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diff --git a/75384-h/75384-h.htm b/75384-h/75384-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6304223 --- /dev/null +++ b/75384-h/75384-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12406 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> +<meta charset="utf-8"> +<title>The Patient in Room 18</title> +<link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> +<style> +body { + margin: 1em auto; + max-width: 40em; +} +p { + margin: 0; + text-indent: 1.5em; + text-align: justify; +} +hr { + width: 40%; + margin: 1em 30%; +} +h1 { + margin: 2em auto; + text-align: center; + text-transform: uppercase; +} +h2 { + margin: 2em auto; + text-align: center; +} +h2 + p { text-indent: 0 } +blockquote { + font-size: 85%; + margin: 1em 0; +} +figure { text-align: center; } +img { max-width: 95%; } +#titlepage { padding: 10% 0; } +#dedication { padding: 15% 0; } +#disclaimer { padding: 10% 25%; } +.authorprefix { + font-style: italic; + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + margin: 1em 0; +} +.author { + font-size: x-large; + font-weight: bold; + margin-bottom: 2em; + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + text-transform: uppercase; +} +.copyright { + font-size: small; + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; +} +.toc { + display: table; + margin: 0 auto; + font-variant: small-caps; +} +#dedication p { + font-size: large; + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + text-transform: uppercase; +} +#disclaimer p { + display: table; + margin: 1em auto; + text-indent: 0; + max-width: 14em; +} +#disclaimer .head { + letter-spacing: 0.2em; + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + text-transform: uppercase; +} +.sc { font-variant: small-caps; } +.verse { + display: table; + margin: 1em auto; +} +.verse p { text-indent: 0; } +.salutation { + font-variant: small-caps; + text-indent: 0; +} +.valediction { + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; +} +.signature { + font-variant: small-caps; + padding-right: 2em; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0; +} +.finis { + font-size: small; + margin-top: 3em; + text-align: center; + text-transform: uppercase; +} +div.chapter { page-break-before: always; } +div.section { page-break-before: always; } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75384 ***</div> + +<figure> + <img id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Book cover"> +</figure> + +<div class="section" id="titlepage"> + +<h1>The Patient in Room 18</h1> +<p class="authorprefix">by</p> +<p class="author">M. G. Eberhart</p> + +<p class="copyright">Copyright, 1929 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc.</p> +<p class="copyright">Garden City, New York</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="section" id="contents"> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<ol class="toc"> +<li><a href="#ch01">An Unpleasant Dinner Party</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch02">In Room 18</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch03">Dr. Letheny Does Not Return</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch04">A Yellow Slicker and Other Problems</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch05">A Lapis Cuff Link</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch06">I Make a Discovery—and Regret It</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch07">The Disappearing Key and Part of an Inquest</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch08">A Gold Sequin</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch09">Under the Barberry Bush</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch10">A Midnight Visitor</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch11">By the Light of a Match</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch12">Room 18 Again</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch13">The Radium Appears</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch14">A Matter of Evidence</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch15">Corole Is Moved to Candour</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch16">The Red Light Above the Door</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch17">O’Leary Tells a Story</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch18">O’Leary Revises His Story</a></li> +</ol> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="section" id="dedication"> + +<p>To</p> +<p>William and Margaret Good</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="section" id="disclaimer"> + +<p class="head">NOTE</p> + +<p>All of the characters +in this book, as well +as St. Ann’s Hospital, +are entirely fictitious.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch01"> + +<h2>1. An Unpleasant Dinner Party</h2> + +<p>St. Ann’s is an old hospital, sprawling in a great heap +of weather-stained red brick and green ivy on the side +of Thatcher Hill, a little east and south of the city of +B——. The building, though remodelled and added +on to here and there, still retains the great, solid walls, +the gumwood and walnut woodwork, the large, +old-fashioned rooms, and the general air of magnificence +and dignity that characterized what was known, in the +grandiloquent nineties, as the Thatcher mansion.</p> + +<p>Time has made changes; quantities of windows, low +and wide, modern plumbing, electricity, a telephone to +every floor, and added wings whose brick walls have +been carefully weather-stained to match the original +walls are some of them. On the west is the main +entrance, an imposing affair of massive doors and great +travertine pillars and curving driveway. But on the +south, at the extreme end of the south wing, is another +and less imposing entrance, a small, semi-circular, +colonial porch and a glass-paned door that leads from +the hushed hospital corridor directly upon a narrow +strip of grass and then shrubbery and apple orchard +and willows and thickets of firs. From this door, too, +is a path leading up and around the hill, and, considerably +below and beyond the thickets of trees and brush, +winds a road, dusty and seldom used.</p> + +<p>The south wing is the most recently rebuilt wing +of St. Ann’s, and time was when Room 18 was the +brightest and sunniest room of the whole wing. I say, +time was. Room 18 is now cleaned and dusted regularly +twice a week by two student nurses. Occasionally Miss +Jones, the office superintendent, tries to enter a patient +in Room 18, but patients from the city remember too +well the newspaper headlines—such as <span class="sc">Room 18 +Claims Its Third Victim</span>—and refuse at the first hint +of that significant numeral. Patients from out of town +present a no less serious problem in that, even though +they take the room assigned to them without demur, +they invariably demand removal to another room after +only a few hours’ residence in Room 18. Once we tried +giving the whole wing a new set of numbers but it made +no difference. Room 18 was Room 18 and the patients +placed there, with one exception, have never remained +past midnight.</p> + +<p>I do not know whether this situation is due to the +patients mysteriously getting wind of Room 18’s +history, in spite of the nurses being forbidden to speak +of the unfortunate affair, or to the undoubtedly sinister +aspect the room has managed to acquire. This latter +has puzzled me more than a little. The room has the +same hygienic and utilitarian furniture it always had, +the same southeast corner location, the same outlook +of close-encircling orchard and dense green shrubbery, +though, of course, the shades are drawn to a decorous +length, and the same rubberized floor covering. It is +true that the last item may somewhat induce the atmosphere +of the repellent that Eighteen’s very walls seem +to exude, because it holds, despite the efforts of various +scrubwomen, a certain darkish stain there at the foot +of the narrow bed.</p> + +<p>It is a fact that five minutes in that too-still room +bring chills up the small of my back, clammy moisture +to the palms of my hands, and a singular and pressing +desire to escape. And I have a good stomach, no nerves, +and little imagination.</p> + +<p>And in the long, dark hours of the second watch, +between midnight and early morning, I still avoid the +closed, mysterious door of Room 18!</p> + +<p>The night it began, Corole Letheny had a dinner +party up at the doctor’s cottage on the hillside, at the +end of the path from the south door. She telephoned +hastily, late in the afternoon, for Maida Day and me. +She was giving the dinner, it appeared, for a young +civil engineer, a friend of Dr. Letheny’s, who had +dropped in unexpectedly on his way from a bridge in +Uruguay to another bridge in Russia. Ordinarily I do +not care for Corole’s dinners, which are apt to acquire +an exotic tinge that is distasteful to me, but a travel +tale and an engineer allure me equally and since I did +not go on duty that night until midnight I promised +to come. Maida was a little harder to get, seeming, +indeed, to be unusually reluctant, and her voice, as I +heard it, standing beside her at the telephone, was +anything but cordial.</p> + +<p>“Never mind,” I said as she hung up the receiver +and Corole’s warm, husky tones ceased. “Never mind. +It may be quite diverting. And this is cold roast beef +night here at St. Ann’s.”</p> + +<p>Maida laughed.</p> + +<p>“Corole’s dinners often are—diverting,” she said +rather cruelly. “I shouldn’t have gone but she really is +in a mess. The man just arrived this afternoon and he +is leaving in the morning. Corole knew, too, that we +both had second watch this two weeks and that we +could be away from the hospital until twelve.”</p> + +<p>“I think,” I said reflectively as we strolled from the +office, whither we had been called to the telephone, +back along the narrow corridor that leads to the south +wing, “I think I shall wear my silver tissue.”</p> + +<p>Maida nodded, giving me the straight look from +her intensely blue eyes that I had so grown to like in +the three years that she had been a graduate nurse +at St. Ann’s.</p> + +<p>“Do so, by all means,” she agreed. “And put your +hair up high on your head.”</p> + +<p>Maida professes to a great admiration for my hair, +and I daresay it is well enough in its way; that is, if +you like red hair and plenty of it. I have never cut it; +no woman of my years, especially one with a high-bridged +nose and inclined to embonpoint, freckles, and +ground-grippers, should cut her hair.</p> + +<p>Later, gowned in the silver tissue, and with a dark +silk coat over my finery, for the June night had turned +cloudy, I slipped into the south wing for a last look +to be sure that everything was going well. Having been +superintendent of the wing for more years than I care +to mention, I feel a natural sense of responsibility. +Dinner I found to be well over, seven o’clock temperatures +taken, the typhoid convalescent in Eleven a bit +less feverish, and the new cast on Six a little more +comfortable.</p> + +<p>Six caught at a fold of my dress admiringly.</p> + +<p>“All dressed up?” he said. He was a nice boy, who +had a tubercular hip bone and had spent the last six +months in a cast.</p> + +<p>“Isn’t she fine?” said Maida from the doorway. I +saw the boy’s eyes widen before I turned toward her.</p> + +<p>I had grown accustomed to Maida in her stern white +uniform. Now her black hair and the sword-blue of +her eyes and the vivid pink that flared into her cheeks +and lips at the least touch of excitement—all this, above +a wispy, clinging dinner gown of midnight-blue that was +somehow barely frosted in crystal beads, affected me +much as it did the boy.</p> + +<p>“Gee!” he breathed finally.</p> + +<p>Maida laughed a little tremulously; the compliment +in his eyes was pathetically genuine.</p> + +<p>“Don’t be silly, Sonny,” she said, but her blue eyes +shone. “How is the new cast?”</p> + +<p>“Oh—all right,” said Sonny gamely.</p> + +<p>“I’ll come in and tell you about the party when we +get back,” promised Maida (knowing that in the agony +of a ten-hour-old cast he would still be awake).</p> + +<p>“Gee,” said Sonny again, “will you, Miss Day?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Maida with that grave sincerity that +was one of her charms. “Ready, Sarah?”</p> + +<p>I followed Maida from the room and along the corridor +south to the end of the wing. Once through the +door and across the small porch we reached the path +that wound through the orchard, over a small bridge, +and across a field of sweet-smelling alfalfa to the +Letheny cottage.</p> + +<p>The path is not wide enough for two abreast, so +Maida preceded me and I found myself studying her +slim shoulders and gracefully alert carriage. Maida +always seemed to me to be poised on the crest of a +wave; as if she were continually victorious and yet +not arrogant. She is that rare thing, a born nurse. She +can deal successfully with the most difficult +hypochondriacs and yet I have seen her in furious, desperate +tears over a case like Sonny’s. It is not my intention +to rhapsodize over Maida. I suppose I admired her +because she was so gloriously what I might have been +in my younger days had things been a little different. +Though, of course, I am not and never was the beauty +that Maida was.</p> + +<p>Well, we found Corole waiting for us and the other +guests already having cocktails. Dr. Letheny greeted +me as meticulously as if we had not operated together +that very morning. He was a tall man, dark and thin, +with an extraordinarily precise manner, and was almost +too correct as to dress. He lingered a little over +taking Maida’s wrap and said something in a low voice +that I did not understand, though Maida replied briefly +and turned away, her slim black eyebrows registering +annoyance.</p> + +<p>Dr. Balman, Dr. Letheny’s assistant, was there; a +lanky man of medium height, with a thin, pale face, +a high benevolent forehead, thoughtful eyes that were +usually detached and rather dreamy, and a thin pointed +beard that was awry now, as always, owing to a habit +he had of worrying it with his slender, acid-stained +fingers. His scant, light hair was ruffled and needed +to be trimmed, his cravat uneven, and his dress clothes +formal and old-fashioned.</p> + +<p>There was Dr. Fred Hajek, too, pronounced “Hiyek” +and referred to flippantly among the student nurses +as “Hijack.” He was the interne who lived at the +hospital, answered the telephone nights, took care of +dressings and emergencies, and generally made himself +useful. He was considerably younger than the other +two doctors, though one wouldn’t have guessed it from +his matured, well-built figure. He had a squarish head, +a ruddy face with more than a hint of the foreign in it, +a hint that was augmented by his small, black +moustache, and dark eyes whose somewhat slanted lids +looked too small for the eyes and thus gave a curious +impression of tightness and restraint. He had a pleasant +manner, however, and a fresh, vigorous appearance +that was not unattractive.</p> + +<p>Then my eyes were caught by a blond young giant +who advanced as Corole spoke.</p> + +<p>“Jim Gainsay,” she murmured casually over her +creamy brown shoulder as she offered Maida a +cocktail.</p> + +<p>He said something or other to me politely but I saw +his keen eyes go to Maida and linger there as if unable +to take themselves away, while I quite deliberately +took stock of this tall young fellow with bronzed hands +and face who built bridges here and there over the +world and looked as if he hadn’t more than got out +of university. In fact, a fraternity crest gleamed on +the surface of the thin, white-gold cigarette case that +he held open in one hand as if the sight of Maida had +frozen him in the very act of drawing out a cigarette. +On closer observation, however, I was obliged to revise +my hasty estimate. There were wrinkles about his +eyes; his sun-tanned eyebrows were a straight, +inscrutable line almost meeting over his nose; his jaw was +lean and rather ruthless; his smooth-fitting Tuxedo +disclosed lines that were muscular, without an ounce +of superfluous flesh. Here was a man accustomed to +dealing with other men; yes, and of shaping them to +suit his own ends, or I was no judge of character.</p> + +<p>And just then Huldah, Corole’s one maid, announced +dinner somewhat breathlessly as if she must fly back +to the kitchen, and we all took our places around the +long, candle-lit table.</p> + +<p>The soup was bad and the fish poorly seasoned, but +the Virginia-baked ham was delicious and I found +myself warming to the soft, wavering lights, the gleam +of silver and glass and flowers, the white and black +contrasts presented by the men setting off Maida’s +red-and-white beauty and Corole’s rather blatant charm. +Corole had charm, in spite of my questionable +adjective—charm of a sort rather flagrant and too warm, but +still it was difficult not to fall a little under its sway. +She sat at the foot of the table with Jim Gainsay on +one side and Dr. Hajek on the other. Her hair was +arranged in flat, metallic, gold waves and she wore +a strange gown of gold sequins with gleams of green +showing through. It clung smoothly to her and was +extremely low in the back, showing Corole’s brownish +skin almost to the waist, and I could not help speculating +on the probable reaction of our board of directors +to such a gown worn by our head doctor’s housekeeper. +Corole was a cousin of Dr. Letheny’s and had kept +house for him since the death of old Madame Letheny. +We knew little of her history and I should have liked +to know more, though I am not inquisitive. I often +wondered what circumstances produced the brown-skinned, +gold-haired Corole we knew. She was a great +deal like a luxuriant Persian cat; she even had topaz +eyes and a peculiarly lazy grace.</p> + +<p>The conversation during the dinner was rather +languid. Corole did not seem much concerned about the +dinner, but she was a little abstracted, though +automatically, if one-sidedly, flirting with Jim Gainsay, who +had eyes for no one but Maida. That was very clear +to me, though none of the others seemed to notice +it—with the possible exception of Dr. Letheny, who saw +everything through the perpetual cloud of cigarette +smoke that almost obscured his narrow, dark eyes. Dr. +Balman was frankly absorbed in dinner and admitted +that he had been interested in a laboratory experiment +and had not eaten during the day.</p> + +<p>“But you left it to come to my dinner,” smiled Corole.</p> + +<p>“Oh, no,” said Dr. Balman flatly, without looking +up from his salad. “I had finished anyhow.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said Corole, and Dr. Letheny’s thin mouth +curved the least bit.</p> + +<p>“So you have been bridge-building in Uruguay?” +I addressed Jim Gainsay. He turned his keen eyes +steadily toward me.</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“I suppose Uruguay is now prosperous, European, +and civilized?” I went on, hoping to get him started +telling of some of the adventures that must have +befallen him. I have an explorer’s instincts and +stay-at-home habits, so have to get my travels by proxy.</p> + +<p>“Yes. Though the remoter portions are still, in some +respects, the Banda Oriental.”</p> + +<p>“The Banda Oriental?” said Corole blankly.</p> + +<p>“The Purple Land that England lost,” said Maida +softly, and Gainsay’s eyes met hers with quick +interest—interest and something more.</p> + +<p>Corole’s eyelids flickered.</p> + +<p>“Serve coffee in the Doctor’s study, Huldah,” she +said. “And open the windows.”</p> + +<p>The night had turned unbelievably sultry while we +sat at the table, so hot that the very breath of the +tapers seemed unbearable and we all felt relieved, I +think, to leave the table and dispose ourselves comfortably +in the great, cushioned chairs and divans in Dr. +Letheny’s study. The one lamp on the table was enough, +though it left the room for the most part in +shadow—rather uncanny green shadow, for the lamp was +shaded with green silk and fringe. The windows had +been flung to the top but there was not a breeze +stirring, even here on the windward side of the hill, and +it was so quiet that we could hear the katydids and +crickets down in the orchard, and the faint strains of +radio music from the open windows of the hospital, +whose lights gleamed dully through the trees.</p> + +<p>“Radio in a hospital?” queried Jim Gainsay +amusedly.</p> + +<p>“Lord, yes!” Dr. Letheny’s voice was edgy. “You +have been out of the world a long time, Jim, not to +know that a fashionable hospital must have all the +latest fancies, including the best radio set to be had, +with specially made loud-speakers connecting with it +in every room. The money that is wasted,” he added +bitterly, “on such notions could be employed to a good +deal better advantage in other ways. How can we make +much headway in research if all our money must be +thrown away on—on lawns and flowers—” he waved +impatiently toward the hospital—“on expensive +apparatus that we seldom if ever use, on eight-thousand-dollar +ambulances, on weather-staining bricks, on——”</p> + +<p>“On radios,” suggested Gainsay blandly.</p> + +<p>Dr. Letheny smiled faintly but the hand that lit a +fresh cigarette seemed a little unsteady.</p> + +<p>“On radios,” he agreed.</p> + +<p>“You are right though, Dr. Letheny.” Dr. Balman, +who had apparently been engaged in digesting his +dinner, spoke so suddenly that I jumped. He lounged +toward the window and stood with his hands in his pockets +looking down at St. Ann’s lights.</p> + +<p>“You are right,” he repeated. “If I had one-half the +money that is thrown away down there the experiment +that failed for me this afternoon might have succeeded.” +The bitterness in his voice was so grim that I think +we all felt a little startled and uncomfortable. All, that +is, except Corole, whose feelings are not easily +accessible and who was manipulating the coffee machine over +by the lamp. Its light brought the flat, gold waves +of her hair into relief.</p> + +<p>“Here is the coffee,” she said huskily. “As coffee +should be: black as night, hot as hell, and sweet as +love.” She offered the tiny cup to Gainsay.</p> + +<p>Well, the rest of us had heard her say that before +and Gainsay did not appear to hear her now. I could +see that she was hesitating on the verge of repetition, +but she was too wise for that.</p> + +<p>“Can’t you stop needless expenditure?” asked +Gainsay.</p> + +<p>“Stop it?” Dr. Letheny laughed acidly. “Stop it +when the hospital is privately endowed and the board +of directors a bunch of ignorant, conceited asses! Look +at this matter of radium. Nothing must do but that +we buy a whole gram of radium. They had heard of +radium. Other hospitals had it. Radium we must have +and radium we bought. But try to talk to them of +research, of discovering a new remedy for an old need, +of the necessity for laboratories, for equipment, for +study. You might as well try to stop the thunder storm +that is coming as to ask them to see anything that is +not squarely in front of their fat stomachs.”</p> + +<p>“But radium,” said Gainsay mildly, “is a good thing +for a hospital to have, isn’t it? I thought it a great +discovery.”</p> + +<p>“Of course, of course!” broke in Dr. Balman. “But +we don’t need that much. Half a gram, a fourth of +it—even a sixth of it would have served our purpose. +But no! We must spend sixty-five thousand dollars for +one tiny gram of radium. Sixty-five thousand dollars! +And to my plea for half of that—only half of that +money—they laughed. Laughed at study! At research! +At laboratories and equipment! And called me a +visionary. God! A visionary!”</p> + +<p>It must have been that the increasing sultriness of +the night and the tension of the approaching storm +made us all a little nervous and easily stirred. A curious +hush followed Franz Balman’s outbreak, during which +I became aware of the heavy breathing of Dr. Hajek +near me. I stirred impatiently and moved away. I had +never either liked or disliked Fred Hajek, but that +night I felt suddenly a sharp distaste for him. The +atmosphere in the room seemed unbearably heavy and +I shivered a little despite the heat and wondered if my +dinner was not going to agree with me.</p> + +<p>Gainsay got up, moved to get an ash tray, and sat +down again in another chair. I noted that the move +brought him nearer Maida, whose fine white profile +was visible in the shadow near the window. She did +not smoke—not, I believe, from any fastidious prejudice, +but merely from distaste—and her hands, delicate +yet strong, lay passively on the carved arms of the +chair. She was the kind of person whose silences seem +thoughtful and neither flat nor detached; a most +companionable person to have around.</p> + +<p>Corole noted the move, too, for she took my seat +next to Hajek and murmured something under her +breath to him.</p> + +<p>“Are you both experimenting in the same field?” +asked Gainsay, his ordinary, easy tone making my +disquiet seem uncalled-for and silly.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Dr. Letheny shortly.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Dr. Balman. He turned abruptly away +from the window and sat down at the shadowy end of +the davenport; his shirt front thrust itself up in an +ungainly hump but he did not appear to care.</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Corole, “if I were a millionaire I should +give you both the money to work to your heart’s +content.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed.” Dr. Letheny spoke so satirically that I +feared an outburst from our hostess, whose temper +was never of the best.</p> + +<p>But she surprised me.</p> + +<p>“No!” she retracted with disarming frankness. From +habit Corole could lie like a trooper, but when she +was inclined toward truth-telling she was quite candidly +honest. “No,” she went on, “if I had a million dollars +I should spend it—oh, <em>how</em> I should spend it! Silks +and furs and jewels and servants and cars and cities +and——”</p> + +<p>“By that time it would be gone,” observed Dr. +Letheny drily.</p> + +<p>“Maybe,” Corole laughed huskily. “But how +gloriously gone.”</p> + +<p>“I suppose,” began Fred Hajek, with a little of the +awkwardness that assails one who has remained silent +a long time while others of the group are talking, “I +suppose that idea is a sort of unacknowledged fairy +dream hidden in everyone’s mind.”</p> + +<p>“Of course.” Dr. Letheny’s voice grated to my ears. +“Everybody wants money. Usually for reasons such +as Corole has so charmingly admitted.”</p> + +<p>“Not always,” disagreed Gainsay. “You and—er—Dr. +Balman have just agreed that you both needed it +for research.”</p> + +<p>“A selfish reason, though,” replied Dr. Letheny. +“We get the same pleasurable reaction out of study and +science that Corole does out of clothes and jewels +and—cream in general. Miss Keate, over there,” he nodded +toward me, “gets the same kick out of hard work and +a smooth-running hospital routine. Only +her—demands——are not so expensive.”</p> + +<p>His tone irritated me. It may be true that I am +considered something of a martinet, especially among the +student nurses, but somebody has to see to things.</p> + +<p>“Nonsense,” I spoke sharply. “I want money just +as much as anybody.”</p> + +<p>I suppose my words rang sincere, for Dr. Letheny +sat up.</p> + +<p>“What is your repressed desire, Sarah Keate?” he +demanded with just the shade of amusement in his voice +that always riled me. “Come on, out with it! Do you +long for the gay night life? Or have you secret urges +to become a front-page sensation?”</p> + +<p>And I must say that, in the light of what was to +occur, it was remarkable that he said just that.</p> + +<p>“She might make a splendid aviatrix,” said Jim +Gainsay, smiling into the dusk.</p> + +<p>After that I was not going to tell them that above +all things I longed to travel and that everybody knows +travel costs money. I said curtly:</p> + +<p>“Everybody wants money.”</p> + +<p>“How about you, Maida?” broke in Corole rather +maliciously.</p> + +<p>Maida is, as a rule, almost too perfect at the art +of concealing her emotions. It may have been that the +semi-darkness of the room concealed an intended air +of frivolousness, or it may have been that the threat +of the approaching storm plucked at her nerves and +pierced her habitual armour of reserve. At any rate +her answer was unexpected.</p> + +<p>“Money!” she said. “Money! I think I would give +my very soul for money!”</p> + +<p>Of course, I knew she didn’t mean that. But Dr. +Letheny shot her a glance that fairly pierced the dusk, +Corole laughed a little metallic ripple, and Jim +Gainsay turned straightway around in his chair to face +Maida’s shadowed eyes.</p> + +<p>“I haven’t any money,” he said directly and quite as +if Maida had asked him a question, though I think the +others were too preoccupied to observe this. “I haven’t +any money at all.”</p> + +<p>“And are you happy without it, Jim?” asked Corole, +her warm voice caressing.</p> + +<p>“Well . . .” Jim Gainsay paused. “I was, until +lately.”</p> + +<p>He was still speaking to Maida. I believe Dr. +Letheny understood that somewhat singular fact, also, +for he spoke so quietly that there was a suggestion of +deliberate restraint about his words.</p> + +<p>“And what do you intend to do in the face of this +sudden realization?”</p> + +<p>“Make some money,” replied Jim Gainsay simply.</p> + +<p>Dr. Letheny laughed—not pleasantly.</p> + +<p>“But my dear fellow, is it so simple as that?”</p> + +<p>“It should not be difficult.” Gainsay did not appear +to be disturbed by the perceptible edge of irony in Dr. +Letheny’s questions.</p> + +<p>“Owing to the fact that several billions of people +over the face of the earth are engaged in profitless +efforts in that direction, will you tell us just how you +propose to accomplish it with such expedition?”</p> + +<p>“Certainly not. If I can manage to lay my hands +on—say—fifty thousand I can make—oh, as much money +as I want. I can do it. And I will.” He was grave and +yet quite casual. A mere matter of information for +Maida. If she wanted money he would see that +she got it and that was that! It seemed so clear to +me that I felt something very like embarrassment, +though neither Maida nor Jim Gainsay seemed +disturbed.</p> + +<p>“Fifty thousand dollars,” mused Dr. Letheny softly. +“That is quite a lot of money. Many a man has failed +for its—inaccessibility.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll get it all right,” said Jim Gainsay.</p> + +<p>“And when you get it what are you going to do +with it? How are you going to make it grow into as +much money as you want?”</p> + +<p>“Contracting.” There was an undercurrent in the +short reply that warned Dr. Letheny off.</p> + +<p>Corole laughed again.</p> + +<p>“Funny!” she said. “Every single one of us has +confessed to a fervent desire for money. That is, all +but Franz and Dr. Hajek. And we all know that Franz +would give his very eyes—no, he needs them for +experiment—ten years of his life, then, for money to carry +on those same precious experiments.”</p> + +<p>“It is a good thing we are all law-abiding citizens,” +I remarked drily.</p> + +<p>“I think I shall be on the safe side, though, and lock +up my jewels to-night!” said Corole.</p> + +<p>“Don’t be a fool,” observed Dr. Letheny.</p> + +<p>Corole’s topaz eyes caught a glint of angry green +light.</p> + +<p>“Why, really, Louis, being what one can’t help is +better, at any rate, than longing for what one can’t +get.”</p> + +<p>Her somewhat stupid reply did not, to my mind, +warrant its effect. Dr. Letheny moved suddenly upright +in his chair, his thin lips drawn tight over his teeth.</p> + +<p>“Until later, dear cousin.” The words had a sharp +edge of fury. “Until later. We have guests at present.”</p> + +<p>I could only suppose that the stifling atmosphere had +disturbed Dr. Letheny’s always hair-trigger nerves. +Otherwise he had not been so needlessly vulgar. He was +a brilliant man with a cutting tongue, but gossip had +whispered that what Corole lacked in the way of brains +she more than made up for in feline cunning of attack. +This was the first time, however, that I had heard the +two ill-assorted housemates come to open and +bad-mannered warfare.</p> + +<p>Dr. Hajek relieved the strained silence that naturally +followed the little contretemps.</p> + +<p>“I hear that you used the radium to-day.” He had +a peculiarly inflectionless manner of speech that made +him seem heavy and dull.</p> + +<p>“Yes.” Dr. Letheny rose and pulled the curtain still +farther from the window. “Torrid night, isn’t it? Yes, +we are trying it for old Mr. Jackson.” He paused. “I +don’t know that it will do any good,” he added callously. +“But we may as well try it. By the way, Miss Keate, +I shall be in shortly after midnight to see how the +patient is getting on. You might leave the south door +unlocked for me. Let me see—he is in Room 18, +isn’t he?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Doctor.”</p> + +<p>“So you are going to Russia on another bridge project, +Jim?” Dr. Letheny was again master of himself.</p> + +<p>“What—oh, yes! Yes.” Jim Gainsay started a little +as if Dr. Letheny had recalled him to a forgotten fact.</p> + +<p>“Will it be a long stay?”</p> + +<p>“Why, yes, probably. It should take about two or +three years. It will be an interesting job. The preliminaries +are rather sketchy, but it looks as though there +might be some problems involved.”</p> + +<p>He spoke in an oddly detached way, as if he were +not much interested in the subject, and it was not +surprising that the conversation flattened out again. +Presently Corole suggested bridge and even made up +a table, but Dr. Balman definitely refused to play and +Jim Gainsay, being engaged in watching Maida’s eyelashes, +did not appear to hear Corole’s suggestion that +he make a fourth, so Dr. Letheny made a reluctant +partner for me against Corole and Dr. Hajek. However, +we played only a few desultory hands until Maida +and Gainsay drifted over to the window and fell into +a low-voiced conversation, when Dr. Letheny, who had +been darting quick glances in that direction, trumped +my ace, flung down his cards, said it was too rotten +hot to play and, paying no attention to Corole’s +protests, went to the piano.</p> + +<p>Dr. Letheny was a discriminative musician of far +more than amateur skill, and the great, jarring, +Moscow bells of the C Sharp Minor Prelude presently +surged over the room. I am a practical, matter-of-fact +woman and I have never been able to account for the +strange disquietude that crept over me as I listened. +It was the strangest thing in a strange and unreal +evening. The couple at the window turned and moved closer +together. Corole’s flat eyes caught the light like a cat’s. +Dr. Balman stared at nothing from the shadows and +worried his beard. Only Dr. Hajek was unmoved by +that passionate sweep of sound.</p> + +<p>All at once the room was intolerable to me. I twisted +about in my chair and fought down a childish desire +to run from its heat and breathlessness. And then the +keys under Dr. Letheny’s white fingers slipped into the +higher notes of the second movement and a hot, fetid +breath of air from the hushed night billowed the +curtain a little and touched my hot face and heightened +the nightmare that had taken possession of me.</p> + +<p>By the time the climax had carried us all along with +it in its torrent, and the Doctor had sat, in the hush +that followed the last note, for a long moment before +he turned to us again,—by that time little beads of +perspiration shone all along the backs of my hands and +my heart was pumping as if I had been running a race.</p> + +<p>I rose.</p> + +<p>“I must go,” I said, my voice breaking harshly into +the silence. “I must go. It is nearly twelve.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Maida. “Yes. We must go.”</p> + +<p>Somehow we got away. I remember being vaguely +surprised when Jim Gainsay merely took Maida’s hand +for a conventional instant, although I’m sure I don’t +know what I had expected.</p> + +<p>Maida and I walked slowly, feeling our way through +the great, black velvet curtain that was the night. The +hospital was now darkened and the path twisted +unexpectedly. The air was as heavy with the presage of +storm, there under the trees, as it had been in Corole’s +lamp-lit house. The sky was thick and black with not +the glimmer of a star showing through. The katydids +and crickets were all hushed as if waiting. The path +was hot under our thin-soled slippers, the alfalfa +sickeningly sweet in its warm breath, the shadows of the +thickets were dense and not a leaf stirred. I know that +orchard and those clusters of trees and elderberries +and sumac as well as I know the twists and turns of +the old hospital corridors, and never until that night +did I catch my breath when my hand brushed against +a leaf, or take a long sigh of relief when we emerged +from those suddenly unfriendly thickets into the silence +of the long, night-lighted corridor of the south wing.</p> + +<p>Up in the everyday surroundings of the nurses’ dormitory +I still failed to shake off the sense of the unreal +that had come over me. Together we changed into our +crisp, white uniforms. I remember we talked of silly, +inconsequential things—such as the sogginess of the +bread pudding we had had for lunch, and the new +cuff-links that Maida was inserting into her cuffs. They +were small squares of lapis-lazuli edged in engraved +white gold. Lovely though they were, they yet contrived +to be simple and dignified at the same time.</p> + +<p>“I like lapis,” said Maida without much interest. +“I like things that are real.” She was adjusting her +proud, white cap as she spoke. In spite of the businesslike +white linen that became her so well, she was still +the flushed and vivid Maida of the blue and +crystal-frosted dinner gown, whose eyes had grown starry +under Jim Gainsay’s regard. I sighed as I pinned on +my own cap. I had always felt that if love came to +Maida it would be swift and compelling.</p> + +<p>I thrust in the pin too forcefully and withdrew my +scratched thumb with an irritated exclamation. I had +read somewhere that thin old maids were pathetic and +fat old maids gross and all old maids sentimental, and +had resolved to be none of the three, myself.</p> + +<p>So, I was not in the best of moods as I wound my +watch, took my way to the south wing, and stopped +at the desk for a glance at the charts. If only the storm +would break and give us a breath of fresh, cool air.</p> + +<p>The two nurses going off duty were very evidently +glad to be relieved.</p> + +<p>“It is a queer night,” said one of them, Olma Flynn. +“Makes me feel creepy.”</p> + +<p>“H’m,” I spoke brusquely. “Likely you have been +eating green apples again.” And she flounced +indignantly away.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch02"> + +<h2>2. In Room 18</h2> + +<p>That night began much the same as other nights and +with no suggestion of the events it was to unfold. There +was the usual twelve-o’clock stir of drinks and temperatures +and pulses and hot pillows to be turned and electric +fans to be brought. The only unusual thing, and that +was natural enough, was that the sick patients had +turned restless under the heat and the breathless hint +of storm and were fretful and somewhat peevish. We +were very busy for some time, but I remembered to +leave the south door unlocked for Dr. Letheny’s call.</p> + +<p>It happened that I was in the corridor when he came +in about twelve-thirty. The gleaming white and black of +his pearl-studded shirt front and smooth-fitting dinner +jacket were incongruous in the bare, night-lighted hall, +with its long length of white walls, shadowy now in +the darkness that was relieved only by the shaded light +over the chart desk at the far end, and the tiny red +signal lights that glowed here and there over sick-room +doors. A hospital is never a cheerful place, especially +at night, and its long, dark corridors with black voids +for doors, and its faint odours of ether and antiseptics +and sickness are not, to say the least, conducive to +good spirits.</p> + +<p>Dr. Letheny was still nervous and irritable. He gave +Mr. Jackson a rather cursory glance, felt his pulse for +a moment, and examined the dressing. The trouble he +was trying to cure with radium was in the patient’s left +breast and the radium itself, placed as is usual in a sort +of box that is especially made for the purpose, was +arranged in such a manner that its rays would penetrate +the afflicted area. It was held in place by means of wide +straps of adhesive, and would have been, to the layman, +a strange-appearing affair. All was well and the patient +seemingly reacting as favourably as might be expected, +so Dr. Letheny did not linger. After rearranging the +pillows and turning out the light over the bed, I +followed the Doctor into the corridor. He paused for a +few moments, asking me unimportant questions as to +various patients in the wing, and smoking rapidly, +regardless of the rules which he himself had made against +smoking in the hospital. More than once I caught his +gaze travelling past me down the corridor toward the +diet kitchen and drug room, and finally he asked me +outright if Miss Day was on duty.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I said. “She is about—somewhere in the +wing,” thinking, as I replied, that I had not seen Maida +for a few moments. Doubtless, however, she was busy +with some patient, or paying her promised visit to +Sonny.</p> + +<p>He lingered for a little after that, but presently +strolled to the south door and disappeared. I did not +follow him and lock the door according to custom; it +was breathlessly hot, as I have said, and we needed +every atom of air that we could get. Later, when the +rain came, I should close it.</p> + +<p>An errand took me to the diet kitchen; as I passed +down the length of the darkened corridor I glanced +into the open doors along the way but did not catch +a glimpse of Maida’s white uniform. The place was +very hot and very still and the vases of flowers along +the walls, on the floor outside various doors, sent up +a hot, sickening breath. I snapped on the light in the +diet kitchen, wishing as I did so that there were more +lights in the corridor outside. I had to search for and +open a fresh bottle of beef extract, so it took me some +time to prepare the beef tea, but at length I started +into the corridor with the cup in hand. As I reached +the door I glanced down the hall toward the south +door just in time to see a white uniform gleam against +the blackness of the night as it entered from the porch +outside. It was Maida, of that I was sure, for her +movements were unmistakable, and just as the thought +ran through my mind that she had been outside trying +to get a breath of fresh air, I also realized that I had +no spoon to accompany the beef tea and turned back +into the diet kitchen. Someone had cleaned the silver +drawer that day, and it took me a moment or two to +find a spoon, and when I entered the corridor again I +met Maida face to face.</p> + +<p>In the dim light it seemed to me that she was very +white, but in that night-lighted corridor nothing retains +its normal colour, so I thought nothing of it.</p> + +<p>“I was wondering where you had gone to,” I said +carelessly as I passed her.</p> + +<p>She regarded my casual remark as an inquiry.</p> + +<p>“I—I’ve been with Sonny,” she said. Her voice was +unsteady.</p> + +<p>“Poor boy, he is having a hard time,” I murmured +and went on. It was not until I was standing beside +Eleven watching him drink the beef tea that I recalled +with a little start that she had not been with Sonny, +that I had seen her with my own eyes coming into +the corridor from the porch.</p> + +<p>Beef tea and Eleven did not go well together; in +fact, a few moments after drinking it he was violently +sick and for about a quarter of an hour I was fully +occupied with him. I had closed the door into the corridor +at first symptoms of his unhappy reaction, so that +the disturbance should not arouse patients in near-by +rooms. I stayed with him until he was back on his +pillows again, quiet and exhausted, then I turned out the +light, opened the door into the corridor, and left him. +The hall was silent and dark and not a signal light +gleamed in the whole length.</p> + +<p>I felt a little ill myself from the heat and stifling air, +and judging it to be a good time, I slipped quietly to +the south door and let myself out onto the little colonial +porch. The air was a shade less fetid there and I +remember standing for a moment or two at the curved +railing. The dim light coming from the door back of +me made a little circle on the porch, faintly lighter +than the surrounding night, and beyond that stretched +thick blackness. Far below me toward the west twinkled +vaguely the lights of the city and above on the hillside +I caught the barest glimpse of green light through the +trees; it was shining from Dr. Letheny’s study. All else +was impenetrable darkness.</p> + +<p>I could not have stood there for more than five +minutes when without any warning an inexplicable thing +occurred.</p> + +<p>There was a sudden, sharp little whisper of motion +from somewhere back of me, something flew past my +shoulder, caught for a fleeting second the reflection of +a light from the corridor back of me, and was gone +into the dense shadows of the shrubbery, beyond the +railing.</p> + +<p>The thing was gone before I could realize that it had +actually happened.</p> + +<p>I started, drew in my breath sharply, and stifled the +exclamation that rose to my lips. I stared in the direction +the thing, whatever it was, had taken and strained +my eyes to see into the thick black void that surrounded +the porch. It was exactly as if an arrow, small and sharp +and gleaming, had been shot from somewhere behind +me into the shrubbery. But no one shoots arrows from +hospitals in the dead of night.</p> + +<p>I rubbed my eyes angrily and, but for the sharp little +whisper of sound the thing made as it passed me, would +have doubted their evidence. But that sound, coupled +with the flash of light, was conclusive. Someone had +deliberately thrown some small article with all the +force at his command across the porch and into the +shrubbery that extends downward into the orchard. It +had come from one of the windows at either side of the +door or from the door itself. Hastily in my thoughts +I ran over the patients then in the wing. Not one of +them was able to walk. Maida was the only person in +the wing who could have been about, and what on earth +was Maida throwing out into the night!</p> + +<p>Feeling this to be a curious circumstance that should +be investigated I took a few steps toward the path +that leads from the east corner of the little porch. It +was very dark there, and without pausing to reflect +that in the night I could never find the thing that so +puzzled me and that was now hidden somewhere in the +orchard, I groped for the iron railing and made my +way cautiously down the two or three steps. I paused +at the path, my ear caught by the sound of footsteps. +And at the very instant, the sudden little rush of sound +came closer swiftly and someone running at top speed +along the outside wall of the hospital collided with me, +gasped, swore, caught me in mid-air and set me on my +feet again and was gone, leaving me trying to get my +breath and dazedly righting my cap. I could hear his +footsteps still running along the little path toward +the bridge.</p> + +<p>“Well——” I said. “Well——” and found myself +both angry and frightened. People have no right +to run around hospitals at night, knocking middle-aged +nurses about and swearing and what not. Who was this +midnight prowler?</p> + +<p>Evidently the man was up to no good purpose and +as evidently he was in a hurry to get away. My heart +began to beat rapidly as I walked along the hospital +north in the direction the man had come from. But +the windows above me all seemed dark and undisturbed. +Built on the slope of the hill as St. Ann’s is, the +windows are at varying heights from the ground, some of +them not more than three or four feet above it, but +I doubted if an intruder could have made his way into +that silent wing without arousing it. I walked as far +as the lighted window of the diet kitchen. It, too, was +open and I could see the top of Maida’s white cap as +she stood at the farther end of the small room.</p> + +<p>All seemed quiet and I dismissed the half-formed +notion of rousing Higgins, the janitor and so-called +night-watchman, and demanding a thorough search of +the premises. I was still uneasy, however, as I retraced +my steps, and I drew back into the shadow of the +orchard in order to see into the windows of the wing +without, possibly, myself being seen.</p> + +<p>It was just as I passed the thick clump of elderberry +bushes about midway of the long wing that my foot +struck something in the grass that gave a dully metallic +sound. I reached over to fumble in the grass and picked +up a small, flat object, smooth and hard. I turned it +rapidly over in my hands. It was pitchy dark there in +the shadows and the air was extraordinarily close. +I slipped the object I held into my pocket for future +examination and as I did so I sniffed. There was +something in the air—some familiar odour—but something +entirely out of place in an apple orchard. It was—a +swift vision of the operating room rose before me and +I realized that my nostrils had caught a faint but +unmistakable odour of ether.</p> + +<p>Ether in an apple orchard! And in the middle of +the night! Why, it was impossible! Something in the +heated air, some mingling of alfalfa and sweet clover +and growing things had combined to deceive me. I +shrugged, tried to laugh, and feeling all at once that +absurd fear that something is about to clutch at your +heels, I hurried through the dense shadows toward the +little porch. It was still deserted.</p> + +<p>I recall glancing up at the impenetrable sky and +catching, away off toward the south, a faint gleam +of lightning. Surely the storm would break soon and +I would be relieved of this feeling of oppression that +was strangely mingled with something very like fear.</p> + +<p>The corridor, too, was still deserted. Maida was not +in sight, and as I looked a red signal light down toward +the chart desk clicked. I went to answer it, my starched +skirts whispering along the hushed hall.</p> + +<p>It was Three, begging for a bromide, and it took +me a few moments to convince her of the fact that +she didn’t in the least need it.</p> + +<p>Then I sat down at the desk, which is at the north +end of the corridor, opposite the south door, with all +the shadowy length of gray-white walls and dark doors +of the corridor intervening. A shaded light over this +desk is the sole illumination and a person seated at the +desk faces the chart rack and has her back turned to +the corridor. It remained hot and very still and I +wondered if the wind that accompanies our western thunder +storms would not soon rise.</p> + +<p>I had not more than entered Three’s pulse and the +time—one-thirty—when a sudden sound, dull and +heavy, brought me standing, facing the corridor and +unaccountably startled. Only the bare walls met my +eyes. Perhaps the south door had blown shut. It had +sounded like the muffled bang of a door—or possibly +like a window that had dropped to the sill. The chart +in my hand, I walked quickly through the corridor to +the south door. It was still open and I felt no breeze.</p> + +<p>As near as I could tell the sound that had aroused +me had come from this end of the wing. The door +of Room 17 was open and a glance assured me that +the window was still open for I could see the dim +shadow of the sash. The door of Eighteen was closed, +however, so I opened it cautiously in order not to wake +Mr. Jackson. I did not enter the room; I stood there +only for a moment, holding the door half open and +peering through the dim light from the corridor. The +patient was lying quiet and the window seemed to be +open, so I closed the door as gently as I had opened +it and took my way down the corridor again.</p> + +<p>And when I reached the chart desk I found that +my knees were trembling and there was a little damp +beading under my cap.</p> + +<p>“It is the night,” I assured myself. “It is a nerve-racking +night. I shall suffocate if I don’t get some air.”</p> + +<p>But nevertheless I felt nervous and ill at ease. I +forced myself to study the charts, and in the middle +of Eleven’s temperature chart I recalled the small flat +object I had found in the orchard. I was in the very +act of drawing it from my pocket when, with a swoop +of wind through the corridor, a blinding flash of +lightning and a crash of thunder, the storm broke.</p> + +<p>I ran the whole length of the corridor. The wind +was sweeping along it with such fury that my skirts +were pulled back tight around me, my cap slipped back +on my head, and several top-heavy vases of flowers +must have blown over for we found them so later. +With some difficulty I closed the door. As I fastened +it, leaving the key in the lock in my haste, I could see +through the panes of glass the first great spatters of +rain, and down below the hospital on the little back +road shone the lights of a hurrying automobile. Then +they were gone and another flash of lightning nearly +blinded me and there was a sharp crackle and sputter. +Simultaneously the light went out as if by black magic, +leaving me alone in the dark with eighteen windows +to get down and eighteen patients to reassure.</p> + +<p>I knew in an instant what had occurred; the power +line from the city had been struck and the fuses burnt +out or some such matter. Where was Maida? The rain +was coming in torrents by the time I had felt my way +into Room 17 and closed the window. Occasional lightning +aided me as I groped my way to Room 18, crossed +it and pulled down that window. As I turned toward +the door again a bright flash of lightning lit up the +whole room and in the brief second I saw that the +patient had not roused in spite of the tumult of the +storm. He lay still. Too still.</p> + +<p>Then the light was gone and, scarcely knowing what +I did, I reached the bed and put my hand on his face +and sought his pulse.</p> + +<p>A seasoned nurse knows when death has come. Even +in the gibbering darkness with the storm outside crashing +against the window I knew at once that our patient +was dead.</p> + +<p>Standing there for what seemed an eternity, but +what was actually not more than a moment or two, my +mind raced over the situation and strove to comprehend +it. There was no reason for his death of which I knew. +Barring the affliction for which he was being treated +and which in its present stage had not been critical, +our patient had been in good health only an hour or so +ago. What had caused this? It could not have been heart +failure for his heart had been sound.</p> + +<p>I must have a light. I must call Dr. Letheny. I +must—— There was the sound of windows being +lowered. I found my way to the door. If I could make +Maida hear me—but, of course, I couldn’t through the +confusion of patients calling out from fright as they +found the lights failing to go on, and the constant roll +of thunder and crashing of rain. The flashes of lightning +were frequent and I caught a fleeting glimpse of +Maida crossing the corridor farther down the hall.</p> + +<p>It would be of no use to call her; furthermore, she +was busy. I disliked leaving Eighteen with no one in +the room, but I must have a light. I ran down the +length of the corridor—it seemed long and unfamiliar—groped +in a drawer of the cupboard in the diet kitchen, +found the burnt end of a candle and some matches, and +flew back to Room 18. At the door I met Maida. Our +faces gleamed eerily in the lightning and then vanished +into darkness.</p> + +<p>“Isn’t this awful!” she cried. “Where were you! +Every window in the wing was open. And the lights +have gone out! What—what in the world are you +doing?”</p> + +<p>She was at my elbow in Room 18. My fingers shook +so that I could scarcely light the candle, and when I +did succeed it made only a feeble little flicker that did +not dispel the shadows.</p> + +<p>She followed me to the bed.</p> + +<p>“Why, Sarah! Is he——” She reached over to place +her hand on his face as I had done. “<em>He is dead!</em>”</p> + +<p>Setting the candle on the table, I pushed aside the +covers to find his heart. If there were the least flicker +of life, something could yet be done. But there was not.</p> + +<p>It was as I drew back that I made the astounding +discovery.</p> + +<p>The box that held the radium was gone! Adhesive +and all had been stripped clean!</p> + +<p>“Look——” I tried to cry out but a roll of thunder +that shook the very foundations drowned my voice. +I pointed with a finger that shook and held the futile +little flame nearer, while Maida searched frantically +among the sheets.</p> + +<p>It was a useless search. That I knew even in the +moment of lowering my candle to look under the bed. +The dead man had not torn from himself that box +with the wide strips of adhesive.</p> + +<p>Arising from my knees I stared across the narrow +bed into Maida’s panic-stricken eyes.</p> + +<p>The very storm outside quieted for a second as if +to give my words significance.</p> + +<p>“He is dead,” I whispered. “And the radium is +gone!”</p> + +<p>She nodded, her hands at her throat, her face as +white as her cap.</p> + +<p>The tiny flame wavered and jumped and threatened +to go out, the shadows in the room crept nearer, the +gusts of wind and rain beat upon the black window +pane with renewed fervour.</p> + +<p>“We must telephone to Dr. Letheny. Then get lights +and see to the wing. Will you go down to the office +and telephone to the Doctor? I shall stay—with this.”</p> + +<p>Maida’s eyes widened and she flung out her hands +with an odd gesture of panic.</p> + +<p>“No,” she stammered. “No. I—I <em>can’t</em> call Dr. +Letheny!”</p> + +<p>Not knowing what to say I stared at her. Suddenly +she straightened her shoulders and mastered her +agitation.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” she said. “Yes. I’ll call him immediately.”</p> + +<p>I was too disturbed to worry over Maida’s aversion +to telephoning to Dr. Letheny, although it was to +recur to me later. I set the candle down again, wishing +that the lights would come on and that my knees would +not shake.</p> + +<p>It was clear to me, even in those first terrifying +moments, that the radium had been stolen. And a +hideous conjecture was slowly settling upon me. It did +not seem possible that my patient had died a natural +death!</p> + +<p>What had caused his death?</p> + +<p>It is strange how one’s hair prickles at the roots +when one is frightened. My hair stirred and I peered +fearfully about the room. A curious sense of something +evil and loathsome near at hand was creeping over me. +The room, however, was as bare as any hospital room. +I even took the candle in my hand, and holding my teeth +tight together to restrain a disposition toward chattering, +I made a circuit of the room, holding the candle +into the corners. Of course, there was nothing there. +Indeed, there was scarcely any place to hide in the +whole room. There were the usual shallow closets, +two of them, barely large enough for a patient’s +travelling bag and clothes. I opened one closet which held +a bag and a light overcoat. The other one was locked +and the key gone, probably lost by some student nurse.</p> + +<p>The candle was dripping hot wax on my hand so I +placed it again on a saucer on the table.</p> + +<p>Maida had been gone for some time, surely time +enough to rouse the whole hospital staff. A thousand +fears crossed my mind while I stood there waiting; +my eyes kept travelling from one corner of the room +to the other, and the feeling of a presence near me other +than that of the dead man on the bed became stronger +with the dragging seconds.</p> + +<p>I was beginning to think that I could remain no +longer in that fear-haunted room, with only the ghastly +flickering of the candle-light for company, when there +was a quick rush of footsteps and Maida was in the +room, panting, her eyes black and frightened.</p> + +<p>“Dr. Letheny is out,” she cried. “Corole didn’t know +where he was. She said he wasn’t anywhere in the house. +She thought he had gone for a walk in the orchard and +got caught in the storm.”</p> + +<p>“A fine time to go for a walk,” I cried, fright making +me irritable.</p> + +<p>“So then I telephoned to Dr. Balman,” went on +Maida hurriedly. “It was so dark I couldn’t see the +directory, so I had to ask Information for the number. +He finally answered and said he would be right out. +It’s as dark as a black cat all over the building.”</p> + +<p>“Did you call Dr. Hajek?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. That is, I knocked at his door and called him +several times but couldn’t wake him. Girls from other +wings are running around in the dark, there near the +general office. Nobody has lights and the bell that +connects with the basement is out of order. At least, they +can’t rouse Higgins.”</p> + +<p>I thought rapidly. Such a situation! No lights, a +storm, frightened patients—it only needed the news +of the radium theft and this strange death to complete +our demoralization.</p> + +<p>“We can’t both leave this room,” I thought aloud. +“We must not leave him alone. His death is so +strange—so——”</p> + +<p>Maida must have been struck with something in +my manner for she gripped my arm.</p> + +<p>“What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“I mean,” I replied with difficulty, speaking through +oddly stiff lips, “I mean that—I’m afraid this is—is +murder.”</p> + +<p>She shrank back, her face as white as the dishevelled +sheets.</p> + +<p>“Not—that!”</p> + +<p>“You see, he was in good condition. And combined +with the theft of the radium—Oh! I know it is a fearful +thing to suspect. But what explanation is there?”</p> + +<p>“Who could have done it? How——”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know.” With an effort I pulled myself +together, forced myself to think. “We have no time to +think of that now. We must keep things going—get a +doctor.” I paused, eyeing her dubiously. “Could you +stay here with—with it—while I go to the office, rouse +Dr. Hajek and the janitor, and get some sort of lights?”</p> + +<p>She glanced from the bed, where her horrified eyes +had fastened themselves, to the feeble ray of the candle.</p> + +<p>“The candle is almost burnt out,” she whispered.</p> + +<p>“I know,” I said. “I’ll hurry.”</p> + +<p>Her lips tightened to a thin white line.</p> + +<p>“Hurry.”</p> + +<p>Once groping my way through that dark corridor +I was vaguely surprised to find my hands like ice and +my face damp. My mind was whirling but one thought +was predominant: I must not leave Maida alone for +long in that terrifying room with what it held, I must +hurry.</p> + +<p>As I turned into the corridor running east and west, +that connects the south wing with the main portion of +the hospital, the storm burst upon the place with +renewed savagery. At another time the fury of the +thunder and lightning and wind and rain would have +appalled me, but then it seemed all in a piece with what +I feared had happened.</p> + +<p>I have only a chaotic memory of colliding with various +other nurses, of ringing for the janitor, of calling +the Electric Power Company only to hear a pert-voiced +operator tell me that the wires must be down in our +direction, of being afraid that the matches the nurses +were lighting would set fire to the whole place, and +of bruising my knuckles on Dr. Hajek’s door. He finally +opened it, and I was so unstrung by that time that at +the sound of his slow voice I clutched into the darkness +with both hands. My touch encountered his coat, which +was damp.</p> + +<p>“Go to Room 18,” I stammered, half-sobbing from +fear. “Hurry, Doctor. Room 18 in the south wing.”</p> + +<p>“It is dark. Can’t you turn on the lights?” he said +stupidly.</p> + +<p>“The lights have gone out. The storm—— Hurry!” +I believe I pushed him toward the door. Somebody had +found a lamp and the hall was full of weird, wavering +shadows.</p> + +<p>“What is it? What has happened?” asked some nurse +at my elbow.</p> + +<p>I have never known what I replied; I remember +only her frightened, pale face. But somehow I restored +things to a semblance of order, mercifully thought of +some lamps and candles that were in the storeroom, +unearthed a couple of flashlights and sent someone +to wake Olma Flynn to help out in the south wing. +Then, taking the flashlights, I hurried back to the wing.</p> + +<p>At the door of Room 18 I paused.</p> + +<p>Maida was standing beside a table, staring downward, +her face paper-white; her sleeves had been rolled +up and a wisp of dark hair across her cheek gave her +a curiously dishevelled appearance. Dr. Hajek was +standing at the foot of the bed; he was gripping the +foot-rail with such force that the knuckles on his small +hands showed white. Dr. Balman had arrived; he was +sitting at the other side of the bed and I did not see +him until I stepped into the room. His stethoscope +dangled from his hands, his gleaming raincoat dripped +moisture steadily on the floor. He, too, was staring +downward.</p> + +<p>No one moved as I approached the bed. It was as +if some evil spell held us all staring at the dead man. +And through that brooding silence, broken only by +the hurling rain and wind outside, I knew as well as +I shall ever know anything that I was right. That the +man there on the bed had been murdered!</p> + +<p>My throat was very dry. I had to make several +efforts and finally achieved a single word:</p> + +<p>“How—”</p> + +<p>Dr. Balman glanced at me, apparently noting my +presence for the first time.</p> + +<p>“Overdose of morphine,” he said.</p> + +<p>“Morphine!” I was shocked out of the numbness +that had enveloped me. “Morphine. But he was not +to have morphine. How do you know?”</p> + +<p>With a laconic gesture he showed me the tiny +hypodermic scar on the patient’s arm.</p> + +<p>“That—and look here—the pupils of his eyes,” +Dr. Balman drew the lids upward gently. “As well as +his general condition. You know——”</p> + +<p>I nodded slowly. Morphine!</p> + +<p>It was then that a strange thing happened. We were +all staring at the small wound, else we should not have +seen the little pin-prick of red that crept slowly from +it. It was not a drop by any means, it was barely enough +to be visible, but it brought to our minds the old +superstition: a corpse bleeds when its murderer is near. A +cold shiver crept up my back as I looked, and Dr. +Balman sprang to his feet with a hoarse word or two, and +Maida cried out, gasping, and started back, and even +phlegmatic Dr. Hajek muttered something under his +breath and drew his hand across his eyes.</p> + +<p>With an effort I controlled myself. This sort of +thing would turn us all into gibbering idiots and there +was much to be done.</p> + +<p>“Dr. Balman,” I said, my voice sounding strange +to my own ears, “Dr. Letheny is caught out in the storm +somewhere and we have not yet been able to find him. +Mr. Jackson was not to have morphine: it was not +ordered and moreover at twelve-thirty he was all right. +He has evidently been—killed—so that someone could +steal the radium. There will be—confusion. Someone +must take charge from now on—and since Dr. Letheny +is gone——”</p> + +<p>“Leave things to us, Miss Keate,” said Dr. Balman +at once. “See to your wing as usual and Dr. Hajek and +I will do what is necessary.”</p> + +<p>“Do you intend to call the coroner?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“Certainly. I shall telephone at once. It means +police—detectives—all that, but this is a terrible thing. +Steps must be taken immediately. A delay in such a +matter——”</p> + +<p>“Here I am, Miss Keate,” said Olma Flynn from +the doorway. “I hurried to get dressed. What——” her +pale eyes travelled past me to the bed. “Why—why +what is it? He is—<em>dead!</em>” Her voice rose. I suppose +our very attitudes and gray faces told her the truth, +for suddenly she began to scream. I seized her by the +arm none too gently, clapped my other hand over her +mouth and pulled her outside, closing the door behind +me.</p> + +<p>But it was too late. Others had heard her screams, +and there was no keeping the thing secret, especially +as some prowling nurse heard Dr. Balman and Dr. +Hajek telephoning for the police and the coroner. The +story was over the hospital in ten minutes and only +the strictest measures prevented a panic. Terror-stricken +nurses crowding into the halls and wing, the +demands of the sick to whom the excitement seemed +to have communicated itself, flaring, inadequate lamps +and candles and their little flickering circles of light +that made frightened faces whiter and the surrounding +gloom blacker, horrified questions that no one could +answer, stark fear in every pair of eyes—all this made +it an hour not soon forgotten.</p> + +<p>Fortunately Maida and I found that our own patients +had not suffered from our enforced absence from duty. +It was a difficult matter, however, to calm some of the +more nervous ones and keep the knowledge of what had +happened from reaching their ears. Olma Flynn’s assistance +was of the slightest as she refused to stir three +feet from Maida or me, and her hands shook so that +she spilled everything she touched.</p> + +<p>We were very busy and I did not see the coroner and +the police when they arrived and went directly to Room +18. Along about half-past three I slipped into the diet +kitchen and made some very strong coffee which I +shared with Maida and Olma Flynn. We felt a little +better after that though still weak and sick and +controlling our fears by sheer strength of will.</p> + +<p>Somehow the weary gray hours dragged along. Dawn +came through still gusty rain and wind and the cold +light crept reluctantly into the sick rooms. Breakfast +was late that morning owing to the cook’s not being +able to find enough candles for adequate lights, but +the day nurses finally came on duty, white and +fear-stricken over what the night had held.</p> + +<p>By that time, however, policemen were all over the +place and I must say that their broad, blue backs gave +me a welcome sense of security. Dr. Letheny had not +turned up yet; at least, if he had I had not seen him.</p> + +<p>The breakfast trays came up at last and Maida, +Olma Flynn, and I washed our hands and faces and +descended to the dining room in the basement. We said +little. The candles on the long table flickered; the rain +beat against the small windows; our uniforms were +wrinkled and looked cold; our eyes were hollow and +our faces drawn and gray, and already we were +starting nervously at sudden sounds and were beginning +to cast furtive glances over our shoulders as if to be +sure there was nothing there.</p> + +<p>But it was not until I had finished drinking some very +black coffee and playing with my toast that the reason +for our strained silence made itself clear to me.</p> + +<p>Only someone connected with the hospital could have +known that the radium was out of the safe and in use +in Room 18. Only a doctor or a nurse would have known +how to administer morphine with a hypodermic syringe.</p> + +<p>It might be—anyone! It might be one of us!</p> + +<p>The thought threatened that remnant of courage I +still maintained. I rose, pushing back my chair. It scraped +along the floor and at the sound heads jerked in my +direction too quickly and someone cried out nervously.</p> + +<p>I hurried from the room, up the stairs and to my +room in the nurses’ dormitory. I am not ashamed to +say that I locked the door. But though I needed rest +I could not sleep.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch03"> + +<h2>3. Dr. Letheny Does Not Return</h2> + +<p>From sheer fatigue, however, I must have dozed for +I awoke at the sound of a repeated knocking at the +door. It was a frightened little student nurse wanting +to know if all training classes and lectures were to be +suspended.</p> + +<p>“Suspended?” I said, the horror of the past night +sweeping over me. “Suspended? I—why, Dr. Letheny +will tell you.”</p> + +<p>She blinked.</p> + +<p>“But Dr. Letheny—we—they—nobody knows +where Dr. Letheny has gone.”</p> + +<p>“What!” I was fully awake.</p> + +<p>“No, ma’am. They can’t find him anywhere.” Frightened +though she was, she yet appeared to take a naïve +relish in being the first to tell me the news. “They can’t +find him at all. Miss Letheny has telephoned +everywhere that he might be and the police are working +on it and they have been asking us all kinds of questions.”</p> + +<p>I reached for a fresh uniform.</p> + +<p>“I’ll come down immediately,” I said. “About the +training classes, did you speak to Dr. Balman?”</p> + +<p>“No. Miss Dotty said to find out if you knew what +was to be done.” Which was like Miss Dotty, she being +amiable but not very clear-thinking.</p> + +<p>“Dr. Balman is Dr. Letheny’s assistant. I have +nothing to do with it.”</p> + +<p>The little student nurse rustled away and ten minutes +later, refreshed by a bath and a clean uniform, I +followed her.</p> + +<p>I found the main portion of the hospital fairly +shuddering with excitement. To my extreme annoyance it +appeared that the moronic fraction of our nursing staff +was beginning to take a melancholy satisfaction in +the tumult and posing freely for the reporters who, +with their flashlight affairs, were swarming over the +whole place. I might say here and now that I soon +stopped that and did not mince matters in so doing, +though I could not prevent the headlines that had +already found their way into the city newspapers.</p> + +<p>In the main office Dr. Balman and Dr. Hajek, both +looking worn and haggard, were literally surrounded +by our board of directors who, it seemed, had descended +in a body and were determined to hold somebody +responsible for the terrible thing that had occurred. I +learned later that there was some trouble in convincing +them that Mr. Jackson’s death was not due to a +mistake on the part of the nurses. Some policemen were +in the room, too, and the chief of police, himself, a +burly fellow who looked habitually as if his darkest +suspicions were about to be verified.</p> + +<p>This expression intensified itself as I entered the +room, which, by the way, was the first indication of +a fact that later became all too painfully evident, namely +that I, Sarah Keate, occupied a prominent place in the +list of suspects, for had I not been in the south wing? +Had I not been in a position to administer the morphine +that caused the patient’s death? Had I not been the +one to find him?</p> + +<p>One or two of the board had the grace to rise as I +entered, but most of them were too agitated to +remember their manners.</p> + +<p>“What is this about Dr. Letheny?” I began.</p> + +<p>“Are you Miss Keate?” asked the chief of police.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I replied, none too graciously.</p> + +<p>“We were just about to send for you,” he informed +me. “Now suppose you tell us everything you know +of this affair. Mind, I say <em>everything</em>.”</p> + +<p>I turned to Dr. Balman.</p> + +<p>“Hasn’t Dr. Letheny returned yet?”</p> + +<p>He shook his head slowly.</p> + +<p>“Come, come, Miss Keate,” said the chief.</p> + +<p>“Doesn’t Miss Letheny know where he is?” I +insisted anxiously.</p> + +<p>“Apparently not.” It was Dr. Hajek who answered.</p> + +<p>“Will you answer my questions?” demanded the +chief loudly.</p> + +<p>“Another time,” I stated impatiently. Didn’t the +man see what the pressing issue was! “When did Miss +Letheny see him last?”</p> + +<p>Dr. Hajek shook his head. “She has not seen him +since last night about twelve-thirty.”</p> + +<p>The chief rose.</p> + +<p>“Now, look here! We’ll have no more funny +business,” he began to bluster.</p> + +<p>“Oh, <em>do</em> be still!” I may have spoken somewhat irritably; +at any rate the chief turned purple. “Don’t you +see,” I explained reasonably, “don’t you see that we +must find Dr. Letheny? That so much hinges upon our +finding him? Why, so far as we know, <em>he</em> decided to +remove the radium, perhaps he——” I stuck, appalled +by the literal truth of my words.</p> + +<p>The chief was quick to pick me up.</p> + +<p>“So you have already formed your opinion. And +quite right, too. It is very clear that this Letheny fellow +has got away with the radium.” The chief actually +began rubbing his hands together and smiling. “Now, +Miss Keate, just tell us why you suspect Dr. Letheny +of this crime.”</p> + +<p>“But I don’t!” I cried in exasperation. “I have not +had time to suspect anyone yet. I have been too busy. +The reason I spoke as I did of Dr. Letheny is that he +is the attendant physician; he knew more of Mr. +Jackson’s condition than any of us. He may have decided +that the radium was—er—not doing any good and may +have removed it for that reason. It seems to me that +our hands are tied without him.”</p> + +<p>“Just a moment, chief,” remarked one of the most +intelligent members of the board. “Suppose we follow +your suggestion and leave all investigation until this +man—what is his name?”</p> + +<p>“Lance O’Leary,” supplied the chief sulkily.</p> + +<p>“Until this Lance O’Leary gets here. You seem to +have great confidence in him and——”</p> + +<p>“Him and me always work together,” interpolated +the chief.</p> + +<p>“He is out of town at present,” went on the board +member, addressing me.</p> + +<p>“Suits me,” said the chief. “I’ve wired him and he +will be here on the afternoon train. We’ve got +everything under guard and can leave the room just as we +found it.”</p> + +<p>“Then there is no need for us to stay any longer,” +remarked a particularly well-fed board member, getting +fussily to his feet and kicking a little to shake down +his trousers over his fat calves. “I’ve got to get to the +office. And now see here, Dr. Balman—and you others—of +course we don’t say that this is your fault——”</p> + +<p>“Well, I should hope not!” I interrupted tartly.</p> + +<p>“Your fault,” he repeated, eyeing me severely. “But +at the same time it shouldn’t have happened. There is +something wrong somewhere. Here we go and put sixty-five +thousand dollars into a whole gram of radium and +now look what happens!” The other members shook +their fat cheeks in sympathy.</p> + +<p>“You seem to forget,” I remarked with some asperity, +“that there was also a murder in the hospital last +night, which might have been prevented had we had +an emergency gas line installed. We were without lights +a good share of the night.”</p> + +<p>This was not quite true, in that the murder had been +committed, I had no doubt, before the lights had gone +out, but the subject of gas for emergency use had been +a matter of contention between the board and the staff +for some time and I was glad to note that the entire +board looked distinctly uneasy as it filed fatly from the +office.</p> + +<p>“A splendid group of gentlemen,” commented the +chief approvingly.</p> + +<p>“Then we are to do nothing until this detective +arrives?” I asked impatiently.</p> + +<p>“So it seems,” said Dr. Balman, sighing wearily.</p> + +<p>“Yes, and nothing is enough,” said the chief, whose +name, by the way, proved to be Blunt. “Once Lance +O’Leary gets his teeth in anything it is as good as +finished. Say—I could tell you things——”</p> + +<p>“If only we could find Dr. Letheny,” I reflected. “It +is so strange, his disappearing like this and at such a +time.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe it ain’t so strange as you think,” remarked +Chief Blunt. “There is many a man would like to +disappear with about sixty-five thousand dollars in his +pocket. Say, what does that radium look like? How +would you carry it anyhow? Wouldn’t it burn you?”</p> + +<p>“It is carried in a small steel box that is especially +made to protect it—and you,” explained Dr. Balman. +As I glanced at him I was struck by the unbelievably +drawn and haggard appearance of his face, which was +intensified by a bruise on one cheek bone that was turning +a dark, purplish green. “It would be a ticklish thing +to dispose of,” he added thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>“Well, we shall have some disclosures in another +night,” said the chief comfortably. “And mark my +words, this Letheny has had something to do with it. +A man don’t disappear like this for nothing. In the +meantime we’ll guard Room 18 and keep everybody +away from it. And let nobody leave or come into the +hospital.”</p> + +<p>“No visitors?” I inquired, with the first shade of +approval I had felt for the chief so far.</p> + +<p>“No visitors,” he agreed.</p> + +<p>“And in the meantime,” said Dr. Balman, “business +as usual. Eh, Miss Keate?”</p> + +<p>“By all means. But Dr. Balman—you don’t think +that Dr. Letheny killed Mr. Jackson and got away with +the radium——”</p> + +<p>“Certainly not,” said Dr. Balman. “There is +nothing upon which to base such a conclusion.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t be too sure of that,” muttered Chief Blunt +from the depths of the telephone transmitter.</p> + +<p>It took a few moments for Dr. Balman and Dr. +Hajek to arrange between them to take over Dr. Letheny’s +work in case, we were careful to say, Dr. Letheny +did not come to St. Ann’s that day, while Chief Blunt +put the telephone to such good use that at the end of a +few minutes he assured us that Dr. Letheny would be +found within twenty-four hours. This I thought to be +a somewhat sweeping prophecy but said nothing.</p> + +<p>Leaving the office, I walked thoughtfully down to +the south wing. It was a compliment to St. Ann’s routine +that, with the exception of a certain nervousness on the +part of the nurses, all was quite as it should be. +Morning baths had been given, breakfasts were all over and +rooms dusted, and discipline in general had been +maintained. However, there is no use saying things were +just as usual for they were not. It was dark and cold +that morning, with one of those quick changes of +temperature for which our part of the country is famous. The +electric service had not yet been repaired and there +were lamps at intervals along the corridor. Miss Dotty, +wisely for once, had doubled the number of girls on +duty, and blue-striped skirts and white aprons of +training nurses, as well as the severe white of graduate +nurses, glimmered everywhere.</p> + +<p>So far we had been successful in keeping the news +of the murder from the ears of the patients, but of +course they were aware of some kind of disturbance +during the night, and several of them were quite fussy +and upset and demanded to be moved to another wing, +which naturally we could not do. We kept the newspapers +from them, too, but one of the minor troubles +of the day was the continual telephone calls from +anxious relatives, which began as soon as the morning +extras were out.</p> + +<p>Oh, yes, the newspapers got out extras with all kinds +of pictures and the most absurd statements that made +St. Ann’s appear to be something between a boarding +school and a den of iniquity. This unfortunate impression +was helped by the pictures of nurses in conjunction +with the murder and radium theft.</p> + +<p>And in spite of our efforts to carry on work the same +as usual, in spite of cleaned rooms and spick-and-span +corridors and careful charts, there lingered, somehow, +pervading the very old walls of St. Ann’s, a certain +gloom, a sense of foreboding, that centred in the south +wing.</p> + +<p>Room 18 was closed and guarded by a stalwart +policeman, who sat uncompromisingly in front of the +door, but that end of the corridor was shunned as if +there were live smallpox there, and when one of the +nurses had to go to Room 17, opposite, or to the next +room, Sixteen, she quite frankly sought the company +of another nurse.</p> + +<p>Old Mr. Jackson’s lawyer had been notified immediately +of the tragedy, I learned, and he, in turn, had +notified the dead man’s only relatives, a cousin and a +nephew, living somewhere in the East. Along in the +middle of the morning a rather impersonal telegram +came from them to Chief Blunt, bidding him spare no +expense and keep them informed of developments.</p> + +<p>What with one thing and another I had very little +time of my own until about two o’clock in the afternoon +when, after firmly getting rid of Miss Dotty, who +evidenced a distressing disposition to cling and whisper +in horrified italics, I sat down at the south-wing chart +desk, drew a blank chart toward me, and presenting +as forbidding a back against interruption as I could, +I tried to think. Until that moment the whirl of events +had so caught me that I had had to act and had had +literally no time in which to consider the matter.</p> + +<p>I began, logically enough, at twelve-thirty, the time +I had last seen Dr. Letheny. In spite of my defence of +Dr. Letheny before Chief Blunt, I felt in my heart that +his absence at such a time was, to say the least, rather +strange.</p> + +<p>It had been a queer night, even before its shocking +development; that strange dinner at Corole’s, where +everyone had seemed strung to such a singular pitch of +excitement, our walk home through the suffocating heat, +Maida’s preoccupation, my own disquiet, the +storm—— And now a memory recurred to me with such force +that I almost jumped—that man with whom I had +collided there at the corner of the porch! Who was he? +What had he been doing?</p> + +<p>And then, of course, I recalled the flat, smooth object +I had found at the edge of the orchard, there below +the kitchen window.</p> + +<p>It took only a moment or two to hurry to my room +and dive my hand into the pocket of my soiled uniform. +Then I sank down on the edge of the bed, staring at +the thing in my hand.</p> + +<p>I recognized it at once.</p> + +<p>It was Jim Gainsay’s cigarette case.</p> + +<p>The engraved fraternity shield winked at me as I +turned it over in my hands and snapped it open; inside +were two or three cigarettes; dazedly I noted the +brand—Belwood’s. Jim Gainsay! It was he, then, whom I +had met there at the steps of the porch. What had he +been doing? What had been his business about St. Ann’s +after midnight? And my breath caught and my heart +began to pound as I recalled his words of the previous +night: “If I can manage to lay my hands on fifty thousand +dollars . . . can make as much money as I want . . . +I can do it . . . <em>and I will</em>.”</p> + +<p>And he had heard our discussion of the radium. He +had even heard—yes, I remembered distinctly—he had +even heard in what room the radium was in use and +that the south door was to be left unlocked. To be +sure, I might have been expected to lock the door +following Dr. Letheny’s visit, but there were windows +and——</p> + +<p>Someone was knocking at the door and I had barely +time to slip the cigarette case under the pillow. It was +Miss Dotty, her eyes fairly popping with excitement.</p> + +<p>“Where is the key to the closet in the south wing?”</p> + +<p>“What closet? There are several——”</p> + +<p>“I mean the closet in Room 18, of course. Do you +have the key?”</p> + +<p>“No. And I don’t know where it is. Who wants it?”</p> + +<p>“They want it downstairs.”</p> + +<p>“They?”</p> + +<p>“That little, slim detective. He has just come. And +oh, Miss Keate, he is so handsome,” she rolled her +rather vacant eyes upward.</p> + +<p>“Who is handsome?” I spoke somewhat snappishly. +Miss Dotty’s rhapsodies aggravate me.</p> + +<p>“That Mr. O’Leary. Just wait till you see him. Such +a way of speaking! Such clothes! And his eyes are +simply wonderful!” Miss Dotty appeared to recall +herself from Mr. O’Leary’s charms with difficulty. “But +I must hurry. They said if we couldn’t find the key they +would have to take the door off the hinges.”</p> + +<p>“Take the hinges off, you mean. Indeed they shan’t! +That lovely gumwood door! They’ll be sure to scar +it. Maybe some of the student nurses locked it. Ask +them. Or—wait! I’ll come down myself.”</p> + +<p>But Miss Dotty’s starched skirts were already +scuttling away.</p> + +<p>Before leaving the room, and not without a guilty +feeling in my heart, I placed the cigarette case in a safe +hiding place which was nothing more nor less than the +bottom of my laundry bag. Almost without conscious +volition on my part I had resolved to keep the matter +of the cigarette case a secret and in my own possession, +at least until I knew more certainly where my duty lay +concerning it. It carried with it too grave an implication +to act upon readily.</p> + +<p>Then, still preoccupied, I took my way downstairs, +through the main portion of St. Ann’s, past the general +office, and turned into the corridor leading to the south +wing. As I approached the chart desk, one of the student +nurses seized upon me tearfully with a tale of Three’s +hysterics, and wouldn’t I help for she had not the least +idea what to do. There was nothing for it but to go to +her assistance, much as I was interested in the +proceedings in Room 18. And it was a good thing for me +that I did! Otherwise I should have been in the room +when they opened the closet door.</p> + +<p>Three’s hysterics proved to be of an unusually stubborn +kind, really virulent in fact, and though I was +aware of a sort of subdued confusion and tremor of +excitement outside the door I could not clearly +understand what it was about. I heard faintly the sound of +hammering, of feet running along the corridor, of a +man’s voice calling out something indistinguishable, and +a hastily hushed, woman’s scream which Three promptly +and wilfully echoed. Then several people hurried +through the hall, and as they passed the door I heard +the unmistakable little metallic rattle of the wheels of +the stretcher-truck, and caught the words—“Call Dr. +Balman,” and something about an ambulance.</p> + +<p>This was too much for me and I left my patient as +soon as possible. No one was to be seen in the corridor, +however, so I walked hurriedly down toward Room 18. +Just as I reached it a policeman opened it, saw me, slid +hastily through the narrow aperture and, closing the +door, stood squarely before it.</p> + +<p>“You can’t go in there, miss,” he said firmly.</p> + +<p>“But—what has happened? What is all the +commotion about?”</p> + +<p>“You can’t go in there,” he repeated stupidly. To +my surprise I saw that the man was actually frightened. +His eyes were staring, his weather-beaten face a sort +of yellow-green, and his breath coming in gasps. “You +can’t go in there. You can’t——”</p> + +<p>He seemed capable only of keeping me out of the +room, so without wasting time or effort I turned about +and retraced my steps. As I passed the linen-closet door +I saw a group of nurses inside. One of them was lying +back in a chair in a dead faint and the others were +clustered around talking excitedly in low voices and nearly +drowning the recumbent one with cold water.</p> + +<p>“What on earth?” I exclaimed and at my voice they +turned; one of them was frankly sobbing and the other +two were white as ghosts.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Miss K-K——” began one, her teeth chattering +so she could not speak, while the others just stood there +with their mouths opening and closing like so many fish. +Naturally it was very trying and I believe I shook her +till her teeth chattered in good earnest.</p> + +<p>“Now tell me what has happened,” I said, releasing +her shoulders.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Miss Keate, the most terrible thing has——”</p> + +<p>“Is this Miss Keate?” interrupted a clear voice from +the doorway.</p> + +<p>I whirled.</p> + +<p>A man stood in the doorway; at the moment I was +conscious only of a pair of extraordinarily lucid gray +eyes; later I noted that he was slender and not very +tall, that his gray business suit was well tailored, his +gray socks of heavy silk and with a small scarlet thread, +his scarf neatly knotted and chosen with care, his face +clean-shaven, with clear rather delicately cut features, +and that he wore an air of well-groomed prosperity. +I knew at once that this was Lance O’Leary.</p> + +<p>“I am Miss Keate,” I replied.</p> + +<p>“I am Lance O’Leary,” he said (superfluously, but +he did not know that). “I should like to talk to you if +you have time. Will you come to the office with me, +please—I think we shall be undisturbed there.”</p> + +<p>Being a woman of some strength of mind, I had +intended to take a firm line with this detective whom +everyone seemed to think so remarkable, but I found +myself walking as meekly as any lamb at his side, and +once inside the general office with the door closed, I sat +as resignedly in a chair opposite him as if there were +not a thousand and one things that I should be doing.</p> + +<p>“You are the superintendent of the south wing?” +He spoke very quietly and with what I found later to +be a wholly deceptive air of detachment.</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“You were on duty last night between twelve and +six o’clock?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Miss Maida Day was your assistant?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Dr. Balman tells me that Miss Day telephoned to +him about two o’clock—possibly ten minutes before +the hour. I judge that was only a few moments after +you found that your patient was dead?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. It must have been about that time. It was something +after one-thirty when the storm broke and I hurried +along the corridor and closed the south door. Then +I closed the window in Room 17 and went directly into +Eighteen.” My voice was not quite steady at the recollection +of those moments and he waited briefly, his clear +eyes studying a pencil in his hands, before he went on.</p> + +<p>“The windows in Room 18 were also open?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. All the windows in the wing were open. It had +been very hot and close before the storm began.”</p> + +<p>He nodded.</p> + +<p>“Those windows are not far from the ground. Do +you think someone from outside could get into the +hospital without attracting your attention?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I said slowly. “It might be done but does not +seem very probable. With the doors to the sick-rooms +open and the night so still I believe I should have heard +any unusual sound. But the door to Eighteen was closed. +I can’t be sure.”</p> + +<p>“You heard no unusual sound, then?”</p> + +<p>“Why, no—except that a few moments before the +storm began I heard a sort of bang—as if a window had +dropped to the sill. It was not very clear.”</p> + +<p>He was looking directly into my face, his eyes as +clear as water.</p> + +<p>“You are sure it was a window? It might have been +a door closing.”</p> + +<p>“It was not the door for it was still open. I am not +sure—I investigated but found nothing. The south door +was still open—and as far as I could tell the windows +were as they had been.”</p> + +<p>“Did you look in Room 18?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>There was a slight pause. Then:</p> + +<p>“The patient was—quiet at the time?”</p> + +<p>“The room was dark and still so I did not enter it. +I just stood there for a moment holding the door half +open; I was afraid if I entered the room I would wake +him. He was asleep—that is——” I stopped abruptly +as it occurred to me that he had not been asleep; that +the incident had occurred not more than fifteen minutes +before I found him dead.</p> + +<p>O’Leary seemed to read my thoughts.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” he said quietly. “He must have been +dead—then. Can you be certain of the time?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. It was shortly after one-thirty. I remember +because I had just noted the time on a patient’s chart, +when I heard that dull sound and went to see what it +was.”</p> + +<p>He returned to his pencil, a shabby little red thing +it was, which he rolled absently between his well-kept +fingers.</p> + +<p>“Was this sound sharp and loud?”</p> + +<p>“No—” I hesitated, trying to recall just how it +had seemed. “No—it was rather dull—muffled—and +yet heavy. It was not very distinct.”</p> + +<p>“There were no other unusual circumstances? +Nothing out of the ordinary?”</p> + +<p>“Why, yes. There was someone—a man——” I +broke off abruptly. That man must have been Jim Gainsay. +I had no wish to involve him in the matter, at least +until I became convinced that his movements should be +investigated.</p> + +<p>But Lance O’Leary’s gray eyes looked straight +through to my back hair.</p> + +<p>“Yes?” he inquired.</p> + +<p>“Yes.” I spoke with an accent of finality, and gazed +nonchalantly out the window as if the subject were +closed.</p> + +<p>“Where was he?”</p> + +<p>“Running around the hospital,” I replied curtly, +wishing I had held my tongue.</p> + +<p>“Around and around?” inquired O’Leary blandly.</p> + +<p>“No,” I snapped. “Running along the east side of the +wing. I—he—we collided.”</p> + +<p>O’Leary sat up straighter.</p> + +<p>“What!”</p> + +<p>“I had gone out on the porch for a breath of fresh +air,” I explained rather sullenly. “Just as I stepped off +the porch I ran into him.”</p> + +<p>I stopped as if the incident were concluded.</p> + +<p>“Go on,” suggested the O’Leary man after waiting +a moment; he was being very polite and very pleasant +and altogether disagreeable.</p> + +<p>“That’s all,” I said waspishly. I fastened my gaze on +his extremely well-made shoes—an attention that I have +found invariably disconcerts men—vain creatures! But +this one was impervious.</p> + +<p>“And what did you say?” he persisted with the most +insulting good-humour.</p> + +<p>“I said ‘Well——’ ” I stared steadfastly at the shoes.</p> + +<p>“And what did he say?”</p> + +<p>I resisted an evil impulse to tell him literally and +with feeling.</p> + +<p>“I hope you don’t think I’d repeat such language,” +I replied, and I’m sure he smiled.</p> + +<p>“Then what happened?”</p> + +<p>“He—er—set me on my feet again and kept on +running.”</p> + +<p>“Very chivalrous,” remarked O’Leary. “So he kept +on running—around the hospital?”</p> + +<p>“No,” I answered peevishly. “He ran along the path +toward the bridge.”</p> + +<p>“What did you do?”</p> + +<p>“I walked in the direction he had come from as far +as the wing extends but saw nothing unusual.”</p> + +<p>“Did you not call anyone? Were you not alarmed?”</p> + +<p>“I thought of calling Higgins, the janitor, but when +I found that things seemed to be all right I decided it +was not necessary.”</p> + +<p>“Then you came back to the hospital?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“And all that time you saw or heard nothing +uncommon?”</p> + +<p>“Well—I smelled something.”</p> + +<p>He made a perceptible motion of surprise.</p> + +<p>“You smelled something? Did you say <em>smelled</em>?”</p> + +<p>I nodded, taking a small degree of satisfaction in his +discomposure.</p> + +<p>“As I passed that clump of elderberry bushes I +smelled ether. It was quite distinct. You know ether has +a penetrating odour.”</p> + +<p>“But surely that was unusual?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. But the night was so hot and ether out there +in the apple orchard so impossible that I decided I must +be mistaken, that it was just the mingled scents of alfalfa +and clover and other growing things.”</p> + +<p>“Well—which was it? Ether or imagination?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” I said firmly. “I’m just telling you +what happened. I know it sounds queer—but last night +was a queer night. That dinner at Corole’s and +everything,” I finished thoughtlessly.</p> + +<p>“Dinner at Corole’s? That is Miss Letheny?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Dr. Letheny was there?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Anyone else?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. Miss Day, Dr. Balman, Dr. Hajek, and a +friend of Dr. Letheny’s—a Mr. Gainsay. He is an +engineer who stopped for a day’s visit with them.”</p> + +<p>“And you and Miss Letheny?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“You implied that it was—‘queer,’ I think was the +word you used. How was it queer?”</p> + +<p>“Oh—I scarcely know. It was very hot and oppressive +you know—that sort of electric atmosphere that +precedes a thunder storm.”</p> + +<p>“Aside from the—er—electricity in the air, was +everything quite as usual?”</p> + +<p>I paused for a long moment before replying.</p> + +<p>“No,” I said candidly. “I think we were all a little +nervous and uneasy on account of the heat and +suffocating air. That is, I was. And Dr. Letheny—and Miss +Day——”</p> + +<p>“But not the others?”</p> + +<p>“Well——” It was difficult to define that curious +tensity I had felt in the air all the night. “No one seemed +quite natural to me. It may have been only I who was +a little nervous. I really can’t tell you anything definite.”</p> + +<p>“Why did you say definitely that Dr. Letheny and +Miss Day were unlike themselves?”</p> + +<p>“Dr. Letheny is a rather quick-spoken man—when +you know him you will understand what I mean. He +goes on his nervous energy, is very high-strung and +temperamental. He seemed especially explosive last +night. And Miss Day was a little abstracted, tired, I +think.”</p> + +<p>“I suppose you talked—played bridge—had a little +music?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. All of that.”</p> + +<p>“Any special topics of conversation?”</p> + +<p>“No——”</p> + +<p>He noted the uncertainty in my voice.</p> + +<p>“Radium wasn’t mentioned?”</p> + +<p>“Well—yes. But only in a general way.”</p> + +<p>“Didn’t speak of using it? Having it out of the safe?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I admitted reluctantly.</p> + +<p>“Didn’t say for what patient it was being used? In +what room?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. But only casually.” I explained Dr. Letheny’s +request to leave the south door unlocked.</p> + +<p>“Anything else?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing in particular. We just talked of general +matters.”</p> + +<p>“Such as——”</p> + +<p>I glanced at him impatiently.</p> + +<p>“Such as?” he repeated.</p> + +<p>“Oh—how warm it was, and how everybody longs +for something that money will buy, and how St. Ann’s +is equipped with radios and expensive ambulances and +a whole gram of radium and how much such things cost +and all that—and then we played a few hands of bridge +and then Dr. Letheny played the piano and then +Maida—Miss Day—and I came back through the orchard to +St. Ann’s and changed into our uniforms and went on +duty.”</p> + +<p>“You talked of money and how everybody longs for +something that money will buy,” mused O’Leary, adding +with uncanny intuition, “I suppose several of you +admitted a special desire for money?”</p> + +<p>“Every single one of us,” I confessed. “That is, +except Dr. Hajek. He just listened and seemed amused.”</p> + +<p>He smiled. “Don’t be alarmed over such an admission. +That doesn’t mean anything, that you all wanted +money. Everyone wants money. But suppose you tell +me, word for word, as much as you can remember of +the conversation. Don’t be afraid of implicating anyone, +Miss Keate. I make the request only because I like to +get as clear an idea of the general surroundings as +possible.” He smiled again. He had an extraordinarily +winning smile; it brightened his whole face, for all that +it was so brief, and I found myself warming under its +influence.</p> + +<p>Not seeing how I could possibly harm anyone I +repeated as much of our conversation as I could remember, +and since I have usually a good memory I think I +omitted very little of it.</p> + +<p>When I had finished he sat for some time turning +and twisting his pencil. I might say that I never but +once saw him use that pencil sensibly as a pencil is meant +to be used. I even grew to cherish a notion that the +pencil aided his mental processes and that if it were +taken away from him his ability to think might go along +with it. Like Samson’s hair, you know. Then I aroused +myself from such childish speculation.</p> + +<p>“If that is all——” I hinted. “This is a busy day for +us, you know.”</p> + +<p>“Not quite all, Miss Keate.” The smile had completely +gone from his face; his expression lost its youthfulness +and was very grave. “When did you last see +Dr. Letheny?”</p> + +<p>“Last night, shortly after twelve-thirty.”</p> + +<p>“He had come to see Mr. Jackson?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. He was here only a few moments.”</p> + +<p>“You saw him leave?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“And he did not return, to your knowledge?”</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>“He said nothing of leaving town?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing.”</p> + +<p>“He said nothing that would lead you to believe that +he was—er—worried about anything? Had had any +trouble?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing. I really think, Mr. O’Leary, that he will +return before the day is over. Some accident has +detained him. There will be some explanation.”</p> + +<p>“You—admire Dr. Letheny?” Lance O’Leary was +scrutinizing a dripping shrub outside the window as he +spoke.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I replied dubiously. “That is, he is a splendid +surgeon, very cool and very daring. I like to assist him.”</p> + +<p>“You have known him for a long time?”</p> + +<p>“Several years. That is, I have known him as everyone +else knows him. I do not believe that any of us feel +particularly well acquainted with him. He is rather +distant, very much interested in some research that he is +carrying on.”</p> + +<p>“You don’t know the kind of research—the special +subject of study?”</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>There followed a long silence; the rain beat steadily +against the window; outside in the corridor I heard the +sound of the four-o’clock nourishment trays being +carried along, the glasses of orange-juice and egg-nogg +clinking together. It was chilly there in the office and +I shivered a little.</p> + +<p>“I do wish that Dr. Letheny would return,” I said. +“It is bad for the head doctor of St. Ann’s to be away +at such a time.”</p> + +<p>Lance O’Leary turned slowly to me.</p> + +<p>“Dr. Letheny will not return,” he said, eyeing me +keenly.</p> + +<p>“Not return? What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>He shook his head.</p> + +<p>“He will not return,” he said very slowly and +distinctly. “Dr. Letheny is dead.”</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch04"> + +<h2>4. A Yellow Slicker and Other Problems</h2> + +<p>The slow words beat their way into my brain like so +many dull little hammers. I opened my mouth, tried to +say something, but could not seem to make him hear, +felt curiously sick and dizzy, had a flashing memory of +the first time I served in the operating room and all at +once the table before me began to waver, the room +whirled, and a great black blanket overwhelmed me.</p> + +<p>Then, without any interval at all, I found myself +lying on the couch in the inner office. I still felt sick but +my face was wet and cold and my uniform damp around +my shoulders and someone was saying in a dull voice: +“Dr. Letheny is dead—Dr. Letheny is dead.”</p> + +<p>“All right now, Miss Keate?” inquired a voice +anxiously.</p> + +<p>Wearily I opened my eyes, saw a gray arm and met +the gaze of a pair of clear gray eyes. Instantly my head +cleared. I pushed away the supporting arm and sat up, +feeling automatically for my cap, though my hands +shook.</p> + +<p>“That was beastly to shock you so,” Lance O’Leary +was saying with honest contrition. “I hope you’ll +forgive me, Miss Keate, I’m really awfully sorry.”</p> + +<p>“Did you say—Dr. Letheny is dead?” I asked, bringing +out the words with the peculiar difficulty that one +experiences in dreams.</p> + +<p>“He is dead,” he answered gravely.</p> + +<p>“Not—not—— Tell me how he died.”</p> + +<p>“Are you sure you can stand it? You’ve got to know +sometime.”</p> + +<p>“Go on,” I said, bracing myself.</p> + +<p>“He has been dead for more than twelve hours. He +was in the closet in Room 18.” He paused, regarding +me doubtfully, but at my horrified gesture continued: +“He had received a blow of some kind. It fractured his +skull. He must have died immediately.”</p> + +<p>“Wait.” Rising I walked to the window, stared with +unseeing eyes at the rain-drenched landscape, found my +palms were stinging under the pressure of my +fingernails, unclinched my hands, clinched them again and +turned to face O’Leary. It was true that I had felt no +fondness for Dr. Letheny—but I had often worked at +his side.</p> + +<p>“I say, Miss Keate,” Lance O’Leary was protesting +boyishly, “I’m awfully sorry to have been so brutal +about it. But you see, I had to know whether this was +news to you or not. Someone locked that closet door, +you know. And in my business we suspect +everything—everybody—the very walls themselves.”</p> + +<p>I was too deeply shocked to be indignant at the lack +of compliment in his implication; after a moment he +continued.</p> + +<p>“There is nothing more for you to help me with +now,” he said. “We just found Dr. Letheny’s body this +afternoon when we pried the closet door off its hinges. +I examined everything at once, called the ambulance, +and now the room can be cleaned and used again. The +only reminder you will have of all this, I hope, is that +I shall likely be about more or less for a few +days—or longer. That depends upon the luck I have.” He +smiled again. Evidently he was trying to be as +considerate as possible and I found myself liking him. “Of +course, there will have to be a coroner’s inquest, but +that is merely a matter of form and need not annoy +you. That is all now, thank you, Miss Keate. Can’t +you take some rest? Do you have night duty again +to-night?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I answered the last question. “Mr. O’Leary, +do you have any idea as to who—who has done this?”</p> + +<p>His face sobered instantly.</p> + +<p>“No,” he said simply. “Will you help me find out?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.” I spoke very thoughtfully. “It is only right +and just to do so.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you.” He seemed sincere. “You may be +interested to know that you have helped me already.”</p> + +<p>“Helped you! How? There was nothing I told +you——”</p> + +<p>“I’ll see you again, Miss Keate. By the way, I am +leaving one or two policemen about to-night. It may +help to steady some of the nerves in St. Ann’s.” He +opened the door and before I knew it I was in the main +hall with my question still unanswered.</p> + +<p>I still felt ill and weak from shock, and it was +fortunate that the exigencies of the situation demanded +action. That was the only saving feature of these fearful +days; we were all so busy that we had little time for +brooding.</p> + +<p>The news could not be kept from the nursing staff, +of course, though I hoped that we could keep it from +the patients, many of whom had been directly under +Dr. Letheny’s care. And there was Corole—in common +decency I must go to her.</p> + +<p>I snatched somebody’s slicker from the rack near +the main door and turned into the corridor leading to +the south wing, intending to slip out the south door +and along the path to Corole’s cottage, it being much +closer that way.</p> + +<p>In the corridor I met Dr. Balman.</p> + +<p>“I have heard,” I said briefly. “I am going to see +Corole.”</p> + +<p>He nodded.</p> + +<p>“At the request of the Board of Directors I shall +take Dr. Letheny’s place—temporarily at least. I have +just called a meeting of the whole nursing staff, Miss +Keate. You were with Mr. O’Leary so I did not disturb +you. I told them of the situation, gave orders that +this thing must not get to the ears of the patients, +suspended training classes for a few days, and doubled the +number of girls on duty in the various wings and wards +until we get a working routine established. I find that +the girls are nervous over being alone.” He spoke very +calmly, but his extreme pallor caught my eye.</p> + +<p>“You had better get some rest, Dr. Balman. And +have that bruise on your cheek attended to—it looks +bad.”</p> + +<p>He passed his hand over the bruise.</p> + +<p>“I bumped it while running through the apple orchard +last night. I wasted no time after I talked to Miss Day +over the telephone.”</p> + +<p>“Oh—then you came by the side road?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. Thought I’d save time by not going around +by the main entrance. I didn’t expect this.” He fingered +the spot cautiously.</p> + +<p>“Put iodine on it,” I advised.</p> + +<p>“I’ll sleep here in the hospital for a while,” he said. +“I’ll be there on the couch in the inner office. So if there +is anything wanted I shall be right here.”</p> + +<p>I nodded approvingly and went on, but while hurrying +through the corridor I became conscious of something +about the casual sentences that affected me +disagreeably. What was it? Ah! “I bumped it while +running through the apple orchard.” To be sure he had +followed the words immediately with a very reasonable +explanation, but wasn’t that in itself suspicious! On +the other hand, however, I had been quite sure that +the man with whom I collided had been Jim Gainsay.</p> + +<p>Well, there was no way to make sure. And I resolved +that I must not allow myself to become suspicious of +anything and everything. The affair was strain enough +on one’s nerves as it was, without adding the horror +of suspecting one’s nearest associates.</p> + +<p>Immersed in my own not too pleasant thoughts I +passed the door of Room 18 without seeing it, an +occurrence that I was to find unusual. On the porch stood a +policeman, his broad back to the door, but he made no +effort to stop me when I descended the steps. Once +in the path the trees dripped steadily on my head, the +wind blew the light slicker so that it was difficult to +hold it around me, and I bent my head and ran through +the damp welter of leaves and small sticks, with the +branches of the trees sweeping so low as to brush my +hair and cap, and the shrubbery reaching out thorny +twigs to clutch at my white skirt. It was shadowy there +in the orchard and the hospital soon disappeared behind +the intervening shrubbery and trees and gray mist. +It was nearing five o’clock by that time and already +growing dark so that the path was not an altogether +agreeable place in which to linger.</p> + +<p>I turned another little bend that sloped rapidly down +to the bridge and almost ran into a tall figure that was +leaning upon the railing. At my startled exclamation it +turned to face me. It was Jim Gainsay, a sodden hat +pulled low over his eyes and the collar of his capacious +tweed coat turned up. He was smoking (it was a pipe +I noted, thinking of the cigarette case) and casting +pebbles across the water, which is not a rainy day pastime.</p> + +<p>“Oh. It’s you.” I said.</p> + +<p>“Miss Keate! Say, you are the very person I’ve been +wanting to see. Can you tell me something of poor old +Louis?”</p> + +<p>“Louis? Oh, you mean Dr. Letheny.” I suppose I +paled a little at the name. At any rate Gainsay glanced +sharply at me.</p> + +<p>“I didn’t mean to—disturb you,” he said apologetically. +“You see, I only heard of it an hour or so ago, +and only what that fellow O’Leary told me. Don’t talk +if you would rather not.”</p> + +<p>“Then I know no more than you, for the detective, +Mr. O’Leary, told me of it, too. Of course, it was a +shock.”</p> + +<p>Jim Gainsay nodded, his gaze again on the little +stream that, swollen by the night’s rain, swept in a +bubbling current almost to our feet.</p> + +<p>“Poor old Louis,” he muttered.</p> + +<p>“You have known him a long time?” I said absently, +my eyes too on the water.</p> + +<p>“Since university days,” said Jim Gainsay slowly. “I +always liked Louis though I can’t say I understood him; +no one ever did. In the last few years I have seen him +only a few times. It was terrible to—go like that. Do +they have any idea as to who—who killed him?”</p> + +<p>“Not that I know of,” I said and shivered at the +thought of the black night so recently past and of the +unknown and ghastly presence that Room 18 had held. +And I had taken that futile little candle and searched +the room for the thing that some sixth sense warned +me was there! I shivered again and caught my breath +and Jim Gainsay turned to me again.</p> + +<p>“Don’t let me keep you out here in the storm. You +are cold in that slicker thing.”</p> + +<p>“A little. I am going to see Corole. How does she take +it?”</p> + +<p>Jim Gainsay’s frown deepened.</p> + +<p>“I hardly know. I can’t understand her any better +than I could understand Louis. She looked—sort of +bad—this morning. Tired, you know. And kept saying +Louis would return. But she was terribly nervous. +Prowled over the house like a cat.” He shrugged in +distaste. “Fairly gave me the creeps to watch her. Then +when they came up to the house to tell her that—that +they had found him she just sort of froze all up. Hardly +said a word.”</p> + +<p>“Wasn’t she dreadfully shocked?”</p> + +<p>“Well—I don’t know. You never can tell how Corole +is feeling or what she is thinking about. Of course, she +and Louis sort of got on each other’s nerves a little. +That is—you know what I mean——” He glanced at +me uncertainly.</p> + +<p>“I know.”</p> + +<p>“I suppose St. Ann’s is awfully upset?”</p> + +<p>“We are trying to keep everything going as well as +possible. It is a bad situation, naturally. The nurses +are doing their best but there is a sort of undercurrent +of hysteria.” My mind on Corole, I did not immediately +note where his inquiries were leading.</p> + +<p>“Miss Day was with you in the south wing last +night, was she not?” He knocked his pipe carefully +against the railing.</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“How—er—— Is she feeling any bad effects from +the fright?”</p> + +<p>“I have seen her only for a few moments at lunch,” +I replied; at another time I should have smiled at his +elaborately impersonal air.</p> + +<p>“I—don’t suppose I could see her? For a little +while?”</p> + +<p>“She will be free between six and seven o’clock. But +we are allowing no visitors for a few days . . .” My +voice trailed doubtfully into space.</p> + +<p>“But see here, Miss Keate, I—it is important that I +see her.” He spoke rather defiantly as if he dared me +to ask why. “Will you carry a note to her, then?”</p> + +<p>Well, I was willing to carry a note to Maida, so I +shivered under the folds of the flapping slicker while +he stood with his back to the rain and wind, scribbling +hastily on a bit of yellowish paper he pulled from his +pocket. He held the paper close to him to protect it +from the rain but I noted that it was an unused Western +Union telegraph blank.</p> + +<p>“There, and thank you, Miss Keate.” He handed me +the folded scrap of paper and I slipped it into my pocket.</p> + +<p>But at the end of the bridge I turned.</p> + +<p>“Why, Mr. Gainsay,” I exclaimed. “I had forgotten. +You were to leave this morning!”</p> + +<p>His face had lost the youthful look with which he +had begged me to take the note to Maida, and had +become lined again, and his narrowed eyes were +unfathomable under that shadowy hat brim.</p> + +<p>“I shall not go for a few days,” he said after a barely +perceptible pause. “I can scarcely leave at such a time. +Louis was a friend. They have no relatives here. Corole +needs someone.”</p> + +<p>His disjointed explanation did not please me. I +restrained a rather obvious remark as to chaperonage; +after all, Huldah was a militant and vigorous enough +chaperon to suit the most meticulous Mrs. Grundy.</p> + +<p>I daresay, however, that my disapproval was apparent +in my expression, for Jim Gainsay added hastily:</p> + +<p>“My boat doesn’t sail till next week.”</p> + +<p>“Your boat?”</p> + +<p>“I’m to sail on the <i>Tuscania</i>.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” I said flatly, and there being nothing further +I took my way on around the hill.</p> + +<p>The Letheny cottage looked cold and grim as I +approached it. Puddles stood along the turf path; the +flowers were beaten down by the wind and leaves had +blown all over the porch. Huldah answered the bell, +her eyes red and swollen and the cap that Corole had +forced her to adopt hanging dejectedly over one ear.</p> + +<p>“Miss Keate!” she cried. “And so wet!” She took +my slicker, holding it so it could not drip on the rug. +“Oh, Miss Keate! Such a t’ing! Such a t’ing!” It is +only when Huldah is tremendously moved that she +forgets her digraphs.</p> + +<p>“Yes, it is dreadful, Huldah,” I said. “How is Miss +Corole?”</p> + +<p>Huldah shrugged her heavy shoulders oddly.</p> + +<p>“There she is, in the study.” She motioned toward +the door without answering my question and then followed +me, her china-blue eyes curious and round like a +rabbit’s between their pink rims.</p> + +<p>“Oh, it’s you,” said Corole with not very flattering +indifference. “For Heaven’s sake, Huldah, take that +wet coat to the kitchen. And close the door behind you,” +she added viciously. “I suppose you came to offer +sympathy,” she went on, moving a pillow to a more +comfortable position under her arm. She was half-lying, +half-sitting on the big davenport. A fire had been built +in the fireplace but had burned down to a few sullen +ashes with a red gleam here and there. There was no +light in the room beyond the gray, rainy dusk from the +windows.</p> + +<p>Corole’s hair was disarranged a little from its usual +flat gold waves, and her eyes had great dark circles +under them, and her face in the ghostly gray light was +sallow and drawn. But she was gowned in a coppery-green +silk thing that clung smoothly to her rather +luxuriant curves. A heavily embroidered Chinese scarf, whose +usual place, I recalled, was on the long table near her, +had been flung over her feet and somehow, I presume +because she glanced obliquely at it and reached +surreptitiously to rearrange it, I got the impression that +she had hastily flung it over her feet as I came into the +room.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I replied gravely. “I am very sorry that this +thing has happened.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, of course, it is terrible,” she agreed quickly. +“The whole thing is simply unspeakable.”</p> + +<p>There was little for us to say; I offered the usual +remarks; Corole told me that Dr. Letheny’s body would +be sent to New Orleans for burial with others of the +family and thanked me perfunctorily for my offers of +assistance.</p> + +<p>“Jim Gainsay is staying on for a few days,” she said. +“Nice of him but I really don’t see what he can do.” +There was a faint ring of resentment in her voice that +surprised me. Corole was not a woman to resent +masculine company.</p> + +<p>“I suppose Huldah is making you comfortable?” I +said for lack of something better.</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes,” replied Corole discontentedly. “She does +as well as usual. She was awfully upset about all this. +Jumps every time I speak to her.”</p> + +<p>“Would you like someone to come and stay with +you for a few days?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Corole sharply. “No. Why should I?”</p> + +<p>“Oh—in case of anything—er—happening. I should +think you would be a little nervous.” My explanation +sounded somewhat lame and I recalled that Corole +actually had no idea of the things we had gone through +last night. . . . A swift recollection of that shallow, +locked closet in Room 18 came to me and I arose +suddenly, moved to another chair, and tried to think of +something else.</p> + +<p>“. . . not that Huldah would be any good if something +did happen,” Corole was saying. “She would simply +pull the covers over her head and shriek. But there’s +Jim.” She added the last name grudgingly as if to say, +“such as he is,” and lapsed into silence.</p> + +<p>“I must get back to the hospital,” I said presently, +not seeing that my presence was vital to Corole.</p> + +<p>“I don’t suppose they have any idea as to what happened +to the radium,” she observed casually as I arose.</p> + +<p>“No. I don’t know what to think.”</p> + +<p>“It would seem natural to believe that whoever killed +Mr. Jackson and—er—Louis—did so in order to get +the radium.”</p> + +<p>“So it would seem,” I agreed. “For my part, I have +not had time to speculate on possibilities. It is—too +shocking.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t you think that they will try to trace the +radium?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t think anything about it,” I replied caustically. +Her interest in the radium annoyed me. I felt repelled +at her callous lack of grief. Suppose she and Dr. +Letheny had not been on the best of terms, nevertheless +they were cousins and housemates.</p> + +<p>“Well,” she kept on, “it all seems very strange. Didn’t +you see or hear a thing while all that was going on?” +Her catlike eyes, whose pupils shone large and flat and +black in the semi-twilight, flickered over me with +interest.</p> + +<p>“No,” I said shortly. I did not relish being questioned +by Corole Letheny. “If there is nothing I can do for +you I am going.”</p> + +<p>“No need to be in a hurry,” she said indolently, +yawning a little as she moved with a luxuriant stretching +of muscles to a more comfortable position among +the cushions.</p> + +<p>“Good-night,” I said curtly. “And do have some +light!” As I spoke I reached abruptly for the lamp cord, +pulled it, and the green light fell on the davenport.</p> + +<p>Corole sprang upright with a startled half word, +clutched the Chinese scarf and pulled it more securely +over her feet.</p> + +<p>“Good-night,” I said again and left.</p> + +<p>Huldah was waiting in the hall. As I took my coat +it seemed to me that there was something hesitant in +her attitude, as if she wanted to speak to me, but I +was in a hurry and furthermore in no mood to condole +with her. So I threw the slicker over my shoulders and +splashed along the sodden path.</p> + +<p>I scarcely noticed the rain, however, nor the cold +discomforts of the path. When I entered the south wing +and slipped quietly along its hushed length, I was still +rotating in my mind a certain question.</p> + +<p>When the light had flashed on there in Dr. Letheny’s +study, I had caught a brief but distinct view of Corole’s +slippers. They were beautiful pumps, high-heeled bronze +kid with dainty, cut-steel buckles. But they were +mud-stained and sodden with moisture and had wet leafmold +clinging to them.</p> + +<p>Where had Corole Letheny gone that afternoon? +What errand had been so urgent that she had gone +out of the house through the rain and storm in such +haste that she had not had time to remove those dainty +slippers?</p> + +<p>Facing my own white, tired face in the mirror, I +pushed my loosened hair together, removed little torn +pieces of leaves from it and righted my cap. My shoes +were soaked, so I changed them. Premonitory pangs +of neuralgia began to shoot over my left temple, and +I wished that I had not stood so long in the rain talking +to Jim Gainsay.</p> + +<p>With the thought came memory of the note with +which I had been intrusted and I planned to give it to +Maida at dinner; the bell was just ringing for the meal, +then.</p> + +<p>In my abstraction I had worn the borrowed slicker +to my room; as I started down to the dining room I +threw it over my arm. Idly wondering whose coat I had +appropriated I ran my hand into a pocket, drawing out +a man’s handkerchief. It was large and white and had +no distinguishing marks on it. But there was a faint +scent—I pressed the square of linen to my nose, +sniffed—and sniffed again with quickened interest. Faint but +unmistakable, the scent of ether emanated from its +folds.</p> + +<p>I stopped midway on the stairs, stared at the thing +and deliberately went through the other pockets. There +was nothing more to be found; no identifying label or +initials on the whole garment.</p> + +<p>One yellow slicker is very much like another, and +search though I did I found no means of discovering +its owner. I felt, however, that I should like to have +the ether smell clinging to that handkerchief explained. +Possibly if I returned it to the rack and watched to +see who came for it I should learn, at least, the identity +of its owner. Thinking that no one would call for it +during the dinner hour, the quietest time of the whole +day, I replaced the handkerchief and hung the slicker +on the hook from which I had taken it, and went down +to dinner. But when I returned some fifteen minutes +later, after hurrying over my dinner, the slicker was +gone and I had not the faintest idea as to who had +removed it.</p> + +<p>I gave the note from Jim Gainsay to Maida when +I met her in the hall outside the dining room and had +the dubious satisfaction of seeing her crimson vividly +as she read it. The crimson, however, was succeeded by +a pallor that went to her lips as she finished reading +the few sentences, and during the meal she kept her +eyes steadfastly on her plate and ate practically nothing. +And shortly after dinner, happening to be standing +near an east window, I saw a slim, shadowy figure, +crowned in a white cap, winding its way into the apple +orchard. Something after seven o’clock, when I was +catching forty winks in my own room, Maida came in. +The soft frame of black hair around her face had little +beads of mist caught in it and I did not doubt that Jim +Gainsay had succeeded in seeing her.</p> + +<p>She did not mention him, however, but fussed around +the room for a while, playing with the manicure things +I had left on the dressing-table top, flipping through the +leaves of the last <i>Surgical News</i>, and generally behaving +as a woman does whose thoughts are elsewhere. She +even picked up my tool kit, commenting on the curved +bandage scissors and shining forceps and playing idly +with the tiny plunger of my own hypodermic set.</p> + +<p>We said nothing of the affair of the previous night; +it was too recent, its developments too terrifying; we +were both, I suppose, unconsciously fortifying +ourselves against the ordeal of the coming second watch, +which the memory of the last was not calculated to make +easier.</p> + +<p>Maida had two crimson spots on her cheeks—from +the walk in the rain, I judged—but her eyes had slender +purple shadows under them, her hands, usually so +steady, fluttered a little over the tools she was +fingering, she either spoke too rapidly of some trivial +matter or lapsed into silence, and when someone passing +coughed suddenly Maida started visibly, the pupils of +her eyes darkened swiftly, and she cast a quick, +apprehensive glance over her shoulder toward the door.</p> + +<p>But since it was only to be expected that we both +show the strain of the last twenty-four hours, I thought +nothing of her evident uneasiness.</p> + +<p>She had not been in the room more than half an hour +when I was called to the third-floor telephone. The +connection was poor and it took a few moments to find +that it was Miss Neil who was wanted, and when I +returned to my own room Maida had gone and I did not +see her again until we met in the south wing at twelve +o’clock.</p> + +<p>Contrary to our unacknowledged apprehensions, +second watch that night went much the same as on other +nights. The electric lights had finally been repaired, +though the utmost illumination was little enough to +suit my taste. Just in front of the south door a policeman, +tipped perilously back in his chair, slumbered +spasmodically and I must say that, though he was no beauty, +he was a most agreeable sight.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for our piece of mind, it was a busy night. +We actually needed the extra help, Olma Flynn and +a student nurse, and the two extra uniforms, here and +there about the wing, made it seem a little less silent +and ghostly.</p> + +<p>Along about two o’clock Sonny’s light went on and +I answered it.</p> + +<p>“Why, hello, Miss Keate,” he said, as I turned on +the light above his bed. “You haven’t been in to see +me since last night.”</p> + +<p>Was it only last night?</p> + +<p>“I’ve been busy, Sonny,” I replied. “How is the cast +doing?”</p> + +<p>“It was pretty bad last night.” He moved a little +to ease his tired body. “It is better to-night, though. +Quite a lot more comfortable. What happened last +night, Miss Keate? I heard somebody scream.”</p> + +<p>“One of the girls had a little fright.” I made my +explanation casually but Sonny’s gaze remained puzzled.</p> + +<p>“To-day has been so queer, too. So many people in +and out and strange footsteps past the door. And this +afternoon, about two o’clock, they shut all the doors +and I heard the wheels of a truck being taken along +the corridor. Did—did one of the patients die, Miss +Keate?”</p> + +<p>When I can’t tell the truth I made it a rule to tell +as near the truth as possible.</p> + +<p>“One of the patients died, Sonny. He was an old +gentleman.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said Sonny, eyeing me doubtfully. I reached +over to straighten his sheets. Through long hours of +suffering, of lying helpless in bed and being at times +rather nearer the other world than this, Sonny has +developed a highly sensitive intuition.</p> + +<p>“Oh,” he said again. He was not satisfied but had +good manners. “Did you have a nice time at the party?” +he asked cheerfully.</p> + +<p>“At the party—— Why, no, Sonny. It—er—wasn’t +a very nice party. It was too hot.”</p> + +<p>“I guess Miss Day didn’t get time to come in and +tell me about it. I looked for her. But she must have +been too busy.”</p> + +<p>“But I thought——” I checked myself abruptly, +continuing: “Maybe she will come in to see you to-night. +What is it you wanted, Sonny?”</p> + +<p>“Just a fresh drink, please. And would you change +my pillows?”</p> + +<p>I brought the fresh drink and made him as +comfortable as possible.</p> + +<p>So Maida had not been in to see Sonny last night after +all! And she had volunteered the information, I +remembered; I had not even asked for it. I deliberated over +the matter for some time before I came to the reluctant +conclusion that only an affair of importance would +have brought Maida to the point of telling a deliberate +lie. Which conclusion did not lighten my state of mind.</p> + +<p>The night didn’t go so well after that.</p> + +<p>From midnight until four o’clock are the dreaded +hours of St. Ann’s régime. They are gray, cold, dreary +hours—hours when pulses lag most feebly, when the +breath comes most wearily, when life seems a burden +that is all too easily escaped and the other world seems +so near that the nurse must cling to her patients with +all her will to keep them from making that quiet, easy +journey. It is one of the demands of our profession that +the most is asked of our strength at a time when it is +at its lowest ebb.</p> + +<p>Last night there had been two dead men in our +wing—and dead by another’s hands. Whose hand had it +been?</p> + +<p>Somehow during those black hours in that hushed +and shadowy wing the thing that struck me with the +most horror, that brought my heart, quivering, to my +throat and gooseflesh all up my arms, was the memory +of that locked closet.</p> + +<p>Dead men can’t walk. Dead men can’t carry keys. +Dead men can’t lock doors.</p> + +<p>Who had locked that door? We <em>must</em> believe that +it was some intruder, someone outside our little circle +at St. Ann’s. And surely the police had searched the +place and that fearful intruder could not still be about, +hidden in some recess of the dark old halls and +passageways.</p> + +<p>And yet—who would be familiar with the plan of +St. Ann’s? Who would know that the radium was in +use? Who, indeed, would know of its value?</p> + +<p>Eleven’s signal light clicked and I hastened to answer, +putting down the chart at which I had been staring +without even seeing its red temperature line.</p> + +<p>I found Eleven in a chill, which was followed, as I +expected, by a raging fever under which he grew steadily +delirious. Dr. Balman’s orders for the night had +included an opiate if conditions warranted it, so I went +to the drug room.</p> + +<p>The drug room is at the north end of the wing, directly +opposite the diet kitchen. We always keep there +a small supply of drugs for which we have frequent +need. We do not keep the door locked as the drugs are +in small quantities. In the drug room, too, we keep +the various tools we are apt to need, among them a +hypodermic syringe and a supply of needles. During +the week past the syringe belonging to the south wing +had got something wrong with its small plunger and +Maida had brought her own outfit down for us to use, +which had reposed beside the broken one in a drawer.</p> + +<p>Pulling open this drawer I lifted the only syringe it +contained and found it to be the broken one. Maida must +be using the other, I reflected, and after waiting a few +moments for her to return it I started out to find her.</p> + +<p>She was in the kitchen, preparing a malted milk.</p> + +<p>“May I have the hypo?” I asked hurriedly.</p> + +<p>“The hypodermic syringe?”</p> + +<p>“Of course. I need it at once.”</p> + +<p>“Isn’t it in the drug room?” She was measuring the +cream-coloured powder carefully.</p> + +<p>“No. I thought you had it.”</p> + +<p>“I haven’t used it to-night.” She did not look at me.</p> + +<p>“I’ll see if Miss Flynn has it.” I turned quickly away. +But Miss Flynn did not have it, and had not had it. +She hinted that I must have overlooked it and even +walked back to the drug room with me, pulling out the +drawer with her own hand.</p> + +<p>“Why, there it is!” she exclaimed triumphantly.</p> + +<p>And to be sure, there it was!</p> + +<p>I was considerably chagrined, especially as Miss Flynn +laughed and said something not at all witty about my +eyesight.</p> + +<p>And in the very act of filling the thing I caught sight +of something that almost made me drop it. It was only +a scratch across the bit of nickel where the manufacturer’s +name is engraved but it was a scratch I myself +had made in order to identify it. In a hospital it is easy +to get such things confused, so I had simply taken a pair +of surgical scissors and scratched across the letter “K” +which appeared in the manufacturer’s name, +Kesselbach.</p> + +<p>My own hypodermic syringe! How had it got there? +Like a flash my mind reverted to the memory of Maida, +sitting on the edge of the window sill, looking at my +tool kit and taking this same tool in her pink-tipped +fingers.</p> + +<p>I administered the hypodermic automatically, sterilized +the needle and replaced it, and returned to Eleven.</p> + +<p>But in that darkened room, listening to the gradually +less rapid breathing of the sick man, and the still +gusty wind and rain through which a slow gray dawn +was beginning to make itself felt, I found myself +possessed of new problems.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch05"> + +<h2>5. A Lapis Cuff Link</h2> + +<p>From that morning on I took an active interest in the +case—I mean, in solving the problem. Indeed, Mr. +O’Leary has had the kindness to say, since, that I +helped—well, I need not repeat his words. However, it is +true that I did everything in my power, which was little +enough, to solve the mystery that confronted us. While +I am not at all inquisitive, nevertheless I do have an +inquiring mind, due doubtless to the fact that I have +lived in a hospital for a number of years and hospitals +are hotbeds of gossip. Not malicious gossip, you +understand, for nurses are one class of women in the world +who can keep the faith which the ethics of the +profession as well as individual integrity demand.</p> + +<p>But anything that happens in our small world is of +interest; the patient in the charity ward who almost +swallowed a thermometer and had to be up-ended and +shaken, the precipitate arrival of a new baby in a roadster +out in front of the hospital, or the alcoholic whose +language shocked—or diverted as the case might +be—a whole wing.</p> + +<p>Besides the fact that the murders had occurred in +the south wing, for which I feel a responsibility—the +wing, I mean, not the murders!—there were other and +as serious considerations. Chief among these was the +affair of the hypodermic syringe and Maida’s +inexplicable behaviour the night of the seventh, and the +presence of Jim Gainsay as testified by that gold +cigarette case.</p> + +<p>A hospital ought to be sanctuary and it seemed to +me an offense against all the laws of humanity that +this hideous thing should have happened within our +walls of mercy. I deliberately tried to put myself in +the frame of mind to be suspicious about anything and +everything—and I trust it is no reflection on my +character to say that I succeeded without much effort.</p> + +<p>I found plenty to be suspicious about, and without +going out of the way to do so. The only trouble was +that, though I pride myself on being a keen and +clear-minded woman and have more than the usual amount +of determination, I could not arrive at any conclusion.</p> + +<p>I worried all day about Maida, however, and when +Lance O’Leary turned up about four o’clock, with a +polite request for an interview, I did not know whether +to be glad or sorry.</p> + +<p>We went into the general waiting room to talk. It +was a chilly place, with slippery leather-covered +furniture and on the wall a none too cheerful picture of +the burning of Joan of Arc. The weather had settled +into a steady, dripping rain by that time, the clouds +were still heavy, and the very concrete steps of the main +entrance, just below the windows, oozed moisture. It +was an added distress that not once during those strange +days did we see the sun. Everything we touched was +damp and cold and sweaty.</p> + +<p>O’Leary was as meticulously groomed as he had been +the day before, but there was about him a sort of quiet +but intense concentration that seemed to detach him +from ordinary affairs of the world. I have seen the same +thing in the face of an artist I used to know—and in +the face of a dear and saintly old nun under whom I +trained.</p> + +<p>There was nothing, however, of the poseur about +him. He was ordinarily rather silent, was occasionally +oddly boyish and young, was simple and direct—it was +his unconscious absorption that marked him. And those +extraordinarily clear gray eyes.</p> + +<p>He asked a few commonplace questions as to how I +felt, and were things going well, and was the policeman +of any use. Then, he reached absently into his pocket +and drew out the stubby red pencil.</p> + +<p>“Miss Day was your assistant in the wing the night +of the seventh?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. We have second watch together this two +weeks.”</p> + +<p>“How long has she been here at St. Ann’s?”</p> + +<p>“Three years.”</p> + +<p>“She is a good nurse, I judge? Cool and restrained?”</p> + +<p>“One of the best.”</p> + +<p>“She is a friend of yours?”</p> + +<p>“I admire her very much,” I said warmly. “She is a +girl of high moral character, thoroughly honourable +and reliable.”</p> + +<p>“M’h’m——” He began to roll the inevitable little +pencil.</p> + +<p>“I suppose a nurse becomes fairly well acquainted +with the other nurses, as well as the doctors, who +frequent the hospital?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I said doubtfully, not seeing just where his +questions were tending.</p> + +<p>“Miss Day looks to be a girl of strong likes and +dislikes.”</p> + +<p>Well, that was perfectly true so I contented myself +with a nod.</p> + +<p>“She was a good friend of Miss Letheny’s and—of +the doctor’s?”</p> + +<p>“Not—particularly,” I said slowly. “We were all +on friendly terms. Corole had us over there often.”</p> + +<p>“Did Miss Day work much with Dr. Letheny?”</p> + +<p>“About as I did. She is a good surgical nurse.”</p> + +<p>“You mean she is efficient in assisting with +operations?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“I suppose that requires—nerve? Courage? A cool +hand?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.” I was beginning to feel uneasy.</p> + +<p>He paused for a moment, his gray eyes on the heavy +clouds beyond the window.</p> + +<p>“Tell me again, Miss Keate, just what you did when +you first found that Mr. Jackson was dead.”</p> + +<p>“I left Room 18 and went to get a candle. When I +returned Miss Day was in the doorway of Eighteen. +There was a flash of lightning, and I saw her and she +spoke to me.”</p> + +<p>“What did she say?”</p> + +<p>“Just something about the storm. She had been +closing windows in the wing.”</p> + +<p>“Did she know that Jackson was dead?”</p> + +<p>“Why, no! Not until I lit the candle and she saw +him.”</p> + +<p>“She was surprised, of course?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Then, as I understand it, she went through the dark +corridor to the general office to telephone to Dr. +Letheny. Was she willing to go? Or was she—reluctant?”</p> + +<p>“I—she——”</p> + +<p>He caught my hesitation.</p> + +<p>“She did not wish to telephone to him?”</p> + +<p>“The corridor was so dark you could hardly see +your hand before you,” I remarked crisply. “And it +was storming.”</p> + +<p>“Of course, of course,” said O’Leary pacifically.</p> + +<p>“Miss Letheny told Miss Day that the doctor was +out,” he went on quietly. “Then she, Miss Day, had +the presence of mind to call Dr. Balman. I suppose she +knew his telephone number? Or was there some kind +of light in the office?”</p> + +<p>“She asked Information for the number.”</p> + +<p>“Then Dr. Balman came out here at once?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. He was here in just a few moments. He lives +at the first apartment house off Lake Street and it +is only a short drive.”</p> + +<p>“In the meantime you waked Dr. Hajek?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. He sleeps in that little room that opens into +the general office. He usually answers ’phone calls at +night and—keeps an eye on things. Unless he is asleep,” +I added waspishly, thinking of how soundly he had +slept when we needed him most.</p> + +<p>“Why did not Miss Day call Dr. Hajek, when she +called Dr. Balman?”</p> + +<p>“She did try to but could not wake him. But Dr. +Balman was Dr. Letheny’s assistant and should be +called in a matter of such importance.”</p> + +<p>“Then you called Dr. Hajek yourself. I suppose you +told him what had happened.”</p> + +<p>“No. I was so excited that I just told him to go at +once to Room 18. I even pushed him toward the door.” +I smiled a little. “I took him by the coat and——”</p> + +<p>“Took him by the coat? Then he was fully dressed!” +O’Leary’s gaze pierced mine.</p> + +<p>“Yes.” I paused as a certain recollection thrust itself +upon me. “He must have been outside! In the rain!”</p> + +<p>“Why do you say that?”</p> + +<p>“His coat was damp.”</p> + +<p>O’Leary studied the pencil for a long time.</p> + +<p>“Then what happened?” he asked finally in an +inflectionless voice.</p> + +<p>“Why—then—then I got hold of some lights and +went back to Eighteen. They were all there, Maida +and Dr. Hajek and Dr. Balman. They were just staring +at the patient and doing nothing. Dr. Balman told me +that he had died of an overdose of morphine. Of course, +I knew that not a grain of morphine had been ordered. +So that meant that it was done purposely. It was while +we were standing there that——” I stopped. No need +to tell that!</p> + +<p>But he glanced at me quickly.</p> + +<p>“Go on, Miss Keate.”</p> + +<p>“It was nothing.”</p> + +<p>“Then you should not object to telling of it.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” I began reluctantly, “it was only that, as +we were standing there, all at once there was a tiny +bit of red that came from the hypodermic wound. You +know the little pin prick where the needle has been +inserted. It was——” I coughed to hide the tremble in +my voice. “It was—very unusual.”</p> + +<p>I could see that Lance O’Leary, for all his professional +frigidity, was somewhat shaken, for his hands +gripped the pencil tightly and he drew a deliberate +breath.</p> + +<p>“That old superstition means nothing,” he said. “But +it must have been—grisly. And there were only you and +Miss Day and Dr. Hajek and Dr. Balman in the room?”</p> + +<p>My throat being dry I made an assenting gesture.</p> + +<p>“And—Dr. Letheny in the closet,” added O’Leary +softly.</p> + +<p>At that I must have gone quite pale, for Lance +O’Leary, eyeing me with that oddly lucid gaze, spoke +abruptly, as if to distract my thoughts.</p> + +<p>“I believe you are a woman of some discretion.”</p> + +<p>“I ought to be! At my age.”</p> + +<p>“The fact inclines one to talk with you,” he said +drily. “Look here, Miss Keate, this is not going to be +an easy job. In the first place it is obvious that the +guilty person is very likely someone who is familiar +with St. Ann’s.” I made some protestant motion and +he went on: “Surely that has occurred to you?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I replied in a small voice.</p> + +<p>“Why?”</p> + +<p>“Because it must have been someone who knew that +the radium was being used and in what room.”</p> + +<p>“And one who was familiar enough with the hospital +routine to know the best time to enter the wing +unobserved,” said O’Leary.</p> + +<p>“That eliminates Jim Gainsay,” I remarked without +thinking.</p> + +<p>He regarded me keenly.</p> + +<p>“We will come to him later,” he said. “As to the +radium—yes, I think we can assume that the radium +theft was at least one of the motives. Its disappearance +indicates that, though it might be merely a blind. But +the radium is very valuable, a small fortune to many +men. As a matter of routine we have taken steps to +insure the immediate reporting of anyone trying to +dispose of a quantity of radium. I do not expect to hear +from this, however, for the person who has the radium +will naturally wait until this affair has blown over +before attempting to sell the stuff. Yes, the radium +theft may account for the death of Jackson but not +for Dr. Letheny. At least not unless——”</p> + +<p>“Unless he caught the thief?” I interrupted eagerly.</p> + +<p>“If that were true, how account for his stealthy +return to St. Ann’s and the fact that he did not call +for help?” He paused but I said nothing and he +continued: “Then there is the obvious conjecture that +the person who administered the morphine must have +been either so skilled that he could do so without +awaking Jackson, or someone to whom the patient was +accustomed. Dr. Letheny had charge of the case——”</p> + +<p>“Dr. Hajek helped him some,” I blurted. “And +Dr. Balman was in to see him once or twice. And there +were the nurses——”</p> + +<p>“Then it appears to lie between Dr. Hajek and Dr. +Balman and you and Miss Day,” said O’Leary all too +coolly. I gasped and he went on: “And the unknown +element which is always to be considered. We can’t +tell which died first—Dr. Letheny or his patient. We +do not even know for certain whether Dr. Letheny +met his death inside the walls of the hospital or not, +but I have reason to believe that it was in Room 18. +Otherwise it would have been difficult and purposeless, +so far as I can see, to convey his body into the room +and into that closet. Almost impossible for a woman,” +he added as if in afterthought, and his eyes on that +aggravating pencil. “I am inclined to think that the +sound you heard and believed to be a window dropping +to the sill was actually the blow that meant death for +Dr. Letheny.”</p> + +<p>“Oh——!”</p> + +<p>“Yes.” His eyes were meeting mine, searching my +face so intently that I felt as if my very thoughts were +visible to them. “Now, Miss Keate, please tell me +something of this Corole Letheny. I understand that +she and her cousin were not on the best of terms.”</p> + +<p>“That is true,” I acknowledged hesitantly.</p> + +<p>“Don’t be afraid of incriminating anyone,” said +O’Leary impatiently. “Clues are funny things. When +they seem to point one way they are very apt, on close +investigation, to point another way entirely. So please +don’t hesitate to answer my questions.”</p> + +<p>This reassured me somewhat; not that I have ever +cared for Corole Letheny, but one does pause to +consider one’s speech in such a serious matter.</p> + +<p>“Corole and Dr. Letheny never did get along well +together. But I don’t think she can be involved in this.” +Thinking of the oddly mud-stained slippers, I paused +again. That incident could have had nothing to do with +the murders, of course, but still it was singular.</p> + +<p>“What is it, Miss Keate?”</p> + +<p>Before I knew it I had told him of the muddied +bronze kid pumps.</p> + +<p>“Indicating that Miss Letheny had some errand that +took her hurriedly into the storm and that within a +few moments following the discovery of Dr. Letheny’s +death. Suppose you ask this maid, Huldah, about it. +She will be more willing to talk to you. Oh, yes”—he +smiled a little—“we must investigate every incident, +every straw, no matter how small and insignificant it +appears. And moreover,” he drew something from his +pocket, “I am interested in Miss Letheny because of +this.” He placed the small, square object on the table +before us. I stared. It was Corole Letheny’s revolver. +She had bragged about the thing often enough so I had +no difficulty recognizing it. Someone had made her a +gift of it, and it was very unsuitably decorated with +some sort of silver trumpery and had her initials +engraved upon it.</p> + +<p>“We found this on the floor of the closet in which +Dr. Letheny was found,” said O’Leary quietly.</p> + +<p>For a long moment I sat there in silence, my eyes +fascinated by the dully gleaming thing. What could +it tell?</p> + +<p>“But—neither of the men was shot!” I said at length.</p> + +<p>“No,” agreed O’Leary, still quietly. “No. There is +only the fact to go on that Corole Letheny’s revolver +was found in the room where two men met their death +in one night. That is all. It only indicates her probable +presence at some time in the room. And a revolver +usually means that whoever carried it had reason to +believe he was in danger—or expected trouble of some +kind.”</p> + +<p>“But—Dr. Letheny might have brought it himself. +He might have suspected that someone was planning +to steal the radium.”</p> + +<p>Lance O’Leary smiled slowly.</p> + +<p>“You are loyal, Miss Keate. It may interest you to +know that on going through Dr. Letheny’s deed box, +I found that he was the beneficiary of a reasonably large +income and that on his death it goes to Corole. I find, +too—you see we detectives make our living by questions +and answers,” he interpolated, as I suppose I +looked as I felt, very much puzzled at the knowledge +he appeared to have secured—“I find, too, that Dr. +Letheny kept his household down to the most moderate +of expenses and gave Miss Letheny only a barely +sufficient allowance.”</p> + +<p>“It is true that she has complained a great deal +about money,” I admitted thoughtfully. “She is rather +beautiful, you know, and loves to dress well.”</p> + +<p>He nodded.</p> + +<p>“You have seen her then?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“Yesterday. I talked to her. Yes, I suppose she does +love clothes and finery. It is on account of her—dark +blood.”</p> + +<p>“Her what?” I sat bolt upright.</p> + +<p>“Good Lord, Miss Keate! Didn’t you know that?”</p> + +<p>“Know that Corole Letheny is a——?”</p> + +<p>“I think it comes to her by way of Haiti,” he +interrupted. “And a very beautiful mother.”</p> + +<p>“But—her light hair and eyes! You must be +mistaken!”</p> + +<p>“Her eyes are yellow, Miss Keate. A good deal +like a tiger’s. In fact she is a rather tigerish lady, on +the whole. I suspected it when I first saw her brown +hands, and was convinced when I found a reference to +her in Dr. Letheny’s papers; once he mentions her +rather bitterly as ‘my mulatto cousin,’ and another +time refers to her birthplace and his aunt, Jolbar, who, +it seems, traced her lineage directly, if unobtrusively, +to a cannibalistic royal line. Don’t be so shocked, Miss +Keate. A little mixture of blood doesn’t hurt her. It +only increases my difficulty.”</p> + +<p>“Increases your difficulty?” I murmured, feeling +rather dazed.</p> + +<p>“By increasing the complexities of a personality +that I must classify and index. You see,” he went on, +as I still did not wholly understand him, “Corole is +a factor to be considered along with the rest of the +possibilities. And this fact warns me that she likely +has a streak of savagery back of those yellow eyes; that +the beat of tom-toms would stir her, for instance. She +is apt to be rather indolent, too, and to seek what she +desires in unconventional ways. Such as by the use of +revolvers.”</p> + +<p>“Why, yes,” I murmured idiotically. “Murder <em>is</em> +unconventional.”</p> + +<p>“So you see, the counts against Corole are interesting, +to say the least. Then, there are the others at that +ill-fated dinner party. We shall have to consider the +possible culpability of every single one of them—even +of you, Miss Keate.” He added this with a half smile +but I did not relish his joke—if joke it was. I was +inclined to think it was not.</p> + +<p>“Corole Letheny,” he checked her off on his fingers. +“Because her revolver was found in the closet of Room +18, because she knew of the radium being in use +and of the hospital routine and of the door being left +unlocked and because she benefits by Dr. Letheny’s +death.”</p> + +<p>“But I’m sure she did not know what had happened +to the radium,” I said, going hastily on to tell him of +her questions concerning it.</p> + +<p>“She shows considerable interest, however,” commented +O’Leary. “And at an inappropriate time, too. +Yes, we must consider Corole.”</p> + +<p>“But she—oh, she could not have done that!” I +cried, revolted.</p> + +<p>“We can’t be sure of anything, Miss Keate, until +it is proved,” remarked O’Leary drily. “Then, there +is Dr. Hajek; he was like the others, familiar with the +circumstances, he had access to the morphine, being a +doctor, and his coat was damp when, after some delay, +you finally succeeded in rousing him, which, of course, +leads one to believe that he was absent from his room +and had recently been out in the rain.”</p> + +<p>“But,” I objected, “Dr. Hajek was the only one +of us who did not admit to wanting money—if we are +to consider the radium as the motive.”</p> + +<p>“That does not prove anything. Indeed, it was more +natural to admit a desire that everybody experiences +at one time or another. Then, there was Dr. Balman. +He, too, was familiar with the circumstances. Of course +there remains the important questions of how Dr. +Letheny comes into the puzzle, and whether Dr. Balman +could have had time to drive to his apartment in order +to be there when the telephone rang to call him back +to the hospital.”</p> + +<p>“Why, yes,” I said thoughtfully. “He could have +done so. You see, just as the storm broke and I was +at the south door, closing it, I saw the lights of a car +on the lower road. That <em>could</em> have been Dr. Balman. +But the idea is absurd. Dr. Balman is too mild, too +kind—too—— Oh! It is impossible!”</p> + +<p>“Nothing is impossible,” commented Lance O’Leary +gravely. “But those lights may have belonged to +another car. One driven by Jim Gainsay.”</p> + +<p>I may have imagined it, but it seemed to me, in view +of my guilty knowledge of that cigarette case, that he +eyed me rather closely as he spoke. However, if so +he gained nothing by it, for I was honestly surprised.</p> + +<p>“Jim Gainsay!” I cried.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” he answered, going on to explain. “The +sedan owned by Dr. Letheny was seen standing in front +of the Western Union office at about two o’clock that +night. This information was brought to my ears and +upon investigation I found that Gainsay took the +Doctor’s car—Huldah, in fact, saw him leave—and drove +into the city, starting shortly before the storm began. +He sent a message, of which I shall have a copy before +the day is over. We also know that Gainsay frankly +said he intended to get hold of fifty thousand +dollars—wasn’t it that?” I nodded dumbly and he went +on. “And he intended to go to New York this morning +but is still here, work or no work. Also, as with the +others, he knew something of the circumstances, and +while his being able to obtain and administer morphine +is a point to consider, still I understand that engineers +almost have to have a practical working knowledge +of medicine. But even if we could safely exonerate +him from causing Jackson’s death there is still the death +of Dr. Letheny, for which somebody is responsible. +And this Gainsay is a strong young fellow who looks +as if he would stick at little.”</p> + +<p>“But he looks honest, too,” I protested.</p> + +<p>“They all look honest. Everyone of you.”</p> + +<p>“It seems terrible to consider people one knows in +such a sordid connection. Why not all the other people +in and around the hospital?”</p> + +<p>He looked at me as if he were amused.</p> + +<p>“But, Miss Keate, is it possible that you do not +know that we immediately accounted for every soul +in St. Ann’s? And that every nurse and every patient +has a perfect alibi, save you and Miss Day, Dr. +Balman and Dr. Hajek? In a hospital run with such +efficient routine as this one, it is a simple matter. The +only person besides those I have mentioned, for whom +we can’t be absolutely certain, is Higgins, and that +because he sleeps in the basement next to the furnace room +and no one saw or heard of him during that night, since +no one else sleeps in the basement. Of course, we shall +have to include him in our list of suspects, but so far +there is nothing but opportunity with which to suspect +him.”</p> + +<p>“Then Maida and I are the only nurses who cannot +prove just where we were between twelve-thirty and +two o’clock that night?” I asked uneasily.</p> + +<p>“We know <em>where</em> you were,” said Lance O’Leary +very soberly. “You were both in the south wing.” He +paused to look at his watch, a thin, platinum affair +that reposed in a pocket of his impeccable vest, and +I felt a quite warranted chill creep up my back.</p> + +<p>“So you see our paths of search are limited,” he said +easily, replacing the watch, and returning to that +abominable red pencil.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I agreed weakly. “Limited.” Altogether too +limited!</p> + +<p>“Of course, there is always what I spoke of as the +unknown element. There might have been an outside +intruder, but so far nothing has come to light that would +indicate that possibility. The use of the radium seems +to have been absolutely unknown to all but the hospital +staff and the guests at Miss Letheny’s dinner party. +Now then, Miss Keate, there are three things that +particularly interest me to-day. One of them is the +identity of the man with whom you collided at the +corner of the porch. Did you receive any sort of +impression that would serve to identify him?”</p> + +<p>Nervously I tried to think of something besides the +cigarette case.</p> + +<p>“He—I think he wore a raincoat. I seem to remember +the slippery feeling of rubber. And I think he must +have been wearing a dinner-jacket, for I seem to recall +feeling his starched shirt front.”</p> + +<p>“Then it might have been one of the four men at +Corole Letheny’s dinner?”</p> + +<p>“It might have been, of course,” I spoke rather +irritably, as I foresaw the next questions.</p> + +<p>“Was it Dr. Letheny?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t think so. I can’t be sure.”</p> + +<p>He was surveying me so closely that I found my eyes +going toward the floor in spite of myself.</p> + +<p>“Was it Dr. Balman?”</p> + +<p>“It might have been. Though it seemed he was a +little taller than Dr. Balman.” I was studying the roses +on the old-fashioned Brussels.</p> + +<p>“Was it Dr. Hajek?” he went on mercilessly.</p> + +<p>“I—I tell you, I can’t be sure who it was. It might +have been anybody.”</p> + +<p>He leaned back in his chair and I could feel his +smile.</p> + +<p>“I’m beginning to understand your—er—temperament,” +he said easily. “I suppose it was this Jim Gainsay. +Now you may as well tell me what you were doing +with his cigarette case in your laundry bag.”</p> + +<p>I blinked.</p> + +<p>“How did you know it was there?”</p> + +<p>“A policeman found it while searching your room.”</p> + +<p>“Searching my room!”</p> + +<p>“Yes. We have had all the personal belongings of +those in whom we are—interested—searched. We were +at first surprised to find you were addicted to +smoking——and more surprised when we traced its ownership. +Now, please, tell me just how you came upon it.”</p> + +<p>In as few words as possible I complied.</p> + +<p>“Will you hold Jim Gainsay?” I asked finally, as he +turned and twisted the stubby red pencil thoughtfully +in his hands.</p> + +<p>“We shall watch him,” he amended. “So far he has +stayed of his own free will, a thing that is in itself +strange. Of course, if he should attempt to leave I +should be forced to restrain him.”</p> + +<p>The dinner bell rang just then and he looked at his +watch, again frowning as he noted the time.</p> + +<p>“Another thing, Miss Keate. That smell of ether +interests me. Especially since to our knowledge ether +was not used at all. Are you sure?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.” I spoke decidedly. “I am sure now, because +of the slicker I wore yesterday afternoon.”</p> + +<p>“The slicker?” he inquired. “Yesterday afternoon?” +And listened intently while I explained the whole thing.</p> + +<p>“And you had no means of identifying it?” he asked, +presently.</p> + +<p>“No. Everybody wears a yellow slicker. You know +how popular they have been the last year or two.”</p> + +<p>He nodded.</p> + +<p>“I wear one myself,” he said. “Well, thanks a lot, +Miss Keate. You are a present help in time of trouble.” +He smiled at me with that engagingly warm and +youthful look.</p> + +<p>I started toward the hall, paused and turned around.</p> + +<p>“Didn’t you say there were three things you were +particularly interested in right now?” I said. “What +is the third one?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes.” He studied me for a moment as if to see +how far the discretion with which he had complimented +me might be trusted. Then he drew something from his +pocket—something so small that it was hidden in his +hand until he held it toward me.</p> + +<p>And when I looked, I cried out and shrank back, +my heart leaping to my throat. There on his outstretched +palm lay a small cuff link; it was a neat square +of lapis lazuli, set in engraved white gold.</p> + +<p>“I see that you recognize it?”</p> + +<p>Speechlessly, I made a motion of assent.</p> + +<p>“You need not tell me that it is Miss Day’s. I already +know that. One or two of the nurses recognized it +as I left it casually on the table in the general office. +Oh, I watched it carefully—I suppose they thought she +had lost it. They did not know where it was found.”</p> + +<p>“Where it was found——” I repeated, huskily, my +voice losing itself somewhere in my throat.</p> + +<p>“It was found—in Dr. Letheny’s pocket.” He spoke +very deliberately, his clear, gray eyes searching mine. +Then he turned. “Good-night, Miss Keate,” he said +courteously and was gone.</p> + +<p>As for me, I stood there quite still, staring at the +gathering darkness outside the window, and at the +slow rivulets of moisture trickling down the glass. +Finally I aroused myself, straightened my cap, and +moved toward the door. I was late for dinner, of course, +and remember that someone was complaining about the +steak being burned. It might have been ashes so far +as I was concerned. Once I stole a look at Maida, across +from me and down the table a few places. She was +very white and tired-looking and it seemed to me that +she avoided my eyes. I felt rather sick as I noted that, +though it was a chilly day, she was wearing a uniform +with short sleeves that had no need of cuff links.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch06"> + +<h2>6. I Make a Discovery—and Regret It</h2> + +<p>I must admit that I went about my duties somewhat +automatically that night and could not help keeping +an eye on Maida, not from suspicion, you understand, +but simply because the matters of recent development +troubled me considerably. Indeed, I had plenty to think +of that night.</p> + +<p>Corole’s dinner party, followed by its terrifying +sequel, had taken place on Thursday night. Early Friday +afternoon the body of Dr. Letheny had been found. +Friday night we had taken second watch with the policeman +tipped against the sinister door of Room 18, and +Saturday was the day just past. It was while I was +sitting at the chart desk during second watch of +Saturday night—really early Sunday morning—that +the amazing idea occurred to me. I had been staring at +the charts, absorbed in the baffling problems those days +had brought, when all at once I began thinking of the +morphine.</p> + +<p>Might it not prove something if we were to discover +where that morphine had come from? Morphine is +not something that one carries about in a pocket or +vanity bag; it is very difficult to secure and in St. Ann’s +a most rigid check is kept on the quantities of the drug +used. Would the morphine record for that week in the +south wing balance?</p> + +<p>With the thought I was up on my feet and starting +toward the drug room. As I passed the door of the +diet kitchen I saw Maida standing at the open window. +Why do women bother with silks and laces and jewels +when there is nothing that so sets off beauty as the +severe, white simplicity of the nurse’s uniform? Maida’s +face was like a proud young flower above the white collar +of her tailored uniform. The stiff white cap perched +piquantly on top of her head and contrasted nicely with +her soft black hair. Her eyes were a deeper blue, her +clear, gardenia skin and soft crimson lips were still +lovelier above that plain white dress. I sighed, glanced +down the corridor to see that there were no signal +lights, and slipped into the drug room, closing the door.</p> + +<p>A dose of morphine is a simple matter to prepare; +it is the administering that requires skill. The preparation +is a mere mixture of sterile water with the white +morphine tablet, in the amount prescribed. At St. Ann’s +there is a careful check of the amounts used, and the +drug room record must check with the doctors’ orders. +It was a simple matter for me to compare the two +records with the remaining supply of morphine. And +it was with a heart that dropped to my shoes that I +found they emphatically did not check. And that the +amount of discrepancy was more than enough to drug +a person far more heavily than was safe.</p> + +<p>When had this disappeared and how? A young, +strong man might survive such a dose, or one accustomed +to taking the drug. But an old man, whose heart +reaction would be slow—well, it seemed all too apparent +that the morphine that had killed Jackson might have +come from our own south wing drug room. It was not +a pleasant possibility.</p> + +<p>Maida was still in the kitchen when I passed it again +and I stopped. She was washing her slim, pink fingers +vigorously.</p> + +<p>“Eleven does get hungry at the most erratic times. +He wants beef tea now and an hour ago he had malted +milk,” she said, drying her hands.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Gainsay did not leave Friday after all,” I said, +coming directly to one of the things that troubled me.</p> + +<p>She glanced swiftly toward me, lifted her straight +black eyebrows a little, and spoke rather coolly.</p> + +<p>“Evidently not. He said his boat did not sail till next +week. Is this beef extract fresh?”</p> + +<p>“I think so. I suppose he is quite a comfort to Corole.”</p> + +<p>“Corole needs friends at a time like this,” said Maida.</p> + +<p>“Of course, he was such a good friend of Dr.—Letheny.” +For the life of me I could not speak that +name naturally and easily.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” agreed Maida briefly. She turned to the stove, +lit the gas flame, and held a small saucepan of water +over the blue points of fire. I could not see her face.</p> + +<p>“Maida,” I said abruptly, “when did you last see +Dr. Letheny—alive?”</p> + +<p>She whirled toward me at that, and—well, it was +not nice to stand there and see her face turn a dreadful, +slow white with bluish hollows around her mouth and +nose. But she answered at length, quite clearly:</p> + +<p>“I last saw him at Corole’s dinner party. When we +said good-night and left.”</p> + +<p>She looked into my eyes for a moment after she +ceased to speak, almost as if she were daring me to deny +her statement. And I knew that it could not be true. +Else how could her lapis cuff link have got out of the +snowy cuff in which I had seen her place it <em>after</em> we +were safely within the walls of St. Ann’s, and into Dr. +Letheny’s pocket?</p> + +<p>“Oh—Sarah,” she cried suddenly, throwing out her +hands toward me in a gesture that was like an appeal +and with a half sob in her voice. But as suddenly she +drew her hands sharply backward and turned again +to the stove. To this day the salty, meaty smell of beef +boiling always brings to me a vision of those shining, +white-tiled walls and the enamelled gas stove and +Maida’s straight, white-clad shoulders and beautiful, +troubled face.</p> + +<p>“Tell me,” I said at last. “Is there anything you know +that might help solve this mystery?”</p> + +<p>But Maida turned an unfathomable blue gaze +toward me.</p> + +<p>“Nothing. Nothing that would help.”</p> + +<p>And it was not until she had departed with the beef +tea steaming hot on a tray that I noted her ambiguous +wording.</p> + +<p>I could not disguise to myself the fact that I was +deeply alarmed. Particularly because I had caught her, +and wished I had not, in a deliberate lie. Either that +or that abominable cuff link had simply jumped itself +out of her cuff and into the pocket of Dr. Letheny’s +immaculate dinner coat.</p> + +<p>I shall not conceal the fact that I gave voice to +several expletives that made up in fervour for what +they lacked in content. And I had learned quite a +vocabulary from my parrot, a nice bird who died last +year on his ninety-sixth birthday, unless the dealer lied, +and was much mourned by those of the nurses whose +rooms are at the far end of the dormitory. Owing to +the night air making the dear bird talkative there was +a sort of feeling against him among the rooms within +hearing distance of my own.</p> + +<p>However, in this case the utmost of his vocabulary +did not relieve my feelings.</p> + +<p>All went as well as might be expected, and we did +not once need a policeman, so it was as well that he +had been withdrawn. Of course, I’m not saying it was +a pleasant watch, for it was not. The south end of +the corridor seemed darker than any other portion +of it and the sinister door of Eighteen was somehow +black and menacing and altogether unpleasant. But on +the whole the night passed quietly, which was a mercy, +for that was the last night that we pinned on our caps +with any assurance of how long they would stay there. +Dawn came at last, cold and gray, and with it the slow +melancholy sound of the five o’clock bell for early +prayers. The north wing of St. Ann’s ends in a small chapel +that is dignified with age and has a pipe organ, high +walnut pews, and old, stained-glass windows. It is open +on week days for prayer and meditation and on +Sundays the young assistant rector from St. B——’s down +in the city comes to St. Ann’s to conduct prayers and +confession and church.</p> + +<p>The Sunday then dawning was destined to remain +long in my memory as a sort of interlude between what +had been and what was to follow.</p> + +<p>In the first place, Morgue, the basement cat, who +is thin and ill-tempered and kept for utilitarian +purposes only, surprised us all by having three healthy +kittens. For some years the assumption had been that +this was a feat biologically impossible and the news, +brought to the table by a student nurse who had actually +seen the kittens, caused quite a stir and for a moment +distracted our minds from the too-absorbing problems +of the last few days.</p> + +<p>There were some disbelievers at table, this despite +the student nurse appearing to clinch the matter by +quoting Higgins’s opinion that Morgue had displayed +considerable talent in this connection, and after +breakfast we all trooped down to the furnace room to see +with our own eyes.</p> + +<p>Higgins was down there, fussing around a grape +basket which he had lined with an old duster, which, +by the way, made the baby cats smell quite distinctly +of cedar oil and must have puzzled their proud and +complacent mother. The kittens themselves were not +much to boast of, resembling, indeed, very young and +scrawny rats and squirming vigorously and squealing +when the girls picked them up and passed them from +one to the other. There was a heated discussion over +their names; it was felt they should bear some relation +to the mother’s name, and Morgue is not an easy name +with which to relate. They settled on Accident, +Appendicitis, and Ambulance. The kittens were all black, to +my mind not a particularly happy or propitious colour, +and Melvina Smith, who is pale and superstitious and +would not touch an opal with a ten-foot rod, exclaimed +in italics that trouble was coming to St. Ann’s. Upon +which someone murmured that trouble had already +come and Melvina said, yes, but it always came in +Threes and these three black cats were a sure sign that +bad luck would come in threes here. She pointed out, +reasonably enough, that Morgue could as well have +had four kittens, or two, but no, she had had three. +And that furthermore, who ever heard of Morgue having +kittens before, and it was certain she had had them +this time just to warn us of the third—er—trouble.</p> + +<p>Well, for my part, I felt that Morgue would not go +to so much bother, she being by nature unobliging +and apt to mistrust our most friendly advances. But already +the girls were putting the kittens in the basket and +casting rather frightened glances into Morgue’s +inscrutable yellow eyes, and drifting toward the stairway. +I could have wrung Melvina’s foolish little neck, but +naturally I followed them.</p> + +<p>On the way upstairs Olma Flynn remarked earnestly +that it was nice that Morgue hadn’t had ten kittens. +Upon which several of the less idiotic laughed and +Melvina cast a look of pale reproach upon Olma, who, +as a matter of fact, had spoken with single-minded +gratitude.</p> + +<p>As I reached the top of the stairs Higgins called +to me.</p> + +<p>“Miss Keate.”</p> + +<p>I turned. He was standing at the foot of the stairs, +looking up.</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Can you spare some time now, Miss Keate? There +was—something I wanted to—ask you about.”</p> + +<p>I hesitated. It seems to me that when anyone around +St. Ann’s has a complaint it is brought to my ears and +I was in no mood that morning to listen to complaints.</p> + +<p>“I was just going to get some sleep, Higgins,” I said. +“Will another time do?”</p> + +<p>How often, since then, I have wished that I had +stopped then and there. But I thought of nothing more +important than leaky gutterpipes or the canna bulbs not +doing well.</p> + +<p>“Well—yes,” agreed Higgins slowly. Something in +his tone made me regard him sharply, thinking that +he seemed quite reluctant and perplexed. However, as +I say, I was tired and sleepy and had already more +than enough problems before me, so I took my way +upstairs.</p> + +<p>On the way I picked up the Sunday paper. The +supplement had the hospital pictures again, groups of +nurses, a sort of history of St. Ann’s, stressing its long +years of service but winding up with a lurid résumé of +the past few days, which is the way of Sunday +supplements but not unpleasant. I even found a picture of +myself taken some years ago when pompadours and bosoms +were in style. It was not a flattering picture and neither +was the caption below it, which described me as one of +St. Ann’s oldest nurses! Oldest in point of service, it +went on to say tactfully, but the picture dated me +indisputably and I flung the paper in the waste basket and +tried to compose myself to sleep. And, I might add, did +not succeed.</p> + +<p>I found the noon service in the little chapel remarkably +well attended, with prayer books in evidence and +the nurses turning out <i>en masse</i>. The young rector +preached a rather nice sermon about “Be ye not afraid,” +which I considered a little too apropos for comfort +and good taste.</p> + +<p>Sunday is usually a rather festive day in St. Ann’s +but that Sunday was anything but pleasant. No visitors +were permitted, which made the patients fretful +and hard to please. Moreover, we could not prevent +an almost constant stream of morbidly inclined +sight-seers whose automobiles splashed along the muddy +road in front of the hospital, and who stared through +the fog and pointed with melancholy satisfaction.</p> + +<p>I drifted uneasily about the dismal corridors for +some time before I found Maida, ensconced unhappily +in a cold window seat with a magazine which she was +holding upside down.</p> + +<p>She had not been to see Corole yet, she told me, and +was dreading the visit that convention demanded. +Wouldn’t I go with her? And though I had no relish +for Corole’s company I found myself following the +blue and scarlet of Maida’s nurse’s cape along that +sodden, desolate path, holding my own cape tight around +me and wishing I had brought an umbrella.</p> + +<p>On the porch we met Dr. Hajek, just leaving.</p> + +<p>“Bad weather,” he murmured as we passed him. His +dark eyes slanted knowingly toward us; his face was +very fresh and ruddy and his square teeth gleamed +under that small black moustache.</p> + +<p>Huldah opened the door, her cap very properly on +her head this time but her face sullen.</p> + +<p>We found Corole comfortably seated in what had +been Dr. Letheny’s study, a warm fire glowing in the +grate and the tea cart drawn up to the davenport and +laden with her best silver tea service and some fascinating +little French pastries that could only have come +from Pierre’s, a very exclusive and high-priced sweet +shop. I registered the impression that Corole was not +wasting any time enjoying her newly augmented income, +and gave my cape to Huldah. Corole and Maida were +murmuring polite sentences and, recalling my promise +to O’Leary, I followed Huldah to the hall.</p> + +<p>“Miss Letheny feeling any better, Huldah?” I asked.</p> + +<p>She gave me an expressive glance.</p> + +<p>“H’m!” she grunted. “There’s not much mourning +going on in this house! She—” she jerked her head +toward the study—“dresses all up like a hussy every +day and entertains callers. You know as well as I do +that ain’t any way for a lady to do!”</p> + +<p>“I noticed she was wearing that green silk thing +with her bronze slippers the other day,” I remarked +tentatively.</p> + +<p>“She won’t wear them bronze pumps again, anyhow,” +said Huldah in dour satisfaction. “She had to +wear them out in the rain and now they are ruined.”</p> + +<p>“Had to wear them out in the rain?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, ma’am! The very afternoon we heard the bad +news. Not an hour after them gentlemen was at the +house to tell her about the doctor being dead. Nice +gentlemen they was, too—them police officers.” She +stopped, apparently musing on certain blue-coated +figures. I had to prod her gently.</p> + +<p>“Where was she going in such a hurry that she didn’t +change her shoes?”</p> + +<p>“Goodness knows! As soon as they had gone she +grabbed a shawl and ran out the back door and across +the alfalfa field. The last I saw she was scooting into +the apple orchard and she didn’t get back for a full +hour. It was raining, too, and she might have taken +an umbrella at least. But not she! Catch her doing +anything like a Christian!” concluded Huldah resentfully.</p> + +<p>“Would you like some tea, miss?” she went on, after +a moment’s brooding. “Some tea and one of my own +cakes I made myself yesterday before she ordered them +silly French things? Like as not poison, too, with all +such coloured candies on top.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed, I should, Huldah,” I said soothingly, +though her cakes are, as a rule, sprinkled too liberally +with caraway seeds. “And let me have a small anchovy +sandwich,” I added, thereby winning her to a reluctant +smile as she departed kitchenward.</p> + +<p>I was not much wiser than I had been, and I really +could not see that I could have questioned Huldah any +further. Anyway it was likely she had told me all she +knew, for Huldah’s natural disposition is to spread +anything she hears.</p> + +<p>I joined the other two in the study in time to catch +a strained something in the atmosphere that made me +pause involuntarily and look from one to the other. +Maida was standing very stiff and straight, her eyes +flaming like blue fire, her fingers clutched together +until the knuckles and fingernails were white, and her +whole attitude breathing defiance and anger and—yes, +alarm. Corole was lying gracefully back in her chair, +her creamy lace teagown falling softly away from her +brown neck, the topaz on one hand catching light from +the fire, and her strange eyes narrowed lazily in an +expression so like Morgue’s that I almost gasped.</p> + +<p>But as to that, resemblance to a cat or other animal +is nothing to hold against a person, I argued reasonably +to myself; there is a cashier in the City National who +looks like nothing so much as a mild and woolly sheep +and is yet, as far as I know, an upright and respectable +man.</p> + +<p>Neither Maida nor Corole seemed inclined to break +that brittle silence, so I settled wearily into a chair.</p> + +<p>“Huldah seems to resent the French pastries,” I +said. “Where did you get them, Corole? At Pierre’s?”</p> + +<p>“She resents everything,” said Corole indolently. +“Yes. At Pierre’s. You must try them. I’ll make some +fresh tea. Do sit down, Maida. You make me nervous, +standing there so stiff.”</p> + +<p>I think Maida was about to say something, but just +then Jim Gainsay lounged into the room, straightened +up with interest when he saw Maida, and she subsided +into a chair while he greeted us with every evidence +of pleasure.</p> + +<p>It was, however, a very uncomfortable hour, with +the conversation painfully limited to commonplaces, +Jim trying in vain to catch Maida’s eyes, and Huldah +slapping down the tea things with venom and making +it distressingly clear that I, alone of the company, was +in her good graces. Corole was almost indecently easy +and flippant in her manner, and Maida very quiet.</p> + +<p>As for me, I was reminded vividly of the last time +we had been together in that room, especially after +Dr. Balman arrived. His coming made the gathering +begin to seem too much like a party, so I prepared to +leave. But Dr. Balman had come on business, and after +speaking in a low aside to Corole he went to Dr. +Letheny’s desk, glanced hastily through a card index, +and noted something in his small notebook. I remember +thinking as he did so that Dr. Balman was not having +an easy time of it; it is difficult enough to step suddenly +into the position of head of a hospital, without having +the burden of investigations into two murders on one’s +hands. And Dr. Balman looked as if he were feeling +the strain of his duties, for his mild eyes had circles +under them, his scant eyebrows wore a perplexed frown, +and his pale cheeks were hollow. He looked as if he had +not been eating much lately, and indeed, I didn’t +wonder at it. The bruise on his cheek had not received +proper attention, for it was dark and ugly-looking and +I longed to take it in hand.</p> + +<p>“Is that what you wanted, Dr. Balman?” asked +Corole.</p> + +<p>“Yes—yes. This is all.” He was writing busily.</p> + +<p>“You must have some tea,” offered Corole +graciously.</p> + +<p>“What?— Oh, tea?” Dr. Balman compared the +notes he had written with the original and raised his +eyes to glance about the room with rather obvious +distaste. He was always a man of keen sensibility and I +daresay he felt much as I had felt on entering this +room that spoke so clearly of Dr. Letheny.</p> + +<p>He was about to decline, I think, when Huldah +opened the door, said “Mr. O’Leary,” as if she were +firing a shotgun, and Lance O’Leary entered, his gray +eyes twinkling a little at the manner of his +announcement.</p> + +<p>It was odd to see how the appearance of this slight, +perfectly groomed young man, with his clear, gray eyes +and thoughtful, well-shaven face, affected us all. Dr. +Balman sat down slowly as if after all he had decided +to stay. Jim Gainsay fastened a narrow, enigmatic look +upon the newcomer and lit another cigarette, Maida’s +eyes widened a little and her hands sought each other +in her white lap—and Corole adjusted the lace of her +gown, smiled seductively at O’Leary, remembered she +was mourning and sobered wistfully.</p> + +<p>“No, thanks,” said O’Leary pleasantly. “No tea, +Miss Letheny. I hope you’ll forgive my intrusion but +I came on business.”</p> + +<p>Corole blinked but repeated warmly: “Business?” +and motioned toward a chair.</p> + +<p>“Yes. Thanks, yes, I’ll sit down.” He drew a chair +nearer the glowing fire. “It’s wet out,” he remarked +with a half smile.</p> + +<p>“Would you like something besides tea?” asked +Corole, her graceful brown hand on the tiny silver +bell that decorated the tea cart. I could not help noting +how pink her palm was, how brown her fingers, and +how purple the shadows on the fingernails.</p> + +<p>“No. No.” The high-backed chair O’Leary had happened +to choose, upholstered in needlepoint tapestry, +and with slim carved arms of softly gleaming walnut, +added somehow to his natural dignity. “How are you, +Doctor? Not feeling this strain too much, I hope.”</p> + +<p>Dr. Balman smiled wanly. “No, thanks, Mr. +O’Leary. It is quite a task though. However, Dr.—Dr. +Letheny left everything in perfect order.” He +glanced at Corole apologetically as he spoke, but she +was interested only in O’Leary.</p> + +<p>The conversation dragged along very uncomfortably +for a few moments, during which the only person in +the room who was thoroughly at ease was Lance +O’Leary. As soon as I decently could I rose to leave, +for O’Leary had said he came on business and I +naturally supposed that it was business with Corole.</p> + +<p>Maida rose, too, and of course, the men.</p> + +<p>“Just a second, Miss Keate,” remarked O’Leary in +a quiet and commonplace voice. “I only wanted to tell +you all that the coroner’s inquest will be to-morrow +morning and that you are all to be called as witnesses. +I’m sorry to have to tell you at such a time.”</p> + +<p>It just happened that I had my eyes on Corole as +he spoke and thus saw her soft brown fingers grip the +macaroon she held until it fell on the tea cart, a small, +powdered mound of sugar. I looked quickly at O’Leary, +but his gaze was apparently on the log in the fireplace.</p> + +<p>It was an uncomfortable moment, there in that room +of which the very books along the wall and the grand +piano in the alcove spoke so vividly of Dr. Letheny. +We were “all” to be called as witnesses then. And a few +nights ago we had sat here in this room and listened +to the Prelude in C Sharp Minor played by those strong +white hands that would never touch a piano again.</p> + +<p>I shook myself free from such morbid reflections, said +a brusque good-bye to Corole, and left. Maida went +with me, and somewhere along the path Jim Gainsay +turned up.</p> + +<p>As the path narrowed under the trees and I preceded +the other two, I am sure I heard Jim Gainsay +say rather huskily to Maida:</p> + +<p>“I had to see you alone. You must do as I say. It +is import——”</p> + +<p>“Sh! I know!”</p> + +<p>“Try to see it my way.” (This in a still more urgent +voice.) “It is dangerous to——”</p> + +<p>“Hush!” she interrupted sharply again.</p> + +<p>And just then I think that Maida stumbled over a +branch that had blown across the path. At any rate +I heard a quick motion and a sort of gasp and then +Maida said rather breathlessly: “That branch—I +nearly fell.” And I turned in time to see Jim Gainsay +pick up the stick, bow to it gravely and say: “Thank +you, old fellow,” before he tossed it off into the orchard. +At which Maida turned quite pink and Jim Gainsay +gave her a long look and laughed rather shakily.</p> + +<p>Then we were at the south entrance and Gainsay +swung on his heel with a brief “Good-night.”</p> + +<p>And it was not fifteen minutes later that I glanced +through the society section of the paper that someone +had left on the chart desk, and my eyes fell on a small +news item:</p> + +<blockquote> + + <p>Mrs. J. C. Allen left Tuesday of this week for New York City. + She sailed on the <i>Tuscania</i>, Saturday night, June ninth.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>On the <i>Tuscania</i>, Saturday, June ninth. That was +yesterday. And I was positive that Gainsay had said +the <i>Tuscania</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch07"> + +<h2>7. The Disappearing Key and Part of an Inquest</h2> + +<p>“Yes, I saw that this morning,” said a quiet voice beside +me. It was Lance O’Leary; I did not know he was +near until he spoke. “Our friend Mr. Gainsay seems +to be a little confused as to his dates.”</p> + +<p>I daresay my eyes reflected a question for he added, +leisurely:</p> + +<p>“He told me that he intended to sail on the <i>Tuscania</i> +next week. I see that he told you the same thing. He is +not a very discreet young man, else he’d have known +that I should look up the <i>Tuscania’s</i> sailing date +without delay.”</p> + +<p>I sighed; all those unpleasant little doubts of Jim +Gainsay were returning in full force.</p> + +<p>“If he has the radium, it is not in his room in the +Letheny cottage,” said O’Leary meditatively.</p> + +<p>“How do you know?” I inquired stupidly.</p> + +<p>“We have searched the rooms and personal belongings +of each of those present at that dinner party last +Thursday night.”</p> + +<p>“What!”</p> + +<p>“In fact, I daresay that there is not a room in the +whole of St. Ann’s, as well as in the Letheny cottage, +that has not been thoroughly ransacked.”</p> + +<p>I ran my tongue over dry lips. This was getting down +to work with a vengeance.</p> + +<p>“Why?” I stammered.</p> + +<p>There was a glimmer of impatience in his eyes.</p> + +<p>“For the radium, of course. Surely you did not think +we were going to let it get away from us without a +struggle.”</p> + +<p>There was a moment or two of silence during which +I studied the polished glass surface of the desk before +me without seeing it.</p> + +<p>“Did you ask Huldah about Miss Letheny’s errand +through the rain last Friday afternoon?” inquired +O’Leary after a contemplative pause.</p> + +<p>“Yes.” I told him in a few words the little that Huldah +had told me. “And there is something else I have +discovered,” I went on miserably. “I’ve got to tell you, +though I must say I do not want to do so. It is—that +morphine. The morphine that killed Mr. Jackson, you +know. I—I know where it came from!”</p> + +<p>“You—what!” O’Leary was for once startled out +of his usual composure.</p> + +<p>“I know where it came from,” I repeated reluctantly. +“At least, I think that I do. You see,—there is morphine +missing from our south wing drug supply.”</p> + +<p>I had to tell him the whole thing, of course, under +his searching questions and no less searching gaze, and +even explain our system of keeping account of the drugs. +He had to see the drug room and the charts and the +records for himself. It was while I was showing him the +drawer in which the morphine was kept, that I made +my regrettable slip about the hypodermic syringe.</p> + +<p>I had started to show him how the needles were +fitted into the small mechanism, and I reached for a +hypodermic syringe. It turned out to be my own.</p> + +<p>“This one is mine,” I said thoughtlessly, fitting the +slim, hollow needle into the tiny instrument. “The other +one that we were using disapp——” I stopped so +suddenly that my breath came out in an explosive little +pop and O’Leary’s face hardened slightly. It was an +expression that I was growing to recognize.</p> + +<p>“You may as well finish. So the other one ‘disapp’-eared, +did it? When and how? Whose was it? There +is still one in the drawer. What about the one that +disappeared?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” I said flatly. “Then, you see, we +take the sterile water and measure the liquid into——”</p> + +<p>O’Leary looked at his watch.</p> + +<p>“I haven’t much time,” he said pleasantly. “But I +have enough time to wait right here until you tell me +about the hypodermic syringe that disappeared. Or if +necessary I can dog your footsteps the rest of the night, +reiterating my question at frequent and embarrassing +intervals. Of course, I can have the whole hospital +searched extensively and every hypodermic needle +accounted for, especially if missing. I can follow you +to your meal—isn’t that the bell?—and keep on asking +you.” He added meditatively: “I suppose it might cause +considerable interest among the other nurses.”</p> + +<p>I regarded him furiously. The thing was that he +would be quite capable of doing just that. I began to +understand the force of the words of the chief of police +when he had said—“Once Lance O’Leary gets his teeth +into anything, it is as good as done.”</p> + +<p>“I suppose you’ll have to know sometime, anyway,” +I said sulkily.</p> + +<p>The flicker in his gray eyes was like a ripple across +a very calm, deep lake.</p> + +<p>“You are right, Miss Keate. So why not tell me now?”</p> + +<p>Well, to make a long story short, I told him of the +missing hypodermic, which after all, was little enough: +barely the fact that Maida’s syringe had been removed +and my own substituted, but this without my knowledge. +And that Maida had had the opportunity to take my +own, and if she had wished to use it, all that she needed +to do was ask me for it.</p> + +<p>“Which she conspicuously did not do,” commented +O’Leary. “Oh, by the way, Miss Keate, have you ever +attended an inquest?”</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>“Well, don’t get bothered. Our coroner is a decent +old fellow but he does love to be pompous. Just answer +what he asks, tell your story as briefly as possible and +don’t—er—volunteer anything. You see there are some +things that you and I know that will not come up at +the inquest.”</p> + +<p>“You mean—they would warn the guilty one?”</p> + +<p>He nodded briefly as he turned away.</p> + +<p>Maida was already in the south wing when I rounded +the right angle of the corridor leading from the main +office, at exactly twelve o’clock that night.</p> + +<p>“I locked the south door,” she said, hanging the key +on its customary nail above the desk.</p> + +<p>“That was right,” I approved, glancing over the +charts. It appeared that Eleven’s digestive apparatus +was still doing business at the old stand, so to speak, +but otherwise all was well and I settled briskly into +the business of second watch.</p> + +<p>Midnight temperatures had scarcely been taken, +however, when Olma Flynn developed a sick headache, +worse when I was within hearing distance, and had to +be excused from duty. We didn’t actually need the extra +help, as Maida and I had been accustomed to care for +the whole wing ourselves, but nevertheless it was a +little annoying, especially as, about two o’clock, the +little student nurse burned her wrist over the gas flame +in the diet kitchen, and the burn had to be salved +extensively and the nurse sent to bed with an aspirin +tablet.</p> + +<p>Thus Maida and I found ourselves alone in the +south wing for the first time since those terrifying events +of Thursday night. This precarious situation was a +matter that was, I think, predominant in our thoughts but +neither of us mentioned it; we even manufactured an +artificial sort of—not gaiety, that would be asking too +much—but of brisk attention to work and a determined +avoidance of conversation that might lead back to +things we were anxious to forget.</p> + +<p>All went well, in spite of our hidden fears, until about +three o’clock. I was pouring out a small dose of +bromide for Three, who had made up her mind not to +sleep that night and naturally was not doing so, when +Maida opened the door of the drug room.</p> + +<p>Her face was so ghastly white that at first glimpse +of it my hand began to tremble and the medicine poured +all over the spoon. Blindly I set the bottle down.</p> + +<p>“What is it?”</p> + +<p>“There’s something in Room 18!” she gasped +through ashy lips.</p> + +<p>“Room 18!”</p> + +<p>“Just now—I saw something go into that room from +the corridor!”</p> + +<p>“Someone—is sleep-walking.” I grasped at the first +rationality that presented itself.</p> + +<p>After the light in the diet kitchen the long corridor +seemed peculiarly dark and shadowy and the green light +over the chart desk was miles away. It never occurred +to me to call for help, and we sped along toward that +dark end of the wing that we had good cause to fear.</p> + +<p>But we stopped stock still as we came close enough +to see the door of Room 18, and a cold shiver crept +up from my back.</p> + +<p>The door of Room 18 was standing wide open!</p> + +<p>It had not been opened, so far as I knew, since the +police had left that room. It had been shunned by all +the nurses. Who had opened it? Who would dare +open it?</p> + +<p>Who was inside that dark place?</p> + +<p>A long, shuddering sigh came from Maida beside me +and I felt her cold hand grip my wrist. The contact +nerved me and I did what, I afterward realized, was +a very foolish thing.</p> + +<p>I took a few steps forward, advanced to the very +door of that grisly room, reached a shaking arm +through the open doorway, groped for the +electric-light button, found and pressed it.</p> + +<p>The cold white dome on the ceiling flooded the room +with light.</p> + +<p>There was nothing out of the way to be seen. There +were the plain dresser, the bedside table, two chairs, +the folded burlap screen and the high, narrow +bed—nothing else. Something caught in my throat as I +glanced at the bed and toward the closet doors.</p> + +<p>“The—closet——” breathed Maida at my side. +“Oh! You are not going to open that!” as I took a +more decisive step forward.</p> + +<p>It was no easy thing to do, for I knew well that +those shallow closets were yet large enough to +hold—what one of them had held.</p> + +<p>They were both unlocked this time. And there was +nothing in them!</p> + +<p>I turned to Maida, whose white face had been beside +me during the ordeal. Without saying a word we +retreated to the corridor.</p> + +<p>“Are you sure you saw something?” I asked, my +voice hoarse.</p> + +<p>“I am positive,” whispered Maida. “You see, I was +just answering Fourteen’s light, which brought me +fairly near to Eighteen. I came out the door and was +starting down toward the chart desk when something—I +don’t know what—some rustle or sound, perhaps, +made me turn around, facing this way, so I could see +the south door. And I was just in time to see a sort +of movement at the door of Eighteen.” Her hands +went to her throat as she spoke and I did not feel very +comfortable myself.</p> + +<p>“It couldn’t have been one of the patients?” I +murmured.</p> + +<p>“No! There isn’t a one of them who is able to walk.”</p> + +<p>“Then who——”</p> + +<p>“Or—<em>what</em>——” said Maida.</p> + +<p>A remnant of common sense saved me, I think, from +stark terror. I took a firmer hold on my imagination.</p> + +<p>“Nonsense,” I spoke decidedly but still, for some +reason, in a whisper. “There are no such things +as—as—— I mean to say, the shadow you saw was either +an optical illusion or a living, breathing person.”</p> + +<p>“Certainly,” agreed Maida, adding inconsistently: +“I don’t see how a living person could have got past +us, through this long corridor without one of us seeing +him—<em>it</em>.”</p> + +<p>My eyes fell on the south door near at hand; the +tiny panes of glass winked blackly at me as I crossed +to it, grasped the brass latch and pulled. The door +swung slowly open, letting in a current of cold, +mist-laden air.</p> + +<p>“There, you see?” I said to Maida. “Only a real, +material thing needs a door to go through.”</p> + +<p>Maida was looking at me strangely.</p> + +<p>“I don’t see that that helps matters any,” she said. +“I locked that door myself, to-night. It just proves that +someone was actually here. That the murderer is still +about the hospital.”</p> + +<p>“Not necessarily,” I said, though my heart was +pounding in my throat. “You are sure you locked it?”</p> + +<p>“Positive.”</p> + +<p>“And you hung the key there on the nail above the +chart desk?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>We both swung hastily around. At the other end of +the shadowy corridor gleamed the green-shaded light +over the desk. With one accord we started toward it.</p> + +<p>The key was not on the nail above the desk!</p> + +<p>But even as our frightened gaze took in that amazing +fact my eyes fell on the glass top of the desk. There +on its shining surface lay the key. We stared at it for +some time before our eyes met. Then I picked up the +key, my fingers seeming to shrink from the cold, clammy +metal, returned to the south door, locked it securely +and put the key in my pocket.</p> + +<p>And as I did so, a thought struck me. The person +who had got into the wing by means of the south door +must also have got out again. He couldn’t have gone +through the corridor and south door for Maida was, +by that time, in the hall.</p> + +<p>The light was still glowing in Room 18, and I crossed +the room, not without a queer feeling in the region of +my knees, as if they would give way with me, without +notice. Sure enough, the window was unlocked; it was +even open a fraction of an inch at the bottom, though +the screen, which has a spring snap, was closed.</p> + +<p>I pushed the window the rest of the way down, +locked it, not without an unpleasant impression that +something was out in that gleaming darkness back of +the window pane watching my every move, turned off +the light, and closed the door again. Maida was +standing in the corridor and we walked slowly toward the +more cheerful region of the chart desk and diet kitchen.</p> + +<p>“I suppose,” she mused at length, “that someone +could have taken the key from the nail and returned +it when we were in Room 18.”</p> + +<p>“But who? It would have to be someone in St. Ann’s. +And that is unthinkable.”</p> + +<p>“There are likely ways in and out of St. Ann’s,” she +said finally, and with that a signal clicked somewhere. +I recalled Three who would be in a tantrum by this +time, and we separated.</p> + +<p>We were very busy for the rest of the night, and +dawn was never so welcome a sight. But during those +slow hours I came to the conclusion that there were +only two things we knew without doubt. The key to +the south door had been removed from the nail and +left on top of the chart desk, and the sinister door of +Room 18 had been opened and left open.</p> + +<p>Who had done this and why was a matter of conjecture, +and I resolved to say nothing of it save to +Lance O’Leary. I should leave it to O’Leary.</p> + +<p>Leave it to O’Leary! I had so far recovered from +my fright that I smiled faintly at the phrase, but I +could have embraced the day nurses when they came +on duty, and the rattle of the dishes in the small, +rubber-tired dumbwaiter, as it came up with the +breakfast trays, sounded like music to my ears.</p> + +<p>On the way to the basement for breakfast, I had +time for a word or two with Maida.</p> + +<p>“We’ll say nothing about it, save to O’Leary,” I +murmured in a low voice and she nodded, just as Miss +Dotty joined us with one of her insufferably bright +good-mornings.</p> + +<p>Miss Dotty keeps a book at her bedside, entitled +<i>Every Day a Sunny Day</i>, and memorizes verses from +it. Her verse that morning was:</p> + +<blockquote class="verse"> + + <p>If you’re lonely, sad and blue,</p> + <p>Keep smiling.</p> + <p>Luck will bring you someone true</p> + <p>Who understands and loves just you.</p> + <p>Keep smiling,</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>which seemed not only inane but downright offensive, +as coming from one old maid to another.</p> + +<hr> + +<p>The inquest was set for nine-thirty. We had an early +operation and at eight o’clock prompt I was tying Dr. +Balman into his white apron and hood and counting +sponges in the operating room. The patient’s appendix +proving to be elusive, turning up, in fact, on entirely +the wrong side, the operation was more interesting than +we had expected. Dr. Balman looked haggard from +fatigue and worry, his thin hair and beard were +dishevelled and his eyes were hollow, but his hands were +steady, if rather slow, and every last detail was +thoroughly attended to.</p> + +<p>The inquest was held in the nurses’ library in the +basement. It is not a cheerful room, particularly on wet, +rainy mornings. It was chilly in the place; the +white-washed walls looked cold and bare, even the medical +books along the walls had none too happy titles. The +linoleum rug caught dismal highlights, the chairs +borrowed from the dining room were slippery and +uncomfortable, and moisture dripped steadily down the small +windows. Someone had turned on the lights but they +did not improve matters.</p> + +<p>At a little table sat a stout, elderly gentleman, whom +I had no trouble identifying as the pompous coroner. +He wore a pair of nose-glasses attached to a button +on his broad vest with an important black ribbon. The +board of directors were ranged near at hand, some +of them constituting the jury, which would have +surprised me had I not known the weight in politics and +otherwise that some of those names carried.</p> + +<p>Corole Letheny was there in a soft brown frock daringly +tailored and very short so that her silk-clad—er—ankles +and so forth were much in evidence; she wore a +small green hat pulled low over her eyes and carried +a large and gorgeously beaded bag which made a +spot of vivid colour in that neutral gray room. Huldah, +very stiff in her Sunday black silk, sat beside her.</p> + +<p>A little way off among a group of nurses sat Maida, +her beauty and the distinctive air of breeding in the +very lift of her chin making her stand out from the +others as if they were only the frame for a picture. +Jim Gainsay stood at the back of the room with a group +of reporters. He wore an air of ease that was a shade +too deliberate; his impenetrable eyes looked at nothing +in particular but, I had no doubt, missed not the smallest +movement in the room. He was attractive, clean, young, +vigorous, but I could have wished him less +restrained—less poised—less wary.</p> + +<p>There were the staff doctors, of course, talking to +Dr. Balman and Dr. Hajek. I was interested to note +that a bit of Dr. Hajek’s ruddy colour had deserted +him; he said little and his black eyes darted here and +there about the room, occasionally lingering upon +Corole. Save for those restless eyes he was as unmoved +and stolid as was usual with him.</p> + +<p>There were several policemen, too, Higgins, the +cook and a few curious student nurses sitting with Miss +Dotty, who being something of a simpleton took that +occasion to shed a few tears, presumably for Dr. +Letheny. And there was O’Leary, of course, gray and +quiet, sitting near the coroner’s table.</p> + +<p>It being the one and only inquest I had ever attended +(for which I am truly thankful), I was not able to +compare it with others and did not know whether the +undercurrent of excitement, the low whispers, the +white faces, the nervous little movements and darting +glances here and there, are typical of all inquests or +peculiar to that one.</p> + +<p>All at once the coroner put down the papers he had +been studying, took off his nose glasses, and began to +talk. I did not notice what he said, for at the same +moment O’Leary rose quietly and moved toward the +back of the room. As he passed me he dropped a small +bit of folded paper in my lap. Under the cover of my +wide cuff I read the brief message it contained. I read +it again; it didn’t seem to make sense, but of course, +I was willing to obey the terse request. Just as I slipped +the paper into my pocket I heard my name being called +and I rose and walked to a chair indicated by the +coroner.</p> + +<p>After convincing the coroner and the jury that I was +actually Sarah Keate, superintendent of the south wing +and on duty the night of Thursday, June seventh, I was +allowed to proceed.</p> + +<p>It was not so difficult as I had feared it would be; +I was allowed to tell my story in a brief and +straightforward manner. The only time I became confused +was when I got to the incident of the arrow-like +projectile that had whizzed over my shoulder while I stood +for a moment there on the little south porch. It was +then, for the first time since the night it occurred, that +I recalled the trifling incident, and I was already +launched upon it and could not head off the coroner’s +questions. I caught a reproachful look from O’Leary +but had to continue; however, the coroner’s questions +could prove nothing for there was little I could tell of +the matter.</p> + +<p>The coroner questioned me rather particularly, too, +as to the man with whom I collided, but I had expected +this and gave guarded replies. He also tried to make +me identify the owner of the cigarette case which lay +there on the table before him, but I refused to commit +myself beyond telling how and when I found the thing.</p> + +<p>As I say, it was not difficult—that is, until I reached +the actual events leading to the crime. It was then that +my voice faltered.</p> + +<p>“It was while I was sitting there at the chart desk, +at exactly one-thirty—I had just entered the time on +a chart—that I heard a sort of—bang. It sounded like +a door closing.” I went on speaking with more and +more difficulty. “So I got up and walked along the +corridor but the south door was still open. Then I went +back to the chart desk and was there when the storm +broke and I had to run to close the door and the +windows. When I went into Room 18 to close the window +I found——” I stuck and had to clear my throat.—“I +found that the patient, Mr. Jackson, was dead. The +lights had gone out but a flash of lightning lit the +room and I felt for his pulse and knew that he was +dead. I ran to the diet kitchen, found a candle, and ran +back to Eighteen. Miss Day had been closing the +windows in the wing and had just got to Room 18 when +I returned with the candle. It was after we knew we +could do nothing for him that we found the radium +had been stolen.”</p> + +<p>My testimony continued for some time after that, +but I simply answered the coroner’s questions as briefly +as possible and volunteered nothing, and presently +resumed my seat, feeling that, with the one exception, +I had conducted myself creditably.</p> + +<p>Then Dr. Balman and Dr. Hajek were called in +turn, to testify as to the causes of death, first of Mr. +Jackson’s, and later of Dr. Letheny’s. They used +technical terms, and told the methods of determining the +length of time each had been dead before discovery. +It was a difficult half hour for both of them, knowing +Dr. Letheny as they had, and they both looked quite +exhausted when the coroner had finished with them. +Dr. Balman was frankly mopping his high forehead +and even Dr. Hajek’s stolidity was shaken, for his eyes +darted nervously about him and he retreated to the +back of the room, where he lit a cigarette with +unsteady hands.</p> + +<p>Then Miss Maida Day was called and as she took +the witness chair my hands gripped each other and I +watched her with strained attention.</p> + +<p>She testified very coolly, though. No, she had not +seen Dr. Letheny when he called to visit his patient +at twelve-thirty. She had been busy in one of the sick +rooms. Yes, she had stepped out on the porch for a +breath of air. Yes, she had attended the dinner party +given by Miss Letheny. The coroner seemed to be supplied +with all the topics of conversation of that dinner +and Maida agreed imperviously to every one of them, +even to the fact that she had said she wanted money.</p> + +<p>“I believe your words were ‘I’d give my very soul +for money’?” inquired the coroner nastily.</p> + +<p>“I think I did say something like that,” said Maida +quietly, though a tiny flush mounted to her cheeks. “Of +course, I didn’t mean exactly that. One often +exaggerates one’s statements.”</p> + +<p>The coroner did not comment on that but looked +expressively at the jury.</p> + +<p>Then she corroborated, under his questions, every +detail I had told of our finding of the body of Mr. +Jackson and of our subsequent actions. He made his +questions very searching and important indeed, and I +felt something between a fool and a liar during the +process; I am not accustomed to having my word +doubted.</p> + +<p>“Miss Letheny answered the telephone, when I +called for the doctor,” Maida explained, “and said that +she couldn’t rouse him, and when I said we must have +him immediately she went away from the telephone +and when she came back told me that he was not in +the house and she didn’t know where he had gone.”</p> + +<p>“Then you telephoned to Dr. Balman?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Did he answer immediately?”</p> + +<p>“No. I think he must have been asleep. When he did +answer I told him simply of Mr. Jackson’s unexpected +death and that we could not locate Dr. Letheny.”</p> + +<p>“About how long was it until Dr. Balman arrived?”</p> + +<p>“I’m not sure. I was—agitated naturally. But I +should say about fifteen minutes.”</p> + +<p>“How was he dressed when he arrived?”</p> + +<p>“In—a dinner jacket, I think—and slicker. It was +raining, you know.”</p> + +<p>“Miss Day, have you lately lost a cuff link?” asked +the coroner, without warning.</p> + +<p>I was watching Maida closely and saw the little flush +that had been in her face drain steadily away; her eyes +darkened but did not falter in their steadfast gaze.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” she replied quietly.</p> + +<p>“Is this it?” He placed a small object in her hand +that I could not see but had no doubt was the square +of lapis.</p> + +<p>“It—seems to be,” she said, after a pause during +which we others scarcely breathed. “It resembles the +one I lost.”</p> + +<p>“Do you think you can say that it is your cuff link?” +asked the coroner smoothly.</p> + +<p>“Why—yes. At least, it is identical with mine.”</p> + +<p>“Can you explain its presence in Dr. Letheny’s coat +pocket when he was found—dead?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Maida steadily, her steel-blue eyes +meeting the coroner’s directly.</p> + +<p>“When did you discover its loss?”</p> + +<p>If possible, Maida went still whiter, and her nostrils +took on a pinched look.</p> + +<p>“Shortly after I had returned from the porch,” she +said steadily enough, but her eyes went to the back of +the room for a brief instant.</p> + +<p>“How did this get into Dr. Letheny’s possession?” +persisted the coroner.</p> + +<p>“I do not know. I suppose I—dropped it. Lost it +from my cuff, and Dr. Letheny must have—found it.”</p> + +<p>“In the dark?” inquired the coroner suavely.</p> + +<p>Maida flushed again but her chin went higher.</p> + +<p>“I do not know.”</p> + +<p>He continued to question her at some length but +with no success, and finally he dismissed her, with a +grudging “Thank you.”</p> + +<p>Corole Letheny was the next witness and I settled +myself more comfortably in my chair to listen. She was +extremely self-possessed, and sat down as gracefully +as if she had been paying a call. She looked rather nice, +or would have, but for the clear beauty of the face +that had just preceded her. Maida’s immaculate uniform, +her clear white skin, her amazing blue eyes under +their straight black eyebrows, that little, aristocratic +air which somehow always surrounded her, made Corole +seem a little tarnished, a little tawdry, a little theatrical, +in spite of her perfect grooming and her expensive +clothing.</p> + +<p>By that time the repetition of the details of that +oft-referred-to dinner party were growing stale and I did +not pay the strictest attention to the first questions of +the coroner. I was aroused, though, by hearing him say +suavely:</p> + +<p>“You will pardon me, Miss Letheny, but were you +and Dr. Letheny on the best of terms?”</p> + +<p>She stared at him, her yellowish eyes widening and +reflecting green lights from her hat brim.</p> + +<p>“What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“Following the departure of your guests that night, +did you not have a heated disagreement?”</p> + +<p>Her eyes slowly left the coroner and went to Huldah +in an exceedingly unpleasant gaze.</p> + +<p>“I suppose my maid told you that. Yes, we did +quarrel. Louis—was not an easy man to get along with.”</p> + +<p>“What was the subject of your quarrel that night?”</p> + +<p>“About as usual. Nothing in particular.”</p> + +<p>“Can you recall any of the exact—er—subjects?”</p> + +<p>“Why—no,” said Corole slowly. “That is, he told +me I was running the house too extravagantly. He +always said that.”</p> + +<p>The coroner surveyed her for a moment or two.</p> + +<p>“Is this your revolver?” he said suddenly, reaching +for the shiny revolver and holding it before her.</p> + +<p>She started, quite visibly. One brown hand, with a +great topaz shining on it, reached out as if to clutch +the thing, and then drew slowly back.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch08"> + +<h2>8. A Gold Sequin</h2> + +<p>“Does this revolver belong to you?” the coroner +repeated.</p> + +<p>“Why, yes,” Corole said huskily. “That—is mine.”</p> + +<p>“Can you explain its presence in the closet in which +your cousin’s body was found?”</p> + +<p>She ran her tongue nervously over her lips.</p> + +<p>“No,” she said. “No.”</p> + +<p>“When did you see it last.”</p> + +<p>“I—don’t know. It was usually kept in the drawer +of the table in Louis’ study. I—don’t remember just +when I saw it last.”</p> + +<p>“You didn’t bring it to the hospital, then?”</p> + +<p>“Certainly not,” flashed Corole. Her eyes narrowed +so suddenly that I almost expected her to flatten her ears +and spit like a cat.</p> + +<p>“When did you last see your cousin, Dr. Letheny?”</p> + +<p>“When I went upstairs at a little after twelve.” +Mentally I figured that their quarrel must have been +short and to the point.</p> + +<p>“Where did you leave him?”</p> + +<p>“He was sitting in his study.”</p> + +<p>“When you answered the telephone when Miss Day +called, did you search the house?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Had his bed been disturbed?”</p> + +<p>“Apparently not.”</p> + +<p>“You can swear, then, that he was not in the house +at—two o’clock?”</p> + +<p>“If that was when Miss Day telephoned, yes. I did +not look at my watch.”</p> + +<p>There were a few more, rather unimportant, +questions, then Corole was dismissed.</p> + +<p>After that the inquest rather dragged for awhile, +although Huldah telling very succinctly of Jim Gainsay +taking out the Doctor’s sedan a short time before the +storm broke was one of the points of interest. Several +policemen had to tell just what they found; during the +description of finding Dr. Letheny’s body, I saw Corole +wince for the first time and raise her laced handkerchief +to her face.</p> + +<p>Then Dr. Balman was summoned to tell of his movements +following the dinner party. He had gone directly +to his room, it appeared, and was asleep when the +telephone rang.</p> + +<p>“Asleep?” said the coroner astutely. “Not in your +dinner jacket, Doctor.”</p> + +<p>“I was very tired that night, having worked hard +all day. I sat down in an armchair to rest and went to +sleep. The first thing I knew the telephone was ringing.”</p> + +<p>“And what did you do then?”</p> + +<p>“Miss Day sounded frightened—and it had been my +impression that Mr. Jackson was doing very well +indeed. I took my coat, for it was raining, got into my +car and drove as fast as I could to St. Ann’s.”</p> + +<p>Dr. Hajek, too, corroborated as far as possible every +feature of the testimonies Maida and I had given. +No, he had not heard any knocks on the door of his +room, until I knocked. The lights were out and he did +not understand at once what was wanted. However, +when he did understand that there was some trouble +in Room 18, he hurried to that room. He had only +time to make the briefest of examinations, when Dr. +Balman arrived. Dr. Balman came by the south door +into the wing, instead of going around to the main +entrance. The south door had been closed and the key +in the lock and Miss Day had let Dr. Balman into the +corridor. Yes, they had immediately agreed as to the +cause of death.</p> + +<p>Mr. James Gainsay was the next witness. As he +advanced a queer little stir crept over the room.</p> + +<p>He admitted freely that he had been walking in the +orchard previous to the storm. The night was hot and +sultry, he said, and he had thought it might be cooler +outdoors. As freely he admitted that the cigarette case +belonged to him.</p> + +<p>“I’m certainly glad it was found,” he said, grinning +a little. “I value that cigarette case and did not know +where I had lost it.”</p> + +<p>The coroner frowned; this levity was out of place. +He moved the slim, gold case to the side of the table +farther away from Gainsay.</p> + +<p>“Was it you who collided with Miss Keate, there +at the porch steps?” he asked.</p> + +<p>Jim Gainsay’s sun-tanned eyebrows drew closer +together, but his mouth retained a half-amused smile.</p> + +<p>“I think it likely,” he said easily. “At least +I—collided with some one.”</p> + +<p>His candid air did not remove, to my mind, any of +the significance of his presence near the hospital.</p> + +<p>“Why were you running?”</p> + +<p>“I was in a hurry,” said Gainsay simply.</p> + +<p>“Where were you going?”</p> + +<p>“To Dr. Letheny’s garage.”</p> + +<p>“Did you go directly to the garage?”</p> + +<p>There was the barest possible hesitation. Then:</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“What did you do, then?”</p> + +<p>“Took Dr. Letheny’s car and drove into town.”</p> + +<p>“How long were you gone?”</p> + +<p>“About an hour, I should say. The roads were new +to me and the rain made it bad driving.”</p> + +<p>“You wanted to send a telegram?”</p> + +<p>If Jim Gainsay was surprised, he gave no sign of it.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” he said quietly. I don’t know what it was in +the tightening of his mouth and the quality of his voice +that made me quite sure that the question had, in some +manner, put him on his guard.</p> + +<p>“What was the telegram?”</p> + +<p>“A matter of business,” replied Gainsay smoothly.</p> + +<p>At this point Lance O’Leary reached over the coroner’s +table and pushed something across it to the coroner. +The coroner took it in his hands, a slip of yellow +paper, and adjusted his spectacles. After reading what +was written there, he glanced disapprovingly over his +glasses at Gainsay, deliberately read the message again +and finally spoke.</p> + +<p>“Was this the message you sent?”</p> + +<p>“I’m sure I don’t know,” said Jim Gainsay, +good-naturedly, though there was a wary look in his +half-closed eyes.</p> + +<p>A little gust of laughter was frowned upon by the +coroner, who poised his spectacles again to read in a +measured way: “ ‘Delayed owing to unexpected +development stop cannot make the <i>Tuscania</i> stop may not +get away soon signed J. Gainsay.’ That yours, huh?”</p> + +<p>I was astounded to see that Gainsay had gone rather +white and his jaw was set.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” he said very quietly.</p> + +<p>“What do you mean, ‘unexpected development’?”</p> + +<p>“I—am not at liberty to state.”</p> + +<p>Something in Gainsay’s manner seemed to irritate +the coroner.</p> + +<p>“Not at liberty to state! Well, see here, young man, +you’d better be at liberty to state and that mighty fast! +You’ve admitted to skulking around St. Ann’s, at a time +of night when respectable people are in bed and leaving +cigarette cases——”</p> + +<p>“Now, now,” remonstrated Jim Gainsay gently. “I +object to the word ‘skulking.’ ”</p> + +<p>“You object! You object!” The coroner removed +his eyeglasses for freer gesticulation and somehow they +detached themselves from the ribbon and flew out of +his hand. He paused in slight discomposure and Lance +O’Leary stooped, returned the eyeglasses, and as he did +so, leaned over and said something in a low voice.</p> + +<p>“H’m-m. R’r’h’m!” remarked the coroner weightily, +fixing a profound gaze upon Jim Gainsay, as if his +blackest doubts of this young man had been justified.</p> + +<p>“That is all, Mr. Gainsay. For the present.” He +surveyed Gainsay unpleasantly and added, as if he liked +the sound of the words: “For the present.”</p> + +<p>The rest of the inquest was not interesting and was +mostly a matter of repeating things that I already knew. +The coroner seemed rather addled but very determined +to catch somebody in an untruth. I knew where his +trouble lay; it was not that he lacked clues, it was rather +that he had too many of them and they all seemed to +point in different directions. I was glad that Lance +O’Leary appeared to have kept his own counsel about +certain matters of which I had told him, though I should +have liked to see the faces of the board members if +it had been brought to their attention that the +morphine had very likely been stolen from our own south +wing.</p> + +<p>The bell was ringing for lunch when the coroner concluded +his somewhat pointless inquiries, and after a few +moments in which the room was in utter silence the +decisions were given. I was not surprised to hear that +Dr. Louis Letheny had come to his death at the hands +of a person or persons unknown. And a little later, in +a hush so tense that we could hear the dripping of rain +from a gutter pipe outside the windows, the same decision +was given as to the death of our patient, old Mr. +Jackson.</p> + +<p>We stirred our cramped muscles, rose slowly and +straggled out of the room by twos and threes. To tell +the truth I felt as if nothing but a formality had been +accomplished. But as I left the room I turned for a +look backward and saw Lance O’Leary’s smooth brown +head bending close over the coroner’s bald spot in +earnest consultation. That one glimpse convinced me that +O’Leary actually, if not openly, controlled the inquest +and did so to suit his own inexplicable motives. I longed +to tell him of the mysterious visitor the south wing +had had the previous night but had no opportunity until +later in the day.</p> + +<p>What with one thing and another troubling me I did +not rest well that afternoon. By the time I had napped +spasmodically, had a bath, and got into a fresh uniform +and cap it was four o’clock and I wandered through +the curiously hushed corridors, down the stairs and into +the general office. Miss Jones was writing in the record +book of incoming cases and I paused to find out who +had been entered. It was something to know that even +the disagreeable publicity we had been given had not +affected St. Ann’s prestige.</p> + +<p>“I’m putting him in Eighteen, in your wing,” she said +as I bent over her shoulder.</p> + +<p>“In Eighteen!”</p> + +<p>“Why, yes. The room is available for use, isn’t it? +He wants a downstairs room and that is the only one +left.”</p> + +<p>“Whose patient?”</p> + +<p>“Dr. Balman’s, I think—yes.” She referred to the +typed card.</p> + +<p>At the moment Dr. Balman entered the room from +the inner office.</p> + +<p>“Just copy this history, please, Miss Jones, and let +me know if——” he glanced at the record she was +preparing. “Are you putting him in Eighteen?” he asked +sharply.</p> + +<p>“Yes. Isn’t that right, Doctor?”</p> + +<p>His long fingers sought his beard perplexedly.</p> + +<p>“This affair is so recent——” he said doubtfully. +“But, if there is no other room?”</p> + +<p>“He especially asked for a downstairs room.”</p> + +<p>“Very well, then,” he agreed after a moment during +which his thoughtful, rather kind eyes studied the +record. He spoke wearily. “Put him in Eighteen. We +will have to use the room sooner or later, in any case. +Oh—Miss Keate. Better warn the nurses to say nothing +of Eighteen’s—er—history. The patient will be here +at least two or three weeks, perhaps longer.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Doctor,” I said as meekly as if I shouldn’t +have known that I must do that, anyway. And I must +say I did not relish the idea of a patient in Eighteen, +knowing, as I did, that if it proved to be a surgical +case with no private nurse, much of the care would fall +on my shoulders, which meant many errands into +Room 18.</p> + +<p>“Very good,” he said and turned toward the door.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Dr. Balman,” Miss Jones called him back +hastily. “Did you not want me to copy that history?”</p> + +<p>Dr. Balman wheeled, glanced at the typed paper +still in his hand.</p> + +<p>“I forgot,” he said abstractedly. “Thank you, Miss +Jones.” He handed her the paper. “The patient will +be in about six o’clock, I think,” he added, as he +disappeared.</p> + +<p>He had not any more than got out of the room, +when Dr. Hajek entered.</p> + +<p>“Was there a telephone call for me—thank you,” +as Miss Jones handed him the pad with a number +scribbled on it.</p> + +<p>He took down the telephone.</p> + +<p>“Main 2332, please,” he said into the mouthpiece, +adding aside to Miss Jones, “Any new cases this +afternoon?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Doctor. A Mr. Gastin is coming in. I have put +him in Eighteen.”</p> + +<p>“In Eighteen! What? Oh, yes—Main 2332—” +he turned again from the telephone. “Did you say you +put him in Eighteen? Eighteen in the south wing?” he +asked sharply.</p> + +<p>“Why, yes,” said Miss Jones. “That was the only +downstairs room left.”</p> + +<p>“But——” began Dr. Hajek, only to be interrupted +by the operator’s voice again. “Yes. Main 2332—Oh, +there you are. Yes, this is Dr. Hajek. What’s that? . . . +Did you take his temperature? Oh—yes I see. . . . +Try a hot water bag and a little warm milk. . . . +Yes. . . . Yes.” He hung up with a click. “About that +new patient, Miss Jones, I really don’t think it wise to +put him in Eighteen. If he is inclined to be nervous——”</p> + +<p>I was tired of discussing the matter.</p> + +<p>“He will not know a thing about what has happened +there,” I interrupted very rudely and not at all in +accordance with professional etiquette. “We’ve got to use +the room sometime. Why not now?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” agreed Dr. Hajek, surveying me absently. +“Yes, I suppose so. Yes. Did you say he comes this +afternoon?”</p> + +<p>“About six o’clock,” said Miss Jones, and with a nod +he swung toward the inner office.</p> + +<p>Thinking that I must see that Room 18 was in order, +I hurried toward the south wing. The room had not +been cleaned beyond a brief straightening up, so I sent +two nurses to clean it and went along myself to +superintend the affair.</p> + +<p>It was not pleasant to open that door, but I had +opened it under still less agreeable circumstances. The +room was very gloomy and cold with dismal shadows +on the white walls, and the window panes so beaded +with moisture that the gray light from outside filtered +but faintly into the place. I relented so far as to turn +on the electric light, which threw the whole room into +sharp relief, and the two girls set to work.</p> + +<p>The air was stale, so I crossed to the low window +near the porch, unlocked the catch and flung it wide, +letting in the damp mist. I stood there, thinking of +the intruder of the previous night. Who had been in +this room? What had been his purpose? What would +O’Leary say when I told him of it? Had the visitor +escaped by this window? I looked at the wide sill. There +was a screen there, to be sure, but it worked on a spring +catch and could easily be opened from either side, this +to facilitate the shaking of rugs and dusters and the +adjusting of awnings. Idly I pushed back the screen, +running my finger along the sill. I was about to close +it again when a faint reflection of light from something +in the corner of the sill caught my eye. I leaned toward +that corner to look more closely, reached out and slowly +turned the tiny flat thing over with my fingernail.</p> + +<p>It was a gold sequin!</p> + +<p>I should never have seen it save for that minute reflection +of light, for the upper surface was all tarnished +and stained, though the under side was still bright. A +wisp of frayed green thread still clung to the small +hole for a needle at the top of the flimsy bit of metal.</p> + +<p>I needed no one to tell me from where the thing had +come; the night of June seventh Corole Letheny had +worn a dress of gold sequins cunningly arranged over +net with flashes of green here and there.</p> + +<p>And it did not seem probable to me that she had +worn the gown since that night.</p> + +<p>By the time I had digested this amazing fact the +girls, to whom fear seemed to lend astonishing speed, +had got the room cleaned.</p> + +<p>“A patient is coming,” I explained to them. “That +is all now.” They were glad to be dismissed and +hurried away.</p> + +<p>I did not remain alone in that room. Strolling down +the corridor, the tiny sequin still in my hand, it occurred +to me that it would be a fine thing to be able to tell Lance +O’Leary, when I gave him the sequin, whether or not +Corole had worn her gold gown since the night of her +dinner party. Huldah would know, and somehow in the +face of this last development, I had no scruples as to +inquiring of Huldah concerning the affairs of her +mistress.</p> + +<p>It was a matter of only a few moments until I was +on my way.</p> + +<p>The path through the orchard squdged wetly under +my feet; the trees dripped steadily on my starched, +white cap, and the mist lay so heavy and close that I +could not see more than ten or fifteen feet ahead of +me. The shrubs massed around the trees were hazy, +shadowy outlines, and the raw air fairly hurt my throat.</p> + +<p>I walked on slowly through the wet alfalfa field, +passed the clump of pines that made a black blot amidst +the fog, and through the gate. The porch of the Letheny +cottage still looked dreary and Huldah had not swept +it that day.</p> + +<p>Corole came to the door.</p> + +<p>“Oh,” she said unenthusiastically. “Oh, hello, Sarah. +Come in. I was boring myself over a book.” She threw +my cape on a chair and I followed her into the study.</p> + +<p>“You decided not to go to New Orleans, then, with +the—that is, for the funeral?”</p> + +<p>“There was no need to.” Her face darkened. “He +has relatives there who—never cared for me.”</p> + +<p>“Mr. Jackson’s body was sent East,” I said. We +lapsed into silence. Presently Corole stirred.</p> + +<p>“I’d give you tea but Huldah is in bed with a headache. +She went to sleep right after lunch but I suppose +is awake by now. I told her not to worry about +dinner; I’ll drive in to the Brevair. I’ve been wanting +to get out, anyhow, and they say there’s a wonderful +new chef there.”</p> + +<p>“Well, for goodness’ sake, Corole, don’t make yourself +conspicuous. There’s that matter of the revolver +at the inquest, you know.”</p> + +<p>Corole glanced curiously at me and laughed.</p> + +<p>“But my dear, I don’t know a thing about that +revolver getting over to St. Ann’s. And I do happen to +know that there are other, far more intriguing things, +that might bear a little investigation.” She smoothed +the flat wave in her hair gently. “A little investigation, +at least,” she murmured as if amused, but her expression +was not pleasant. Indeed a look in her flat, yellow +eyes reminded me that this woman had lived in strange +places, had seen strange things, was likely familiar with +dark secrets and black rites and primitive passions—product +of the twentieth century though she seemed, +with her laces and jewels and sophisticated eyebrows. +Jungle nights, tom-toms and the word “voodoo” came +into my mind—and though I have never been at all sure +just what voodoo means, I found my skin crawling.</p> + +<p>“I think I’ll go up to see Huldah,” I said, rising +abruptly, and feigning a professional interest.</p> + +<p>“Do,” said Corole, smiling not at all tenderly into +the fire. “You know the way to her room? I’m too lazy +to go along.” At my nod she continued indolently: +“Huldah highly approves of you, Sarah. She has never +quite trusted me, you know.” She laughed again.</p> + +<p>I found Huldah very drowsy and her headache worse.</p> + +<p>“It is on account of the cloudy weather,” I said, and +we talked for some moments very pleasurably of our +experiences with neuralgia; my own were much more +interesting than Huldah’s but I listened forbearingly to +her tale.</p> + +<p>“I felt better for awhile after Miss Letheny gave +me some medicine she has,” went on Huldah. “I went +right off to sleep. She gives it into your arm so it doesn’t +take long to——”</p> + +<p>“Into your arm!” I cried, struck by the phrase. +“What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“Why with one of them—what do you call them? +Sort of like a needle.”</p> + +<p>“You don’t mean a hypodermic needle?”</p> + +<p>“Yes!” Huldah smiled happily. “That is it. I just +couldn’t think of what she called it. It is fine. You see, +that way the medicine goes directly into your——”</p> + +<p>“Huldah! Do you mean to say that Miss Letheny +gave you a hypodermic?”</p> + +<p>She nodded, pulling up the sleeve of her outing-flannel +wrapper and showing me the tiny scar. I scrutinized it +closely. It had been most deftly done. There were no +skin abrasions, the vein had been carefully avoided, +the needle quite evidently had been thrust into the flesh +by a practised and unfaltering hand. And that hand +belonged to Corole Letheny!</p> + +<p>“Wasn’t that all right, Miss Keate? It didn’t hurt +at all——”</p> + +<p>I recalled myself to the present.</p> + +<p>“Huldah,” I said severely, “never let anyone but +a doctor or a trained nurse give you a hypodermic. +Never!” And as her face turned rather green I added, +“That was likely just some headache medicine that +Dr. Letheny, or some one, had given Miss Letheny. +So it is all right this time.” And, indeed, I could tell +that Corole had actually given her only a mild opiate +to relieve, most unwisely, her headache.</p> + +<p>“Now,” I went on, as I caught sight of my wrist +watch pointing to five o’clock. “Can you tell me something +that I want to know, and forget that I asked you?”</p> + +<p>Huldah is shrewd; she raised herself on one gray +flannel elbow and looked at me keenly.</p> + +<p>“I can keep a secret, Miss Keate. There’s many a +thing I could tell if I wanted to.”</p> + +<p>“What I want to know is this: Has Miss Letheny +worn her gold dress lately?”</p> + +<p>“You mean that green and gold, snaky thing with +the scales on it?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Let me see. She wore it last the night Dr. Letheny +was killed.”</p> + +<p>“Are you sure, Huldah?”</p> + +<p>“Yes’m. I remember well. Poor Dr. Letheny!”</p> + +<p>“Feeling better, Huldah?” said a voice from the +doorway.</p> + +<p>It was Corole, of course.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch09"> + +<h2>9. Under the Barberry Bush</h2> + +<p>I left rather abruptly. But on the darkening path +toward St. Ann’s I decided that Corole could not have +heard our conversation. Feeling that I must get these +last two pieces of news, as well as the occurrence of the +previous night to O’Leary as soon as possible, I walked +rapidly along through the fog. I crossed the little bridge +and was hurrying through the apple orchard when I +came face to face with O’Leary.</p> + +<p>“You are the very person I want to see, Miss Keate,” +he said at once.</p> + +<p>Taking my arm he drew me a few steps from the +path; he motioned and following his gesture I found +I had a view of the south door and small colonial porch.</p> + +<p>“Tell me, Miss Keate, exactly where you were +standing the night of June seventh when +the—er—arrow-like affair was thrown over your shoulder?”</p> + +<p>“I had truly forgotten that—I should have told you.”</p> + +<p>“That’s all right,” he brushed my apology aside. “Can +you recall about where you were standing and the line +it took over your shoulder?”</p> + +<p>“I think so,” I replied slowly and thoughtfully. “It +seems to me it should have fallen somewhere about that +clump of barberry. Over there.” I pointed with my finger +toward the shrubbery that edges the apple orchard. +“I suppose you are trying to find what it was.”</p> + +<p>“If no one else has found—or retrieved it yet,” +agreed O’Leary.</p> + +<p>With O’Leary going ahead and holding back the +more importunate branches and shrubs, we made our +slow way to the spot I had indicated. I remember that +we took some pains not to be seen from the hospital +and, bending over as I did, to keep my white cap +invisible from those windows, I had an absurd feeling +that I was playing a grim game of hide-and-seek. In +the excitement of the search I did not notice my soaked +shoes and my wet hair, and remember only how I groped +along the sodden leaf mold, and around the slippery +brown roots of the shrubs and trees. If we had known +what to look for, it would have been an easier task, +O’Leary informed me, after some twenty minutes’ vain +delving in the wet underbrush. He was inclined to be +a little pettish about it, implying that I might have +noticed the thing more carefully. That remark was +made the time he slipped on some wet leaves and flung +his hands into a barberry bush to keep his balance. He +looked amazingly human and ordinary, picking out the +thorns. It was just a few moments after that that I +heard him utter a sudden ejaculation of pain. He was +on the opposite side of a large clump of barberry bush +and I crawled cautiously around to discover what had +happened.</p> + +<p>I found him squatting on his heels, with his thumb in +his mouth and the other hand clasping a small object +that, from his glance, seemed to have pleased him +inordinately.</p> + +<p>“I’ve found it, Miss Keate,” he said, achieving +triumphant utterance in spite of the thumb. “Look! +Could it have been this?”</p> + +<p>It was a mercy I was so near the ground for my knees +simply caved in under me. In his hand was a small +hypodermic syringe. The nickel on it was rusted a little +from the weather.</p> + +<p>This syringe whizzing over my shoulder was exactly +what I had seen. It was heavy enough to acquire +considerable velocity and, as I peered through the +shrubbery and trees to the porch, I knew that it would have +fallen about here. The trouble was that it looked very +much like the south wing’s missing syringe. Of course, +all hypodermics are much alike, but I knew a certain +way that it could be identified, for Maida had taken +a cue from me and marked all her tools with a small +scratched “D.”</p> + +<p>“Let me see it,” I said.</p> + +<p>Without a word he handed the thing to me. On the +top of the little flat button was a rudely scratched “D,” +rusty but still distinct.</p> + +<p>“I see you recognize it,” said O’Leary, taking his +thumb out of his mouth, and regarding it as thoughtfully +as if he had not another object in the world. “It +is Miss Day’s, is it not?”</p> + +<p>I nodded.</p> + +<p>“Everyone in the wing had access to it. The fact +that it may have originally belonged to Maida doesn’t +mean that she threw it out here.”</p> + +<p>“No—no, of course not,” he said contemplatively. +“Well—we found it, Miss Keate. Though I could wish +that I had not run into it so forcibly.”</p> + +<p>He regarded the scratch on his thumb. “You don’t +suppose that rust harbored any tetanus germs?”</p> + +<p>“It has bled enough by this time to clean itself,” +I said without much sympathy, feeling indeed that if he +<em>would</em> find things it served him right to get stuck!</p> + +<p>“You nurses!” he said, looked at me and laughed. +“I wish you could see yourself, Miss Keate.”</p> + +<p>Conscious not only of my undignified posture but also +of an increasing dampness penetrating my skirts, I rose. +He followed me through the shrubbery toward the +path.</p> + +<p>“This is as secluded a place in which to talk as we +can find, Miss Keate,” he said. “Have you come upon +any new developments that I’d like to hear about?”</p> + +<p>“How did you know I had?” I asked, not any too +pleasantly.</p> + +<p>He smiled. “By the look in your eyes and your +general aspect of—er—having swallowed the canary, so +to speak.”</p> + +<p>“Well, as a matter of fact there is a thing or two.” +As briefly as I could, I told him of the gold sequin +and of the fact that Corole had last worn that gown +the night of June seventh. I also told him that she was +an adept at the use of a hypodermic needle. And then, +somewhat reluctantly, and glancing rather nervously +into the foggy shadows that were increasing under the +dripping trees about us, I told him of the visitor to +Room 18 of the previous night. He asked several +questions, seeming to be extremely interested.</p> + +<p>“It goes without saying that the person, whoever it +was, who entered Room 18 last night had some purpose. +That there was—or is—something yet in Eighteen +that he wanted.” He frowned. “I don’t see what I could +have missed.”</p> + +<p>“There was the sequin,” I suggested.</p> + +<p>“Yes, there was the sequin. You said it was under +the screen? Yes, I missed that. But somehow I don’t +see Corole Letheny coming back for it.”</p> + +<p>“She has likely not missed it—there are hundreds of +the things on that dress.”</p> + +<p>“Huldah was positive she hadn’t worn the dress since +Thursday night? She might have left it there last night, +you know.”</p> + +<p>I shook my head.</p> + +<p>“No. Huldah was sure. And it must have been then, +for the side of the sequin that lay uppermost is all +tarnished from the rain.”</p> + +<p>“That is true. Then the question is, Who was in +Room 18 last night? And what did he want?” His gray +eyes were like two clear lakes.</p> + +<p>“Miss Keate,” he said suddenly. “This radium: I’ve +been hunting through encyclopedias about the stuff, but +there is something I want to know. Could it be carried +about in a pocket? Without burning, you know.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, if it were in the box made for it. Radium is +used in a variety of tools, for many purposes. But in +this case it was in a sort of boxlike container, quite +small.”</p> + +<p>“And could be carried in a pocket or in one’s hand?” +he insisted. “Or even hidden in one place or another?”</p> + +<p>“Goodness, yes!” I replied. “I’ve seen tools containing +it carried about in doctors’ bags often enough.”</p> + +<p>He did not speak for a moment or two, studying me +in the meantime with thoughtful eyes that did not in +the least see me.</p> + +<p>“I should think that it would be hard to dispose +of—though as to that——” He broke off abruptly. +“Look here, Miss Keate, how is it that such a valuable +thing is used with so little precaution against theft?”</p> + +<p>“In some hospitals radium is guarded,” I explained. +“There is one very large hospital, to which patients +come from all over the world, where guards are placed +in the sick-room whenever radium is used. But it was +not deemed necessary here at St. Ann’s. Nothing of +the kind has ever happened before and our class of +patients is, as a rule, of the most respectable. St. Ann’s, +you know, has really the best standing——” I stopped +in the middle of my rather snooty remark as I saw the +half smile on his face.</p> + +<p>“Still it did happen,” he said softly.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I retorted. “And it is your business to recover +it.”</p> + +<p>His face sobered instantly.</p> + +<p>“Not an easy task, Miss Keate,” he said at once and +most amiably. “And I’m grateful for the help you give +me. In return I shall tell you, since you ask it, that +there are a few possible premises that interest me. You +might give me your opinion of them. For one thing—we +have found that there were three possible means of +death, in or about Room 18. There was a revolver, +ether, and a hypodermic syringe and enough morphine +missing from the drug room to more than accomplish—what +we believe it did accomplish. Three weapons +where only one was necessary! Dr. Letheny met his +death by a fourth means. Three weapons! Does that +not indicate that there was more than one person +interested in your patient’s death?”</p> + +<p>“Three!” I gasped. “Three!” In consternation I +went over the list of names of that dinner party of ill +memory. “But there were only six of us at that dinner +to whose personnel you limit your suspects.”</p> + +<p>“Seven,” corrected O’Leary. “There is Dr. Letheny, +you know.”</p> + +<p>“But Mr. O’Leary, it sounds like a club.” I was very +much in earnest but the man had the impudence to +laugh.</p> + +<p>“It <em>does</em> sound like an association of some kind,” +he said coolly. “The cuff link and the affair of the +disappearing hypodermic needle point to Maida. The +presence and continued presence of Jim Gainsay, plus +that somewhat ambiguous wire, point to him. +Possibility includes you and the two doctors. And as to +Miss Letheny, we have several counts against her. So +you see it does look rather like a conspiracy.”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense,” I said irritably. “I assure you that all +six of us did not band together for the purpose of +doing away with Dr. Letheny and his patient.”</p> + +<p>“Of course not,” agreed O’Leary soothingly. +“Though you must admit, Miss Keate, that there are +a good many clues—no, we’ll call them merely facts +that intrigue the curious mind—that seem to include all +of you.”</p> + +<p>“Coincidence,” I said with considerable decision.</p> + +<p>O’Leary’s eyebrows went up a little.</p> + +<p>“Have it as you will,” he agreed amicably.</p> + +<p>“You have forgotten the fact that Fred Hajek’s +coat was wet that night when I finally aroused him. +Why didn’t you inquire about that at the inquest?”</p> + +<p>“I had already done so,” said O’Leary. “He +explained that the window in his room was open and +that the coat was lying across a chair beside the +window when the rain began. He did not waken +immediately and it rained on his coat.”</p> + +<p>“H’m,” said I skeptically. “How about Dr. Balman? +Are you going to take his word for it that he +was in his own apartment during the time all this took +place? What about that bruise on his face that he said +he got running through the orchard? Mightn’t he +have got it earlier in the night?” Though my heart +reproved me as I spoke, for Dr. Balman, torn from +his beloved studies, forced into a thousand responsibilities, +worn and haggard and tired and troubled, was a +pathetic figure.</p> + +<p>“Dr. Balman is too busy a man these days to bother +much with questions,” said O’Leary simply. “However, +since you have inquired, I have proved his statement. +According to the elevator man at the apartment house +in which Dr. Balman lives, Dr. Balman arrived from +the Letheny’s at twelve-fifteen and did not leave until +the same elevator man, who also attends the switchboard +during the night, gave him a call from St. Ann’s. +The elevator man obligingly listened in to the +conversation, had the elevator at the door of Dr. Balman’s +apartment immediately, and took the doctor down to +the first floor at exactly three minutes after two.”</p> + +<p>“Now then,” he continued after a short silence, +“about this hypodermic needle: I should like to have +a little talk with Miss Day. And also I want to visit +Room 18 again.”</p> + +<p>“There is a patient in Room 18.”</p> + +<p>“Already!”</p> + +<p>“Yes. I don’t think Dr. Balman, or Dr. Hajek either, +wanted to permit the room to be used, but there was +no other place for the patient.”</p> + +<p>O’Leary’s clear eyes considered me absently for a +moment.</p> + +<p>“It isn’t likely, then, that there will be a repetition +of last night’s affair,” he said finally. “But suppose you +let me go over the room again, when I can do so +without disturbing the patient.”</p> + +<p>A figure moving through the mist caught our eyes. +It was Maida, her white cap gleaming above her blue +and scarlet cape.</p> + +<p>“Good-afternoon, Miss Day,” said O’Leary, +stepping into the path.</p> + +<p>I think Maida was a little startled, for her eyes +darkened and she glanced hurriedly along the path +toward the bridge.</p> + +<p>But: “Good-afternoon, Mr. O’Leary,” she answered +composedly enough. “Oh, there you are, Sarah,” she +went on as her eyes fell on me. “I was wondering +where you had gone.” Her eyes travelled to my hair, +and she exclaimed: “How wet your hair is! You’ll get +neuralgia, won’t you?”</p> + +<p>I put a hand to my hair. It was wet and very +draggled where the branches from the trees and shrubs +under which I had crept had pulled it. I straightened +my wilted cap and tucked up the more adventurously +straying locks.</p> + +<p>“I’ve been looking for something.”</p> + +<p>“I think you must have been,” agreed Maida, a +flicker of mirth in her blue gaze. “You must have looked +for it under the barberry bushes.”</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact I had done just that. But before +I could say anything O’Leary took up the conversation.</p> + +<p>“Did you lose your hypodermic needle, Miss Day?” +he asked without prelude.</p> + +<p>Maida’s face sobered instantly and she glanced +swiftly at him.</p> + +<p>“Why, yes, I did lose it,” she said immediately.</p> + +<p>“Is this the one you lost?” he asked, holding the +syringe toward her in his outstretched palm and keeping +his extraordinarily clear eyes on her face so keenly +as almost to read her thoughts.</p> + +<p>So I am sure he saw her lips tighten, as I did, and +her chin go up defiantly.</p> + +<p>“It seems to be,” she said. “I had scratched my +initial on mine.” She reached for the syringe and turned +it so she could see the small plunger with its marked +top.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” she said quietly. “That is my own syringe.”</p> + +<p>“I found it just now in a clump of bushes. Do you +know how it got there?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Maida flatly.</p> + +<p>“Why, then,” said O’Leary very softly, “did you +replace it with Miss Keate’s needle?”</p> + +<p>Maida turned toward me at that, her eyes again +unfathomable. But before she could reply Jim Gainsay, +whose approach we had not noted, swept +impetuously between us.</p> + +<p>“Hello, Miss Keate—O’Leary. Here you are, Miss +Day.” And without any ado about it, he simply took +Maida’s arm and hustled her away from us and along +the narrow path toward the bridge before we had time +to blink.</p> + +<p>It was rather astonishing, and O’Leary and I stood +there in silence for a moment until the fog hid the +gleam of scarlet from Maida’s cape.</p> + +<p>“Well,” remarked O’Leary then, turning to me; I +saw that his eyes were twinkling with a sort of unwilling +admiration that was half amusement. “Well—somewhat +piratical is Mr. Gainsay. I suppose he brazenly +listened to what we said. It is evident that he did not +want Miss Day to answer my last question—also, that +he is more or less in her confidence and that he was +meeting her by appointment. Or”—he paused for a +moment—“or it might be that he has reasons of his +own for not wishing it to be known just why Miss Day +substituted your needle for her own. At least,” he +concluded briskly, “he knows more than an innocent +man should know.”</p> + +<p>And with that I had to be content, for he would not +say another word and we walked silently along the +dusky path until we came to the colonial porch of the +south wing.</p> + +<p>“I’ll go on around to the main entrance,” said +O’Leary, then. “I want to use the telephone in the +general office. I’ll be around to your wing later; there +is something about Room 18 that I must know.” He +took off his cap as he walked away from me—a nice +gesture that was somewhat marred in effect by his +very dirty hands.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch10"> + +<h2>10. A Midnight Visitor</h2> + +<p>I slipped unobserved into the diet kitchen, where I +left my cape and to some degree repaired damages. +I found, on emerging from the kitchen, that the new +patient in Eighteen had arrived. It is a rule with me +personally to superintend the installation of a new +patient, so I went at once to Room 18. I still found +it unpleasant to enter that room, especially since the +figure on the narrow bed reminded me forcibly of that +other figure that had lain there.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gastin was an elderly man, somewhat peevish +at being thrust into bed, and quite to my liking. He +must have been a person of some importance, for flowers +galore had already arrived, among them a potted lobelia, +a sinister-looking flower that I have never liked.</p> + +<p>He replied rather bitterly that he was as comfortable +as might be expected and asked for the evening +papers.</p> + +<p>“I’m sorry,” I said, “but we don’t have them.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t have them!” he exclaimed, eyeing me +shrewdly. “Oh. Oh, yes, I see why. Where did all this +trouble occur, anyway? And see here, what’s the matter +with this radio? The thing don’t work. Is it turned +on at this hour? I want the stock reports. I want to tune +in myself.”</p> + +<p>“The radio is in the general office,” I explained +hastily, fearing he would return to the question I did not +wish to answer. “The speakers in the different rooms +connect with it. It is usually turned on at this hour, +but I don’t know whether they have got the stock +reports or not.”</p> + +<p>“Well, bring me a speaker that works, anyhow,” he +said, hitching himself on one elbow among the pillows +and then flopping back again. “Anything for amusement. +I suppose it will be bedtime stories. Well, bring +’em on. And you might slip me a cigar.”</p> + +<p>I felt rather sad as I took the loud speaker, pulled +the plug from its connection above the bed, and started +away. It doesn’t take five minutes to place a new patient +in his correct category and I knew all too well where +this one belonged. Someone had labelled them “crippled +captains of finance,” and the title stuck.</p> + +<p>Being in a hurry I took the faulty speaker into Sonny’s +room. He was engrossed with a new block puzzle and +paying no attention to the radio so I exchanged the +speakers, taking the one in Sonny’s room to Mr. Gastin +for the time being. Once connected, soft and dulcet +tones rang through Number 18: “. . . and then +Bunny Brown Eyes—scampered along . . .”</p> + +<p>“Oh, hell,” remarked Mr. Gastin.</p> + +<p>“The dinner concert comes on at seven,” I suggested.</p> + +<p>“Think I can stand this till then?” he asked, but left +the plug in. “Can you bring me a—er—blanket or two, +nurse? Somehow this room seems sort of—I don’t +know—cold, I guess. You might turn on that light up +there—yes, and the one over the dresser, too.”</p> + +<p>The light over the bed was already glowing, but +I did as he asked. Which only goes to prove that Room +18 was already getting in its work. I left the door open +and remember that I spoke very earnestly when I told +him to turn on the signal light if he wanted anything.</p> + +<p>He did not have to listen to the bunny story after +all, however, for I met Miss Jones coming along with +a truck and she told me that she was taking Mr. Gastin +to Dr. Letheny’s—that is, Dr. Balman’s office for an +examination.</p> + +<p>“He hasn’t had his supper tray yet, has he?” she +asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>Meeting O’Leary in the hall I told him that Room +18 was vacant for a few minutes; I went on downstairs +to eat, however, and did not accompany him. But when +I sat down to glance at the charts of the south wing +an hour later, O’Leary stopped beside me.</p> + +<p>“No luck?” I said.</p> + +<p>“Not a thing,” he replied.</p> + +<p>There was a distinctly puzzled look in his face.</p> + +<p>“Keep your eyes open to-night, Miss Keate. If anything +occurs like last night, ’phone to me immediately. +Here’s my number. I’ll sleep right by the telephone. +Thanks. Good-night.”</p> + +<p>But before taking five steps he whirled back to me.</p> + +<p>“By the way, Miss Keate,” he said in a low voice +so that the little cluster of white-clad nurses around +the dumbwaiter could not hear him. “By the way, it +seems peculiar that after the inquest when the matter +of your seeing this hypodermic needle was brought to +light so publicly, no one tried to retrieve it. One +wonders why. And another thing—I should like to know +where this Jim Gainsay spent the time between your +meeting him at the corner of the porch, and his starting +to town in Dr. Letheny’s car. There are, according to +your story, about fifteen minutes unaccounted +for——Good-night, again.”</p> + +<p>I did not return to the south wing until midnight. +I found only Maida there for second watch, Miss Dotty +having arranged the schedule of nursing hours on its +old basis, thus depriving us of our temporary increased +help. I thought it somewhat presumptuous of Miss +Dotty, who, after all, is only superintendent of nurses +and has no jurisdiction over our wing. Olma Flynn had +been placed on first watch, as formerly, and on relieving +her she assured me that everything was going well and +though the new patient in Eighteen was a trifle restless, +I had expected that, so I thought nothing of it.</p> + +<p>Olma had locked the south door and its key hung +peacefully on its customary nail. Under Maida’s +understanding gaze I took the key from the nail and slipped +it under an order pad on the chart desk; if anyone +wanted it that night he should have to ask for it!</p> + +<p>I hadn’t been on the floor ten minutes when +Eighteen’s light went on; upon answering it I found my +patient sitting bolt upright in bed, with the small light +over the bed glowing brightly.</p> + +<p>“I don’t like this bed, nurse!” he said. His rumpled +gray hair gave him a rather ferocious aspect and his +pajama coat was all wrinkled and twisted from +flouncing around on the bed.</p> + +<p>His words gave me rather a turn for, as far as that +went, I didn’t like the bed myself. But I advanced coolly +enough and began straightening the tossed sheets and +blanket.</p> + +<p>“What is the matter with it?” I asked, in my +professionally comfortable voice. I was not prepared for +his reply.</p> + +<p>“It feels like a coffin,” he said, staring gloomily at +his feet.</p> + +<p>“Like a coffin!”</p> + +<p>He glanced at me sharply.</p> + +<p>“Like a coffin,” he repeated stubbornly. “I don’t +like it.”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense,” I said, recovering myself and reaching +for a pillow. “You aren’t used to it, that’s all.”</p> + +<p>“What do they make them so high for?” he said +peevishly, peering over the edge of the bed. “If I’d fall +out I’d have a long way to go.”</p> + +<p>“You’re not going to fall out,” I reassured him. “And +if they didn’t make them high we nurses would break +our backs. That is the greatest life-saver for nurses that +anybody ever found. You see, if they were built at the +height of ordinary beds we would have to bend away +over——”</p> + +<p>“Well, they don’t have to be so narrow,” he interrupted +sulkily. “Every time I turn over I have to grab +to save myself from going out.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, it isn’t that bad, is it?” I plumped the pillows +briskly, replaced them and pulled the draw sheet +straight. “Now, that will be better. Try to relax and lie +quiet.”</p> + +<p>He subsided on the pillow, still muttering childishly.</p> + +<p>It seemed close in the room, so I raised the window +higher and brought him a fresh drink of water. Of +course, if the window had already been up I should have +lowered it; I make it a point to fuss around the room +a little just to make the patient think I’m doing things +for his comfort, and nine times out of ten he will drop +off to sleep at once.</p> + +<p>This was the tenth time, however, for within half +an hour Eighteen’s light flickered on again. Maida +answered it that time and when she came out she looked +very peculiar.</p> + +<p>“What is the matter?” I asked, meeting her in the +corridor.</p> + +<p>“It is Eighteen. He is very restless.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, I know that he is.”</p> + +<p>“He——” she hesitated. “He does not seem to like +the room.”</p> + +<p>Our eyes met but I tried to keep the little tremor +of fright out of my voice as I replied: “He isn’t +accustomed to a hospital room yet, that is all.”</p> + +<p>“I hope so, I’m sure,” said Maida somewhat +morosely and went on about her errand.</p> + +<p>I myself am so accustomed to the hospital that is +home to me that it is only once in a while that I see +it as it impresses a stranger. For a singular moment +or two that night I saw it with alien eyes, so to speak; +the corridor was long and strange and dark with the +vases of flowers along the walls making grotesque +shadows against the lighted region of the chart desk +at the extreme end of the wings; the hush that always +surrounds a hospital, particularly at night, seemed +unfamiliar and grim; the doors swung noiselessly; the +little thud of our rubber-heeled shoes along the +rubberized floor-runner seemed stealthy. Our hushed, low +voices had a furtive note. The hospital odours of +antiseptics and soap and medicines and sickness, with under +it all a lurking, faint but ever-present breath of ether, +came to my nostrils with the clearness of novelty. The +dim red gleams of scattered signal lights, above the +black voids that were doors, seemed strange, too, and +weird. I caught myself staring up and down the +corridor, puzzled and wondering and faintly frightened +as if I were in a new and terrifying place. Then all at +once, things resolved themselves into the old, familiar +wing. But the feeling of uneasiness persisted.</p> + +<p>The patient in Eighteen finally turned off his light +and must have gone to sleep, for we heard nothing +of him for an hour or two. We were fairly busy, with +little opportunity for conversation. Along about two +o’clock I found that Sonny had managed to acquire a +sore throat, a hot, flushed face and icy feet. I was +hurrying for camphorated oil and a hot-water bottle +when Eighteen’s light shone redly above the door. I +hastened to answer it.</p> + +<p>“Nurse,” said our patient firmly, his eyes quite swollen +from lack of sleep, and his bedclothes more tousled +than ever. “Nurse, I do not like this room. I want +another.”</p> + +<p>I sighed inwardly even as I went again about the +business of straightening him and the bed.</p> + +<p>“There isn’t another on the floor, Mr. Gastin,” I +said quietly. “And anyway we can’t move you in the +middle of the night.”</p> + +<p>“But I insist upon being moved,” he said, with an +odd mixture of childish pettishness and adult command. +What would be the result if the world at large knew +these important business men as we know them! Big +babies, they are, most of them!</p> + +<p>“This room is exactly like any other room,” I said.</p> + +<p>“I don’t like it!” he reiterated. “There’s—there’s +noises.” His eyes roved about the room uneasily. +“There’s noises! Sounds like whispering.”</p> + +<p>I’ll not deny that these extraordinary words stirred +my hair at its roots.</p> + +<p>“Non—sense!” I brought out jerkily. “Nonsense! +You are nervous.”</p> + +<p>He was regarding me with shrewd little eyes. I stared +back at him, trying to appear steady and at ease, but +it was no use. He raised his hand to point a square +forefinger at me, shaking it emphatically in my face.</p> + +<p>“I’ll bet you ten dollars—I’ll bet you a hundred +dollars, right there in my pants pocket, that this is <em>the +room!</em>”</p> + +<p>Fascinated, I kept my eyes on the square finger. He +did not need to say what room, for I knew well what he +meant. I moistened my lips.</p> + +<p>“How about it?” he went on more briskly. “How +about it? Do I win?”</p> + +<p>And at my continued silence he chuckled, lying back +again on the pillow.</p> + +<p>“I can see that I win,” he said. He pulled the sheet up +over his shoulders, and stuffed the pillow more comfortably +under his head. “Now that I know what the trouble +is, I can go to sleep all right,” said this amazing man. +He laughed softly. “I’m no nervous woman,” he went +on with a touch of swagger. “Turn out the light, will +you?”</p> + +<p>He closed his eyes with the utmost unconcern.</p> + +<p>“The whispers won’t bother me now that I know +what they are,” he said casually as I moved toward +the door.</p> + +<p>Still feeling shaken, I walked slowly along the +corridor. What could the man mean?</p> + +<p>Resolving at length to take a lesson from my patient’s +sang-froid, I tried to shrug the matter away as a fancy +on his part, and proceeded to take care of Sonny’s needs, +applying the hot-water bottle to his throat and the +camphorated oil to his feet in the coolest fashion until +Sonny remonstrated with a hoarse giggle.</p> + +<p>By three o’clock things had quieted down all over +the wing. The patients were either asleep or resting and +the windows dark with the blackest hour of the night. +Maida was sitting at the chart desk, her white-capped +head bent over Eleven’s chart, and I had gone into +Sonny’s room to make sure he was all right. The whole +place was as quiet and hushed as a city of the dead.</p> + +<p>I took my thermometer and shook it vigorously. And +in the very act of placing it between Sonny’s lips, I +lost hold on it, dropped it and whirled facing the door. +For without any warning at all a scream was rising from +somewhere in the wing.</p> + +<p>It rose and swelled to the very old roofs, choked +horribly at its height and ceased.</p> + +<p>It was a scream of stark terror!</p> + +<p>A woman’s scream!</p> + +<p>Somehow I got into the corridor. Maida was there, +too, running toward Room 18, and I followed her.</p> + +<p>It was Maida who reached for the light. It revealed +our patient half out of bed, staring with blinking eyes +at something on the other side of the bed.</p> + +<p>We followed his gaze. Huddled there on the floor +was a woman. We saw a dark cloak, a brown hand +outflung and metallic waves of hair. We both leaned +closer.</p> + +<p>“It’s Corole!” cried Maida sharply.</p> + +<p>We turned her on her back. For a horrible moment I +though that Eighteen had added another victim to its +list. But all at once Corole opened her eyes, sat up +dazedly, saw Mr. Gastin still sitting on the edge of the +bed, and at the sight her mouth opened, her eyes glared, +and she pressed her hand tight across her mouth as +if to prevent an outcry.</p> + +<p>The relief of seeing that she was alive was so great +that Maida sank limply to a chair and I turned in +natural reaction to anger.</p> + +<p>“What on earth are you doing here, Corole?” I asked +warmly. “What happened to you? Are you hurt?”</p> + +<p>She ignored my questions.</p> + +<p>“Who is that?” she whispered hoarsely, pointing to +the bed. There was such urgency in her tone and +gesture that I replied.</p> + +<p>“That is a new patient.”</p> + +<p>“A new patient? <em>Here?</em>”</p> + +<p>“Certainly. Why not?”</p> + +<p>She looked at me; her eyes were green and shone.</p> + +<p>“When did he come?”</p> + +<p>“Late this afternoon. Why? What is the matter? +Tell me what happened!”</p> + +<p>She groped for the cloak, pulled it absently around +her and rose to her feet in one long, sinuous motion.</p> + +<p>“He frightened me,” she said. “I thought—— I saw +him lying there on the bed—— I didn’t know you had +a patient here. I thought it was—I thought——” With +a visible effort she controlled herself, passed a hand +across her pallid face. She looked terrible—grim, +hag-ridden; her lips were blue, her face ashen and her eyes +like a frantic cat’s.</p> + +<p>And at the moment we heard hurrying footsteps in +the corridor and Dr. Hajek, clutching a bathrobe around +his pajamas, followed by Dr. Balman, burst into the +room. Dr. Hajek had a revolver in one hand, and at +sight of us he paused abruptly, his eyes met Corole’s +for a long moment, and I experienced the strangest +feeling that they were corresponding, without words +or motions, there in front of my eyes. It was the briefest +of impressions, gone before the thought had more than +come to me, and I saw Dr. Hajek slowly dropping the +revolver into his bathrobe pocket.</p> + +<p>“What is it?” inquired Dr. Balman. In a few words +I explained the situation, as far as I could. Dr. +Balman surveyed us all for a space during which I could +hear my own heart thudding, then he walked to the +bed, drew the patient gently back and pulled the covers +over him. Mr. Gastin submitted without a word, his +gaze still on Corole.</p> + +<p>“I was frightened,” said Corole, her voice harsh. +“I thought—— Never mind what I thought. I——” +She tried to smile and the grimace she made was dreadful. +“I must have fainted. I’m sorry. Sorry to disturb +you.”</p> + +<p>This apology was not like Corole. I started to speak, +stopped myself, started again. No one seemed to hear +me.</p> + +<p>Dr. Hajek cleared his throat.</p> + +<p>“Was there—anything wrong?” he asked in what +struck me as rather belated inquiry.</p> + +<p>“I——” began Corole again. Her face was looking +a little less hideous, and by the time she had finished +she seemed more like herself. “I did not know that +there was a patient in the room. I saw his figure in +bed, there. It frightened me. I screamed. And fell. I +suppose I roused the whole hospital. Really, Miss Keate, +I do not think you should have put a patient in this +room.”</p> + +<p>It was like the hussy to try to blame me, and indignation +almost choked me. While I was stuttering for a +suitable reply Maida spoke. At the first word I glanced +at her in amazement and saw Dr. Balman and Dr. +Hajek follow my gaze.</p> + +<p>“And what were <em>you</em> doing in this room?” asked +Maida. Her eyes were like twin swords, her straight +black brows stern. “You had no honest business in this +room, Corole Letheny! Why did you come here?”</p> + +<p>Corole’s head jerked toward Maida with a flash of +green light from those crafty eyes.</p> + +<p>For a moment the two women surveyed each other, +neither faltering in her steadily inimical regard. I +moved uneasily and in the hush I heard one or two +signal lights clicking. At the sound I pulled myself +together; we should have another panic on our hands if +we did not take care.</p> + +<p>“Yes, Corole,” I said decisively. “Why did you come +here? And how did you get into the room?”</p> + +<p>“I think your presence demands an explanation,” +added Dr. Balman quietly.</p> + +<p>She looked at me, she swept Dr. Balman’s mild +brown eyes, she flickered a green glance at Dr. Hajek, +she drew her silk wrap more closely about her, she +moved her brown hands uneasily up and down its +collar, and she finally replied.</p> + +<p>“I couldn’t sleep,” she said. “I got to thinking of +Louis and somehow—got the idea that if I came over +here I might be able to—to——” Her excuse died +away from very lack of body, she took a long breath, +and raised her eyelids insolently. “I felt I must see +Room 18. So I came. I got in at the window. If you +have nothing more to say—Good-night.” Her strange +eyes swept us and actually they harboured a gleam of +amusement. Then she drew the cloak tightly about +her, walked to the window, put one hand on the sill, +and with a long, graceful movement swung herself over +the sill and through the window. It was done with the +nonchalance and ease of an animal and she did not +even glance back at us. For an instant her gold hair +shone beyond the window, then the screen came down +upon a black void and she was definitely gone.</p> + +<p>No one left in the room spoke. Dr. Hajek made a +motion as if he thought to accompany her but thought +better of it. Dr. Balman reached for Mr. Gastin’s pulse. +Maida crossed the room swiftly and went into the +corridor. As her starched skirts rustled past the bed +Mr. Gastin took his eyes from the window.</p> + +<p>“I think,” he said feebly. “I think I should like to +have an upstairs room.”</p> + +<p>“We’ll see in the morning,” I said absently.</p> + +<p>“<em>In the morning!</em>” observed Mr. Gastin with feeling. +“Do you think I’m going to stay in this haunted room +for the rest of the night!”</p> + +<p>And believe it or not, we had to give up and bundle +him on a truck and take him to a temporary bed in +the charity ward! This was the first time in all my years +of nursing that I was so influenced by a patient and this +was not accomplished without resistance on my part +and extremely sulphuric language on his. In fact, he +proved to be versatile in the latter respect, attaining +heights that made my hair stand on end. Dr. Balman +was quite scarlet at the end of one climactic triumph +and sent Dr. Hajek hurriedly for the truck.</p> + +<p>So, all in all, it was not until I was back in the wing, +and our patients had been assured by the story of a +mouse that Maida in a burst of unexpected mendacity +brought forth, and things were quiet and peaceful +again, that I began to wonder what had been the +purpose of Corole’s visit.</p> + +<p>And it was clear to me, all at once, that she was +looking for something.</p> + +<p>What could that something be—the radium? Could +Corole believe that the radium was still in Room 18? +And if so, what reason had she for her belief?</p> + +<p>And at the same time I recalled my promise to +O’Leary to telephone to him if the night brought +any disturbance. It was with some trepidation that I +convinced myself that he could do nothing till morning +anyway, and it was as well that I had forgotten my +promise.</p> + +<p>I did not for a moment believe Corole’s faltering +attempt at an explanation. But at the same time it +occurred to me that had she been of a mind to lie she +could likely have invented a much more plausible and +convincing tale than the one she told.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch11"> + +<h2>11. By the Light of a Match</h2> + +<p>It was near morning by that time, and Maida and I +had to work rapidly to get our patients washed and +tooth-brushed and ready for the breakfast trays. To my +satisfaction no one from the other wings appeared to +have heard Corole’s scream, or to know that there had +been any disturbance in the south wing.</p> + +<p>The morning passed quietly. I took a long-needed +rest and did not see O’Leary until I came downstairs +about the middle of the afternoon. Somewhat to my +disappointment, for I had anticipated telling him +myself, he knew all about Corole’s visit. Dr. Balman had +told him of it. O’Leary said briefly that he had talked +to Corole; I gathered that she stuck to her story of +the previous night, even to the extent of embroidering +rather elaborately on her cousinly affection for Dr. +Letheny and her anxiety to know the cause of his death. +O’Leary seemed somewhat perturbed, a result that +would have delighted Corole had she known it.</p> + +<p>“We have got bolts on the window,” said O’Leary. +“Dr. Balman suggested it; at least there’ll be no more +such visitors as last night.”</p> + +<p>He did not linger. An hour or so later I slipped out +the south door for a breath of fresh air. I glanced in +at Room 18 as I passed. Sure enough there were shiny +new bolts on the window. Mr. Gastin had evidently +preferred the charity ward to Room 18, for he had not +returned, though the pot of lobelias still stood on the +table looking more jaundiced than ever.</p> + +<p>If cold and damp, still the air was refreshing and I +walked at a brisk pace along the path toward the bridge. +I did not see that Higgins was following me until I +paused to lean on the railing and stare at the muddy, +swollen little stream below my feet. There the shrubbery +grows so close to the bridge that it hangs over it +and the water, and I was amusing myself by pulling +dead leaves from a willow, bending near and tossing +them into the little, swirling eddies of water when +Higgins spoke suddenly at my elbow.</p> + +<p>It startled me and I whirled to face him.</p> + +<p>“Miss Keate,” he began again. “I—— Could +you—— There is something I want to tell you.” He +spoke in a hesitating, reluctant manner as if he were +not sure he wanted to tell me, after all.</p> + +<p>“What is it?” I inquired crisply.</p> + +<p>He swallowed audibly and cleared his throat.</p> + +<p>“I—I’ve been wondering—— It is this way, Miss +Keate. I want to know what you think I had better do.”</p> + +<p>I squared around for a better look at him. He was +rather pale and played nervously with his +furnace-stained cap.</p> + +<p>“What about, Higgins?” I said kindly.</p> + +<p>He made a motion to speak, checked it and peered +furtively up and down the path. Owing to its twisting +he could not see very far either way, so he leaned over +toward me and spoke in a half-whisper.</p> + +<p>“It is about the night of June seventh,” he said +mysteriously.</p> + +<p>The words focussed my attention sharply.</p> + +<p>“June seventh!” I exclaimed.</p> + +<p>“Sh—sh——” he made a quick gesture for silence, +and peered again all about in the semi-twilight made +by the still dour, cloudy sky and mist and dripping, +close-growing shrubbery. “Yes. The night of June +seventh. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what +my duty is. I don’t want to get nobody into trouble. +But I can’t go on no longer without telling somebody. +I thought you, Miss Keate, would know what to do.”</p> + +<p>“What is it?” I asked quickly.</p> + +<p>He did not reply at once. Instead he looked uneasily +all about us, examining the surroundings with an +intensity that impressed upon me the need for caution as +to the matter he was about to relate. Unconsciously +I drew nearer him.</p> + +<p>“Go on,” I said.</p> + +<p>He surveyed me doubtfully.</p> + +<p>“I wish I knew whether I was doing right or not,” +he mused with a worried air. “You see—I don’t want +to get into trouble myself, either.”</p> + +<p>Poor Higgins!</p> + +<p>“I’ll see that you do not,” I promised rashly, little +knowing how impossible it would prove to be to keep +my word.</p> + +<p>He cleared his throat, glanced toward the path again.</p> + +<p>“You see, I saw it,” he whispered.</p> + +<p>“Saw what?”</p> + +<p>“Saw who killed the patient in Room 18!”</p> + +<p>For a breathless second I wondered if the man had +taken leave of his senses. His gray face, his evident +fright, the way his eyes shifted about, first peering in +one direction and then another, convinced me of his +sincerity. He must be speaking the truth. It was evident, +too, and I did not wonder at it, that he was in a mortal +terror of his knowledge.</p> + +<p>“How was it? What did you see?” I whispered too.</p> + +<p>“Well, it was this way,” he began so slowly as to +nearly drive me frantic with impatience. “It was this +way: I had a bad toothache that night. It wouldn’t let +me sleep and the hot night seemed to make it worse. +I finally got up and came upstairs to get Dr. Hajek +to give me something for it. I knocked and knocked +at his door but I couldn’t wake him, so——”</p> + +<p>“What time was that?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know exactly. I think about one o’clock. +Anyway I went back to the basement and still couldn’t +get any peace from the tooth. It ached and ached and +I got up and tried to rouse Dr. Hajek again. I couldn’t +wake him—you see, he wasn’t there at all. So I let +myself out of the main door and walked around the +corner of the hospital. Sometimes Dr. Letheny would +sit up late and I thought that if there was a light in his +study, I could get something for my tooth from him. +It was the darkest night I have ever seen.”</p> + +<p>He paused to shake his head dolefully.</p> + +<p>“Anyway, pretty soon I saw a sort of green light +up there on the hill, and knew that Dr. Letheny was +reading late. Well, I started toward the path and it +was so dark I could hardly find my way. When I got +to the end of the south wing, I could see that the south +door was open, and could see the light over the chart +desk. The wing looked almost as dark as it did outside.” +He stopped, drew out a blue bandanna handkerchief +and wiped his forehead, though it was chilly out there +on the bridge.</p> + +<p>“Then—I heard something, a sort of sound like a +footstep—I don’t know exactly what it was. But it +seemed to come from there near the door of the wing. +It flashed through my mind that someone was prowling +about St. Ann’s and, all at once, I remembered about +the radium being used, though I didn’t actually think +that anyone was stealing it. Anyway, I felt my way +through the dark, past the porch of the wing. I went +very cautiously and stopped when I heard, just on the +other side of that big elderberry bush, two parties +talking.” He stopped and used the bandanna again, and +inwardly I cursed that ambiguous word of his class: +“party.”</p> + +<p>“Go on,” I said impatiently. “Who were they?”</p> + +<p>“I heard a little of what they said,” he continued, +impervious to my eagerness. “I’ll tell you about that +later. I must have made some sort of sound, for all +at once they stopped talking and went away. I followed +them but lost them in the darkness, and thinking +from their talk that they would be coming back to +the hospital, I felt my way back again, too. I was just +in time to see a little light through the window of +Eighteen. It was the light of a match and by it I saw +the face of the party that”—he was whispering—“that +killed Jackson. I saw the radium being hid. Yes, miss, +and I know where the radium is right now.”</p> + +<p>I think I seized him by the arm and shook it, for I +remember he drew back.</p> + +<p>“Tell me, quick, Higgins. Hurry. Who was it?”</p> + +<p>“Not so fast, now, Miss Keate. I’ve got to tell my +story in my own way. Miss Keate, there was three in +Room 18 that night. Yes, ma’am, three.”</p> + +<p>“Three? Who were they, Higgins? Didn’t the same +man kill both Jackson and the doctor?”</p> + +<p>He shook his head slowly and with the most +exasperating stupidity.</p> + +<p>“No, Miss Keate. No, that couldn’t hardly be.”</p> + +<p>“Could hardly be! What on earth do you mean? +Who was about that night? Whom did you see? Who +was in Room 18? Speak up, man!”</p> + +<p>I suppose I succeeded in confusing him.</p> + +<p>“Wait, miss, till I finish my story. I was standing +in the shadow, staring with all my eyes at that dark +window waiting for the party I had seen to come +out—when I just knew that someone was near me. I didn’t +hear a footstep nor a breath but all at once somebody +was just there. And I was holding my breath to listen +when there was a sort of a scramble at the window and +I sneaked up closer to the wall. I stumbled over a coat +or something right at the window and just as I caught +myself I heard a crash from inside Room 18. That +scared me, Miss Keate.” The man paused again to +scrutinize the dripping, green curtains about us, and I +caught my breath.</p> + +<p>“That scared me, so I stayed right there where I +was, listening. I heard a kind of a scraping sound, then +it was all quiet for a minute or two, and I thought +I’d better get out of the way. I sneaked over to the +corner and stood just around it. It was so black that +I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face, but I’ve got +good hearing, ma’am, and I heard <em>only one party</em> slip +out that window and close the screen and go away, +walking light like a cat through the orchard. And it +was just then the wind came up with a bang and things +began to whiz around and I thought I’d better get back +to my room. I knowed there was some skulduggery +going on, ma’am, and I didn’t want to be in on it.” He +blew his nose vigorously. I realized that my mouth was +hanging open and closed it with a snap.</p> + +<p>“Who was about, Higgins? Tell me at once.” I spoke +very sternly, trying at the same time to keep my teeth +from chattering. The recital had recalled all too +forcibly to me the events of that black night.</p> + +<p>“Well, there was Dr. Letheny—of course. Then +there was that Gainsay fellow, the one that is staying +up there at Letheny’s. Then there was Corole Letheny +and there was Dr. Hajek——”</p> + +<p>“Did you recognize all these people, Higgins?” I +cried incredulously.</p> + +<p>He regarded me with scorn.</p> + +<p>“Say, didn’t I tell you I got good ears?”</p> + +<p>“But you could hardly recognize Mr. Gainsay, for +instance, with your ears.”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t,” said Higgins. “I saw his face in the light +of a match.”</p> + +<p>“Go on,” I urged. “Who else? Who was it you saw +in Eighteen? Where is the radium?”</p> + +<p>Unfortunately I placed an impatient hand on his +arm; he glanced down and saw my wrist watch.</p> + +<p>“I’ve got to hurry,” he cried. “It’s nearly six and the +fires not——”</p> + +<p>“Wait!” I seized his coat sleeve. “Tell me. Who +did it?”</p> + +<p>He jerked away. “It’s late! I must hurry. I’ll see +you to-night.” Eluding my grasp he scurried away and +out of sight, around the little bend!</p> + +<p>Slowly my hands dropped to my sides. For some time +I simply stared in the direction he had taken and let +my thoughts whirl.</p> + +<p>What had he seen? What had he heard? Who . . .?</p> + +<p>It was curious how slowly I became aware that the +green curtain within an arm’s reach was wavering. The +slender leaves of willow were trembling, shivering, +dancing. The elderberry swayed gently.</p> + +<p>There was no wind.</p> + +<p>I blinked—frowned—realized its oddity—and in +sudden, quick suspicion I took a step forward, thrust +the bushes aside with my arms, brushed back the +willows, took a few steps along the water’s edge and saw +Jim Gainsay vanishing into a little thicket of +evergreens.</p> + +<p>He did not look back. He seemed to have no idea +that he had been seen. He wore no cap. I saw him +clearly and unmistakably.</p> + +<p>So Jim Gainsay had been behind that willow curtain! +Jim Gainsay had heard Higgins’s faltering, reluctant +revelations. And after brazenly listening to the +whole thing, Jim Gainsay had furtively and stealthily +slipped away, without intending that I should even be +aware of his presence.</p> + +<p>Concerned almost as much with this evidence of +Jim Gainsay’s duplicity as with Higgins’s tale, I stood +stock-still there in that thicket, with wet branches and +leaves pressing against me on all sides. Aware finally +of a specially rude one scratching my neck I roused +myself, pushed out into the path, and took my way +back to St. Ann’s.</p> + +<p>The thing to do, I realized, was to let O’Leary know +at once of Higgins’s story; if anyone could worm the +whole tale from the janitor it would be Lance O’Leary. +But I shall have to confess that baffled curiosity +overcame me, and I resolved to get hold of Higgins +immediately and try to make him tell me, at least, whom he +saw there in Room 18.</p> + +<p>The supper bell was ringing when I entered the south +wing. I am not one to slight meals as a rule, but that +was one time when I ignored the summons. However, +Higgins was not about and upon inquiry someone said +she thought he had gone into town. Reluctantly, then, +I went to supper.</p> + +<p>At the door of the dining room I met several +training girls. Melvina Smith was among them and they +were talking excitedly in low voices which they hushed +as soon as they saw me, and one and all looked guilty.</p> + +<p>“Well, what is it?” I said briskly.</p> + +<p>Melvina Smith fastened hollow eyes upon me and +said in a sepulchral voice:</p> + +<p>“Accident has died.”</p> + +<p>“Accident!” Having for the moment forgotten the +christening party I was at a loss to understand her +cryptic utterance, and wondered if she was quite right.</p> + +<p>“Accident,” confirmed Melvina. “The third tragedy +is on its way.”</p> + +<p>“I must say I don’t in the least know what you are +talking about,” I remarked acidly. Melvina is very +trying and carries an element of conviction in her tones +that makes one feel as if she is well informed.</p> + +<p>“Accident. The kitten, you know. The black kitten,” +volunteered one of the girls hurriedly. “It died and +Melvina says—” her eyes got larger and she lowered +her voice—“Melvina says—it is a <em>sign!</em>”</p> + +<p>“Oh, the kitten! What nonsense!”</p> + +<p>“He was not sick,” said Melvina in a measured and +undisturbed way. “He was not sick at all. He was, in +fact, the healthiest of the whole batch. But—he died.”</p> + +<p>And would you believe it I felt gooseflesh coming out +on my arms? Melvina was never intended for as +matter-of-fact a profession as that of a nurse; her talents +are wasted.</p> + +<p>“Nonsense,” I said again, and repeated it. +“Nonsense.”</p> + +<p>“It is a sign,” remarked Melvina in that quietly positive +way. She reached quite casually into her capacious +pocket and drew out before our very eyes the kitten. +It was, to be sure, dead and quite stiff and stark. All +of us shrank back at the sight of the poor little black +body with its stiff claws outstretched and its mouth open +and grinning, but Melvina regarded it familiarly. “It +was a perfectly healthy kitten,” she went on, in the +manner of the scientist who weighs facts impartially. +“It died. All at once. Just died. No reasons for it. But +it died. <em>It is a sign.</em>”</p> + +<p>A little gasp went over the group and I found +my tongue.</p> + +<p>“Melvina Smith,” I said, “take that kitten out into +the orchard and bury it. Then change your uniform and +scrub your hands with antiseptic soap. How long have +you been carrying that thing around? Not that it +matters,” I went on hastily as Melvina opened her +too-gifted mouth to reply. “Don’t ever let me catch you +doing such a thing again. Moreover, if I hear of you +saying such foolish and—yes, wicked things again I +shall have Miss Dotty give you fifty demerits and that +means no Sundays off for the rest of the summer.”</p> + +<p>“Miss Dotty already knows about it,” said one of +the other girls. “Melvina had it on the table showing +it to us at theory class and Miss Dotty didn’t see it +and put her hand on it.”</p> + +<p>“She was sick,” added another girl solemnly. “She +was real sick, all at once. We wanted to practice ‘What +to Do for Nausea’ on her but she didn’t give us time.”</p> + +<p>“She is in her room now,” concluded the first girl +with a passionate devotion to detail. “She is in her +room with a hot-water bottle and an ice bag and a bottle +of camphor.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” I said abruptly, feeling very much as if I +were going to imitate Miss Dotty, “take +that—er—kitten outdoors at once, Melvina.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Miss Keate,” said Melvina dutifully. “Do you +have second watch in the south wing to-night, Miss +Keate?”</p> + +<p>“Certainly.”</p> + +<p>“My‑y‑y!” Melvina sucked in her breath. “Something +will be sure to happen. May I help you, Miss +Keate?”</p> + +<p>“Good gracious, Melvina!” I cried, revolted. “Do +you mean to say you would want to be there if +anything <em>did</em> happen?”</p> + +<p>“Oh—no,” she said reluctantly, eyeing the kitten +fondly. “But something <em>will</em> happen. Soon. It is a sign.”</p> + +<p>“Melvina!” I must have spoken firmly for Melvina +wasted no time in going about her burying and the rest +of the girls hastened on down to supper.</p> + +<p>It was just after supper that I was called to the +telephone.</p> + +<p>It was O’Leary, and his voice seemed very far away.</p> + +<p>“Is there anyone else in the office?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>“Is this line private? Is there a way for anyone +to listen in?”</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>“Then listen, Miss Keate. I can’t get out to the +hospital right now and there is something I want to know. +Has anything—any article of furniture—any—er—bed +linen—blankets—pillows—anything of the sort, +been taken out of the room we are interested in?”</p> + +<p>“Only the soiled linens,” I replied.</p> + +<p>There was a long silence, so long that I repeated my +answer.</p> + +<p>“Yes, I heard you,” he said hastily. “Are you +positive about that? Think hard, Miss Keate.”</p> + +<p>“Not another thing—oh, yes, last night I exchanged +the loud speaker in that room for another.”</p> + +<p>“You did!” His voice was eager. “When? Before +or after I was in the room?”</p> + +<p>“Before!”</p> + +<p>“Sure?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. The patient complained that it wasn’t +working very well.”</p> + +<p>“What did you do—where is it now?”</p> + +<p>“In Sonny’s—that is, in the room where I put it, I +suppose.”</p> + +<p>“Lord, I’m a dumbbell,” said O’Leary heartily. +“Miss Keate, listen carefully, please. Take that loud +speaker, <em>just as it is</em>, to some safe place and don’t let +anyone have it until I come. Understand?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I said slowly. “But I—do you think—could +it possibly be——”</p> + +<p>“That’s all, Miss Keate,” he interrupted. “Thank +you very much.” And before I could tell him of Higgins +he had hung up the receiver and I was left shouting +“Mr. O’Leary,” into the mouthpiece.</p> + +<p>Feeling somewhat put out I telephoned immediately +to the number he had given me. A man-servant answered +and told me rather superciliously that Mr. O’Leary was +out. On my saying the message was urgent he brightened +up, however, and took my number and name with +alacrity, promising to have Mr. O’Leary telephone +me as soon as he came home. It seemed evident to me +that O’Leary believed the radium to be in the loud +speaker, and though at first I was disinclined to agree +with him, for it seemed to me that that was altogether +too prominent a hiding place, by the time I had reached +the south wing, I had had time to recall the “purloined +letter,” lying there in plain sight, and was beginning +to feel considerably excited and eager to get my hands +on the loud speaker. Those loud speakers that we have +at St. Ann’s are, as Dr. Letheny had complained, +specially made at the advice of a board member who deals +in radios; they are built a good deal like a small round +hat box on a standard. You’ve seen them. The parallel +sides, or what would be the top and bottom of the +hat box, are made of some sort of fancifully decorated +parchment paper. They are quite attractive and have +a clear, soft tone, very nice for a hospital. The more +I thought of it the more clearly I realized that here +would be a place to hide the radium. There would be +plenty of room, the speaker was inconspicuously +prominent, if I may indulge in the paradox, and while +appearing to be so permanently constructed, nevertheless +one of the sides could doubtless be removed and replaced +with little evidence of tampering.</p> + +<p>It could not have been more than a minute or two +later that I entered Sonny’s room and got the loud +speaker. I suddenly remembered that it was out of +order and had not been fixed, but fortunately Sonny +had not asked to have the radio turned on since I had +transferred it from Room 18. Or at least if he had, +I hadn’t heard of it. As I left the room the corridors +were deserted. I met Maida just outside my own room +and she saw what I carried but said nothing. I went +on into my room and closed the door.</p> + +<p>I had fully intended to remove one of the sides of +the loud speaker at once, but in the very act of doing +so I checked myself. So far as I knew I might thus +destroy some important clue. Lance O’Leary had said +nothing about examining it; he had said only to place +it in safe-keeping. It was with some disappointment +that, after staring at the thing for some time and shaking +it tentatively at my ear, I placed it face downward +on the lower shelf of the chifferette and locked the door.</p> + +<p>Now to find Higgins!</p> + +<p>Higgins was not easy to find, however. I hunted all +through the basement, the ambulance rooms, the kitchens, +even went out in the twilight to the garage, but +Higgins was not to be found. It was dark by that time +so I took my way back to the hospital. Not willing to +give up I made another rapid search through the basement, +but the only living beings I saw were Morgue and +the cook who was just going to bed with a stack of +forbidden newspapers under his arm.</p> + +<p>The cook, however, had seen Higgins.</p> + +<p>“Not twenty minutes ago,” he said positively.</p> + +<p>“Where?”</p> + +<p>“Let me see now—seems to me he was walking down +toward the apple orchard. That tall fellow, the one +that is visiting up at Letheny’s, was with him.”</p> + +<p>“Mr. Gainsay was with him!”</p> + +<p>“Sure.” The cook was immediately interested. “Sure. +Walking down toward the apple orchard, they was. Do +you want to see Higgins, Miss Keate?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, it was of no importance,” I said, and somewhat +disconsolately departed.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch12"> + +<h2>12. Room 18 Again</h2> + +<p>Still feeling that I must get hold of Higgins, it was +hard to compose myself to rest and I didn’t sleep a +wink. About eleven o’clock I got up and made my way +again to the basement. It was dark and spooky and very +empty down there and after knocking at Higgins’s door +a few times and feeling, while I waited for the reply +that did not come, as if all the ghosts in Christendom +were prowling in the furnace room and thereabouts, +I retreated precipitously to my own room. I was sure +that Higgins was in his room, for where else would +he be at that hour? But the surroundings were not those +to encourage persistence on my part. The unused +corridors are very desolate at that hour and those of the +sick-room wings little less so.</p> + +<p>I was still wide awake when the twelve o’clock gong +sounded.</p> + +<p>By that time I was convinced that Higgins was +deliberately keeping out of my way and that in itself made +me the more anxious to get in touch with O’Leary. I +stopped at the general office as I passed it on my way +to the south wing, and telephoned again.</p> + +<p>The same servant answered my ring, sleepily at +first, but he awoke in a hurry when I told him that it +was Miss Keate at St. Ann’s and that I must speak to +Mr. O’Leary at once.</p> + +<p>“You might try the police station,” he said guardedly. +“I think he was investigating some telegraph +messages that just came in.”</p> + +<p>So I looked up the number in the telephone book and +tried it. But though I tried and tried, the line was busy +and kept busy and I had to give up in order to be on +time at the south wing.</p> + +<p>Olma Flynn was waiting for me and Maida already +busy about twelve-o’clock temperatures.</p> + +<p>“Eleven is doing pretty well to-night,” said Olma +as we bent over the charts. “Three has a degree or so +of fever but has been fairly quiet. Oh, by the way, have +you the key to the south door?”</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>She frowned.</p> + +<p>“I couldn’t find it. I had to leave the south door +unlocked.”</p> + +<p>“Couldn’t find it!”</p> + +<p>“No. It wasn’t anywhere about the desk.”</p> + +<p>“Did you look in the lock?”</p> + +<p>“Of course, Miss Keate. And I asked the other girls. +No one has seen it since morning.”</p> + +<p>In view of the existing circumstances, I suppose it +was natural that I should feel immediately alarmed. +After Olma had gone wearily away to bed I gave the +chart desk and its vicinity a thorough search.</p> + +<p>“What on earth are you doing?” asked Maida, coming +along just as I had taken all the charts out of the +rack and was feeling about with my fingers in the +recesses left empty.</p> + +<p>“Looking for the key to the south door,” I replied. +“Have you seen it?”</p> + +<p>“No. I have not seen it since last night.”</p> + +<p>She waited for a moment, watching me rearrange the +charts.</p> + +<p>“I wish this trouble were all cleared up,” she said, +her voice sombre.</p> + +<p>“So do I.” I replaced the last chart and turned to +face her. The greenish light from above the desk made +her face worn and colourless and cast a sickly green +glow over our white dresses.</p> + +<p>“If we don’t find it to-morrow I shall have to have +a new key made. I suppose we can leave the south door +unlocked to-night,” I decided irresolutely. “I don’t like +to; I have had enough of people prowling through our +wing.”</p> + +<p>Maida’s shadowed eyes met mine and she shivered +slightly; she attempted to smile but her lips pulled +tautly.</p> + +<p>“It is getting to disturb me more and more,” she +admitted. “Think of this, Sarah: it has been only four +days since that dinner party of Corole’s. Is it possible! +So much has happened. It seems like months.”</p> + +<p>“This is Tuesday,” I calculated, “That was last +Thursday night—no, Maida, five days.”</p> + +<p>“Well, five days then,” she assented lifelessly. “What +a five days! If it would only turn warm and summery +and sunshiny again, I do believe things would be better +off. I’m sure I should be at least!”</p> + +<p>“I dislike this constant drizzle,” I agreed, without +much spirit. “There is something honest and +whole-hearted about real rain, but weather like this is +wretched.”</p> + +<p>“Everything I touch is clammy like—like a dead +man.” She whispered the last words and I think they +came as a surprise to her, for she looked frightened +and a little shocked.</p> + +<p>A small red light shone down the corridor above +a door and I started to answer it.</p> + +<p>“Don’t forget to—er——”</p> + +<p>“Keep my eyes on the south door?” finished Maida +with a bleak smile.</p> + +<p>“Exactly.” I tried to smile, too. I remember thinking, +as I walked briskly toward the signal, that our +words were not unlike those of soldiers going into +battle—in spirit, at least. I saw something of that in 1918; +I was in a hospital that was once, mistakenly I hope, +shelled. In a choice between the shelled hospital on +that lurid front and the dreary, clammy nights of +second watch at St. Ann’s, where every stir made your +breath catch, and every whispering noise made your +skin crawl, I’d much prefer the shelled hospital. There +the terror was expected; its source was known. Here, +every doorway was a silent menace; every room and +every turn and every alcove might harbour death. The +hospital seemed too roomy, too large, too dark. Our +very skirts seemed to whisper and hiss with fear along +those blank corridors and empty walls and half-lights +and shadows.</p> + +<p>I had left the door of the general office open and +while going about my work listened for the telephone. +Dr. Hajek is supposed to answer it at night, having +his room off the office for that purpose, but I hoped +that if I heard the ring when O’Leary first called, I +would be able to get to the telephone by the time Fred +Hajek, who is a heavy sleeper, was aroused.</p> + +<p>And when I finally heard the subdued buzz I happened +to be at the chart desk and simply dropped pen +and all and ran through the corridor that connects us +with the main portion of the hospital.</p> + +<p>I took the receiver off the hook and was panting so +heavily that I had to wait for a second to catch my +breath before answering. The door to Dr. Hajek’s +room remained closed and Dr. Balman, in the inner +office, had not been aroused either, so I must have made +the distance in nothing flat—whatever that is—I picked +up the term from a patient who was interested in sports +and believe it to mean a very rapid pace.</p> + +<p>It was O’Leary, of course.</p> + +<p>“This is Miss Keate,” I said in a low voice, hoping +that the sound of it would not carry past those closed +doors. “I am very anxious to see you.”</p> + +<p>He must have caught the urgency in my voice.</p> + +<p>“Shall I come right out?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. At once.”</p> + +<p>“Very well. In fifteen minutes.”</p> + +<p>The receiver clicked, I hung up my own softly, +straightened my cap and walked back to the south +wing. Maida was not to be seen. I sat down at the desk +and found that in my haste to get to the telephone +I had upset the red ink I was in the act of using. It +was meandering gayly across the desk, reddening +everything it touched, and I seized some trash out of the +waste basket for a blotter. It was while I was mopping +up the ink that all at once, without even a warning +flicker, the light above the desk went out, leaving me +in total darkness. It was so unexpected that I gasped +and cried out.</p> + +<p>Then I turned as if to look down the corridor, but +nothing but a close black curtain met my eyes. There +was not a gleam of light. Every signal light was gone; +there was not even a glimmer of light from under the +doors of kitchen or drug room or linen closet. I was +suspended in a breathless black void.</p> + +<p>And down that black emptiness, only five nights ago, +two men had been violently done to death!</p> + +<p>My breath began to come in painful, rasping gasps. +I must do something. I must find Maida. I must get a +lamp. Must make my way to the basement switch-box +and replace a burned-out fuse—or find what had caused +the trouble.</p> + +<p>Or was it an accident? Had a fuse actually gone? +Could it be that the lights had purposely been +disconnected?</p> + +<p>The terrifying question had not more than entered +my head when from somewhere down the corridor +a cold current of air struck me.</p> + +<p>I shivered. Some door or window had been opened. +Some door—the south door! Was it the south door?</p> + +<p>I was standing, gripping the chair back, loath to +leave that firm, stationary thing and venture forth into +the surrounding blackness that was alive, now, with +foreboding and the menace of unspeakable things. Was +something moving? Did I hear a stealthy footstep? +Was it the thudding of my own heart?</p> + +<p>I strove to move, to force my horror-drugged muscles +to advance that length of grisly blackness +toward—toward Room 18.</p> + +<p>I tried to call out: “Maida—Maida—” I kept saying +and finally realized that my stiff lips were only +shaping the words.</p> + +<p>What was happening down there? Was Room 18 +claiming another—— Was—— I took a step into the +darkness, tore my reluctant hands from the chair, and +groped for the wall to guide me past the yawning +emptiness of those intervening doors.</p> + +<p>With outstretched, shaking hands, I was feeling +for some stable thing to guide me, when, in that dead +silence, there was a shattering crash of sound.</p> + +<p>It was a revolver shot! The crash reverberated +through the halls, echoing and reëchoing in those +empty spaces and about those blank doors.</p> + +<p>Then gradually the frightful echoes died away. The +blackness pressed in upon me, more suffocating than +before, and again dead silence reigned.</p> + +<p>For a moment I must have been numb with shock. +Then there were footsteps running, a cry, the clicking +of signal lights that did not light, and I was running, +stumbling, gasping, bumping into doors, trying to reach +the end of the corridor. And Room 18.</p> + +<p>Along the way I collided with something, something +moving that twisted away from me and cried out. It +was Maida and at my voice she answered.</p> + +<p>“What is it! What has happened! Was it Room 18?”</p> + +<p>“Room 18! What can we——”</p> + +<p>“We must have a light. In the kitchen—there’s a +candle——” I heard the swift, soft thud of her feet +as they moved away and I kept on, feeling along the +cold, dank wall, groping my way past open doors. It +seemed an eternity before I reached the end of the +corridor and felt the small panes of glass in the south +door under my fingers. I turned sharply to the left. +Beyond that black void stretched Room 18. I paused +at its threshold but something drove me on, into the +room.</p> + +<p>Here was the wall. Here was the electric light button. +Here the bedside table. I bent, feeling along the rough +weave of the counterpane on the bed, took a few steps +further, trod on something hideously soft and yielding, +and sprang backward in stark terror.</p> + +<p>Afraid to move, afraid to breathe, my heart clamouring +in my throat choking me, my hands pressed against +my teeth, I could not even scream.</p> + +<p>What lay there? What was in that room?</p> + +<p>Then I realized dimly that Maida was coming, that +a small circle of light was at the door, that a hand was +holding a lamp unsteadily and the wavering flame was +casting grotesque shadows on Maida’s chin and mouth. +Above them her eyes were wide and black and mirrored +my terror.</p> + +<p>I saw her hand advance, pointing at my feet. It +shook. Her mouth opened in a voiceless cry and I forced +myself to look downward.</p> + +<p>It was Higgins, sprawled there at the foot of the +bed. He had been shot!</p> + +<p>Neither of us spoke. Neither of us moved.</p> + +<p>At last Maida withdrew her hand.</p> + +<p>“Set the lamp down,” I heard someone saying—it +must have been I. “Set the lamp down before you +drop it.”</p> + +<p>We did not hear O’Leary enter the south door. All +at once he was there with us, staring at the thing there +on the floor, holding his electric torch to illumine it.</p> + +<p>“When did it happen? How? Come into the hall. +Tell me. Was I too late?”</p> + +<p>Somehow we were out in the corridor; the lamp was +left on the table in Room 18. The light from its small +flame trembled and cast eery, creeping shadows.</p> + +<p>“Quick,” said O’Leary. “Take that lamp to the +basement, Miss Day. The light switch has been pulled +out. You know where the switch-box is——”</p> + +<p>I saw Maida flinch but she took the lamp, averting +her eyes from the floor.</p> + +<p>“Hurry! No, Miss Keate, stay here, please, at the +door. If anyone tries to get in, stop him! Scream! I’ll +not be far away.”</p> + +<p>In a flash he was gone, out the south door. I was +still standing as if petrified, there in front of the south +door, when the green light over the chart desk at the +opposite end of the corridor flashed up and the little +red signal lights gleamed suddenly all up and down +the hall. I breathed a sigh of relief; Maida was all right, +then. And in another moment or two her white uniform +came into view at the chart desk.</p> + +<p>“All right, thank you, Miss Keate,” came a voice at +my elbow. It was O’Leary, his hat gone, his hair +ruffled, his eyes shining like phosphorescent flashes on +a deep-lying sea. “Come with me, please,” he said.</p> + +<p>“Was the fuse burned out?” asked O’Leary as we +met Maida, who was hurrying to answer the signals.</p> + +<p>She shook her head. Her eyes were hollow and dark +and her face as white as her cap.</p> + +<p>“The main switch had been pulled out.”</p> + +<p>“What I expected,” muttered O’Leary, as we sped +along the corridor.</p> + +<p>Lights were gleaming from the north wing, and +the night-duty nurses from that wing were clustered +in a frightened group in the main hall. As they saw +us they ran forward.</p> + +<p>“What was it, Miss Keate—we heard a shot—what +has happened?” And down the stairs tumbled several +nurses in uniforms and kimonos and Miss Dotty with +her hair in paper curlers and her eyes distracted.</p> + +<p>O’Leary paid no attention to them. I followed him +into the general office. He rapped sharply, first at Dr. +Hajek’s door, then at the door of the inner office. Then +he put his hand on the latch of the door to the inner +office and pushed. It was not locked and opened readily; +the light from the office streamed through the door.</p> + +<p>“O’Leary! What has happened? What is it?” Dr. +Balman, his eyes blinking anxiously in the light, was +tossing back the covers and springing from his bed.</p> + +<p>“There has been another murder in Room 18,” said +O’Leary.</p> + +<p>“Another—what! Who?”</p> + +<p>“The janitor—Higgins.” And at that second the +door to Dr. Hajek’s room opened and Dr. Hajek, his +bathrobe hugged about him, ran toward us.</p> + +<p>“What was that? What did you say? Higgins? +Dead?”</p> + +<p>In a few, terse words O’Leary explained and by that +time we were all hurrying back to the south wing, Dr. +Balman’s white pajamas leading the way. I did not +enter Room 18 again with them.</p> + +<p>There was plenty of work waiting for me in the +wing. As if to make bad matters worse the nurses from +all over the hospital were crowding into the south-wing +corridor, their pallid faces and wild questions adding +to the confusion. The excitement was becoming tumultuous +when Dr. Balman came into the corridor, a strange +figure in his pajamas and bare feet, his thin hair +rumpled and his eyes worried.</p> + +<p>“There has been an accident,” he said. His voice +carried though it was very low. “Please return +immediately to duty. Do not be alarmed.” And it was curious +to see the nurses scattering hastily like frightened +children caught in mischief.</p> + +<p>For a while I had not time or eyes for anything but +work. It was difficult enough to calm and soothe the +patients of our wing and I paid no attention to the +closed door of Eighteen, the flying trips through the +corridor made by the two doctors, or O’Leary’s gray +suit and thoughtful countenance and shining eyes here +and there about the wing.</p> + +<p>When the police began to arrive, entering the wing +by the south door so as not to be seen by those from +other wings, it was a great deal like the repetition of a +bad dream. It continued so until along about four +o’clock when an ambulance, gleaming oddly white and +distinct in the cold gray dawn, was drawn up at the +south door. I did not see them leave.</p> + +<p>I was trying to control my still shaking hands in +order to get the neglected charts written up before +turning things over to the day nurses, when O’Leary +paused beside me and sat down in the vacant chair.</p> + +<p>“What is that on your hands?” he asked suddenly +as I wrote.</p> + +<p>I glanced at my hands and jumped.</p> + +<p>“Oh!” I remembered. “It is only red ink. I was +cleaning up some that I had spilled when—when the +lights went out.”</p> + +<p>“When the lights were turned out,” he corrected. +“How soon will you finish that thing?”</p> + +<p>“I am through now.” I verified the chart hastily and +thrust it in its place in the rack. “Have you—found +anything?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.” He spoke coolly. “I have—found a good +deal. First, though, why did you telephone for me?”</p> + +<p>“Why, it was Higgins! It was Higgins and now it +is too late!”</p> + +<p>His gray eyes studied me.</p> + +<p>“What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>My heart began to thump as speculation aroused +within me.</p> + +<p>“Higgins,” I said, dropping my voice to a whisper. +“Higgins saw the face of the man that killed Mr. +Jackson.”</p> + +<p>There was a moment of silence so profound that +the very walls seemed to whisper and echo my words; +someone in the kitchen nearby dropped a spoon and +at the metallic little rattle O’Leary stirred.</p> + +<p>“Higgins—saw the face of the man who killed +Jackson,” he repeated slowly. “How do you know, Miss +Keate?”</p> + +<p>As rapidly as possible I repeated to him the whole +of my amazing conversation with Higgins. Then, more +reluctantly, I told him of Jim Gainsay’s presence back +of the willows where he could overhear every word we +had spoken. I told him also of what the cook had said.</p> + +<p>His inscrutable eyes studying me shrewdly, O’Leary +said nothing until I had finished.</p> + +<p>“Then Jim Gainsay heard Higgins not only admit +his dangerous knowledge but promise to tell you +to-night the name of that man. <em>To-night.</em>”</p> + +<p>“Yes.” Then as I caught the emphasis, I went on +hurriedly: “But Jim Gainsay had nothing to do with +his death. I saw nothing of Jim Gainsay to-night. +I—I am sure . . .” My voice trailed breathlessly away +under O’Leary’s sharp regard.</p> + +<p>“And as far as we know now Jim Gainsay was the +last person to see Higgins alive?” He continued quite +as if I had not rushed to Jim Gainsay’s defence.</p> + +<p>“As far as we know <em>now</em>,” I pointed out. “We may +find that someone talked to him after he was seen with +Jim Gainsay.”</p> + +<p>“Gainsay overheard your conversation. The man +whose face Higgins saw had everything to lose at such +evidence. No one but Gainsay and you, Miss Keate, +knew of its existence. I’m sorry; Gainsay seems to be +a decent enough young fellow.” He paused, fumbled +in his pocket, drew out the shabby stub of a pencil and +began turning it over and over in his slender, well-kept +fingers.</p> + +<p>The light above my head was paling in the slow, +gray light of early morning which was struggling in +through the windows and making the whole place more +desolate and more grim and forbidding than it had +been in the dark of night.</p> + +<p>“It is a difficult situation,” he said presently.</p> + +<p>I pushed my cap farther back on my head and rubbed +my hand across my eyes—eyes that were tired and +weary with what they had seen that night.</p> + +<p>“I dread the effect of this night’s doing; it will almost +demoralize our staff, to say nothing of its effect upon +outsiders. We are looking to you to straighten out +this hideous tangle. And it must be soon.”</p> + +<p>His face was very sober.</p> + +<p>“I hope to do so,” he said gravely. “I think I am +not saying too much when I tell you that I have good +reason to hope for success.”</p> + +<p>There was a restrained little throb of exhilaration +in his voice.</p> + +<p>“Do you mean——” I began sharply. He +interrupted me.</p> + +<p>“I mean only that I am beginning to arrive at some +conclusions.” And without giving me a chance to ask +what those conclusions were he continued at once: “Are +you sure Higgins said it was a <em>man’s</em> face that he saw?”</p> + +<p>I went back in my memory, over that brief and +baffling conversation, now never to be finished. Poor +Higgins!</p> + +<p>“No,” I said thoughtfully. “He did not definitely say +it was a man. I—I’m afraid I just assumed it to be +a man.”</p> + +<p>“Assuming is dangerous,” said O’Leary quietly. “But +he did say that he saw three people?”</p> + +<p>“He said he knew that there were three people in +Room 18 that night.”</p> + +<p>“And that there were four people—Corole Letheny +and Dr. Hajek and Jim Gainsay and—Dr. Letheny in +and about St. Ann’s that dark midnight?”</p> + +<p>I nodded confirmatively.</p> + +<p>“He said, too, that he saw Jim Gainsay’s face by +the light of a match. And that he saw the face of the +man—or person—who killed Jackson by the light of +the match.”</p> + +<p>“But that doesn’t prove——” I began hotly.</p> + +<p>“No—no, of course not,” he said absently. “You +say he was of the opinion that the man——”</p> + +<p>“He kept saying the ‘party’,” I interpolated.</p> + +<p>“Who killed Jackson and the—the party——” with +a rather grim tightening of his lips, O’Leary adopted +Higgins’s terms—“Who killed Dr. Letheny was not +the same person.”</p> + +<p>“He said ‘no, that couldn’t hardly be.’ ” Strange how +vividly I recalled his hesitating confession.</p> + +<p>“It is apparent, of course, that the man in Room 18 +must have had some sort of light, if only for a second, +in order to conceal the radium. Higgins knew where +it was all the time. He swore to me that he had slept +through the whole night. Well——” O’Leary’s +shoulders lifted a little.</p> + +<p>“We will never know now what Higgins saw,” I +commented, my thoughts sombre.</p> + +<p>O’Leary raised his eyes from the pencil for a +moment.</p> + +<p>“Don’t be too sure of that, Miss Keate. Did you +get the speaker for me?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Put it in a <em>safe</em> place?”</p> + +<p>I nodded. “I longed to look inside it but did not.”</p> + +<p>He smiled.</p> + +<p>“Suppose we look now.”</p> + +<p>The rustle of my starched skirts echoed against the +empty gray-white walls. The general office was +deserted, likewise the stairs and corridors. Once in my +room I unlocked the door of the chifferette, withdrew +the speaker, and holding it carefully, hastened back to +the south wing. O’Leary was still sitting beside the chart +desk, his gray gaze on Maida, who was bent over an +entry she was making on Three’s chart. If she wondered +what I was doing with the loud speaker she did +not say so but returned immediately to Three.</p> + +<p>I set the speaker down on the shining glass top of +the chart desk. My hands were shaking a little and I +held my breath while O’Leary removed one of the sides +of the speaker. We both peered into it. Then O’Leary +put his hand inside and groped around.</p> + +<p>We stared at the compact arrangement of wires and +tiny coils and screws, then met each other’s gaze.</p> + +<p>“Nothing!” I said.</p> + +<p>“Nothing!” confirmed O’Leary. He studied the thing +thoughtfully for a moment.</p> + +<p>“Did anyone see you take this to your room?”</p> + +<p>“No one. That is, no one but—but Maida. I met +her at the door just as I was carrying it to my room.”</p> + +<p>“Miss Day—h’mm.” And after another pause: “Are +you sure that this is the same speaker that was in +Room 18?”</p> + +<p>“Why, yes. No. That is—” I hastened to explain +as he cast a decidedly irritated glance at me—“that is, +I mean that this is the speaker that was in Sonny’s room +and I just assumed it to be the one that I had left there.”</p> + +<p>“Assuming again,” remarked O’Leary with dry +disapproval. “It might have been one from another room, +then?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. It might have been. But I think——”</p> + +<p>“Did you know that the speaker at present in Room +18 has been torn open, probably during the night?”</p> + +<p>“What!”</p> + +<p>“Evidently the—er—visitor in Room 18 to-night +thought what we thought and did not know that the +original speaker in Room 18 had been removed. Or +else——” He left his sentence uncompleted, turned +abruptly and strode down the hall to Sonny’s room.</p> + +<p>I followed him to the door. Sonny was awake.</p> + +<p>“Good-morning,” said O’Leary kindly. “It is rather +early in the morning for young fellows like you to be +awake. Look here, Sonny, the other night Miss Keate +brought in a loud-speaker for the radio attachment, +just like this one in my hand. She left it here and took +away the one that you already had on your table. Then +last night, she came in and took away the speaker she +had left with you. I want to know whether the loud +speaker she took away last night was the very same +speaker she brought in here.”</p> + +<p>Sonny looked bewildered and O’Leary repeated his +question patiently and clearly.</p> + +<p>“Why, no,” said Sonny finally. “That speaker she +brought in wouldn’t work.”</p> + +<p>“What happened to it, then?”</p> + +<p>“Why”—Sonny frowned—“Miss Day was in to see +me and I told her the speaker wasn’t working so she +took it away and brought me another. The one she +brought in worked fine. But Miss Keate came and got +it last night.” He looked reproachfully at me.</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Sonny,” said O’Leary briefly.</p> + +<p>I have never seen O’Leary showing any feeling or +excitement, but there were eighteen rooms in that wing +and I don’t think it took him eighteen minutes to +examine all the loud speakers in the whole wing. He did +not omit one save, of course, that already rifled speaker +in Room 18.</p> + +<p>When he had finished, still without any results that +I could see, he went to Maida.</p> + +<p>“Miss Day,” he began, “you took a loud speaker +exactly like this one”—he still carried under his arm +the instrument that I had so futilely treasured—“from +Sonny’s room last night. What did you do with it?”</p> + +<p>Maida put back a wisp of black hair that had strayed +from under her immaculate cap; her blue eyes regarded +us steadily from the weary, dark circles about them.</p> + +<p>“I put it on the table in Room 18,” she replied at +once. “It was out of order somehow, and I thought +likely Room 18 would be unoccupied. So I simply +exchanged the speakers.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Miss Day. You did not—er—examine +it closely to see what was wrong with it?”</p> + +<p>“No,” she said. “I know nothing of such things; I +couldn’t possibly have repaired it.”</p> + +<p>She went on about her errand.</p> + +<p>“A strange case,” mused O’Leary, his clear, gray eyes +following the slim, white-clad figure moving away from +us. “The speaker in Room 18 was the right one, after +all. The question is, was the radium in it and if so who +took it? Who has it now? When we know that answer +we will know who shot poor old Higgins.” He went +to the window over the chart desk, flung it up to the +sash, and took a deep breath of the fog-laden air. His +intent young face, his curiously lucid gray eyes, showed +no hint of a night without sleep.</p> + +<p>“A strange case,” he repeated absently. He turned +from the dripping gray orchard beyond the window, +fingered idly the bronzed surface of the loud speaker +there on the desk.</p> + +<p>“Another thing, Miss Keate—did you notice that +when Dr. Hajek came from his room to-night, presumably +from his bed, he wore trousers under that bathrobe +that he held so tightly to him? And that those +trousers had fresh, wet mud stains about the cuffs?”</p> + +<p>I murmured something, I don’t know what, and +O’Leary met my shocked gaze quietly.</p> + +<p>“And furthermore,” he said softly, “I found fresh +mud stains on the window sill of his room. Really, Miss +Keate, this hospital of yours should have been built +with its first floor higher from the ground. Entrances +and exits are too easy.”</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch13"> + +<h2>13. The Radium Appears</h2> + +<p>How true it is that time, in retrospect, is measured by +the events occurring therein. By which I mean, of course, +that while the whole sequence of mysterious and shocking +events that so deeply troubled us there at St. Ann’s +really occurred during a period of only a few days, +when I look back at the affair it seems to have extended +over weeks. It was true, too, that every day seemed to +bring its problems and those before yesterday’s +problems were solved. In fact these problems so crowded +each other that the only way in which I can recall their +exact sequence is by referring to the days on which +they took place. For instance, I see that in my account +book where I have an orderly habit of noting certain +things such as birthdays of relatives, dates when my +insurance falls due, and such matters, I have noted +several items under Wednesday, June 13th:</p> + +<blockquote> + + <p>Higgins killed in Eighteen during second watch, last night. No + clue so far as I know. Wish J.G. would go on about his bridge + building. Whole hospital much upset; several nurses threatening + to leave. Police underfoot everywhere and suppose it means the + whole thing over again. Sent laundry this A.M. Am getting nervous + about second watch. Twelve pearl buttons. Wish this affair were + safely over.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>The “twelve pearl buttons” entry, of course, referred +to the fact that I had forgotten to take them out of +one of my uniforms before it went to the laundry and +must remember to telephone the laundry about them. +It was owing to these buttons, however, that one of +the most singular and troublesome facts of the whole +week came to my attention.</p> + +<p>If the second watch of the previous night had seemed +like a repetition of a bad dream, then that day, Wednesday, +was its continuation. The directors, irate and fussy +and hysterically horrified, descended upon St. Ann’s. +There were the police, O’Leary, and newspaper men +just as it had been before. The only difference was that +this last development seemed more terrible than that +other—if that were possible. There was a rather grisly +fear stalking through the hushed hospital corridors: +Who would be the next victim?</p> + +<p>The inquest was held at once, that very morning. +It was a brief and formal affair, held in the main office +with only a few present. Nothing was proved beyond +the immediate fact of Higgins’s death and nothing was +mentioned that I did not already know. It was evident +that O’Leary regarded Higgins’s death as another +piece in the puzzle that confronted him and not as an +isolated crime.</p> + +<p>Shortly after lunch Lance O’Leary called me into +the office.</p> + +<p>“Why did you not tell me that the key to the south +door disappeared last night?” he began abruptly.</p> + +<p>“I forgot it. I ordered a new key to be made for +that lock and will have it before night. But of course +I had to leave the south door unlocked last night.”</p> + +<p>“It seems to me you forget rather important things.” +He spoke sharply.</p> + +<p>“I have certain duties to think of,” I responded as +sharply. “And anyway you didn’t ask me.”</p> + +<p>The tightness around his eyes relaxed somewhat but +he did not smile. He rose, went to the door, and after +a dissatisfied glance into the main hall he beckoned me +into the inner office, shut the door and sat down at the +desk. For a moment he sat there silently, his face in +his hands.</p> + +<p>“Sit down, Miss Keate,” he said presently, motioning +toward Dr. Balman’s cot, and as I did so he swung +around in the swivel chair to face me. “Hope nobody +wants to use this room for a few moments,” he said +wearily. “I’ve got to think. Look here, was that key +gone when you came on duty last night at twelve +o’clock?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. Olma Flynn, who has first watch, could not +find it. She told me of its disappearance as soon as I +came on duty.”</p> + +<p>He nodded slowly.</p> + +<p>“Thus providing an easy way into St. Ann’s. . . . +Into the south wing——” he murmured, and broke off, +staring into space, his eyes clouded and far away.</p> + +<p>Then all at once he began to talk, leaned back in the +chair, and linked his hands together.</p> + +<p>“In the first place,” he began, “I am convinced that +the three crimes are all linked together and that the +possession of the radium is the guiding motive. Other +motives, such as protection or fear, may enter into the +affair but the radium is the main thing. If the radium +was actually placed in that loud speaker, it is now in +the hands of the person who killed Higgins. To secure +the radium was the reason for his entrance into the +south wing and into Room 18 last night. We can’t know +why Higgins was there—unless—unless—— You say +that he knew where the radium was hidden; he may +have tried to take it himself into his own hands.”</p> + +<p>He paused as if to consider that possibility; it did +not appear to convince him, for he made an impatient +gesture.</p> + +<p>“Dr. Hajek,” he resumed, “has flatly denied that +he was out last night; the mud has been brushed off +his trousers and off the window sill and it is my word +against his. Why is he lying? Then, too, there was +someone from the Letheny cottage about the grounds +last night. Huldah says that someone left the house +about midnight; she heard footsteps on the stairs, and +the front door squeaks. She did not know whether it +was Gainsay or Miss Letheny, but she is certain that +someone went out of that house about midnight and +returned probably an hour later.”</p> + +<p>“Huldah tells the truth always——” I began, but +checked myself. If he was willing to talk I was more +than willing to listen.</p> + +<p>However, I had interrupted him; he looked at me +directly and began to speak more briskly and less as if +he were thinking aloud.</p> + +<p>“You see, Miss Keate, it is all simmering down to +the same group, the same circle of those in and about +St. Ann’s. No one else could have stolen the key to the +south door. And as I say, I am inclined to believe that +all three crimes had the same motive, if not the same +motivating force.”</p> + +<p>“What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“I mean that in the first two crimes we find several +means of death. This leads me to believe that there +was a definite plan to steal the radium, possibly on the +part of more than one person. In fact, I am quite sure +that more than one person had determined to get hold +of that radium. But the radium was left in the room. +Hidden, but still in Room 18. Why? There is only one +possible reason. The thief was interrupted, was forced +to hide it there in order to return for it later. But why +did the radium remain for so long in the speaker? +Why did not the thief return for it earlier in the game? +It all points to there being several people interested +in that radium, which means, of course, that we may be +trying to discover three murderers instead of only one.”</p> + +<p>“<em>Three!</em>”</p> + +<p>“There were three murders,” he said, laconically cool +in the face of my horror. “And Higgins’s statement +seems to make it sure that the first two murders were +not committed by the same man.”</p> + +<p>“I am positive that the radium was concealed in +the loud speaker,” he continued after a short pause. +“There was no place else for it to be and it must have +been in Room 18, for otherwise we would not have +had such a series of disturbances in and about that room. +Yes, it is evident that several people were convinced +that the radium was still in the room and were searching +for it. The thing that bothers me is the failure of +the—er—original thief to return and remove the +radium before anyone else found it.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps it was he last night,” I suggested.</p> + +<p>O’Leary did not appear to hear me.</p> + +<p>“There is only one reason and that—if true—is +amazing.” He reached absently for the shabby little +stub of pencil and began twisting it in his fingers, which +convinced me that he was on his feet again, so to speak.</p> + +<p>Whatever the “amazing” speculation was that had +occurred to him, he said nothing more of it.</p> + +<p>“I have eliminated certain factors. The first thing +to do, you know is to narrow the field of investigation. +I find that Mr. Jackson’s relatives, who might be +supposed to have an interest in his death, have iron-clad +alibis.”</p> + +<p>“Oh.” I spoke none too brightly as I had never given +a thought to Mr. Jackson’s relatives.</p> + +<p>“Likewise I am gradually eliminating the unknown +factor—I mean by that the possibility of an outsider, +a hobo, perhaps, or professional thief acting on the +spur of the moment, or following out a planned course +of action. It seems more and more certain that those +guilty of these crimes are people who are in and about +St. Ann’s. But since that phase of the matter is so +distasteful to you. . . .” His voice trailed away into +nothing, he dropped the pencil, adjusted his tie, looked +at his watch, ran a hand through his hair and reached +for the pencil again.</p> + +<p>“There are a few matters of which I’ve been wanting +to talk with you, Miss Keate. This—” he lowered +his voice—“this Hajek. Somehow I have got the +impression that he and Miss Letheny see a good deal of +each other. Different people have mentioned seeing +them together. Huldah says he is a frequent caller. +What do you think?”</p> + +<p>“Why, yes—now that I think of it, it does seem to +me that they have a sort of——” At loss for a word +I stopped. O’Leary completed the sentence.</p> + +<p>“Understanding?”</p> + +<p>“Well, yes. And yet I have seen nothing definite. It +is just a feeling that I have. And of course, the fact +that he has been up at the Letheny cottage a great deal. +I’ve seen him there often.”</p> + +<p>He twisted the pencil up and down; I wondered that +there was any shred of paint remaining on the shabby +thing.</p> + +<p>“Another thing,” he began rather hesitantly. “They +say—don’t ask me who says, for it is a sort of drifting +gossip that we detectives have to encourage—they say +that Dr. Letheny admired the pretty nurse.”</p> + +<p>“The pretty nurse. Who?”</p> + +<p>“I thought you’d guess,” he said quietly. “I mean +Miss Day.”</p> + +<p>“If he did admire her, I never knew it,” I said with +vigour.</p> + +<p>“You never even surmised it?” he persisted gently.</p> + +<p>“No,” I said bluntly. “Certainly not.” And then +recalled certain things. That last dinner—Dr. Letheny’s +smouldering eyes on Maida—the gesture with which he +took her wrap—those burning, restless eyes seeking her +in the corridor of the south wing before he turned away +through the door and I caught my last glimpse of Dr. +Letheny alive. “That is—perhaps—yes,” I amended +in a smaller voice.</p> + +<p>“Did Miss Day return his—interest?”</p> + +<p>“No. I’m sure that she did not. Quite the contrary.”</p> + +<p>“Quite the contrary?”</p> + +<p>“I mean that I believe she disliked him particularly. +I do not know why.”</p> + +<p>He lifted his eyes from the pencil. They were clear +now and very gray.</p> + +<p>“You would likely know,” he said casually. “You +possess the strangest aura of—integrity. One feels you +are a respecter of confidences. I presume you are the +repository of many secrets.”</p> + +<p>“I’m sure I don’t know any secrets,” I replied +hastily. The man needn’t think he could worm things out +of me. “I wish,” I added, “I wish that you had talked +to Higgins.”</p> + +<p>His expression became serious at once.</p> + +<p>“I wish so too,” he said soberly. “Though as far as +that goes I did talk to Higgins, but couldn’t get a thing +out of him. He must have been desperately afraid of +getting into trouble.” He eyed the stub of pencil +solicitously. “. . . getting into trouble,” he repeated +musingly.</p> + +<p>“If I had only known the danger he was in,” I said +regretfully. “But somehow we never know until it is +too late.”</p> + +<p>“About this matter of the lights going out last +night. It seems to coincide too strangely with the affair +of Thursday night. The lights being out at that time +was, of course, an accident, but one is inclined to think +that someone profited by that accident to such an +extent that he decided to repeat the fortuitous +circumstances. But it was actually no accident this time; the +switch plug had been purposely pulled out. Now then, +the switch box is in the basement, on the wall next to +the grade door that leads out just below the main +entrance.”</p> + +<p>I nodded as his keen, serious eyes rose to mine.</p> + +<p>“That grade door was locked and the key inside the +lock as it should be. Was there time, Miss Keate, +between the lights going out and the sound of the shot +for someone to come from that grade door around the +corner of the hospital, enter the south door in the +darkness, go into Eighteen, which is right next to the south +door, take the radium from the loud speaker and—and +that is as far as we know. We can only surmise, now, +how Higgins came into it.”</p> + +<p>“The intruder might have been Higgins, himself.” +I was suddenly struck by the thought. “He would have +access to the basement, could have stolen the key from +the chart desk that would open the south door if it +were locked. Perhaps he was taking the radium out of +the speaker; he told me, you know, that he knew where +it was hidden.”</p> + +<p>“All the circumstances point to what we call an inside +job,” admitted O’Leary slowly. “But someone +besides Higgins was in Room 18.”</p> + +<p>“The window?” I suggested.</p> + +<p>“No. He could not have come through the window +for it was still bolted. How about it, Miss Keate?” +He returned to his inquiry. “How long a time elapsed +between the lights going out and the sound of the shot?”</p> + +<p>“It seemed a long time,” I said hesitantly. “You +see, it was so still and dark and I was a little frightened. +I waited for a few moments, thinking that the lights +would come on again. Yes, I think there was time enough +for—for all that you think took place. While I waited +I felt a current of air on my shoulders.”</p> + +<p>He looked up quickly.</p> + +<p>“That was the door opening, then. You are sure +about the length of time? You see it is rather important +that we settle that point definitely for if there was not +time for all that to go on, it would indicate that there +were two people, <em>besides Higgins</em>, who were interested +in getting into Room 18 last night. And that one of them +managed the business of turning off the lights and the +other came into Room 18 with the results of which +we know. Confound it!” He broke off suddenly. “I +wish I needn’t have to figure on more than one or two +ways of getting in and out of this old hospital. Don’t +you <em>ever</em> have thieves in a hospital! Don’t you ever +have to safeguard yourselves!”</p> + +<p>“Only the third and fourth floor windows,” I said +absently.</p> + +<p>He snorted.</p> + +<p>“The third and fourth floor windows! That does me +a lot of good!”</p> + +<p>“On account of delirious patients,” I said rebukingly. +“And as for there being two people trying to +get the radium, I think there must be at least that many. +I don’t believe that one person, alone and unaided, could +make so much trouble.”</p> + +<p>He grinned faintly at that, and then frowned.</p> + +<p>“The chief of police wants to arrest the whole outfit +at once. He is convinced that you are all in a conspiracy +and that Gainsay is the leader. Of course, I don’t want +to make such a wholesale cleaning. Especially since +I—I believe that I’m getting warm. But I don’t want any +arrests yet. I don’t want to put anybody on guard.”</p> + +<p>“Mr. O’Leary,” I said eagerly, emboldened by his +half-confidence. “I have heard things of you, of +course—what wonderful success you have and all that. What +methods do you use?”</p> + +<p>He thrust his hands into his pockets, leaned back in +the chair and sighed.</p> + +<p>“Methods? I don’t have any methods. And as to +success—wait a few days.”</p> + +<p>“You don’t have any methods?”</p> + +<p>“The moment when I’m feeling most useless and most +like a failure is not the moment to ask me to tell of +my successes. Or my methods. I don’t have methods. +I take what the Lord sends and am thankful. Sometimes +it is a matter of luck. Mostly it is a matter of drudgery +and hard work. Always it is a matter of thinking, thinking, +thinking. Of eating, living, sleeping with problems +for days and nights. Usually, just about the time you +have decided that none of the pieces of the puzzle +can possibly fit, all at once something happens and—Click! +Things clarify. There is a reason for everything. +Nothing just happens. Nothing is an isolated fact. If +you have a fact, you know that certain circumstances +had to combine to bring it about. It is just logic, reason, +the physical, material quality of cause and effect. There +isn’t anything mysterious about it. It is just the—the +arithmetic of analysis. I don’t mean that I am infallible. +I have to reconsider and revise and correct mistakes, +just like anybody else. I’m human—and young. +But when you <em>know</em> that there is a solution, to the most +puzzling problem, all there is to do is worry it out. +I suppose the subconscious mind helps.”</p> + +<p>“That is rather abstract,” I said slowly.</p> + +<p>“I suppose it sounds that way. Well—here is one +definite and concrete trick. As a rule, given enough +rope a man can hang himself. Often I find that there +will be one little circumstance that only the guilty man +knows. Sooner or later he lets it out. Sometimes I have +to trap the man I suspect into such an admission.”</p> + +<p>I’m sure my eyes were popping out.</p> + +<p>“Then that is why you made that extraordinary request +of me at the first inquest!” I exclaimed. “I could +not understand it. The thing you mentioned seemed so +insignificant.”</p> + +<p>It was remarkable that his eyes could be so clear +and so unfathomable at the same time.</p> + +<p>“I trust you are discreet,” he said evenly.</p> + +<p>“Oh, I shan’t tell, if that is what you mean,” I promised +hastily. “I am as interested in solving this mystery +as you are. Indeed, I think I may say that I am far +more deeply interested.”</p> + +<p>“Well, keep your eyes and ears open,” he said, smiling +and rising to open the door for me, and I found +myself out in the main hall before I knew it.</p> + +<p>It was only a few moments later that I saw him +leave; I remember standing at the window beside the +main entrance, and watching his long gray roadster +swoop silently and swiftly around the curve of the main +driveway and into the road. He was seated at the +wheel, a slight gray figure, intent only on the muddy +highway ahead of him. There was a suggestion of +power, of invincibility, in the very repose and economy +of motion with which he controlled the long-nosed +roadster.</p> + +<p>As I turned away I met Maida.</p> + +<p>“Such a day!” she murmured with a sigh. “Have +you been able to sleep?”</p> + +<p>“I haven’t tried,” I said. “I knew it would be no +use.”</p> + +<p>“Miss Dotty is still upset,” went on Maida. “And +the training nurses are following their own devices, and +everybody is afraid of her own shadow. I wish this +business was all settled and forgotten about.”</p> + +<p>“You don’t wish it any more than I do,” I agreed +fervently. “But I do think that O’Leary is doing +everything within his power.”</p> + +<p>“I suppose so,” said Maida, without much conviction. +She was looking pale and rather ill. “Wasn’t that +Mr. O’Leary driving away a moment ago?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t know that he was here at St. Ann’s. He +hasn’t seen fit to question me yet”—she smiled rather +ruefully—“as to poor Higgins. Except, of course, as +he did at the inquest and that was so little. I felt he +was reserving his inquiry, didn’t you? But I thought +Mr. O’Leary had gone back to town long ago.”</p> + +<p>“No. He just left.” I paused to yawn. “I’m going +to try to get some sleep. Better do likewise.” But she +shook her head, murmuring something about work, +and I went to my room.</p> + +<p>Luckily I managed to fall into an uneasy sleep. It +was when I had awakened that I found I possessed but +one remaining clean uniform and it was of a style that +demanded the buttons I had sent to the laundry. Recalling +the fact that Maida had an extra set, I went to her +room to borrow. She was not there but I went boldly +into the room.</p> + +<p>And I found the radium!</p> + +<p>It was in the pin-cushion, a pretty trifle of mauve +taffeta ruffles that I picked up idly to examine more +closely. When I felt the shape under the taffeta, when +my fingers outlined it, I could not have resisted tearing +it apart. The cotton stuffing had been removed and +the small box that held the radium was there instead.</p> + +<p>I don’t know how long I stood as if frozen to the +spot. I remember noting that the neat sewing had been +torn out as if hastily, and that wide hurried stitches +held the seam together. And I remember hearing the +voices of several girls passing in the hall outside and +thinking that Maida would be coming to her room.</p> + +<p>O’Leary had said: “The person who has the radium +is the one that killed Higgins.”</p> + +<p>I could not face Maida with this thing in my hand.</p> + +<p>And I could not leave the radium where it was.</p> + +<p>In another moment I found myself back in my room, +the radium, pin-cushion and all, locked away, the key +securely hidden and my mind made up. Painful though +it was I should have to tell O’Leary immediately of +this thing. I do not hold friendship lightly and the +shock of finding the stolen radium in Maida’s +possession almost unnerved me.</p> + +<p>I had forgotten about the buttons and it was something +of an anti-climax to catch myself starting down +to dinner in a black silk kimono. I had to go to the bottom +of my trunk for an old uniform that I had cast aside +as being too tight. It was still too tight and very +uncomfortable, being made with a Bishop collar which +is high and stiff and scratched the lobes of my ears.</p> + +<p>There was no need to telephone to O’Leary, for as +I neared the general office I caught a glimpse of his +smooth brown head bent over some papers on the long +table. I entered.</p> + +<p>“I have found the radium,” I said quietly.</p> + +<p>He looked up, jumped to his feet. I did not need to +repeat my words.</p> + +<p>“Where is it?”</p> + +<p>“In my room. Shall I bring it to you?”</p> + +<p>He hesitated, his eyes travelling around the office +with its several doors and windows.</p> + +<p>“This is too public. Someone would be sure to see +it. Where did you find it?”</p> + +<p>I swallowed.</p> + +<p>“In—Miss Day’s room.”</p> + +<p>His gaze narrowed thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>“You must tell me about it later. First I must have +the radium.”</p> + +<p>Our voices had dropped to whispers and my heart +was pounding.</p> + +<p>“Shall we put it in the safe?” I motioned toward +the inner office which holds a great steel safe, in a +prepared compartment of which the radium is usually +kept.</p> + +<p>“No.” O’Leary shook his head decisively. “No. I +must put it in the hands of the chief of police at once. +Look here, Miss Keate; in three minutes I shall walk +slowly across the main hall with this bundle of +newspapers under my arm. At the foot of the stairway I +shall pass you just descending. It is rather dark there +by the stairs. Hand me the box and keep right on going. +Don’t stop. Later I shall see you and hear how you +found it.”</p> + +<p>I followed his bidding. As I came slowly down the +last flight of stairs he walked carelessly across the hall. +There was no one about and I was sure that the transfer +was effected without anyone’s knowledge.</p> + +<p>With a casual nod I went on around the turn and +followed the basement stairs down to the dining room. +I ate what was set before me and kept my eyes from +Maida.</p> + +<p>It must have been about twenty minutes later that +I ascended the stairs again and paused in the main hall. +There was a light in the general office, excited voices, +and Dr. Hajek and Dr. Balman were bending over +something that lay on the long table.</p> + +<p>I entered.</p> + +<p>Lance O’Leary was stretched on the table, his face +lead-gray, his eyes closed. Dr. Balman had out his +stethoscope and was listening intently and Dr. Hajek +was forcing aromatic ammonia through O’Leary’s pale +lips.</p> + +<p>There was a rapidly swelling lump back of O’Leary’s +right ear and the small box that was so precious was +not to be seen.</p> + +<p>At a glance I understood.</p> + +<p>“Is he—alive, Dr. Balman?”</p> + +<p>Dr. Balman nodded, detaching the stethoscope with +long hands that shook.</p> + +<p>“Dr. Hajek and I were starting down to dinner,” +he explained. His voice sounded hoarse and his anxious +eyes were fixed upon O’Leary. “We found him like +this. All huddled on the floor there near the stairway.”</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch14"> + +<h2>14. A Matter of Evidence</h2> + +<p>I must say that I was considerably relieved to see +O’Leary’s eyelids flutter, the colour return to his face, +and to note that his breath began to come more +naturally. In a few moments he was sitting upright on the +edge of the table, supported by Dr. Balman’s arm.</p> + +<p>“What on earth happened to you?” inquired Dr. +Balman, looking relieved also.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” replied O’Leary rather dazedly. +“All I remember is something coming down on my +head. When did you find me?”</p> + +<p>“About fifteen minutes ago. Dr. Hajek and I were +just going downstairs. It was not very light in the +hallway and you were in the shadow there by the stairs. +It—gave us a nasty shock. Do you know why you +were attacked?”</p> + +<p>O’Leary flicked a warning glance at me and shook +his head.</p> + +<p>“Haven’t the least idea,” he said flatly.</p> + +<p>Dr. Hajek, who had been standing silently by, stirred +at this.</p> + +<p>“Then you were not on the point of making +a—er—disclosure?” he asked with an air of disappointment. +His ruddy face was as unmoved and stolid as ever, +but it seemed to me that those dark, knowing eyes +were restrained and secretive and did not meet +O’Leary’s gaze squarely.</p> + +<p>“No such luck! By the way, were you men coming +up from downstairs when you found me?”</p> + +<p>“No,” replied Dr. Balman. “No. I had been O.K.-ing +some orders in the inner office; Dr. Hajek came out +of his room into the general office just as I, too, entered +it and we walked together out into the hall and toward +the basement stairs.”</p> + +<p>“You saw nothing unusual?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing. We were talking of advertising for a new +janitor. It was—” Dr. Balman’s kind, distressed eyes +roved over O’Leary anxiously as if to be quite sure +he was not hurt—“it was, as I said, a shock. For a +moment we feared the worst.” He drew out a handkerchief +and wiped his pale lips nervously, his fingers +lingering to pull at his thin beard. “Mr. O’Leary, +I know that you are working hard and I don’t mean +to criticize but really—I——” he hesitated as if put +to it to find words. “You see for yourself to what terrible +straits this thing has brought us. We don’t know what +to expect next. Can nothing be done to stop it?”</p> + +<p>It was just at this interesting point, of course, that +Miss Dotty had to interrupt and summon me away, +and it was something after midnight before I saw +O’Leary again.</p> + +<p>I was on duty at the time, Maida assisting me as +usual, and our force augmented again, according to +another whim of Miss Dotty’s, by two training nurses, +both obviously unnerved at their contact with the south +wing of such ill repute. Their blue-and-white striped +skirts rattled nervously as they trotted here and there +about the wing. While I did not feel unduly alarmed +myself, still it seemed all too clear that the guilty +one was still about, an unknown menace and hence more +terrible, and I don’t mind admitting that my ears were +alert to any alien sounds.</p> + +<p>I was sitting at the chart desk when I heard O’Leary’s +quick, light steps coming along the corridor from +the general office. I turned to watch him approach, +his gray suit and grave, keen face gradually emerging +into the green circle of light that surrounded me.</p> + +<p>“Have you found the radium?” I asked at once.</p> + +<p>He shook his head.</p> + +<p>“Nor who took it from you?”</p> + +<p>“Nor who took it—naturally.” He dropped into a +chair beside me. “Now, Miss Keate, tell me exactly +how you came upon it.”</p> + +<p>Feeling that it was no time to mince matters I +complied, much as I disliked the implications the story +involved. He listened thoughtfully, drawing a red pencil +from his pocket and actually using it to scribble some +notes in a small, shabby notebook he brought forth. +He did not comment when I had finished, save to ask +if Miss Day was on duty. And at the moment Maida +herself entered the corridor from some sick room, +O’Leary rose and intercepted her at once and the two +disappeared into the drug room.</p> + +<p>I was left to wait, always a difficult task for one of +my temperament and particularly unpleasant that night. +It seemed hours but was actually not more than twenty +minutes by my watch, before they emerged. Maida’s +chin was in the air, her cheeks quite scarlet, and her +eyes flashing blue fire, but O’Leary was imperturbable. +He stopped for a word with me and I suppose noted +the anxiety which I was at no pains to hide. He smiled +into my gaze a bit ruefully.</p> + +<p>“She has a reason for everything,” he said quietly. +“If I could only be sure that she is telling the truth!”</p> + +<p>“She always tells the truth!” I cried indignantly.</p> + +<p>“I hope so——” he hesitated. “It is difficult to +explain, but all through her story I had the strangest +impression that she had—rehearsed the whole thing.”</p> + +<p>“What did she say of the radium?”</p> + +<p>“Says she found it in a pot of lobelia that was in +the hall outside Room 18. She noted that the flowers +were withered and needed water, took it to the kitchen +to water, noted that it had been disturbed and—found +the radium hidden below the plant! She took the radium +to her own room until she could get in touch with me. +She says she did not know that I was in the hospital +after the inquest until she saw me leaving.”</p> + +<p>“That is true,” I said quickly. “And I remember +the pot of lobelia, too. Only——” I wrinkled my forehead +thoughtfully. “Why, the last I saw it, the thing +was still in Room 18! Not in the corridor, at all!”</p> + +<p>“When did you see it last?” he asked quickly.</p> + +<p>“Last night—about dusk.”</p> + +<p>He looked at me soberly.</p> + +<p>“Then the man in Room 18 last night—if it was +a man—must have hidden the radium for fear he would +be caught with the incriminating box. He must have +thrust it hurriedly into the flower pot and left plant +and all in the corridor in the hope of being able to +get hold of the radium more easily than if it were left +again in Room 18. That is, if we are to believe Miss +Day’s statement. Positively that lobelia <em>was not in +Room 18</em> when I examined the room almost immediately +after Higgins’s death. I did not miss a square +inch!”</p> + +<p>I was still thinking of Maida.</p> + +<p>“Did you ask her about the hypodermic syringe?”</p> + +<p>He nodded.</p> + +<p>“She says that she found her own needle had disappeared, +naturally disliked calling anyone’s attention to +the fact, in view of the existing circumstances, and simply +substituted your tool for the lost one. She says she +acted hastily and only from a dislike of being even +remotely connected with the tragedies. My own opinion +is that someone advised her to do so. Especially since +there was a cut-and-dried air about everything she +said.”</p> + +<p>“How did the hypodermic syringe get out there in +the shrubbery?”</p> + +<p>“Miss Day insists that she knows nothing of that. +And I’m more than half inclined to believe her, there.”</p> + +<p>“The cuff link?” I persisted anxiously.</p> + +<p>His clear eyes narrowed.</p> + +<p>“The cuff link is the reason that I doubt her whole +story. She still declared that she lost the cuff link and +that Dr. Letheny must have picked it up. If she would +only tell me the truth about that!” He pulled a yellow +slip of paper from his notebook. I recognized it +immediately. It was the note Jim Gainsay had written and +asked me to take to Maida.</p> + +<p>“Read it,” said O’Leary.</p> + +<p>Thinking it more discreet to say nothing of my own +connection with the note, I did as he requested. It was +headed: “Friday afternoon” and read thus:</p> + +<blockquote> + + <p>Must see you at once. Important. C. knows about last night. + Say nothing and let me advise you. Will wait at the bridge. Very + anxious since news of this afternoon. Be warned. Cannot urge too + emphatically. Please meet me at bridge.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>It was signed with a vigorously scrawled “J.G.”</p> + +<p>I read the thing, read it again and raised my eyes to +O’Leary’s.</p> + +<p>“It was found in Miss Day’s room,” he explained. +“In a pocket of a uniform, in fact; when I asked her +to explain it she said at first that it was a message of +a personal nature and that she would not explain it. +I was forced to urge and she finally admitted exactly +three things. First, that the note was written by Jim +Gainsay. Second, that ‘C’ referred to Corole Letheny. +And third——” He paused as if to give the coming +words more emphasis.</p> + +<p>“And third—simply this: That Jim Gainsay was +strolling in the orchard about one o’clock on the night +Dr. Letheny was killed. He passed the open window +of the diet kitchen, saw her within, and stopped for +a word or two through the window. Corole Letheny +was also in the orchard, heard their conversation, +and threatened to start a scandal, knowing that it +would not sound well for a nurse to be seen visiting +thus when she was on duty and at such an hour. For +some reason Corole Letheny has developed a violent +dislike for Jim Gainsay. According to Miss Day, then, +he wrote to warn her against Corole.” O’Leary’s clear +gray eyes searched my face. “Somehow the reasons Miss +Day gave do not seem to warrant the extreme urgency +expressed in this note. Do you think so, Miss Keate?”</p> + +<p>“I hardly know,” I said thoughtfully. “Of course, +it takes less than that to start a scandal, particularly +if the starter is determined and malicious. And Corole +is both. She is naturally rather—feline, you know.”</p> + +<p>He took the note from my hand.</p> + +<p>“ ‘Since news of this afternoon’ can only refer to +Dr. Letheny’s death. No, Miss Keate. What would a +little breath of evil comment such as Miss Letheny +could start have to do with Dr. Letheny’s death? +No—there is a deeper reason. I wish I could persuade +Miss Day to be frank with me. Well, now to see if +Gainsay tells the same story. Probably he will, but we +will see.” He paused to regard me soberly. “Is there +any room here in the wing where Gainsay and I could +be undisturbed for a time? This is a case where the +very leaves of the shrubbery seem to have ears and +I don’t want Miss Corole to overhear us—or +anyone else.”</p> + +<p>“Why, yes,” I said slowly. “There is the drug room.”</p> + +<p>The red light above Six gleamed. No other nurse +was about, so I interrupted myself to answer and bring +Sonny a fresh drink.</p> + +<p>“I’ve been wishing you would come in to see me,” +said Sonny cheerfully. “I’ve been alone ever since a +man named Gainsay stopped to see me just at supper +time. He wanted to know where everyone was and +I told him it was just the time when you were all eating. +Say, do you know him? I like him. He is a friend of +Dr. Letheny’s. Say, why doesn’t Dr. Letheny come +in to see me?”</p> + +<p>“Sonny, did you say that Mr. Gainsay was here in +St. Ann’s? Here in your room at dinner time?”</p> + +<p>“Why, sure, he was here! Just about six o’clock.”</p> + +<p>“Where did he go when he left your room?”</p> + +<p>“I think he went on up the corridor toward the general +office. I can’t be sure, though, for I was working +a new cross-word puzzle and didn’t listen for his steps. +Say, Miss Keate, want to see my new puzzle?”</p> + +<p>I forestalled the thin hand groping on the bedside +table.</p> + +<p>“Another time, Sonny. You must go to sleep now.”</p> + +<p>O’Leary’s fingers sought the red pencil stub as I +told him.</p> + +<p>“So,” he pondered, “Jim Gainsay was here in St. +Ann’s.”</p> + +<p>“Where he had no business to be,” I interpolated +grimly.</p> + +<p>“And he was here at about the time I was knocked +out and the radium stolen. This increases my interest +in Mr. Gainsay.” He thrust his stub of a pencil into +his pocket, ran a hand over his already smooth hair, +and glanced at his watch. “I think we’ll have to +disturb Jim Gainsay’s rest to-night—if he is asleep. You +are sure the drug room will not be in use, Miss Keate?”</p> + +<p>“If we need anything I’ll get it myself,” I promised +hastily. There was a sort of repressed smile on his +face as he turned away, though I’m sure I don’t +know why.</p> + +<p>Jim Gainsay must not have been asleep, for within +five minutes the two men were coming along the corridor +from the main entrance. One of the student nurses +saw me lead them into the drug room and her eyes +would likely have popped out had I not spoken sharply +to her. On the theory that every cloud has a silver +lining I considered it fortunate that Eleven chose that +very time for a rather cataclysmic upheaval which kept +Maida thoroughly engrossed for an hour or so, and I +don’t think she ever knew of the interview that took +place there in our wing.</p> + +<p>She came very near it once, when she hurried for +some soothing drops, but I forestalled her by offering +to get the medicine myself. If she thought my hasty +offer curious, she said nothing and went back to her +patient.</p> + +<p>Opening the drug-room door I walked into an electric +atmosphere. Jim Gainsay, lounging tall and bronzed +against the window sill, was clearly furious; his eyes +were narrow and wary, his lean jaw was set, his lips +tight and guarded.</p> + +<p>I caught the words . . . “entirely a personal +matter” in no very pleasant voice from Jim Gainsay.</p> + +<p>“I must insist upon an answer, however,” said +O’Leary. His voice had the keenness of a slender, shining +steel blade.</p> + +<p>Then both men became aware of my presence, and +though I was rather deliberate in measuring the drops, +they said nothing further until I left, when the murmur +of their voices began again.</p> + +<p>The interview prolonged itself and it was a good +half hour before I had a chance—that is, needed to go +into the drug room again, and it was only for an +ice bag.</p> + +<p>“And yet you remain a welcome guest in Corole +Letheny’s house?” said O’Leary.</p> + +<p>“Not so darned welcome,” replied Jim Gainsay, and +I caught the flicker of a smile on O’Leary’s face as I +closed the door.</p> + +<p>In a few moments, however, O’Leary opened the +door, peered down the corridor, saw me and beckoned.</p> + +<p>His eyes were shining with that peculiarly lucent +look as he motioned for me to precede him into the +drug room.</p> + +<p>“I want you to hear this, Miss Keate,” said O’Leary, +his voice very quiet but with a tense, alert overtone +that caught my ears. “Now, Gainsay, will you repeat +that about Higgins?”</p> + +<p>Jim Gainsay glanced at me rather sheepishly.</p> + +<p>“I was telling O’Leary how it happened that I +overheard most of your talk with Higgins the afternoon +before his death. It struck me as foolish to let such +a mine of information get away, and later in the +evening I got hold of Higgins and wormed some more +of the story out of him. For the most part he just +repeated what he had already told you, Miss Keate. +But he did tell me the scrap of conversation that he +promised to tell you—remember?”</p> + +<p>I nodded.</p> + +<p>“It seems that he heard it when he stopped there +near the south entrance on his way to see Dr. Letheny. +I suppose it was this conversation as much as anything +that made him suspicious of what was going on in Room +18. It seems that he knew at once who was on the +other side of the bush; it was Corole and Dr. Hajek. +Corole said—according to Higgins—‘To follow would +be easy, now,’ and Hajek said ‘Wait till he comes out.’ +Then Corole said something about it not being difficult +and Hajek said ‘Leave it to me.’ Then Higgins thought +he must have made some noise among the leaves, for +Corole whispered ‘Hush’ and he heard them slipping +away. Higgins followed but soon lost them in the dark +and himself returned to the interesting vicinity of +Room 18.” He paused.</p> + +<p>“Go on,” said O’Leary grimly.</p> + +<p>“Higgins told you how he came back to the porch +and stumbled over a coat. I got him to tell me +something about the coat. He said it must have been ‘one +of them slickers,’ for it felt cold and oily. And at the +same time he told me a peculiar thing.” Again he paused +as if what he was about to say was distasteful to him. +I glanced at O’Leary; his eyes still wore that strangely +luminous expression. Even the glass doors of the +cupboards all around us and the shining white tiles seemed +to wait expectantly.</p> + +<p>“Go on,” said O’Leary sharply, his words breaking +into the crystal silence.</p> + +<p>Jim Gainsay cleared his throat, felt in his pocket +for a cigarette, remembered that he was in a hospital +and replaced it.</p> + +<p>“He said the coat smelled of—ether!”</p> + +<p>There was a moment of silence. Then I turned to +O’Leary.</p> + +<p>“Ether! It was the same slicker! The one that I +wore Friday afternoon!”</p> + +<p>O’Leary nodded thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>“It might be. At any rate we know that no +slicker was found on the porch or about the grounds, +so it is likely that the murderer of Dr. Letheny carried +it away with him. We had a strict guard on St. Ann’s +the day following the murders. It is barely possible +that we can yet trace the coat that you wore, Miss +Keate.”</p> + +<p>“Poor Higgins,” said Jim Gainsay gravely. “I had +a hard time getting him to tell me that much. He +refused to the last to tell me whose face he saw there +in Room 18.”</p> + +<p>“But he failed to raise an alarm even though he +had reason to think that the radium was being +removed,” murmured O’Leary. “Well, that’s all now, +thank you, Gainsay.”</p> + +<p>Jim Gainsay paused for a moment outside the door +and I saw him look carefully up and down the dim +corridor. No white uniform was in sight, however. +Thinking to facilitate his departure I took the key +to the south door from its hiding place and let him +out that way. When I returned O’Leary was standing +under the green light, studying his small notebook. He +slipped it into his pocket as I approached.</p> + +<p>“Nothing, Miss Keate, but what you heard,” he +said rather wearily. “His explanation of the note to +Miss Day and his activities during the night of the +murders are identical with what Miss Day tells us. He +sticks to the story of his telegram to his business +associates that he told at the inquest. He says he took +Dr. Letheny’s car and left the grounds of St. Ann’s +very soon after you met him in the dark. And that +he was at a ‘corner about half a mile from St. Ann’s’ +when the storm broke—which does not coincide with +what we know. That is, if the lights you saw were the +lights of the car he was driving, and it seems reasonable +to believe that they were.”</p> + +<p>“How about his presence here in St. Ann’s to-night +at the time the radium was taken from you?”</p> + +<p>“That got a rise out of him,” said O’Leary with +an unexpected flash of whimsical satisfaction. “He was +angry in a second. Every time Miss Day’s name came +up he turned savage. If the radium had not disappeared +I should be inclined to think that he came to St. Ann’s +in the hope of seeing Miss Day, but with the radium +gone again——” he stopped abruptly, his face +becoming grave again and dubious.</p> + +<p>The green light cast crawling shadows; the black +window pane stared impenetrably at us; far down the +corridor a light went on with a subdued click, a glass +clinked thinly against something metal, and I heard +the soft pad-pad of a nurse’s rubber heels.</p> + +<p>Presently O’Leary stirred. His eyes, still shining with +that very lucent look, met mine intently.</p> + +<p>“Corole Letheny is next. Do you want to go to see +her with me? Very well, then, suppose we say at eight +in the morning. You might just happen into the Letheny +cottage and I’ll come. I may be a little delayed.”</p> + +<p>The remaining hours of second watch dragged a +little but passed quietly, and promptly at eight o’clock +I wrapped myself in my blue, scarlet-lined cape, +adjusted the wrinkled folds of the detestable Bishop +collar, and let myself out the south door. The path +was still wet, the trees and shrubbery were veiled in +heavy mist, and the whole world very sombre and +desolate.</p> + +<p>At the bridge I came upon Jim Gainsay. He was sitting +disconsolately on a log a little aside from the +path, staring at a toad hopping across his feet and +apparently lost in his own morose thoughts. I don’t +think he had slept for he looked haggard and cold +and must have been smoking steadily for hours, for +there was a little white circle of cigarette ends around +him.</p> + +<p>“Young man,” I said with some acerbity, “don’t +you know that cigarettes are coffin nails and you are +making yourself subject to indigestion, nervous +disorders, tuberculosis and asthma?”</p> + +<p>He rose grudgingly and surveyed me without +enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>“To say nothing of measles and hay fever,” he +said dourly. “Say, Miss Keate, is there any chance +of seeing—her?”</p> + +<p>I did not ask whom.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know. Have you not seen her lately?”</p> + +<p>He glanced at me suspiciously, then motioned to a +seat on the log and I found myself seated none too +comfortably, with the moisture of a tree dripping down +and completing the demoralization of my collar, and +beside me a man whom I suspected of theft and—theft, +to say the least.</p> + +<p>“That was why I was in the hospital last night +about dinner time,” he said companionably. “I haven’t +seen her for days and days. She is too damn’ devoted +to duty.”</p> + +<p>“Miss Day is a nice girl,” I said uncertainly.</p> + +<p>“Nice!” He glared at me. “Nice! Is that all you +can say for her? Lord! She can have me! The minute +I saw her, I thought, ‘There she is! There’s my girl!’ +Say!” he drew a long breath—“and after I talked to +her alone, there at that kitchen window last Thursday +night, I knew Jim Gainsay’s time had come! I drove +straight into town and wired the company that I should +be delayed. And here I stay until she goes with me.” +He paused and added ruefully: “It may take quite a +while to convince her that she wants to go.”</p> + +<p>“So that was what your message meant?”</p> + +<p>He looked at me quickly. No matter what O’Leary +said later I do not believe that Gainsay’s explanation +was anything but spontaneous.</p> + +<p>“Why didn’t you explain before?” I asked tartly, +thinking of the trouble he had caused us.</p> + +<p>“Explain!” cried Jim Gainsay in high derision. “The +woman says ‘Explain’! Explain that I’ve gone straight +off my head about a girl! Please, kind gentlemen, +excuse me for hanging around just when murders are +being perpetrated and no strangers wanted on the +premises. But really, you know, I’ve just fallen in +love. Explain! Hell!”</p> + +<p>In some dignity I rose; even justifiable ill-nature can +go too far.</p> + +<p>“Good-morning, Mr. Gainsay,” I said coldly. But +as I turned the bend in the path, I looked backward. +“I’ll ask her to take a walk this afternoon,” I promised, +being a fool of an old maid. He brightened up at that +and the last I saw of him he was casting pebbles at +the frog with the liveliest interest on the part of each.</p> + +<p>The porch of the Letheny cottage was still unswept +and desolate, and though I rang and rang apparently +no one heard me. Finally I opened the heavy door and +walked into the hall. No one seemed to be about. The +door to the study was closed, and thinking to find +Corole there if anywhere I approached it. But with +my hand actually on the brass knob, I paused, for the +door itself swung gently a few inches toward me, I +heard a low murmur of voices and realized that someone +was on the other side of the door and in the very +act of emerging from it.</p> + +<p>“You are sure it is safe there?” said someone clearly.</p> + +<p>It was Dr. Hajek’s voice.</p> + +<p>“Quite,” said Corole, whose accents were +unmistakable.</p> + +<p>“Then to-day is as good as any.”</p> + +<p>“I—suppose so.” Corole seemed reluctant.</p> + +<p>“Are you backing down?” I had not believed that +Fred Hajek’s voice could be so ugly.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Corole. “No.”</p> + +<p>“Then why not to-day?” The door closed sharply +on the last syllable as if propelled by a vigorous motion +on the part of the speaker.</p> + +<p>In some perplexity I waited. I could still hear the +sounds of voices, but the words were unintelligible. All +at once, however, the man’s voice rose as if in anger, +and without pausing to consider my action I simply +grasped that brass knob and flung the door open.</p> + +<p>I interrupted a strange tableau.</p> + +<p>Corole was leaning backward against the table, +her lips drawn back in a snarl and her eyes gleaming +green fire. Dr. Hajek was no less moved; his face was +dark red, his fists clinched, his dark eyes glittering +unpleasantly between slitted lids. He was speaking +when I opened the door and I caught his last words. +They were thick with fury.</p> + +<p>“. . . and now you refuse. After all I have +done—<em>for you!</em>”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I don’t refuse,” cried Corole.</p> + +<p>Then they both saw me.</p> + +<p>Dr. Hajek’s dark face flushed a still deeper, painful +red. By an effort, apparently of will, he relaxed his +hands, reached for a cap that lay on the table, +muttered something under his breath, and wheeled toward +the door. Corole recovered her self-possession more +easily; she raised her eyebrows and shrugged as if in +amusement. She wore an amazing Chinese coat, stiffly +embroidered in gold and green, dancing pumps with +rhinestone heels and shabby toes, and <em>no stockings</em>!</p> + +<p>“Good-morning,” she said with shameless calm.</p> + +<p>I think O’Leary must have met Dr. Hajek in the +hall, for I heard his voice before he entered the study. +At the door he stopped.</p> + +<p>“You, too,” said Corole, losing her amused smile.</p> + +<p>“May I come in, Miss Letheny?” O’Leary asked. +He looked as fresh and well groomed as if he had had +a long night’s sleep. “I rang the bell but no one +answered.”</p> + +<p>Corole pulled her bizarre coat tighter about her.</p> + +<p>“Huldah decided she no longer liked it here,” she +said. “She left last night—rather abruptly. Yes, do +come in, Mr. O’Leary.”</p> + +<p>There followed an hour I shall not soon forget. I +had never seen Lance O’Leary so mercilessly intent. +I was both fascinated and awed to note the way he +cut through Corole’s pretences and poses, her feline +evasions and her suave smiles, and by sheer strength +of will forced her to give to his inquiries answers that +were direct if they were not entirely truthful.</p> + +<p>He began with the revolver, but she repeated the +denial of all knowledge regarding its presence in Room +18 she had given at the inquest. Also, to further +questions as to her visit to Room 18 on the night it had +sheltered that irascible patient, Mr. Gastin, she +repeated the lame explanation she had given at the time. +She admitted coolly enough that she understood the +use of a hypodermic outfit, and as coolly, though with +an evil glance at me, that she had made a trip through +the orchard immediately after hearing of Dr. Letheny’s +death; she had wished to see Dr. Hajek, she said +brazenly, to discuss with him the news of the tragedy.</p> + +<p>It was then that O’Leary held before her eyes the +small gold sequin.</p> + +<p>“Enough of this, Miss Letheny,” he said coldly. “It +would be better for you to give me your fullest +confidence. Why were you at the window of Room 18 last +Thursday night? This ornament was found on the +window sill. How did it get there?”</p> + +<p>Corole stared blankly from the gold sequin to +O’Leary, but back of those queer topaz eyes I felt that +she was thinking desperately.</p> + +<p>“Well,” she said finally, “I <em>was</em> near Room 18. In +fact, I went as far as the window sill. You see, I was +walking in the orchard. I was near the porch of the +south wing when I heard something—a sort of noise, +there at the window of the corner room.” She stopped +and ran a quick, catlike tongue over her lips. “Room +18, that is. I was rather curious so I crept up nearer +the window. A man was opening the screen and crawling +into Room 18. He left the screen up and I slipped +quietly up to the window. I am rather tall, you know, +and as I leaned for a moment on the sill I suppose +the sequin got detached from my gown.”</p> + +<p>“It was very dark that night. Did you see all this?”</p> + +<p>She moistened her lips again; they were taking on +a bluish tinge.</p> + +<p>“I—I see in the dark better than most people.” +(Which I, for one, did not doubt.) “And anyway I +could hear, you know.”</p> + +<p>“What could you hear? Why should you think that +the noise you heard was made by a man crawling in +the window of Room 18? That is just a little +far-fetched, Miss Letheny.”</p> + +<p>“It is true, anyhow,” she said sulkily. “I heard the +screen catch as he pulled it up and the sort of—scrambling +sound he made, and I could see the patch of light +that was his shirt front.”</p> + +<p>“If all that is true, why did you not rouse St. Ann’s +at once?”</p> + +<p>“Because I knew who the man was.”</p> + +<p>There was a brief, electric silence.</p> + +<p>“Who was the man?” said O’Leary very quietly.</p> + +<p>“My cousin, Louis Letheny.” She brought the name +out with a suggestion of triumph. I do not know whether +it was a surprise to O’Leary or not; however, he said +nothing for a full moment. His clear gray eyes were +studying Corole’s face.</p> + +<p>“Naturally,” went on Corole with a degree of malicious +satisfaction, “naturally I could not arouse the +hospital to advertise the fact that the head of the +institution had just crawled through a window. Who was +I to know Dr. Letheny’s purpose?”</p> + +<p>“You are lying,” said O’Leary. “I warned you not +to lie. The man you saw crawling through the window +of Room 18 was not Dr. Letheny. You and Dr. Hajek +were together in the orchard that night and you +actually did lean at the window sill, intending to enter +Room 18, but Dr. Letheny was already in Room 18. +You and Dr. Hajek discussed whether it would be +better to wait until Dr. Letheny came out of Room +18, or for Dr. Hajek to follow him into that room.”</p> + +<p>In the twinkling of an eye Corole had become saffron +yellow, the dabs of orange rouge on her cheeks +stood out, emphasizing her high cheek-bones with +grisly clearness; her eyes were flat and gleaming and +her lips had drawn back a little from her teeth and +the garish Chinese coat accentuated her ugly pallor.</p> + +<p>“Who told you that?” she whispered through those +hideous lips.</p> + +<p>“Higgins told me,” replied O’Leary very distinctly.</p> + +<p>“Higgins!” cried Corole hoarsely, flinging up one +brown, jewelled hand toward her throat. “Higgins! +But he is dead!”</p> + +<p>“Higgins told me,” repeated O’Leary. “Now then, +tell me. What did you and Dr. Hajek do?”</p> + +<p>“We—we met at the bridge. We walked together +through the orchard.” Corole’s desperate effort to +regain her self-control was not nice to witness.</p> + +<p>“Go on.”</p> + +<p>“Then—as I said—we heard a man in Room 18. +And wanted to know what he was doing there. That +was natural, I think.” She paused.</p> + +<p>“Possibly,” said O’Leary. “Why did you not wait +until this—this man—came out from Eighteen?”</p> + +<p>“We did not wait for him. Someone came along. +We never knew just who it was, though I thought that +it was Jim Gainsay. He was in the orchard that night, +too.”</p> + +<p>“Seems to have been a popular rendezvous,” commented +O’Leary grimly. “So this approaching person +frightened you away?”</p> + +<p>“Not at all,” denied Corole with a flash of her +normal ease. “We just—left.”</p> + +<p>“Where did you go?”</p> + +<p>“Through the apple orchard.”</p> + +<p>“And having eluded this—er—unknown person, you +returned to the intriguing vicinity of Room 18?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Corole flatly. “I came immediately +home.”</p> + +<p>“And Dr. Hajek?”</p> + +<p>“Returned to his room at St. Ann’s.”</p> + +<p>“Are you sure?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“How do you know?”</p> + +<p>Corole hesitated.</p> + +<p>“He told me so, later,” she said lamely.</p> + +<p>“Why were you intending to intercept Dr. +Letheny—or rather, the man whom you thought to be Dr. +Letheny?”</p> + +<p>Corole leaned forward.</p> + +<p>“Look here, I <em>know</em> that Louis Letheny was in Room +18 that night!”</p> + +<p>“I know that, too,” agreed O’Leary quietly.</p> + +<p>She leaned back on the cushions, her eyes puzzled +and her swinging rhinestone heels catching red and +green lights.</p> + +<p>“Why did you intend to intercept him?” repeated +O’Leary.</p> + +<p>“Because—Dr. Hajek felt he should know the reason +for Louis’s strange actions.”</p> + +<p>“Dr. Hajek being an interne and Dr. Letheny the +head doctor,” commented O’Leary skeptically.</p> + +<p>Corole’s eyes shot a vicious, sidelong look at the +detective but she said nothing.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch15"> + +<h2>15. Corole Is Moved to Candour</h2> + +<p>A silence fell in the room. O’Leary walked to the +window, pulled the heavy, mulberry-coloured drapes +aside, and stood there for a moment. The world +outside was sodden and cold; the dense green shrubbery +strange and unfamiliar with its fallen leaves rotting +and its heavy branches dripping. The piano in the +alcove opposite me was shrouded with a great black +velvet cover, but it seemed to me that ghostly fingers +took up the first haunting strains of the C Sharp Minor +Prelude. I stirred impatiently and O’Leary turned to +face Corole, who sat sullenly still in the davenport, +her fingernails digging into an orange pillow.</p> + +<p>“Come, Miss Letheny. Give up the radium and tell +me the whole truth.”</p> + +<p>“I have not got the radium. If you don’t believe me +you can search the house.”</p> + +<p>“The house has already been searched. Your maid +was ordered not to tell you. It was done yesterday +while you were—out.”</p> + +<p>“While I was out yesterday—— Tell me, Mr. +O’Leary, is anyone else honoured with a—guard? The +man from the police department followed me all day +yesterday and I suppose is out there now, sitting on +the porch railing or somewhere.”</p> + +<p>“O’Brien, his name is,” said O’Leary amiably. “No, +you are not the only person thus watched.”</p> + +<p>“I thought not.” Her eyes glinted with malicious +satisfaction. “I thought not. What about Jim Gainsay? +And Maida Day?”</p> + +<p>“Well, what about them?”</p> + +<p>“What about them!” To do Corole justice she did +hesitate for the barest fraction of a second before +she went on: “Is it possible that you do not know +that Maida Day was the last person to talk to Louis?”</p> + +<p>There was a pause, during which Corole looked in +vain for any change of expression in O’Leary’s face.</p> + +<p>“Are you not surprised!” she cried impatiently. +“Goody-goody Maida with her fastidious, touch-me-not +ways was in the orchard with Louis after midnight +last Thursday night.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said O’Leary. “No. I am not surprised.”</p> + +<p>“I heard the whole conversation,” continued Corole, +as if bent on getting some sort of more spirited reaction +out of the detective. “I was there in the shadows and +heard the whole thing. Louis was wild about Maida—I’m +sure I don’t know why. Anyway, she did not hesitate +to tell him that she didn’t return his love.” Corole +smiled a very cruel little smile. “Poor Louis! They +talked for some time. Louis was one of these +cold-natured men, as a rule. I was surprised to hear him. +It was better than a play.”</p> + +<p>“Could you see them?” inquired O’Leary drily.</p> + +<p>“It was black as tar. But I knew their voices. And +anyway I can see in the dark like a cat, so I could +tell about where they were—could see the outline of +Maida’s uniform and Louis’s shirt front.”</p> + +<p>“They could see each other, of course?” asked +O’Leary nonchalantly.</p> + +<p>“No, I shouldn’t think so. I thought I told you that +I can see in the dark better than most people. I’m sure +they couldn’t see each other for I remember that when +they met and began to talk, Maida sort of gasped and +said ‘Who is it?’ and Louis answered her.”</p> + +<p>“How long did they talk?”</p> + +<p>“Not long. Perhaps ten or fifteen minutes.”</p> + +<p>“That was about what time?”</p> + +<p>Corole paused before replying, I suppose to be sure +that she was admitting nothing as to her own activities +on that dark night.</p> + +<p>“It must have been just before one o’clock. I think +it was just after Louis had gone to Room 18 with Sarah +to visit his patient there.”</p> + +<p>“Did Miss Day return at once to the hospital?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, I think so. She was in a rage. I think poor +Louis managed to kiss her and Maida is deplorably +high-spirited. She struck him at the last; I was sure +of that. They parted on very unfriendly terms.” Her +eyes slanted maliciously at O’Leary, but he was +engrossed in studying the soft figures on the rug at his +feet.</p> + +<p>“Why do you tell me all this, Miss Letheny?” he +asked quietly.</p> + +<p>She raised her thin, plucked eyebrows at this, +delicately.</p> + +<p>“Didn’t you ask me to tell you anything that could +help you? I should think that it would be of value +to know that the last person known to have been with +Louis was quarrelling violently with him.”</p> + +<p>“As a matter of fact, you have done Miss Day a +favour,” remarked Lance O’Leary. “You have very +kindly explained the presence of Miss Day’s lapis +cuff link in the pocket of Dr. Letheny’s dinner jacket.”</p> + +<p>Corole’s eyes flickered.</p> + +<p>“I thought you said you were not surprised to hear +this—as if you already knew it.”</p> + +<p>“I suspected some such affair. Miss Day made a +point of saying that the last time she <em>saw</em> Dr. Letheny +was when she left your house Thursday night, and it +was perfectly true. She did not <em>see</em> him when she +talked to him later. But, of course, I knew that she +must have had some sort of meeting with him. Indeed,” +he went on quietly, “I can quite understand Miss Day’s +reluctance to tell of the matter. Any young woman would +shrink from the headlines—can’t you see them: +‘Beautiful young nurse—Love quarrel with Doctor’—all +that sort of thing? Doubtless the cuff link got detached +from the cuff and into Dr. Letheny’s hand and he thrust +it into his pocket thinking to return it—not knowing +what was to happen. Thank you for telling me this, Miss +Letheny.” He walked to the door and paused with +his hand on the knob. His face was very stern as he +glanced back at Corole. “You are only making things +worse for yourself when you refuse to tell the whole +truth. Good-morning, Miss Letheny.”</p> + +<p>Once again on that damp path we said little.</p> + +<p>“It was Miss Day’s meeting with Dr. Letheny that +Corole overheard, then, and threatened to tell of; +that is what Gainsay’s note to Miss Day meant,” said +O’Leary musingly as we approached the south door. +“Well, that meeting does throw a new light on +things—doesn’t it? By the way, Miss Keate, I expect to stay +in St. Ann’s for a night or two. I want no one but you +to know of it.”</p> + +<p>“But where—in what room will you be?”</p> + +<p>“Room 18.”</p> + +<p>I could feel the colour draining from my face.</p> + +<p>“That—room is not safe!”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense.”</p> + +<p>“But, Mr. O’Leary—I have not told you what I +heard this morning!”</p> + +<p>“What’s that!”</p> + +<p>“Corole—Corole and Dr. Hajek——” He waited +in silence while I told him of the singular dialogue that +I had interrupted.</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Miss Keate,” he said quietly when I +had finished.</p> + +<p>“But—aren’t you going to arrest them at once? +Before they do—whatever it is they are planning? We +don’t want another murder in St. Ann’s!”</p> + +<p>He shook his head.</p> + +<p>“I don’t think it will come to that. And anyway, you +know—give a man rope enough——” He did not +complete his sentence.</p> + +<p>I tightened my lips disapprovingly; it seemed to me +that handcuffs would be far more efficacious.</p> + +<p>“Can you keep a secret, Miss Keate?” said Lance +O’Leary suddenly.</p> + +<p>I nodded.</p> + +<p>“Then, if all goes well, another twenty-four hours +will see the end of this affair.” And with that he was +gone, leaving me to stand as if frozen on the step and +watch that slight gray figure till it vanished around +the corner of the hospital.</p> + +<p>Another twenty-four hours!</p> + +<p>I was still on the step, staring absently into the +surrounding greens, when a movement through a lane +of trees caught my eyes. There, strolling through the +wet orchard, was Jim Gainsay. At his side was Maida, +her white cap distinct against that green curtain, her +soft black hair waving gently about her lovely face. +The navy-blue cape she wore was thrown back so that +its scarlet lining gleamed against a fold of her white +dress and the scarlet seemed to match her cheeks and +lips. As I watched, the two suddenly faced each other. +Jim caught at Maida’s hands and held them against +his face and slowly drew her toward him. She yielded +for a moment, then glanced toward St. Ann’s windows +and pulled away. He relinquished her hands and laughed +and after a second she laughed, too. Then they +resumed their slow pace, and the white cap and scarlet +fold of cape and brown Stetson hat disappeared among +the dense green thickets.</p> + +<p>He had succeeded in seeing her, then, and I did not +need to fulfil my promise.</p> + +<p>The rest of the day passed quietly but none too +pleasantly, for the hospital was gloomy and dark and +very hushed, the nurses uneasy and nervous, and there +was a sort of subdued terror that lurked in the very +walls of the great, old place.</p> + +<p>I could not sleep, as was my custom, during first +watch, and it was fortunate, as it happened, that I +could not for I went down to the south wing a little early +and thus, I believe, prevented another panic. I am sure +that any other nurse seeing Corole as I saw her would +have gone completely to pieces.</p> + +<p>This is the way it happened.</p> + +<p>I found myself in the south wing a good half hour +before midnight and strolled casually along the +corridor. The south door was locked as it should be, the +new key having duly arrived and hanging, very bright +and new, on the nail above the chart desk. I remember +that I had just decided to find a new and less well-known +place for it, and having selected a spot at the +right of the door in question was endeavouring to push +in a nail with a glass paper weight, and not having +much success, when a sort of scratching outside the +door caught my ears. I paused to peer through the +small squares of glass.</p> + +<p>The wind had risen again and the low branches +of the trees outside were tossing and moaning. The +corridor was not sufficiently light to enable me to see +beyond the black panes of glass and they glittered +emptily, so that I felt as if eyes were looking in at me. +Then, all at once, a face pressed up against the glass. +It was a face so haggard, so wild, so fraught with +terror that I did not recognize it at once to be Corole’s.</p> + +<p>As I stared she made an imperative gesture and +moved her pale lips in words that I could not hear. +The key was in my hand and I unlocked the door. +Corole slipped stealthily inside and I closed the door +hastily on the wind and rain, locking it before I turned +to her.</p> + +<p>She was panting, her hair was flying in wet strings +about her face and her eyes had great, fiery, black +pupils that caught and reflected the light. She was +wrapped in a dark silk cloak trimmed with monkey +fur that was wet and hung about her neck in long, +dank wisps that added to her wild aspect. One hand +clutched the cloak across her breast and the other +carried a square, leather-covered jewel-case.</p> + +<p>I found my voice.</p> + +<p>“What are you doing here?” I whispered.</p> + +<p>She cast a furtive glance toward the south door.</p> + +<p>“Did you lock the door? Come, is there some place +where we can talk? Here——” With a swift motion +she pushed open the door of Room 18, and pulled +me inside.</p> + +<p>“Don’t turn on the light,” she warned me in a tense +whisper. And indeed, I had no intention of so doing, +for as she spoke I recalled O’Leary’s presence in the +room. I looked sharply toward the bed and chair but +could not tell if either were occupied.</p> + +<p>Corole took several deep, shaking breaths before +she spoke.</p> + +<p>“I’ve been running,” she whispered presently. “I +had to get rid of O’Leary’s watchdogs.” Actually there +was an undercurrent of mirth in her whispered accents, +though I was sure that she had recently had a bad +fright of some kind.</p> + +<p>“Did someone follow you?” I asked.</p> + +<p>She held her breath for a second; then she released +it.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” she said. “I don’t know who it was. Sarah, +I had to come here. I—I am afraid to stay in the +cottage alone all night. Huldah is gone, you know. I—am +afraid. Can’t I stay here?”</p> + +<p>“Certainly not. Don’t be foolish, Corole. St. Ann’s +is not a hotel.”</p> + +<p>She gripped my arm and her hand was trembling.</p> + +<p>“I tell you I am afraid. Sarah, you must let me stay +here. I’ll sleep anywhere. I’ll sleep right here in this +room.”</p> + +<p>“No. No. You can’t do that!”</p> + +<p>“I must stay in St. Ann’s. You can’t put me out +bodily. I’ve got to stay.” I felt her shiver violently. +“I cannot go through that terrible orchard again. I +cannot sleep in Louis Letheny’s house to-night. There +are ghosts, Sarah, ghosts—oh, you don’t know!”</p> + +<p>“Ghosts! There are nothing of the kind.” I felt +my scalp prickle as I spoke.</p> + +<p>“Maybe not. Anyway, I must stay here.”</p> + +<p>“No,” I repeated but she must have felt me weakening +for she renewed her pleas, even promising to make +herself eligible to a room in the hospital by having +tonsillitis, if I insisted. She said she felt it coming on +owing to her getting so wet and being bareheaded. +Which was not only silly, as I assured her, but was +not even to be believed, Corole being as sleek and +healthy as a young jaguar, and about as even-tempered.</p> + +<p>“But you can stay,” I relented, “if you will do as +I say and keep quiet about it.”</p> + +<p>“Heavens, yes!” agreed Corole fervently. “All I +want to do is keep quiet about it. Shall I just stay +right here in Eighteen? I am not afraid.” She moved +toward the bed.</p> + +<p>I grasped her cloak and jerked her back.</p> + +<p>“No,” I said hastily. “No. You cannot stay in this +room.” There may have been a note of consternation +in my voice and I am quite sure I heard a sort of +subdued snicker from the direction of the bed.</p> + +<p>Corole heard it, too.</p> + +<p>“What was that?” she whispered sharply, starting +back against me. I shuddered aside from contact with +that dripping monkey fur.</p> + +<p>“Probably a cat,” I said at random.</p> + +<p>“A cat!” I could feel her pull her short skirt tighter +around her. “I hate cats. They remind me of—— I +hate cats.”</p> + +<p>“Corole, stay right here for a moment or two. <em>Don’t +move from the door!</em> I shall come back and open the +door, and you go as fast as you can through the corridor +and as far as the general office door. Don’t let anyone +see you if you can help it and wait there for me.”</p> + +<p>She murmured something in assent and in less time +than it takes to tell, I had manufactured errands to get +the nurses into the diet kitchen and drug room, had watched +Corole move with the lithe swiftness of an animal +through the long shadowy corridor and myself had +followed her. My own room was, of course, the only +place where I could let her sleep. I even loaned her +a night garment; she looked at its long sleeves and +high neck dubiously but accepted it.</p> + +<p>I gave myself the satisfaction of locking the door +and carrying the key away; I did not know whether +Corole heard the click of the key or not but I did not +intend that Corole Letheny should be allowed to prowl +at large through the dark corridors of St. Ann’s.</p> + +<p>It was a little after twelve when I found myself in +the south wing again. Maida was already there and +Olma Flynn and the same little, blue-striped student +nurse.</p> + +<p>I don’t mind admitting that I slipped into the diet +kitchen at my first opportunity and brewed myself a +cup of very strong, black coffee. Corole’s advent had +shaken my nerves a bit and I did not like the way the +wind was murmuring around the corners of the great +old building, stirring up forgotten drafts and rattling +windows and slapping rain against them.</p> + +<p>Second watch, however, passed quite as usual, save +for the little air of uncertainty and uneasiness that +made itself manifest in our fondness for each other’s +company, our frequent glances into the shadows, and +one or two broken thermometers owing to the sudden +crashes of the wind. The light flickered once as if about +to go out but mercifully did not do so. I might add that +the prevalence of broken thermometers was one of the +minor troubles of that week; a thermometer is an easy +thing to slip from one’s fingers, especially when shaking +it, and it is not surprising that Dr. Balman had had +to order new thermometers for every wing in St. Ann’s.</p> + +<p>The hours seemed very long, particularly when it +occurred to me that if Corole and Dr. Hajek expected +to carry out their scheme that “day” there were only +a few hours left in which to do so. Of course, I had +Corole safely locked up and if her coming to St. Ann’s +in well-simulated terror to beg a refuge was actually, +as I half suspected, only a part of their plan, why then +I had stopped any further activity on her part. But I +could not wholly believe that Corole’s coming had +been prearranged; her panic had been too genuine.</p> + +<p>We were not very busy, so I had plenty of time to +think. More than once I caught myself eyeing Maida +as she went quietly about her business.</p> + +<p>Once, when we were both at the desk, engaged in +a desultory and half-hearted conversation, footsteps +padding softly along the corridor back of us caught +our attention and I turned simultaneously with Maida. +I noted that her eyes flared black as she whirled and her +lips were a quick, set line, and wondered if my own +face showed such immediate alarm. However, it was +only Olma Flynn, advancing to tell me through chattering +teeth that she was sure there was <em>Something</em> in Room +18. I was startled for a flash, though at once I realized +that it was O’Leary, and Maida went white though +she held her shoulders straighter than ever.</p> + +<p>I managed to calm Olma, though she clung to her +point with a firmness that in my heart I labelled plain +mule stubbornness.</p> + +<p>“If we are all murdered before morning, Miss Keate, +it will be your fault,” she said at last.</p> + +<p>“Nonsense! If it is a ghost, as you seem to believe, +you need not be alarmed. Ghosts can’t do anything but +moan around the corners.” It was unfortunate that just +then the wind swept through the draughty old corridor +with a most realistic moan, upon which Olma turned +green and vanished into the diet kitchen. It was this, +I think, that gave rise to a swiftly travelling tale that +Room 18 was haunted, a tale that the south wing has +never yet been able to live down.</p> + +<p>Thinking to warn O’Leary that he must be more +circumspect in his behaviour if he wished his presence +in that ill-omened room to remain a secret, I watched +my chance to slip unobserved into Eighteen. Dawn was +creeping into the room by that time and the furniture +loomed up dark and black in the cold half-light. The +room was quite empty of human presence, though to +my tired nerves it seemed that there might be other +presences. I shrugged aside the unwelcome thought. A +glance at the window showed me that the bolts had +been slipped and the screen opened. I had no doubt that +O’Leary was making use of that low window as others +had done. I resisted a childish impulse to fasten the +bolts against his return and returned to the corridor.</p> + +<hr> + +<p>With the tinny sound of the breakfast bell away +down in the basement, the straggling through the +corridors of the day nurses, freshly uniformed if a trifle +gray about the eyes, the fragrant smell of coffee floating +through the halls, my vigilance relaxed a bit. The night +was past and so far as I knew nothing out of the way +had occurred. Knowing Corole to be a late sleeper +I did not go immediately to my room to release her. +Instead I followed Maida and Olma and the student +nurse downstairs to the dining room. It was a sorry +meal with buckwheat cakes which I despise and which, +besides, give me hives, and Miss Dotty relating a very +lurid dream and dissolving into tears under Melvina’s +interpretation. The tears dripped dismally down Miss +Dotty’s inefficient nose, Melvina enlarged upon the +meaning of dreams, and I found that I had sugared +my coffee twice. I was glad when the meal was over.</p> + +<p>In the intervals of Melvina’s sinister monologue I +had come to the conclusion that Corole Letheny under +lock and key was not a situation to be lightly +relinquished. I sought O’Leary at once, surreptitiously +avoiding the day nurses. He was not in Room 18, so +I straightened the wrinkled counterpane on the bed +and left. As I passed through the corridor of the second +charity ward I took a breakfast tray off the +dumbwaiter standing there unguarded; the disappearance +of the tray caused considerable excitement in the ward, +I found later, which was augmented by its reappearance +later in the morning in the second-floor linen closet +where I had thoughtfully left it, with only the coffee +splashed a little, for Corole did not even see that +breakfast tray.</p> + +<p>When I unlocked the door to my room it required +only a glance to see that my bird had flown, so to speak. +I set the tray on the dresser and advanced into the +room. The bed was tossed and had been slept in, though +the night garment I had loaned her was still decorously +folded on a chair. The window was open, letting in +gusts of rain on my flowered voile curtains which were +running in pink and green streaks and later had to be +replaced. I crossed to close it and in doing so found +the mode of her exit. St. Ann’s, as I have said, was +an old building with numerous turrets and towers and +roof irregularities which included various ledges and +wide window casings. From the window beyond mine +dropped an old-fashioned, iron fire escape fastened to +the old red bricks with rusted bolts. And from my window +to the next ran a sort of ledge, narrow, to be sure, +and slippery, but there was the ivy to cling to and +shrubbery below to break a fall. For a woman of +Corole’s build and propensities it was not a difficult +climb and once on the fire escape the rest was easy. +I leaned out the window. Had I still been unconvinced, +there was proof of her passage, for caught on an ivy +strand there hung a dejected, wet, black wisp of monkey +fur.</p> + +<p>So Corole was gone! I felt guilty for letting her +slip through my fingers but reflected that O’Leary had +known of her presence in St. Ann’s, and moreover, a +woman cannot go far in a drenched coat and no hat.</p> + +<p>This comfortable reflection lasted until I went to +the wardrobe and found that my best hat was gone. +The hat was a very beautiful thing with quantities of +artificial violets on it and three yards of looped purple +ribbon, and had cost me twenty-five dollars owing to +my having it made to order to fit my bobless head. +And Corole had brazenly worn it out in the rain, which +did not increase my affection for Corole.</p> + +<p>I set forth again to find O’Leary, feeling that he +should know at once of Corole’s flight, pausing only +to leave the tray in the second-floor linen closet.</p> + +<p>O’Leary turned up at last in the vast old stable, now +converted into a garage, that is out back of St. Ann’s. +He was apparently engaged in sniffing at something +that I did not see and that he thrust hurriedly into his +pocket at the sound of my approach.</p> + +<p>In as few words as possible I told him of Corole’s +departure.</p> + +<p>His face became very sober.</p> + +<p>“That’s bad,” he said. “That’s bad. I figured she was +safe in your hands. So she got away across that ledge.” +The place was visible from where we stood, and he +surveyed it thoughtfully through the gray streaks of +rain.</p> + +<p>“Well, it can’t be helped now. You say she wore +your hat?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“She would not be apt to return to the Letheny +cottage,” he mused. “Let me see; it is barely seven +o’clock—the stores will not be open for another hour. +There is plenty of time.”</p> + +<p>“The stores?”</p> + +<p>“She will go straight to buy a hat,” he explained +with remarkable lack of tact. “Corole Letheny is not +going far in a hat that——” He noted my unsympathetic +countenance. “A hat that—er—does not suit her. +I mean that she did not choose herself,” he amended +hastily.</p> + +<p>Without saying a word I turned toward the gravelled +path that leads back to St. Ann’s.</p> + +<p>“Wait a minute, Miss Keate,” begged O’Leary +contritely, seeing perhaps that he had offended me in a +matter that no woman can freely forgive. “Please, wait. +If you’ll forgive me I’ll tell you something of interest.”</p> + +<p>Being exceedingly curious I went back. He drew me +into the shadow of a big gray ambulance.</p> + +<p>“I want you to keep an eye on Miss Day,” he said +in a low voice and with an odd glance into the shadows +of the place.</p> + +<p>“Miss Day!”</p> + +<p>“Especially if you see this fellow, Gainsay, hanging +around.”</p> + +<p>“Why, what do you mean? Is Jim Gainsay——”</p> + +<p>“Jim Gainsay is the man who was following Corole +last night. O’Brien was stationed up at the cottage last +night and saw him. It seems that Corole slipped out a +side door. She came out so unexpectedly that she was into +the orchard before O’Brien was after her. He was going +full tilt when he found that someone else was ahead +of him, both of them after Corole, who was having +the devil’s own luck, according to O’Brien, in +avoiding tree trunks and shrubbery. O’Brien says she +can see in the dark. At the bridge O’Brien caught up +with the man and can swear it was Gainsay, but just +then a low-hanging branch knocked O’Brien down and +senseless for a moment and when he got to his feet +Corole and Gainsay were both gone. O’Brien wandered +about the orchard hunting them for half the +night and I ran into him about five o’clock, soaked to +the skin and his face a welt of scratches and his +disposition permanently warped.”</p> + +<p>“So it was Jim Gainsay who gave Corole such a +fright,” I murmured. “I wonder what he wanted.”</p> + +<p>“It looks bad for Gainsay,” said O’Leary thoughtfully. +“Whether he killed Dr. Letheny in a mistaken +effort to defend Miss Day, or whether he killed Jackson +for the sake of the radium, or whether, thinking that +the radium is still at large he is determined to secure +it for his own use, in any case it looks bad. I hope your +little friend, Miss Day, is not going to be too much +hurt.”</p> + +<p>“You mean if she cares for Gainsay? Maida is not +one to wear her heart on her sleeve. If we could only +find that radium,” I concluded hopelessly.</p> + +<p>“Oh, I have the radium,” said O’Leary simply.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch16"> + +<h2>16. The Red Light Above the Door</h2> + +<p>“<em>You have the radium!</em>”</p> + +<p>He nodded. My mouth open I waited for him to +tell me more. In the little silence I heard a sort of rustle +and I looked about me in some alarm. O’Leary heard +the rustle, too, but his face wore the most peculiar +expression of mingled satisfaction and anxiety. He made +the barest perceptible gesture against comment, and +just at the moment Morgue dropped casually down +from an opening above what was formerly a hay loft. +I jumped a little at his—I mean, <em>her</em> unexpected advent +and O’Leary spoke unconcernedly.</p> + +<p>“Yes, I have the radium. Or rather it is in Room +18 which is, I believe, the safest place in the world for +it, inasmuch as there is not a soul in St. Ann’s who would +willingly enter that room—save perhaps your intrepid +self.”</p> + +<p>“How did you find it?”</p> + +<p>“Corole brought it to Room 18 last night.” O’Leary’s +voice had lifted to a normal pitch and I recall thinking +that he should speak lower. “Corole brought it in her +jewel case. The jewel case is there, too; she must have +doubted your—er—hospitality.”</p> + +<p>“Do you mean to say that she had that box of +radium in her jewel case!” I cried. “And that she +left the whole thing there, in Eighteen?”</p> + +<p>“Possibly she agreed with me that it was the safest +place in which to leave it. No one would suspect its +being back in Room 18. No one would voluntarily enter +that room. Oh, she took the precaution to cross to that +closet and place the jewel case away back on the shelf. +She did that while you were clearing the way for her +passage through the halls to your room. She came very +near sitting down on the bed to wait,” went on O’Leary +drily. “And I was endeavouring to give an imitation +of a mattress when you opportunely returned.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” I said brilliantly. “Oh.”</p> + +<p>“It was the same closet that hid Dr. Letheny’s body,” +added O’Leary meditatively. “I will leave the radium +in Room 18 until to-night; it will be under close guard +all day, Miss Keate, but I think it safer to wait till +to-night, during second watch, when the guards are +gone and the wing is quiet, to remove it. I’m not going +to run the risk of Gainsay’s knocking me senseless again. +Of course, we shall have to locate Corole and keep her +out when she returns, as she will, for the radium. Then +I’ll get the stuff away while the hospital is asleep.”</p> + +<p>“Do you think that is wise?” I asked hesitantly. +“Do you think that will be——”</p> + +<p>“Ready to go back to the hospital?” interrupted +O’Leary, and as we walked along the clean white gravel +path he conversed so fluently and determinedly about +the effect of the continued moisture upon the crops that +I could not get a word in edgewise. At the grade door +we paused and O’Leary said a peculiar thing.</p> + +<p>“See you later in the day, Miss Keate. Twelve of +the twenty-four hours I gave myself are gone, you +know. And by the way, you couldn’t have done better +if you had rehearsed.” And with that he was gone, +leaving me entirely in the dark as to his meaning and +feeling rather irritated. Morgue, who had followed +us along the path, brushed against my skirts. She had +already lost her air of pride and was taking on a +certain harassed appearance besides being very thin. But +her yellow eyes raised to mine were still complacent +and knowing and so like Corole’s that I thrust her +impatiently aside with my foot and closed the door sharply.</p> + +<p>The rain continued, steadily increasing in fervour +as the dreary day passed. All morning I remained in +my room, the door locked securely, a chair in front +of the window lest Corole should take a notion to +return the way she had gone, and myself trying to +sleep and succeeding for the most part in staring at +the ceiling or at the rain-smeared window.</p> + +<p>At noon I rose, dashed ice water on my tired eyes, +dressed and started downstairs. The dark day made +the vast old place gloomier than ever and lights had +had to be turned on all over the building which, +however, failed to dispel the lurking shadows. Apparently +the nurses were doing their duty as well as might be +expected, though I noted that they gathered in groups +and that there was a noticeable lack of smothered talk +and laughter.</p> + +<p>In the north wing of the second floor I caught a +glimpse, as I rounded the stairs, of Dr. Hajek, clad +in fresh, white duck trousers and coat and certainly +not much resembling a thief and a murderer, making +his morning rounds, and at the door of the maternity +ward I met Dr. Balman, an attendant nurse at his +elbow.</p> + +<p>It was strange to see the everyday routine going +on almost as usual, almost as if we were not held in +the cold grip of horror. No, not quite as usual, for +there was somehow about the place, emanating from +the very, white and expectant walls, an air of suspense, +of breathless waiting.</p> + +<p>Dr. Balman had noted it, too.</p> + +<p>“Even the patients are upset and restless to-day,” +he said wearily, as I stopped to ask him about Sonny, +whose cast did not satisfy me. He rubbed his hand over +his high, benevolent forehead, drew it gently over the +bruise that still looked red and angry, and sighed.</p> + +<p>“It is the weather,” I suggested, though it was +nothing of the kind.</p> + +<p>“Yes. Yes, it must be the weather. A constant +succession of cloudy, rainy days such as we have been +having is bad for the nerves. I hope this rain sees the +end of it.” His anxious eyes went past me toward the +window at the end of the corridor.</p> + +<p>“One wonders where it is all coming from,” I commented. +“I think, too, that the patients feel the—er—atmosphere +of the hospital. The nurses are uneasy and +nervous, jump at every sound, and there is a distinct +feeling of suspense and—breathlessness in the air.”</p> + +<p>Dr. Balman nodded; his eyes looked tired and sad +under his thin eyebrows.</p> + +<p>“I understand what you mean. There is a psychic +undercurrent of unrest and alarm that is bound to +communicate itself to the sick.”</p> + +<p>“You aren’t looking well, Dr. Balman,” I said. “You +should have that bruise attended to.” And I thought, +though I did not say it, that he would profit by some +liver pills.</p> + +<p>“I haven’t had time——” he began; a nurse rattling +up to us in her crisp skirts interrupted him with +a question and I went on downstairs.</p> + +<p>A letter was waiting for me on the rack in the hall. +I did not recognize the handwriting, which was square +and distinct and very painstaking; the signature, +however, caught my attention and I ran through the note +hastily, read it again more carefully, and with an +involuntary glance about me I withdrew into a secluded +corner of the hall and read it once more. It was short +and to the point.</p> + +<blockquote> + + <p class="salutation">Dear Miss:</p> + + <p>I think it is my dooty to tell you somthing I heerd. It is about + Mr. Gansie I liked him but he is croked. He thinks Miss C whuz + name I will not menshun has the radeyum, she said you know + more than you will tell about those murders too and he said well + what if I do what I want is the radeyum. Then she said youd better + get out of here before you land in jail and he said speak for + yourself. Then the kitchen door blew shut. You can tell that little man + with the gray eyes if you want to.</p> + + <p>That Gansie is a bad man he has a revolver in his pocket.</p> + + <p>I have left Miss C for good.</p> + + <p class="valediction">Yours respectfully,</p> + <p class="signature">Huldah Hansinge.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Aside from reading “croked” to be “croaked” and +thinking for a wild second that she was announcing +Gainsay’s death, I had no difficulty in understanding +Huldah’s amazing epistle. It sounded exactly like her, +and Huldah is honest, so I did not even have the dubious +satisfaction of doubting her word. It was my duty, too, +to turn the thing over to O’Leary, and I should have +done so at once had I been able to find him. But he +was not to be found and I finally went down to lunch +with a heavier heart.</p> + +<p>The afternoon passed as slowly as the morning. +O’Leary stayed out of sight, I heard no news about +Corole or the radium, and the note from Huldah was +simply burning a hole in my pocket. I tried telephoning +to O’Leary but could not even get an answer from +his servant. It was while I was in the general office +that someone telephoned for Dr. Hajek. Miss Jones +was at the telephone and asked me to call him, saying +he was in the south wing.</p> + +<p>“It’s a woman,” she said, winking at me. “She +wouldn’t give her name or number.”</p> + +<p>I found Dr. Hajek in Room 17 changing a dressing. +He dropped his forceps and pulled off his rubber gloves +so hastily that they split across one palm.</p> + +<p>“Pick up those forceps and sterilize them,” he directed +the attendant nurse. “I’ll be back in a moment.”</p> + +<p>I suppose he noted the disapproval in my face, for +as we left he murmured something about having expected +an important call and Seventeen being all right +until he returned. In the corridor, tipped back against +the door of Eighteen, lounged a policeman. Dr. Hajek +regarded him speculatively but said nothing concerning +his presence, which was, to my mind, an extraordinarily +stupid arrangement. It seemed far better, to me, +to remove the radium under guard to a place of +safe-keeping, but O’Leary’s business was O’Leary’s.</p> + +<p>It seemed a singular thing that this man Hajek was +at liberty to go about the hospital, his opinions +deferred to by the nurses, his duty to administer to the +sick, and at the same time he was most certainly +involved somehow in the ugly, sordid tragedy that had +befallen us. I followed his white coat through the +intervening corridors and, recalling a record I had +meant to look into, also into the general office. But +as I bent over the filing cabinet, though every word +of his brief conversation was audible to me, I could +make nothing of it. It consisted of three “Yes’s,” one +“No,” and finished with “All right.” Upon which he +hung up the receiver and departed briskly toward the +south wing and Seventeen. Miss Jones was no wiser +than I, for his eyes had been on her as he talked and +she had not dared listen in.</p> + +<p>“There’s one thing I know, Miss Keate,” she said +as I was about to leave. “That voice at the other end +sounded for all the world like Miss Letheny’s.”</p> + +<p>And some twenty minutes later I was quite sure +that I saw Dr. Hajek going unostentatiously out the +grade door toward the garage, though when the bell +rang for dinner he was sitting in the general office +smoking a forbidden cigar and reading the evening +papers with the utmost composure.</p> + +<p>I spent most of the intervening time wandering +about the halls; I was very restless and could not +settle down to anything, and altogether the afternoon +was a total loss so far as anything interesting was +concerned, so I was not in the best of humours at dinner.</p> + +<p>Once I caught a fragment of conversation from a +little group of nurses down at the end of the table.</p> + +<p>“. . . and I said, ‘What on earth is that man doing +out in the elderberry bushes in all this rain?’ and she +said, ‘He is watching Room 18.’ ”</p> + +<p>“Why are they watching Room 18?” asked Miss +Ferguson, wide-eyed.</p> + +<p>“Don’t ask me!” The first girl shrugged her shoulders. +“But there have been a couple of men, besides that +policeman in the south wing, hanging around all day; +I don’t think they are police because they don’t wear +uniforms, but they didn’t have their eyes off the +windows of Room 18 all day long.”</p> + +<p>“What do you suppose is the reason?” whispered +someone in a tense, shrill whisper that carried.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know!”</p> + +<p>“Mercy, I’m glad I’m not on duty in the south wing,” +said someone else, and all the eyes at the table +immediately focussed on me.</p> + +<p>“Well, whatever it is, I wish it would be settled,” +announced Miss Ferguson vigorously. “I’m getting so +nervous I drop everything I touch. And my neck is stiff +from twisting it to look back over my shoulder.”</p> + +<p>Melvina Smith cleared her throat and I left the table +at once. I have nothing against Melvina, but if she +had been in the south wing during the past week she +would have got her fill of horrors.</p> + +<p>With the gathering darkness the feeling of impending +catastrophe that had hung over us all day intensified +itself. By midnight I was as jumpy as a race horse, +my heart leaping to my throat at every sound and my +hands shaking so that I could scarcely turn off my alarm +clock and adjust my cap.</p> + +<p>The storm had grown steadily worse and by twelve +o’clock was blowing a gale with thunder and lightning +making the night hideous. The old building seemed to +tremble at each onslaught, and every window casing +rattled and every curtain flapped and the whole place +seemed to quiver and shudder as if it were alive.</p> + +<p>On the way down to the south wing, I don’t mind +saying that I suffered from something very near to +stage fright, at least there was a rock in the pit of +my stomach and the backs of my knees felt shaky and +not to be depended upon. I very nearly shrieked when +I heard footsteps back of me on the stairs, but it was +only Maida, going down to duty, and together we +walked through those deserted, creaking halls.</p> + +<p>I had not been on duty more than twenty minutes +when I found a note pinned to the order blank and +addressed “Miss Keate”! It was sealed, and across +the paper was a single sentence splashed hurriedly:</p> + +<blockquote> + + <p>When the red light shines above 18 answer it.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>I wheeled to stare down the length of corridor toward +that closed, inscrutable door at its far end. The corridor +lost itself in the shadows and the door was itself +indistinguishable, but it seemed to me that the +faraway panes of glass in the south door caught green +glints of light from the shade above my head.</p> + +<p>“When the red light shines above 18 answer it.”</p> + +<p>What was going on in the dark room? What did it +mean?</p> + +<p>It was fortunate that I had plenty of assistance, +for I could not possibly have gone about my duty with +this amazing thing in my mind. In fact, I paid very +little attention to the demands of the wing and +alternated my gaze between my wrist watch and that +shadowy end of the south wing corridor.</p> + +<p>When the red light shines above 18!</p> + +<p>When would it shine—what would I see upon +opening that heavy gumwood door?</p> + +<p>When the red light shines . . . After what seemed +eons of time I strolled casually and with attempted +calm in that direction. My heart began to pound +violently as I approached that mysterious door. I paused +at the south end of the corridor, pretending to +scrutinize a thermometer that hung on the wall and +listening with all my ears toward that dully gleaming panel +of gumwood. Not a sound came from it, and though +I lingered for some time in the vicinity, still I heard +nothing.</p> + +<p>On the way back Olma Flynn stopped me.</p> + +<p>“Eleven says he will not take his medicine, Miss +Keate. What shall I do?”</p> + +<p>I must have answered her rather vaguely and, in +fact, barely heard her question. At any rate, she gave +me a strange look, whirled to follow my gaze down +the corridor south and, seeing nothing, faced me again.</p> + +<p>Her eyes were very wide and her mouth hung open.</p> + +<p>“What—what did you say, Miss Keate?”</p> + +<p>“I’ll see about it in the morning,” I replied, quite +at random. She retreated, eyeing me with trepidation, +and later I saw her whispering with the student nurse +in the drug room and both of them regarding me +distrustfully.</p> + +<p>Somehow the seconds dragged along. I took up my +post at the chart desk, turning the chair so that it +faced the long length of empty, dark corridor, and +the dark space above Eighteen was visible to me.</p> + +<p>Maida stopped at the desk now and then, and once +paused to survey me curiously.</p> + +<p>“What on earth is the matter with you, Sarah?” +she asked.</p> + +<p>“Nothing,” I replied, looking for the thousandth +time at my watch. It was then a quarter of two.</p> + +<p>She studied me oddly for a moment.</p> + +<p>“What a night! The wind and rain is getting awfully +on my nerves.” She unpinned her thermometer, took +off the cap and held it closer to her eyes. “I was taking +a temperature a moment ago when that loud crack of +thunder came and it startled me so that I dropped +the thermometer. I don’t think”—she paused to squint +interestedly along the small glass tube—“I don’t think +I broke it. For heaven’s sake, Sarah!” she broke off +in sudden irritation. “Stop staring down the corridor. +You make me edgy. What are you looking for? What +do you——”</p> + +<p>I did not hear the rest of the sentence. I sprang to +my feet, peering through the semi-darkness to be sure +my eyes had not mistaken me.</p> + +<p>They had not!</p> + +<p>Gleaming above the door of Eighteen was a single, +small red light!</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch17"> + +<h2>17. O’Leary Tells a Story</h2> + +<p>The next thing I remember is finding myself at the door +of Room 18, my fingers on the door knob, my breath +coming in gasps and my heart literally in my throat.</p> + +<p>What would the opening of that door disclose?</p> + +<p>I took a long, shuddering breath, pushed open the +door and took a few steps forward.</p> + +<p>Intense blackness met my eyes, but through it I heard +scraping sounds and heavy breathing and the impact +of flesh against flesh, and the indescribable sounds of +two bodies struggling together. Instinctively I stepped +inside the room, closed the door behind me, and felt +along the wall for the electric button.</p> + +<p>And at that instant a vivid flash of lightning lit +up the room and I caught a glimpse of two men +interlocked and swaying and I heard O’Leary’s hoarse +whisper.</p> + +<p>“Don’t—turn on—the lights! Don’t——” the rest +was lost.</p> + +<p>I stood there as if frozen to the spot, longing to +take a hand in things and not daring to do so. Then all +at once someone said breathlessly:</p> + +<p>“O’Leary!”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Hell.”</p> + +<p>The men seemed to fall apart.</p> + +<p>“All right, then! Here it is!” The words were whispered +in a panting voice that I did not recognize.</p> + +<p>Then I felt rather than saw that the slighter of the +two figures tiptoed to the window next to the bed, peered +through the dashing of rain outside for a moment, and +then tiptoed as cautiously back.</p> + +<p>“Into that corner! There, back of the screen! Miss +Keate?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Over here, quick!”</p> + +<p>I stumbled a little as I passed the foot of the bed, +found a hand outstretched in the darkness to guide +me, and in a flash was in the darkest corner of the room, +behind the burlap screen.</p> + +<p>“Be quiet!” warned O’Leary sternly.</p> + +<p>Beside me, breathing quickly, was that other man; +as I shrank back a little I came in contact with +something cold, touched it tentatively with my fingers and +drew back, chilled. It was square and hard and pressing +into the coat of the man at my side. It must be held +in O’Leary’s hand.</p> + +<p>And I was standing within an inch of the thing. I +must have made a sudden movement for O’Leary +whispered sharply again: “<em>Hush!</em>”</p> + +<p>As if petrified, the three of us stood behind that +burlap screen. There was not a sound in the room. +As my eyes became adjusted to the darkness I found +that the window near the bed was faintly visible through +the crack in the screen and I glued my gaze to that crack.</p> + +<p>Once the man at my side stirred a little and then +quieted abruptly, and I had no doubt that that +menacing revolver was thrust closer into his ribs.</p> + +<p>Just as I felt that my lungs were bursting I became +aware that there was a shadow, deeper than the +surrounding shadows, there at the window. I blinked and +peered closer. Yes, I was sure. Silently, with amazing +lack of sound it crept from the window sill into the +room, paused for a second and then, so silently that +it did not seem to be anything human, it glided across +the room and out of my little angle of vision.</p> + +<p>Then I was aware that O’Leary was gone and +simultaneously I heard a sound like the creaking of a bed +spring and O’Leary’s voice, cold and hard as that vicious +revolver.</p> + +<p>“Stand where you are! Hands up! Turn on the light, +Miss Keate. Hands up! I’ve got you!”</p> + +<p>Turn on the light!</p> + +<p>Cross that room to the door? No, here was the +light above the bed! Where was the cord! Ah! My +fingers grasped it, pulled convulsively and light flooded +the room.</p> + +<p>There was a muffled exclamation from the closet +door. A man standing there flung his hands over his +head. O’Leary was standing on the high, narrow bed, +his revolver covering the room. The man behind the +screen was still motionless.</p> + +<p>“All right, O’Brien,” said O’Leary very quietly, +without moving his head.</p> + +<p>“All right,” echoed a voice at the window. There +was O’Brien’s head at the window and along the sill +gleamed the barrel of another revolver, and then another +as a stalwart policeman loomed up beside O’Brien.</p> + +<p>My head cleared and my eyes stopped blinking in +the sudden light.</p> + +<p>The man at the closet door was Dr. Fred Hajek. +His face was putty-coloured. His small eyes gleamed +like a frightened animal’s. His raincoat dripped +moisture in a little puddle on the floor.</p> + +<p>“Got him covered, O’Brien?” said O’Leary +cheerfully.</p> + +<p>“Right!” said O’Brien.</p> + +<p>O’Leary leaped lightly from the bed, strode over +to the burlap screen, and pulled it back.</p> + +<p>Jim Gainsay stood there, his cap pulled low over +his eyes, his lean jaw set. One hand was thrust into +the pocket of his coat, and the other grasped a small, +square box. At the sight of the box I gasped something +and pointed.</p> + +<p>“The—the radium!”</p> + +<p>“It’s you, is it?” said O’Leary in a strange voice.</p> + +<p>Hajek made a sudden movement; O’Leary whirled.</p> + +<p>“Stop that!” his voice cracked like a whip. Hajek, +with a furious glance at the men in the window, +subsided.</p> + +<p>O’Leary turned again, walked to the middle of the +room and paused, looking from one man to the other +with a curious expression in his eyes.</p> + +<p>“Well,” he said. “I’ve got you both.”</p> + +<p>Gainsay started to speak and stopped as the nose +of one of the revolvers shifted restlessly.</p> + +<p>“Put down your hands if you want to, Hajek,” said +O’Leary easily. “Or—wait a moment.”</p> + +<p>He crossed to him, ran his hands quickly over Hajek’s +pockets, unheeding the fury in those little eyes, extracted +a small revolver and tossed it on the bed and smiled.</p> + +<p>“There you are, Doctor,” he said politely. “You +may lower your hands, now.”</p> + +<p>There was a slight commotion at the window.</p> + +<p>“Here’s somebody, Mr. O’Leary,” said someone. +“He was in the shrubbery and you said not to let +anybody get away.”</p> + +<p>O’Leary peered into the little group at the window, +then his eyes lightened.</p> + +<p>“Oh, it’s you, Dr. Balman. You came at just the right +time. I think we have bagged our birds. Can you come +through the window, Doctor?”</p> + +<p>It was Dr. Balman, sure enough, water running off +his shoulders and shining in the light as he crawled +through the window assisted by the policeman.</p> + +<p>Once inside the room Dr. Balman looked slowly +about him.</p> + +<p>“What is this? What have you found, O’Leary?” +His puzzled gaze found the box in Gainsay’s hand. He +started. “Why—why is that the radium?”</p> + +<p>“It may interest you to know, Dr. Balman, that we +have caught the murderer and thief.”</p> + +<p>“What!” cried Dr. Balman. His eyes travelled slowly +around the room and his voice broke a little as he cried: +“Not—not Fred Hajek?”</p> + +<p>O’Leary’s keenly exultant eyes softened a little.</p> + +<p>“Wait,” he said. “There is another in the room.”</p> + +<p>Taking a key from his pocket, he crossed lightly to +the closed door of the further closet, unlocked it and +swung it open. I took a step forward and cried out +involuntarily. Instantly I recognized my own purple +hat, sodden and drenched, and then, cramped in that +small space, a woman’s huddled figure. It was Corole!</p> + +<p>As we stared she glared back at us for a moment. +Then she rose slowly, struggling with cramped muscles. +Her eyes, narrow with hate, were fixed on Lance +O’Leary.</p> + +<p>“I’ve been there for hours,” she said in a strange +voice that was hoarse and strained with fury. She +stamped her feet to start circulation and flexed her arms +slowly. Then she pulled my hat from her head, tossed +it contemptuously out of the way and ran her brown +hands through her tossed, yellow hair. “You are going +to suffer for this,” she said. “How dare you force me +into that closet, lock the door and leave me!” She +took a tigerish step or two toward O’Leary, her nails +gleaming suggestively.</p> + +<p>“Not so fast, my lady,” interposed O’Brien, who +had slipped silently through the window. Corole +shifted her malignant gaze, regarded O’Brien for a +moment, then slowly and malevolently swept the room.</p> + +<p>“So you are here, too?” she said to me. “And Dr. +Balman. And Jim. Quite a family party.”</p> + +<p>“You are right,” agreed O’Leary smoothly. “Quite +a family party. In fact, we need only one more to make +our circle complete. Miss Keate, will you please +summon Miss Day?”</p> + +<p>My heart leaped again as I heard the name, and I +heard Jim Gainsay mutter something that was quickly +silenced. I opened the door and slid into the corridor; +there was no need to call Maida, for there she was, +standing opposite the dark door above which still +gleamed that ominous red light. She was very white +but said nothing as I beckoned her inside the room.</p> + +<p>At our entrance O’Leary became active. He motioned +to the available chairs.</p> + +<p>“Sit down, Miss Day—Miss Keate. Dr. Balman, +there is a place on the bed. We may as well make +ourselves comfortable for I have a story to tell.”</p> + +<p>I suppose my eyes went in some anxiety to the precious +box in Jim Gainsay’s hand that was the cause of +it all, for O’Leary smiled a bit grimly.</p> + +<p>“Don’t be alarmed, Miss Keate. The radium is not +in that box; I took it immediately to—a safe place. +The box over there was only a bait.”</p> + +<p>With a disgusted exclamation Jim Gainsay dropped +the box and folded his arms. His eyes sought Maida’s +but she did not return his gaze.</p> + +<p>“Well, Dr. Hajek,” said O’Leary. “It is too bad +it has turned out this way. I thought better of you.”</p> + +<p>Dr. Hajek lifted his lip in something very like a +snarl but said nothing. Corole made a sudden +movement which she checked under O’Leary’s regard.</p> + +<p>“Are you sure it was Dr. Hajek? Tell me about it, +O’Leary.” The ring of authority was manifest in Dr. +Balman’s weary tones.</p> + +<p>“In my own way,” promised O’Leary with an apologetic +glance toward Dr. Balman. “In the first place, +the superstition which so unpleasantly impressed you, +Miss Keate, has been fulfilled again.” He paused +dramatically, and from somewhere in the room came +a sharp sigh of suspense. “The murderer of Jackson +<em>was</em> near by when you saw blood flowing from that +small wound. But he was in—that closet.” He pointed. +The silence breathed a question that none of us dared +speak.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said O’Leary, answering the unspoken +inquiry. “Yes. It was Dr. Letheny.”</p> + +<p>“Dr. Letheny!” cried Jim Gainsay.</p> + +<p>“Not—not Dr. Letheny,” faltered Dr. Balman.</p> + +<p>“It was Dr. Letheny,” repeated O’Leary quietly.</p> + +<p>“I knew it!” cried Corole. “I knew it!”</p> + +<p>No one looked at her. Our eyes were without +exception fastened upon O’Leary’s face.</p> + +<p>“How do you know?” I said at last.</p> + +<p>O’Leary glanced about the room in indecision, then +he shrugged.</p> + +<p>“As well here as anywhere,” he said. “How did I +know that it was Letheny? Why did not Higgins rouse +the place? Because he saw the head doctor in this room. +Why was there need to hunt for the radium? Because +that man who hid the stuff was dead; Dr. Letheny, +disturbed about the ugly business, afraid of being caught +with it in his possession, hid the thing in the loud +speaker, thinking no one saw him. And only Higgins +knew where it was, and Higgins, terrified at what he +had seen, was afraid to tell for he knew that +someone—<em>someone</em> had come upon Letheny and killed him and +Higgins hoped to escape the same fate. And since there +were—others desiring the radium, a hunt was made +for it. A search that was finally successful.” His clear +gray eyes went from Corole to Hajek.</p> + +<p>“But just as Dr. Letheny was about to leave the +room another man came upon the scene, determined +to take the radium for himself. Then—I don’t know +exactly what happened but the two men struggled and +in the struggle Dr. Letheny’s head struck with such +force that it killed him—<em>this</em>”—he crossed the room +to the massive, square-cornered lavatory. “I am sure +of that,” went on O’Leary, “for I examined it before +a thing in the room had been touched. The other man, +frightened perhaps, knowing that he was in desperate +danger of being charged with murder, dragged Dr. +Letheny’s body into that closet, locked the door and +got rid of the key, hoping to postpone the discovery +of Dr. Letheny’s death for as long as possible and thus +cover his own tracks. But first he found that the radium +was not to be found and knew that Letheny must have +hidden it somewhere in the room. He did not dare search +for it then, he would have to return. He retreated by +the way he had come, through the window, there, +and—and crawled through the window of his own room +in the hospital in time to answer Miss Keate who, by +that time, was pounding on the door.”</p> + +<p>His eyes went to Dr. Hajek, whose face was quite +ghastly.</p> + +<p>O’Leary forestalled the words on Dr. Hajek’s lips.</p> + +<p>“Not now,” he said sternly. “You will have plenty +of time to talk—later.”</p> + +<p>“Then—then you feel sure it was Dr. Letheny who +killed Jackson?” asked Dr. Balman incredulously.</p> + +<p>“Positive,” said O’Leary. “As further proof, the +revolver that belongs to Miss Letheny bears Dr. +Letheny’s finger prints. Why should he bring a revolver +to a hospital if his errand was entirely peaceful? He +wanted the radium, he needed the money—I honestly +believe that the man wanted the money for research.” +There was a shade of pity in O’Leary’s voice. “And +as to the mechanics of the situation, Dr. Letheny must +have made up his mind quite suddenly to secure the +radium for his own use; he came to St. Ann’s—I wonder +what his feelings were when he examined the patient +whom he was soon to rob, I do not think the murder +was intentional—then, presumably he left. Outside the +hospital he accidentally came upon Miss Day and +detained her for some time—er—seizing her sleeve as +she attempted to return to the wing, and in so doing +detached her cuff-link. Is that right, Miss Day?”</p> + +<p>Without a word Maida nodded assent but her deep, +blue eyes shot a glance of gratitude toward the young +detective.</p> + +<p>“Then, determining to carry out his hastily formed +plan for stealing the radium, he watched his chance +and while Miss Day was busy in the kitchen and Miss +Keate was detained for some fifteen minutes +in—Room 11?”</p> + +<p>“Room 11,” I said.</p> + +<p>“—he must have slipped along the corridor into +the drug room and helped himself to morphine tablets +and hypodermic needle and hurried back, unseen, to +Room 18. Jackson very likely never knew what happened, +but Dr. Letheny was safe because, in the first +place, Jackson was not surprised at the presence of +his doctor and would have had no occasion to object +to a hypodermic injection, and furthermore, on waking +from a drugged sleep, impressions immediately +preceding that sleep are vague and confused and could +scarcely be given as evidence. I do not believe that Dr. +Letheny intended to make the dose fatal; I believe he +only intended that Jackson should know nothing of the +radium being removed, but in his natural excitement +Dr. Letheny either misjudged the dose he was giving +or the resistive powers of his patient, with the result +that we know. Dr. Letheny tossed the needle through +the open window, where it was later found. In the main, +I believe I am right; there may be slight discrepancies. +One can’t be absolutely sure when +both—er—participants are dead.”</p> + +<p>There was a moment of tense silence. Then Corole +spoke.</p> + +<p>“So it was Louis,” she said in a tone of ugly +satisfaction. “I knew it. I knew it all along for I +watched——” She checked herself.</p> + +<p>O’Leary turned sharply.</p> + +<p>“Just a moment,” he said coldly. “Your skirts are +not entirely clear. There is Higgins’s death yet to +explain, and the theft of the radium.”</p> + +<p>“I knew nothing about Higgins’s death,” cried +Corole.</p> + +<p>“Go on, Mr. O’Leary,” begged Dr. Balman. Under +the light his face looked drawn and aged.</p> + +<p>“From that night on the struggle has been for the +discovery and possession of the radium. It was thought, +by those who knew of Dr. Letheny’s participation in the +affair, to be still in Room 18. Hajek was determined +to find it, even going so far as to steal the key to the +south door in order to effect an entrance at any time.”</p> + +<p>Again Dr. Hajek made an inarticulate murmur which +O’Leary silenced.</p> + +<p>“Becoming impatient at his continued failure to +locate the radium, Miss Letheny herself, who was +in—er—in cahoots with Hajek, took a hand in the +matter. Knowing what had happened in the room and +being by nature extremely superstitious, she was +intensely frightened when upon entering Room 18 in the +middle of the night in order to make a search for the +radium herself, she saw a sheeted figure on the bed. +She, too, failed to find the radium.”</p> + +<p>“You are perfectly right about that,” said Corole +brazenly. “But you are wrong about——”</p> + +<p>“Then one night Hajek grew desperate; he wanted +the radium and Corole—that is, Miss Letheny—was +reproaching him for his continued failure to find the +radium. He recalled the circumstance of the electric-light +connection having been damaged by lightning on +the night of June seventh, decided that that condition +was a valuable help and, repeated, would aid him in +making a thorough and prolonged search in Room 18. +So he went to the basement, disconnected the electric +current, let himself out the grade door, ran around +the corner of the hospital, entered the south wing by +the unlocked south door, for the windows were bolted, +and was into Room 18 in about a minute and a half +after he pulled the light switch. Either from reflection +or because he had exhausted all the other available +hiding places, he went at once to the loud speaker, which +by an odd circumstance was the original speaker that +was in Room 18 the night of the seventh. But Higgins, +in the basement, saw him and followed him. Higgins +came upon him in Room 18. As I say, Hajek had at +last found the radium and at the knowledge of someone +witnessing his theft he shot wildly in the dark, the +bullet killing Higgins instantly. Likely Higgins had +said something, indicated in some way that he knew +what Hajek was about and what he had taken from +that loud speaker. I don’t know how it happened that +Higgins got up courage enough to follow and threaten +Hajek with exposure, but he evidently did. Hajek, +frightened at the consequence of his deed, simply acted +from primitive impulse; if he were caught on his way +from the hospital the possession of the radium would +be a distinctly incriminating fact, no matter how he +tried to explain it away. He had only a few seconds +in which to act, and he followed Dr. Letheny’s example, +hiding the radium in the first place that came to hand +which was—a flower pot. He scooped out the dirt, +thrust the box into the aperture and the soil in his pocket +and hurried from the wing, around the hospital, in the +basement door and to his room—where we found him +later. He had barely time to get to his room +unobserved.”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t! You are lying! I didn’t!” cried Dr. Hajek, +his face livid and those glaring eyes going from one to +the other of us. “I tell you I didn’t!”</p> + +<p>At a motion from O’Leary, O’Brien stepped closer +to Hajek, thrusting the revolver he held close to +Hajek’s ribs.</p> + +<p>“But—but the mud on the window casing,” I began, +bewildered. “If he used the grade door and came up +by the basement——”</p> + +<p>O’Leary interrupted me.</p> + +<p>“Miss Day happened on the radium in the pot of +lobelias; it was in the corridor where Hajek had placed +it in his hurry, knowing that Room 18 would be +thoroughly searched. Miss Keate in the meantime—I think +we need not go into that. Anyway it came thus to my +hands for a moment or two before Hajek knocked me +senseless and took the radium. He had managed, from +his room off the general office, to hear Miss Keate’s +announcement and must have watched until she gave +it to me——”</p> + +<p>“I’ll admit to that,” cried Dr. Hajek. “But not to +that oth——”</p> + +<p>“There, there!” O’Brien poked him suggestively and +Hajek stopped talking.</p> + +<p>“But,” began Dr. Balman uncertainly, “I never +dreamed it was Dr. Hajek. Why he was right there +with me when we found you, O’Leary, there by the +stairs. He seemed as astonished as I was.” Dr. Balman +reached unsteadily for his handkerchief and passed it +over his forehead. “This is terrible, O’Leary, terrible.” +His voice shook. “Do you realize that you are accusing +a doctor of St. Ann’s of unspeakable crimes? That you +are——”</p> + +<p>“Truth is truth.” There was a queer, icy look in +O’Leary’s gray eyes. “If a doctor of St. Ann’s is guilty, +he is as guilty as any other man would be.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes. Yes, I suppose so,” agreed Dr. Balman, +reluctantly. “But it is no less—terrible.” He shuddered +visibly.</p> + +<p>I found my tongue.</p> + +<p>“Then what part has Mr. Gainsay in all this?”</p> + +<p>O’Leary eyed me curiously before replying. Then +he turned to Jim Gainsay.</p> + +<p>“Gainsay,” he said slowly, “is a young man who is +going to get into serious trouble sometime through +not minding his own business. He is incurably inquisitive +and has been quite sure that he and he alone could +solve this mystery.” There was a gleam of mirth back +of those clear, gray eyes.</p> + +<p>Jim straightened up, felt absently in his pocket and +drew out a pipe, which he held without lighting, the +policeman at the window watching him with an +impassive countenance.</p> + +<p>Jim sighed.</p> + +<p>“I <em>am</em> a fool,” he admitted abruptly. “But, Lord, it +didn’t seem to me that you were getting anywhere. +I had to take a hand in it. I thought the first thing to +do was to find the radium.”</p> + +<p>Corole’s slitted eyes flashed green fire.</p> + +<p>“You nearly got it, too,” she said viciously. “But I +got away from you.”</p> + +<p>“Where did you hide it when Hajek turned it over +to you immediately after stealing it from me?” asked +O’Leary mildly.</p> + +<p>Corole’s face was sullen but she replied, taking, I +think, a certain pleasure in being the centre of the stage +for a moment.</p> + +<p>“I dug a hole under one of the trees out there,” she +motioned with a long, brown hand, on which the topaz +shone, toward the orchard. “I left it there all day +yesterday—I mean, day before yesterday.” She glanced +at the window, which was beginning to show a dim, gray +light. “And then that night I got away from you,” +she looked at O’Brien—“and you”—at Jim, this time—“and +got it out and brought it here in my jewel case. +I thought it would be safe in this room and Sarah was +so excited”—she cast a malicious glance toward +me—“she never noticed that I came out without my jewel +case when she so thoughtfully took me to her room and +<em>locked me in!</em> How did you find it?”</p> + +<p>O’Leary did not reply.</p> + +<p>“When Miss Letheny returned for the radium about +eleven o’clock to-night I—er—detained her.” O’Leary +glanced toward the closet from which she had emerged. +“I am interested to hear that you admit to having the +radium in your possession.”</p> + +<p>“What can you do about it?” flashed Corole +insolently. “And you are all wrong about Dr. Hajek. I +know that he did not shoot Higgins and I know that +he did not kill Louis for he was with me both times——”</p> + +<p>“That will do, Miss Letheny. Or rather, Mrs. +Hajek.”</p> + +<p>Corole started. Her brown hands clutched at the wall +back of her.</p> + +<p>“How did you know that?”</p> + +<p>O’Brien cleared his throat self-consciously and at the +sound Corole whirled to face him.</p> + +<p>“I suppose you were following us this afternoon,” +she said vindictively.</p> + +<p>“They were married this afternoon,” said O’Leary. +“Owing to a conversation overheard by one of +us”—I daresay it was my turn to look self-conscious—“we +have reason to think that possibly the bride was +a bit reluctant, but however that was, they were +actually married at the courthouse with Mr. O’Brien—near +at hand. Your own desire to perjure yourself, +Mrs. Hajek, will not be of any help in the matter, for +your husband cannot be cleared.”</p> + +<p>A strange silence fell; the torrents of rain seemed +to be lessening slightly and I heard a roll of thunder +away off in the distance.</p> + +<p>I was engaged in going over and over to myself +O’Leary’s explanations; it did not seem to me that he +had covered everything, and I was about to inquire +into certain matters when O’Leary spoke again.</p> + +<p>“Is everything clear to you, Dr. Balman?” he asked +deferentially.</p> + +<p>Dr. Balman hesitated.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” he said with a puzzled and worried +air. “I really don’t know. This is”—he paused to pass +his hand across his eyes, rubbing the bruise on his +cheekbone a little as if it itched—“this is a terrible +responsibility, Mr. O’Leary.”</p> + +<p>O’Leary nodded.</p> + +<p>“But you are head of St. Ann’s,” said O’Leary. “And +while the case belongs to the state to prosecute, still +I should like to feel that you, as head of the institution +of St. Ann’s—are satisfied with our findings.”</p> + +<p>“It doesn’t seem—it doesn’t seem possible,” said Dr. +Balman.</p> + +<p>O’Leary looked obviously irritated, but said with +restrained impatience:</p> + +<p>“Is there anything that I have overlooked, Dr. +Balman?”</p> + +<p>“No. No, I suppose not,” Dr. Balman replied +uncertainly.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps I have not made myself perfectly clear,” +said O’Leary, still patiently. “Let’s begin at the +beginning again, Dr. Balman, and piece things out in their +logical order. I want to be sure that it is all clear +to you.”</p> + +<p>“No, no! That will not be necessary.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” insisted O’Leary. “You being head of St. +Ann’s, Doctor, should be given every scrap of +information in my power to give.”</p> + +<p>“No, no!” said Dr. Balman. “It is very painful to +me. And anyway, I think I understand. Dr. Hajek got +into Room 18, just after Dr. Letheny had hidden the +radium. Isn’t that it?”</p> + +<p>O’Leary nodded and there was a quickly subdued +growl of dissent from Dr. Hajek.</p> + +<p>“The two men struggled then, and Dr. Letheny was +killed in the struggle?”</p> + +<p>Again O’Leary nodded.</p> + +<p>“Yes, I think I understand. Still it doesn’t seem +possible.” Dr. Balman regarded Dr. Hajek doubtfully.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Lance O’Leary slowly. “It does seem +strange that Miss Keate should hear nothing of it.”</p> + +<p>“I believe she did hear something of it,” said Dr. +Balman, his distressed countenance turning to me. I +made some gesture of assent.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said O’Leary. “For don’t you remember that +she came down to the end of the corridor——” He left +his sentence hanging in the air, and as he spoke he moved +his hand slightly and I was faintly surprised to see little +beads of sweat glistening on the back of it, though the +night was cool. His face was quiet and composed as usual.</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes,” said Dr. Balman. “I remember now. +Strange she saw or heard nothing of all this when she +opened the door of Room 18 and stood there for a +moment.”</p> + +<p>Queer how silent the room was. No one seemed to +breathe.</p> + +<p>Then Lance O’Leary’s voice broke the silence; it +was tight and strange and shook a little.</p> + +<p>“<em>Only the murderer could know that!</em>” He shot a +glance at O’Brien. “Quick!” The last word was like +the sharp lash of a whip.</p> + +<p>I was never sure just what happened then. There +was a scream as Corole flung herself upon Dr. Hajek. +There was another struggle going on somewhere else. +Figures blurred in rapid motion—there were outcries—I +found myself clutching at Maida—Jim Gainsay’s +tall figure flashed before our eyes.</p> + +<p>Then O’Leary’s tense voice commanded the +situation.</p> + +<p>“Right, O’Brien!” he said sharply.</p> + +<p>Then the room seemed to clear; things resumed their +normal dimensions.</p> + +<p>I stared and rubbed my eyes and stared again.</p> + +<p>Then my knees weakened under me and I think I +screamed.</p> + +<p>The handcuffs glittered coldly on Dr. Balman’s +wrists.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch18"> + +<h2>18. O’Leary Revises His Story</h2> + +<p>It was fitting that the thing should end as it had begun, +in Room 18.</p> + +<p>I have only a dazed and chaotic memory of them +taking Dr. Balman away. Of Corole and Fred Hajek +going under guard. Of myself sitting numbly in Room +18, with Maida beside me gripping my hand, until +O’Leary returned. Jim accompanied him.</p> + +<p>I think it was seeing Jim sit down on the white bed +with his coat still wet with rain, and noting the marks +of muddy shoes and wet coats on the once white +counterpane, that aroused me to a sense of reality.</p> + +<p>It was dawn by that time. The electric light was +paling and growing sickly under the gray streaks of +daybreak at the windows, and I recall a vague little +feeling of amazement when the thin rays of washed-out +sunlight began to find their way into the room. +Sunlight after a week of rain!</p> + +<p>O’Leary, entering the room, had closed the door and +crossed to the radiator and sunk wearily down upon +it. He appeared worn and enormously tired, with no +shred of the jubilance I should have expected.</p> + +<p>“Well,” my voice quavered a little as I spoke. +“Well—you have succeeded.”</p> + +<p>“Yes. I’ve got my man.”</p> + +<p>“You don’t seem to be rejoicing about it.”</p> + +<p>“I am not,” said Lance O’Leary flatly. “That is, +don’t misunderstand me—I am glad that I have done +my duty. But I am sorry to see a man, a brilliant +scientist, a scholar, a useful surgeon—go wrong. Dr. +Balman has actually given his life—mistakenly of course, +for his science. He wanted the radium, he needed the +money it would bring. For the rest he was, as much as +anything, a victim of circumstance. It is a sad +thing—yet just.”</p> + +<p>“Dr. Balman was a wicked man,” I said. Odd how +we were speaking of him in the past tense.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” agreed O’Leary. “But Dr. Letheny was +equally culpable. Strange how a man can devote his life +to a woman or—a career. Well,” he broke off, shrugging, +“there’s no use philosophizing. Don’t mind my +low spirits. I should feel much lower if I had failed.”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t know what you were doing until Dr. Balman +said: ‘When she opened the door.’ Then I began +to have a premonition, for I recalled the request you +made at the first inquest.”</p> + +<p>“What was that?” asked Jim.</p> + +<p>“I asked Miss Keate not to mention the fact that +when she came down the corridor after hearing the +sound that she thought was a door closing and was +actually——”</p> + +<p>“Don’t!” I interrupted with a shudder.</p> + +<p>“—was actually something else, she came to the door +of Eighteen and opened it and stood there for a few +seconds listening.”</p> + +<p>“Why? Did she hear something? Or see anything?”</p> + +<p>“No. But I reasoned that the guilty man must have +still been in Room 18. It had not been a moment since +the sound of the blow that—the blow that killed Dr. +Letheny, and I knew that the man who did it could +not have dragged Dr. Letheny’s body to the closet, +locked the door, and made his escape before Miss Keate +got to the door of Eighteen. Hence I knew that only +the guilty man <em>knew what she had done</em>.”</p> + +<p>“Did you plan that far ahead? Did you know you +could work him to admit that knowledge?” cried Jim +in honest amazement.</p> + +<p>O’Leary shook his head, smiling ruefully.</p> + +<p>“No. I am but human. But I plan to take every +chance. Hoard every possible bit of evidence. That was +small but conclusive.”</p> + +<p>“Is that the only proof you have against Dr. +Balman?” asked Jim.</p> + +<p>“No. I have others. But I wasn’t quite satisfied. You +see, I let Balman know that the radium was in this +room and would be guarded all day but not at night +because I intended to remove it then. Miss Keate helped +me there. Dr. Balman was on the other side of the door +in the garage this morning—or rather yesterday +morning,” explained O’Leary to me. “Of course, I had +actually removed the radium at once and substituted a +dummy box. I expected Balman would try to secure +it in the dark of night and hoped to catch him +red-handed. But instead—you, Gainsay, nearly spoiled the +works for me. You have been a good deal of trouble, +one way and another,” he interpolated, with a glance +that held nothing humorous. “However, I know the +reason for your—er—meddling.” O’Leary smiled +openly at Maida; it was that extraordinary winning +smile that he reserved for certain occasions and Maida +smiled, too. “I can’t say that I blame you for that. +Though if you had advised her to tell of the cuff link +business in the first place——”</p> + +<p>“That cuff link!” murmured Maida with contrition. +“I am sorry. I should have explained it immediately. +But it—would have meant such publicity. It was so +disagreeable.” She flushed pinkly and Jim’s heart was +in his steady eyes fastened upon her.</p> + +<p>“But what else do you have against Dr. Balman?” +I inquired hastily, for once uninterested in matters of +the tender sentiment.</p> + +<p>“The story that I told here to-night is, in the main +part, true if you simply change the name of Hajek to +Balman. For the points against Balman——” he +checked off the items on his fingers. “First, finger prints +on that revolver of Corole’s. Dr. Letheny’s and those +of Dr. Balman were very clear. It was some time before +I could get a good print of Balman’s, though I had +those of everyone else connected with the case. Then +there was the fact that he <em>asked</em> to have this low +window bolted and the request came simultaneously with +the disappearance of the key to the south door; having +provided himself with a mode of entrance he was +anxious to keep others out of the room that held the +radium. Then there was the matter of the ether that +you smelled, Miss Keate, the ether that Higgins said +was somewhere about the coat that was left there just +outside the window of Eighteen, and that you found +on a handkerchief in the pocket of that yellow slicker. +I found on investigation that the only person seen to +leave St. Ann’s that Friday evening just at dinner time +was Dr. Balman and that he wore a yellow slicker. +That was not conclusive, for he might have borrowed +it as Miss Keate did. But yesterday morning I found +in the side pocket of his car a small empty bottle and +a sponge that still had a lingering trace of that very +clinging odour.”</p> + +<p>“But why ether?” said Jim.</p> + +<p>“He had evidently intended to anesthetize Mr. Jackson, +steal the radium while the patient was unconscious +and get away. But when after waiting about the grounds +for some time until he thought the coast was clear he +finally got into Room 18, he found another man in +the room, the radium gone and his patient dead. The +next thing for me to do was to break what appeared +to be an alibi. I did so when I found that there was +a freight elevator at the back of the apartment house +in which Balman lived. He knew how to operate it +and must have taken precautions to leave by way of +the freight elevator and the basement so that the night +man in the front of the house never dreamed that +Balman had gone out again. He returned the same way +and must have got there just in time to answer the +telephone. It was his car that left along the lower road +just as the storm broke, Miss Keate.”</p> + +<p>“He must have driven like mad,” I speculated.</p> + +<p>“Think what he left behind him,” said O’Leary +grimly. “He knew, too, that at any moment the alarm +might come and his presence would be needed at the +hospital. He must be in his rooms when the call came.”</p> + +<p>“All put together those things are almost—positive +proof,” said Jim.</p> + +<p>“Almost,” agreed O’Leary. “But I wanted to trap +him into a final admission. To catch him in the act of +making off with the radium. And there I failed. When +you turned on the light here to-night, Miss Keate, and +I saw only Hajek and Gainsay, I was sure that I had +failed. But when Dr. Balman came on the scene I began +to see my way clear. I caused Hajek considerable +anguish of soul but he deserved it. What on earth did +you come blundering around for, Gainsay?”</p> + +<p>Jim looked uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>“Why, you see, O’Leary, I saw Corole come into the +south door of St. Ann’s last night and watched through +the pane of glass. I had nearly caught her and I was +convinced that she had the radium in her jewel case. +I could barely see in the hospital corridor through that +door, but I saw that she left the jewel case in Room 18. +So I figured that she likely thought Room 18 a safe +place in which to leave the stuff. Thinking it over during +the day, I came to the conclusion that it would be a fine +thing to recover the radium myself.” He laughed rather +shamefacedly. “I—didn’t think much of you, O’Leary. +And I was worried about Miss Day, too. And +well—I just made an ass of myself generally.”</p> + +<p>“You did,” said O’Leary. “You did. You had better +stick to bridges after this, Mr. Gainsay.”</p> + +<p>“You are right,” said Jim heartily. “But I can’t say +that I regret having been here. And I still hope that +I have not failed—at one thing I have undertaken.” +His eyes were on Maida and she turned entirely +crimson and O’Leary laughed boyishly.</p> + +<p>I sighed; time enough for romance when this thing +was all clear to me.</p> + +<p>“Mr. O’Leary,” I said, “can you prove all this?”</p> + +<p>He sobered instantly.</p> + +<p>“The only thing that is supposition—or rather based +solely upon reason, is Dr. Letheny’s part in the +business, and even there, we know that only certain events +could have taken place. As for the rest of it, change +Hajek’s name to Balman’s and—there it is.”</p> + +<p>And I may as well say here and now that Dr. Balman +confessed to the whole thing, and the only point +on which O’Leary was mistaken was this: it was Dr. +Hajek who took the key from its place above the chart +desk on that Sunday night when Maida and I were so +frightened. He had slipped out his window with the +key, but when he heard us coming he fled from Room +18, around St. Ann’s to his room, through the window +again, through the corridor from the main part of the +hospital to the south wing, tossed the key on the desk +and hurried back to his own room.</p> + +<p>“Then that arraignment of Hajek was entirely +fictitious?” asked Jim.</p> + +<p>“Not entirely. He was actually out of the hospital +and in the orchard the night Higgins was shot and at +the sound of the commotion he hurried back to his +room. But he had gone to meet Corole; they were, of +course, determined to get the radium and were +conspiring together at every opportunity. And on the +night of the seventh he and Corole were in the +orchard. Their story of seeing a man crawl through +the window of Eighteen and waiting to catch him when +he emerged is not true, for only Higgins knew of +Balman’s entrance and he did not know who the man was. +But Corole and Hajek knew enough of Dr. Letheny’s +entrance into St. Ann’s to make them sure that, when +he was found dead, the radium must still be in the room. +For they had listened at the window of Room 18—don’t +forget the gold sequin. Oh, yes. Hajek and Corole +were determined to get that radium and it <em>was</em> Hajek +who knocked me senseless there in the hall. That much +of my story was true. I saw that the only way to get +Balman was to put him off his guard. I was not sure +that I could—pull it off; I was afraid my very voice +would betray me, that I’d be too eager, too insistent, +clumsy, blundering. The least thing would have warned +Dr. Balman. I had to get him to talking of it, and he, +not yet having descended so low as to want to send +someone else to prison for his deed, was willing to +temporize, ask questions, attempt to think of something +that would clear Dr. Hajek, without at the same time +incriminating himself. He was trying to think fast of +such possibilities.” O’Leary smoothed back his hair and +straightened his impeccable tie. “Those few moments +were a strain.”</p> + +<p>“Suppose he had just kept silent, had said nothing +at all?” I suggested curiously.</p> + +<p>“Oh, I knew he would talk. He had a guilty +conscience, you know. It wouldn’t have been human to +refuse to talk. He knew his own guilt and hence would +try to appear innocent. He was bewildered, too, and +was never a practical, quick-thinking man. It was a +chance but not a risk.”</p> + +<p>There was a long silence. Away down the hall I +heard the faint, muffled sound of the breakfast bell. +With that I roused myself and thought for the first +time of the wing. I rose, picked up my ruined hat, and +at the door stopped to look back on that room.</p> + +<p>Room 18! What it had held! What it had witnessed!</p> + +<p>O’Leary followed me from the room, Maida and +Jim, too. Once in the corridor I found that the small, +red signal light was still gleaming dully. I returned to +Room 18, pulled the light cord, mechanically +straightened the bed, and closed the window.</p> + +<p>Maida and Jim had disappeared when I returned +to the corridor. O’Leary was standing at the south +door, looking through the glass with an amused twinkle +in his clear gray eyes. Following his glance I saw +Maida’s white uniform and Jim’s tweed coat vanishing +along the once more sunny orchard path.</p> + +<p>“Young idiots,” I murmured. “And before +breakfast, too.”</p> + +<p>The path recalled to me the Letheny cottage at its +other end.</p> + +<p>“What about Corole and Hajek?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“They were after the radium,” said O’Leary hesitantly. +“But after all, I think the best thing to do is +to get rid of Hajek and let them leave.”</p> + +<p>“This means reorganization, new doctors, new +methods—everything.”</p> + +<p>O’Leary nodded.</p> + +<p>“How true it is,” he said thoughtfully, “that even +in one of the noblest professions there are scoundrels.”</p> + +<p>“But the proportion is much smaller,” I said loyally. +“You’ll find a hundred defaulting bankers for one +doctor who is untrue to his trust.”</p> + +<p>He smiled at the warmth of my defence.</p> + +<p>“You are recovering yourself, Miss Keate. That +last remark was quite in your normal manner.”</p> + +<p>And at that Olma Flynn tugged my sleeve.</p> + +<p>“Will you O. K. the charts, Miss Keate?” Her eyes +were round with curiosity and she cast a speculative +glance toward Room 18.</p> + +<p>Well, that is about all.</p> + +<p>The staff doctors met that morning, and the board +of directors, and were most generous in their +assistance. It was not long before we were fully equipped +with resident doctors and reorganized.</p> + +<p>Our new head doctor has a wife of Anglo-Saxon +ancestry who has filled the cottage with chintz-covered +furniture and muslin curtains and likes to head +committees. She has a nosy disposition and we don’t get +along well. We have two new internes, too; +fresh-cheeked boys whom Miss Dotty pets something +scandalous.</p> + +<p>Dr. Balman developed an infection in the bruise on +his cheek and lived only a short while. Corole and +Hajek disappeared and have not been heard of since, +though lately a report came to me that a woman much +resembling Corole and dressed very beautifully had +been seen at a European pleasure resort where she +made large sums of money gambling. I judged that +Corole was falling into soft spots as usual, +unhampered by a conscience.</p> + +<p>Maida and Jim left for Russia very soon after the +events that I have herein recorded took place. I hear +from them every so often, long letters full of news and +snapshots.</p> + +<p>I see Lance O’Leary once in a while, too, and indeed, +have given him some slight help on a case or two.</p> + +<p>But for the most part I am still at St. Ann’s, going +about my business as usual, save that I miss a pair of +steel-blue eyes.</p> + +<p>And I avoid the closed, mysterious door of Room 18.</p> + +<p class="finis">The End</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="section" id="transcriber"> + +<h2>Transcriber’s Notes</h2> + +<p>This transcription follows the text of the US Doubleday edition +published in 1929. However, the following alterations have been made +to correct what are believed to be unambiguous errors in the text:</p> + +<ul> + <li>“breathlessnes” has been corrected to “breathlessness” (Chapter 1);</li> + <li>“unpholstered” has been corrected to “upholstered” (Chapter 6);</li> + <li>“yould” has been corrected to “would” (Chapter 11);</li> + <li>“ummoved” has been corrected to “unmoved” (Chapter 14);</li> + <li>“into diet kitchen” has been corrected to “into the diet kitchen” + (Chapter 15);</li> + <li>A sentence missing a closing parenthesis has been repaired.</li> +</ul> + +<p>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the +public domain.</p> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75384 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75384-h/images/cover.jpg b/75384-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..432f5d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/75384-h/images/cover.jpg |
