Out of a Labyrinth
Page 31
CHAPTER XXXI.
CARNES TELLS HIS STORY.
The time came when Carnes told me the story of his New Orleans search.As he related it to me then, let him relate it now:--
Arrived in New Orleans without trouble or delay, at three o'clock in theafternoon. Registered at the "Hotel Honore," a small house near thelevees; giving my name as George Adams, sugar dealer, from St. Louis.
Then began a hunt among the theaters, and, before seven o'clock I hadfound the place I wanted,--"The Little Adelphi," owned and managed by"Storms & Brookhouse." It is a small theater, but new and neatly fittedup, has a bar attached, and beer tables on the floor of the auditorium.I made no effort to see Brookhouse, but went back to the "Honore," afterlearning that money would open the door of the green room to any patronof the theater.
After supper I refreshed my memory by a look at the pictures of themissing young ladies, including that of Miss Amy Holmes, and then I setout for the little Adelphi.
There was never an easier bit of work than this New Orleans business.The curtain went up on a "Minstrel first part," and there, sitting nextto one of the "end men," was Mamie Rutger!
Her curly hair was stuck full of roses. She wore a very short pink satindress, and her little feet were conspicuous in white kid slippers. IfMiss Mamie was forcibly abducted, she has wasted no time in grievingover it. If she has been in any manner deceived or deluded, she bears itwonderfully well. She sang her ballad with evident enjoyment, and hervoice rang out in the choruses, clear and sweet. Her lips were wreathedin smiles, her cheeks glowed, and her eyes sparkled. Occasionally sheturned her head to whisper to the blacked-up scamp who sat at her righthand. Altogether she deported herself with the confidence of an old_habitue_ of the stage. Evidently she had made herself popular with theLittle Adelphi audiences, and certainly she enjoyed her popularity.
After the first part, I watched the stage impatiently, it being tooearly to venture into the green-room.
Mamie Rutger did not re-appear, but, after an hour, occupiedprincipally by "burnt cork artists," Miss Lotta Le Clair, "the song anddance Queen," came tripping from the wings; and Miss Lotta Le Clair, ina blue velvet coat and yellow satin nether garments, was none other thanAmy Holmes! She danced very well, and sang very ill; and I fancied thatshe had tasted too often of the cheap wine dealt out behind the bar.Very soon after her exit I made my way to the green-room, piloted by thehead waiter. I had, of course, gotten myself up for the occasion, and Ilooked like a cross between a last year's fashionplate and a Boweryblackleg.
It is always easy to make a variety actress talk, and those at theLittle Adelphi proved no exception. Two or three bottles of wine openedthe way to some knowledge.
By chatting promiscuously with several of the Adelphi belles, I learnedthat Amy Holmes and Mamie Rutger, who, by the way, was "RoseDeschappelles" on the bills, lived together. That Amy, who was not knownat the theater by that name, was "a hard one," and "old in thebusiness;" while "Rose" was a soft little prig who "wore her lover'spicture in a locket," and was "as true to him as steel." The girls allunited in voting Amy disagreeable, in spite of her superior wisdom; andMamie, "a real nice, jolly little thing," spite of her verdancy.
The fair Amy was then approached, and my real work began. I ordered, inher honor, an extra brand of wine. I flattered her, I talked freely ofmy wealth, and displayed my money recklessly. I became half intoxicatedin her society, and, through it all, bemoaned the fact that I could notoffer, for her quaffing, the sparkling champagne that was the onlyfitting drink for such a goddess.
The Adelphi champagne _was_ detestable stuff, and Miss Amy was_connoisseur_ enough to know it. She frankly confessed her fondness forgood champagne, and could tell me just where it was to be found.
The rest came as a matter of course. I proposed to give her a champagnebanquet; she accepted, and the programme was speedily arranged.
At eleven o'clock the next day, she would meet me at a convenient littlerestaurant near the theater. I must come with a carriage. We would havea drive, and, just outside the city, would come upon Louis Meniu'sSummer _cafe_. There we would find fine luscious fruits, rare wines,everything choice and dainty.
Miss Amy, who seemed to possess all the luxurious tastes of a nativecreole, arranged the programme, and we parted at the green-room door,mutually satisfied, she anticipating a gala day, and I seeing before methe disagreeable necessity of spoiling her frolic and depriving theLittle Adelphi, for a time at least, of one of its fairest attractions.
The course which I had resolved to pursue was not the one most to mytaste; but it was the simplest, shortest, and would accord best with theinstructions given me, viz., that no arrests must be made, nor anythingdone to arouse the suspicions of Fred Brookhouse, and cause him to givethe alarm to his confederates in the North.
I had purposely held aloof from Mamie Rutger, feeling convinced that itwere best not to approach _her_ until a definite course of action hadbeen decided upon. Nor was I entirely certain that my scheme wouldsucceed. If Amy Holmes should prove a shade wiser, shrewder, and morecourageous, and a trifle less selfish and avaricious than I had judgedher to be, my plans might fail and, in that case, the girl might work memuch mischief.
I weighed the possibilities thoughtfully, and resolved to risk thechances.
Accordingly, on the morning after my visit to the Little Adelphi, I sentmy first telegram, and made arrangements for putting my scheme intoexecution.
The beginning of the programme was carried out, as planned by the younglady.
We drove to the _cafe_, kept by Louis Meniu, and tested his champagne,after which I began to execute my plans.
"Louis Meniu might be all very well," I said, "but there was no man inNew Orleans, so I had often been told by Northern travelers, who couldserve such a dinner as did the _chef_ at the P---- Hotel. Should wedrive to this house and there eat the best dinner to be served in thecity?"
The prospect of dining at a swell hotel pleased the young lady. She gaveinstant consent to the plan, and we turned back to the city and theP---- Hotel.
Here we were soon installed in a handsome private parlor, and, after Ihad paused a few moments in the office, to register, "Geo. Adams andsister, St. Louis, Mo.," I closed the door upon servants and intruders,and the engagement commenced.
Having first locked the door and put the key in my pocket, I approachedMiss Amy, who stood before a mirror, carelessly arranging a yellow rosein her black frisettes. Dropping my swaggering, half-maudlin,wholly-admiring tone and manner, I said, quietly:
"Now, Miss Amy Holmes, if you will sit down opposite me, we will talkthings over."
She started violently, and turned toward me with a stare of surprise, inwhich, however, I could observe no fear. The name had caused herastonishment. I had been careful to address her by her stage name, orrather the one she chose to use at the theater. I hardly suppose herreal name to be Holmes,--probably it is Smith or Jones instead.
She let the hand holding the rose drop at her side, but did not loosenher grasp of the flower.
"Look here," she exclaimed, sharply. "Where did you pick up that name?and what kind of a game are you giving me, anyhow?"
After the surprise occasioned by the utterance of her discarded name, myaltered tone and manner had next impressed her.
"I got that name where I got several others, Miss Amy, and the game I amplaying is one that is bound to win."
She sat down upon the nearest chair, and stared mutely.
"How would you like to go back to Amora, Miss Holmes? Or to Grovelandand the widow Ballou's?"
She sprang up with her eyes flashing, and made a sudden dash for thedoor. Of course it resisted her effort to open it.
"Open that door," she said, turning upon me a look of angry defiance."You are either a fool or a meddler. Open the door!"
"Open that door," she said, turning upon me a look ofangry defiance.--page 358.]
I laid one hand somewhat heavily upon her shoulder, and led her back tothe seat she
had just vacated.
"Possibly I may be both fool and meddler," I replied, in a tone so sternthat it seemed to arrest her attention, and impress her with the factthat I was neither trifling nor to be trifled with. "But I am somethingelse, and I know more of you, my young lady, and of your past career,than you would care to have me know. Perhaps you may never have heard ofMichael Carnes, the detective, but there are others who have made hisacquaintance."
Now, all this was random firing, but I acted on the knowledge thatnine-tenths of the women who are professional adventuresses have, intheir past, something either criminal or disgraceful to conceal, and onthe possibility that Miss Amy Holmes might not belong to the exceptionalfew.
The shot told. I saw it in the sudden blanching of her cheek, in thestartled look that met mine for just an instant. If there were nothingelse to conceal, I think she would have defied me and flouted at myefforts to extract information on the subject of the Groveland mystery.
But I had touched at a more vulnerable point. If I could now convinceher that I knew her past career, the rest would be easy.
It was a delicate undertaking. I might say too much, or too little, butI must press the advantage I had gained. Her attention was secured. Hercuriosity was aroused. There was a shade of anxiety on her face.
Drawing a chair opposite her, and seating myself therein, I fixed myeyes upon her face, and addressed her in a tone half stern, halfconfidential:
"You are a plucky girl," I began, "and I admire you for that; and when Itell you that I have followed you, or tracked you, from the North,through Amora, through Groveland, down to the Little Adelphi, you willperhaps conjecture that I do not intend to be balked or evaded, even byso smart a little lady as you have proved yourself. I bear you nopersonal ill-will, and I much dislike to persecute a woman even when shehas been guilty of"----
I paused; she made a restless movement, and a look of pain flittedacross her face.
"Perhaps we may be able to avoid details," I said, slowly. "I will letyou decide that."
"How?" with a gasp of relief or surprise, I could hardly guess which.
"Listen. Some time ago two girls disappeared from a little northerncommunity, and I was one of the detectives employed to find them. I neednot go into details, since you know so much about the case. In thecourse of the investigation, we inquired pretty closely into thecharacter of the company kept by those two young ladies, and learnedthat a Miss Amy Holmes had been a schoolmate of the missing girls.Afterward, this same Amy Holmes and a Miss Grace Ballou made an attemptto escape from the Ballou farm house. The scheme was in part frustrated,but Amy Holmes escaped. Mrs. Ballou furnished us with a photo of MissAmy Holmes, and when I saw it _I knew it_!"
"Ah!"
This time it was an interjection of unmistakable terror. It gave me mycue.
"I knew it for the picture of a young woman who had--committed--a crime;a young woman who would be well received at police headquarters, and Isaid to myself I will _now_ find this young person who calls herself AmyHolmes."
A look of sullen resolution was settling upon her face. She sat beforeme with her eyes fixed upon the carpet and her lips tightly closed.
"I have found her," I continued, mercilessly. "And now--shall I take youback with me, a prisoner, and hand you over to the officers of the law,or will you answer truthfully such questions as I shall put to you, andgo away from this house a free woman?"
She was so absorbed by her own terror, or so overshadowed by some ghostof the past, that she seemed to take no note of my interest in theGroveland business, except as it had been an incidental aid in huntingher down.
"Do you think I would trust you?" she said, with a last effort atdefiance. "You want to make me testify against myself."
"You mistake, or you do not understand. I am at present working in theinterest of the Groveland case. My discovery of you was an accident, andmy knowledge concerning you I am using as a means toward the elucidationof the mystery surrounding the movements of Mamie Rutger and NellieEwing. Mamie Rutger I saw last night at the Little Adelphi. Nellie Ewingis no doubt within reach. I might find them both without yourassistance. It would only require a little more time and a little moretrouble; but time just now is precious. I have other business whichdemands my attention at the North. Therefore, I say, tell me all thatyou know concerning these two girls--_all_, mind. If you omit onenecessary detail, if you fabricate in one particular, I shall know it.Answer all my questions truthfully. I shall only ask such as concernyour knowledge or connection with this Groveland affair. If you do this,you have nothing to fear from me. If you refuse--you are my _prisoner_.You comprehend me?"
She eyed me skeptically.
"How do I know that you will let me go, after all?" she said.
"You have my promise, and I am a man of my word. You are a woman, and Idon't want to arrest you. If you were a man, I should not offer you achance for escape. Do as I wish and you are free, and if you needassistance you shall have it. You must choose at once; time presses."
She hesitated a moment, and then said:
"I may as well tell you about the girls, as you seem to know so much,and--I can't be arrested for that."
"Very well! Tell your story, then, truly and without omissions."