A Husband by Proxy

by Jack Steele

  CHAPTER XXIII

  THE ENEMY'S TRACKS

  On the way returning to Gotham, Garrison learned every fact concerningJohn Hardy, his former places of residence, his former friends, hisways of life and habits that he deemed important to the issues andrequirements now in hand, with Dorothy's stepbrother more than halfsuspected of the crime.

  Dorothy gladly supplied the information. She had been on the verge ofdespair, harboring her fear and despair all alone, with the loyaldesire to protect not only Foster, but Alice as well, and now she feltan immense relief to have a man's clear-headed aid.

  Garrison held out no specific hope.

  The case looked black for young Durgin at the best, and the fellow hadrun away. A trip to the small Connecticut town of Rockdale, whereHardy had once resided, and to which it had long been his wont toreturn as often as once a month, seemed to Garrison imperative at thisjuncture.

  He meant to see Tuttle at six, and start for the country in the evening.

  He outlined his plan to Dorothy, acquainting her with the fact that hehad captured Theodore's spy, from whom he hoped for news.

  By the time they came to the house near Washington Square, Dorothy wasall but asleep from exhaustion. The strain, both physical and mental,to which she had been subjected during some time past, and moreparticularly during the past two days, told quickly now when at lastshe felt ready to place all dependence on Garrison and give up tomuch-needed rest.

  The meeting of Miss Ellis and Dorothy was but slightly embarrassing toGarrison, when it presently took place. Explaining to the woman of thehouse that his "wife" desired to stop all night in town, rather than goon to Long Island, while he himself must be absent from the city, hereadily procured accommodations without exciting the least suspicion.

  Garrison merely waited long enough to make Dorothy promise she wouldtake a rest without delay, and then he went himself to a hotelrestaurant, near by in Fifth Avenue, devoured a most substantial meal,and was five minutes late at his office.

  Tuttle had not yet appeared. The hall before the door was deserted.The sign on his glass had been finished.

  Garrison went in. There were letters all over the floor, together withDorothy's duplicate telegram, a number of cards, and some advertisingcirculars. One of the cards bore the name of one J. P. Wilder, and thelegend, "Representing the New York _Evening Star_." There was nothing,however, in all the stuff that appeared to be important.

  Garrison read the various letters hastily, till he came to one from theinsurance company, his employers, requesting haste in the matter of theHardy case, and reminding him that he had reported but once. This hefiled away.

  Aware at last that more than half an hour had gone, without a sign fromhis man, he was on the point of going to the door to look out in thehall when Tuttle's shadow fell upon the glass.

  "I stayed away a little too long, I know," he said. "I was trying toget a line on old man Robinson, to see if he'd give anything away, butI guess he's got instructions from his son, who's gone away from town."

  "Gone away from town?" repeated Garrison. "Where has he gone?"

  "I don't know. The old man wouldn't say."

  "You haven't seen Theodore?"

  "No. He left about five this afternoon. The old man and his wife arestopping in Sixty-fifth Street, where they used to live some monthsago."

  "What did you report about me?"

  "Nothing, except I hadn't seen you again," said Tuttle. "The old manleaves it all to his son. He didn't seem to care where you had gone."

  Garrison pondered the matter carefully. He made almost nothing out ofTheodore's departure from the scene. It might mean much or little.That Theodore had something up his sleeve he entertained no doubt.

  "It's important to find out where he has gone," he said. "See oldRobinson again. Tell him you have vital information on a special pointthat Theodore instructed you to deliver to no one but himself, and theold man may tell you where you should go. I am going out of townto-night. Leave your address in case I wish to write."

  "I'll do my best," said Tuttle, writing the address on a card. "Isthere anything more?"

  "Yes. You know who the two men were who knocked me down in CentralPark and left a bomb in my pocket. Get around them in any way you can,ascertain what agreement they had with young Robinson, or whatinstructions, and find out why it was they did not rob me. Come hereat least once a day, right along, whether you find me in or not."

  Once more Tuttle stated he would do his best. He left, and Garrison,puzzling over Theodore's latest movement, presently locked up hisoffice and departed from the building.

  He was no more than out on the street than he came upon Theodore'stracks in a most unexpected direction. A newsboy came by, loudlycalling out his wares. An _Evening Star_, beneath his arm, stared atGarrison with type fully three inches high with this announcement:

  MYSTERY OF MURDER AND A WILL!!

  _John Hardy May Have Been Slain! Beautiful Beneficiary Married Just in Time!_

  Garrison bought the paper.

  With excitement and chagrin in all his being he glanced through thestory of himself and Dorothy--all that young Robinson could possiblyknow, or guess, dished up with all the sensational garnishments ofwhich the New York yellow press is capable.

  Sick and indignant with the knowledge that Dorothy must be apprised ofthis at once, and instructed to remain in hiding, to induce all abouther to guard her from intrusion and to refuse to see all reporters whomight pursue the story, he hastened at once towards Washington Square,and encountered his "wife," almost upon entering the house.

  She was white with alarm.

  He thought she had already seen the evening sheet.

  "Jerold!" she said, "something terrible has happened. When I got up,half an hour ago to dress--my wedding certificate was gone!"