And the girl, having been her father’s confidant since she was able to walk and talk, became saturated with detective lore and only needed practical experience and more mature judgment fully to justify O’Gorman’s ambition for her.
However, the shrewd old secret service officer well knew that the girl was not yet ready to be launched into active service. The experience she needed was only to be gained in just such odd private cases as the one on which she was now engaged, so he was glad to let her come to Cragg’s Crossing, and Josie was glad to be there. She was only content when “working,” and however the Cragg mystery developed or resulted, her efforts to solve it were sure to sharpen her wits and add to her practical knowledge of her future craft.
When she reached the town she found it absolutely deserted. Not a light shone anywhere; no watchman was employed; the denizens of Cragg’s Crossing were all in bed and reveling in dreamland.
Josie sat on the bottom stair of the flight leading to the store and removed her shoes. Upstairs the family of Sol Jerrems and Miss Huckins the dressmaker were sleeping and must not be disturbed. The girl made no sound as she mounted the stairs and softly stole to the door of H. Cragg’s real estate office. Here it was dark as could be, but Josie drew some skeleton keys from her pocket and slid them, one by one, into the lock. The fourth key fitted; she opened the door silently and having entered the room drew the door shut behind her.
The thick shade was drawn over the window. It was as black here as it was in the hallway. Josie flashed a small searchlight on the door of the connecting room and saw that it was not only locked in the ordinary manner but that the padlock she had noted on her former visit to the room was now inserted in the hasp and formed an additional security against intrusion.
While her electric spotlight played upon this padlock she bent over and examined it swiftly but with care.
“A Yale lock,” she muttered. “It can’t be picked, but it will delay me for only a few minutes.”
Then from her pocket she brought out a small steel hack-saw, and as she could not work the saw and hold the flashlight at the same time she went to the window and removed the heavy shade. The light that now came into the room was dim, but sufficient for her purpose. Returning to the door of the mysterious inner room, the contents of which she had determined to investigate, she seized the padlock firmly with one hand while with the other she began to saw through the steel loop that passed through the hasp.
The sound made by the saw was so slight that it did not worry her, but another sound, of an entirely different character and coming from the hallway, caused her to pause and glance over her shoulder.
Slowly the outer door opened and a form appeared in the doorway. It was a mere shadow, at first, but it deliberately advanced to the table, struck a match and lighted a small kerosene lamp.
She was face to face with Old Swallowtail.
CHAPTER XV
“OLD SWALLOWTAIL”
Josie was so astonished that she still bent over the lock, motionless, saw in hand. In the instant she made a mental review of her proceedings and satisfied herself that she had been guilty of no professional blunder. The inopportune appearance of Mr. Cragg must be attributed to a blind chance — to fate. So the first wave of humiliation that swept over her receded as she gathered her wits to combat this unexpected situation.
Mr. Cragg stood by the table looking at her. He was very calm. The discovery of the girl had not aroused that violence of temper for which the old man was noted. Josie straightened up, slipped the saw in her pocket and faced him unflinchingly.
“Won’t you sit down?” he said, pointing to a chair beside her. “I would like to know why you have undertaken to rob me.”
Josie sat down, her heart bounding with joy. If he mistook her for a thief all was not lost and she would not have to write “finis” as yet to this important case. But she made no answer to his remark; she merely stared at him in a dull, emotionless way that was cleverly assumed.
“I suppose,” he continued, “you have been told I am rich — a miser — and perhaps you imagine I keep my wealth in that little room, because I have taken pains to secure it from intrusion by prying meddlers. I suspected you, my girl, when you came to see me the other day. Your errand was palpably invented. You wanted to get the lay of the room, in preparation for this night’s work. But who told you I was worthy of being robbed? Was it Ingua?”
“No,” came a surly reply. “She won’t mention you to me.”
“Very good. But the neighbors — the busy-bodies around here? Perhaps old Sol Jerrems has gossiped of my supposed hoard. Is it not so?”
Josie dropped her eyes as if confused but remained silent. The old man seemed to regard her as a curiosity, for his cold gray eyes examined her person with the same expression with which he might have regarded a caged monkey.
“Then you do not wish to confess?”
“What’s the use?” she demanded with a burst of impatience. “Haven’t you caught me at the job?”
He continued to eye her, reflectively.
“The cities breed felons,” he remarked. “It is a pity so young a girl should have chosen so dangerous and disastrous a career. It is inevitably disastrous. How did it happen that Colonel Hathaway allowed you to impose on him?”
“I do sewing,” she said doggedly.
“In order to gain entrance to a household, I suppose. But Hathaway is wealthy. Why did you not undertake to rob him, instead of me?”
“One at a time,” said Josie, with a short laugh.
“Oh, I understand. You expected to make the small pick-ups and then land the grand coup. The answer is simple, after all. But,” he added, his voice growing stern and menacing for the first time, “I do not intend to be robbed, my girl. Fleece Hathaway if you can; it is none of my business; but you must not pry into my personal affairs or rifle my poor rooms. Do you understand me?”
“I — I think so, sir.”
“Avoid me, hereafter. Keep out of my path. The least interference from you, in any way, will oblige me to turn you over to the police.”
“You’ll let me go, now?”
He glanced at her, frowning.
“I am too much occupied to prosecute you — unless you annoy me further. Perhaps you have this night learned a lesson that will induce you to abandon such desperate, criminal ventures.”
Josie stood up.
“I wish I knew how you managed to catch me,” she said, with a sigh.
“You were watching my house to-night, waiting until I was safely in bed before coming here. I happened to leave my room for a little air, and going out my back door I passed around the house and stood at the corner, in deep shade. My eyes were good enough to distinguish a form lurking under the tree by the river bank. I went in, put out my light, and returned to my former position. You watched the house and I watched you. You are not very clever, for all your slyness. You will never be clever enough to become a good thief — meaning a successful thief. After a half hour I saw you rise and take the path to the village. I followed you. Do you understand now? God has protected the just and humbled the wicked.”
That final sentence surprised the girl. Coming from his lips, it shocked her. In his former speech he had not denounced her crime, but only her indiscretion and the folly of her attempt. Suddenly he referred to God as his protector, asserting his personal uprightness as warrant for Divine protection; and, singularly enough, his tone was sincere.
Josie hesitated whether to go or not, for Old Swallowtail seemed in a talkative mood and she had already discovered a new angle to his character. By way of diversion she began to cry.
“I — I know I’m wicked,” she sobbed; “it’s wrong to steal; I know it is. But I — I — need the money, and you’ve got lots of it; and — and — I thought you must be just as wicked as I am!”
His expression changed to one of grim irony.
“Yes,” said he, “by common report I am guilty of every sin in the calendar. Do you know why
?”
“No; of course I don’t!” she answered, softening her sobs to hear more clearly.
“Years ago, when I was a young man, I stabbed a fellow-student in the neck — a dreadful wound — because he taunted me about my mode of dress. I was wearing the only clothes my eccentric father would provide me with. I am wearing the same style of costume yet, as penance for that dastardly act — caused by an ungovernable temper with which I have been cursed from my birth. I would have entered the service of God had it not been for that temper. I am unable to control it, except by avoiding undue contact with my fellow men. That is why. I am living here, a recluse, when I should be taking an active part in the world’s work.”
He spoke musingly, as if to himself more than to the girl who hung on each word with eager interest. No one had ever told her as much of Old Swallowtail as he was now telling her of himself. She wondered why he was so confidential. Was it because she seemed dull and stupid? Because she was a stranger who was likely to decamp instantly when he let her go? Or was the retrospective mood due to the hour and the unwonted situation? She waited, scarce breathing lest she lose a word.
“The poor fellow whom I stabbed lived miserably for twenty years afterward,” he went on, “and I supported him and his family during that time, for his life had been ruined by my act. Later in life and here at the Crossing, people saw me kill a balky horse in a wild rage, and they have been afraid of me ever since. Even more recently I — ”
He suddenly paused, remembering where he was and to whom he was speaking. The girl’s face was perfectly blank when he shot a shrewd glance at it. Her look seemed to relieve his embarrassment.
“However,” said he in a different tone, “I am not so black as I’m painted.”
“I don’t think you treat poor Ingua quite right,” remarked Josie.
“Eh? Why not?”
“You neglect her; you don’t give her enough to eat; she hasn’t a dress fit for a ragamuffin to wear. And she’s your granddaughter.”
He drew in a long breath, staring hard.
“Has she been complaining?”
“Not to me,” said Josie; “but she doesn’t need to. Haven’t I eyes? Doesn’t everyone say it’s a shame to treat the poor child the way you do? My personal opinion is that you’re a poor excuse for a grandfather,” she added, with more spirit than she had yet exhibited.
He sat silent a long time, looking at the lamp. His face was hard; his long, slim fingers twitched as if longing to throttle someone; but he positively ignored Josie’s presence. She believed he was struggling to subdue what Ingua called “the devils,” and would not have been surprised had-he broken all bounds and tried to do her an injury.
“Go!” he said at last, still without looking at her. “Go, and remember that I will not forgive twice.”
She thought it best to obey. Very softly she left the room, and as she passed out he was still staring at the flame of the lamp and alternately clenching and unclenching his talon-like fingers.
CHAPTER XVI
INGUA’S NEW DRESS
“Well,” said Mary Louise, when Josie had related to her friend the story next morning, “what do you think of Old Swallowtail now?”
“About the same as before. I’m gradually accumulating facts to account for the old man’s strange actions, but I’m not ready to submit them for criticism just yet. The plot is still a bit ragged and I want to mend the holes before I spread it out before you.”
“Do you think he suspects who you are?”
“No; he thinks I’m a waif from the city with a penchant for burglary. He expects me to rob you, presently, and then run away. I’m so unlikely to cross his path again that he talked with unusual frankness to me — or at me, if you prefer to put it that way. All I gained last night was the knowledge that he’s afraid of himself, that his temper cost him a career in the world and obliged him to live in seclusion and that he has a secret which he doesn’t intend any red-headed girl to stumble on accidentally.”
“And you think he was angry when you accused him of neglecting Ingua?”
“I’m sure he was. It made him more furious than my attempt to saw his padlock. Come, let’s run over and see Ingua now. I want to ask how her grandfather treated her this morning.”
They walked through the grounds, crossed the river on the stepping-stones and found Ingua just finishing her morning’s work. The child greeted them eagerly.
“I’m glad you come,” she said, “for I was meanin’ to run over to your place pretty soon. What d’ye think hes happened? Las’ night, in the middle o’ the night — or p’r’aps nearer mornin’ — Gran’dad begun to slam things aroun’. The smashin’ of tables an’ chairs woke me up, but I didn’t dare go down to see what was the matter. He tumbled ev’rything ‘round in the kitchen an’ then went inter his own room an’ made the fur fly there. I knew he were in one o’ his tantrums an’ that he’d be sorry if he broke things, but it wasn’t no time to interfere. When the rumpus stopped I went to sleep ag’in, but I got up early an’ had his breakfas’ all ready when he come from his room. I’d picked up all the stuff he’d scattered an’ mended a broken chair, an’ things didn’t look so bad.
“Well, Ol’ Swallertail jes’ looked aroun’ the room an’ then at me an’ sot down to eat. ‘Ingua,’ he says pretty soon,’ you need a new dress.’ Say, girls, I near fell over backwards! ‘Go down to Sol Jerrems,’ says he, ‘an’ pick out the goods, an’ I’ll pay for it. I’ll stop in this mornin’ an’ tell Sol to let ye have it. An’,’ says he, lookin’ at me ruther queer, ‘ye might ask that redheaded sewin’-girl that’s stay in’ at the Hathaways’ to make it up fer ye. I don’t think she’ll ask ye a cent fer the work.’
“‘Gran’dad,’ says I, ‘would ye hev a Cragg accep’ charity, even to the makin’ of a dress?’
“‘ No,’ says he; ‘the girl owes me somethin’ an’ I guess she’ll be glad to square the account.’
“Then he goes away to town an’ I’ve be’n nervous an’ flustered ever since. I can’t make it out, I can’t. Do you owe him anything, Josie?”
“Yes,” said Josie with a laugh, “I believe I do. You shall have the dress, Ingua — all made up — and I’ll go down with you and help pick out the goods.”
“So will I!” exclaimed Mary Louise, highly delighted.
“And we will have Miss Huckins cut and fit it,” continued Josie. “I’m not much good at that thing, Ingua, so we will have a real dressmaker and I’ll pay her and charge it up to what I owe your grandfather.”
The little girl seemed puzzled.
“How’d ye happen to owe him anything, Josie?” she asked.
“Didn’t he tell you?”
“Not a word.”
“Then he expects it to remain a secret, and you mustn’t urge me to tell. I’m pretty good at keeping secrets, Ingua. Aren’t you glad of that?”
They trooped away to town, presently, all in high spirits, and purchased the dress and trimmings at the store. Old Sol was so astonished at this transaction that he assailed the three girls with a thousand questions, to none of which did he receive a satisfactory reply.
“He didn’t put no limit on the deal,” said the storekeeper. “He jus’ said: ‘Whatever the gal picks out, charge it to me an’ I’ll pay the bill.’ Looks like Ol’ Swallertail hed gone plumb crazy, don’t it?”
Then they went upstairs to Miss Huckins, who was likewise thrilled with excitement at the startling event of Ingua’s having a new dress. Mary Louise and Josie helped plan the dress, which was to be a simple and practical affair, after all, and the dressmaker measured the child carefully and promised her a fitting the very next day.
“I don’t quite understan’,” remarked Ingua, as they walked home after this impressive ceremony, “why you don’t make the dress yourself, Josie, an’ save yer money. You’re a dressmaker, ye say.”
“I’m a sewing-girl,” replied Josie calmly, “but I’ve promised Mary Louise to sew for no one but her while I
’m here, and I’m too lazy to sew much, anyway. I’m having a sort of vacation, you know.”
“Josie is my friend,” explained Mary Louise, “and I won’t let her sew at all, if I can help it. I want her to be just my companion and have a nice visit before she goes back to the city.”
But when the two girls were alone Josie said to Mary Louise:
“Old Cragg isn’t so stony-hearted, after all. Just my suggestion last night that Ingua was being neglected has resulted in the new dress.”
“He threw things, though, before he made up his mind to be generous,” observed Mary Louise. “But this proves that the old man isn’t so very poor. He must have a little money, Josie.”
Josie nodded her head absently. She was trying hard to understand Mr. Cragg’s character, and so far it baffled her. He had frankly admitted his ungovernable temper and had deplored it. Also he had refrained from having Josie arrested for burglary because he was “too occupied to prosecute her.” Occupied? Occupied with what? Surely not the real estate business. She believed the true reason for her escape was that he dreaded prominence. Old Swallowtail did not wish to become mixed up with police courts any more than he could help. This very occurrence made her doubt him more than ever.
CHAPTER XVII
A CLEW AT LAST
That night Josie resumed her watch of Cragg’s cottage. She did not trust to the shadow of the tree to conceal her but hid herself under the bank of the river, among the dry stones, allowing only her head to project above the embankment and selecting a place where she could peer through some low bushes.
She suspected that the excitement of the previous night might render the old man nervous and wakeful and send him out on one of his midnight prowls. This suspicion seemed justified when, at eleven-thirty, his light went out and a few minutes later he turned the corner of the house and appeared in the path.
He did not seem nervous, however. With hands clasped behind his back and head bowed, he leisurely paced the path to the bridge, without hesitation crossed the river and proceeded along the road in a direction opposite to the village.
Complete Works of L. Frank Baum Page 590
