Robert Orr Chipperfield

“ Odell had seen that look in the faces of men before; and the thought which came to him all but stunned his faculties for a moment. Then pulling himself together he stirred experimentally, emitted a faint groan, and threw one arm up over his head. Tony slept on undisturbed, and the other figure remained motionless.
With a quick, noiseless movement the detective sat up, threw the dirty blankets from him, and tiptoeing across the floor laid one hand on Pete's shoulder and with the other felt for his heart. It had ceased to beat. ”

“ Gene dear; you're almost as bad as Rannie." Nan raised her white, serious face and looked straight into his. "You know you don't believe in evil spirits any more than I do. There is no use in denying that I've felt just as Cissie has all this last week; but it may be that we are all just nervous and apt to imagine things. Why, even poor father showed it to-night when Rannie burst out like that! If we could all be as stolid and calm as—as Peters, for instance." ”

“ There can be nothing more despicable than a woman who enters a home in the intimate, confidential capacity of a nurse and tattles of the personal, private matters which inevitably come under her observation; and yet if it is a question of preventing crime, I realize that I have no choice. Only if Mr. Lorne is innocent I am doing a terrible thing in this betrayal of my trust!"
"If Mr. Lorne is innocent the truth cannot hurt him," the detective urged. ”

“ Of course, we are all dreadfully sorry for Rannie—you have heard that he is crippled?—and we try to be patient with his moods; but you haven't seen him, you don't know him, Sergeant Odell. He is so bitter, and his tongue is so ruthless, that you just can't have any real affection for him. I know it must sound disloyal to speak so of one's own brother; but he doesn't care for anyone. His only pleasure is to torment and wound others. ”

“ Before, when Monsieur Julian was taken so soon after his mother, I say to myself: 'It is not good. It is not the will of the good God as Mademoiselle Meade try to tell me, nor is it accident which take two from the same family in so quick time. It is evil, and I do not know whether that evil be human or of the infernal spirits.' Now that I know it is human I am not so afraid. ”

“ The detective rose as if on the point of departure. "In the meantime, while the necessary formalities are being arranged, I wonder if you could give me something to work on?"
"I should be only too happy to, Sergeant. This is going to be rather a blow to my colleagues and myself when the truth reaches the public. But I'm not thinking of that now; all I want is to see justice done; and to be honest I feel a certain amount of professional curiosity. I'm anxious to know what poison was used and how we were all so cleverly hoodwinked." ”

“ I felt no compunction in regard to Cissie Chalmers. My revenge on him would save her from wrecking her future; and she is not the type who can suffer very deeply."
"Did anyone in this house suspect your identity?" Odell asked.
"Only Rannie; and he also hated Farley Drew. He told me only yesterday that he would not give me away because he wanted to see what he called the fun." She shivered. There is something inhuman about that boy." ”

“ The door opened and Pete staggered in, seized the tray, and departed; while Tony seated himself astride a chair and raised the bottle to his lips.
The fates had been more kind than Odell had dared to hope. He knew the swift and deadening effect of the mixture which Pete had brought; and when once the men succumbed to its influence escape would be assured. He strained his ears to listen for the direction from which Pete would return, for he had as yet no idea where Miller was confined. He had heard the former cross the porch and descend the steps again, but that was all. ”

“ At the sound of his voice the woman's wild laughter ceased abruptly, and her body relaxed; but she returned his stare malevolently, and a sneer, infinitely sly and crafty, curled her lip.
"I fooled you all—all!" she cried; and freeing one arm by a lightning-like gesture, she beat her thin breast. "How I have laughed at you here, here, in these long years while you have patronized me, thrust me into corners! Me, the old maid, the one who stood aside, meek and docile and a nonentity—but useful! Ah, I saw to that! ”

“ Odell drew his pistol and a pocket electric flash, and motioning Miller to one side of the kitchen door, took up his position at the other. The light in the side window had been suddenly extinguished; and now above the clamor from the front of the house Odell caught the sound of stumbling footsteps within, and once a woman's frightened, convulsive sob.
The kitchen door swung inward, and a man's figure appeared supporting that of a woman who clung to him desperately. ”

“ Odell promised, and closing the door softly behind him he went downstairs. The last two minutes in the invalid's room had served to dash to chaos all his previous calculations, vague though they had been; and the fog of mystery which encompassed him seemed to have deepened to a solid, impenetrable wall.
It was the parrot which had furnished him with the last and most conflicting clue. Neither the bird's whimpering plaint nor its suspended position in the cage was without reason. On the detective's first approach to the bird he had observed that its upturned feet were both badly blistered. ”

“ Don't let your nerves run away with you, old man.
"Nerves nothing! Don't speak aloud! I'm sure I heard a step out in the hall."
"Well, I didn't, and I've keener ears than you," retorted Titheredge.
Lorne padded softly to the door and listened for a space of several minutes, then turned away with a sigh of relief.
"I guess I must have been mistaken. I'll go to pieces myself, like Gene, if I'm not careful. God! I wish this night would end, and we could get hold of that young fellow you spoke of! Perhaps it would be better, though, to go to some private detective agency and avoid the police." ”

“ That wicked Cissie was the means of early bringing my secret to light; and for that I determined that she should be the next to go. She tried to run away, and when I stopped her at the very door she sneered at my love for Rannie. I would have killed her then, I think, only the young man from Headquarters was in the drawing-room, and I remembered in time that I must not use strength. My seeming weakness was the most perfect evidence in my defense as long as I could keep people from knowing how strong I really was. ”

“ Odell could not help but admire the cleverness with which his opponent had turned the tables, and he smiled candidly.
"Granted. Still"—the smile faded and his jaw set sternly—"an arrest on suspicion, with due publicity, including the printing of that note verbatim in every newspaper in the city would achieve practically the same result as far as you are concerned, my dear Mr. Drew. I fancy that Gene's explanation would not only prove interesting reading to your circle of acquaintances but would prevent your making others among the unsophisticated scions of wealthy families." ”

“ Odell turned upon the other a gaze of mild inquiry.
"If I am in need of anything, at least to the extent of compounding a felony in order to obtain it, I am unaware of the fact," he said blandly. "Can you be a trifle more explicit, Mr. Drew?"
"You are young and ambitious; I think you have a real love for your work, an immense enthusiasm, and you are impatient to reach the top of the ladder. I've seen your name in the papers in connection with more than one big case in a subordinate capacity; but minor success is sometimes a boomerang. ”

“ His stepfather's round reddened face puffed out in anger, and his close-clipped gray mustache fairly bristled. "If you have no heart, at least preserve a semblance of decency and do not jest about—about matters which have bowed all our heads in grief!"
His tone grew husky toward the last, and his slightly prominent blue eyes filled as he turned away.
Nan laid a cool little hand over his.
"Don't mind Gene, father. He's only trying to cover up his own feelings; I know him!" ”

“ Gene replied. "If a whole lot of people think the same thing it's bound to be true; not come true because they believe it, but be true from the first. You wait and see what happens next!"
Christine moaned, and regardless of her coiffure burrowed her head still deeper into her folded arms upon the table.
"If we'd try to think sanely for a minute, we'd realize how impossible any connection between mother's death and Julian's could be." Nan spoke decidedly, but her voice trembled and lowered as she mentioned those who had gone. ”

“ Gene gave one fleeting, desperate glance toward his desk—in the lock of which the key still remained—and fled downstairs.
Unless the young man had temporarily lost his head and burned his papers without discrimination as they came to his hand, those already destroyed must have been the most important; and locking the door in his turn, Odell went quickly to the grate and pocketed every unburned scrap that remained. ”

“ Odell replied, wondering as he did so why he was giving this strange boy such complete confidence. If Rannie could in some way have slipped off downstairs and unseen dropped the poison into that cup before the broth was placed in it, his audacity and queer, warped sense of humor would have found rare sport in hoodwinking the man who had set himself to solve the problem. ”

“ Farley Drew might have been quite willing to marry a young girl of assured social position and comparative wealth even in these days of colossal fortunes; but to elope with her when the shadow of murder hung over her home, and notoriety of the most sinister sort loomed close, would have been an entirely different matter. Drew himself was traveling too close to the line just then, as the detective knew, to invite any publicity and place himself even indirectly in the path of the investigation. ”

“ Drew shrugged. "We will say rather that you might unearth a matter which would in no way interest the homicide department of your organization: a strictly family matter, the probing of which would cause only shame and unhappiness to people already burdened with grief and perplexity. Would you consider it your duty without consulting those most immediately concerned to bring it to the attention "of—er—another branch of the police service?"
"If I discovered evidence of another and separate crime unconnected with the matter now under investigation?" The detective paused in seeming reflection. ”

“ Gene responded unguardedly, then added: "For God's sake, don't go to him with anything of this, Sergeant. He—he hates anything like notoriety, and he can make a lot of trouble."
"For whom?" Odell demanded as the other paused.
"Oh, well, I don't want to lose his friendship," Gene mumbled. "It isn't fair to drag other people into a rotten scandal like this; and they're bound to resent it. Besides, he knows nothing whatever about it; I haven't even seen him since Julian's funeral."
He wandered back into his own room as the detective started downstairs. ”

“ You know how that portrait fell last night, almost killing Gene, and what a narrow escape your father himself had this morning when the top step of the stairs collapsed and precipitated him to the bottom.
"Of course, these may all be mere coincidences; but we want to be sure of it to allay all your fears, and so we have called in this young man to make the fullest investigation. He will question everyone, and—you listen to this, too. Gene—you must be absolutely frank with him. Remember, there must be no lying, no subterfuge."
"My God!" Gene came forward. "I knew I was right! ”

“ Old Sam Titheredge stayed overnight and shared his room."
There was something—a touch of cynicism, the shadow of a sneer—in the boy's tone which made Odell scan his face more closely, but he merely asked:
"And the servants?"
"Peters is a pompous old fool, and I think he has only beaten it because he is scared stiff; Marcelle is stupid and shrewd at the same time, like so many of the peasant class in France, but she's loyal and crazy about all of us. Jane is a blockhead; and Gerda—well, what do you think of Gerda yourself, Sergeant?" ”

“ Odell paused. "If the crimes are not the work of someone in the house, there is at least a member of the household who has a guilty knowledge of them, for there must have been an accomplice inside to admit him. But I am taking up your valuable time, Doctor?"
"You are not, Sergeant," the specialist replied with emphasis. "A frightful mistake has been made by myself and my colleagues, and I want to do all that I can to retrieve it. Unfortunately, I was called in too late to save Mrs. Lorne in any event, as I told you; but I feel equally culpable with the others. ”

“ The dinner progressed in silence to its close; but when Peters at a nod from Richard Lorne had placed the coffee upon the table and departed little Miss Effie glanced about and said timidly:
"We—we mustn't go on like this, you know. The—the loss of our dear ones—". She put her handkerchief for a moment to her brimming eyes. "To have my poor sister and her dear son taken from us so suddenly and with so short a space of time between is heartrending, but it is the Lord's will and we must not complain. If we go on as we have been, we shall have Peters talking to the other servants about us. ”

“ As they entered Nan rose, kissed her father on the forehead softly, and went from the room.
"You've been examining the stairs?" Richard Lorne asked, panting from the knife-thrusts of pain which darted through his hurt ribs at each breath.
"Yes, Dick. They were sawed through, just as we imagined," Titheredge replied. "If you won't be taken to bed just yet, lie still and don't try to talk; I'll keep you informed of everything that goes on. ”