The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow
Page 20
XX
MR. GRYCE AND THE UNWARY WOMAN
Nevertheless Mr. Gryce was proud of the gain he had made in his talk withMrs. Duclos, and he smiled as he thought of his next interview withSweetwater. Assurance will often accomplish much, it is true, but itsometimes needs age to make it effective. He could not imagine eitherMrs. Duclos or her daughter yielding to the blandishments of one even asgifted in this special direction as Sweetwater. Authority was needed aswell--the authority of long experience and an ineradicable sympathy withhuman nature.
Thus he gratified himself with a few complacent thoughts. But when hestopped to think what a great haystack New York was, and how elusive wasthe needle which had escaped them now these three times, his spirits sanka trifle, and by the time he had ridden a half-block on his way back toHeadquarters, he was at that low ebb of disheartenment from which onlysome happy inspiration can effectually lift one. He was glad to be ableto report that he had learned a few important facts in regard to MadameDuclos, but he equally hated to admit that for all his haste in followingup the clue given him, he knew as little as ever of her presentwhereabouts; and hated even worse to have to give the cue which wouldlead to a surveillance, however secret, over a house which held a childof so sensitive and tremulous a nature as that of the little friend whohad picked up his stick in front of the drug-store.
He was recalling to mind the pathetic spectacle presented by her agitatedlittle figure, when his eyes chanced to fall upon a small shop he wasthen passing. It was devoted to ladies' furnishings, and as he took inthe contents of the window and such articles as could be seen on theshelves beyond, a happy thought came to him.
Madame Duclos had left her hotel in a hurry, carrying but few of herbelongings with her. A lady of cultivated taste, she must have missedmany articles necessary to her comfort; and having money would naturallybuy them. Prevented by her fears from going downtown, or even from goinganywhere in the daytime, what was left for her to do but to patronizesome such small shop as this. Its nearness to her late refuge, as well asits neat and attractive appearance, made this seem all the more likely.A question or two would suffice to settle his mind on this point andperhaps lead to results which might prove invaluable in his presentemergency.
Signaling to the chauffeur to stop, he got out in front of this littleshop, toward which he immediately proceeded, with an uncertainty of stepnot altogether assumed. He did have some rheumatic twinges that day.
Entering, Mr. Gryce first cast a comprehensive glance at the shelves andcounters, to make sure that he would find here the line of dress-goods inwhich he had decided to invest; then, approaching the middle-aged womanwho seemed to be in charge, he engaged her in a tedious display of thegoods, which led on to talk and finally to a casual remark from him,quite in keeping with the anxiety he had been careful to show.
"I am buying this for a woman to whom you have probably sold many oddlittle things within the past few days. Perhaps you knew her taste, andcan help me choose what will please her. She lives down the street andbuys always in the evening--a dark, genteel appearing Frenchwoman, witha strange way of looking down even when other people would be likely tolook up. Do you remember her?"
Yes, she remembered her and recognized her perfectly from thisdescription. He saw this at once, but he kept right on talking as hehandled first one piece of goods and then another, seeming to hesitatebetween the gray and the brown.
"She went out of town yesterday, and wanted this material sent afterher. Do you think you could do that for me, or shall I have to see toexpressing it myself? I'll do it if I must--only I've forgotten her exactaddress." This he muttered self-reproachfully, "I've a shocking badmemory, and it's growing worse every day. You don't happen to know whereshe's gone to, do you?"
The innocence of this appeal from one of his years and benevolent aspectdid not appear to raise the woman's suspicion; yet she limited her replyto this short statement:
"I'll send the goods, if you will make your choice." And it was not tilllong after that he learned that Madame Duclos, being very anxious for hermail and such newspapers as she wanted, had made arrangements with thiswoman to forward them.
Disappointed, but still hoping for some acknowledgment that would givehim what he wanted, he continued to putter with the goods, when she brokein with harsh decision:
"I think she would prefer the gray."
"Oh, do you?" said he, with just a hint of disapproval at the suggestion."I like brown best, myself; but let it be the gray. Ten yards," heordered. "She was particular to say that she wanted ten yards, andthat I was to be sure and purchase the dress at the shop adjoining thedrug-store. You see I have obeyed her," he added with a touch of senilityin his quiet chuckle which threw the busy woman off her guard.
"I fear," said she, "that the dress I sold her before will not prove verybecoming. But gray is always good. That's why I advised it."
"I see, I see," chattered away the old man, not without some slightcompunction. "But in my opinion she's too dark for such somber dresses.I've told her so a score of times." Then as he watched the woman beforehim rolling up the goods he proceeded to ask with fussy importunity whatshe thought the express charges were likely to be, for he wanted to paythe whole bill and be done with it.
She was caught--caught fairly this time, though I doubt if she ever knewit.
"We don't often send up the river," said she. "But I should say that fora package of this size and weight the charges would be about forty cents.But that you can leave her to pay. She will be quite willing to do so, Iam sure."
"Of course, of course--I didn't think of that. She'll pay for it, ofcourse she'll pay for it." And he continued to fuss and chat, with thatcurious mixture of native shrewdness and senile interest in little thingswhich he thought most likely to impress the woman attending him, and trapher into giving him the complete address.
But she was too wary, or too much preoccupied with her own affairs, tolet the cat any farther out of the bag, and he had to be content with herpromise, that the package should be given to the expressman as early aspossible the next morning.
The feebleness he showed while leaving the shop was in marked contrast,however, to the vigor with which he took down the telephone-receiver inthe booth of the neighboring drug-store. But she was not there to see;nor anyone else who had the least interest in his movements. He could,therefore, give all the emphasis he desired to the demand he made uponHeadquarters for a close watch to be set on the adjoining dry-goods shop,for the purpose of intercepting and obtaining the address of a certainpackage, on the point of being expressed from there to some place up theriver.
Then he went home; for by now he was fully as tired as his yearsdemanded.