made me pretty good at faking up ailments. +Then, too, I knew that it would be easy when he was not there. I +said I was an old patient and had an appointment and that I'd +wait, although I knew those were not his regular office hours. He +has an alleged trained nurse there all the time. She let me into +his waiting-room on the second floor in front--you remember the +private dining-rooms are in back. I waited in momentary fear that +he WOULD come back. You see, I had a scheme of my own. Well, I +waited until at last the nurse had to leave the office for a short +time. + +"That was my chance. I tiptoed over to his desk in the next room. +On it were a lot of letters. I looked over them but could find +nothing that seemed to be of interest. They were all letters from +other people. But they showed that he must have quite an extensive +practice, and that he is not over-scrupulous. I didn't want to +take anything that would excite suspicion unless I had to. Just +then I heard someone coming down the corridor from the elevator. I +had just time to get back to a chair in the waiting-room when the +door opened and there was that Titian from the office, you +remember. She saw me without recognizing me, went in and laid some +papers on his desk. As soon as she was gone, I went in again and +looked them over. Here was one that she had copied for him." + +Kennedy had been carefully scrutinizing the sheet of paper as she +told how she obtained it. + +"It couldn't be better as far as our purposes are concerned," he +congratulated. "It seems to consist of some notes he had made and +wished to preserve about drugs." + +I leaned over and read: + +VERONAL.--Diethylmalonyl or diethylbarbituric acid. A hypnotic +used extensively. White, crystalline, odourless, slightly bitter. +Best in ten to fifteen grain cachets. Does not affect circulatory +or respiratory systems or temperature. Toxicity low: 135 gr. taken +with no serious result. Unreasonable use for insomnia, however, +may lead to death. + +HEROIN.--Constant use of heroin has been known to lead to-- + +I looked inquiringly at Kennedy. + +"Just some fragmentary notes which he had evidently been making. +Rather interesting in themselves as showing perhaps something of +his practice, but not necessarily incriminating." + +While we were discussing the contents of the notes, Kennedy had +laid over the typewritten sheet the rules and graduated strip of +glass which he had used in examining the strange letter signed "An +Outcast." + +A moment later he pulled the letter itself from a drawer and laid +the two pieces of writing side by side, comparing them, going from +one to the other successively. + +"People generally, who have not investigated the subject," he +remarked as he worked, "hold the opinion that the typewriter has +no individuality. Fortunately that is not true. The typewriting +machine does not always afford an effective protection to the +criminal. On the contrary, the typewriting may be a direct means +of tracing a document to its source and showing it to be what it +really is. This is especially true of typewritten anonymous +letters. Without careful investigation it is impossible to say +what can be determined from the examination of any particular +piece of typewriting, but typewriting can often be positively +identified as being the work of a certain particular typewriting +machine and even the date of writing can sometimes be found out." + +He had been carefully counting something under the lens of a +pocket glass. "Even the number of threads to the inch in the +ribbon, as shown in the type impression, plainly seen and +accurately measured by the microscope or in an enlarged +photograph, may show something about the identity of a disputed +writing." + +He was pointing to a letter "r." Under the glass I noticed that +there was a break in the little curl at the top. + +"Now if you find such a break in the same letter in another piece +of typewriting, what would you think?" + +"That they were from the same machine," I replied. + +"Not so fast," he cautioned. "True, it might raise a presumption +that it was from the same machine. But the laws of chance would be +against your enthusiasm, Walter." + +"Of course," I admitted on second thought. + +"It's just like the finger-print theory. There must be a sort of +summation of individual characteristics. Now here's a broken 'l' +and there is an 'a' that is twisted. Now, if the same defects are +found in another piece of writing, that makes the presumption all +the stronger, and when you have massed together a number of such +characteristics it raises the presumption to a mathematical +certainty, does it not?" + +I nodded and he went on. "The faces of many letters inevitably +become broken, worn, or battered. Not only does that tend to +identify a particular machine, but it is sometimes possible, if +you have certain admitted standard specimens of writing covering a +long period, to tell just when a disputed writing was made. There +are two steps in such an inquiry, the first the determination of +the fact that a document was written on a certain particular kind +of machine and the second that it was written on a certain +individual machine of that make. I have here specimens of the +writing of all the leading machines. It is easy to pick out the +make used, say in the 'Outcast' letter. Moreover, as I said when I +first saw that letter, it is in the regular pica type. So are they +all, but as ninety-five per cent, use the pica style that in +itself proved nothing." + +"What is that bit of ruled glass?" asked Clare, bending over the +letters in deep interest. + +"In ordinary typewriting," replied Craig, "each letter occupies an +imaginary square, ten to the inch horizontally and six to the inch +vertically. Typewriting letters are in line both ways. This ruled +glass plate is an alinement test plate for detecting defects in +alinement. I have also here another glass plate in which the lines +diverge each at a very slightly different angle--a typewriting +protractor for measuring the slant of divergence of various +letters that have become twisted, so to speak. + +"When it is in perfect alinement the letter occupies the middle of +each square and when out of alinement it may be in any of the four +corners, or either side of the middle position or at the top or +bottom above or below the middle. That, you see, makes nine +positions in all--or eight possible divergences from normal in +this particular alone." + +Clare had been using the protractor herself, quickly familiarizing +herself with it. + +"Another possible divergence," went on Kennedy, "is the +perpendicular position of the letter in relation to the line. That +is of great value in individualizing a machine. It is very seldom +that machines, even when they are new, are perfect in this +particular. It does not seem much until you magnify it. Then +anyone can see it, and it is a characteristic that is fixed, +continuous, and not much changed by variations in speed or methods +of writing. + +"Here's another thing. Typewriter faces are not flat like printing +type, but are concaved to conform to the curve of the printing +surface of the roller. When they are properly adjusted all +portions should print uniformly. But when they are slightly out of +position in any direction the two curved surfaces of type and +roller are not exactly parallel and therefore don't come together +with uniform pressure. The result is a difference in intensity in +different parts of the impression." + +It was fascinating to see Craig at work over such minute points +which we had never suspected in so common a thing as ordinary +typewriting. + +"Then you can identify these letters positively?" asked Clare. + +"Positively," answered Craig. "If two machines of the same make +were perfect to begin with and in perfect condition--which is +never found to be the case when they are critically examined--the +work from one would be theoretically indistinguishable from that +of another until actual use had affected them differently. The +work of any number of machines begins inevitably to diverge as +soon as they are used. Since there are thousands of possible +particulars in which differences may develop, it very soon becomes +possible to identify positively the work of a particular +typewriting machine." + +"How about the operator?" I asked curiously. + +"Different habits of touch, spacing, speed, arrangement, and +punctuation all may also tend to show that a particular piece of +writing was or was not done by one operator. In other words, +typewriting individuality in many cases is of the most positive +and convincing character and reaches a degree of certainty which +may almost be described as absolute proof. The identification of a +typewritten document in many cases is exactly parallel to the +identification of an individual who precisely answers a general +description as to features, complexion, size, and in addition +matches a long detailed list of scars, birthmarks, deformities, +and individual peculiarities." + +Together we three began an exhaustive examination of the letters, +and as Kennedy called off the various characteristics of each type +on the standard keyboard we checked them up. It did not take long +to convince us, nor would it have failed to convince the most +sceptical, that both had come from the same source and the same +writer. + +"You see," concluded Kennedy triumphantly, "we have advanced a +long step nearer the solution of at least one of the problems of +this case." + +Miss Kendall had evidently been thinking quickly and turning the +matter over in her mind. + +"But," she spoke up quickly, "even that does not point to the same +person as the author--not the writer, but the author--of the three +pieces of writing." + +"No indeed," agreed Craig. "There is much left to be done. As a +matter of fact, there might have been one author, or there might +have been two, although all the mechanical work was done by one +person. But we are at least sure that we have localized the source +of the writing. We know that it is from the Montmartre that the +letter came. We know that it is in some way that that place and +some of the people who frequent it are connected with the +disappearance of Betty Blackwell." + +"In other words," supplied Clare, "we are going to get at the +truth through that Titian-haired stenographer." + +"Exactly." + +Clare had risen to go. + +"It quite takes my breath away to think that we are really making +such progress against the impregnable Montmartre. At various times +my investigators have been piecing together little bits of +information about that place. I shall have the whole record put +together to-night. I shall let you know about it the first thing +in the morning." + +The door had scarcely closed when Kennedy turned quickly to me and +remarked, "That girl has something on her mind. I wonder what it +is?" + + + + +XII + +THE "PORTRAIT PARLE" + + +What it was that Clare Kendall had on her mind, appeared the +following day. + +"There's something I want to try," she volunteered, evidently +unable to repress it any longer. "I have a plan--or half a plan. +Don't you think it would be just the thing, under the +circumstances, to ring up District Attorney Carton, tell him what +we have accomplished and take him into our confidence? Perhaps he +can suggest something. At any rate we have all got to work +together, for there is going to be a great fight when they find +out how far we have gone." + +"Bully idea," agreed Craig. + +Twenty minutes later we were seated in the District Attorney's +office in the Criminal Courts Building, pouring into his +sympathetic ear the story of our progress so far. + +Carton seemed to be delighted, as Kennedy proceeded to outline the +case, at the fact that he and Miss Kendall had found it possible +to co-operate. His own experience in trying to get others to work +with the District Attorney's office, particularly the police, had +been quite the reverse. + +"I wish to heaven you could get the right kind of evidence against +the Montmartre gang," he sighed. "It is a gang, too--a high-class +gang. In fact--well, it must be done. That place is a blot on the +city. The police never have really tried to get anything on it. +Miss Kendall never could, could you? I admit I never have. It +seems to be understood that it is practically impossible to prove +anything against it. They openly defy us. The thing can't go on. +It demoralizes all our other work. Just one good blow at the +Montmartre and we could drive every one of these vile crooks to +cover." He brought his fist down with a thud on the desk, swung +around in his chair, and emphasized his words with his forefinger. + +"And yet, I know as well as I know that you are all in this room +that graft is being paid to the police and the politicians by that +place and in fact by all those places along there. If we are to do +anything with them, that must be proved. That is the first step +and I'm glad the whole thing hinges on the Blackwell case. People +always sit up and take notice when there is something personal +involved, some human interest which even the newspapers can see. +That Montmartre crowd, whoever they are, must be made to feel the +strong arm of the law. That's what I am in this office to do. Now, +Kennedy, there must be some way to catch those crooks with the +goods." + +"They aren't ordinary crooks, you know," ruminated Kennedy. + +"I know they are not. But you and Miss Kendall and Jameson ought +to be able to think out a scheme." + +"But you see, Mr. Carton," put in Clare, "this is a brand new +situation. Your gambling and vice and graft exposures have made +all of them so wary that they won't pass a bill from their right +to their left pockets for fear it is marked." + +Carton laughed. + +"Well, you are a brand new combination against them. Let me see; +you want suggestions. Why don't you use the detectaphone--get our +own little Black Book?" + +Kennedy shook his head. + +"The detectaphone is all right, as Dorgan knows. It might work +again. But I don't think I'll take any chances. No, these grafters +wouldn't say 'Thank you' in an open boat in mid-ocean, for fear of +wireless, now. They've been educated up to a lot of things lately. +No, it must be something new. What do you know about graft up +there?" + +"The people who are running those places in the fifties are making +barrels of money," summarized Carton quickly. "No one ever +interferes with them, either. I know from reliable sources, too, +that the police are 'getting theirs.' But although I know it I +can't prove it; I can't even tell who is getting it. But once a +week a collector for the police calls around in that district and +shakes them all down. By Jove, to-day is the day. The trouble with +it all is that they have made the thing so underground that no one +but the principals know anything about it--not even the agents. I +guess you are right about the detectaphone." + +"To-day's the day, is it?" mused Craig. + +"So I understand." + +"I think I can get them with a new machine they never dreamed of," +exclaimed Kennedy, who had been turning something over in his +mind. + +He reached for the telephone and called the Montmartre. + +"Julius, please," he said when they answered; then, placing his +hand over the transmitter, he turned to Clare. "That was your +friend the Titian, Miss Kendall." + +"No friend of mine if she happens to remember seeing me in Dr. +Harris's office the other day. Still, I doubt if she would." + +"Hello--Julius? Good morning. How about a private dining-room for +three, Julius?" + +We could not hear the reply, but Craig added quickly, "I thought +there were two?" + +Evidently the answer was in the affirmative, for Craig asked next, +"Well, can't we have the small one?" + +He hung up the receiver with a satisfied smile after closing with +"That's the way to talk. Thank you, Julius. Good-bye." + +"What was the difficulty?" I asked. + +"Why, I thought I'd take a chance--and it took. Now figure it out +for yourself. Carton says it's dough day, so to speak, up there. +What is more natural than that the money for all those places +leased to various people should be passed over in a place that is +public and yet is not public? For instance, there is the +Montmartre itself. Now think it out. Where would that be done in +the Montmartre? Why, in one of the private dining-rooms, of +course." + +"That seems reasonable," agreed Carton. + +"That was the way I doped it," pursued Craig. "I thought I'd +confirm it if I could. You remember they told us to call up always +if I wanted a private dining-room and it would be reserved for me. +So it was the most natural thing in the world for me to call up. +If they had said yes, I should have been disappointed. But they +said no, and straightway I wanted one of those rooms the worst +way. One seems to be engaged--the large one. He said nothing about +the other, so I asked him. Since I knew about it, he could hardly +say no. Well, I have engaged it for lunch--an early luncheon, +too." + +"It sounds all right, as though you were on the right trail," +remarked Carton. "But, remember, only the best sort of evidence +will go against those people. They can afford to hire the best +lawyers that money can retain. And be careful not to let them get +anything on you, for they are fearful liars, and they'll go the +limit to discredit you." + +"Trust us," assured Craig. "Now, Miss Kendall, if you will give us +the pleasure of lunching with you at the Montmartre again, I think +we may be able to get the Judge just the sort of open and shut +evidence he is after." + +"I shall be glad to do it. I'm ready now." + +Kennedy glanced at his watch. "It's a little early yet. If we take +a taxicab we shall have plenty of time to stop at the laboratory +on our way." + +Arriving at the laboratory, he went to a drawer, from which he +took a little box which contained a long tube, and carefully +placed it in the breast pocket of his coat. Then from a chest of +tools he drew several steel sections that apparently fitted +together, and began stuffing the parts into various pockets. + +"Here, Walter," he said, "these make me bulge like a yeggman with +his outfit under his coat. Can't you help me with some of these +parts?" + +I jammed several into various pockets--heavy pieces of metal--and +we were ready. + +Our previous visits to the Montmartre seemed to have given us the +entree and the precaution of telephoning made it even easier. +Indeed, it appeared that about all that was necessary there was to +be known and to be thought "right." We carefully avoided the +office, where the stenographer might possibly have recognized +Clare, and entered the elevator. + +"Is Dr. Harris in?" asked Craig, both by way of getting +information and showing that he was no stranger. + +The black elevator boy gave an ivory grin. "No, sah. He done gone +on one o' them things." + +Another question developed the fact that whenever Harris was away +it was generally assumed that he was tinting the metropolis +vermilion from the Battery to the Bronx. + +We passed down the hall to the smaller of the two dining-rooms, +and as we went by the larger we could see the door open and that +no one was there. + +We had ordered and the waiter had scarcely shut the door before +Kennedy had divested himself of the heavy steel sections which he +had hidden in his pockets. I did the same. + +With a quick glance he seemed to be observing just how the +furniture was placed. The smaller dining-room was quite as +elaborately furnished as the larger, though of course the +furniture was more crowded. + +He moved the settee and was on his knees in a corner. "Let me +see," he considered. "There was nothing on this side of the larger +room except the divan in the centre." + +As nearly as he could judge he was measuring off just where the +divan stood on the opposite side of the wall, and its height. Then +he began fitting together the pieces of steel. As he added one to +another, I saw that they made a sectional brace and bit of his own +design, a long, vicious-looking affair such as a burglar might +have been glad to own. + +Carefully he started to bore through the plaster and lath back of +the settee and to one side of where the divan must have been. He +was making just as small a hole as possible, now and then stopping +to listen. + +There was no noise from the next room, but a tap on the door +announced the waiter with luncheon. He shoved the settee back and +joined us. The discreet waiter placed the food on the table and +departed without a word or look. Kennedy resumed his work and we +left the luncheon still untasted. + +The bit seemed to have gone through as Kennedy, turning it +carefully, withdrew it now and then to make sure. At last he +seemed to be satisfied with the opening he had made. + +From the package in his breast pocket he drew a long brass tube +which looked as if it might be a putty-blower. Slowly he inserted +it into the hole he had bored. + +"What is it?" I asked, unable to restrain my curiosity longer. + +"I felt sure that there would be no talking done in that room, +especially as we are in this one and anyone knows that even if you +can't put a detectaphone in a room, it will often work if merely +placed against a wall or door, on the other side, in the next +room. So I thought I'd use this instead. Put your eye down here." + +I did so and was amazed to find that through a hole less than a +quarter of an inch in diameter the brass tube enabled me to see +the entire room next to us. + +I looked up at Kennedy in surprise. "What do you think of this, +Miss Kendall?" I asked, moving the settee out of her way. "What do +you call it?" + +"That is a detectascope," he replied, "a little contrivance which +makes use of the fish-eye lens. + +"Yes. The detectascope enables you to see what is going on in +another room. The focus may be altered in range so that the faces +of those in the room may be recognized and the act of passing +money or signing cheques, for instance, may be detected. The +instrument is fashioned somewhat after the cytoscope of the +doctors, with which the human interior may be seen." + +"Very remarkable," exclaimed Clare. "But I can't understand how it +is possible to see so much through such a little tube. Why, I +almost fancy I can see more in that room than I could with my own +eyes if I were placed so that I could not move my head." + +Kennedy laughed. + +"That's the secret," he went on. "For instance, take a drop of +water. Professor Wood of Johns Hopkins has demonstrated recently +the remarkable refracting power of a drop of water, using the +camera and the drop of water as a lens. It is especially +interesting to scientists because it illustrates the range of +vision of some fishes. They have eyes that see over half a circle. +Hence the lens gets its name--'the fish-eye lens.' A globe +refracts the light that reaches it from all directions, and if it +is placed as the lens is in the detectascope so that one half of +it catches the light, all this light will be refracted through it. +Ordinary lenses, because of their flatness, have a range of only a +few degrees, the widest in use, I believe, taking in only ninety- +six degrees, or a little over a quarter of a circle. So you see my +detectascope has a range almost twice as wide as that of any other +lens." + +The little tube was fascinating, and although there was no one in +the next room yet, I could not resist the desire to keep on +looking through it. + +"Since you are so interested, Walter," laughed Craig, "we'll +appoint you to take the first shift at watching. Meanwhile we may +as well eat since we shall certainly have to pay. When you are +tired or hungry I'll take a turn." + +Kennedy and I had been taking turns at watching through the +detectascope while Miss Kendall told us more about how she had +come to be associated with the organization to clean up New York. + +"We have struck some delicate situations before," she was saying, +"times when it meant either that we must surrender and compromise +the work of the investigation or offend an interest that might +turn out to be more powerful than we realized. Our rule from the +start was, 'No Compromise.' You know the moment you compromise +with one, all the others hear it and it weakens your position. +We've made some powerful enemies, but our idea is that as long as +we keep perfectly straight and honest they will never be able to +beat us. We shall win in the end, because so far it has never come +to a show-down, when we appealed to the public itself, that the +public had not risen and backed us strongly." + +I had come to have the utmost confidence in Clare Kendall and her +frank way of handling a ticklish yet most important subject +without fear or prudishness. There was a refreshing newness about +her method. It was neither the holier-than-thou attitude of many +religionists, nor the smug monopoly of all knowledge of the social +worker, nor the brutal wantonness of the man or woman of the world +who excuses everything "because it is human nature, always has +been and always will be." + +"We have no illusions on the subject," she pursued. "We don't +expect to change human nature until the individual standard +changes. But we are convinced of this--and it is as far as we go +and is what we are out to accomplish--and that is that we can, and +are going to, smash protected, commercialized vice as one of the +big businesses of New York." + +"Sh-h," cautioned Kennedy, whose turn it happened to be just then +to watch. "Someone has just entered the room." + +"Who is it?" I whispered eagerly. + +"A man. I can't see his face. His back is toward me, but there is +something familiar about him. There--he is turning around. For +Heaven's sake--it's Ike the Dropper!" + +We had already recounted to Miss Kendall our experiences in +following Dr. Harris to the black and tan joint and the meeting +with Ike the Dropper. + +"Then Ike the Dropper is the collector for the police or the +politicians higher up," she exclaimed under her breath. "If we +learned nothing more, that would be enough. It would tell us whom +to watch." + +Hastily we took turns at getting a good look at Ike through the +wonderful little detectascope. Then Kennedy resumed his watch, +whispering now and then what he saw. Apparently Ike had proceeded +to make himself comfortable in the luxurious surroundings of the +private dining-room, against the arrival of the graft payers. + +"I wonder who the man higher up is," whispered Miss Kendall. + +"Someone is coming in," reported Kennedy. "By George, it is that +stenographer from the office downstairs. She is handing him an +envelope. Good for her! He tried to kiss her and she backed away +in disgust. The scoundrel! + +"Isn't it clever, though? Not a word is said by anyone. I don't +suppose she could swear to knowing anything about what is in the +envelope. There she goes out. He is opening the envelope and +counting out the money--ten one-hundred-dollar bills. There they +go into the fob pocket of his trousers. I imagined he learned +something from my pick-pocket. That is the safest pocket a man +has. That little contribution, I take it, was from the Montmartre +itself." + +Then followed an interval in which Ike puffed away on his cigar in +silent state. + +"Here's another now," announced Craig. "Another woman. I never saw +her before." + +Both Miss Kendall and I looked and neither of us recognized her. +She was slim and would have been young-looking if she had not made +such obvious efforts to imitate the healthy colour of the cheeks +which she probably would have had if she had lived sensibly and +left cosmetics alone. + +Kennedy was hastily jotting down some notes on the back of an +envelope. + +"They are going through the same proceedings again. I guess Ike +doesn't like her. There she goes. Only two hundred this time." + +Another wait followed, during which Ike smoked down his cigar and +lighted another from the stub. Then the door opened again. + +Kennedy motioned quickly to Clare to look through the +detectascope. Meanwhile he pulled from his pocket the piece of +paper he had written on and torn from the back of the menu at the +Futurist. + +"Marie!" exclaimed Clare under her breath. + +"The same," whispered Kennedy. "Miss Kendall, you have the true +'camera eye' of the born detective. Now--please--let me see if I +can get what occurs." + +She yielded her place to him. + +"Three hundred more," he murmured. "Marie must be in the game, +though. He didn't wait for her to leave before he tore open the +envelope. Now they are burning the envelopes in the ash tray. And +still not a word. This is clever, clever. Think of it--fifteen +hundred dollars of easy money like that! I wonder how much of it +sticks to Ike's hands on the way up. He must have a capacious fob +pocket for that. Say, he's a regular fellow with the ladies, Ike +is. Only this one doesn't seem to resent it. By George, I wonder +if this fellow Ike isn't giving the police or the politicians the +double-cross. He couldn't be on such intimate terms with one who +was paying graft to him as collector otherwise; do you think so?" + +Craig looked up without waiting for an answer. "You will excuse +any levity, but that was some kiss she just gave him." + +Kennedy resumed his position for looking through the detectascope, +occasionally glancing down at the notes he had made the day before +and now and then making a slight alteration. + +"There. She is going away now. Well, I guess the collection is all +over. He has his hat on and a third cigar, ready to go as soon as +somebody signals that the coast is clear. That was a good day's +work for Ike and the man higher up, whoever he is. Ah--there he +goes. It was a signal from the waiter he was after. Now we may as +well finish this luncheon. It cost enough." + +For several minutes we ate in silence. + +"I wish I could have followed Ike," observed Craig. "But of course +it would have been of no use. To go out right after him would have +given the whole thing away." + +"Who is that dark-haired, dark-skinned woman, Marie, do you +suppose?" asked Clare. "Sometimes I almost think she is part +negro." + +"I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if you were right. +If you have any investigators to spare, they might try to find out +who she is and something of her history. I will give them a copy +of these notes which I intend to turn over to the Department of +Justice men who have been making the white slave investigation for +the Federal Government." + +Kennedy had laid the notes which he had made on the menu before us +and was copying them. Both Clare and I leaned over to read them. +It was Greek to me: + +Nose--straight, base elevated, nostrils thick, slightly flaring. + +Ears--lobe descending oval, traversed by a hollow, antitragus +concave; lobe separated from cheek. + +Lips--large. + +Mouth--large. + +Chin--receding. + +There was much more that he had jotted down and added to the +description. + +"Oh," exclaimed Clare, as she ran through the writing, "that is +this new portrait parle, the spoken picture, isn't it?" + +"Yes," replied Kennedy. "You may know that the Government has been +using it in its white slave inquiry and has several thousands of +such descriptions. Under the circumstances, I understand that the +Government agents find it superior to finger-prints. Finger-prints +are all right for identification, as we have found right here, for +instance, in the Night Court. But Bertillon's new portrait parle +is the thing for apprehension." + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"Well, take the case before us. We have had no chance to finger- +print that woman and what good would it do if we had? No one could +recognize her that way until she was arrested or some means had +been taken to get the prints again. + +"But the portrait parle is scientific apprehension, the step that +comes before scientific identification by finger-prints. It means +giving the detective an actual portrait of the person he is sent +after without burdening him with a photograph. As descriptions are +now given, together with a photograph, a person is described as of +such a weight, height, general appearance, and so on. A clever +crook knows that. He knows how to change his appearance so that +there are few even of the best detectives who can recognize him. +This new system describes the features so that a man can carry +them in his mind systematically, features that cannot be changed. + +"Take the nose, for example," explained Kennedy. "There are only +three kinds, as Bertillon calls them--convex, straight, and +concave. A detective, we will say, is sent out after a man with a +concave nose or, as in this case a woman with a straight nose. +Thus he is freed from the necessity of taking a second glance at +two-thirds of the women, roughly, that he meets--that is, +theoretically. He passes by all with convex and concave noses. + +"There are four classes of ears--triangular, square, oval, and +round, as they may be called. Having narrowed his search to women +with straight noses, the detective needs to concern himself with +only one-fourth of the women with straight noses. Having come down +to women with straight noses and, say, oval ears, he will +eliminate all those that do not have the mouth, lips, chin, eyes, +forehead, and so on that have been given him. Besides that, there +are other striking differences in noses and ears that make his +work much easier than you would imagine, once he has been trained +to observe such things quickly." + +"It sounds all right," I agreed haltingly. + +"It is all right, too," he argued warmly. "The proof of it is its +use in Paris and other cities abroad and the fact that it has been +imported here to New York in the Police Department and has been +used by the Government. I could tell you many interesting stories +about how it has succeeded where photographs would have failed." + +I had been reading over the description again and trying to apply +it. + +"For instance," Craig resumed thoughtfully. "I believe that this +woman is a mulatto, but that is a long way from proving it. Still, +I hope that by using the portrait parle and other things we may be +able to draw the loose threads together into a net that will catch +her--providing, of course, that she ought to be caught." + +He had finished making copies of the portrait parle and had called +for a cheque for the lunch. + +"So you see," he concluded, "this is without any doubt the woman +we saw at the Futurist, whom Miss Kendall followed to Madame +Margot's Beauty Shop, two doors down." + +Kennedy handed a copy to Miss Kendall. + +"Using that and whatever other means you may have, Miss Kendall," +he said, "I wish that you would try to find this woman and all you +can about her. Walter, take this other copy and see Carton. I +think he has a county detective who knows the system. I shall +spend the rest of the day getting in touch with the Federal +authorities in this city and in Washington trying to find out +whether they know anything about her." + +We left the Montmartre with as much care as we had entered and +seemingly without having yet aroused any suspicion. The rest of +the day was spent in setting to work those whom we felt we could +trust to use the portrait parle to locate the mysterious dark- +haired Marie who seemed to cross our trail at every turn, yet who +proved so elusive. + + + + +XIII + +THE CONVICTION + + +Meanwhile, the organization was using every effort to get +possession of the Black Book, as Kennedy had suspected. + +Miss Ashton had been busy on the case of the missing Betty +Blackwell, but as yet there was no report from any of the agencies +which she had set in motion to locate the girl. She had seen +Langhorne, and, although she did not say much about the result of +the interview, I felt sure that it had resulted in a further +estrangement between them, perhaps a suspicion on the part of +Langhorne that Carton had been responsible for it. + +In as tactful a way as possible, Miss Ashton had also warned Mrs. +Ogleby of the danger she ran, but, as I had already supposed, the +warning had been unnecessary. The rumours about the detectaphone +record of the dinner had been quite enough. As for the dinner +itself, what happened, and who were present, it remained still a +mystery, perhaps only to be explained when at last we managed to +locate the book. + +Since the visit of Kahn, we had had no direct or indirect +communications with either Dorgan or Murtha. They were, however, +far from inactive, and I felt that their very secrecy, which had +always been the strong card of the organization, boded no good. +Although both Carton and Kennedy were straining every nerve to +make progress in the case, there was indeed very little to report, +either the next day or for some time after the episode which had +placed Kahn in our power. + +Carton was careful not to say anything about the graphic record we +had taken of Kahn's attempt to throw the case. It was better so, +he felt. The jury fixing evidence would keep and it would prove +all the stronger trump to play when the right occasion arose. That +time rapidly approached, now, with the day set for the trial of +Dopey Jack. + +The morning of the trial found both Kennedy and myself in the part +of General Sessions to which the case had been assigned to be +tried under Justice Pomeroy. + +To one who would watch the sieve through which justice vigorously +tries to separate the wheat from the chaff, the innocent from the +guilty, a visit to General Sessions is the best means. For it is +fed through the channels that lead through the police courts, the +Grand Jury chambers, and the District Attorney's office. There one +can study the largest assortment of criminals outside of a penal +institution, from the Artful Dodger and Bill Sykes, Fagin and Jim +the Penman, to the most modern of noted crooks of fact or fiction, +all done here in real flesh and blood. It is the busiest of +criminal courts. More serious offenders against the law are +sentenced here than in any other court in New York. The final +chapter in nearly every big crime is written there, sooner or +later. + +As we crowded in, thanks to the courtesy of Carton, we found a +roomy chamber, with high ceiling, and grey, impressive walls in +the southeast corner of the second floor of the Criminal Courts +Building. Heavy carved oaken doors afforded entrance and exit for +the hundreds of lawyers, witnesses, friends, and relatives of +defendants and complainants who flocked thither. + +Rows upon rows of dark-brown stained chairs filled the west half +of the courtroom, facing a three-foot railing that enclosed a jury +box and space reserved for counsel tables, the clerk and the +District Attorney representing the people. + +At the extreme east rose in severe dignity the dais or bench above +which ascended a draped canopy of rich brown plush. Here Justice +Pomeroy presided, in his robes of silk, a striking, white-haired +figure of a man, whose face was seamed and whose eyes were keen +with thought and observation. + +Across the street, reached by the famous Bridge of Sighs, loomed +the great grey hulk of stone and steel bars, the city prison, +usually referred to as "The Tombs." As if there had been some +cunning design in the juxtaposition, the massive jail reared +itself outside the windows as an object lesson. It was a perpetual +warning to the lawbreaker. Its towers and projections jutted out +as so many rocks on a dangerous shore where had been wrecked +thousands of promising careers just embarked on the troublesome +seas of life. + +Skirting the line of southern windows through which The Tombs was +visible, ran a steel wire screen, eight feet high, marking off a +narrow chute that hugged the walls to a door at the rear of the +courtroom leading to the detention pen. Ordinarily prisoners were +brought over the Bridge of Sighs in small droves and herded in the +detention pens just outside the courtroom until their cases were +called. + +The line-up of prisoners at such times awaiting their turn at the +bar of justice affords ample opportunity for study to the +professional or the amateur criminalist. + +Almost daily in this court one might look upon murderers, bank +looters, clever forgers, taxicab robbers, safe crackers, +highwaymen, second-story men, shoplifters, pickpockets, thieves, +big and little--all sorts and conditions of crooks come to pay the +price. + +The court was crowded, for the gang leaders knew that this was a +show-down for them. Carton himself, not one of his assistants, was +to conduct the case. If Dopey Jack, who had violated almost every +law in the revised statutes and had never suffered anything worse +than a suspended sentence, could not get off, then no one could. +And it was unthinkable that Dopey should not only be arrested and +held in jail without bail, but even be convicted on such a trivial +matter as slight irregularities that swung the primaries in a +large section of the city for his superior, "higher up." + +Rubano's father, a decent, sorrowing old man, sat in the rear of +the courtroom, probably wondering how it had all happened, for he +came evidently of a clean, law-abiding family. + +But there was nothing in the appearance of the insolent criminal +at the bar to show that he was of the same breed. He was no longer +the athlete, whom "prize fighting" had inculcated with principles +of manliness and fair play as well as a strong body. All that, as +I had seen often before, was a pitiful lie. He was rat-eyed and +soft-handed. His skin had the pastiness that comes of more +exposure to the glare of vile dance halls than the sunlight of +day. His black hair was slicked down; he was faultlessly tailored +and his shoes had those high, bulging toes which are the extreme +of Fourteenth Street fashion. + +Outside, overflowing into the corridor, were gangsters, followers +and friends of Dopey Jack. Only an overpowering show of force +preserved the orderliness of the court from their boasting, +bragging, and threats. + +The work of selecting the jury began, and we watched it carefully. +Kahn, cool and cunning, had evidently no idea of what Carton was +holding out against him. In the panel I could see the anemic- +looking fellow whom we had caught with the goods up at Farrell's. +Carton's men had shadowed him and had learned of every man with +whom he had spoken. As each, for some reason or other, was +objected to by Carton, Kahn began to show exasperation. + +At last the anemic fellow came up for examination. Kahn accepted +him. + +For a moment Carton seemed to fumble among his papers, without +even looking at the prospective juror. Then he drew out the print +which Kennedy had made. Quietly, without letting anyone else see +it, he deliberately walked to Kahn's table and showed it to the +lawyer, without a word, in fact without anyone else in the court +knowing anything about it. + +Kahn's face was a study, as he realized for the first time what it +was that Carton and Kennedy had been doing that night at +Farrell's. He paled. His hand shook. It was with the utmost effort +that he could control his voice. He had been cornered and the +yellow streak in him showed through. + +In a husky voice he withdrew the juror, and Carton, in the same +cold, self-possessed manner resumed his former position, not even +a trace of a smile on his features. + +It was all done so quickly that scarcely a soul in the court +besides ourselves realized that anything had happened. + +"Isn't he going to say anything about it?" I whispered to Craig. + +"That will come later," was all that Kennedy replied, his eyes +riveted still on Carton. + +Though no one besides ourselves realized it, Carton had thrown a +bombshell that had demolished the defence. Others noticed it, but +as yet did not know the cause. Kahn, the great Kahn by whom all +the forces of the underworld had conjured, was completely +unnerved. Carton had fixed it so that he could not retreat and +leave the case to someone else. He had knocked the props from +under his defence by uncannily turning down every man whom he had +any reason of suspecting of having been approached. Then he had +given Kahn just a glimpse of the evidence that hinted at what was +in store for himself personally. Kahn was never the same after +that. + +Judge Pomeroy, who had been following the progress of the case +attentively, threw another bombshell when he announced that he +would direct that the names of the jurors be kept secret until it +was absolutely necessary to disclose them, a most unusual +proceeding designed to protect them from reprisals of gangmen. + +At last the real trial began. Carton had been careful to see that +none of the witnesses for the people should be "stiffened" as the +process was elegantly expressed by those of Dopey Jack's class--in +other words, intimidated, bribed, or otherwise rendered innocuous. +One after another, Carton rammed home the facts of the case, the +fraudulent registration and voting, the use of the names of dead +men to pad the polling lists, the bribery of election officials at +the primaries--the whole sordid, debasing story of how Dopey Jack +had intimidated and swung one entire district. + +It was clever, as he presented it, with scarcely a reference to +the name of Murtha, the beneficiary of such tactics--as though, +perhaps, Murtha's case was in his mind separate and would be +attended to later when his turn came. + +Rapidly, concisely, convincingly, Carton presented the facts. Now +and then Kahn would rise to object to something as incompetent, +irrelevant, and immaterial. But there was lacking something in his +method. It was not the old Kahn. In fact, one almost felt that +Carton was disappointed in his adversary, that he would have +preferred a stiff, straight from the shoulder, stand-up fight. + +Now and then we could hear a whisper circulating about among the +spectators. What was the matter with Kahn? Was he ill? Gangdom was +in a daze itself, little knowing the smooth stone that Carton had +slung between the eyes of the great underworld Goliath of the law. + +At last Carton's case was all in, and Kahn rose to present his +own, a forced smile on his face. + +There was an attempt at a demonstration, but Judge Pomeroy rapped +sharply for order, and alert court attendants were about to nip +effectively any such outburst. Still, it was enough to show the +undercurrent of open defiance of the court, of law, of the people. + +What it was no one but ourselves knew but Kahn was not himself. +Others saw it, but did not understand. They had waited patiently +through the sledge-hammer pounding of Carton, waiting expectantly +for Kahn to explode a mine that would demolish the work of the +District Attorney as if it had been so much paper. Carton had +figuratively dampened the fuse. It sputtered, but the mine did not +explode. + +Once or twice there were flashes of the old Kahn, but for the most +part he seemed to have crumpled up. Often I thought he was not the +equal of even a police court lawyer. The spectators seemed to know +that something was wrong, though they could not tell just what it +was. Kahn's colleagues whispered among themselves. He made his +points, but they lacked the fire and dash and audacity that once +had caused the epigram that Kahn's appearance in court indicated +two things--the guilt of the accused and a verdict of acquittal. + +Even Justice Pomeroy seemed to notice it. Kahn had tried many a +case before him and the old judge had a wholesome respect for the +wiley lawyer. But to-day the court found nothing so grave as the +strange dilatoriness of the counsel. + +Once the judge had to interfere with the remark, "I may remind the +learned counsel for the defence that the court intends to finish +this case before adjournment for the day, if possible; if not, +then we shall sit to-night." + +Kahn seemed not to grasp the situation, as he had of old. He +actually hurried up the presentation of the case, oblivious to the +now black looks that were directed at him by his own client. If he +had expected to recover his old-time equanimity as the case +proceeded, he failed. For no one better than he knew what that +little photograph of Carton's meant--disgrace, disbarment, perhaps +prison itself. What was this Dopey Jack when ruin stared himself +so relentlessly in the face in the person of Carton, calm and +cool? + +At last the summing up was concluded and both sides rested. Judge +Pomeroy charged the jury, I thought with eminent fairness and +impartiality, even, perhaps, glossing over some points which +Kahn's weak presentation might have allowed him to make more of if +Kahn had been bolder and stronger in pressing them. + +The jury filed out and the anxious waiting began. On all sides was +the buzz of conversation. Kahn himself sat silent, gazing for the +most part at the papers before him. There must have been some +wrangling of the jury, for twice hope of the gangsters revived +when they sent in for the record. + +But it was not over an hour later when the jury finally filed back +again into their box. As Judge Pomeroy faced them and asked the +usual question, the spectators hung, breathless, on the words of +the foreman as the jurors stood up silently in their places. There +was a tense hush in the courtroom, as every eye was fastened on +the face of the foreman. + +The hush seemed to embarrass him. But finally he found his voice. +Nervously, as if he were taking his own life in his hands he +delivered the verdict. + +"We find the defendant guilty as charged in the indictment!" + +Instantly, before anyone could move, the dignified judge faced the +prisoner deliberately. + +"You have heard the verdict," he said colourlessly. "I shall +sentence you Friday." + +Three court attendants were at Dopey Jack's side in a moment, but +none too soon. The pent-up feeling of the man idolized by +blackmailers, and man-killers, and batteners on street-women, who +held nothing as disgrace but a sign of respect for law or remorse +for capture, burst forth. + +He cast one baleful look at Kahn as they hurried him to the wire- +screened passageway. "It's all a frame-up--a damned frame-up!" he +shouted. + +As he disappeared a murmer of amazement ran through the room. The +unthinkable had happened. An East Side idol had fallen. + + + + +XIV + +THE BEAUTY PARLOUR + + +"It seems strange," remarked Kennedy the following morning when we +had met in his laboratory for our daily conference to plan our +campaign, "that although we seem to be on the right trail we have +not a word yet about Betty Blackwell herself. Carton has just +telephoned that her mother, poor woman, is worrying her heart out +and is a mere shadow of her former self." + +"We must get some word," asserted Miss Kendall. "This silence is +almost like the silence of death." + +"I'm afraid I shall have to impose on you that task," said Kennedy +thoughtfully to her. "There seems to be no course open to us but +to transfer our watch from Dr. Harris to this Marie. Of course it +is too early to hear from our search by means of the portrait +parle. But we have both seen Dr. Harris and Marie enter the beauty +parlour of Madame Margot. Now, I don't mean to cast aspersions on +your own good looks, Miss Kendall. They are of the sort with which +no beauty parlour except Nature can compete." + +A girl of another type than Clare would probably have read a half +dozen meanings into his sincere compliment. But then, I reflected +that a man of another type than Craig could not have made the +remark without expecting her to do so. There was a frankness +between them which, I must confess, considerably relieved me. I +was not prepared to lose Kennedy, even to Miss Kendall. + +She smiled. "You want me to try a course in artificial +beautification, don't you?" + +"Yes. Walter doesn't need it, and as for me, nothing could make me +a modern Adonis. Seriously, though, a man couldn't get in there, I +suppose. At least that is one of the many things I want you to +find out. Under the circumstances, you are the only person in whom +I have confidence enough to believe that she can get at the facts +there. Find out all you can about the character of the place and +the people who frequent it. And if you can learn anything about +that Madame Margot who runs the place, so much the better." + +"I'll try," she said simply. + +Kennedy resumed his tests of the powder in the packets which Dr. +Harris had been distributing, and I endeavoured to make myself as +little in the way as possible. It was not until the close of the +afternoon that a taxicab drove up and deposited Miss Kendall at +the door. + +"What luck?" greeted Kennedy eagerly, as she entered. "Do you feel +thoroughly beautified?" + +"Don't make me smile," she replied, as she swept in with an air +that would have done credit to the star in a comic opera. "I'd +hate to crack or even crease the enamel on my face. I've been +steamed and frozen, beaten and painted and---" + +"I'm sorry to have been the cause of such cruel and unusual +punishment," apologized Craig. + +"No, indeed. Why, I enjoyed it. Let me tell you about the place." + +She leaned against the laboratory table, certainly an incongruous +picture in her new role as contrasted with the stained and dirty +background of paraphernalia of medico-legal investigation. I could +not help feeling that if Clare Kendall ever had decided to go in +for such things, Marie herself would have had to look sharp to her +laurels. + +"As you enter the place," she began, "you feel a delightful warmth +and there is an odour of attar of roses in the air. There are +thick half-inch carpets that make walking a pleasure and dreamy +Sleepy Hollow rockers that make it an impossibility. It is all +very fascinating. + +"There are dull-green lattices, little gateways with roses, white +enamel with cute little diamond panes of glass for windows, +inviting bowers of artificial flowers and dim yellow lights. It +makes you feel like a sybarite just to see it. It's a cosmetic +Arcadia for that fundamental feminine longing for beauty. + +"Well, first there are the little dressing-rooms, each with a bed, +a dresser and mirror, and everything in such good taste. After you +leave them you go to a white, steamy room and there they bake you. +It's a long process of gentle showers, hot and cold, after that, +and massage. + +"I thought I was through. But it seems that I had only just +started. There was a battery of white manicure tables, and then +the hairdressers and the artists who lay on these complexions-- +what do you think of mine? I can't begin to tell all the secrets +of the curls and puffs, and reinforcements, hygienic rolls, +transformations, fluffy puffers, and all that, or of the +complexions. Why, you can choose a complexion, like wall-paper or +upholstery. They can make you as pale as a sickly heroine or they +can make you as yellow as a bathing girl. There is nothing they +can't do. I asked just for fun. I could have come out as dusky as +a gipsy. + +"They tried electrolysis on my eyebrows, and one attendant +suggested a hypodermic injection of perfume. Ever hear of that? +She thought 'new mown hay' was the best to saturate the skin with. +Then another suggested, as long as I had chosen this moonbeam +make-up, that perhaps I'd like a couple of dimples. They could +make them permanent or lasting only a few hours. I declined. But +there is nothing so wild that they haven't either thought of +themselves or imported from Paris or somewhere else. I heard them +discussing someone who wanted odd eyes--made by pouring in certain +liquids. They don't seem to care how they affect sight, hearing, +skin, or health. It is decoration run mad." + +"How about the people there?" asked Kennedy. + +"Oh, I must tell you about that. There's so much to tell, I hardly +know where to begin--or stop. I saw some flashy people. You know +one customer attracts her friends and so on. There is every class +there from the demi-monde up to actresses and really truly +society. And they have things for all prices from the +comparatively cheap to the most extravagant. They're very +accommodating and, in a way, democratic." + +"Did it seem--straight?" asked Kennedy. + +"On the surface, yes, as far as I could judge. But I'll have to go +back again for that. For instance, there was one thing that seemed +queer to me. I had finished the steaming and freezing and was +resting. A maid brought a tray of cigarettes, those dainty little +thin ones with gilt tips. There seemed to be several kinds. I +managed to try some of them. One at least I know was doped, +although I only had a whiff of it. I think after they got to know +you they'd serve anything from a cocktail in a teacup to the +latest fads. I am sure that I saw one woman taking some veronal in +her coffee." + +"Veronal?" commented Craig. "Then that may be where Dr. Harris +comes in." + +"Partly, I think. I've got to find out more about what is hidden +there. Once I heard a man's voice and I know it was Dr. Harris's." + +"Harris! Why, the elevator boy at the Montmartre said he was +painting the town," I observed. + +"I don't believe it. I think he has all he can do keeping up with +the beauty shop. You see, it is more than a massage parlour. They +do real decorative surgery, as it is called. They'll engage to +give you a new skin as soft and pink as a baby's. Or they will +straighten a nose, or turn an ear. They have light treatment for +complexions--the ruby ray, the violet ray, the phosphorescent ray. + +"You would laugh at the fake science that is being handed out to +those gullible fools. They can get rid of freckles and superfluous +hair, of course. But they'll even tell you that they can change +your mouth and chin, your eyes, your cheeks. I should be +positively afraid of some of their electrical appliances there. +They sweat down your figure or build it up--just as you please. + +"Oh, no one need be plain in these days, not as long as Madame +Margot's exists. That is where I think Dr. Harris comes in. He can +pose as a full-fledged, blown-in-the-bottle cosmetic surgeon. I'll +bet there is no limit to the agonized beautification that they can +put you through if they think they can play you for a sucker." + +"By the way, did you see Madame Margot herself?" asked Craig. + +"No. I made all sorts of discreet inquiries after her, but they +seemed to know nothing. The nearest I could get was a hint from +one of the girls that she was away. But I'll tell you whom I think +I heard, talking to the man whose voice sounded like Dr. Harris's, +and that was Marie. Of course I couldn't see, but in the part of +the shop that looks like a fake hospital I heard two voices and I +would wager that Marie is going through some of this +beautification herself. Of course she is. You remember how +artificial she looked?" + +"Did you see anyone else?" + +"Oh, yes. You know the place is two doors from the Montmartre. +Well, I think they have some connection with that place between +them and the Montmartre. Anyhow it looks as if they did, for after +I had been there a little while a girl came in, apparently from +nowhere. She was the girl we saw paying money to Ike the Dropper, +you remember--the one none of us recognized? There's something in +that next house, and she seems to have charge of it." + +"Well, you have done a good day's work," complimented Kennedy. + +"I feel that I have made a start, anyhow," she admitted. "There is +a lot yet to be learned of Margot's. You remember it was early in +the day that I was there. I want to go back sometime in the +afternoon or evening." + +"Dr. Harris is apparently the oracle on beauty," mused Kennedy. + +"Yes. He must make a lot of money there." + +"They must have some graft, though, besides the beauty parlour," +went on Kennedy. "They wouldn't be giving up money to Ike the +Dropper if that was all there was." + +"No, and that is where the doped cigarette comes in. That is why I +want to go again. I imagine it's like the Montmartre. They have to +know you and think you are all right before you get the real +inside of the place." + +"I don't doubt it." "I can't go around looking like a chorus +girl," remarked Miss Kendall finally, with a glance at a little +mirror she carried in her bag. "I'm afraid you'll have to excuse +me until I get rid of this beautification." + +The telephone rang sharply. + +As Kennedy answered, we gathered that it was Carton. A few minutes +of conversation, mostly on Carton's part, followed. Kennedy hung +up the receiver with an exclamation of vexation. + +"I'm afraid I did wrong to start anything with the portrait parle +yet," he said. "Why, this thing we are investigating has so many +queer turns that you hardly know whom to trust." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I don't know who could have given the thing away, but Carton says +it wasn't an hour after the inquiries began about Marie that it +became known in the underworld that she was being looked for in +this way. Oh, they are clever, those grafters. They have all sorts +of ways of keeping in touch. I suppose they remember they had one +experience with the portrait parle and it has made them as wary as +a burglar is over finger-prints. Carton tells me that Marie has +disappeared." + +"I could swear I heard her or someone at Margot's," said Clare. + +"And Harris has disappeared. Of course you thought you overheard +him, too. But you may have been mistaken." + +"Why?" + +"As nearly as Carton can find out," said Kennedy quickly, "Marie +is Madame Margot herself." + + + + +XV + +THE PHANTOM CIRCUIT + + +"I want to go to Margot's again to-day," volunteered Miss Kendall +the following morning, adding with a smile, "You see, I've got the +habit. Really, though, there is a mystery about that place that +fascinates me. I want to find out more about this Marie, or +Margot, or whoever it was that I thought I heard there. And then +those doped cigarettes interest me. You see, I haven't forgotten +what you said about dope the first time we talked about Dr. +Harris. They will be more free with me, too, now that I am no +longer a stranger." + +"That is a good idea," agreed Kennedy, who was now chafing under +the enforced inaction of the case. "I hope that this time they +will let you into some of the secrets. There is one thing, though, +I wish you'd look out for especially." + +"What do you mean?" she asked. + +"I should like to know what ways there are of communicating with +the outside. You realize, of course, that it is very easy for +them, if they come to suspect you, to frame up something in a +place like that. There are strong-arm women as well as men, and +I'm not at all sure that there may not be some men besides Dr. +Harris who are acquainted with that place. At any rate Dr. Harris +is unscrupulous enough himself." + +"I shall make it a point to observe that," she said as she left +us. "I hope I'll have something to tell you when I come back." + +"Walter," remarked Craig as the door closed, "that is one of the +gamest girls I ever knew." + +I looked across at him inquiringly. + +"Don't worry, my boy," he added, reading my expression. "She's not +of the marrying kind, any more than I am." + +The morning passed and half of the afternoon without any word from +Miss Kendall. Kennedy was plainly becoming uneasy, when a hurried +footstep in the hall was followed by a more hurried opening of the +door. + +"Let me sit down, just a minute, to collect myself," panted Miss +Kendall, pressing her hands to her temples where the blue veins +stood out and literally throbbed. "I'm all in." + +"Why, what is the matter?" asked Kennedy, placing a chair and +switching on an electric fan, while he quickly found a bottle of +restorative salts which was always handy for emergencies in the +laboratory. + +"Oh--such a time as I've had! Wait--let me see whether I can +recollect it in order." + +A few minutes later she resumed. "I went in, as before. There +seemed to be quite a change in the way they treated me. I must +have made a good impression the first time. A second visit seemed +to have opened the way for everything. Evidently they think I am +all right. + +"Well, I went through much the same thing as I did before, only I +tried to make it not quite so elaborate, down to the point where +several of us were sitting in loose robes in the lounging-room. +That was the part, you know, that interested me before. + +"The maid came in with the cigarettes and I smoked one of the +doped ones. They watch everything that you do so closely there, +and the moment I smoked one they offered me another. I don't know +what was in them, but I fancy there must be just a trace of opium. +They made me feel exhilarated, then just a bit drowsy. I managed +to make away with the second without inhaling much of the smoke, +for my head was in a whirl by this time. It wasn't so much that I +was afraid I couldn't take care of myself as it was that I was +afraid that it would blunt the keenness of my observation and I +might miss something." + +"Besides the cigarettes, was there anything else?" asked Craig. + +"Yes, indeed. I didn't see anyone there I recognized, but I heard +some of them talk. One was taking a little veronal; another said +something about heroin. It was high-toned hitting the pipe, if you +call it that--a Turkish bath, followed by massage, and then a safe +complement of anything you wanted, taken leisurely by these +aristocratic dope fiends. + +"There was one woman there who I am sure was snuffing cocaine. She +had a little gold and enamelled box like a snuff box beside her +from which she would take from time to time a pinch of some white +crystals and inhale it vigorously, now and then taking a little +sip of a liqueur that was brought in to her." + +"That's the way," observed Kennedy. "There are always a +considerable number of inhuman beings who are willing to make +capital out of the weaknesses of others. This illicit sale of +cocaine is one example. Such conditions have existed with the +opium products a long time. Now it seems to be the 'coke fiend.'" + +"I was glad I did just as I did," resumed Clare, "because it +wasn't long before I saw that the thing to do was to feign +drowsiness. A maid came over to me and in a most plausible and +insinuating way hinted that perhaps I might feel like resting and +that if the noise in the beauty parlour annoyed me, they had the +entire next house--the one next to the Montmartre, you know--which +had been fitted up as a dormitory." + +"You didn't go?" cut in Craig immediately. + +"I did not. I pleaded an engagement. Why, the place is a regular +dope joint." + +"Exactly. I suspected as much as you went along. Everything seems +to have moved uptown lately, to have been veneered over to meet +the fastidious second decade of the twentieth century. But +underneath it all are the same old vices. I'm glad you didn't +attempt to go into the next house. Anyhow, now we are certain +about the character of the place. Did you notice anything about +the means of communicating with the outside--the telephones, for +instance?" + +Miss Kendall was evidently feeling much better now. + +"Oh, yes," she answered. "I took particular care to observe that. +They have a telephone, but there is a girl who attends to it, +although they don't really need one. She listens to everything. +Then, too, in the other house--You remember I spoke about the girl +whom we saw paying Ike the Dropper? It seems that she has a +similar position at the telephone over there." + +"So they have two telephones," repeated Craig. + +"Yes." + +"Good. There are always likely to be some desperate characters in +places like that. If we ever have anyone go into that dope joint +we must have some way of keeping in touch and protecting the +person." + +Miss Kendall had gone home for a few hours of rest after her +exciting experience. Craig was idly tapping with his fingers on +the broad arm of his chair. + +Suddenly he jumped up. "I'm going up there to look that joint over +from the outside," he announced. + +We walked past the front of it without seeing anything in +particular, then turned the corner and were on the Avenue. Kennedy +paused and looked at a cheap apartment house on which was a sign, +"Flats to Let." + +"I think I'll get the janitor to show me one of them," he said. + +One was on the first floor in the rear. Kennedy did not seem to be +very much interested in the rent. A glance out of the window +sufficed to show him that he could see the back of the Montmartre +and some of the houses. It took only a minute to hire it, at least +conditionally, and a bill to the janitor gave us a key. + +"What are you going to do?" + +"We can't do anything just yet, but it will be dark by the time I +get over to the laboratory and back and then we can do something." + +That night we started prowling over the back fences down the +street. Fortunately it was a very black night and Craig was +careful not to use even the electric bull's-eye which he had +brought over from the laboratory together with some wire and +telephone instruments. + +As we crouched in the shadow of one of the fences, he remarked: +"Just as I expected; the telephone wires run along the tops of the +fences. Here's where they run into 72--that's the beauty parlour. +These run into 70--that's the dope joint. Then next comes the +Montmartre itself, reaching all the way back as far as the lot +extends." + +We had come up close to the backs of the houses by this time. The +shades were all drawn and the blinds were closed in both of them, +so that we had really nothing to fear provided we kept quiet. +Besides the back yards looked unkempt, as if no one cared much +about them. + +Kennedy flashed the electric bull's-eye momentarily on the wires. +They branched off from the back fence down the party fence to the +houses, both sets on one fence. + +"Good!" he exclaimed. "It is better than I hoped. The two sets go +on up to the first floor together, then separate. One set goes +into the beauty parlour; the other into the dope joint." + +Craig had quietly climbed up on a shed over the basements of both +the houses. He was working quickly with all the dexterity of a +lineman. To two of the four wires he had attached one other. Then +to two others he attached another, all the connections being made +at exactly corresponding points. + +The next step was to lead these two newly connected wires to a +window on the first floor of the house next to the Montmartre. He +fastened them lightly to the closed shutter, let himself down to +the yard again and we beat a slow and careful retreat to our flat. + +In one of the yards down near the corner, however, he paused. Here +was an iron box fastened to one of the fences, a switch box or +something of the sort belonging to the telephone company. To it +were led all the wires from the various houses on the block and to +each wire was fastened a little ticket on which was scrawled in +indelible pencil the number of the house to which the wire ran. + +Kennedy found the two pairs that ran to 70 and 72, cut in on them +in the same way that he had done before and fastened two other +wires, one to each pair. This pair he led along and into the flat. + +"I've fixed it," he explained, "so that anyone who can get into +that room on the back of the first floor of the dope joint can +communicate with the outside very easily over the telephone, +without being overheard, either." + +"How?" I asked completely mystified by the apparent simplicity of +the proceeding. + +"I have left two wires sticking on the outside shutter of that +room," he replied. "All that anyone who gets into that room has to +do is to open the window softly, reach out and secure them. With +them fastened to a transmitter which I have, he can talk to me in +the flat around the corner and no one will ever know it." + +There was nothing more that we could do that night and we waited +impatiently until Clare Kendall came to make her daily report in +the morning. + +"The question is, whom are we going to get whom we can trust to go +to that dope joint and explore it?" remarked Kennedy, after we had +finished telling Miss Kendall about our experiences of the night +before. + +"Carton must have someone who can take a course in beauty and +dope," I replied. "Or perhaps Miss Kendall has one of her +investigators whom she can trust." + +"If the thing gets too rough," added Craig, "whoever is in there +can telephone to us, if she will only be careful first to get that +back room in the 'dormitory,' as they call it. Then all we'll have +to do will be to jump in there and---" + +"I'll do it," interrupted Clare. + +"No, Miss Kendall," denied Kennedy firmly. + +"Let me do it. There is no one whom I can trust more than myself. +Besides, I know the places now." + +She said it with an air of quiet determination, as if she had been +thinking it over ever since she returned from her visit of the day +before. + +Kennedy and Miss Kendall faced each other for a moment. It was +evident that it was against just this that he had been trying to +provide. On her part it was equally evident that she had made up +her mind. + +"Miss Kendall," said Kennedy, meeting her calm eye, "you are the +most nervy detective, barring none, that it has ever been my +pleasure to meet. I yield under protest." + +I must say that it was with a great deal of misgiving that I saw +Clare enter Margot's. We had gone as far as the corner with her, +had watched her go in, and then hurried into the unfurnished +apartment which Craig had rented on the Avenue. + +As we sat on the rickety chairs which we had borrowed from the +janitor under pretence of wanting to reach something, the minutes +that passed seemed like hours. + +I wondered what had happened to the plucky girl in her devotion to +the cause in which she had enlisted, and several times I could see +from the expression of Craig's face that he more and more +regretted that he had given in to her and had allowed her to go, +instead of adhering to his original plan. From what she had told +us about the two places, I tried to imagine what she was doing, +but each time I ended by having an increased feeling of +apprehension. + +Kennedy sat grimly silent with the receiver of the telephone glued +to his ear, straining his hearing to catch even the faintest +sound. + +At last his face brightened. + +"She's there all right," he exclaimed to me. "Managed to make them +think in the beauty parlour that she was a dope fiend and pretty +far gone. Insisted that she must have the back room on the first +floor because she was afraid of fire. She kept the door open so +that she would not miss anything, but it was a long time before +she got a chance to reach out of the window and get the wires and +connect them with the instruments I gave her. But it's all right +now. + +"Yes, Miss Kendall, right here, listening to everything you get a +chance to say. Only be careful. There is no use spoiling the game +by trying to talk to me until you have all that you think you can +obtain in the way of evidence. Don't let them think you have any +means of communication with the outside or they'll go to any +length to silence you. We'll be here all the time and the moment +you think there is any danger, call us." + +Kennedy seemed visibly relieved by the message. + +"She says that she has found out a great deal already, but didn't +dare take the time to tell it just yet," he explained. "By the +way, Walter, while we are waiting, I wish you would go out and see +whether there is a policeman on fixed post anywhere around here." + +Five minutes later when I returned, having located the nearest peg +post a long block away on Broadway, Kennedy raised a warning hand. +She was telephoning again. + +"She says that attendants come and go in her room so often that +it's hard to get a chance to say anything, but she is sure that +there is someone hidden there, perhaps Marie or Madame Margot, +whoever she is, or it may even be Betty Blackwell. They watch very +closely." + +"But," I asked, almost in a whisper, as if someone over there +might hear me, "isn't this a very dangerous proceeding, Craig? It +seems to me you are taking long chances. Suppose one of the +telephone girls in either house, whom she told us keep such sharp +watch over the wires, should happen to be calling up or answering +a call. She would hear someone else talking over the wire and it +wouldn't be difficult for her to decide who it was. Then there'd +be a row." + +"Not a chance," smiled Kennedy. "No one except ourselves, not even +Central, can hear a word of what is said over these connections I +have made. This is what is called a phantom circuit." + +"A phantom circuit?" I repeated. "What kind of a weird thing is +that?" + +"It is possible to superimpose another circuit over the four +telephone wires of two existing circuits, making a so-called +phantom line," he explained, as we waited for the next message. +"It seems fantastic at first, but it is really in accordance with +the laws of electricity. You use each pair of wires as if it were +one wire and do not interfere in the least with them, but are +perfectly independent of both. The current for the third circuit +enters the two wires of one of the first circuits, divides, +reunites, so to speak, at the other end, then returns through the +wires of the second circuit, dividing and reuniting again, thus +just balancing the two divisions of the current and not causing +any effect on either of the two original circuits. Rather +wonderful, isn't it?" + +"I should say that it was," I marvelled. "I am glad I see it +actually working rather than have to believe it second hand." + +"It's all due to a special repeating coil of high efficiency +absolutely balanced as to resistances, number of turns of wire, +and so on which I have used--Yes--Miss Kendall--we are here. Now +please don't let things go on too far. At the first sign of +danger, call. We can get in all right. You have the evidence now +that will hold in any court as far as closing up that joint goes, +and I'll take a chance of breaking into--well, Hades, to get to +you. Good-bye. + +"I guess it is Hades there," he resumed to me. "She has just +telephoned that one of the dope fiends upstairs--a man, so that +you see they admit both men and women there, after all--had become +violent and Harris had to be called to quiet him before he ran +amuck. She said she was absolutely sure, this time at least, that +it was Harris. As I was saying about this phantom circuit, it is +used a good deal now. Sometimes they superimpose a telephone +conversation over the proper arrangement of telegraph messages and +vice versa. + +"What's that?" cried Craig, suddenly breaking off. "They heard you +talking that last time, and you have locked the door against them? +They are battering it down? Move something heavy, if you can, up +against it--the bureau, anything to brace it. We'll be there +directly. Come on, Walter. There isn't time to get around Broadway +for that fixed post cop. We must do it ourselves. Hurry." + +Craig dashed breathlessly out on the street. I followed closely. + +"Hurry," he panted. "Those people haven't any use for anyone that +they think will snitch on them." + +As we turned the corner, we ran squarely into a sergeant slowly +going his rounds with eyes conveniently closed to what he was paid +not to see. + +Kennedy stopped and grabbed his arm. + +"There's a girl up here in 72 who is being mistreated," he cried. +"Come. You must help us get her out." + +"Aw, g'wan. Whatyer givin' us? 72? That's a residence." + +"Say--look here. I've got your number. You'll be up on the most +serious charges of your whole career if you don't act on the +information I have. All of Ike the Dropper's money'll go for +attorney's fees and someone will land in Sing Sing. Now, come!" + +We had gained the steps of the house. Outside all was dark, blank, +and bare. There was every evidence of the most excessive outward +order and decency--not a sign of the conflict that was raging +within. + +Before the policeman could pull the bell, which would have been a +first warning of trouble to the inmates, Kennedy had jumped from +the high stoop to a narrow balcony running along the front windows +of the first story, had smashed the glass into splinters with a +heavy object which he had carried concealed under his coat, and +was engaged in a herculean effort to wrench apart some iron bars +which had been carefully concealed behind the discreetly drawn +shades. + +As one yielded, he panted, "No use to try the door. The grill work +inside guards that too well. There goes another." + +Inside now we could hear cries that told us that the whole house +was roused, that even the worst of the drug fiends had come at +least partly to his senses and begun to realize his peril. From +Margot's beauty parlour a couple of girls and a man staggered +forth in a vain effort to seem to leave quietly. + +"Close that place, too, officer," cried Kennedy to the now +astounded policeman. "We'll attend to this house." + +The sergeant slowly lumbered across in time to let two more +couples escape. It was evident that he hated the job; indeed, +would have arrested Kennedy in the old days before Carton had +thrown such a scare into the grafters. But Kennedy's assurance had +flabbergasted him and he obeyed. + +Another bar yielded, and another. Together we squeezed in and +found ourselves in a dark front parlour. There was nothing to +distinguish it from any ordinary reception room in the blackness. + +Hurried footsteps were heard as if several people were retreating +into the next house. Down the hall we hastened to the back room. + +A second we listened. All was silent. Was Clare safe? It looked +ominous. Still the door, partly battered in, was closed. + +"Miss Kendall!" called Craig, bending down close to the door. + +"Is it you, Professor Kennedy?" came back a faint voice from the +other side. + +"Yes. Are you all right?" + +There was no answer, but she was evidently tugging at something +which appeared to be a heavy piece of furniture braced against the +door. At last the bolt was slipped back, and there in the doorway +she swayed, half exhausted but safe. + +"Yes, all right," murmured Clare, bracing herself against the +chiffonier which she had moved away from the door, "just a little +shaky from the drugs--but all right. Don't bother about me, now. I +can take care of myself. I'll feel better in a minute. Upstairs-- +that is where I think that woman is. Please, please don't--I'm all +right--truly. Upstairs." + +Kennedy had taken her gently by the arm and she sank down in an +easy chair. + +"Please hurry," she implored. "You may be too late." + +She had risen again in spite of us and was out in the lower hall. +We could hear a footstep on the stairs. + +"There she goes, the woman who has been hiding up there, Madame--" + +Clare cut the words short. + +A woman had hastily descended the steps, evidently seeing her +opportunity to escape while we were in the back of the house. She +had reached the street door, which now was open, and the flaming +arc light in front of the house shone brightly on her. + +I looked, expecting to see our dark-haired, olive-skinned Marie. I +stared in amazement. Instead, this woman was fair, her hair was +flaxen, her figure more slim, even her features were different. +She was a stranger. I could not recollect ever having seen her. + +Again I strained my eyes, thinking it might be Betty Blackwell at +last, but this woman bore no resemblance apparently to her. She +looked older, more mature. + +In my haste I noted that she had a bandage about her face, as if +she had been injured recently, for there seemed to be blood on it +where it had worked itself loose in her flight. She gave one +glance at us, and quickened her pace at seeing us so close. The +bandage, already loose, slipped off her face and fell to the +floor. Still she did not seem other than a stranger to me, though +I had a half-formed notion that I had seen that face somewhere +before. She did not stop to pick the bandage up. She had gained +the door and was down the front step on the sidewalk before we +could stop her. + +Taxicabs in droves seemed to have collected, like buzzards over a +dead body. They were doing a thriving business carrying away those +who sought to escape. Into one by which a man was waiting in the +shadow the woman hurried. The man looked for all the world like +Dr. Harris. An instant later the chauffeur was gone. + +The policeman had the front door of Madame Margot's covered all +right, so efficiently that he was neglecting everything else. From +the basement now and then a scurrying figure catapulted itself out +and was lost in the curious crowd that always collects at any time +of day or night on a New York street when there is any excitement. + +"It is of no use to expect to capture anyone now," exclaimed +Craig, as we hurried back into the dope joint. "I hardly expected +to do it. All I panted was to protect Miss Kendall. But we have +the evidence against this joint that will close it for good." + +He stooped and picked up the bandage. + +"I think I'll keep that," he remarked thoughtfully. "I wonder what +that blonde woman wore that for?" + +"She MUST be up there," reiterated Clare, who had followed us. "I +heard them talking, it seemed to me only the moment before I heard +you in the hall." + +The excitement seemed now to have the effect of quieting her +unstrung nerves and carrying her through. + +"Let us go upstairs," said Kennedy. + +From room to room we hurried in the darkness, lighting the lights. +They were all empty, yet each one gave its mute testimony to the +character of its use and its former occupants. There were opium +lay-outs with pipes, lamps, yen haucks, and other paraphernalia in +some. In others had been cocaine snuffers. There seemed to be +everything for drug users of every kind. + +At last in a small room in front on the top floor we came upon a +girl, half insensible from a drug. She was vainly trying to make +herself presentable for the street, ramblingly talking to herself +in the meantime. + +Again my hopes rose that we had found either the mysterious Marie +Margot or Betty Blackwell. A second glance caused us all to pause +in surprise and disappointment. + +It was the Titian-haired girl from the Montmartre office. + +Miss Kendall, recovering from the effects of the drugs which she +had been compelled to take in her heroic attempt to get at the +dope joint, was endeavouring to quiet the girl from the +Montmartre, who, now vaguely recollecting us, seemed to realize +that something had gone wrong and was trembling and crying +pitifully. + +"What's the matter with her?" I asked. + +"Chloral," replied Miss Kendall in a low voice aside. "I suppose +she has had a wild night which she has followed by chloral to +quiet her nerves, with little effect. Didn't you ever see them? +They will go into a drug store in this part of the city where such +things are sold, weak, shaky, nervous wrecks. The clerk will sell +them the stuff and they will retire for a moment into the +telephone booth. Sometimes they will come out looking as though +they had never felt a moment's effect from their wild debauches. +But there are other times when they are too weakened to get over +it so quickly. That is her case, poor girl." + +The soothing hand which she laid on the girl's throbbing head was +quite in contrast with the manner in which I recalled her to have +spoken of the girl when first we saw her at the Montmartre. She +must have seen the look of surprise on my face. + +"I can't condemn these girls too strongly when I see them +themselves," she remarked. "It would be so easy for them to stop +and lead a decent life, if they only would forget the white lights +and the gay life that allures them. It is when they are so down +and out that I long to give them a hand to help them up again and +show them how foolish it is to make slaves of themselves." + +"Call a cab, Walter," said Kennedy, who had been observing the +girl closely. "There is nothing more that we can expect to +accomplish here. Everybody has escaped by this time. But we must +get this poor girl in a private hospital or sanitarium where she +can recover." + +Clare had disappeared. A moment later she returned from the room +she had had downstairs with her hat on. + +"I'm going with her," she announced simply. + +"What--you, Miss Kendall?" + +"Yes. If a girl ever needed a friend, it is this girl now. There +is nothing I can do for the moment. I will take care of her in my +apartment until she is herself again." + +The girl seemed to half understand, and to be grateful to Clare. +Kennedy watched her hovering over the drug victim without +attempting to express the admiration which he felt. + +Just as the cab was announced, he drew Miss Kendall aside. "You're +a trump," he said frankly. "Most people would pass by on the other +side from such as she is." + +They talked for a moment as to the best place to go, then decided +on a quiet little place uptown where convalescents were taken in. + +"I think you can still be working on the case, if you care to do +so," suggested Craig as Miss Kendall and her charge were leaving. + +"How?" she asked. + +"When you get her to this sanitarium, try to be with her as much +as you can. I think if anyone can get anything out of her, you +can. Remember it is more than this girl's rescue that is at stake. +If she can be got to talk she may prove an important link toward +piecing together the solution of the mystery of Betty Blackwell. +She must know many of the inside secrets of the Montmartre," he +added significantly. + +They had gone, and Craig and I had started to go also when we came +across a negro caretaker who seemed to have stuck by the place +during all the excitement. + +"Do you know that girl who just went out?" asked Craig. + +"No, sah," she replied glibly. + +"Look here," demanded Craig, facing her. "You know better than +that. She has been here before, and you know it. I've a good mind +to have you held for being in charge of this place. If I do, all +the Marie Margots and Ike the Droppers can't get you out again." + +The negress seemed to understand that this was no ordinary raid. + +"Who is she?" demanded Craig. + +"I dunno, sah. She come from next door." + +"I know she did. She's the girl in the office of the Montmartre. +Now, you know her. What is her name?" + +The negress seemed to consider a moment, then quickly answered, +"Dey always calls her Miss Sybil here, sah, Sybil Seymour, sah." + +"Thank you. I knew you had some name for her. Come, Walter. This +is over for the present. A raid without arrests, too! It will be +all over town in half an hour. If we are going to do anything it +must be done quickly." + +We called on Carton and lost no time in having the men he could +spare placed in watching the railroads and steamship lines to +prevent if we could any of the gang from getting out of the city +that way. It was a night of hard work with no results. I began to +wonder whether they might not have escaped finally after all. +There seemed to be no trace. Harris had disappeared, there was no +clue to Marie Margot, no trace of the new blonde woman, not a +syllable yet about Betty Blackwell. + + + + +XVI + +THE SANITARIUM + + +"It seems as if the forces of Dorgan are demoralized," I remarked +the afternoon after the raid on Margot's. + +"We have them on the run--that's true," agreed Kennedy, "but +there's plenty of fight in them, yet. We're not through, by any +means." + +Still, the lightning swiftness of Carton's attack had taken their +breath away, temporarily, at least. Already he had started +proceedings to disbar Kahn, as well as to prosecute him in the +courts. According to the reports that came to us Murtha himself +seemed dazed at the blow that had fallen. Some of our informants +asserted that he was drinking heavily; others denied it. Whatever +it was, however, Murtha was changed. + +As for Dorgan, he was never much in the limelight anyhow and was +less so now than ever. He preferred to work through others, while +he himself kept in the background. He had never held any but a +minor office, and that in the beginning of his career. Interviews +and photographs he eschewed as if forbidden by his political +religion. Since the discovery of the detectaphone in his suite at +Gastron's he had had his rooms thoroughly overhauled, lest by any +chance there might be another of the magic little instruments +concealed in the very walls, and having satisfied himself that +there was not, he instituted a watch of private detectives to +prevent a repetition of the unfortunate incident. + +Whoever it was who had obtained the Black Book was keeping very +quiet about it, and I imagined that it was being held up as a sort +of sword of Damocles, dangling over his head, until such time as +its possessor chose to strike the final blow. Of course, we did +not and could not know what was going on behind the scenes with +the Silent Boss, what drama was being enacted between Dorgan and +the Wall Street group, headed by Langhorne. Langhorne himself was +inscrutable. I had heard that Dorgan had once in an unguarded +moment expressed a derogatory opinion of the social leanings of +Langhorne. But that was in the days before Dorgan had acquired a +country place on Long Island and a taste for golf and expensive +motors. Now, in his way, Dorgan was quite as fastidious as any of +those he had once affected to despise. It amused Langhorne. But it +had not furthered his ambitions of being taken into the inner +circle of Dorgan's confidence. Hence, I inferred, this bitter +internecine strife within the organization itself. + +Whatever was brewing inside the organization, I felt that we +should soon know, for this was the day on which Justice Pomeroy +had announced he would sentence Dopey Jack. + +It was a very different sort of crowd that overflowed the +courtroom that morning from that which had so boldly flocked to +the trial as if it were to make a Roman holiday of justice. + +The very tone was different. There was a tense look on many a +face, as if the owner were asking himself the question, "What are +we coming to? If this can happen to Dopey Jack, what might not +happen to me?" + +Even the lawyers were changed. Kahn, as a result of the +proceedings that Carton had instituted, had yielded the case to +another, perhaps no better than himself, but wiser, after the +fact. Instead of demanding anything, as a sort of prescriptive +right, the new attorney actually adopted the unheard of measure of +appealing to the clemency of the court. The shades of all the +previous bosses and gangsters must have turned in disgust at the +unwonted sight. But certain it was that no one could see the +relaxation of a muscle on the face of Justice Pomeroy as the +lawyer proceeded with his specious plea. He heard Carton, also, in +the same impassive manner, as in a few brief and pointed sentences +he ripped apart the sophistries of his opponent. + +The spectators fairly held their breath as the prisoner now stood +before the tribune of justice. + +"Jack Rubano," he began impressively, "you have been convicted by +twelve of your peers--so the law looks on them, although the fact +is that any honest man is immeasurably your superior. Even before +that, Rubano, the District Attorney having looked into all the +facts surrounding this charge had come to the conclusion that the +evidence was sufficiently strong to convict you. You were +convicted in his mind. In my mind, of course, there could be no +prejudgment. But now that a jury has found you guilty, I may say +that you have a record that is more than enough to disgrace a man +twice your age. True, you have never been punished. But this is +not the time or place for me to criticise my colleagues on the +bench for letting you off. Others of your associates have served +terms in prison for things no whit worse than you have done +repeatedly. I shall be glad to meet some of them at this bar in +the near future." + +The justice paused, then extended a long, lean accusatory finger +out from the rostrum at the gangster. "Rubano," he concluded, +"your crime is particularly heinous--debauching the very +foundations of the state--the elections. I sentence you to not +less than three nor more than five years in State's prison, at +hard labour." + +There was an audible gasp in the big courtroom, as the judge +snapped shut his square jaw, bull-dog fashion. It was as though he +had snapped the backbone of the System. + +The prisoner was hurried from the room before there was a chance +for a demonstration. It was unnecessary, however. It seemed as if +all the jaunty bravado of the underworld was gone out of it. +Slowly the crowd filed out, whispering. + +Dopey Jack, Murtha's right-hand man, had been sentenced to State's +prison! + +Outside the courtroom Carton received an ovation. As quickly as he +could, he escaped from the newspapermen, and Kennedy was the first +to grasp his hand. + +But the most pleasing congratulation came from Miss Ashton, who +had dropped in with two or three friends from the Reform League. + +"I'm so glad, Mr. Carton--for your sake," she added very prettily, +with just a trace of heightened colour in her cheeks and eyes that +showed her sincere pleasure at the outcome of the case. "And then, +too," she went on, "it may have some bearing on the case of that +girl who has disappeared. So far, no one seems to have been able +to find a trace of her. She just seems to have dropped out as if +she had been spirited away." + +"We must find her," returned Carton, thanking her for her good +wishes in a manner which he had done to none of the rest of us, +and in fact forgetful now that any of us were about. "I shall +start right in on Dopey Jack to see if I can get anything out of +him, although I don't think he is one that will prove a squealer +in any way. I hope we can have something to report soon." + +Others were pressing around him and Miss Ashton moved away, +although I thought his handshakes were perhaps a little less +cordial after she had gone. + +I turned once to survey the crowd and down the gallery, near a +pillar I saw Langhorne, his eyes turned fixedly in our direction, +and a deep scowl on his face. Evidently he had no relish for the +proceedings, at least that part in which Carton had just figured, +whatever his personal feelings may have been toward the culprit. A +moment later he saw me looking at him, turned abruptly and walked +toward the stone staircase that led down to the main floor. But I +could not get that scowl out of my mind as I watched his tall, +erect figure stalking away. + +Neither Murtha, nor, of course, Dorgan, were there, though I knew +that they had many emissaries present who would report to them +every detail of what had happened, down perhaps to the +congratulations of Miss Ashton. Somehow, I could not get out of my +head a feeling that she would afford them, in some way, a point of +attack on Carton and that the unscrupulous organization would stop +at nothing in order to save its own life and ruin his. + +Carton had not only his work at the District Attorney's office to +direct, but some things to clear up at the Reform League +headquarters, as well as a campaign speech to make. + +"I'm afraid I shan't be able to see much of you, to-day," he +apologized to Kennedy, "but you're going to Miss Ashton's suffrage +evening and dance, aren't you?" + +"I should like to go," temporized Kennedy. + +Carton glanced about to see whether there was anyone in earshot. +"I think you had better go," he added. "She has secured a promise +from Langhorne to be there, as well as several of the organization +leaders. It is a thoroughly non-partisan affair--and she can get +them all together. You know the organization is being educated. +When people of the prominence of the Ashtons take up suffrage and +make special requests to have certain persons come to a thing like +that, they can hardly refuse. In fact, no one commits himself to +anything by being present, whereas, absence might mean hostility, +and there are lots of the women in the organization that believe +in suffrage, now. Yes, we'd better go. It will be a chance to +observe some people we want to watch." + +"We'll go," agreed Kennedy. "Can't we all go together?" + +"Surely," replied Carton, gratified, I could see, by having +succeeded in swelling the crowd that would be present and thus +adding to the success of Miss Ashton's affair. "Drop into the +office here, and I'll be ready. Good-bye--and thanks for your aid, +both of you." + +We left the Criminal Courts Building with the crowd that was +slowly dispersing, still talking over the unexpected and +unprecedented end of the trial. + +As we paused on the broad flight of steps that led down to the +street on this side, Kennedy jogged my elbow, and, following his +eyes, I saw a woman, apparently alone, just stepping into a town +car at the curb. + +There was something familiar about her, but her face was turned +from me and I could not quite place her. + +"Mrs. Ogleby," Kennedy remarked. "I didn't see her in the +courtroom. She must have been there, though, or perhaps outside in +the corridor. Evidently she felt some interest in the outcome of +the case." + +He had caught just a glimpse of her face and now that he +pronounced her name I recognized her, though I should not have +otherwise. + +The car drove off with the rattle of the changing gears into high +speed, before we had a chance to determine whether it was +otherwise empty or not. + +"Why was she here?" I asked. + +Kennedy shook his head, but did not venture a reply to the +question that was in his own mind. I felt that it must have +something to do with her fears regarding the Black Book. Had she, +too, surmised that Murtha had employed his henchman, Dopey Jack, +to recover the book from Langhorne? Had she feared that Dopey Jack +might in some moment of heat, for revenge, drop some hint of the +robbery--whether it had been really successful or not? + +It was my turn to call Kennedy's attention to something, now, for +standing sidewise as I was, I could see the angles of the building +back of him. + +"Don't turn--yet," I cautioned, "but just around the corner back +of you, Langhorne is standing. Evidently he has been watching Mrs. +Ogleby, too." + +Kennedy drew a cigarette from his case, tried to light it, let the +match go out, and then as if to shield himself from the wind, +stepped back and turned. + +Langhorne, however, had seen us, and an instant later had +disappeared. + +Without a word further Kennedy led the way around the corner to +the subway and we started uptown, I knew this time, for the +laboratory. + +He made no comment on the case, but I knew he had in mind some +plan or other for the next move and that it would probably involve +something at the suffrage meeting at Miss Ashton's that evening. + +During the rest of the day, Craig was busy testing and re-testing +a peculiar piece of apparatus, while now and then he would +despatch me on various errands which I knew were more as an outlet +for my excitement than of any practical importance. + +The apparatus, as far as I could make it out, consisted of a +simple little oaken box, oblong in shape, in the face of which +were two square little holes with side walls of cedar, converging +pyramid-like in the interior of the box and ending in what looked +to be little round black discs. + +I had just returned with a hundred feet or so of the best silk- +covered flexible wire, when he had evidently completed his work. +Two of the boxes were already wrapped up. I started to show him +the wire, but after a glance he accepted it as exactly what he had +wanted and made it into a smaller package, which he handed to me. + +"I think we might be journeying down to Carton's office," he +added, looking impatiently at his watch. + +It was still early and we did not hurry. + +Carton, however, was waiting for us anxiously. "I've called you at +the laboratory and the apartment--all over," he cried. "Where have +you been?" + +"Just on the way down," returned Kennedy. "Why, what has +happened?" + +"Then you haven't heard it?" asked Carton excitedly, without +waiting for Craig's answer. "Murtha has been committed to a +sanitarium." + +Kennedy and I stared at him. + +"Pat Murtha," ejaculated Craig, "in a sanitarium?" + +"Exactly. Paresis--they say--absolutely irresponsible." + +Coming as it did as a climax to the quick and unexpected +succession of events of the past few days, it was no wonder that +it seemed impossible. + +What did it mean? Was it merely a sham? Or was it a result of his +excesses? Or had Carton's relentless pursuit, the raid of +Margot's, and the conviction of Dopey Jack, driven the Smiling +Boss really insane? + + + + +XVII + +THE SOCIETY SCANDAL + + +Nothing else was talked about at the suffrage reception at Miss +Ashton's that evening, not even suffrage, as much as the strange +fate that seemed to have befallen Murtha. + +And, as usual with an event like that, stories of all sorts, even +the wildest improbabilities, were current. Some even went so far +as to insinuate that Dorgan had purposely quickened the pace of +life for Murtha by the dinners at Gastron's in order to get him +out of the way, fearing that with his power within the +organization Murtha might become a serious rival to himself. + +Whether there was any truth in the rumour or not, it was certain +that Dorgan was of the stamp that could brook no rivals. In fact, +that had been at the bottom of the warfare between himself and +Langhorne. Certain also was it that the dinners and conferences at +the now famous suite of the Silent Boss were reputed to have been +often verging on, if not actually crossing, the line of the +scandalous. + +Miss Ashton's guests assembled in force, coming from all classes +of society, all parties in politics, and all religions. Her object +had been to show that, although she personally was working with +the Reform League, suffrage itself was a broad general issue. The +two or three hundred guests of the evening surely demonstrated it +and testified to the popularity of Miss Ashton personally, as +well. + +She had planned to hold the meeting in the big drawing-room of the +Ashton mansion, but the audience overflowed into the library and +other rooms. As the people assembled, it was interesting to see +how for the moment at least they threw off the bitterness of the +political campaign and met each other on what might be called +neutral ground. Dorgan himself had been invited, but, in +accordance with his custom of never appearing in public if he +could help it, did not come. Langhorne was present, however, and I +saw him once talking to a group of labour union leaders and later +to Justice Pomeroy, an evidence of how successful the meeting was +in hiding, if not burying, the hatchet. + +Carton, naturally, was the lion of the evening, though he tried +hard to keep in the background. I was amused to see his efforts. +In fleeing from the congratulations of some of his own and Miss +Ashton's society friends, he would run into a group of newspaper +men and women who were lying in wait for him. Shaking himself +loose from them would result in finding himself the centre of an +enthusiastic crowd of Reform Leaguers. + +Mrs. Ogleby was there, also, and both Kennedy and I watched her +curiously. I wondered whether she might not feel just a little +relieved to think that Murtha was seemingly out of the way for the +present. Her knowledge of the Black Book which had first given the +tip to Carton had always been a mystery to Kennedy and was one of +the problems which I knew he would like to solve to-night. She was +keenly observant of Carton, which led us to suppose that she had +not yet got out of her mind the idea that somehow it was he who +had been responsible for the detectaphone record which so many of +those present were struggling to obtain. Though Langhorne +studiously avoided her, I noticed that each kept an eye on the +other, and I felt that there was something common to both of them. + +It was with an unexpressed air of relief to several members of the +party that Miss Ashton at last rapped for order and after a short, +pithy, pointed speech of introduction presented the several +speakers of the evening. It was, like the audience, a well- +balanced programme, which showed the tactfulness and political +acumen of Miss Ashton. I shall pass over the speeches, however, as +they had no direct bearing on the mystery which Kennedy and I +found so engrossing. + +The meeting had been cleverly planned so that in spite of its +accomplishing much for the propaganda work of the "cause," it did +not become tiresome and the speaking was followed by the entrance +of one of the best little orchestras for dance music in the city. + +Instantly, the scene transformed itself from a suffrage meeting to +a social function that was unique. Leaders of the smart set rubbed +elbows, and seemed to enjoy it, with working girls and agitators. +Conservative and radical, millionaire and muckraker succumbed to +the spell of the Ashton hospitality and the lure of the new +dances. It was a novel experience for all, a levelling-up of +society, as contrasted to some of the levelling-down that we had +recently seen. + +Kennedy and I, having no mood as things stood for the festivities, +drew aside and watched the kaleidoscopic whirl of the dancers. +Across from us was a wide doorway that opened into a spacious +conservatory, a nook of tropical and temperate beauty. Several +couples had wandered in there to rest and, as the orchestra struck +up something new that seemed to have the "punch" to its timeful +measures, they gradually rejoined the dancers. + +It had evidently suggested an idea to Kennedy, for a moment later +he led me toward the coat room and uncovered the package which he +had brought consisting of the two oaken boxes I had seen him +adjusting in the laboratory. + +We managed to reach the conservatory and found in a corner a +veritable bower with a wide rustic seat under some palms. Quickly +Kennedy deposited in the shadow of one of them an oaken box, +sticking into it the plugs on the ends of the wires that I had +brought. It was an easy matter here in the dim half light to +conceal the wire behind the plants and a moment later he tossed +the end through a swinging window in the glass and closed the +window. + +Casually we edged our way out among the dancers and around to the +room into which he had thrown the wire. It was a breakfast room, I +think, but at any rate we could not remain there for it was quite +easy to see into it through the crystal walls of the conservatory. +There was, however, what seemed to be a little pantry at the other +end, and to this Kennedy deftly led the wires and then plugged +them in on the other oaken box. + +He turned a lever. Instantly from the wizard-like little box +issued forth the strains of the dance music of the orchestra and +the rhythmic shuffle of feet. Now and then a merry laugh or a +snatch of gay conversation floated in to us. Though we were +effectually cut off from both sight and hearing in the pantry, it +was as though we had been sitting on the rustic bench in the +conservatory. + +"What is it?" I asked in amazement, gazing at the wonderful little +instrument before us. + +"A vocaphone," he explained, moving the switch and cutting off the +sound instantly, "an improved detectaphone--something that can be +used both in practical business, professional, and home affairs as +a loud speaking telephone, and, as I expect to use it here, for +special cases of detective work. You remember the detectaphone +instruments which we have used?" + +Indeed I did. It had helped us out of several very tight +situations--and seemed now to have been used to get the +organization into a very tight political place. + +"Well, the vocaphone," went on Kennedy, "does even more than the +detectaphone. You see, it talks right out. Those little apertures +in the face act like megaphone horns increasing the volume of +sound." He indicated the switch with his finger and then another +point to which it could be moved. "Besides," he went on +enthusiastically, "this machine talks both ways. I have only to +turn the switch to that point and a voice will speak out in the +conservatory just as if we were there instead of talking here." + +He turned the switch so that it carried the sounds only in our +direction. The last strains of the dance music were being followed +by the hearty applause of the dancers. + +As the encore struck up again, a voice, almost as if it were in +the little room alongside us, said, "Why, hello, Maty, why aren't +you dancing?" + +There was an unmistakable air of familiarity about it and about +the reply, "Why aren't you, Hartley?" + +"Because I've been looking for a chance to have a quiet word with +you," the man rejoined. + +"Langhorne and Mrs. Ogleby," cried Craig excitedly. + +"Sh!" I cautioned, "they might hear us." + +He laughed. "Not unless I turn the switch further." + +"I saw you down at the Criminal Courts Building this morning," +went on the man, "but you didn't see me. What did you think of +Carton?" + +I fancied there was a trace of sarcasm or jealousy in his tone. At +any rate, woman-like, she did not answer that question, but went +on to the one which it implied. + +"I didn't go to see Carton. He is nothing to me, has not been for +months. I was only amusing myself when I knew him--leading him on, +playing with him, then." She paused, then turned the attack on +him. "What did you think of Miss Ashton? You thought I didn't see +you, but you hardly took your eyes off her while I was in the +hallway waiting to hear the verdict." + +It was Langhorne's turn to defend himself. "It wasn't so much +Margaret Ashton as that fellow Carton I was watching," he answered +hastily. + +"Then you--you haven't forgotten poor little me?" she inquired +with a sincere plaintiveness in her voice. + +"Mary," he said, lowering his voice, "I have tried to forget you-- +tried, because I had no right to remember you in the old way--not +while you and Martin remained together. Margaret and I had always +been friends--but I think Carton and this sort of thing,"--he +waved his hand I imagined at the suffrage dancers--"have brought +us to the parting of the ways. Perhaps it is better. I'm not so +sure that it isn't best." + +"And yet," she said slowly, "you are piqued--piqued that another +should have won where you failed--even if the prize isn't just +what you might wish." + +Langhorne assented by silence. "Hartley," she went on at length, +"you said a moment ago you had tried to forget me--" + +"But can't," he cut in with almost passionate fierceness. "That +was what hurt me when I--er--heard that you had gone with Murtha +to that dinner of Dorgan's. I couldn't help trying to warn you of +it. I know Martin neglects you. But I was mad--mad clean through +when I saw you playing with Carton a few months ago. I don't know +anything about it--don't want to. Maybe he was innocent and you +were tempting him. I don't care. It angered me--angered me worse +than ever when I saw later that he was winning with Margaret +Ashton. Everywhere, he seemed to be crossing my trail, to be my +nemesis. I--I wish I was Dorgan--I wish I could fight." + +Langhorne checked himself before he said too much. As it was I saw +that it had been he who had told Mrs. Ogleby that the Black Book +existed. He had not told her that he had made it, if in fact he +had, and she had let the thing out, never thinking Langhorne had +been the eavesdropper, but supposing it must be Carton. + +"Why--why did you go to that dinner with Murtha?" he asked +finally, with a trace of reproach in his tone. + +"Why? Why not?" she answered defiantly. "What do I care about +Martin? Why should I not have my--my freedom, too? I went because +it was wild, unconventional, perhaps wrong. I felt that way. If-- +if I had felt that you cared--perhaps--I could have been--more +discreet." + +"I do care," he blurted out. "I--I only wish I had known you as +well as I do now--before you married--that's all." + +"Is there no way to correct the mistake?" she asked softly. "Must +marriage end all--all happiness?" + +Langhorne said nothing, but I could almost hear his breathing over +the vocaphone, which picked up and magnified even whispers. + +"Mary," he said in a deep, passionate voice, "I--I will defend +you--from this Murtha thing--if it ever gets out. I know it is +always on your mind--that you couldn't keep away from that trial +for fear that Carton, or Murtha, or SOMEBODY might say something +by chance or drop some hint about it. Trust me." + +"Then we can be--friends?" + +"Lovers!" he cried fiercely. + +There was a half-smothered exclamation over the faithful little +vocaphone, a little flurried rustle of silk and a long, passionate +sigh. + +"Hartley," she whispered. + +"What is it, Mary?" he asked tensely. + +"We must be careful. Carton MUST be defeated. He must not have the +power--to use that--record." + +"No," ground out Langhorne. "Wait--he shall not. By the way, +aren't those orchids gorgeous?" + +The encore had ceased and over the vocaphone we could hear gaily +chatting couples wandering into the conservatory. The two +conspirators rose and parted silently, without exciting suspicion. + +For several minutes we listened to snatches of the usual vapid +chatter that dancing seems to induce. Then the orchestra blared +forth with another of the seductive popular pieces. + +Kennedy and I looked at each other, amazed. From the underworld up +to the smart set, the trail of graft was the same, debauching and +blunting all that it touched. Here we saw the making of a full- +fledged scandal in one of the highest circles. + +We had scarcely recovered from our surprise at the startling +disclosures of the vocaphone, when we heard two voices again above +the music, two men this time. + +"What--you here?" inquired a voice which we recognized immediately +as that of Langhorne. + +"Yes," replied the other voice, evidently of a young man. "I came +in with the swells to keep my eye peeled on what was going on." + +The voice itself was unfamiliar, yet it had a tough accent which +denoted infallibly the section of the city where it was acquired. +It was one of the gangsters. + +"What's up, Ike?" demanded Langhorne suspiciously. + +Craig looked at me significantly. It was Ike the Dropper! + +The other lowered his voice. "I don't mind telling you, Mr. +Langhorne. You're in the organization and we ain't got no grudge +against you. It's Carton." + +"Carton?" repeated Langhorne, and one could feel the expectant +catch in his breath, as he added quickly: "You mean you fellows +are going to try to get him right?" + +"Bet your life," swaggered Ike, believing himself safe. "How?" + +The gangster hesitated, then reassured by Langhorne, said: "He's +ordered a taxicab. We got it for him--a driver who is a right guy +and'll drive him down where there's a bunch of the fellows. They +ain't goner do nothing serious--but--well, he won't campaign much +from a hospital cot," he added sagely. "Say--here he comes now +with that girl. I better beat it." + +Langhorne also managed to get away apparently, or else Carton and +Miss Ashton were too engrossed in one another to notice him, for +we heard no word of greeting. + +A moment later Carton's and Miss Ashton's voices were audible. + +"Must you go?" she was saying. + +"I'm afraid so," he apologized. "I've a speech to prepare for to- +morrow and I've had several hard days. It's been a splendid +evening, Miss Ashton--splendid. I've enjoyed it ever so much and I +think it has accomplished more than a hundred meetings--besides +the publicity it will get for the cause. Shall I see you to-morrow +at headquarters?" + +"I shall make it a point to drop in," she answered in a tone as +unmistakable. + +"Mr. Carton--your cab is waiting, sir," announced a servant with +an apology for intruding. "At the side entrance, sir, so that you +can get away quietly, sir." + +Carton thanked him. + +I looked at Kennedy anxiously. If Carton slipped away in this +fashion before we could warn him, what might not happen? We could +hardly expect to get around and through the press of the dancers +in time. + +"I hate to go, Miss Ashton," he was adding. "I'd stay--if I saw +any prospect of the others going. But--you see--this is the first +time to-night--that I've had a word with you--alone." + +It was not only an emergency, but there were limits to Kennedy's +eavesdropping propensities, and spying on Carton's love affairs +was quite another thing from Langhorne's. + +Quickly Craig turned the lever all the way over. + +"Carton--Miss Ashton--this is Kennedy," he called. "Back of the +big palm you'll find a vocaphone. Don't take that cab! They are +going to stick you up. Wait--I'll explain all in a moment!" + + + + +XVIII + +THE WALL STREET WOLF + + +It was a startled couple that we found when we reached the +conservatory. As we made our hasty explanation, Carton overwhelmed +us with thanks for the prompt and effective manner in which +Kennedy had saved him from the machinations of the defeated +gangsters. + +Miss Ashton, who would have kept her nerves under control +throughout any emergency, actually turned pale as she learned of +the danger that had been so narrowly averted. I am sure that her +feelings, which she made no effort to conceal, must have been such +as to reassure Carton if he had still any doubt on that score. + +The delay in his coming out, however, had been just enough to +arouse suspicion, and by the time that we reached the side +entrance to the house both Ike and the night-hawk taxicab which +had evidently been drafted into service had disappeared, leaving +no clue. + +The result of the discovery over the vocaphone was that none of us +left Miss Ashton's until much later than we had expected. + +Langhorne, apparently, had gone shortly after he left the +conservatory the last time, and Mrs. Ogleby had preceded him. When +at last we managed to convince Miss Ashton that it was perfectly +safe for Carton to go, nothing would suffice except that we should +accompany him as a sort of bodyguard to his home. We did so, +without encountering any adventure more thrilling than seeing an +argument between a policeman and a late reveller. + +"I can't thank you fellows too much," complimented Carton as we +left him. "I was hunting around for you, but I thought you had +found a suffrage meeting too slow and had gone." + +"On the contrary," returned Kennedy, equivocally, "we found it far +from slow." + +Carton did not appreciate the tenor of the remark and Craig was +not disposed to enlighten him. + +"What do you suppose Mrs. Ogleby meant in her references to +Carton?" mused Kennedy when we reached our own apartment. + +"I can't say," I replied, "unless before he came to really know +Miss Ashton, they were intimate." + +Kennedy shook his head. "Why will men in a public capacity get +mixed up with women of the adventuress type like that, even +innocently?" he ruminated. "Mark my words, she or someone else +will make trouble for him before we get through." + +It was a thought that had lately been in my own mind, for we had +had several hints of that nature. + +Kennedy said no more, but he had started my mind on a train of +speculative thought. I could not imagine that a woman of Mrs. +Ogleby's type could ever have really appealed to Carton, but that +did not preclude the possibility that some unscrupulous person +might make use of the intimacy for base purposes. Then, too, there +was the threat that I had heard agreed on by both Langhorne and +herself over the vocaphone. + +What would be the next step of the organization now in its sworn +warfare on Carton, I could not imagine. But we did not have long +to wait. Early the following forenoon an urgent message came to +Kennedy from Carton to meet him at his office. + +"Kennedy," he said, "I don't know how to thank you for the many +times you have pulled me through, and I'm almost ashamed to keep +on calling on you." + +"It's a big fight," hastened Craig. "You have opponents who know +the game in its every crooked turn. If I can be only a small cog +on a wheel that crushes them, I shall be only too glad. Your face +tells me that something particularly unpleasant has happened." + +"It has," admitted Carton, smoothing out some of the wrinkles at +the mere sight of Craig. + +He paused a moment, as if he were himself in doubt as to just what +the trouble was. + +"Someone has been impersonating me over the telephone," he began. +"All day long there have been reports coming into my office asking +me whether it was true that I had agreed to accept the offer of +Dorgan that Murtha made, you know,--that is, practically to let up +on the organization if they would let up on me." + +"Yes," prompted Kennedy, "but, impersonation--what do you mean by +that?" + +"Why, early to-day someone called me up, said he was Dorgan, and +asked if I would have any objection to meeting him. I said I would +meet him--only it would do no good. Then, apparently, the same +person called up Dorgan and said he was myself, asking if he had +any objection to meeting me. Dorgan said he'd see. Whoever it was, +he almost succeeded in bringing about the fool thing--would have +done it, if I hadn't got wise to the fact that there was something +funny about it. I called up Dorgan. He said he'd meet me, as long +as I had approached him first. I said I hadn't. We swore a little +and called the fake meeting off. But it was too late. It got into +the papers. Now, you'd think it wouldn't make any difference to +either of us. It doesn't to him. People will think he tried to +slip one over on ME. But it does make a difference to me. People +will think I'm trying to sell out." + +Carton showed plainly his vexation at the affair. + +"The old scheme!" exclaimed Kennedy. "That's the plan that has +been used by a man down in Wall Street that they call, 'the Wolf.' +He is a star impersonator--will call up two sworn enemies and put +over something on them that double-crosses both." + +"Wall Street," mused Carton. "That reminds me of another batch of +rumours that have been flying around. They were that I had made a +deal with Langhorne by which I agreed to support him in his fight +to get something in the contracts of the new city planning scheme +in return for his support of the part of the organization he could +swing to me in the election,--another lie." + +"It might have been Langhorne himself, playing the wolf," I +suggested. + +Kennedy had reached for the telephone book. "Also, it might have +been Kahn," he added. "I see he has an office in Wall Street, too. +He has been the legal beneficiary of several shady transactions +down there." + +"Oh," put in Carton, "it might have been any of them--they're all +capable of it from Dorgan down. If Murtha was only out, I'd be +inclined to suspect him." + +He tossed over a typewritten sheet of paper. "That's the statement +I gave out to the press," he explained. + +It read: "My attention has been called to the alleged activities +of some person or persons who through telephone calls and +underground methods are seeking to undermine confidence in my +integrity. A more despicable method of attempting to arouse +distrust I cannot imagine. It is criminal and if anyone can assist +me in placing the responsibility where it belongs I shall be glad +to prosecute to the limit." + +"That's all right," assented Kennedy, "but I don't think it will +have any effect. You see, this sort of thing is too easy for +anyone to be scared off from. All he has to do is to go to a pay +station and call up there. You couldn't very well trace that." + +He stopped abruptly and his face puckered with thought. + +"There ought to be some way, though," I murmured, without knowing +just what the way might be, "to tell whether it is Dorgan and the +organization crowd, or Langhorne and his pool, or Kahn and the +other shysters." + +"There IS a way," cried Kennedy at last. "You fellows wait here +while I make a flying trip up to the laboratory. If anyone calls +us, just put him off--tell him to call up later." + +Carton continued to direct the work of his office, of which there +had been no interruptions even during the stress of the campaign. +Now and then the telephone rang and each time Carton would motion +to me, and say, "You take it, Jameson. If it seems perfectly +regular then pass it over to me." + +Several routine calls came in, this way, followed by one from Miss +Ashton, which Carton prolonged much beyond the mere time needed to +discuss a phase of the Reform League campaign. + +He had scarcely hung up the receiver, when the bell tinkled +insistently, as though central had had an urgent call which the +last conversation had held up. + +I took down the receiver, and almost before I could answer the +inquiry, a voice began, "This is the editor of the Wall Street +Record, Mr. Carton. Have you heard anything of the rumours about +Hartley Langhorne and his pool being insolvent? The Street has +been flooded with stories--" + +"One moment," I managed to interrupt. "This is not Mr. Carton, +although this is his office. No--he's out. Yes, he'll certainly be +back in half an hour. Ring up then." + +I repeated the scrap of gossip that had filtered through to me, +which Carton received in quite as much perplexity as I had. + +"Seems as if everybody was getting knocked," he commented. + +"That may be a blind, though," I suggested. + +He nodded. I think we both realized how helpless we were when +Kennedy was away. In fact we made even our guesses with a sort of +lack of confidence. + +It was therefore with a sense of relief that we welcomed him a few +minutes later as he hurried into the office, almost breathless +from his trip uptown and back. + +"Has anyone called up?" he inquired unceremoniously, unwrapping a +small parcel which he carried. + +I told him as briefly as I could what had happened. He nodded, +without making any audible comment, but in a manner that seemed to +show no surprise. + +"I want to get this thing installed before anyone else calls," he +explained, setting to work immediately. + +"What is it?" I asked, regarding the affair, which included +something that looked like a phonograph cylinder. + +"An invention that has just been perfected," he replied without +delaying his preparations, "by which it is possible for messages +to be sent over the telephone and automatically registered, even +in the absence of anyone at the receiving end. Up to the present +it has been practicable to take phonograph records only by the +direct action of the human voice upon the diaphragm of the +instrument. Not long ago there was submitted to the French Academy +of Sciences an apparatus by which the receiver of the telephone +can be put into communication with a phonograph and a perfect +record obtained of the voice of the speaker at the other end of +the wire, his message being reproduced at will by merely pressing +a button." + +"Wouldn't the telegraphone do?" I asked, remembering our use of +that instrument in other cases. + +"It would record," he replied, "but I want a phonograph record. +Nothing else will do in this case. You'll see why, before I get +through. Besides, this apparatus isn't complicated. Between the +diaphragm of the telephone receiver and that of the phonographic +microphone is fitted an air chamber of adjustable size, open to +the outer atmosphere by a small hole to prevent compression. I +think," he added with a smile, "it will afford a pretty good means +of collecting souvenirs of friends by preserving the sound of +their voices through the telephone." For several minutes we +waited. + +"I don't think I ever heard of such effrontery, such open, bare- +faced chicanery," fumed Carton impatiently. + +"We'll catch the fellow yet," replied Kennedy confidently. "And I +think we'll find him a bad lot." + + + + +XIX + +THE ESCAPE + + +At last the telephone rang and Carton answered it eagerly. As he +did so, he quickly motioned to us to go to the outside office +where we, too, could listen on extensions. + +"Yes, this is Mr. Carton," we heard him say. + +"This is the editor of the Wall Street Record," came back the +reply in a tone that showed no hesitation or compunction if it was +lying. "I suppose you have heard the rumours that are current +downtown that Hartley Langhorne and the people associated with him +have gone broke in the pool they formed to get control of the +public utilities that would put them in a position to capture the +city betterment contracts?" + +"No--I hadn't heard it," answered Carton, with difficulty +restraining himself from quizzing the informant about himself. +Kennedy was motioning to him that that was enough. "I'm sure I +can't express any opinion at all for publication on the subject," +he concluded brusquely, jamming down the receiver on the hook +before his interlocutor had a chance to ask another question. + +The bell continued to ring, but Craig seized the receiver off its +hook again and called back, "Mr. Carton has gone for the day," +hanging it up again with a bang. + +"Call up the Record now," advised Craig, disconnecting the +recording instrument he had brought. "See what the editor has to +say." + +"This is the District Attorney's office," said Carton a moment +later when he got the number. "You just called me." + +"I called you?" asked the editor, non-plussed. + +"About a rumour current in Wall Street." + +"Rumour? No, sir. It must be some mistake." + +"I guess so. Sorry to have troubled you. Good-bye." + +Carton looked from one to the other of us. "You see," he said in +disgust, "there it is again. That's the sort of thing that has +been going on all day. How do I know what that fellow is doing +now--perhaps using my name?" + +I had no answer to his implied query as to who was the "wolf" and +what he might be up to. As for Kennedy, while he showed plainly +that he had his suspicions which he expected to confirm +absolutely, he did not care to say anything about them yet. + +"Two can play at 'wolf,'" he said quietly, calling up the +headquarters of Dorgan's organization. + +I wondered what he would say, but was disappointed to find that it +was a merely trivial conversation about some inconsequential +thing, as though Kennedy had merely wished to get in touch with +the "Silent Boss." Next he called up the sanitarium to which +Murtha had been committed, and after posing as Murtha's personal +physician managed to have the rules relaxed to the extent of +exchanging a few sentences with him. + +"How did he seem--irrational?" asked Carton with interest, for I +don't think the District Attorney had complete confidence in the +commonly announced cause of Murtha's enforced retirement. + +Kennedy shook his head doubtfully. "Sounded pretty far gone," was +all he said, turning over the pages of the telephone book as he +looked for another number. + +This time it was Kahn whom he called up, and he had some +difficulty locating him, for Kahn had two offices and was busily +engaged in preparing a defence to the charges preferred against +him for the jury fixing episode. + +Among others whom he called up was Langhorne, and the conversation +with him was as perfunctory as possible, consisting merely in +repeating his name, followed by an apology from Kennedy for +"calling the wrong number." + +In each case, Craig was careful to have his little recording +instrument working, taking down every word that was uttered and +when he had finished he detached it, looking at the cylinder with +unconcealed satisfaction. + +"I'm going up to the laboratory again," he announced, as Carton +looked at him inquiringly. "The investigation that I have in mind +will take time, but I shall hurry it along as fast as I possibly +can. I don't want any question about the accuracy of my +conclusions." + +We left Carton, who promised to meet us late in the afternoon at +the laboratory, and started uptown. Instead, however, of going up +directly, Craig telephoned first to Clare Kendall to shadow Mrs. +Ogleby. + +The rest of the day he spent in making microphotographs of the +phonograph cylinder and studying them very attentively under his +high-powered lens. + +Toward the close of the afternoon the first report of Miss +Kendall, who had been "trailing" Mrs. Ogleby, came in. We were not +surprised to learn that she had met Langhorne in the Futurist Tea +Room in the middle of the afternoon and that they had talked long +and earnestly. What did surprise us, though, was her suspicion +that she had crossed the trail of someone else who was shadowing +Mrs. Ogleby. + +Kennedy made no comment, though I could see that he was vitally +interested. What was the significance of the added mystery? +Someone else had an interest in watching her movements. At once I +thought of Dorgan. Could he have known of the intimacy of his +guest at the Gastron dinner with Langhorne, rather than with +Murtha, with whom she had gone? Suddenly another explanation +occurred to me. What was more likely than that Martin Ogleby +should have heard of his wife's escapade? He would certainly learn +now to his surprise of her meeting with Langhorne. What would +happen then? + +Kennedy had about finished with his microphotographic work and was +checking it over to satisfy himself of the results, when Carton, +as he had promised, dropped in on us. + +"What are you doing now?" he asked curiously, looking at the +prints and paraphernalia scattered about. "By the way, I've been +inquiring into the commitment of Murtha to that sanitarium for the +insane. On the surface it all seems perfectly regular. It appears +that, unknown even to many of his most intimate friends, he has +been suffering from a complication of diseases, the result of his +high life, and they have at last affected his brain, as they were +bound to do in time. Still, I don't like his 'next friends' in the +case. One is his personal physician--I don't know much about him. +But Dorgan is one of the others." + +"We'll have to look into it," agreed Kennedy. "Meanwhile, would +you like to know who your 'wolf' is that has been spreading +rumours about broadcast?" + +"I would indeed," exclaimed Carton eagerly. "You were right about +the statement I issued. It had no more effect than so many +unspoken words. The fellow has kept right on. He even had the +nerve to call up Miss Ashton in my name and try to find out +whether she had any trace of the missing Betty Blackwell. How do +you suppose they found out that she was interested?" + +"Not a very difficult thing," replied Kennedy. "Miss Ashton must +have told several organizations, and the grafters always watch +such societies pretty closely. What did she say?" + +"Nothing," answered Carton. "I had thought that they might try +something of the sort and fortunately I warned her to disregard +any telephone messages unless they came certainly from me. We +agreed on a little secret formula, a sort of password, to be used, +and I flatter myself that the 'wolf' won't be able to accomplish +much in that direction. You say you have discovered a clue? How +did you get it?" + +Kennedy picked up one of the microphotographs which showed an +enlargement of the marks on the phonograph cylinder. He showed it +to us and we gazed curiously at the enigmatic markings, greatly +magnified. To me, it looked like a collection of series of lines. +By close scrutiny I was able to make out that the lines were wavy +and more or less continuous, being made up of collections of finer +lines,--lines within lines, as it were. + +An analysis of their composition showed that the centre of larger +lines was composed of three continuous series of markings which +looked, under the lens, for all the world like the impressions of +an endless straight series of molar teeth. Flanking these three +tooth-like impressions were other lines--varying in width and in +number--I should say, about four, both above and below the tooth- +like impressions. When highly magnified one could distinguish +roughly parallel parts of what at even a low magnification looked +like a single line. + +"I have been studying voice analysis lately," explained Kennedy, +"particularly with reference to the singing voice. Mr. Edison has +made thousands and thousands of studies of voices to determine +which are scientifically perfect for singing. That side of it did +not interest me particularly. I have been seeking to use the +discovery rather for detective purposes." + +He paused and with a fine needle traced out some of the lines on +the photographs before us. + +"That," he went on, "is a highly magnified photograph of a minute +section of the phonographic record of the voice that called you +up, Carton, as editor of the Wall Street Record. The upper and +lower lines, with long regular waves, are formed by a voice with +no overtones. Those three broader lines in the middle, with +rhythmic ripples, show the overtones." + +Carton and I followed, fascinated by the minuteness of his +investigation and knowledge. + +"You see," he explained, "when a voice or a passage of music +sounds or is sung before a phonograph, its modulations received +upon the diaphragm are written by the needle point upon the +surface of the cylinder or disc in a series of fine waving or zig- +zag lines of infinitely varying depth and breadth. + +"Close familiarity with such records for about forty years has +taught Mr. Edison the precise meaning of each slightest variation +in the lines. I have taken up and elaborated his idea. By +examining them under the microscope one can analyze each tone with +mathematical accuracy and can almost hear it--just as a musician +reading the score of a song can almost hear the notes." + +"Wonderful," ejaculated Carton. "And you mean to say that in that +way you can actually identify a voice?" + +Kennedy nodded. "By examining the records in the laboratory, +looking them over under a microscope--yes. I can count the +overtones, say, in a singing voice, and it is on the overtones +that the richness depends. I can recognize a voice-- +mathematically. In short," Craig concluded enthusiastically, "it +is what you might call the Bertillon measurement, the finger- +print, the portrait parle of the human voice!" + +Incredible as it seemed, we were forced to believe, for there on +the table lay the graphic evidence which he had just so +painstakingly interpreted. + +"Who was it?" asked Carton breathlessly. + +Kennedy picked up another microphotograph. "That is the record I +took of one of the calls I made--merely for the purpose of +obtaining samples of voices to compare with this of the +impersonator. The two agree in every essential detail and none of +the others could be confounded by an expert who studied them. Your +'wolf' was your old friend Kahn!" + +"Fighting back at me by his usual underhand methods," exclaimed +Carton in profound disgust. + +"Or else trying himself to get control of the Black Book," added +Kennedy. "If you will stop to think a moment, his shafts have been +levelled quite as much at discrediting Langhorne as yourself. He +might hope to kill two birds with one stone--and incidentally save +himself." + +"You mean that he wants to lay a foundation now for questioning +the accuracy of the Black Book if it ever comes to light?" + +"Perhaps," assented Kennedy carefully. + +"Surely we should take some steps to protect ourselves from his +impostures," hastened Carton. + +"I have no objections to your calling him up and telling him that +we know what he is up to and can trace it to him--provided you +don't tell him how we did it--yet." + +Carton had seized the telephone and was hastily calling every +place in which Kahn was likely to be. He was not at either of his +offices, nor at Farrell's, but at each place successively Carton +left a message which told the story and which he could hardly fail +to receive soon. + +As Carton finished, Kennedy seemed to be emerging from a brown +study. He rose slowly and put on his hat. + +"Your story about Murtha's commitment interests me," he remarked, +"particularly since you mentioned Dorgan's name in connection with +it. I've been thinking about Murtha myself a good deal since I +heard about his condition. I want to see him myself." + +Carton hesitated a minute. "I can break an engagement I had to +speak to-night," he said. "Yes, I'll go with you. It's more +important to look to the foundations than to the building just +now." + +A few minutes later we were all on our way in a touring car to the +private sanitarium up in Westchester, where it had been announced +that Murtha had been taken. + +I had apprehended that we would have a great deal of difficulty +either in getting admitted at all or in seeing Murtha himself. We +arrived at the sanitarium, a large building enclosed by a high +brick wall, and evidently once a fine country estate, at just +about dusk. To my surprise, as we stopped at the entrance, we had +no difficulty in being admitted. + +For a moment, as we waited in the richly furnished reception room, +I listened to the sounds that issued from other parts of the +building. Something was clearly afoot, for things were in a state +of disorder. I had not an extensive acquaintance with asylums for +the care and treatment of the insane, but the atmosphere of +excitement which palpably pervaded the air was not what one would +have expected. I began to think of Poe's Dr. Tarr and Professor +Fether, and wonder whether there might not have been a revolution +in the place and the patients have taken charge of their keepers. + +At last one of the attendants passed the door. No one had paid any +attention to us since our admission and this man, too, was going +to pass us without notice. + +"I beg your pardon," interrupted Kennedy, who had heard his +footsteps approaching and had placed himself in the hallway so +that the attendant could not pass, "but we have called to see Mr. +Murtha." + +The attendant eyed us curiously. I expected him to say that it was +against the rules, or to question our right to see the patient. + +"I'm afraid you're too late," he said briefly, instead. + +"Too late?" queried Kennedy sharply. "What do you mean?" + +The man answered promptly as if that were the quickest way to get +back to his own errand. + +"Mr. Murtha escaped from his keepers this evening, just after +dinner, and there is no trace of him." + + + + +XX + +THE METRIC PHOTOGRAPH + + +Murtha's escape from the sanitarium had again thrown our +calculations into chaos. We rode back to the city in silence, and +even Kennedy had no explanation to offer. + +Even at a late hour that night, although a widespread alarm had +been sent out for him, no trace of the missing man could be found. +The next morning's papers, of course, were full of the strange +disappearance, but gave no hint of his discovery. In fact, all day +the search was continued by the authorities, but without result. + +On the face of it, it seemed incredible that a man who was so well +known, especially to the thousands of police and others in the +official and political life of the city, could remain at large +unrecognized. Still, I recalled other cases where prominent men +had disappeared. The facts in Murtha's case spoke for themselves. + +Comparatively little occurred during the day, although the +political campaign which had begun with the primaries many weeks +before was now drawing nearer its close and the campaigners were +getting ready for the final spurt to the finish. + +With Kennedy's unmasking of the unprincipled activities of Kahn, +that worthy changed his tactics, or at least dropped out of our +sight. Mrs. Ogleby lunched with Langhorne and I began to suspect +that the shadow that had been placed on her could not have been +engaged by Martin Ogleby, for he was not the kind who would take +reports of the sort complaisantly. Someone else must be +interested. + +As for the Black Book itself, I wondered more as time went on that +no one made use of it. Even though we gained no hint from +Langhorne after the peculiar robbery of his safe, it was +impossible to tell whether or not he still retained the +detectaphone record. On the other hand, if Dorgan had obtained it +by using the services of someone in the criminal hierarchy that +Murtha had built up, it would not have been likely that we would +have heard anything about it. We were in the position of men +fighting several adversaries in the dark without knowing exactly +whom we fought. + +We had just finished dinner, that night, Kennedy and I, and, as +had been the case in most of the waking hours of the previous +twenty-four, had been speculating on the possible solution of the +mysterious dropping out of sight of Murtha. The evening papers had +contained nothing that the morning papers had not already +published and Kennedy had tossed the last of an armful into the +scrap basket when the buzzer on the door of our apartment sounded. + +A young man stood there as I opened the door, and handed me a +note, as he touched his hat. "A message for Professor Kennedy from +Mr. Carton, sir," he announced. + +I recognized him as Carton's valet as he stood impatiently waiting +for Craig to read the letter. + +"It's all right--there's no answer--I'll see him immediately," +nodded Kennedy, tossing the hasty scrawl over to me as the valet +disappeared. + +"My study at home has been robbed, probably by sneak thieves," +read the note. "Would you like to look it over? I can't find +anything missing except a bundle of old and valueless photographs. +Carton." + +"Looks as if someone thought Carton might have got that Black Book +from Langhorne," I commented, following the line on which I had +been thinking at the time. + +"And the taking of the photographs was merely a blind, after not +finding it?" Kennedy queried, I cannot say much impressed by my +theory. + +"Perhaps," I acquiesced weakly, as we went out. + +Instead of turning in the direction of Carton's immediately, +Kennedy walked across the campus toward the Chemistry Building. At +the laboratory we loaded ourselves with a large and heavy oblong +case containing a camera and a tripod. + +The Cartons lived in an old section of the city which still +retained something of its aristocratic air, having been passed by, +as it were, like an eddy in the stream of business that swirled +uptown, engulfing everything. + +It was an old four-story brownstone house which had been occupied +by his father and grandfather before him, and now was the home of +Carton, his mother, and his sister. + +"I'm glad to see you," Carton met us at the door. "This isn't +quite as classy a robbery as Langhorne's--but it's just as +mysterious. Must have happened while the family were at dinner. +That's why I said it was a robbery by a sneak thief." + +He was leading the way to his study, which was in an extension of +the house, in the rear. + +"I hope you've left things as they were," ventured Craig. + +"I did," assured Carton. "I know your penchant for such things and +almost the first thought I had was that you'd prefer it that way. +So I shut the door and sent William after you. By the way, what +have you done with him?" + +"Nothing," returned Craig. "Isn't he back yet?" + +"No--oh, well I don't need him right away." + +"And nothing was taken except some old photographs?" asked Craig, +looking intently at Carton's face. + +"That is all I can find missing," he returned frankly. + +Kennedy's examination of the looted study was minute, taking in +the window through which the thief had apparently entered, the +cabinet he had forced, and the situation in general. Finally he +set up his camera with most particular care and took several +flashlight pictures of the window, the cabinet, the doors-- +including the study--from every angle. Outside he examined the +extension and back of the house carefully, noting possible ways of +getting from the side street across the fences into the Carton +yard. + +With Carton we returned to Craig's splendidly equipped +photographic studio and while Carton and I made the best of our +time by discussing various phases of the case, Kennedy employed +the interval in developing his plates. + +He had ten or a dozen prints, all of exactly the same size, +mounted on stiff cardboard in a space with scales and figures on +all four margins. Carton and I puzzled over them. + +"Those are metric photographs, such as Bertillon of Paris used to +take," Craig explained. "By means of the scales and tables and +other methods that have been worked out, we can determine from +those pictures distances and many other things almost as well as +if we were on the spot ourselves. Bertillon cleared up many crimes +with this help, such as the mystery of the shooting in the Hotel +Quai d'Orsay and other cases. The metric photograph, I believe, +will in time rank with other devices in the study of crime." + +He was going over the photographs carefully. + +"For instance," he continued, "in order to solve the riddle of a +crime, the detective's first task is to study the scene +topographically. Plans and elevations of a room or house are made. +The position of each object is painstakingly noted. In addition, +the all-seeing eye of the camera is called into requisition. The +plundered room is photographed, as in this case. I might have done +it by placing a foot rule on a table and taking that in the +picture. But a more scientific and accurate method has been +devised by Bertillon. His camera lens is always used at a fixed +height from the ground and forms its image on the plate at an +exact focus. The print made from the negative is mounted on a card +in a space of definite size, along the edges of which a metric +scale is printed. In the way he has worked it out, the distance +between any two points in the picture can be determined. With a +topographical plan and a metric photograph one can study a crime, +as a general studies the map of a strange country. There were +several peculiar things that I observed at your house, Carton, and +I have here an indelible record of the scene of the crime. +Preserved in this way, it cannot be questioned. You are sure that +the only thing missing is the photographs?" + +Carton nodded, "I never keep anything valuable lying around." + +"Well," resumed Kennedy, "the photographs were in this cabinet. +There are other cabinets, but none of them seems to have been +disturbed. Therefore the thief must have known just what he was +after. The marks made in breaking the lock were not those of a +jimmy, but of a screwdriver. No amazing command of the resources +of science is needed so far. All that is necessary is a little +scientific common sense." + +Carton glanced at me, and I smiled, for it always did seem so +easy, when Craig did it, and so impossible when we tried to go it +alone. + +"Now, how did the robber get in?" he continued, thoroughly +engrossed in his study. "All the windows were supposedly locked. I +saw that a pane had been partly cut from this window at the side-- +and the pieces were there to show it. But consider the outside, a +moment. To reach that window even a tall man must have stood on a +ladder or something. There were no marks of a ladder or even of +any person in the soft soil of the garden under the window. What +is more, that window was cut from the inside. The marks of the +diamond which cut it plainly show that. Scientific common sense +again." + +"Then it must have been someone in the house or at least familiar +with it?" I exclaimed. + +Kennedy shook his head affirmatively. + +I had been wondering who it could be. Certainly this was not the +work of Dopey Jack, even if the far cleverer attempt on +Langhorne's safe had been. But it might have been one of his gang. +I had not got as far as trying to reason out the why of the crime. + +"Call up your house, Carton," asked Craig. "See if William, your +valet, has returned." + +Carton did so, and a moment later turned to us with a look of +perplexity on his face. "No," he reported, "he hasn't come back +yet. I can't imagine where he is." + +"He won't come back," asserted Kennedy positively. "It was an +inside job--and he did it." + +Carton gasped astonishment. + +"At any rate," pursued Kennedy, "one thing we have which the +police greatly neglect--a record. We have made some progress in +reconstructing the crime, as Bertillon used to call it." + +"Strange that he should take only photographs," I mused. + +"What were they?" asked Kennedy, and again I saw that he was +looking intently at Carton's face. + +"Nothing much," returned Carton unhesitatingly, "just some +personal photographs--of no real value except to me. Most of them +were amateur photographs, too, pictures of myself in various +groups at different times and places that I kept for the +associations." + +"Nothing that might be used by an enemy for any purpose?" +suggested Kennedy. + +Carton laughed. "More likely to be used by friends," he replied +frankly. + +Still, I felt that there must have been some sinister purpose back +of the robbery. In that respect it was like the scientific +cracking of Langhorne's safe. Langhorne, too, though he had been +robbed, had been careful to disclaim the loss of anything of +value. I frankly had not believed Langhorne, yet Carton was not of +the same type and I felt that his open face would surely have +disclosed to us any real loss that he suffered or apprehension +that he felt over the robbery. + +I was forced to give it up, and I think Kennedy, too, had decided +not to worry over the crossing of any bridges until at least we +knew that there were bridges to be crossed. + +Carton was worried more by the discovery that one he had trusted +even as a valet had proved unfaithful. He knew, however, as well +as we did that one of the commonest methods of the underworld when +they wished to pull off a robbery was to corrupt one of the +servants of a house. Still, it looked strange, for the laying of +such an elaborate plan usually preceded only big robberies, such +as jewelery or silver. For myself, I was forced back on my first +theory that someone had concluded that Carton had the Black Book, +had concocted this elaborate scheme to get what was really of more +value than much jewelry, and had found out that Carton did not +have the precious detectaphone record, after all. I knew that +there were those who would have gone to any length to get it. + +A general alarm was given, through the police, for the +apprehension of William, but we had small hope that anything would +result from it, for at that time Carton's enemies controlled the +police and I am not sure but that they would have been just a +little more dilatory in apprehending one who had done Carton an +injury than if it had been someone else. It was too soon, that +night, of course, to expect to learn anything, anyhow. + +It was quite late, but it had been a confining day for Kennedy who +had spent the hours while not working on Carton's case in some of +the ceaseless and recondite investigations of his own to which he +was always turning his restless mind. + +"Suppose we walk a little way downtown with Carton?" he suggested. + +I was not averse, and by the time we arrived in the white light +belt of Broadway the theatres were letting out. + +Above the gaiety of the crowds one could hear the shrill cry of +some belated newsboys, calling an "Extra Special"--the only +superlative left to one of the more enterprising papers whose +every issue was an "Extra." + +Kennedy bought one, with the laughing remark, "Perhaps it's about +your robbery, Carton." + +It was only a second before the smile on his face changed to a +look of extreme gravity. We crowded about him. In red ink across +the head of the paper were the words: + +"BODY OF MURTHA, MISSING, FOUND IN MORGUE" + +Down in a lower corner, in a little box into which late news could +be dropped, also in red ink, was the brief account: + +This morning the body of an unknown man was found in The Bronx +near the Westchester Railroad tracks. He had been run over and +badly mutilated. After lying all day in the local morgue, it was +transferred, still unidentified, to the city Morgue downtown. + +Early this evening one of the night attendants recognized the +unidentified body as that of Murtha, "the Smiling Boss," whose +escape day before yesterday from an asylum in Westchester has +remained a mystery until now. + +"Well--what do you--think of that!" ejaculated Carton. "Murtha-- +dead--and I thought the whole thing was a job they were putting up +on me!" + +Kennedy crooked his finger at a cabby who was alertly violating +the new ordinance and soliciting fares away from a public cab +stand. + +"The Morgue--quick!" he ordered, not even noticing the +flabbergasted look on the jehu's face, who was not accustomed to +carrying people thither from the primrose path of Broadway quite +so rapidly. + + + + +XXI + +THE MORGUE + + +There had come a lull in the activities which never entirely +cease, night or day, in the dingy building at the foot of East +Twenty-sixth Street. Across the street in the municipal lodging- +house the city's homeless were housed for the night. Even ever +wakeful Bellevue Hospital nearby was comparatively quiet. + +The last "dead boat" which carries the city's unclaimed corpses +away for burial had long ago left, when we arrived. The anxious +callers who pass all day through the portals of the mortuary +chamber seeking lost friends and relatives had disappeared. Except +for the night keeper and one or two assistants, the Morgue was +empty save of the overcrowded dead. + +Years before, as a cub reporter on the Star, I had had the +gruesome assignment once of the Morgue. It was the same old place +after all these years and it gave me the same creepy sensations +now as it did then. Even the taxicab driver seemed glad to set +down his fares and speed away. + +It was ghoulish. I felt then and I did still that instead of +contributing to the amelioration of conditions that could not be +otherwise than harrowing, everything about the old Morgue lent +itself to the increase of the horror of the surroundings. + +As Kennedy, Carton, and I entered, we found that the principal +chamber in the place was circular. Its walls were lined with the +ends of caskets, which, fitting close into drawer-like apertures +were constantly enveloped in the refrigerated air. + +It seemed, even at that hour, that if these receptacles were even +adequate to contain all of the daily tenants of the Morgue, much +of the anguish and distress inseparable from such a place might be +spared those who of necessity must visit the place seeking their +dead. As it was, even for those bound by no blood ties to the +unfortunates who found their way to the city Morgue, the room was +a veritable chamber of horror. + +We stood in horrified amazement at what we saw. On the floor, +which should be kept clear, lay the overflow of the day's intake. +Bodies for which there was no room in the cooling boxes, others +which were yet awaiting claimants, and still more awaiting +transfer to the public burying ground, lay about in their rough +coffins, many of them brutally exposed. + +It seemed, too, that if ever there was a time when conditions +might have been expected to have halfway adjusted themselves to +the pressure which by day brought out all too clearly the hopeless +inadequacy of the facilities provided by the city to perform one +of its most important and inevitable functions, it was at that +early morning hour of our visit. Presumably preparation had been +completed for the busy day about to open by setting all into some +semblance of respectful order. But such was not the case. It was +impossible. + +In one group, I recall, which an attendant said had been awaiting +his removal for a couple of days, the rough board coffins, painted +the uniform brown of the city's institutions, lay open, without so +much as face coverings over the dead. + +They lay as they had been sent in from various hospitals. Most of +them were bereft of all the decencies usual with the dead, in +striking contrast, however, with the bodies from Bellevue, which +were all closely swathed in bandages and shrouds. + +One body, that of a negro, which had been sent in to the Morgue +from a Harlem hospital, lay just as it came, utterly bare, +exposing to public view all the gruesome marks of the autopsy. I +wondered whether anything like that might be found to be the fate +of the once jovial and popular Murtha, when we found him. + +I almost forgot our mission in the horror of the place, for, +nearby was an even more heartrending sight. Piled in several heaps +much higher than a man's head and as carelessly as cordwood were +the tiny coffins holding the babies which the authorities are +called on by the poor of the city to bury in large numbers--far +too poor to meet the cost of the cheapest decent burial. Atop the +stack of regulation coffins were the nondescript receptacles made +use of by the very poor--the most pathetic a tiny box from the +corner grocery. The bodies, some dozens of them, lay like so much +merchandise, awaiting shipment. + +"What a barbarity!" I heard Craig mutter, for even he, though now +and then forced to visit the place when one of his cases took him +there, especially when it was concerned with an autopsy, had never +become hardened to it. + +Often I had heard him denounce the primitive appointments, +especially in the autopsy rooms. The archaic attempts to utilize +the Morgue for scientific investigation were the occasion for +practices that shocked even the initiated. For the lack of +suitable depositories for the products of autopsies, these objects +were plainly visible in rude profusion when a door was opened to +draw out a body for inspection. About and around the slabs whereon +the human bodies lay, in bottles and in plates, this material +which had no place except in the cabinets of a laboratory was +inhumanly displayed in profusion, close to corpses for which a +morgue is expected to provide some degree of reverential care. + +"You see," apologized the keeper, not averse to throwing the blame +on someone else, for it indeed was not his but the city's fault, +"one reason why so many bodies have to remain uncared for is that +I could show you cooling box after cooling box with some subject +which figured during the past few months in the police records. +Why victims of murders committed long ago should be held +indefinitely, and their growing numbers make it impossible to give +proper places to each day's temporary bodies, I can't say. +Sometimes," he added with a sly dig at Carton, "the only +explanation seems to be that the District Attorney's office has +requested the preservation of the grisly relics." + +I could see that Carton was making a mental note that the practice +would be ended as far as his office was concerned. + +"So--you saw the story in the newspapers about Mr. Murtha," +repeated the keeper, not displeased to see us and at the publicity +it gave him. "It was I that discovered him--and yet many's the +times some of the boys that must have handled the body since it +was picked up beside the tracks must have seen him. It was too +late to get anyone to take the body away to-night, but the +arrangements have all been made, and it will be done early in the +morning before anyone else sees Pat Murtha here, as he shouldn't +be. We've done what we could for him ourselves--he was a fine +gentleman and many's the boy that owes a boost up in life to him." + +Reverentially even the hardened keeper drew out one of the best of +the drawer-like boxes. On the slab before us lay the body. Carton +drew back, excitedly, shocked. + +"It IS Murtha!" he exclaimed. + +I, too, looked at it quickly. The name as Carton pronounced it, in +such a place, had, to me at least, an unpleasant likeness to +"murder." + +Kennedy had bent down and was examining the mutilated body +minutely. + +"How do you suppose such a thing is possible--that he could lie +about the city, even here until the night keeper came on,-- +unknown?" asked Carton, aghast. + +"I don't know," I said, "but I imagine that in connection with the +actual inadequacy of the equipment one would find reflected the +same makeshift character in the attitude and actions of those who +handle the city's dead. It used to be the case, at least, that the +facilities for keeping records were often almost totally +neglected, and not through the fault of the Morgue keepers, +entirely. But, I understand it is better now." + +"This is terrible," repeated Carton, averting his face. "Really, +Jameson, it makes me feel like a hound, for ever thinking that +Murtha might have been putting up a game on me. Poor old Murtha--I +should have preferred to remember him as the 'Smiling Boss' as +everyone always called him!" + +I called to mind the last time we had seen Murtha, in Carton's +office as the bearer of an offer which had made Carton almost +beside himself with anger at the thought of the insult that he +would compromise with the organization. What a contrast, this, +with the Murtha who, in turn, had been trembling with passion at +Carton's refusal! + +And yet I could not but reflect on the strangeness of it all--the +fact that the organization, of which Murtha was a part, had by its +neglect and failure to care for the human side of government when +there was graft to be collected, brought about the very conditions +which had made possible such neglect of the district leader's +body, as it had been bandied back and forth, unwittingly by many +who owed their very positions to the organization. + +I could not help but think that if he had served humanity with +one-half the zeal which he had served graft, this could not have +happened. + +The more I contemplated the case, the more tragic did it seem to +me. I longed for the assignment of writing the story for the Star- +-the chance I would have had in the old days to bring in a story +that would have got me a nod of approval from my superior. I +determined, as soon as possible, to get the Star on the wire and +try to express some of the thoughts that were surging through my +brain in the face of this awful and unexpected occurrence. + +There he lay, alone, uncared for except by such rude hands as +those of the Morgue attendants. I could not help reflecting on the +strange vicissitudes of human life, and death, which levelled all +distinctions between men of high and low degree. Murtha had almost +literally sprung from the streets. His career had been one +possible only in the social and political conditions of his times. +And now he had only by the narrowest chance escaped a burial in a +pauper's grave at the hands of the city which he had helped Dorgan +to debauch. + +Carton, too, I could see was overwhelmed. For the moment he did +not even think of how this blow to the System might affect his own +chances. It was only the pitiful wreck of a human being before us +that he saw. + +I was not an expert on study of wounds, such as was Kennedy, who +was examining Murtha's body with minute care, now and then +muttering under his breath at the rough and careless handling it +had received in its various transfers about the city. But there +were some terrible wounds and disfigurements on the body, which +added even more to the horror of the case. + +One thing, I felt, was fortunate. Murtha had had no family. There +had been plenty of scandal about him, but as far as I knew there +was no one except his old cronies in the organization to be +shocked by his loss, no living tragedy left in the wake of this. + +"How do you suppose it happened?" I asked the night keeper. + +He shook his head doubtfully. "No one knows, of course," he +replied slowly. "But I think the big fellow got worse up there in +that asylum. He wasn't used to anything but having his own way, +you know. They say he must have waited his chance, after the +dinner hour, when things were quiet, and then slipped out while no +one was looking. He may have been crazy, but you can bet your life +Pat Murtha was the smartest crazy man they ever had up there. THEY +couldn't hold him." + +"I see," I said, struck by the faith which the man had inspired +even in those who held the lowest of city positions. "But I meant +how do you suppose he was killed?" + +The attendant looked at me thoughtfully a while. "Young man," he +answered, "I ain't saying nothing and it may have been an accident +after all. Have you ever been up in that part of town?" + +I had not and said so. + +"Well," he continued, "those electric trains do sneak up on a +fellow fast. It may have been an accident, all right. The coroner +up there said so, and I guess he ought to know. It must have been +late at night--perhaps he was wandering away from the ordinary +roads for fear of being recaptured. No one knows--I guess no one +will know, ever. But it's a sad day for many of the boys. He +helped a lot of 'em. And Mr. Dorgan--he knows what a loss it is, +too. I hear that it's hit the Chief hard." + +The attendant, rough though he was and hardened by the daily +succession of tragedies, could not restrain an honest catch in his +voice over the passing of the "big fellow," as some of them called +the "Smiling Boss." It was a pretty good object lesson on the +power of the system which the organization had built up, how +Murtha, and even the more distant Dorgan himself, had endeared +himself to his followers and henchmen. Perhaps it was corrupt, but +it was at least human, and that was a great deal in a world full +of inhumanities. In the face of what had happened, one felt that +much might be forgiven Murtha for his shortcomings, especially as +the era of the Murthas and Dorgans was plainly passing. + +"Here at least," whispered Carton, as we withdrew to a corner to +escape the palling atmosphere, "is one who won't worry about what +happens to that Black Book any more. I wonder what he really knew +about it--what secrets he carried away with him?" + +"I can't say," I returned. "But, one thing it does. It must +relieve Mrs. Ogleby's fears a bit. With Murtha out of the way +there is one less to gossip about what went on at Gastron's that +night of the dinner." + +He said nothing and just then Kennedy straightened up, as though +he had finished his examination. We hurried over to him. I thought +the look on Craig's face was peculiar. + +"What is it--what did you find?" both Carton and I asked. + +Kennedy did not answer immediately. + +"I--I can't say," he answered slowly at length, as we thanked the +Morgue keeper for his courtesy and left the place. "In fact I'd +rather not say--until I know." + +I knew from previous experiences that it was of no use to try to +quiz Kennedy. He was a veritable Gradgrind for facts, facts, +facts. As for myself, I could not help wondering whether, after +all, Murtha might not have been the victim of foul play--and, if +so, by whom? + + + + +XXII + +THE CANARD + + +We did not have to wait long for the secret of the robbery of +Carton to come out. It was not in any "extras," or in the morning +papers the next day, but it came through a secret source of +information to the Reform League. + +"A clerk in the employ of the organization who is really a +detective employed by the Reform League," groaned Carton, as he +told us the story himself the next morning at his office, "has +just given us the information that they have prepared a long and +circumstantial story about me--about my intimacy with Mrs. Ogleby +and Murtha and some others. The story of the robbery of my study +is in the papers this morning. To-morrow they plan to publish some +photographs--alleged to have been stolen." + +"Photographs--Mrs. Ogleby," repeated Kennedy. "Real ones?" + +"No," exclaimed Carton quickly, "of course not--fakes. Don't you +see the scheme? First they lay a foundation in the robbery, +knowing that the public is satisfied with sensations, and that +they will be sure to believe that the robbery was put up by some +muckrakers to obtain material for an expose. I wasn't worried last +night. I knew I had nothing to conceal." + +"Then what of it?" I asked naively. + +"A good deal of it," returned Carton excitedly, "The story is to +be, as I understand it, that the fake pictures were among those +stolen from me and that in a roundabout way they came into the +possession of someone in the organization, without their knowing +who the thief was. Of course they don't know who took them and the +original plates or films are destroyed, but they've concocted some +means of putting a date on them early in the spring." + +"What are they that they should take such pains with them?" +persisted Kennedy, looking fixedly at Carton. + +Carton met his look without flinching. "They are supposed to be +photographs of myself," he repeated. "One purports to represent me +in a group composed of Mrs. Ogleby, Murtha, another woman whom I +do not even know, and myself. I am standing between Murtha and +Mrs. Ogleby and we look very familiar. Another is a picture of the +same four riding in a car, owned by Murtha. Oh, there are several +of them, of that sort." + +He paused as a dozen unspoken questions framed themselves in my +mind. "I don't hesitate to admit," he added, "that a few months +ago I knew Mrs. Ogleby--socially. But there was nothing to it. I +never knew Murtha well, and the other woman I never saw. At +various times I have been present at affairs where she was, but I +know that no pictures were ever taken, and even if there had been, +I would not care, provided they told the truth about them. What I +do care about is the sworn allegation that, I understand, is to +accompany these--these fakes." + +His voice broke. "It's a lie from start to finish, but just think +of it, Kennedy," he went on. "Here is the story, and here, too, +are the pictures--at least they will be, in print, to-morrow. Now, +you know nothing could hurt the reform ticket worse than to have a +scandal like this raised at this time. There may be just enough +people to believe that there is some basis for the suspicion to +turn the tide against me. If it were earlier in the campaign, I +might accept the issue, fight it out to a finish, and in the turn +of events I should have really the best sort of campaign material. +But it is too late now to expose such a knavish trick on the +Saturday before election." + +"Can't we buy them off?" I ventured, perplexed beyond measure at +this new and unexpected turn of events. + +"No, I won't," persisted Carton, shutting his square jaw doggedly. +"I won't be held up--even if that is possible." + +"Miss Ashton on the wire," announced a boy from the outer office. + +The look on Carton's face was a study. I saw directly what was the +trouble--far more important to him than a mere election. + +"Tell her--I'm out--will be back soon," he muttered, for the first +time hesitating to speak to her. + +"You see," he continued blackly, "I'll fight if it takes my last +dollar, but I won't allow myself to be blackmailed out of a cent-- +no, not a cent," he thundered, a heightened look of determination +fixing the lines on his face as he brought his fist down with a +rattling bang on the desk. + +Kennedy was saying nothing. He was letting Carton ease his mind of +the load which had been suddenly thrust upon it. Carton was now +excitedly pacing the floor. + +"They believe plainly," he continued, growing more excited as he +paced up and down, "that the pictures will of course be accepted +by the public as among those stolen from me, and in that, I +suppose, they are right. The public will swallow it. If I say I'll +prosecute, they'll laugh and tell me to go ahead, that they didn't +steal the pictures. Our informant tells us that a hundred copies +have been made of each and that they have them ready to drop into +the mail to the leading hundred papers, not only of this city but +of the state, in time for them to appear Sunday. They think that +no amount of denying on our part can destroy the effect." + +"That's it," I persisted. "The only way is to buy them off." + +"But, Jameson," argued Carton, "I repeat--they are false. It is a +plot of Dorgan's, the last fight of a boss, driven into a corner, +for his life. And it is meaner than if he had attempted to forge a +letter. Pictures appeal to the eye much more than letters. That's +what makes the thing so dangerous. Dorgan knows how to make the +best use of such a roorback on the eve of an election and even if +I not only deny but prove that they are a fake, I'm afraid the +harm will be done. I can't reach all the voters in time. Ten see +such a charge to one who sees the denial." + +He looked from one to the other of us helplessly. "If we had a +week or two, it might be all right. But I can't make any move to- +day without making a fool of myself, nothing until they are +published, as the last big thing of the campaign. Monday and +Tuesday morning do not give me time to reply in the papers and +hammer it in. Even if they were out now, it would not give me time +to make of it an asset instead of a liability. And then, too, it +means that I am diverted by this thing, that I let up in the final +efforts that we have so carefully planned to cap the campaign. +That in itself is as much as Dorgan wants, anyway." + +Kennedy had been, so far, little more than an interested listener, +but now he asked pointedly, "You have copies of the pictures?" + +"No--but I've been promised them this morning." + +"H'm," mused Craig, turning the crisis over in his mind. "We've +had alleged stolen and forged letters before, but alleged stolen +and forged photographs are new. I'm not surprised that you are +alarmed, Carton,--nor that Walter suggests buying them off. But I +agree with you, Carton--it's best to fight, to admit nothing, as +you would imply by any other method." + +"Then you think you can trace down the forger of those pictures +before it is too late?" urged Carton, leaning forward almost like +a prisoner in the dock to catch the words of the foreman of the +jury. + +"I haven't said I can do that--yet," measured Craig with provoking +slowness. + +"Say, Kennedy, you're not going to desert me?" reproached Carton. + +Kennedy laughed as he put his hand on Carton's shoulder. + +"I've been afraid of something like this," he said, "ever since I +began to realize that you had once been--er--foolish enough to +become even slightly acquainted with that adventuress, Mrs. +Ogleby. My advice is to fight, not to get in wrong by trying to +dicker, for that might amount to confession, and suit Dorgan's +purpose just as well. Photographs," he added sententiously, "are +like statistics. They don't lie unless the people who make them +do. But it's hard to tell what a liar can accomplish with either, +in an election. I--I don't know that I'd desert you--if the +pictures were true. I'd be sure there was some other explanation." + +"I knew it," responded Carton heartily. "Your hand on that, +Kennedy. Say, I think I've shaken hands with half the male +population of this city since I was nominated, but this means more +than any of them. Spare no reasonable expense and--get the goods, +no matter whom it hits higher up--Langhorne--anybody. And, for +God's sake get it in time--there's more than an election that +hangs on it!" + +Carton looked Kennedy squarely in the eye again, and we all +understood what it was he meant that was at stake. It might be +possible after all to gloss over almost anything and win the +election, but none of us dared to think what it might mean if Miss +Ashton not only suspected that Carton had been fraternizing with +the bosses but also that there had been or by some possibility +could be anything really in common between him and Mrs. Ogleby. + +That, after all, I saw was the real question. How would Miss +Ashton take it? Could she ever forgive him if it were possible for +Langhorne to turn the tables and point with scorn at the man who +had once been his rival for her hand? What might be the effect on +her of any disillusionment, of any ridicule that Langhorne might +artfully heap up? As we left Carton, I shared with Kennedy his +eagerness to get at the truth, now, and win the fight--the two +fights. + +"I want to see Miss Ashton, first," remarked Kennedy when we were +outside. + +Personally I thought that it was a risky business, but felt that +Kennedy must know best. + +When we arrived at the Reform League headquarters, the clerks and +girls had already set to work, and the office was a hive of +industry in the rush of winding up the campaign. Typewriters were +clicking, clippings were being snipped out of a huge stack of +newspapers and pasted into large scrapbooks, circulars were being +folded and made ready to mail for the final appeal. + +Carton's office there had been in the centre of the suite. On one +side were the cashier and bookkeeper, the clerical force and the +speakers' bureau, where spellbinders of all degrees were getting +instructions, final tours were being laid out, and reports +received of meetings already held. + +On the other side was the press bureau, with its large and active +force, in charge of Miss Ashton. + +As we entered we saw Miss Ashton very busy over something. Her +back was toward us, but the moment she turned at hearing us we +could see that something was the matter. + +Kennedy wasted no time in coming to the point of his visit. We had +scarcely seated ourselves beside her desk when he leaned over and +said in a low voice, "Miss Ashton, I think I can trust you. I have +called to see you about a matter of vital importance to Mr. +Carton." + +She did not betray even by a fleeting look on her proud face what +the true state of her feelings was. + +"I don't know whether you know, but an attempt is being made to +slander Mr. Carton," went on Kennedy. + +Still she said nothing, though it was evident that she was +thinking much. + +"I suppose in a large force like this that it is not impossible +that your political enemies may have a spy or two," observed +Kennedy, glancing about at the score or more clerks busily engaged +in getting out the "literature." + +"I have sometimes thought that myself," she murmured, "but of +course I don't know. There isn't anything for them to discover in +THIS office, though." + +Kennedy looked up quickly at the significant stress on the word +"this." She saw that Kennedy was watching. Margaret Ashton might +have made a good actress, that is, in something in which her +personal feelings were not involved, as they were in this case. +She was now pale and agitated. + +"I--I can't believe it," she managed to say. "Oh, Mr. Kennedy--I +would almost rather not have known it at all,--only I suppose I +must have known it sooner or later." + +"Believe me, Miss Ashton," soothed Kennedy, "you ought to know. It +is on you that I depend for many things. But, tell me, how do you +know already? I didn't think--it was known." + +She was still pale, and replied nervously, "Our detective in the +organization brought the pictures up here--one of the girls opened +them by mistake--it got about the office--I couldn't help but +know." + +"Miss Ashton," remonstrated Kennedy soothingly, "I beg you to be +calm. I had no idea you would take it like this, no idea. Please, +please. Remember pictures can lie--just like words." + +"I--I hope you're right," she managed to reply slowly. "I'm all +broken up by it. I'm ready to resign. My faith in human nature is +shaken. No, I won't say anything about Mr. Carton to anyone. But +it cuts me to have to think that Hartley Langhorne may have been +right. He always used to say that every man had his price. I am +afraid this will do great harm to the cause of reform and through +it to the woman suffrage cause which made me cast myself in with +the League. I--I can hardly believe--" + +Kennedy was still looking earnestly at her. "Miss Ashton," he +implored, "believe nothing. Remember one of the first rules of +politics in the organization you are fighting is loyalty. Wait +until--" + +"Wait?" she echoed. "How can I? I hate Mr. Carton for--for even +knowing--" she paused just in time to substitute Mr. Murtha for +Mrs. Ogleby--"such men as Mr. Murtha--secretly." + +She bit her lip at thus betraying her feelings, but what she had +seen had evidently affected her deeply. It was as though the feet +of her idol had turned to clay. + +"Just think it over," urged Kennedy. "Don't be too harsh. Don't do +anything rash. Suspend judgment. You won't regret it." + +Kennedy was apparently doing some rapid thinking. "Let me have the +photographs," he asked at length. + +"They are in Mr. Carton's office," she answered, as if she would +not soil her hands by touching the filthy things. + +We excused ourselves and went into Carton's office. + +There they were wrapped up, and across the package was written by +one of the clerks, "Opened by mistake." + +Kennedy opened the package again. Sure enough, there were the +photographs--as plain as they could be, the group including +Carton, Mrs. Ogleby, Murtha, and another woman, standing on the +porch of a gabled building in the sunshine, again the four +speeding in a touring car, of which the number could be read +faintly, and other less interesting snapshots. + +As I looked at them I said nothing, but I must admit that the +whole thing began to assume a suspicious look in my mind in +connection with various hints I had heard dropped by organization +men about probing into the past, and other insinuations. I felt +that far from aiding Carton, things were now getting darker. There +was nothing but his unsupported word that he had not been in such +groups to counterbalance the existence of the actual pictures +themselves, on the surface a graphic clincher to Dorgan's story. +Kennedy, however, after an examination of the photographs clung no +less tenaciously to a purpose he already had in mind, and instead +of leaving them for Carton, took them himself, leaving a note +instead. + +He stopped again to speak to Margaret Ashton. I did not hear all +of the conversation, but one phrase struck me, "And the worst of +it is that he called me up a little while ago and tried to act +toward me in the same old way--and that after I know what I know. +I--I could detect it in his voice. He knew he was concealing +something from me." + +What Kennedy said to her, I do not know, but I don't think it had +much effect. + +"That's the most difficult and unfortunate part of the whole +affair," he sighed as we left. "She believes it." + +I had no comment that was worth while. What was to be done? If +people believed it generally, Carton was ruined. + + + + +XXIII + +THE CONFESSION + + +Dorgan was putting up a bold fight, at any rate. Everyone, and +most of all his opponents who had once thought they had him on the +run, was forced to admit that. Moreover, one could not help +wondering at his audacity, whatever might be the opinion of his +dishonesty. + +But I was quite as much struck by the nerve of Carton. In the face +of gathering misfortunes many a man of less stern mettle might +have gone to pieces. Not so with the fighting District Attorney. +It seemed to spur him on to greater efforts. + +It was a titanic struggle, this between Carton and Dorgan, and had +reached the point where quarter was given or asked by neither. + +Kennedy had retired to his laboratory with the photographs and was +studying them with an increasing interest. + +It was toward the close of the afternoon when the telephone rang +and Kennedy motioned to me to answer it. + +"If it's Carton," he said quickly, "tell him I'm not here. I'm not +ready for him yet and I can't be interrupted." + +I took down the receiver, prepared to perjure my immortal soul. It +was indeed Carton, bursting with news and demanding to see Kennedy +immediately. + +Almost before I had finished with the carefully framed, glib +excuse that I was to make, he shouted to me over the wire, "What +do you think, Jameson? Tell him to come down right away. The +impossible has happened. I have got under Dopey Jack's guard--he +has confessed. It's big. Tell Kennedy I'll wait here at my office +until he comes." + +He had hung up the receiver before I could question him further. I +think it cured Kennedy, temporarily of asking me to fib for him +over the telephone. He was as anxious as I to see Carton, now, and +plunged into the remaining work on the photographs eagerly. + +He finished much sooner than he would, otherwise, and only to +preserve the decency of the excuse that I had made did not hasten +down to the Criminal Courts Building before a reasonable time had +elapsed. As we entered Carton's office we could tell from the very +atmosphere of the halls that something was happening. The +reporters in their little room outside were on the qui vive and I +heard a whisper and a busy scratching of pencils as we passed in +and the presence of someone else in the District Attorney's office +was noted. + +Carton met us in a little ante-room. He was all excitement +himself, but I could see that it was a clouded triumph. His mind +was really elsewhere than on the confession that he was getting. +Although he did not ask us, I knew that he was thinking only of +Margaret Ashton and how to regain the ground that he had +apparently lost with her. Still, he said nothing about the +photographs. I wondered whether it was because of his confidence +that Kennedy would pull him through. + +"You know," he whispered, "I have been working with my assistants +on Dopey Jack ever since the conviction, hoping to get a +confession from him, holding out all sorts of promises if he would +turn state's evidence and threats if he didn't. It all had no +effect. But Murtha's death seems to have changed all that. I don't +know why--whether he thinks it was due to foul play or not, for he +won't say anything about that and evidently doesn't know--but it +seems to have changed him." + +Carton said it as though at last a ray of light had struck in on +an otherwise black situation, and that was indeed the case. + +"I suppose," suggested Craig, "that as long as Murtha was alive he +would rather have died than say anything that would incriminate +him. That's the law of the gang world. But with Murtha no longer +to be shielded, perhaps he feels released. Besides, it must begin +to look to him as though the organization had abandoned him and +was letting him shift pretty much for himself." + +"That's it," agreed Carton. "He has never got it out of his head +that Kahn swung the case against him and I've been careful not to +dwell on the truth of that Kahn episode." + +Carton led us into his main office, where Rubano was seated with +two of Carton's assistants who were quizzing him industriously and +obtaining an amazing amount of information about gang life and +political corruption. In fact, like most criminals when they do +confess, Dopey Jack was in danger of confessing too much, in sheer +pride at his own prowess as a bad man. + +Outside, I knew that it was being well noised abroad, in fact I +had nodded to an old friend on the Star who had whispered to me +that the editor had already called him up and offered to give +Rubano any sum for a series of articles for the Sunday supplement +on life in the underworld. I knew, then, that the organization had +heard of it, by this time--too late. + +Most of the confession was completed by the time we arrived, but +as it had all been carefully taken down we knew we had missed +nothing. + +"You see, Mr. Carton," Rubano was saying as we three entered and +he turned from the assistant who was quizzing him, "it's like +this. I can't tell you all about the System. No one can. You +understand that. All any of us know is the men next to us--above +and below. We may have opinions, hear gossip, but that's no good +as evidence." + +"I understand," reassured Carton. "I don't expect that. You must +tell me the gossip and rumours, but all I am bartering a pardon +for is what you really know, and you've got to make good, or the +deal is off, see?" + +He said it in a tone that Dopey Jack could understand and the +gangster protested. "Well, Mr. Carton, haven't I made good?" + +"You have so far," grudgingly admitted Carton who was greedy for +everything down to the uttermost scrap that might lead to other +things. "Now, who was the man above you, to whom you reported?" + +"Mr. Murtha, of course," replied Jack, surprised that anyone +should ask so simple a question. + +"That's all right," explained Carton. "I knew it, but I wanted you +on record as saying it. And above Murtha?" + +"Why, you know it is Dorgan," replied Dopey, "only, as I say, I +can't prove that for you any better than you can." + +"He has already told about his associates and those he had working +under him," explained Carton, turning to us. "Now Langhorne--what +do you know about him?" + +"Know about Langhorne--the fellow that was--that I robbed?" +repeated Jack. + +"You robbed?" cut in Kennedy. "So you knew about thermit, then?" + +Dopey smiled with a sort of pride in his work, much as if he had +received a splendid recommendation. + +"Yes," he replied. "I knew about it--got it from a peterman who +has studied safes and all that sort of thing. I heard he had some +secret, so one night I takes him up to Farrell's and gets him +stewed and he tells me. Then when I wants to use it, bingo! there +I am with the goods." + +"And the girl--Betty Blackwell--what did she have to do with it?" +pursued Craig. "Did you get into the office, learn Langhorne's +habits, and so on, from her?" + +Dopey Jack looked at us in disgust. "Say," he replied, "if I +wanted a skirt to help me in such a job, believe me I know plenty +that could put it all over that girl. Naw, I did it all myself. I +picked the lock, burnt the safe with that powder the guy give me, +and took out something in soft leather, a lot of typewriting." + +We were all on our feet in unrestrained excitement. It was the +Black Book at last! + +"Yes," prompted Carton, "and what then--what did you do with it?" + +"Gave it to Mr. Murtha, of course," came back the matter-of-fact +answer of the young tough. + +"What did he do with it?" demanded Carton. + +Dopey Jack shook his head dubiously. "It ain't no use trying to +kid you, Mr. Carton. If I told you a fake you'd find it out. I'd +tell you what he did, if I knew, but I don't--on the level. He +just took it. Maybe he burnt it--I don't know. I did my work." + +Unprincipled as the young man was, I could not help the feeling +that in this case he was telling only the truth as he knew it. + +We looked at each other aghast. What if Murtha had got it and had +destroyed it before his death? That was an end of the dreams we +had built on its capture. On the other hand, if he had hidden it +there was small likelihood now of finding it. The only chance, as +far as I could see, was that he had passed it along to someone +else. And of that Dopey Jack obviously knew nothing. + +Still, his information was quite valuable enough. He had given us +the first definite information we had received of it. + +Carton, his assistants, and Kennedy now vigorously proceeded in a +sort of kid glove third degree, without getting any further than +convincing themselves that Rubano genuinely did not know. + +"But the stenographer," reiterated Carton, returning to the line +of attack which he had temporarily abandoned. "Something became of +her. She disappeared and even her family haven't a trace of her, +nor any other institutions in the city. We've got something on +you, there, Rubano." + +Jack laughed. "Mr. Carton," he answered easily, "the police put me +through the mill on that without finding anything, and I don't +believe you have anything. But just to show you that I'm on the +square with you, I don't mind telling you that I got her away." + +It was dramatic, the off-hand way in which the gangster told of +this mystery that had perplexed us. + +"Got her away--how--where?" demanded Carton fiercely. + +"Mr Murtha gave me some money--a wad. I don't know who gave it to +him, but it wasn't his money. It was to pay her to stay away till +this all blew over. Oh, they made it worth her while. So I dolled +up and saw her--and she fell for it--a pretty good sized wad," he +repeated, as though he wished some of it had stuck to his own +hands. + +We fairly gasped at the ease and simplicity with which the fellow +bandied facts that had been beyond our discovery for days. Here +was another link in our chain. We could not prove it, but in all +probability it was Dorgan who furnished the money. Even if the +Black Book were lost, it was possible that in the retentive memory +of this girl there might be much that would take its place. She +had seen a chance for providing for the future of herself and her +family. All she had to do was to take it and keep quiet. + +"You know where she is, then?" shot out Kennedy suddenly. + +"No--not now," returned Dopey. "She was told to meet me at the +Little Montmartre. She did. I don't think she knew what kind of +place it was, or she wouldn't have come." + +He paused, as though he had something on his mind. + +"Go on," urged Kennedy. "Tell all. You must tell all." + +"I was just thinking," he hesitated. "I remember I saw Ike the +Dropper and Marie Margot there that day, too, with Martin Ogleby-- +" + +"Martin Ogleby!" interrupted Carton in surprise. + +"Yes, Martin Ogleby. He hangs about the Montmartre and the +Futurist, all those joints. Say--I've been thinking a heap since +this case of mine came up. I wonder whether it was all on the +level--with me. I gave the money. But was that a stall? Perhaps +they tried to get back. Perhaps she played into their hands--I saw +her watching the sports, there, and believe me, there are some +swell lookers. Oh well, _I_ don't know. All I know is my part. I +don't know anything that happened after that. I can't tell what I +don't know, can I, Mr. Carton?" + +"Not very well," smiled the prosecutor. "But you can tell us +anything you suspect." + +"I don't know what I suspect. I was only a part of the machine. +Only after I read that she disappeared, I began to think there +might have been some funny business--I don't know." + +Eager as we were, we could only accept this unsatisfactory +explanation of the whereabouts of Betty. + +"After all, I was only a part," reiterated Jack. "You better ask +Ike--that's all." + +Just then the telephone buzzed. Carton was busy and Kennedy, who +happened to be nearest, answered it. I fancied that there was a +puzzled expression on his face, as he placed his hand over the +transmitter and said to Carton, "Here--it's for you. Take it. By +the way, where's that thing I left down here for recording +voices?" + +"Here in my desk. But you took the cylinder with you." + +"Haven't you got another? Don't you ever use them for dictating +letters?" + +Carton nodded and sent his stenographer to get a new one. + +"Just a minute, please," cut in Kennedy. "Mr. Carton will be here +in a few moments, now." + +Carton took the telephone and placed his hand over it, until, with +a nod from Kennedy as he affixed the machine, he answered. + +"Yes--this is the District Attorney," we heard him answer. "What? +Rubano? Why you can't talk to him. He's a convicted man. Here? How +do you know he's here? No--I wouldn't let you talk to him if he +was. Who are you, anyway? What's that--you threaten him--you +threaten me? You'll get us both, will you? Well, I want to tell +you, you can go plumb--the deuce! The fellow's cut himself off!" + +As Carton finished, a peculiar smile played about Rubano's +features. "I expected that, but not so soon," he said quietly. +"New York'll be no place for me, Mr. Carton, after this. You've +got to keep your word and smuggle me out. South Africa, you know-- +you promised." + +"I'll keep my word, Rubano, too," assured Carton. "The nerve of +that fellow. Where's Kennedy?" + +We looked about. Craig had slipped out quietly during the +telephone conversation. Before we could start a search for him, he +returned. + +"I thought there was something peculiar about the voice," he +explained. "That was why I wanted a record of it. While you were +talking I got your switchboard operator to connect me with central +on another wire. The call was from a pay station on the west side. +There wasn't a chance to get the fellow, of course--but I have the +voice record, anyhow." + +Dopey Jack's confession occupied most of the evening and it was +late when we got away. Carton was overjoyed at the result of his +pressure, and eager to know, on the other hand, whether Kennedy +had made any progress yet with his study of the photographs. + +I could have told him beforehand, however, that Craig would say +nothing and he did not. Besides, he had the added mystery of the +new phonograph cylinder to engross him, with the result that we +parted from Carton, a little piqued at being left out of Craig's +confidence, but helpless. + +As for me, I knew it was useless to trail after Kennedy and when +he announced that he was going back to the laboratory, I balked +and, in spite of my interest in the case, went home to our +apartment to bed, while Kennedy made a night of it. + +What he discovered I knew no better in the morning than when I +left him, except that he seemed highly elated. + +Leisurely he dressed, none the worse for his late work and after +devouring the papers as if there were nothing else in the world so +important, he waited until the middle of the morning before doing +anything further. + +"I merely wanted to give Dorgan a chance to get to his office," he +surprised me with, finally. "Come, Walter, I think he must be +there now." + +Amazed at his temerity in bearding Dorgan in his very den, I could +do nothing but accompany him, though I much feared it was almost +like inviting homicide. + +The Boss's office was full of politicians, for it was now +approaching "dough day," when the purse strings of the +organization were loosed and a flood of potent argument poured +forth to turn the tide of election by the force of the only thing +that talks loud enough for some men to hear. Somehow, Kennedy +managed to see the Boss. + +"Mr. Dorgan," began Kennedy quietly, when we were seated alone in +the little Sanctum of the Boss, "you will pardon me if I seem to +be a little slow in coming to the business that has brought me +here this morning. First of all I may say that you probably share +the idea that ever since the days of Daguerre photography has been +regarded as the one infallible means of portraying faithfully any +object, scene, or action. Indeed, a photograph is admitted in +court as irrefutable evidence. For, when everything else fails, a +picture made through the photographic lens almost invariably turns +the tide. However, such a picture upon which the fate of an +important case may rest should be subjected to critical +examination, for it is an established fact that a photograph may +be made as untruthful as it may be reliable." + +He paused. Dorgan was regarding him keenly, but saying nothing. +Kennedy did not mind, as he resumed. + +"Combination photographs change entirely the character of the +initial negative and have been made for the past fifty years. The +earliest, simplest, and most harmless photographic deception is +the printing of clouds in a bare sky. But the retoucher with his +pencil and etching tool to-day is very skilful. A workman of +ordinary ability can introduce a person taken in a studio into an +open-air scene well blended and in complete harmony without a +visible trace of falsity." + +Dorgan was growing interested. + +"I need say nothing of how one head can be put on another body in +a picture," pursued Craig, "nor need I say what a double exposure +will do. There is almost no limit to the changes that may be +wrought in form and feature. It is possible to represent a person +crossing Broadway or walking on Riverside Drive, places he may +never have visited. Thus a person charged with an offence may be +able to prove an alibi by the aid of a skilfully prepared +combination photograph. + +"Where, then," asked Kennedy, "can photography be considered as +irrefutable evidence? The realism may convince all, except the +expert and the initiated after careful study. A shrewd judge will +be careful to insist that in every case the negative be submitted +and examined for possible alterations by a clever manipulator." + +Kennedy bent his gaze on Dorgan. "Now, I do not accuse you, sir, +of anything. But a photograph has come into my possession in which +Mr. Carton is represented as standing in a group on a porch, with +Mr. Murtha, Mrs. Ogleby, and an unknown woman. The first three are +in poses that show the utmost friendliness. I do not hesitate to +say that was originally a photograph of yourself, Mr. Murtha, Mrs. +Ogleby, and a woman whom you know well. It is a pretty raw deal, a +fake in which Carton has been substituted by very excellent +photographic forgery." + +"A fake--huh!" repeated Dorgan, contemptuously. "How about the +story of them? There's no negative. You've got to show me that the +original print stolen from Carton, we'll say, is a fake. You can't +do it. No, sir, those pictures were taken this summer." + +Kennedy quietly laid down the bundle of photographs copied from +those alleged to have been stolen from Carton. He was pointing to +a shadow of a gable on the house. + +"You see that shadow of the gable, Dorgan?" he asked. "Perhaps you +never heard of it, but it is possible to tell the exact time at +which a photograph was taken from a study of the shadows. It is +possible in theory and practice, and it can be trusted absolutely. +Almost any scientist, Dorgan, may be called in to bear testimony +in court nowadays, but you probably think the astronomer is one of +the least likely. + +"Well, the shadow in this picture can be made to prove an alibi +for someone. Notice. It is seen prominently to the right, and its +exact location on the house is an easy matter. The identification +of the gable casting the shadow ought to be easy. To be exact, I +have figured it out as 19.62 feet high. The shadow is 14.23 feet +down, 13.10 feet east, and 3.43 feet north. You see, I am exact. I +have to be. In one minute it moves 0.080 feet upward, 0.053 feet +to the right, and 0.096 feet in its apparent path. It passes the +width of a weatherboard, 0.37 foot, in four minutes and thirty- +seven seconds." + +Kennedy was talking rapidly of data which he had derived from the +study of the photograph as from plumb line, level, compass, and +tape, astronomical triangle, vertices, zenith, pole, and sun, +declination, azimuth, solar time, parallactic angles, refraction, +and a dozen other bewildering terms. + +"In spherical trigonometry," he concluded, "to solve the problem +three elements must be known. I know four. Therefore, I can take +each of the known, treat it as unknown, and have four ways to +check my result. I find that the time might have been either three +o'clock, twenty-one minutes and twelve seconds in the afternoon, +or 3:21:31 or 3:21:29, or 3:21:33. The average is 3: 21:26 and +there can be no appreciable error except for a few seconds. I tell +you that to show you how close I can come. The important thing, +however, is that the date must have been one of two days, either +May 22 or July 22. Between these two dates we must decide on +evidence other than the shadow. It must have been in May, as the +immature condition of the foliage shows. But even if it had been +in July, that would be far from the date you allege. Why, I could +even tell you the year. Then, too, I could look up the weather +records and tell something from them. I can really answer, with an +assurance and accuracy superior to the photographer himself, if +you could produce him and he were honest, as to the real date. The +original picture, aside from being doctored, was actually taken +last May. Science is not fallible, but exact in this matter." + +Kennedy felt that he had scored a palpable hit. Dorgan was +speechless. Still, Craig hurried on. + +"But, you may ask, how about the automobile picture? That also is +an unblushing fake. Of course I must prove that. In the first +place you know that the general public has come to recognize the +distortion of a photograph as denoting speed. A picture of a car +in a race that doesn't lean is rejected. People demand to see +speed, speed, more speed, even in pictures. Distortion does indeed +show speed, but that, too, can be faked. + +"Almost everyone knows that the image is projected upside down by +the lens on the plate, and that the bottom of the picture is taken +before the top. The camera mechanism admits light, which makes the +picture, in the manner of a roller blind curtain. The slit travels +from the top to the bottom and, the image on the plate being +projected upside down, the bottom of the object appears on the top +of the plate. For instance, the wheels are taken before the head +of the driver. If the car is moving quickly, the image moves on +the plate and each successive part is taken a little in advance of +the last. The whole leans forward. By widening the slit and +slowing the speed of the shutter, there is more distortion. + +"Now, that is just what has been done. A picture has been taken of +a car owned once by Murtha, probably at rest, with perhaps +yourself, Murtha, Mrs. Ogleby, and your friend in it. The matter +of faking Carton or anyone else is simple. If, with an enlarging +lantern, the image of this faked picture is thrown on the printing +paper like a lantern slide, and if the right-hand side is moved a +little further away than the left, the top further away than the +bottom, you can in that way print a fraudulent high-speed picture +ahead. + +"True, everything else in the picture, even if motionless, is +distorted, and the difference between this faking and the +distortion of the shutter can be seen by an expert. But it will +pass with most people. In this case, however," added Kennedy +suddenly, "the faker was so sure of it that he was careless. +Instead of getting the plate further from the paper on the right, +he did so on the left. It was further away on the bottom than on +the top. He got the distortion, all right, enough to satisfy +anyone. But it is distortion in the wrong direction! The top of +the wheel, which goes fastest and ought to be most indistinct, is, +in the fake, as sharp as any other part. It is a small mistake +that was made, but fatal. Your picture is not of a joy ride at +all. It is really high speed--backwards! It is too raw, too raw." + +"You don't think people are going to swallow all that stuff, do +you?" asked Dorgan coolly, in spite of the exposures. "What of it +all?" he asked surlily. "I have nothing to do with it, anyhow. Why +do you come to me? Take it to the proper authorities." + +"Shall I?" asked Kennedy quietly, leaning over and whispering a +few words in Dorgan's ear. I could not hear what he said, but +Dorgan appeared to be fairly staggered. + +When Kennedy passed out of the Boss's office there was a look of +quiet satisfaction on his face which I could not fathom. Not a +word could I extract from him on the subject, either. I was still +in the dark as to the result of his visit. + + + + +XXIV + +THE DEBACLE OF DORGAN + + +Sunday morning came and with it the huge batch of papers which we +always took. I looked at them eagerly, though Kennedy did not seem +to evince much interest, to see whether the Carton photographs had +been used. There were none. + +Kennedy employed the time in directing some work of his own and +had disappeared, I knew not where, though I surmised it was on one +of his periodic excursions into the underworld in which he often +knocked about, collecting all sorts of valuable and interesting +bits of information to fit together in the mosaic of a case. + +Monday came, also, the last day before the election, with its lull +in the heart-breaking activities of the campaign. There were still +no pictures published, but Kennedy was working in the laboratory +over a peculiar piece of apparatus. + +"I've been helping out my own shadows," was all the explanation he +vouchsafed of his disappearances, as he continued to work. + +"Watching Mrs. Ogleby?" I hinted. + +"No, I didn't interfere any more with Miss Kendall. This was +someone else--in another part of the city." + +He said it with an air that seemed to imply that I would learn all +about it shortly and I did not pursue the subject. + +Meanwhile, he was arranging something on the top of a large, flat +table. It seemed to be an instrument in two parts, composed of +many levers and discs and magnets, each part with a roll of paper +about five inches wide. + +On one was a sort of stylus with two silk cords attached at right +angles to each other near the point. On the other was a capillary +glass tube at the junction of two aluminum arms, also at right +angles to each other. + +It was quite like old times to see Kennedy at work in his +laboratory again, and I watched him curiously. Two sets of wires +were attached to each of the instruments, and they led out of the +window to some other wires which had been strung by telephone +linemen only a few hours before. + +Craig had scarcely completed his preparations when Carton arrived. +Things were going all right in the campaign again, I knew, at +least as far as appeared on the surface. But his face showed that +Carton was clearly dissatisfied with what Craig had apparently +accomplished, for, as yet, he had not told Carton about his +discovery after studying the photographs, and matters between +Carton and Margaret Ashton stood in the same strained condition +that they had when last we saw her. + +I must say that I, too, was keenly disappointed by the lack of +developments in this phase of the case. Aside from the fact that +the photographs had not actually been published, the whole thing +seemed to me to be a mess. What had Craig said to Dorgan? Above +all, what was his game? Was he playing to spare the girl's +feelings merely by allowing the election to go on without a +scandal to Carton? I knew the result of the election was now the +least of Carton's worries. + +Carton did not say much, but he showed that he thought it high +time for Kennedy to do something. + +We were seated about the flat table, wondering when Kennedy would +break his silence, when suddenly, as if by a spirit hand, the +stylus before us began to move across one of the rolls of paper. + +We watched it uncomprehendingly. + +At last I saw that it was actually writing the words. "How is it +working?" + +Quickly Craig seized the stylus on the lower part of the +instrument and wrote in his characteristic scrawl, "All right, go +ahead." + +"What is the thing?" asked Carton, momentarily forgetting his own +worries at the new marvel before us. + +"An instrument that was invented many years ago, but has only +recently been perfected for practical, every-day use, the +telautograph, the long-distance writer," replied Kennedy, as we +waited. "You see, with what amounts to an ordinary pencil I have +written on the paper of the transmitter. The silk cord attached to +the pencil regulates the current which controls another capillary +glass tube-pen at the other end of the line. The receiving pen +moves simultaneously with my stylus. It is the same principle as +the pantagraph, cut in half as it were, one half here, the other +half at the other end of the line, two telephone wires in this +case connecting the halves. Ah,--that's it. The pencil of the +receiving instrument is writing again. Just a moment. Let us see +what it is." + +I almost gasped in astonishment at the words that I saw. I looked +again, for I could not believe my eyes. Still, there it was. My +first glance had been correct, impossible as it was. + +"I, Patrick Murtha," wrote the pen. + +"What is it?" asked Carton, awestruck. "A dead hand?" + +"Stop a minute," wrote Kennedy hastily. + +We bent over him closely. Craig had drawn from a packet several +letters, which he had evidently secured in some way from the +effects of Murtha. Carefully, minutely, he compared the words +before us with the signatures at the bottom of the letters. + +"It is genuine!" he cried excitedly. + +"Genuine!" Carton and I echoed. + +What did he mean? Was this some kind of spiritism? Had Kennedy +turned medium and sought a message from the other world to solve +the inexplicable problems of this? It was weird, uncanny, +unthinkable. We turned to him blankly for an explanation of the +mystery. + +"That wasn't Murtha at all whose body we saw at the Morgue," he +hurried to explain. "That was all a frame-up. I thought as soon as +I saw it that there was something queer." + +I recalled now the peculiar look on his face which I had +interpreted as indicating that he thought Murtha had been the +victim of foul play. + +"And the other night, when we were in Carton's office and someone +called up threatening you, Carton, and Dopey Jack, I saw at once +that the voice was concealed. Yet there was something about it +that was familiar, though I couldn't quite place it. I had heard +that voice before, perhaps while we were getting the records to +discover the 'wolf.' It occurred to me that if I had a record of +it I might identify it by comparing it with those we had already +taken. I got the record. I studied it. I compared it with what I +already had, line, and wave, and overtone. You can imagine how I +felt when I found there was only one voice with which it +corresponded, and that man was supposed to be dead. Something more +than intuition as I looked at the body that night had roused my +suspicions. Now they were confirmed. Fancy how that information +must have burned in my mind, during these days while I knew that +Murtha was alive, but could say nothing!" + +Neither Carton nor I could say a word as we thought of this voice +from the dead, as it almost seemed. + +"I hadn't found him," continued Craig, "but I knew he had used a +pay station on the West Side. I began shadowing everyone who might +have helped him, Dorgan, Kahn, Langhorne, all. I didn't find him. +They were too clever. He was hiding somewhere in the city, a +changed personality, waiting for the thing to blow over. He knew +that of all places a city is the best to hide in, and of all +cities New York is safest. + +"But, though I didn't actually find his hiding place, I had enough +on some of his friends so that I could get word to him that his +secret was known to me, at least. I made him an offer of safety. +He need not come out of his hiding place and I would agree to let +him go where and when he pleased without further pursuit from me, +if he would let me install a telautograph in a neutral place which +he could select and the other end in this laboratory. I myself do +not know where the other place is. Only a mechanic sworn to +secrecy knows and neither Murtha nor myself know him. If Murtha +comes across, I have given my word of honour that before the world +he shall remain a dead man, free to go where he pleases and enjoy +such of his fortune as he was able to fix so that he could carry +it with him into his new life." + +Carton and I were entranced by the romance of the thing. + +Murtha was alive! + +The commitment to the asylum, the escape, the search, the finding +of a substitute body, mutilated beyond ordinary recognition, the +mysterious transfers, and finally the identification in the +Morgue--all had been part of an elaborately staged play! + +We saw it all, now. Carton had got too close to him in the +conviction of Dopey Jack and the proceedings against Kahn. He had +seen the handwriting on the wall for himself. In Carton's gradual +climbing, step by step, for the man higher up, he would have been +the next to go. + +Murtha had decided that it was time to get out, to save himself. + +Suddenly, I saw another aspect of it. By dropping out as though +dead, he destroyed a link in the chain that would reach Dorgan. +There was no way of repairing that link if he were dead. It was +missing and missing for good. + +Dorgan had known it. Had it been a hint as to that which had +finally clinched whatever it was that Kennedy had whispered to the +Silent Boss that morning when we had seen him in his office? + +All these thoughts and more flashed through my head with +lightning-like rapidity. + +The telautograph was writing again, obedient to Kennedy's signal +that he was satisfied with the signature. + +"... in consideration of Craig Kennedy's agreement to destroy even +this record, agree to give him such information as he has asked +for, after which no further demands are to be made and the facts +as already publicly recorded are to stand." + +"Just witness it," asked Kennedy of us. "It is a gentleman's +agreement among us all." + +Nervously we set our names to the thing, only too eager to keep +the secret if we could further the case on which we had been +almost literally sweating blood so long. + +Prepared though we were for some startling disclosures, it was, +nevertheless, with a feeling almost of faintness that we saw the +stylus above moving again. + +"The Black Book, as you call it," it wrote, "has been sent by +messenger to be deposited in escrow with the Gotham Trust Company +to be delivered, Tuesday, the third of November, on the written +order of Craig Kennedy and John Carton. An officer of the trust +company will notify you of its receipt immediately, which will +close the entire transaction as far as I am concerned." + +Kennedy could not wait. He had already seized his own telephone +and was calling a number. + +"They have it," he announced a moment later, scrawling the +information on the transmitter of the telautograph. + +A moment it was still, then it wrote again. + +"Good-bye and good luck," it traced. "Murtha!" + +The Smiling Boss could not resist his little joke at the end, even +now. + +"Can--we--get it?" asked Carton, almost stunned at the unexpected +turn of events. + +"No," cautioned Kennedy, "not yet. To-morrow. I made the same +promise to Murtha that I made to Dorgan, when I went to him with +Walter, although Walter did not hear it. This is to be a fair +fight, for the election, now." + +"Then," said Carton earnestly, "I may as well tell you that I +shall not sleep to-night. I can't, even if I can use the book only +after election in the clean-up of the city!" + +Kennedy laughed. + +"Perhaps I can entertain you with some other things," he said +gleefully, adding, "About those photographs." + +Carton was as good as his word. He did not sleep, and the greater +part of the night we spent in telling him about what Craig had +discovered by his scientific analysis of the faked pictures. + +At last morning came. Though Kennedy and I had slept soundly in +our apartment, Carton had in reality only dozed in a chair, after +we closed the laboratory. + +Slowly the hours slipped away until the trust company opened. + +We were the first to be admitted, with our order ready signed and +personally delivered. + +As the officer handed over the package, Craig tore the wrapper off +eagerly. + +There, at last, was the Black Book! + +Carton almost seized it from Kennedy, turning the pages, skimming +over it, gloating like a veritable miser. + +It was the debacle of Dorgan--the end of the man highest up! + + + + +XXV + +THE BLOOD CRYSTALS + + +Much as we had accomplished, we had not found Betty Blackwell. +Except for her shadowing of Mrs. Ogleby, Clare Kendall had devoted +her time to winning the confidence of the poor girl, Sybil +Seymour, whom we had rescued from Margot's. Meanwhile, the +estrangement of Carton and Margaret Ashton threw a cloud over even +our success. + +During the rest of the morning Craig was at work again in the +laboratory. He was busily engaged in testing something through his +powerful microscopes and had a large number of curious +microphotographs spread out on the table. As I watched him, +apparently there was nothing but the blood-stained gauze bandage +which had been fastened to the face of the strange, light-haired +woman, and on the stains on this bandage he was concentrating his +attention. I could not imagine what he expected to discover from +it. + +I waited for Kennedy to speak, but he was too busy more than to +notice that I had come in. I fell to thinking of that woman. And +the more I thought of the fair face, the more I was puzzled by it. +I felt somehow or other that I had seen it somewhere before, yet +could not place it. + +A second time I examined the unpublished photograph of Betty +Blackwell as well as the pictures that had been published. The +only conclusion that I could come to was that it could not be she, +for although she was light-haired and of fair complexion, the face +as I remembered it was that of a mature woman who was much larger +than the slight Betty. I was sure of that. + +Every time I reasoned it out I came to the same contradictory +conclusion that I had seen her, and I hadn't. I gave it up, and as +Kennedy seemed indisposed to enlighten me, I went for a stroll +about the campus, returning as if drawn back to him by a +lodestone. + +About him was still the litter of test tubes, the photographs, the +microscopes; and he was more absorbed in his delicate work than +ever. + +He looked up from his examination of a little glass slide and I +could see by the crow's feet in the corners of his eyes that he +was not looking so much at me as through me at a very puzzling +problem. + +"Walter," he remarked at length, "did you notice anything in +particular about that blonde woman who dashed down the steps into +the taxicab and escaped from the dope joint?" + +"I should say that I did," I returned, glad to ease my mind of +what had been perplexing me ever since. "I don't want to appear to +be foolish, but, frankly, I thought I had seen her before, and +then when I tried to place her I found that I could not recognize +her at all. She seemed to be familiar, and yet when I tried to +place her I could think of no one with just those features. It was +a foolish impression, I suppose." + +"That's exactly it," he exclaimed. "I thought at first it was just +a foolish impression, too, an intuition which my later judgment +rejected. But often those first impressions put you on the track +of the truth. I reconsidered. You remember she had dropped that +bandage from her face with the blood-stain on it. I picked it up +and it occurred to me to try a little experiment with these blood- +stains which might show something." + +He paused a moment and fingered some of the microphotographs. + +"What would you say," he went on, "if I should tell you that a +pronounced blonde, with a fair complexion and thin, almost hooked, +nose, was in reality a negress?" + +"If it were anyone but you, Craig," I replied frankly, "I'd be +tempted to call him something. But you--well, what's the answer? +How do you know?" + +"I wonder if you have ever heard of the Reichert blood test? Well, +the Carnegie Institution has recently published an account of it. +Professor Edward Reichert of the University of Pennsylvania has +discovered that the blood crystals of all animals and men show +characteristic differences. + +"It has even been suggested that before the studies are over +photographs of blood corpuscles may be used to identify criminals, +almost like fingerprints. There is much that can be discovered +already by the use of these hemoglobin clues. That hemoglobin, or +red colouring matter of the blood, forms crystals has been known +for a long time. These crystals vary in different animals, as they +are studied under the polarizing microscope, both in form and +molecular structure. That is of immense importance for the +scientific criminologist. + +"A man's blood is not like the blood of any other living creature, +either fish, flesh, or fowl. Further, it is said that the blood of +a woman or a man and of different individuals shows differences +that will reveal themselves under certain tests. You can take +blood from any number of animals and the scientists to-day can +tell that it is not human blood, but the blood, say, of an animal. + +"The scientists now can go further. They even hope soon to be able +to tell the difference between individuals so closely that they +can trace parentage by these tests. Already they can actually +distinguish among the races of men, whether a certain sample of +blood, by its crystals, is from a Chinaman, a Caucasian, or a +negro. Each gives its own characteristic crystal. The Caucasian +shows that he is more closely related to one group of primates; +the negro to another. It is scientific proof of evolution. + +"It is all the more wonderful, Walter, when you consider that +these crystals are only 1-2250th of an inch in length and 1-9000th +of an inch in width." + +"How do you study them?" I asked. + +"The method I employed was to take a little of the blood and add +some oxalate of ammonium to it, then shake it up thoroughly with +ether to free the hemoglobin from the corpuscles. I then separated +the ether carefully from the rest of the blood mixture and put a +few drops of it on a slide, covered them with a cover slip and +sealed the edges with balsam. Gradually the crystals appear and +they can be studied and photographed in the usual way--not only +the shapes of the crystals, but also the relation that their +angles bear to each other. So it is impossible to mistake the +blood of one animal for another or of one race, like the white +race, for that of another, like the black. In fact the physical +characteristics by which some physicians profess to detect the +presence of negro blood are held by other authorities to be +valueless. But not so with this test." + +"And you have discovered in this case?" I asked. + +"That the blood on the bandage from the face of that woman who +escaped was not the blood of a pure Caucasian. She shows traces of +negro blood, in fact exactly what would have been expected of a +mulatto." + +It dawned on me that the woman must have been Marie, after all; at +least that that was what he meant. + +"But," I objected, "one look at her face was enough to show that +she was not the dark-skinned Marie with her straight nose, her +dark hair and other features. This woman was fair, had a nose that +was almost hooked and hair that was almost flaxen. Remember the +portrait parle." + +"Just so--the portrait parle. That is what I am remembering. You +recall Carton discovered that in some way these people found out +that we were using it? What would they do? Why, they have thought +out the only possible way in which to beat it, don't you see? + +"Marie, Madame Margot, whatever you call her, had a beauty +parlour. Oh, they are clever, these people. They reasoned it all +out. What was a beauty parlour, a cosmetic surgery, for, if it +could not be used to save them? They knew we had her scientific +description. What was the thing to do, then? Why, change it, of +course, change her!" + +Kennedy was quite excited now. + +"You know what Miss Kendall said of decorative surgery, there? +They change noses, ears, foreheads, chins, even eyes. They put the +thing up to Dr. Harris with his knives and bandages and lotions. +He must work quickly. It would take all his time. So he +disappeared into Margot's and stayed there. Marie also stayed +there until such time as she might be able to walk out, another +person entirely. Harris must have had charge of her features. The +attendants in Margot's had charge of her complexion and hair-- +those were the things in which they specialized. + +"Don't you see it all now? She could retire a few days into the +dope joint next door and she would emerge literally a new woman +ready to face us, even with Bertillon's portrait parle against +her." + +It was amazing how quickly Kennedy pieced the facts together into +an explanation. + +"Yes," he concluded triumphantly, "that blonde woman was our dark- +skinned mulatto made over--Marie. But they can't escape the power +of science, even by using science themselves. She might change her +identity to our eyes, but she could not before the Reichert test +and the microscope. No, the Ethiopian could not change her skin +before the eye of science." + +It was late in the afternoon that Kennedy received a hurried +telephone call from Miss Kendall. I could tell by the scraps of +conversation which I overheard that it was most important. + +"That girl, Sybil Seymour, has broken down," was all he said as he +turned from the instrument. "She will he here to-day with Miss +Kendall. You must see Carton immediately. Tell him not to fail to +be here, at the laboratory, this afternoon at three, sharp." + +He was gone before I could question him further and there was +nothing for me to do but to execute the commission he had laid on +me. + +I met Carton at his club, relating to him all that I could about +the progress of the case. He seemed interested but I could see +that his mind was really not on it. The estrangement between him +and Margaret Ashton outweighed success in this case and even in +the election. + +Half an hour before the appointed time, however, we arrived at the +laboratory in Carton's car, to find Kennedy already there, putting +the finishing touches on the preparations he was making to receive +his "guests." + +"Dorgan will be here," he answered, evading Carton's question as +to what he had discovered. + +"Dorgan?" we repeated in surprise. + +"Yes. I have made arrangements to have Martin Ogleby, too. They +won't dare stay away. Ike the Dropper, Dr. Harris, and Marie +Margot have not been found yet, but Miss Kendall will bring Sybil +Seymour. Then we shall see." + +The door opened. It was Ogleby. He bowed stiffly, but before he +could say anything, a noise outside heralded the arrival of +someone else. + +It proved to be Dorgan, who had come from an opposite direction. +Dorgan seemed to treat the whole affair with contempt, which he +took pleasure in showing. He was cool and calm, master of himself, +in any situation no matter how hostile. + +As we waited, the strained silence, broken only by an occasional +whisper between Carton and Kennedy, was relieved even by the +arrival of Miss Kendall and Sybil Seymour in a cab. As they +entered I fancied that a friendship had sprung up between the two, +that Miss Kendall had won her fight for the girl. Indeed, I +suspect that it was the first time in years that the girl had had +a really disinterested friend of either sex. + +I thought Ogleby visibly winced as he caught sight of Miss +Seymour. He evidently had not expected her, and I thought that +perhaps he had no relish for the recollection of the Montmartre +which her presence suggested. + +Miss Seymour, now like herself as she had appeared first behind +the desk at the hotel, only subdued and serious, seemed ill at +ease. Dorgan, on the other hand, bowed to her brazenly and +mockingly. He was evidently preparing against any surprises which +Craig might have in store, and maintained his usual surly silence. + +"Perhaps," hemmed Ogleby, clearing his throat and looking at his +watch ostentatiously, "Professor Kennedy can inform us regarding +the purpose of this extra-legal proceeding? Some of us, I know, +have other engagements. I would suggest that you begin, +Professor." + +He placed a sarcastic emphasis on the word "professor," as the two +men faced each other--Craig tall, clean-cut, earnest; Ogleby +polished, smooth, keen. + +"Very well," replied Craig with that steel-trap snap of his jaws +which I knew boded ill for someone. + +"It is not necessary for me to repeat what has happened at the +Montmartre and the beauty parlour adjoining it," began Kennedy +deliberately. "One thing, however, I want to say. Twice, now, I +have seen Dr. Harris handing out packets of drugs--once to Ike the +Dropper, agent for the police and a corrupt politician, and once +to a mulatto woman, almost white, who conducted the beauty parlour +and dope joint which I have mentioned, a friend and associate of +Ike the Dropper, a constant go-between from Ike to the corrupt +person higher up. + +"This woman, whom I have just mentioned, we have been seeking by +use of Bertillon's new system of the portrait parle. She has +escaped, for the time, by a very clever ruse, by changing her very +face in the beauty parlour. She is Madame Margot herself!" + +Not a word was breathed by any of the little audience as they hung +on Kennedy's words. + +"Why was it necessary to get Betty Blackwell out of the way?" he +asked suddenly, then without waiting for an answer, "You know and +District Attorney Carton knows. Someone was afraid of Carton and +his crusade. Someone wanted to destroy the value of that Black +Book, which I now have. The only safety lay in removing the person +whose evidence would be required in court to establish it--Betty +Blackwell. And the manner? What more natural than to use the dope +fiends and the degenerates of the Montmartre gang?" + +"That's silly," interrupted Ogleby contemptuously. + +"Silly? You can say that--you, the tool of that--that monster?" + +It was a woman's voice that interrupted. I turned. Sybil Seymour, +her face blazing with resentment, had risen and was facing Ogleby +squarely. + +"You lie!" exclaimed the Silent Boss, forgetting both his silence +and his superciliousness. + +The situation was tense as the girl faced him. + +"Go on, Sybil," urged Clare. + +"Be careful, woman," cried Dorgan roughly. + +Sybil Seymour turned quickly to her new assailant. "You are the +man for whom we were all coined into dollars," she scorned, +"Dorgan--politician, man higher up! You reaped the profits through +your dirty agent, Ike the Dropper, and those over him, even the +police you controlled. Dr. Harris, Marie Margot, all are your +tools--and the worst of them all is this man Martin Ogleby!" + +Dorgan's face was livid. For once in his life he was speechless +rather than silent, as the girl poured out the inside gossip of +the Montmartre which Kennedy had now stamped with the earmarks of +legal proof. + +She had turned from Dorgan, as if from an unclean animal and was +now facing Ogleby. + +"As for you, Martin Ogleby, they call you a club-man and society +leader. Do you want to know what club I think you really belong +to--you who have involved one girl after another in the meshes of +this devilish System? You belong to the Abduction Club--that is +what I would call it--you--you libertine!" + + + + +XXVI + +THE WHITE SLAVE + + +Carton had sprung to his feet at the direct charge and was facing +Ogleby. + +"Is that true--about the Montmartre?" he demanded. + +Ogleby fairly sputtered. "She lies," he almost hissed. + +"Just a moment," interrupted Dorgan. "What has that to do with +Miss Blackwell, anyhow?" + +Sybil Seymour did not pause. + +"It is true," she reiterated. "This is what it has to do with +Betty Blackwell. Listen. He is the man who led me on, who would +have done the same to Betty Blackwell. I yielded, but she fought. +They could not conquer her--neither by drugs nor drink, nor by +clothes, nor a good time, nor force. I saw it all in the +Montmartre and the beauty parlour--all." + +"Lies--all lies," hissed Ogleby, beside himself with anger. + +"No, no," cried Sybil. "I do not lie. Mr. Carton and this good +woman, Miss Kendall, who is working for him, are the first people +I have seen since you, Martin Ogleby, brought me to the +Montmartre, who have ever given me a chance to become again what I +was before you and your friends got me." + +"Have a care, young woman," interrupted Dorgan, recovering himself +as she proceeded. "There are laws and--" + +"I don't care a rap about laws such as yours. As for gangs--that +was what you were going to say--I'd snap my fingers in the face of +Ike the Dropper himself if he were here. You could kill me, but I +would tell the truth. + +"Let me tell you my case," she continued, turning in appeal to the +rest of us, "the case of a poor girl in a small city near New +York, who liked a good time, liked pretty clothes, a ride in an +automobile, theatres, excitement, bright lights, night life. I +liked them. He knew that. He led me on, made me like him. And when +I began to show the strain of the pace--we all show it more than +the men--he cast me aside, like a squeezed-out lemon." + +Sybil Seymour was talking rapidly, but she was not hysterical. + +"Already you know Betty Blackwell's story--part of it," she +hurried on. "Miss Kendall has told me--how she was bribed to +disappear. But beyond that--what?" + +For a moment she paused. No one said a word. Here at last was the +one person who held the key to the mystery. + +"She did disappear. She kept her word. At last she had money, the +one thing she had longed for. At last she was able to gratify +those desires to play the fashionable lady which her family had +always felt. What more natural, then, than while she must keep in +hiding to make one visit to the beauty parlour to which so many +society women went--Margot's? It was there that she went on the +day that she disappeared." + +We were hanging breathlessly now on the words of the girl as she +untangled the sordid story. + +"And then?" prompted Kennedy. + +"Then came into play another arm of the System," she replied. +"They tried to make sure that she would disappear. They tried the +same arts on her that they had on me--this man and the gang about +him. He played on her love of beauty and Madame Margot helped him. +He used the Montmartre and the Futurist to fascinate her, but +still she was not his. She let herself drift along, perhaps +because she knew that her family was every bit the equal socially +of his own. Madame Margot tried drugs; first the doped cigarette, +then drugs that had to be forced on her. She kept her in that +joint for days by force; and there where I went for relief day +after day from my own bitter thoughts I saw her, in that hell +which Miss Kendall now by her evidence will close forever. Still +she would not yield. + +"I saw it all. Maybe you will say I was jealous because I had lost +him. I was not. I hated him. You do not know how close hate can be +to love in the heart of a woman. I could not help it. I had to +write a letter that might save her. + +"Miss Kendall has told me about the typewritten letters; how you, +Professor Kennedy, traced them to the Montmartre. I wrote them, I +admit, for these people. I wrote that stuff about drugs for Dr. +Harris. And I wrote the first letter of all to the District +Attorney. I wrote it for myself and signed it as I am--God forgive +me--'An Outcast.'" + +The poor girl, overwrought by the strain of the confession that +laid bare her very soul, sank back in her chair and cried, as Miss +Kendall gently tried to soothe her. + +Dorgan and Ogleby listened sullenly. Never in their lives had they +dreamed of such a situation as this. + +There was no air of triumph about Kennedy now over the confession, +which with the aid of Miss Kendall, he had staged so effectively. +Rather it was a spirit of earnestness, of retribution, justice. + +"You know all this?" he inquired gently of the girl. + +"I saw it," she said simply, raising her bowed head. + +Dorgan had been doing some quick thinking. He leaned over and +whispered quickly to Ogleby. + +"Why was she not discovered then when these detectives broke into +the private house--an act which they themselves will have to +answer for when the time comes?" demanded Ogleby. + +It seemed as if the mere sound of his voice roused the girl. + +"Because it was dangerous to keep her there any longer," she +replied. "I heard the talk about the hotel, the rumour that +someone was using this new French detective scheme. I heard them +blame the District Attorney--who was clever enough to have others +working on the case whom you did not know. While you were watching +his officers, Mr. Kennedy and Miss Kendall were gathering evidence +almost under your very eyes. + +"But you were panic-stricken. You and your agents wanted to remove +the danger of discovery. Dr. Harris and Marie Margot had a plan +which you grasped at eagerly. There was Ike the Dropper, that +scoundrel who lives on women. Between them you would spirit her +away. You were glad to have them do it, little realizing that, +with every step, they had you involved deeper and worse. You +forgot everything, all honour and manhood in your panic; you were +ready to consent, to urge any course that would relieve you--and +you have taken the course that involves you worse than any other." + +"Who will believe a story like that?" demanded Ogleby. "What are +you--according to your own confession? Am I to be charged with +everything this gang, as you call it, does? You are their agent, +perhaps working for this blackmailing crew. But I tell you, I will +fight, I will not be blackened by--" + +Sybil laughed, half hysterically. + +"Blackened?" she repeated. "You who would put this thing all off +on others who worked for you, who played on your vices and +passions, not because you were weak, but because you thought you +were above the law! + +"You did not care what became of that girl, so long as she was +where she could not accuse you. You left her to that gang, to Ike, +to Marie, to Harris." She paused a moment, and flashed a quick +glance of scorn at him. "Do you want to know what has become of +her, what you are responsible for? + +"I will tell you. They had other ideas than just getting her out +of the way of your selfish career. They are in this life for +money. Betty Blackwell to them was a marketable article, a piece +of merchandise in the terrible traffic which they carry on. If she +had been yielding, like the rest of us, she might now be +apparently free, yet held by a bondage as powerful and unescapable +as if it were of iron, a life from which she could not escape. But +she was not yielding. They would break her. Perhaps you have tried +to ease your conscience, if you have any, by the thought that it +is they, not you, who have her hidden away somewhere now. You +cannot escape that way; it was you who made her, who made others +of us, what we are." + +"Let her rave, Ogleby," sneered Dorgan. + +"Yes--raving, that's it," echoed Ogleby. But his expression belied +him. + +"There it is," she continued. "You have not even an opinion of +your own. You repeat even the remarks of others. They have you in +their power. You have put yourself there." + +"All very pretty," remarked Dorgan with biting sarcasm. "All very +cleverly thought out. So nice here! Wait until you have to tell +that story in court. You know the first rule of equity? Do you go +into court with clean hands? There is a day of reckoning coming to +you, young woman, and to these other meddlers here--whether they +are playing politics or meddling just because they are old-maidish +busy-bodies." + +She was facing the politician with burning cheeks. + +"You," she scorned, "belong to an age that is passing away. You +cannot understand these people like Miss Kendall, like Mr. Carton, +who cannot be bought and controlled like your other creatures. You +do not know how the underworld can turn on the upperworld. You +would not pull us up--you shoved us down deeper, in your greed. +But if we go down, we shall drag you, too. What have we to lose? +You and your creatures, like Martin Ogleby, have taken everything +from us. We--" + +"Come, Ogleby," interposed Dorgan, deliberately turning his back +on her and slowly placing his hat on his half-bald head. "We are +indebted to Professor Kennedy for a pleasant entertainment. When +he has another show equally original we trust he will not forget +the first-nighters who have enjoyed this farce." + +Dorgan had reached the door and had his hand on the knob. I had +expected Kennedy to reply. But he said nothing. Instead his hand +stole along the edge of the table beside which he was standing. + +"Good-night," bowed Dorgan with mock solemnity. "Thank you for +laying the cards on the table. We shall know how to play--" + +Dorgan cut the words short. + +Kennedy had touched the button of an electric attachment which was +under the table by which he could lock every door and window of +the laboratory instantly and silently. + +"Well?" demanded Dorgan fiercely, though there was a tremble in +his voice that had never been heard before. + +"Where is Betty Blackwell?" demanded Craig, turning to Sybil +Seymour. "Where did they take her?" + +We hung breathlessly on the answer. Was she being held as a white +slave in some obscure den? I knew that that did not mean that she +was necessarily imprisoned behind locked doors and barred windows, +although even that might be the case. I knew that the restraint +might be just as effective, even though it was not actually or +wholly physical. + +An ordinary girl, I reasoned, with little knowledge of her rights +or of the powers which she might call to her aid if she knew how +to summon them, might she not be so hemmed in by the forces into +whose hands she had fallen as to be practically held in bonds +which she could not break? + +Here was Sybil herself! Once she had been like Betty Blackwell. +Indeed, when she seemed to have every chance to escape she did +not. She knew how she could be pursued, hounded at every turn, +forced back, and her only course was to sink deeper into the life. +The thought of what might be accomplished by drugs startled me. + +Clare bent over the poor girl reassuringly. What was it that +seemed to freeze her tongue now? Was it still some vestige of the +old fear under which she had been held so long? Clare strove, +although we could not hear what she was saying, to calm her. + +At last Sybil raised her head, with a wild cry, as if she were +sealing her own doom. + +"It was Ike. He kept us all in terror. Oh, if he hears he will +kill me," she blurted out. + +"Where did he take her?" asked Clare. + +She had broken down the girl's last fear. + +"To that place on the West Side--that black and tan joint, where +Marie Margot came from before the gang took her in." + +"Carton," called Kennedy. "You and Walter will take Miss Kendall +and Miss Seymour. Let me see. Dorgan, Ogleby, and myself will ride +in the taxicab." + +Carton was toying ostentatiously with a police whistle as Dorgan +hesitated, then entered the cab. + +I think at the joint, as we pulled up with a rush after our wild +ride downtown, they must have thought that a party of revellers +had dropped in to see the sights. It was perhaps just as well that +they did, for there was no alarm at first. + +As we entered the black and tan joint, I took another long look at +its forbidding exterior. Below, it was a saloon and dance hall; +above, it was a "hotel." It was weatherbeaten, dirty, and +unsightly, without, except for the entrance; unsanitary, +ramshackle, within, except for the tawdry decorations. At every +window were awnings and all were down, although it was on the +shady side of the street in the daytime and it was now getting +late. That was the mute sign post to the initiated of the +character of the place. + +Instead of turning downstairs where we had gone on our other +visit, Kennedy led the way up through a door that read, "Hotel +Entrance--Office." + +A clerk at a desk in a little alcove on the second floor +mechanically pushed out a register at us, then seeming to sense +trouble, pulled it back quickly and with his foot gave a sharp +kick at the door of a little safe, locking the combination. + +"I'm looking for someone," was all Kennedy said. "This is the +District Attorney. We'll go through--" + +"Yes, you will!" + +It was Ike the Dropper. He had heard the commotion, and, seeing +ladies, came to the conclusion that it was not a police +plainclothes raid, but some new game of the reformers. + +He stopped short in amazement at the sight of Dorgan and Ogleby. + +"Well--I'll be--" + +"Carton! Walter!" shouted Kennedy. "Take care of him. Watch out +for a knife or gun. He's soft, though. Carton--the whistle!" + +Our struggle with the redoubtable Ike was short and quickly over. +Sullen, and with torn clothes and bleeding face, we held him until +the policeman arrived, and turned him over to the law. + +At a room on the same floor Craig knocked. + +"Come in," answered a woman's voice. + +He pushed open the door. There was the woman who had fled so +precipitately from the dope joint. + +Evidently she did not recognize us. "You are under arrest," +announced Kennedy. + +The blonde woman laughed mockingly. + +"Under arrest? For what?" + +"You are Marie Margot. Never mind about your alias. All the arts +of your employees and Dr. Harris himself cannot change you so that +I cannot recognize you. You may feel safe from the portrait parle, +but there are other means of detection that you never dreamed of. +Where is Betty Blackwell? Marie, it's all off!" + +All the brazen assurance with which she had met us was gone. She +looked from one to the other and read that it was the end. With a +shriek, she suddenly darted past us, out of the door. Down the +hall was Ike the Dropper with the policeman and Carton. Beside her +was a stairway leading to the upper floors. She chose the stairs. + +Following Kennedy we hurried through the hotel, from one dirty +room to another, with their loose and creaking floors, rotten and +filthy, sagging as we walked, covered with matting that was +rotting away. Damp and unventilated, the air was heavy and filled +with foul odours of tobacco, perfumery, and cheap disinfectants. +There seemed to have been no attempt to keep the place clean. + +The rooms were small and separated by thin partitions through +which conversations in even low tones could be heard. The +furniture was cheap and worn with constant use. + +Downstairs we could hear the uproar as the news spread that the +District Attorney was raiding the place. As fast as they could the +sordid crowd in the dance hall and cabaret was disappearing. Now +and then we could hear a door bang, a hasty conference, and then +silence as some of the inmates realized that upstairs all escape +was cut off. + +On the top floor we came to a door, locked and bolted. With all +the force that he could gather in the narrow hall, Kennedy +catapulted himself against it. It yielded in its rottenness with a +crash. + +A woman, in all her finery, lay across the foot of a bed, a +formless heap. Kennedy turned her over. It was Marie, motionless, +but still breathing faintly. In an armchair, with his hands +hanging limply down almost to the floor, his head sagging forward +on his chest, sprawled Harris. + +Kennedy picked up a little silver receptacle on the floor where it +lay near his right hand. It was nearly empty, but as he looked +from it quickly to the two insensible figures before us he +muttered: "Morphine. They have robbed the law of its punishment." + +He bent over the suicides, but it was too late to do anything for +them. They had paid the price. + +"My heavens!" he exclaimed suddenly, as a thought flashed over his +mind. "I hope they have not carried the secret of Betty Blackwell +with them to the grave. Where is Miss Kendall?" + +Down the hall, cut off from the rest of the hotel into a sort of +private suite, Clare had entered one of the rooms and was bending +over a pale, wan shadow of a girl, tossing restlessly on a bed. +The room was scantily furnished with a dilapidated bureau in one +corner and a rickety washstand equipped with a dirty washbowl and +pitcher. A few cheap chromos on the walls were the only +decorations, and a small badly soiled rug covered a floor innocent +for many years of soap. + +I looked sharply at the girl lying before us. Somehow it did not +occur to me who she was. She was so worn that anyone might safely +have transported her through the streets and never have been +questioned, in spite of the fact that every paper in the country +which prints pictures had published her photograph, not once but +many times. + +It was Betty Blackwell at last, struggling against the drugs that +had been forced on her, half conscious, but with one firm and +acute feeling left--resistance to the end. + +Kennedy had dropped on his knees before her and was examining her +closely. + +"Open the windows--more air," he ordered. "Walter, see if you can +find some ice water and a little stimulant." + +While Craig was taking such restorative measures as were possible +on the spur of the moment, Miss Kendall gently massaged her head +and hands. + +She seemed to understand that she was in the hands of friends, and +though she did not know us her mute look of thanks was touching. + +"Don't get excited, my dear," breathed Miss Kendall into her ear. +"You will be all right soon." + +As the wronged girl relaxed from her constant tension of watching, +it seemed as if she fell into a stupor. Now and then she moaned +feebly, and words, half-formed, seemed to come to her lips only to +die away. + +Suddenly she seemed to have a vision more vivid than the rest. + +"No--no--Mr. Ogleby--leave me. Where--my mother--oh, where is +mother?" she cried hysterically, sitting bolt upright and staring +at us without seeing us. + +Kennedy passed the broad palm of his hand over her forehead and +murmured, "There, there, you are all right now." Then he added to +us: "I did not send for her mother because I wasn't sure that we +might find her even as well as this. Will someone find Carton? Get +the address and send a messenger for Mrs. Blackwell." + +Sybil was on her knees by the bedside of the giri, holding Betty's +hand in both of her own. + +"You poor, poor girl," she cried softly. "It is--dreadful." + +She had sunk her head into the worn and dirty covers of the bed. +Kennedy reached over and took hold of her arm. "She will be all +right, soon," he said reassuringly. "Miss Kendall will take good +care of her." + +As we descended the stairs, we could see Carton at the foot. A +patrol wagon had been backed up to the curb in front and the +inmates of the place were being taken out, protesting violently at +being detained. + +Further down the hall, by the "office," Dorgan and Ogleby were +storming, protesting that "influence" would "break" everyone +concerned, from Carton down to the innocent patrolmen. + +Kennedy listened a moment, then turned to Clare Kendall. + +"I will leave Miss Blackwell in your care," he said quietly. "It +is on her we must rely to prove the contents of the Black Book." + +Clare nodded, as, with a clang, Carton drove off with his +prisoners to see them safely entered on the "blotter." + +"Our work is over," remarked Kennedy, turning again to Miss +Kendall, in a tone as if he might have said more, but refrained. + +Looking Craig frankly in the eye, she extended her hand in that +same cordial straight-arm shake with which she had first greeted +us, and added, "But not the memory of this fight we have won." + + + + +XXVII + +THE ELECTION NIGHT + + +It was election night. Kennedy and Carton had arranged between +them that we were all to receive the returns at the headquarters +of the Reform League, where one of the papers which was +particularly interested, had installed several special wires. + +The polls had scarcely closed when Kennedy and I, who had voted +early, if not often, in spite of our strenuous day, hastened up to +the headquarters. Already it was a scene of activity. + +The first election district had come in, one on the lower East +Side, which was a stronghold of Dorgan, where the count could be +made quickly, for there were no split tickets there. Dorgan had +drawn first blood. + +"I hope it isn't an omen," smiled Carton, like a good sport. + +Kennedy smiled quietly. + +We looked about, but Miss Ashton was not there. I wondered why not +and where she was. + +The first returns had scarcely begun to filter in, though, when +Craig leaned over and whispered to me to go out and find her, +either at her home, or if not there, at a woman's club of which +she was one of the leading members. + +I found her at home and sent up my card. She had apparently lost +interest in the election and it was with difficulty that I could +persuade her to accompany me to the League headquarters. However, +I argued the case with what ability I had and finally she +consented. + +The other members of the Ashton family had monopolized the cars +and we were obliged to take a taxicab. As our driver threaded his +way slowly and carefully through the thronged streets it gave us a +splendid chance to see some of the enthusiasm. I think it did +Margaret Ashton good, too, to get out, instead of brooding over +the events of the past few days, as she had seen them. Her +heightened colour made her more attractive than ever. + +The excitement of any other night in the year paled to +insignificance before this. + +Distracted crowds everywhere were cheering and blowing horns. Now +a series of wild shouts broke forth from the dense mass of people +before a newspaper bulletin board. Now came sullen groans, hisses, +and catcalls, or all together, with cheers, as the returns swung +in another direction. Not even baseball could call out such a +crowd as this. + +Enterprising newspapers had established places at which they +flashed out the returns on huge sheets on every prominent corner. +Some of them had bands, and moving pictures, and elaborate forms +of entertainment for the crowds. + +Now and then, where the crowd was more than usually dense, we had +to make a wide detour. Even the quieter streets seemed alive. On +some boys had built huge bonfires from barrels and boxes that had +been saved religiously for weeks or surreptitiously purloined from +the grocer or the patient house-holder. About the fires, they kept +an ever watchful eye for the descent of their two sworn enemies-- +the policeman and the rival gang privateering in the name of a +hostile candidate. + +Boys with armfuls of newspapers were everywhere, selling news that +in the rapid-fire change of the statistics seemed almost +archeologically old. + +Lights blazed on every side. Automobiles honked and ground their +gears. The lobster palaces, where for weeks, Francois, Carl, and +William had been taking small treasury notes for tables reserved +against the occasion, were thronged. In theatres people squirmed +uneasily until the ends of acts, in order to listen to returns +read from the stage before the curtain. Police were everywhere. +People with horns, and bells, and all manner of noise-making +devices, with confetti and "ticklers" pushed up on one side of +Broadway and down on the other. + +At every square they congested foot and vehicle traffic, as they +paused ravenously to feed on the meagre bulletins of news. + +Yet back of all the noise and human energy, as a newspaperman, I +could think only of the silent, systematic gathering and editing +of the news, of the busy scenes that each journal's office +presented, the haste, the excitement, the thrill in the very smell +of the printer's ink. + +Miss Ashton, I was glad to note, as we proceeded downtown, fell +more and more into the spirit of the adventure. + +High up in the League headquarters in the tower, when we arrived, +it was almost like a newspaper office, to me. A corps of clerks +was tabulating returns, comparing official and semi-official +reports. As first the city swung one way, then another, our hopes +rose and fell. + +I could not help noticing, however, after a while that Miss Ashton +seemed cold and ill at ease. There was such a crowd there of +Leaguers and their friends that it was easily possible for her not +to meet Carton. But as I circulated about in the throng, I came +upon him. Carton looked worried and was paying less attention to +the returns than seemed natural. It was evident that, in spite of +the crowd, she had avoided him and he hesitated to seek her out. + +There were so many things to think of thrusting themselves into +one's attention that I could follow none consistently. First I +found myself wondering about Carton and Miss Ashton. Before I knew +it I was delivering a snap judgment on whether the uptown +residence district returns would be large enough to overcome the +hostile downtown vote. I was frankly amazed, now, to see how +strongly the city as a whole was turning to the Reform League. + +A boy, pushing through the crowd, came upon Kennedy and myself, +talking to Miss Ashton. He shoved a message quickly into Craig's +hand and disappeared. + +"For heaven's sake!" he exclaimed as he tore open the envelope and +read. "What do you think of that? My shadows report that Martin +Ogleby has been arrested and his confession will be enough, with +the Black Book and Betty Blackwell, to indict Dorgan. Kahn has +committed suicide! Hartley Langhorne has sailed for Paris on the +French line, with Mrs. Ogleby!" + +"Mary Ogleby--eloped?" repeated Miss Ashton, aghast. + +The very name seemed to call up unpleasant associations and her +face plainly showed it. Kennedy had said nothing to her since the +day when he had pleaded with her to suspend judgment. + +"By the way," he said in a low voice, leaning over toward her, +"have you heard that those pictures of her were faked? It was +really Dorgan, and some crook photographer cut out his face and +substituted Carton's. We got the Black Book, this morning, too, +and it tells the story of Mrs. Ogleby's misadventures--as well as +a lot of much more important things. We got it from Mr. Murtha +and---" + +"Mr. Murtha?" she inquired, in surprise. + +"It is a secret, but I think I can violate it to a certain extent +for Mr. Carton is a party to it and--" + +Kennedy paused. He was speaking with the assurance of one who +assumed that John Carton and Margaret Ashton had no secrets. She +saw it, and coloured deeply. + +Then he lowered his voice further to a whisper and when he +finished, her face was even a deeper scarlet. But her eyes had a +brightness they had lacked for days. And I could see the emotion +she felt as her slight form quivered with excitement. + +Kennedy excused himself and we worked our way through the press +toward Carton. + +"Dorgan has lost his nerve!" ejaculated Craig as we came up with +him, watching district after district which showed that the Boss's +usual pluralities were being seriously reduced. + +"Lost his nerve?" repeated Carton. + +"Yes. I told him I would publish the whole affair of the +photographs just as I knew it, not caring whom it hit. I advised +him to read his revised statutes again about money in elections +and I added the threat, 'There will be no "dough day" or it will +be carried to the limit, Dorgan, and I will resurrect Murtha in an +hour!' You should have seen his face! There was no dough day. +That's what I meant when I said it was to be a fair fight. You see +the effect on the returns." + +Carton was absolutely speechless. The tears stood in his eyes as +he grasped Kennedy's hand, then swung around to me. + +A terrific cheer broke out among the clerks in the outer office. +One of them rushed in with a still unblotted report. + +Kennedy seized it and read: + +"Dorgan concedes the city by a safe plurality to Carton, fifty-two +election districts estimated. This clinches the Reform League +victory." + +I turned to Carton. + +Behind us, through the crowd, had followed a young lady and now +Carton had no ears for anything except the pretty apology of +Margaret Ashton. + +Kennedy pulled me toward the door. + +"We might as well concede Miss Ashton to Carton," he beamed. +"Let's go out and watch the crowd." + +THE END + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE EAR IN THE WALL *** + +This file should be named earwa10.txt or earwa10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, earwa11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, earwa10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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