Ashton-Kirk, Secret Agent

by John Thomas McIntyre

  CHAPTER XXVII

  CONCLUSION

  At an early hour next day, Ashton-Kirk paid a visit to the secretary;what passed between them can only be guessed, but that the scarletscapular and its accompanying document was one of them, is a certainty.Then the secret agent, accompanied by Fuller, boarded a train leavingWashington and went speeding homeward. Fuller, though sorely troubled,managed to contain himself until they had almost finished the journey.Then, as one unable to combat his curiosity any longer, he said:

  "I wonder how many of those things which old Nanon suspected regardingthe Corbin girl are true?"

  Without turning his eyes from the flat country which whirled by the carwindow, Ashton-Kirk said:

  "There are a great many well-meaning people whose views or statementscannot be accepted without great risk. Nanon is one of these."

  "Then you do not believe what she told you upon the various occasionswhen you talked to her?"

  Ashton-Kirk proceeded as though he had not heard the question.

  "As we saw at almost the first glance, the woman is a fanatic; she hated'pagans,' as she termed the Japanese; she feared Morse because of hisviews; to her mind he was possessed by a spirit of evil. This feelinggrew so strong in the course of time that she began to feel that evenhis surroundings must necessarily be evil, that those who possessed thesame blood, or for whom he cared, must be filled with demonic impulses."

  "That is probably so," said Fuller. "Something of the sort occurred tome once or twice after you told me of the things she said on the day shevisited you." He was silent for some little time; his mind seemed tohave turned to a fresh matter for bewilderment, for he finally said: "Iheard all you said to Miss Corbin at the Tillinghast and a great deal ofit was plain enough. But what I can't understand is the affair of Okiu,Miss Corbin and the taxi-cab. She was seen to enter the cab with the Japat a time when she had in her possession the thing which he desired mostin the world. And, instead of taking it then, he preferred to wait andlay a rather ornate plan which was not at all sure to succeed."

  "The story of the old watchman, whom we talked to at the drug storethat night, gave me some hours of hard work," said Ashton-Kirk. "And Iburned up quite a bit of tobacco before I finally worked the truth outof it." He turned toward his aide lazily and asked: "Suppose there hadbeen two taxi-cabs instead of one that night?"

  "Two?" Fuller did not seem to grasp the suggestion.

  "Okiu got into one; it turned, and vanished around the corner. Then asecond appeared, coming from the direction in which the first had gone.As taxis are unusual in Eastbury at night the watchman never dreamed butthat it was the same one returning."

  "But," protested Fuller, "he saw the Jap open the taxi door."

  "He said so, yes. But after I had considered the matter I went to himand asked a few questions. It was as I thought. He had taken the cab forgranted in the first place, and he took the Jap for granted in thesecond."

  "But Okiu bought two tickets for Washington."

  "One was for his confederate, Humadi, who joined him at the station."

  "The second cab, then----" Fuller paused, expectantly.

  "I hunted it up. It had been engaged by young Warwick. He and MissCorbin had agreed over the telephone to meet at a certain hour upon thecorner where the policeman noticed the girl waiting. Warwick went tosecure the cab to take them to the station, and was delayed in some way.As he did not appear, she evidently became nervous, fancied that she hadmade a mistake and that he had really named the corner above as theplace of meeting. She had started for this, when his cab turned thecorner, halted and took her up."

  "Yes, yes," said Fuller. "I see now that that could very readily havehappened. But," with a lift of his brows, "if the Japanese were not inon the finding of the scapular, why did they take it into _their_ headsto bolt so suddenly for Washington?"

  "The attempt upon me had failed," returned Ashton-Kirk. "They feared toremain without instructions, and so hurried to Washington to lay thefacts before their superiors. Burgess noted them upon the train, and wasa witness to the amazement they showed at sight of Karkowsky and hisfriends.

  "However, none of the latter saw the Japanese. Okiu, as I think I havesaid before, is a clever man. He saw that something was ripe, orconsidered to be so by the Poles, and so he clung to them secretly afterthey had reached the capital. And within an hour he had learned thatMiss Corbin was at the Tillinghast! The observation of all this was adeft piece of observation upon the part of Culberson's fellows. They aremuch more deserving than I ever gave them credit for."

  There was quiet a long period in which nothing more passed between thetwo men. Indeed the train was slowing up to stop when Fuller asked:

  "You have given up all thought of the girl or Warwick having had anyhand in the death of Dr. Morse?"

  "I never had any such thought," said Ashton-Kirk. "To be sure,"smilingly, "they puzzled me more than a little from time to time. Thegirl's fear of the police, from the very first, was a thing thatinterested me. But that may be safely attributed to a naturaluncertainty. There was bad blood between her lover and her uncle;perhaps the former in a fit of rage had killed the latter. She fearedthis possibility, and in consequence dreaded the police."

  "And the shoes with the caked soil upon the soles?"

  "As I remarked at the time you discovered them, our own shoes were inlike condition."

  "Okiu is a resourceful, secretive man," said Fuller. "And, being so, whydid he tell Miss Corbin of the paper? Her knowledge of its existencecould not benefit him in any way, and her possible discovery of it couldonly have hurt him."

  Ashton-Kirk laughed.

  "By telling her what he did, he gained a valued aide. He had planted anunwearying searcher in the house which he could in no other way enter.If the girl found the paper, so he figured, she would at once acquainthim with the fact. And I have no doubt but that this is the very thingthat would have happened had not Warwick arrived with his newly createdsuspicions of the Japanese."

  They took a taxi at the station and were speeding toward the house ofAshton-Kirk, when Fuller spoke again.

  "Several times," said he, "I have heard you say that you know who killedDr. Morse. I suppose that to-day will see the arrest of the murderer."

  Ashton-Kirk nodded.

  "Yes," said he, "I suppose so."

  The driver of the cab was paid and dismissed and the two entered thehouse.

  "Any one here, Stumph?" asked Ashton-Kirk.

  "Mr. O'Neill and Mr. Purvis," replied the man.

  These two were seated in a room off the secret agent's study, engaged inconversation.

  "How is this?" demanded Ashton-Kirk, rather sharply. "I thought thateither one or the other of you was to remain at the Fordham Road placeuntil I called you off."

  "Well, seeing that the regular police are there," said O'Neill, "wethought we could ease up a bit."

  "The regular police!" exclaimed the secret agent.

  "Then you didn't get my wire. Yes, the regulars are on the job therenow. The old servant is dead--died while sitting muttering over herprayer-book. It was perfectly natural, I feel sure, but the police, inview of what has already happened in the house, are going to take nochances."

  The two men had gone, and Ashton-Kirk sat smoking a cigar in his bigchair.

  "A while ago," said he, "you said that you supposed that to-day wouldwitness the arrest of the assassin of Dr. Morse; and I think I agreedthat it would. But now----" he stopped and shook his head.

  Fuller regarded him for a moment; then an expression of incredulity cameupon his face.

  "By George!" cried he. "Surely you can't mean that----"

  "I mean that it is too late," interrupted Ashton-Kirk. He drew at thecigar reflectively for a space and then continued: "The thing as far asI could learn happened this way:

  "One day while still at Sharsdale, Nanon, in turning over her employer'sbelongings, came upon the scapular given him by Colonel Drevenoff. Shewas horrified at the thought of so holy
an emblem being in thepossession of such a blasphemer, and at once all sorts of reasons forhis having it occurred to her. She had perhaps heard of the Black Mass,and fancied no doubt that she had come upon evidence of some suchanother sacrilege. She quietly took the scapular, therefore, and hidit."

  "And she never told him?"

  "Not until the night of his death. Then she was called into the library,as she stated, and in some manner the thing came out. I talked with heras to this later before leaving for Washington, but she could give noclear account of it. However, I think he uttered some sort of a taunt,as was his habit, and she replied in kind. The meaning of the drawingssent by Okiu had gradually dawned upon her, it seems, and she hadconcluded that the suspense which he suffered because of them was a sortof retribution. She must have put this thought into words, and in aninstant the truth was out. In a rage he took a revolver from his desk.She did not know whether it was merely an attempt to frighten her or no;however, she feared for her life and snatched at the weapon. It explodedand he fell back into the chair.

  "Yes; it was old Nanon who killed Morse. She concealed the revolver uponher person and went to the front door, where she sat for some time, asshe told in her first story. She was calm and self-contained--she feltthat she had done no wrong."

  "And so she concluded it would be best to 'find the body' when shebrought in the coffee?"

  "Yes; and while she was engaged with this Drevenoff stole down the frontstairs, admitted his woman confederate to the room back of thelibrary--and discovered the dead body of Dr. Morse. Then followed thefear-filled search; the approach of Warwick added to their fright. Theyevidently carried a pocket torch, which accounts for the library beingdark when Warwick entered. Then the girl, Julia, made an effort toescape with the bag; and while Warwick was in pursuit of her, Drevenoffcrept back to his room."

  Fuller nodded slowly.

  "Yes," said he, "it could very easily have been that way. But tell methis: The old woman knew all the time that she was responsible for thedeath of Morse; so why did she manifest so much uneasiness wheneverWarwick was mentioned in the matter?"

  "She was alarmed at his disappearance because she was shrewd enough toknow that this would attract attention toward him. There were tworeasons for this. She felt kindly toward Warwick, and so disliked hisbeing falsely accused. Then, if he was arrested, she would be forced toconfess the truth to save him. She had these things in mind when shewithheld the fact that she had seen Morse strike the young man.

  "She claimed to have heard voices in the library while she sat upon thestep. Now, Dr. Morse was dead at that time and none of the others hadyet gone into the room.

  "The voices were a fiction. She thought to mislead the police by theinvention. Or perhaps she really thought she heard them; I did notquestion her very closely upon this point. A woman like that is apt tosee and hear things which do not exist. Witness her suspicion of MissCorbin. She fancied that for some dark reasons the girl was making aneffort to have the crime fixed upon Warwick, while professing to lovehim. That Miss Corbin had been long under the influence of Dr. Morsemade this idea, to Nanon's mind, not only possible, but probable.

  "This thought grew upon the old woman until it seemed she could scarcelythink of anything else. Her constant espionage finally attracted MissCorbin's attention, as she told me at the Tillinghast after you left theroom. In her turn she began to suspect and watch. With the feeling thatthe scapular should be well hidden, Nanon placed it in one of thecandlesticks, cunningly calculating that as the article had once beensearched, it would be passed by thereafter."

  "And Miss Corbin saw her place it there," suggested Fuller, quickly.

  "Exactly--and awaited an opportunity for obtaining possession of it."

  "When did you first come to suspect that Nanon might have the paper?"asked the aide, with curiosity.

  "At the time we hit upon the fact that the drawings received by Dr.Morse were meant to represent scapulars. What had actually happened atonce began to take form in my mind. And feeling sure that the old womanhad the paper safe, without, possibly, knowing of its existence, I madeno attempt to obtain possession of it. And I did not fear Drevenoff'sfinding it, because I was convinced that they would never dream of herhaving it."

  The speaker sat for some time smoking in silence; then he added:

  "I was about ready to tell her what I knew, secure the paper and handher over to Osborne on the day she paid me the visit. But the story shetold rather gave the matter the air of further entanglement; and so, tolearn first how deep was the apparent involvement of Miss Corbin andWarwick, I postponed the arrest."

  "I should think, all things considered," said Fuller, "that you'd berather glad that it happened so."

  "I am," replied the secret agent. "She was without real guilt. And,"with a nod to his aide, the meaning of which that young man did not failto catch, "as there are but a few who are possessed of the facts shewill, I think, continue to appear so."

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