CHAPTER XVII
A Woman Scorned
"Whoever was searching in Sir Herbert's room," Dorcas began, "was afterthat recipe for the Binney Buns."
"What's that?" asked Zizi, to draw the girl on.
"Why, there's a special recipe for the buns, of course, and it's veryvaluable,--the buns can't be made without it,--and I can't help thinkingthat Mr Crippen or some messenger of his has been hunting around therefor that recipe."
"Why not a messenger from some other of the bakeries interested? ThePopular Popovers, or whatever it's called,--or Mr Vail's company?"
"Maybe. But I know that Mr Vail and Sir Herbert decided not to make adeal, and I think that Popular company also decided not to. Well,anyway, I'm sure whoever was prowling in the Binney apartment was insearch of that recipe, which was hidden there."
"Well, but what good does it do to surmise that? Or even to know that?"
"I don't know, but I thought if Mr Wise knew somebody was hunting therefor a definite purpose, he could find out who the somebody was, and itmight be the murderer."
"A woman,--or women?"
"No--I suppose not--and yet, why not? A messenger from the bakerypeople,--any of them,--of course, _could_ be a woman,--one of the maids,or some employee of the house."
"Suppose we go and search."
"Look here, Miss Everett, you are a sensible girl, and I'm going tospeak frankly. You know that suspicion now is directed toward the auntof Mr Bates or----"
"Or my mother! Yes, I do know it, but either supposition is soridiculous----"
"Wait a minute; no matter how ridiculous a suspicion may seem to thepeople involved, it must be met and denied or it remains. Now, ifsuspicion in the two directions mentioned are so absurd, we must provetheir absurdity."
"How?"
"Either by making it clear that the suspected women could not have beenguilty or, better still, finding the guilty party."
"Let's do that, then! I know my mother had no hand in it,--and I'mequally sure that Miss Prall didn't----"
"But your surety and your certainty are of no evidential value."
"That's why I say let's find the real women! You are a detective just asmuch as Mr Wise is one,--I'm an interested principal, just as much asRichard Bates is,--can't we do something big?"
"Good! That's the talk! We'll try, at least. Let's go to the Binneyrooms now, and see what we can see."
"Small chance of seeing anything in rooms that Mr Wise has alreadysearched."
"Oh, I don't know. Set a woman to catch a woman! If women have soughtand found that recipe, we'll find their traces. If it's still there, wemust find the paper ourselves."
Zizi looked at Dorcas in surprise.
"You're a trump!" she exclaimed; "good for you! Come along, we'll seewhat we can do."
The two girls went to the Binney rooms and began their search. But itseemed useless to look through papers in the desk or books on the bookshelves after Wise and the other detectives had gone over that ground.
"Was Sir Herbert sly and canny?" asked Zizi, thoughtfully.
"Oh, yes, indeed. He was never caught napping. If he hid that paper, hehid it in a good place. It won't be found easily. We must think of someinconspicuous place,--in the back of a picture, or tacked up above theinside of a drawer."
"Clever girl!" and Zizi's admiration increased. "Here goes, then."
They both looked in all such places as Dorcas had suggested, but with nosuccess at all.
Wise came in while they were thus busy, and smiled approval at the workin progress.
"Hello," he said, suddenly, as Dorcas peered behind a picture that washung low, "the wall paper isn't faded at all in this room. Must be new."
"It is," Dorcas told him. "Sir Herbert had this room repapered when hetook the apartment."
"Why?"
"Said he didn't like the paper that was on."
"And yet he could stand that frightful Cubist nightmare on the wall ofthe bedroom! H'm! Well, well! Very interesting--ve-ry interesting! See,Ziz?"
The black eyes of his little assistant sparkled. "Of course I do! He hadthe room papered in order to hide his precious recipe."
"Right! Now, we may have to peel off the paper from the whole room,--forit's not probable he kindly left it folded, in order to help us along."
Dorcas listened with growing surprise. Here was a clever detective,indeed, to jump to this important conclusion,--if it was the true one.
"Let's feel around," Zizi said, and began passing her little brown pawover the walls.
"Not in plain sight, Ziz," said Wise, and he started moving out abookcase to look behind it.
They felt nothing that seemed like a paper behind the wall paper, but ifthe recipe had been placed without folding at all it would doubtlesscause no appreciable extra thickness.
"Maybe he left a memorandum," suggested Zizi, "or even a cryptogram inhis desk telling where he hid it."
"Not likely," said Wise. "You see he wouldn't forget and he had noreason to make the thing clear to anybody else."
"Molly said somebody was in here prowling," Dorcas reminded, "sosomebody knew there was a paper to look for."
"But all this paper business presupposes the bread or cake people, andthey aren't women," objected Wise.
"That paper about the women may be misleading," Zizi said, thoughtfully."They may have been back of the murder, or, on the other hand, they mayhave been the tools of men responsible for the murder."
"But you can't get away from women's connection with the crime. Whetherdirectly or indirectly guilty, they are the people to look for,--theyare our quarry, and they must be found."
Dorcas paled and her red lower lip quivered. "Oh, Mr Wise," she begged,"do be careful! It would be so awful if you suspected innocent womenjust because of the paper! Even granting it is a genuine dying message,it may mean so many things----"
She broke down and Zizi ran to her and threw her aims around the shakingform.
"Come, dear," she said; "you're all unstrung; don't look around here anymore now. If there's a paper to be found, Penny will find it."
She led Dorcas away and took her back to her own home, and, urging herto lie down, she soothed the throbbing forehead with her magneticfinger-tips and soon Dorcas fell asleep.
Zizi tiptoed from the girl's bedroom, and encountered Mrs Everett on herway out.
"Do sit down, Miss Zizi," the lady urged. "I'm pining for some one totalk to. Tell me now, do you think Letitia Prall is at the back of allthis? Not of course, the actual criminal, but in any way implicated?"
The plump little blonde lady fluttered about and finally settled herselfamong some cushions on a couch and turned an inquisitive gaze on hervisitor.
"What would be her motive?" Zizi parried. "To say she did it for youngBates' sake sounds poppycock to me."
"Me, too," and Mrs Everett smiled. "If she did it, she had a deepermotive than that! A more disgraceful one."
"Meaning?"
"Well?--not to put too fine a point upon it,--breach of promise!"
"Was there such a breach?"
"Oh, I'm not saying,--but Letitia certainly wanted to marry SirHerbert----"
"Why, I thought he was your admirer----"
"Oh, well," and the lady bridled, "I'm not saying anything aboutthat--but if he did admire me, that doesn't mean I smiled on him. I'm nohusband hunter,--and poor Letitia is and always has been--withoutsuccess, poor thing!"
"And it went as far as an engagement?"
"I only surmise that from what Miss Prall has hinted--not, I must say,from anything poor Sir Herbert said! But you know what old maidsare----"
"How comes it that, while you and Miss Prall are at such odds, you havethe same admirers? I'm told Mr Crippen is a beau of both."
Zizi sensed the widow's willingness to exploit her conquests andutilized the knowledge.
"Oh, he didn't care for Letitia! He was rather polite to me, but I hadto discourage him. One can't be too careful. And if you give a man akindly smi
le, he thinks he may presume on it."
"Was Sir Herbert like that?"
"Yes, indeed! Although he was Richard's uncle, he was no kin toRichard's aunt Letitia, and he didn't hesitate to tell me how little headmired that Grenadier type of woman."
"Preferring more feminine natures?"
"Yes," Mrs Everett preened herself. "How you do understand, Miss Zizi! Iexpect you're a heart-breaker yourself."
"Oh, rather!" and Zizi's big dark eyes rolled roguishly. "But I say, MrsEverett, if this breach of promise case is a true bill, it's a straw toshow which way the wind might have blown,--at least."
"Well, don't quote me,--but I do know Letitia Prall's nature and youknow it's said, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.'"
Zizi faced her squarely and with a sharp look said, "You know, MrsEverett, you're making a very grave accusation. Do you really think MissPrall is----"
"Yes, I do! That man was killed. He said women did it. There are nowomen sufficiently interested in his death to be suspected of it exceptLetitia and Eliza Gurney. So, much as I hate to think so dreadfully ofany woman, I've no choice but to suspect them. Of course, it's a graveaccusation, but you asked me and it's my duty to say what I think."
From all this Zizi gleaned one bit of satisfaction. She felt positivethat Mrs Everett herself was innocent. She had never really suspectedthe little widow but her name had been mentioned as a possible suspect,and Zizi wondered. Now, she decided that, whatever might be true aboutLetitia Prall, Mrs Everett could not, were she guilty herself, talk theway she did about her enemy. Not so much the accusation as the way itwas said. Had Mrs Everett killed the man, or assisted or directed themurder, she would have shown fear, secretiveness, or at least a harasseddemeanor. Instead of which, she had apparently no interest in the mattersave a vindictive desire to see her enemy in the clutches of the law.
Anyway, thought Zizi, I cross her off from my list of suspects, and nowfor the Prall side of the story.
Leaving the Everett apartment Zizi went up the stairs to the eighthfloor, and though she was headed for Letitia Prall's, she paused at theBinney rooms.
"Come in," called Wise, as the sleek black little head peeped in at thedoor; "I've struck it!"
"Where?" asked Zizi, intuitively knowing that he had found the hidingplace of the paper.
"Here," and Wise drew her attention to a fairly large mirror that wasabove the mantel in the sitting-room.
"Why, that thing was screwed fast," the girl said, "and we couldn't moveit."
"I unscrewed it--and, behold."
Loosening the screws, which he had only partially readjusted, Wiselifted down the mirror, and disclosed a rectangular space where the wallpaper had been cut away.
"The bakery men!" Zizi cried. "Why 'women,' then?"
"Now, look here, Ziz," and Wise replaced the mirror, "get it in yourhead that women may have been interested in getting this recipe. Tosuppose a woman may have been acting for a man, while possible, is notprobable."
"Why not? Suppose a woman, say a working girl, so devoted to a man thatshe'd commit murder at his bidding----"
"No man could be such a coward as that!"
"Oh, Penny, what an exalted opinion you have of your sex! Of course hecould! A man who would murder would use a woman to help him murder. Ofcourse he offered a big inducement,--marriage maybe----"
"You're romancing----"
"No, I'm not; I'm reconstructing. I see a man wanting that recipedesperately. He sets a woman to get it. He may not have meant her to goto such lengths as murder, to get it, but----"
"All right, but stick to facts. The recipe has been stolen by someone inthe know. Some one who realized why Sir Herbert had his roomrepapered----"
"Clever trick, wasn't it?"
"Yes, but unnecessary. He could have put the thing in safe deposit."
"Englishmen are queer that way. And he may have distrusted our Americaninstitutions----"
"Well, anyway, there's no doubt he did hide the paper behind the newwallpaper, and there's no doubt somebody has stolen it. I suppose youagree to that?"
"Yea, my lord! But it may have been taken after the murder."
"Of course it was. Why kill the man, else?"
"Why kill him at all?"
"To get him out of the way, in order to get the recipe and manufacturethe buns."
"For whom?"
"That's just it. There are several bakeries interested,--others besidethe principal ones, of which we know. Now we must find out which bakercould have worked his deadly scheme through women."
"Does this let out the Prall or Everett suspects?"
"To my mind, yes. But I never suspected them, anyway."
"Nor I. And I've exonerated Mrs Everett to my satisfaction, and I'mgoing to find out for sure about the Grenadier. Now, there's thatMolly,----"
"Yes, she's in it, up to the neck, I believe. And she's such a liar----"
"Oh, Penny, you can't let a lady liar fool you, can you? Get her uphere, and put her through an inquisition. _I'll_ tell you if she'stelling truth or not."
"Yes, you're first class at that."
Molly was summoned and when she appeared Zizi saw at once something hadhappened. The girl's demeanor was entirely changed. She was moreself-important and self-assertive, and Zizi wondered if she had learnedsomething definite against some suspect.
"Molly," began Wise, "we've found that some one has been--prowling roundin here, just as you said,--and you are to tell us who it was."
"That I don't know, sir," the girl replied, speaking with a flippancythat was careless and almost impertinent.
"Then tell us all you do know. Was it a man or a woman?"
"A woman, sir."
"Why, Molly!" Zizi cried, "you told me it was a man, and that he was upto no good. Those were your very words."
"Oh, no, you don't remember correctly. I said it was a woman."
"That is an untruth," Zizi stated, calmly. "So, now we know you aretelling us falsehoods, we must find out why. Has some one paid you forit? We will pay you more for the truth. Might as well, Penny. This girlonly sells her statements, true or false."
"All right, Molly. But we only want to buy the true ones. Now, what'llyou take for all you really know about the matter, and guarantee to bethe strict truth?"
"I don't want any pay. And the truth is that the person I saw was alady--I mean a woman."
"Care to mention names?"
"I don't know who it was. I just saw a veiled figure----"
"Cut out the veiled figure!" cried Zizi. "You're making it up. Therenever was any veiled figure,--you saw a man hunting around here, whileyou were hidden in the bathroom. You know he was looking for somethingof value hidden in these rooms. And----" Zizi's black eyes fairly seemedto bore into Molly's own as she went on, "you know he got it. Also, youknow who the man was,--and you won't tell, and you say it was a woman,because--because what, Molly?"
"I don't--I mean----" Molly blushed scarlet and dropped her eyes; then,with a revived bravado she cried, "It _was_ a woman,--I tell you it wasa woman!"
"Stop lying!" said Zizi sternly, "she's doing that, Pen, because the manshe saw has ordered her to."
"No, he hasn't," Molly declared, but Zizi said:
"Yes, he has, and what's more, he has bribed you by----"
Zizi's penetrating glance overcame Molly's boldness and she trembled insilence as Zizi said, "by marriage!"
Even Wise looked up in amazement; "What _do_ you mean, Zizi?"
"Just what I say. Molly is wearing a very bright, new wedding ring. Shedidn't have it yesterday. Molly knows the truth we're looking for, andshe won't tell because it implicates a man who has married her to keepher quiet! Is it Bob Moore, Molly."
"Yes, ma'am," said the girl, in a low tone, and with a very apparentlook of relief.
"Then it isn't," said Zizi triumphantly; "I know by the way you speak!Who is it?"
"It isn't anybody," Molly said, but she said it with a furtive glance attheir faces in turn; with a he
sitating air of uncertainty as to whatcourse to take; with a futile attempt at her old impudent manner. "I'mnot really married; lots of us girls wear a wedding ring to foolpeople."
"Rubbish!" said Zizi, contemptuously. "There's no sense in that! You aremarried,--or, you think you are--aha, I thought so!"
For Molly's scared glance betokened that Zizi had struck on the truth.Quite evidently she was apprehensive lest the aspersion should prove acorrect one. "He married you in an extremity of fear,--fear that youwould tell of his visit to the room,--now, who could it be, Penny? It'seasy enough to judge if we guess right,--but I can't think of any one.It must be some employe of the house,--or----"
"Or some tool of some of the bakery people," said Wise.
"Look higher," jeered Molly, her self-confidence returning, as sherealized their uncertainty.
"Good heavens!" cried Zizi, "you can't mean Richard Bates!"
"Yep," said Molly, and her eyes danced with a wicked glee.
"Oh, incredible!" wailed Zizi. "Yet I've been afraid of him all along.You see, he's shielding his aunt. I'm sure Miss Prall is----"
"You said you didn't believe her guilty," spoke up Wise.
"I know I did, but what other way can we turn? It can't be any lessimportant person who married Molly to shut her up. There can't be anyreason that would make Bates do so, but to shield his aunt fromsuspicion. Molly says now it was a woman searching the room,--of course,she didn't want the recipe,--that's a side issue; she wanted someletters or something in connection with the breach of promise----"
"Come, come, Zizi, you can't take that little yellow-topped widow's yarnof a breach of promise too seriously----"
"Why not? She is innocent herself, I know. She suspects Miss Prall, Iknow. She gave a perfectly good motive,--why, Pen, if women killed thatman where's another motive that can hold a candle to the 'woman scorned'idea? Come, Molly, own up; was it Miss Prall searching the room?"
"Oh, no, miss!" and Molly's eyes bulged with such real surprise thatthere was no doubting her sincerity this time.
"But how could you tell, if the figure was a veiled one?" asked Wise.
"Oh, I could tell it wasn't Miss Prall,--gracious, no!"
"What was the--the person looking for,--I mean where was the searchmade?"
"All around."
"In the desk?"
"Yes, and in the table drawers and thecupboards,--and--and--everywhere." Molly waved a vague hand about theroom.
"And behind the mirror?" Wise sprang this at her suddenly.
The girl's face blanched. "How--what made you think of that?" shegasped, her voice quaking with fear.
"Ah, that brings back the picture, does it? You saw the--the person,hunting about; you saw him go to the mirror, gaze at it thoughtfully,then unscrew it, and then--then he succeeded in his search? Eh?"
"Yes," Molly breathed, fairly hypnotized into the truth by Wise'ssuggestive air and tense, compelling voice.
CHAPTER XVIII
Fitted to a T
"Now, look here, Molly," and Wise fixed her with his piercing gaze, "yousay Richard Bates married you. I don't believe it for a minute, but I dobelieve somebody married you, or pretended to, to keep your mouth shuton an important matter. It may have been Bob Moore, or----but I'm goingto find out who it was, and I'm going to find out now. If, as you say,it was Richard Bates, why did he do it?"
Molly gulped in a scared, desperate fashion and her eyes rolled wildlyabout as she replied, "To shield somebody else."
"Who?" Zizi snapped at her.
"You know well enough," the girl sullenly answered.
"But you said it was _not_ Mr Bates' aunt."
"Oh, no, it wasn't."
"Then,--it was----"
"Yes, it was."
"Dorcas Everett, she means," Zizi said, scornfully. "As well accuse me!You must know, Molly, you can't put over any such a bluff as that!"
"All right, you needn't believe it if you don't want to. But MissEverett and her mother are the 'women' you are after."
"That child couldn't do such a thing!"
"Oh, _she_ didn't do anything but obey her mother's orders blindly. MrsEverett and her maid, Kate Holland, committed the murder and Dorcas keptwatch in the hall without knowing why she was doing it. Now, Mr Batesknows all about it,--and he knows that I know. And I said I'd tell if hedidn't marry me, so rather than have his girl accused, or hisgirl's----"
"Zizi, why do we listen to this pack of lies?" exclaimed Wise. "Thisgirl is making up as fast as she can talk,----"
"Indeed I'm not!" cried Molly, seemingly in desperation; "I can proveall I'm saying! Here's my wedding ring----"
"Yes, but Mr Bates didn't give it to you," said Zizi, scornfully. "Iknow who did, though, and if you'll own up it will be better for you."
Now Zizi didn't know at all,--in fact, she wasn't sure that Molly hadn'tbought the ring herself, but both Wise and Zizi were at a loss to knowwhich way to turn next, and they were omitting no possible chance at astray bit of information.
"How do you know?" demanded Molly, and again she looked frightened.
"Now, see here, Molly," Wise tried again, "if you'll tell us the truthyou'll be rewarded. But if you don't, you'll not only lose your rewardbut you'll find yourself in the biggest pickle you've ever been in."
"I'm not afraid," was the pert reply. "My husband will look after me."
"Yes, if he _is_ your husband," Zizi jeered, and saw again that Molly'sgreatest fear was that the wedding had not been a real one.
Therefore, Zizi argued, there had been a ceremony and why would it havetaken place except to shut Molly's mouth? And who could have been thebridegroom except the one interested in suppressing Molly's secret,whatever it might be?
"Clear out, Molly," said Wise, suddenly. "Don't clear far, for if youtry to leave this house you'll be arrested. Merely go about your work asusual, and say nothing to anybody. If you'll take my advice you'll runpretty straight, for I don't mind telling you you're in deep waters!"
"It's a bad lookout, Ziz," said Wise after Molly had gone; "any way youtake it it comes back to either the Pralls or the Everetts. There's noother bunch of women implicated. I've been into everything thoroughlyand if we go by that written message of Binney's,--and how can we ignoreit?--we've got to get women, and the women are the----"
"The Everetts," said Zizi moodily.
"Oh, no, the Pralls!"
"When you say the Pralls, you mean Miss Letitia and Miss Gurney, Isuppose."
"Rather Miss Gurney and Miss Letitia. If they did it, the Gurney womanstruck the blow at the bidding of the other. If the Everetts did it, theHolland woman stabbed at the order of her mistress. But I incline to thePralls, and that explains Bates' anxiety to shield his aunt."
"He'd be equally desirous of shielding his sweetheart's people, but inany case, I can't believe _he_ married Molly, either really or by a fakeceremony."
"It isn't like the chap,--he's an all-round straight one; but he'syoung, and in a desperate emergency,--well, anyway, things must bebrought to a head. I'm going for Bates now."
The detective found his quarry and asked him for an interview.
The two men went into a small reception-room on the ground floor andWise closed the door.
"There's no use in my going on, Mr Bates," he began, "unless you want tosee the thing through to a finish. I must tell you the evidences arepointing to women,--whom you would be sorry to see accused."
"I know--I know----" and Richard bowed his head in his hands andgroaned. "It isn't my aunt, I'm positive of that. I've not onlysatisfied myself by confidential talks with her, but I've proved it bydefinite facts and testimony of servants and others. Now, I suppose youhold that the only other possibility is----"
"Yes, I'm obliged to think that. I know what you mean, and this is notime to be squeamish. We both mean Mrs Everett and her maid, Kate. Ifthere were any doubt about the written paper,----"
"There isn't. It's my uncle's writing, undeniably. He was found with thepencil just falli
ng from his nerveless hand. There's no escape from allthat. I've been over and over it. There's no chance of the chorus girlsor house girls,--oh, I've been over all the possibilities,--and there'sonly Mrs Everett left. Honestly, Wise, I'd rather it had been my aunt!That may sound dreadful to you, but after all, she's only my aunt, whileMrs Everett is Dorcas' _mother_! And I'd rather bear sorrow and disgracemyself than to have my little love bear it. Can we drop the wholething?"
"Not very well now. Bates, are you in any coil with Molly?"
"Molly? The chambermaid? No. Why?"
"Good! I believe you. She says you married her."
"What does she say that for? Is she crazy? But it doesn't bother me;I've troubles of my own. I can't think anybody will believe her."
"No; she said it to shield someone else. And of course, a man. So,that's our one hope. Who is that man?"
"What matter? We're looking for a woman."
"But the man might be a help. Why could Melly make a man marry her,unless he were desperately afraid of what she could tell?"
"But it may all have no connection with our case."
"I've got a hunch it has. And I'm going to find out. And, first of all,I want to go over the ground again of scrutinizing the place where SirHerbert died."
"No evidence there. The floors have been scrubbed many times."
"But the marks remain."
The marks that had been drawn round the blood spots at the scene of thecrime were still faintly visible, and Wise knelt down to study them. Itseemed utterly useless to Bates, for what could possibly be gained fromscrutinizing the floor where the dead man had lain?
Yet Pennington Wise found something!
The body had fallen at the base of one of the great onyx columns, nearthe side wall of the lobby. In fact, the head and shoulders had fallenagainst the wall, as if the victim had been driven back by his pursuerstill he could go no farther.
And, after scanning the floor, Wise's eyes traveled on to the onyx wallitself, to the heavy surbase of wide, smooth onyx blocks, and on thepinkish, mottled surface his trained eyes descried a pencil mark.
"Gee!" he cried, explosively, "oh, I say!"
Quickly he ran for the paper the dead man left, stripped from it theprotecting glass panes, and with the utmost care he laid the paperitself against the onyx block that showed a pencil mark.
His eyes bulged with surprise, his face flushed with excitement, and hejumped up from the floor, where he had pursued his quest unnoticed savefor a disinterested passer-by.
"Bates!" he cried, as he returned to the little reception-room and foundthe young man still there and still in deep dejection, "Oh, Bates!"
"What?" and Richard lifted his head to see the excited detectivebrandishing the paper in a wave of triumph.
"What do you think? Listen, man, put your whole mind on this! When SirHerbert was stabbed he fell to the floor."
"Yes."
"He rolled over toward the wall,--or fell against the wall,--and he hadjust sufficient strength left to get a pencil and a scrap of paper outof his pocket and write that message."
"Yes,--good heavens, Wise, I know all that!"
"Sure you do. Well, now hark. He didn't place that paper on the floor towrite on it; he held it up against the wall."
"Well?"
"Well, and part of the writing,--the first part, fell on the wall andnot on the paper----"
"What!" shouted Bates. "What was it? Does it change the meaning?"
"_Does_ it! Well, rather! The part on the wall is one letter,--theinitial letter of what he wrote----"
"What was it? Tell me, Wise, don't keep me in suspense!"
"I don't mean to. It was a T,--a capital T."
"Well? I don't see----"
"Why, it makes the message read 'Two men did this,' instead of 'womendid this.' The words are run together, for he couldn't lift thepencil----"
"He always did that,--his writing always shows connected words!"
"So, there's the message as clear as print! The T on the onyx just fitsto the first mark on the paper,--any one can see that,--and we have thedying statement, 'Two men did this.' With what is undoubtedly thefurther instruction, 'get both'."
"What a revelation! Who can they be?"
"It ought to be easy to find out. They are, of course, some of thebakery men. And Sir Herbert's idea was that doubtless one would beapprehended, but for us to get both of them."
"And the women are out of it!"
"Ab--s--lute--ly! But we must go warily. You see, the guilty men havebeen glad to hide behind the idea of 'women' which came to their rescueby the merest chance. It's all so easily understood now. Sir Herbert,with dying effort and failing eyesight, wrote hurriedly, and efficient,though he was, his haste made him begin his writing off the paperinstead of on it. His habit of connecting words, or his inability fromweakness to lift his pencil, made the words 'Two men,' the capitalmissing, seem to be 'women.' Think how delighted the two men must havebeen at this! I doubt if they realized what did happen,--more likelythey thought Sir Herbert denounced women for some reason of his own.Now, to catch them we must walk delicately, like Scriptural Agag, andspring on them unawares."
"Which way shall we look?"
"Take the Bakery men in turn. Crippen first, I should say."
"Vail?"
"Vail's out of it. You see, he was in the elevator with Moore when ithappened."
"Unless Vail and Moore were the two men, and trumped up the wholestory."
"I don't think that. Moore's no criminal; he had no motive, and thewhole weight of evidence and testimony goes to prove Moore trulyinterested in the solution of the mystery. He's worked harder on it thanyou know. I've watched him. No, Bob Moore is not the man! And that letsVail out."
"Well, then--but I won't suggest. You can dictate."
"First let's get Zizi and tell her."
The girl was summoned and when Wise told her what he had found her big,black eyes danced with delight.
"Who's the criminal, Zizi?" asked Wise.
"The man who married Molly," she returned, promptly. "Also the man whohunted and found the recipe. Molly saw him doing that, and made himmarry her or she'd tell. If he could contrive a mock marriage of coursehe did. Or it may have been a real one. That doesn't matter. It's hisidentity that matters. Two men! That man, then, and another."
"Vail's out of it," Wise informed her, and told why. "Then, there'sCrippen,----"
"No;" Zizi interrupted, "don't go further afield. It's--wait aminute,--get Bob Moore in here."
This was accomplished and Zizi did the interrogating.
Care was taken not to divulge the new evidence and when Zizi asked himto detail his actions at the exact time of the crime, the manwonderingly recounted his oft-told tale.
"Did Mr Vail seem about as usual when he was talking to you, going up inthe elevator?" Zizi asked, casually.
"Yes, but very chummy and talkative, more so than I ever knew him to bebefore."
"Yes? And did he detain you at this floor,--or did _you_ keep _him_,talking about the detective story you were reading?"
"Why, I don't know. Come to think of it,--I should say he detainedme,--for he was so interested,--and, too, I never would have presumed totalk to him so familiarly if he hadn't egged me on."
"Think back, now. Did he really keep you from going back by talking toyou? Could you say he did that purposely?"
"I can say that may have been the case," Moore averred, thinking hard."But he seemed really interested----"
"As he never had been before," commented Zizi, and adding, "and as henever has been since?"
"No; he's never been so chummy with me since. I've tried to talk to himabout the Binney murder case, but he almost snubbed me,--at least heshut me off mighty quick."
"That's all, Moore, and not a word to any one of anything that has beensaid in this room!"
"Now," said Zizi, after Moore had disappeared, "Vail's one; who's theother?"
"Why, Zizi, Vail was in the elevator----"
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"Penny, I've known that 'Vail was in the elevator' all through thiswhole matter. I've been told a thousand times that Vail was in theelevator! It's been fairly rubbed into my noddle that Vail was in theelevator! Why, don't you see, that's Vail's alibi! His being in theelevator is his safeguard! Oh, Penny-poppy-show, sometimes I despair of_ever_ making a detective out of you! Well, my dear child, Mr Vail isone,--as I remarked,--and I found him; now you may find the other, andthen we'll have the 'two men' who 'did this.' Get busy."
"S'pose, since you're so smart, _you_ find the other one," said Wise,with no trace of jealousy in his tone. He was as elated at Zizi'scleverness as if it had been his own, and he believed her implicitly.
"I can do it," she said, calmly. "Send for Molly."
"Yes, there's the key to the situation," Wise agreed.
Richard Bates sat still, wondering if the joyful news that no one hecared for was implicated could really be true! He awaited Molly's comingwith impatience, longing to get the whole matter cleared up.
"And so, Molly," Zizi began, when the girl came into the room and Wisehad closed the door behind her, "and so it was Mr Vail who married you!"
A suppressed shriek answered them, and Molly glared like an angry tiger."No!" she screamed, "_no_!"
"Useless talk," said Zizi, "your fright and your excitement give the lieto your words! Though your words are oftener lies than not. Now, Molly,you don't dare go contrary to Mr Vail's orders, I know, but don't youthink you'd better do that than to go to jail?"
"I don't know----Oh, I don't know _what_ to do," and the girl broke downand wept so piteously that Zizi was sorry for her.
"There, there, Molly," she said, "I'll take care of you. You're only atool in the hands of a villain; you stay by me, and I'll look after you.Penny, we want Vail."
They got Vail. At first he brazened it out, and finally, when he wascornered, he turned state's evidence to save what he could of his ownskin.
It seemed, Vail was determined to make the deal for the Binney Buns,and, as a last resort, had waylaid Sir Herbert on his way home from theHotel Magnifique after the dinner to the chorus girls.
With Vail on that occasion was a friend of his, one Doctor Weldon, whowas a skillful surgeon, more careful in his surgical operations than inhis mental or moral ones. He was Vail's tool, by reason of past historicincidents, and the scheme had been planned by the two conspirators.
Binney was invited to Dr Weldon's home, not far from The Campanile, andthere, from midnight on, both Vail and Weldon tried to persuade theEnglishman to consent to Vail's terms.
But Binney was obdurate and finally went home, accompanied by the twomen. When near The Campanile, Vail darted on ahead, and managed adroitlyto get into the elevator with Moore and be on the way up when Binney andDr Weldon entered the onyx lobby.
The rest was easy. Binney had the Prall paper-knife with him and theDoctor knew it. With it, the skilled surgeon stabbed his victim and madeaway at once. Sir Herbert, dying, but with mind alert, wrote the factthat two men were responsible for his death; and whether he tried tocontinue with 'get both' or 'get Bob's evidence' or 'get bakery,' orwhat was in his fast clouding brain, they never knew.
But when to the surprise of the criminals, women were suspected, theyfelt so freed from suspicion that they took no care about it.
Vail, however, was keen for the recipe, which was, in part, why he hadBinney killed, and he made many attempts to find it in its clever hidingplace. When he did find it, Molly knew of it, and in order to keep thegirl quiet he married her, with, however, a mock ceremony.
Discovering this, Molly was so angry that she told on Vail, and he, inturn, told on Doctor Weldon.
All of this was disclosed promptly, and justice took its course with the"Two men."
It would be pleasant to write further that the historic feud of the"women" who had been so keenly suspected was settled as satisfactorily.But not so. The two opposing forces seemed to take on new vim from therevelation of the truth about the murder, and each positively seemedangered that the other had not been found guilty.
This may not have been the real truth at the bottom of the hearts ofMiss Prall and Mrs Everett, but certain it is that, though they mightnot have desired conviction for one another, they greatly enjoyedsuspicion.
"At any rate," said Miss Prall, "Adeline did set her cap for SirHerbert, and I think that's a crime in itself."
And Mrs Everett remarked, "Poor man! but he's better off than if LetitiaPrall had caught him! Which she tried her best to do!"
The young lovers, relieved of all fears that their people or eachother's people were implicated in crime, were so emancipated from fearof any sort, that they dared to plan their marriage without the consentof their elders.
Said Richard, "We're going to be married, anyway, Aunt Letitia; you canunderstand that! And your own conduct you may shape as you choose."
Quoth Dorcas: "I'm going to marry Ricky, mother. If you consent allright,--if you don't, I'll elope."
And the Feudists, though incensed to the point of exasperation, had acertain secret feeling of satisfaction that the wedding would add fuelto the flames of their somewhat smoldering fires of wrath.
"Bless 'em," said Bates, as the honeymoon began, "they ought to begrateful to us for giving them something new to fight about."
"They are," said Dorcas.
THE END
By CAROLYN WELLS
In the Onyx Lobby
The Man Who Fell Through the Earth
The Room with the Tassels
Faulkner's Folly
The Bride of a Moment
Doris of Dobbs' Ferry
Such Nonsense! _An Anthology_
In the Onyx Lobby Page 17
