The Mystery of the Hidden Room

by Marion Harvey

  CHAPTER XXIV

  THE SIGNET RING

  At McKelvie's request I parked my car a block from the house and wetraversed that distance in silence, entering the grounds as though wehad come on no good errand. When we reached the house McKelvie pilotedme to the back and rang the servants' bell. It was late, after six, andgrowing dark so that Mason was hardly to be blamed if he failed torecognize us, especially as he did not expect to see us again so soon.

  "It's Mr. Davies, Mason," said McKelvie. "Will you let us in to the mainwing through the passageway, please?"

  "Yes, sir," returned Mason. "This way, sir, if you please."

  He led us through the passageway and opened the door into the main wing,going ahead of us to switch on the light in the hall.

  "That is all. Leave the door open into the passageway. We shall probablydepart the way we entered."

  "Very good, sir."

  McKelvie waited until the old man had shuffled away before he approachedthe study door. It was little more than six hours since we had been inthat room, yet it seemed more like a week to me, so many things hadcropped up in the interval, and I waited impatiently for McKelvie toturn the knob of the door.

  "I thought I heard someone in there," he whispered, and flung open thedoor.

  For one swift instant I had the impression of a glaring eye that winkedand faded as I looked, then only darkness confronted us, darkness and abrooding stillness in which I could hear my very heart-beats.

  McKelvie stepped into the room and found the switch, then as the studywas flooded with light, he turned and sped toward the safe with me athis heels.

  "The windows," he said tersely, as he spun the dial. "See if anyone ishiding behind those curtains."

  I hurried to the windows and swept back the hangings. There was no onethere, and I turned back to the safe just as McKelvie stood up and swungopen the door.

  "Come on," he said, thrusting his skeleton key into the inner door."Don't forget to stoop and be careful to make no noise."

  I followed him as he lighted his flash, and passed quickly through thesecret room to the door at the head of the stairs. Unlocking this hemotioned me to keep near him, and together we crept down the stonestaircase and out into the night. We listened a moment, but the onlything we heard was the wind in the trees, which seemed to mock usshrilly as we peered into the dusk beyond.

  "Come on back," said McKelvie quietly. "We have work to do yonder," andhe nodded toward the entrance.

  Wonderingly I obeyed him but asked no questions as he relocked the doorand led the way back to the secret room. Here he paused to turn on thelight and then lifting the divan aside with my help, he knelt and feltthe wall against which it had been placed.

  "What is it?" I whispered. His haste and mysterious actions made me feelsomehow that to speak aloud would be to commit an unpardonable offense.

  He raised his head as though listening to sounds from without, then hesprang to his feet.

  "The divan, quick, and no noise," he whispered.

  I stooped to help him and as we lifted the divan to its place the fringeof the cover caught in my cuff-link. I tried to untangle it, butMcKelvie had no time for such niceties. He wrenched the fringe free,leaving a strand in my link, and as he did so something fell to thefloor and rolled along the carpet. He pounced upon the object, thensuddenly turned and switched off the light. By the aid of his flash hecrept to the rear door, and I distinctly heard the sound of steps onthose stairs as McKelvie unlocked the door.

  With a sudden movement he pulled the door open and flashed his light onthe stairs. Again there was nothing but darkness and brooding stillness,and I could see that the door at the bottom was tightly closed.

  "Well, I'll be hanged," muttered McKelvie. "I must be hearing things.Let's get back to the study."

  We returned to the brightly lighted room and McKelvie locked up behindhim with scrupulous care. Then he went over to the table and seatedhimself at its head in the chair in which Darwin had been found, andmotioned me to take the place beside him.

  "Funny thing," he said presently. "I could have sworn there was someonein this room when we first entered. I'm positive I saw this lamp goout."

  "Was that it?" I answered. "It looked like an eye to me, a great glaringeye that faded as I gazed."

  "You saw it too, then? I'm glad of that," he returned. "I was beginningto think I was the victim of hallucination. No, it was the lamp, whichmeans someone was in that safe. However, he had the start of us, andthere is not much use in trying to catch him at present."

  "Who was it?" I asked eagerly. "Do you suspect?"

  He made no answer but took from his pocket the object which had fallenfrom the divan. It was a heavy gold ring, evidently a man's. He lookedat it critically and then held it out to me.

  "Do you know whose it is?" he asked low.

  Before I could take it from him he hastily slipped it back into hispocket and leaning closer, said in my ear, "Don't make a sound, but lookat the safe door. Then turn back and listen to me as though nothing wereamiss."

  I was sitting around the corner from the head of the table with my chairturned slightly in McKelvie's direction so that my back was partlytoward the safe. At his words I turned and looked at the safe door,expecting I know not what, and to my amazement I saw that the knob ofthe dial was turning silently and apparently of itself!

  There was only one explanation. Someone was opening the door of the safefrom the inside, somebody who knew the combination which McKelvie hadused! And yet how could anyone have cognizance of the six lettersMcKelvie had picked out to close the safe. For this was no attempt suchas Jenkins had made, no adept manipulation, since the dial was turningwith precision, as though the hand that twirled it knew exactly how tospin it.

  McKelvie's foot on mine recalled the remainder of his injunction, andturning back, I held out my hand for the ring. His lips formed the word,"No," and his eyes directed me to what he held in his hand. It was LeeDarwin's stick-pin.

  "I thought there was someone in the room when we entered," he said in aclear voice, "but since you say you did not see the light, why I musthave been mistaken. The case is getting on my nerves, and nerves arequeer things when they begin to jump. I've been working too hard, andit's time I took a vacation."

  He paused, and I had an uncomfortable feeling that whoever was in thesafe had succeeded in opening it and was gazing at us from behind theshelter of the door. I shuddered as I realized the intensity of thoseunseen eyes which held me riveted to my chair. I longed to turn aroundand look and so break the spell, but McKelvie's glance on mine forbadeit.

  "I'm convinced that Lee killed his uncle," he continued. "The stick-pinproves his presence, and doubtless he had knowledge of the entrance.There is nothing more to be learned from this study. My work from now onmust be conducted outside. As I said, I've got a man in the South anduntil he picks up Lee's trail there is nothing more to be done."

  He stood up and put the pin away. "I'm dog tired. We've had a strenuousday. Take me home, Mr. Davies. I've earned a few days' rest."

  Disappointedly I looked up at him. He spoke very convincingly and he didlook tired, but somehow I had hoped that the ring had opened up a newline of inquiry for the morrow. Inaction was hateful to me while Ruthremained a prisoner. I wanted to be up and doing, even if it was onlyfollowing a false scent.

  "Come on, Mr. Davies. It's long past dinner time," he said impatiently.

  "All right," I said reluctantly, rising and glancing casually at thesafe as I did so. To my surprise the door was closed and had theappearance of never having been touched. Was I too beginning to havehallucinations?

  A warning pressure as McKelvie took my arm made me mask whateverastonishment I felt, and also made me hasten with him from the roomwithout a backward glance. When we were in the hall I opened my mouth toquestion him, but he shook his head and hurried me along to the doorleading into the servants' wing.

  "Wait here a moment," he said, indicating the passageway. "I'll be backin a
second. Keep the door closed."

  He disappeared down a side hall and I stepped into the passageway andclosed the door, wondering what it was all about, and particularly whothe man was who had evaded us to-night, if it was a man and not a freakof my imagination. Still, McKelvie had heard him, too, and it was hardlylikely that both of us were dreaming.

  "Come, we'll have to hurry," said McKelvie, returning suddenly.

  In silence we let ourselves out the back door and crept through thegrounds to the gate. In another minute we had gained the corner and mycar.

  As I drove toward town I remarked, "Was there really someone in thatsafe, McKelvie?"

  "Certainly. I thought I was mistaken at first, but he came back again,as you observed. I thought you looked uneasy while I was talking," hesaid laughing.

  I reddened. "It wasn't very pleasant to feel his eyes on me and beforbidden to see who it was. You were facing the safe. You saw him?" Iquestioned.

  "No, I didn't see him. He was too clever to risk that. He knew we werethere, and he came to find out how much progress we had made towardputting him behind the bars where he belongs," retorted McKelviegrimly.

  "You don't mean to tell me that it was the criminal himself who had thenerve to come there to-night?" I said.

  "It must have been, for who else has a key to those doors? Remember thathe took Darwin's key, and mine is the only other one that will openthose locks. Also he would be too clever to take anyone else into hisconfidence," he replied.

  "How did he know the combination that you used?" I continued.

  McKelvie laughed. "When I locked the safe the other day I used the word,Darwin, the one you suggested. He has since made himself acquainted withthat combination. Just as he was too clever to change it so that I wouldbelieve the safe untampered with, so was I too clever to let him knowthat I suspected his visits."

  I nodded. "Why didn't you go over to the safe and capture him then?" Iasked. "You missed an opportunity."

  "What happened when we chased him before? The moment he saw us makingfor the safe he would be gone. Besides, I was playing a little game. Ihad put him on his guard by hunting for him. I decided to trick him intothinking that I no longer had any interest in him."

  "Then all that very convincing conversation----"

  "Was mere bunk," he answered. "I'm glad it was convincing, though, for Iwas trying to fool a very clever devil."

  He fished around in his pocket and drew out the ring. I could see itgleam in the light of the street lamps as we sped toward the park.

  "Strange. I had an idea that there was a secret panel or something ofthe sort where he could hide such things as he needed, for I couldfigure no other reason for his coming to that house, and that is what Iwas hunting for when you so opportunely caught your cuff-link in thatPersian cover. This ring must have been tangled in the fringe and when Iyanked the cover I dislodged the ring. That was a stroke of pure luck,and it changes the whole course of the inquiry. Word from Chicago wouldhave told me something, but not as much as this band of gold does. Takea good look at it and tell me whose it is."

  He took out his flash and played it over the ring while I looked at it.Then I turned away, feeling sick at heart. The ring was a heavy goldsignet with a deep-cut monogram, and it was a ring I knew only too well,since I had bought it myself at Ruth's request that she might give it toher brother on his birthday. That was three years ago, and what a veryhappy time it had been and how pleased Dick had seemed to receive thering, for he always made a fuss over Ruth. I remember that he swore towear it always as he slipped it on his finger, and now here it wascropping up to bring more misery to the girl I wanted most to shieldfrom all harm and sorrow.

  "Well?" McKelvie's voice broke the thread of my thought.

  "It's Dick Trenton's," I said low. "And now shall I drive you home?"

  "Home? I should say not!" he almost shouted. "We're going to get somedinner and then we're off to Water Street. The trail's too hot to turnaside now."