It was before dinner, almost 6 p.m., Eva Newborn, the young millionaire orphan was in her sumptuous townhouse with her new lady companion, Ethel Briar, whose real identity she still hadn’t guessed.
She shook her pretty blonde head, smiled impishly, fixed her clear eyes on the detective and replied:
“Decidedly, Ethel, you’re a valuable companion. I don’t consider you any longer as just a companion, but as a friend. Thanks to you I avoided the terrible mistake of marrying a man unworthy of me, and you’ve finally managed to put a grain of wisdom in my poor little head, which doesn’t have very much of it.”
A butler knocked and announced:
“Mr. Outburn asks if Miss Newborn can see him.”
“Certainly, have him come in.”
The servant had scarcely left than the young girl, taking on a mysterious air, said to Ethel:
“Quickly! Hide over there, in that storage cabinet.”
“Why?” Ethel asked, surprised.
“You’ll see. Quickly! Hide. I don’t want Mr. Outburn to know you’re here. I’m going to try a test.”
“A test?” Ethel asked. “Wouldn’t that be somewhat silly?”
“Yes, it would, but a nice silliness. Hide!”
Ethel King obeyed. Eva fell down into an arm chair, dug her little fists into her eyes and rubbed them to make their pupils red, took out her handkerchief, and assumed a mournful expression.
A man, about 30 years old, elegant without affectation, with an open expression, attractive, remarkably intelligent, came in and went toward the young girl. He stopped, troubled, noticing Eva looked upset.
“Excuse me, Miss Newborn, I’ve perhaps come at a bad time. I can put off my visit until tomorrow morning.”
“No, please, stay, sit down, Mr. Outburn. It will do me good to see a true friend.”
“A true friend, as you’ve said, Miss Newborn,” the engineer repeated in a shaking voice. “Your father, when he was dying, asked me to watch over your interests as if they were my own. I’ve done my best to fulfill that mission, for the part of your fortune you’ve given me to look after.”
“Yes, Mr. Outburn. I know that.”
“A woman cannot take revenge for certain insults, Miss Newborn. But I’m a man and I can take revenge for you. Use my arm.”
“Thank you, Mr. Outburn. Are you referring to Mr. Hawfinch?”
“Yes, Miss,” the engineer replied, almost under his breath. “Pardon me for perhaps reviving a painful wound. I see that you’ve been crying.”
“Oh! That’s not because of a man I from now on despise with all my being.”
A look of joy passed over the engineer’s face.
“I’m glad for you, Miss Newborn. That man was unworthy of you,” Outburn exclaimed with feeling.
Eva made a gesture of despair.
“Unworthy of me, yes,” she repeated, “but how can I find one worthy of me. If I knew one, alas! If I could read the depth of souls!”
Outburn didn’t speak, but he was obviously prey to a violent emotion. Eva, who saw that between her half closed eyelids, without seeming to, suddenly asked him:
“Do you, yourself, know one, Mr. Outburn?”
The engineer blushed, turned pale, and stammered some unintelligible words.
“Me? What a question! No, Miss Newborn, no.”
As if with effort, the young girl sat up in her armchair, and changing tones, said:
“But you didn’t come to speak to me about my little heart problems, Mr. Outburn. You probably have some business to take care of with me.”
“Indeed, Miss. I’ve come to ask you to sign the line of credit which we talked about yesterday.”
“Good. Before taking care of that question, however, I have some serious revelations to make to you. My rupture with Mr. Hawfinch has terrible consequences for me.”
The engineer opened his eyes wide.
“You’ll be very surprised, Mr. Outburn. You’ll consider me a little idiot, a little featherbrain. You’ll scold me, and I won’t complain because I deserve it.”
“Explain, Miss Newborn. I don’t understand.”
“Oh! It’s very simple, terribly simple. A week ago I had decided to marry Mr. Hawfinch. I signed a contract with him despite the advice and the entreaties of my lawyer, who found the document too much to my disadvantage. Let me inform you that Mr. Hawfinch is now in control of all my fortune, or almost all. He can take all I have, and, I add, he already has.”
Outburn had become very pale.
“What? That’s not possible! Come now, Miss Newborn, you’re surely mistaken. Someone’s fortune can’t be taken like that. That would be the first time…”
“Well, I’m the first one. I’ve just had a long conference with my attorney. I’m defrauded, and there’s nothing to do about it, absolutely nothing.”
The engineer shook his head.
“I can’t believe that…no, I can’t believe it,” he repeated.
“I have left only my ironworks and my steel mills. I’m still going to have to sell them for a mouthful of bread, because I don’t have enough capital to keep them running.”
“As for that, Miss, let me give you some advice. Don’t sell your steel mills. This catastrophe is terrible, but, what the devil! You have to fight. If there’s no way to take back from the thief what he’s taken from you, keep at least what you have.”
“But how can I do that, since I have no capital?”
“Have confidence in me, Miss. As an industrialist I have some value. I know some financiers who will risk capital on my signature. I’ll borrow to keep your enterprises alive. I’ll work hard to repay the money lenders in ten years. I’ll buy back your factories for you, Miss Newborn, even if I have to work night and day without rest to do it.”
The young girl, touched, stood up, and held out her hand to the engineer.
“Oh, thank you, thank you, Mr. Outburn. Yes, you are a true friend.”
“More than a friend, Miss Newborn. I have never dared to tell you; your wealth placed you too far above me. But if you need someone to protect you, someone to lean on, take my arm. It’s that of a loyal and courageous man who’ll remake a fortune for you!”
Miss Newborn let herself go to the arms of the young man, who embraced her passionately, and then she wept in earnest.
“Forgive me, my friend. I used a trick. I lied to you. I’m not ruined…and I’ve just found the greatest of riches, a love that no other could replace.”
State of Siege
It was after dinner. Ethel King, Eva Newborn, and Edward Outburn had come together in the small sitting room to have coffee. All three of them were standing and seemed very excited. Ethel was holding a note that a messenger boy had brought a quarter hour before.
“Indeed, Ethel, you surprise me more and more, Eva was saying. You receive a letter from one of your detective friends, who tells you that a gang of criminals intend to burglarize my house. Then you tell me that the leader of the gang is no other than Hawfinch, whose real name is Hard, an escaped convict. Since it was you who opened my eyes about Hawfinch’s true nature, I’m beginning to wonder if you didn’t already suspect yesterday the identity of this sad character. All that is already very startling: such clairvoyance, such an aptitude for protecting me from a criminal on the part of a simple lady’s companion! But you absolutely staggered me when you advised me against calling the police. I was urgently asking them to send a squad of policemen immediately. You answered me: ‘Don’t do anything; there’s no need. I’ll take charge of defending you with my friends.’ Your friends…so who are they? Detectives…? I’m thinking about it. You have a letter of recommendation from Mr. Golding, the Chief of Police. Come, now, Ethel, you’re hiding something from me. Who are you exactly?”
“I no longer have any reason to hide it from you, Eva. I’m a detective. My real name is Ethel King. “
“Ethel King, yes! Now I understand!”
“Good! Let’s not waste our time with explanations
; the situation is too serious. My friends will try to arrest the criminals before they come here, but they may fail. Let’s make arrangements to guard against any danger. First of all, Eva, I ask you to leave your house and go sleep at a hotel.”
“Never, Ethel. Do you take me for a wet hen? I’m staying. I know how to shoot a revolver.”
“Well, good. Let’s not argue,” Ethel continued. “Stay if you like. Do you have a weapon on you, Mr. Outburn?”
“No, but Eva can certainly lend me one.”
“Yes, I have some revolvers to spare,” she declared.
She rang for the footman, who appeared almost immediately.
“Bring us all the revolvers that you find in the house, with shells, Tom.”
The footman bowed, very surprised at this caprice of his mistress, and left to obey.
“You have three male servants, Eva,” Ethel King noted. “As soon as Tom returns, tell him to go find his comrades and bring them here. As for the women, order them to go up to their bedrooms and lock themselves in securely. I’m going to telephone Charley Lux, my assistant, to come lend us a strong hand. By automobile he will be here in ten minutes.”
That conversation ended at 8 p.m. At 8:30 p.m., all the persons able to bear arms were on a war footing at Miss Newborn’s townhouse. Each one had his post. Walter, the steward, was on watch in the entry hall. Tom, the footman, was standing on the second floor landing, to cut off the burglars from the upper floors and to help Walter, if he needed to. Freddy, the cook, was standing guard in the butler’s pantry behind the courtyard door. He had cut off the inside electricity. The outside of the house was lit by the rather bright light of two street lamps. Charley was in reserve, under the staircase, at an equal distance from the entry door and the door to the basement which opened onto the vestibule. His mission was to fly immediately to the area under attack in case of an alert. The door to the service stairs, in the butler’s pantry, was locked with a key and bolted from the outside.
As for Ethel, Eva, and Outburn, they were together in the small sitting room. The room opened, on one side, onto the dining room; on the other, onto the vestibule. The blinds to the windows, which opened onto the street, were closed and the drapes closed to prevent an audacious criminal firing from the outside, through the window panes, on the occupants in the room. The detective hadn’t taken off her Ethel Briar disguise.
“So, the scoundrels want to kidnap me and murder you, Ethel! When I think that I let Hawfinch pay court to me, such a rogue, a murderer…”
With these words, Eva hid her face in her hands as if to hide her eyes from a horrible sight.
“Let him come, the wretch!” Outburn growled. “I’ll take care of greeting him.”
“I hope he won’t come,” Ethel observed, “and that Detective Light will go ahead with his arrest and that of his accomplices in the old house on Gowan Street. But we’re ready for any eventuality.”
Eva Newborn had sunk back into her armchair. She remained thoughtful, her look stubbornly fixed on a point in the ceiling. Suddenly she said in a serious voice that a strange emotion made tremble:
“It’s bizarre, even so, Ethel. The green diamond. Everything said about it seems verified. I’m not superstitious, but I’m becoming so. The gem revealed Hawfinch as an imposter, and now, am I not menaced with a catastrophe?”
“Come now, Eva, it’s not the time to let yourself go with such ideas. Are we not here to watch over you? Don’t you have faithful protectors around you, Mr. Outburn, first of all?”
“There’s no doubt about it, Eva. I would give my life for you with pleasure!” Outburn exclaimed.
The young girl turned pale. Her clear pupils, looking at the engineer, were troubled.
“Your life! No, no…Edgar. If you were to disappear now, I would follow you to the tomb. My God! Now I remember. The green diamond brings misfortune to the one who possesses it unless another person sacrifices himself for her. But I don’t want anyone else to sacrifice himself for me…not you, Edgar…no, not you…Nor you, Ethel! Oh! My God! I’m so afraid.”
Ethel took Miss Newborn’s hand and in her soft and firm voice talked to her.
“Don’t upset yourself this way, Eva. There are five men here: Mr. Outburn, your three servants, Charley Lux, who, despite his youth, is a solid fellow. Finally, me, and here you can count me as a man. We are therefore six, on our guard, entrenched, to face five criminals, that our resistance will certainly surprise. You can still leave the townhouse escorted by Mr. Outburn, but it’s beginning to be a little late. If these scoundrels are watching the house, which is possible, they’ll see you leave and you’ll be more in danger outside than inside.”
“You’re right, Ethel…forgive me for that moment of weakness. I’ve gone through so many emotions today I’m a little nervous. That’s over. I’ll be brave. And as far as that’s concerned, you can count me in with the besieged forces. We’re seven to defend the place.”
The Assault
“It’s 9 p.m.,” Ethel noted. “I don’t think we have anything to fear before midnight. At 11 p.m., we’ll turn off the electricity everywhere, so as not to show our positions to the enemy.”
As she said these words, someone rang at the entry door. Ethel and her friends listened and heard Walter carrying on a conversation with a late visitor. Finally, the butler had had the man sit down in the vestibule, in a spot he knew was under the surveillance of Charley Lux, and passed through the dining room to enter the little sitting room to refer the matter to his mistress.
“Miss, there’s a man here that looks like a cowboy. He’s come, he said, from Winnemucca, Nevada. He claims he’s your first cousin.”
“I do have, in fact, a first cousin in the Far West. What’s this man’s name?”
“Robert Newborn.”
Ethel King and Outburn listened in silence. They were very intrigued. Eva seemed perplexed.
“Yes, I certainly have a cousin with that name…But this isn’t an hour to come calling on a young girl. Tell him to come back tomorrow morning.”
“I told him that, Miss, but he insists. He says he was robbed of his billfold with $8,000 in it during his trip, and he doesn’t even have enough to pay for a hotel.”
As Eva was still hesitating, Ethel King advised:
“Have Walter give him some money, and tell him to come back tomorrow.”
“But if he’s really my cousin, that might offend him. People from the West are very sensitive.”
“Do you know him well?”
“It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen him. I was four years old! I would certainly not recognize him.”
“This is difficult. Did the fake Hawfinch know you have a cousin with this name from the Far West?”
“Yes, I talked about him, Ethel. But we’re perhaps wrong to be alarmed. That man is alone. He came openly to the main door. Another evening I would have received him without hesitating. If he had evil intentions, do you believe he would have come like this to the townhouse, at 9:30 in the evening, while all the servants are still up?”
“Criminals are sometimes very brazen, Eva. Well, receive this visitor. There are three of us here; we’re on our guard, and we have help within calling distance. We won’t risk a great deal.”
Eva made a sign of agreement.
“Agreed,” she said. “Have the visitor come in, Walter.”
A minute later, the steward showed in a tall man with sunburned, parchment-like skin, long hair, a drooping mustache, dressed in a worn and out of fashion grey coat, wearing heavy boots and holding in his hand a soft hat with wide brims.
The person bowed clumsily in front of Ethel King, without seeing Eva, who had risen to greet him.
“Forgive me for coming to your home at this hour, cousin,” he said with the rough accent of the Nevada country man, “but I am…”
“You are mistaken, sir,” Ethel said. “I’m not Miss Newborn.”
“Oh! Pardon me!” the man said, turning toward the mistress of th
e house. “You were so little, Eva, the last time I came to Philadelphia. Indeed! You’ve become a fine girl. I would never have recognized you.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” the young millionaire replied, laughing. “What’s more, I wouldn’t have recognized you either, Bob.”
The visitor sat down and the conversation began with commonplaces. Ethel King examined the man from the Far West and discovered nothing suspicious about him.
Freddy, who was on guard in the cook’s pantry, was getting tired. He had been up since 6 a.m. and sleep was beginning to overcome him. Plunged into darkness as he was, he began to dose off and didn’t watch the courtyard of the townhouse with all the necessary attention.
Toward 10 p.m., a big, perfectly silent limousine stopped in front of the wrought iron fence. Four men got out without making a sound; it was Hard, puny Jimmy, and two of their accomplices.
“Bob is in place,” the fake Hawfinch murmured. “We can start our operations. That little fool Eva doesn’t suspect anything. Let’s go in fast. I’ll break down the door to the pantry; we’ll go through the house like a burst of wind. Jimmy will guard the retreat; Pete and Ralph will be in charge of putting down any attempt at resistance. I’ll go up to the library with the sacks and I’ll dynamite the safe. I’ll throw the sacks down to the courtyard, as soon as I fill them. We’ll pick them up when we leave. Bob will grab the little girl, and if he can’t finish off the lady’s companion, I’ll take that pleasant task on myself. Do you understand? No misunderstanding? Does everybody know what he’s to do?”
“Yes…Yes, Jack.”
“Well…? Let’s go!”
Hard took out an enormous ax that he passed through the wrought iron bars of the fence, then a somewhat hefty package that he threw over the obstacle. The four men jumped the fence which backed onto a deserted street and slipped silently to the door of the pantry. Hard lifted his ax and struck a formidable blow on the lock, which exploded as if struck by a cannon ball. The windows were shattered into bits. The criminals pushed open the door.
The Adventures of Ethel King, the Female Nick Carter Page 6
