Carolyn Wells

“ There was some discussion of the menu and then Polly, the old cook, shuffled away, and again Ursula Pell sat alone.
"An actress!" she ruminated, "my little Iris an actress! Well, I guess not! But I can persuade her out of that foolishness, I'll bet! Why, if I can't do it any other way, I'll take her traveling,—I'll—why, I'll give her her inheritance now, and let her amuse herself being an heiress before I'm dead and gone. Why should I wait for that, any way? Suppose I give her the pin at once—I'd do it to-day, I believe, while the notion's on me, if I only had it here. ”

“ CHAPTER VII THE CASE AGAINST BANNARD
"It's just this way," said Lucille Darrel, positively, "this house is mine, and I want it to myself. Ursula Pell is dead and buried and she can't play any more tricks on anybody. I admit that was a hard joke on you, Iris, to get a dime and pin, when for years you've been expecting a diamond pin! I can't help laughing every time I think of it! But all the same, that's your business, not mine. And, of course, you and Mr. Bannard will get your jewels yet, somehow. That woman left some explanation or directions how to find her hoard of gems. ”

“ Aside from her one foolish fad, she was intelligent and interesting. Oh, Ursula Pell was all right, except for that one bee in her bonnet. Now, I am perfectly certain her hoard of jewels is safely secreted and I think—I hope, she has left directions telling where they are. But if she hasn't, if, dying so unexpectedly, she has neglected to leave the secret, then I fear Iris will never get her inheritance. Why, they may be within a few feet of us, even now, and yet be so slyly hidden as to be irrecoverable. ”

“ If no one knows of the meaning of the cipher message but just us few, no one else can get ahead of us, and dig before we get there. Please, please, Mr. Stone, let the jewels wait, and put all your energies toward solving the greater mystery of Aunt Ursula's death."
"A strong point in favor of Mr. Bannard," Stone said, thoughtfully, "is the fact of the clues that seemed to incriminate him. If he had been a murderer, would he have left the half-smoked cigarette, so easily traced to him? Would he have gone off with a check, drawn that very day, in his pocket?" ”

“ See?"
"I see," said Miss Darrel, "but I should think you'd find it easier to work on your first question. For here's the room, the door, the lock, and all those things. But as to the murderer, he's gone!"
"Clearly put, ma'am! And quite true. But the room and lock—in plain sight though they are—don't seem to be of any help. Whereas, the murderer, though he's gone, may not be able to stay gone."
"Just what do you mean by that?" asked Bannard.
"Two things, sir. One is, that they do say a murderer always returns to the scene of his crime." ”

“ Iris winced. "They think that implicates Win," she said, slowly, "but I don't! So I'm going to take that, too. The cigarette stub Mr. Hughes took away with him. But everybody smokes that brand. Now, what else?"
"The check-book," said Chapin, gravely. "Be careful, Iris. Everything does seem to point to Win, you know."
"It seems to, yes, but does it? You know yourself, Mr. Chapin, anybody might have a New York Sunday paper—oh, well, I'm going ahead, because I know Win is innocent, and these seeming clues may help to find the real villain." ”

“ There was a maddening delay, and as Iris waited, she began to fear she had done a foolish thing. She suddenly realized that she had acted too quickly and perhaps unadvisedly. But she must stand by it now.
It was half an hour before a man arrived and met her at the door of the drug shop.
"I am Mr. Dayton," he said, "from the agency. Is this Miss Clyde?"
"Yes," said Iris, "and please hurry! I've just got on the track of a man who is a—a burglar——"
"Ma'am?" and the detective looked sharply at this young girl who had called him to her. ”

“ A secret cupboard above the mantel, really a small concealed safe, was flung open, and was empty. An empty pocket-book lay on one chair, and an empty handbag on another.
But these details were lost sight of in the attention paid to Mrs. Pell herself.
"She's dead! she's dead!" wailed Polly. "It wasn't a joke of hers—it was really robbers. She called out 'Thieves!' and 'Help!' several times. Oh, if I'd got you men in sooner!"
"But, good land, Polly!" cried Campbell, "what do you mean by thieves? How could anybody get in here with the door locked? ”

“ The wealth of Ursula Pell was enormous, far more so than one would suppose from the simplicity of her household appointments. This was not due to miserliness, but to her simple tastes and her frugal early life. Her fortune was the bequest of her husband, who, now dead more than twenty years, had amassed a great deal of money which he had invested almost entirely in precious stones. It was his theory and belief that stocks and bonds were uncertain, whereas gems were always valuable. His collection included some world-famous diamonds and rubies, and a set of emeralds that were historic. ”

“ I want the pin that your late aunt left you in her will."
"Oh, then you are William Ashton?"
"Careful! Not so loud. Yes—I am none other than he." A mock dramatic gesture accompanied the phrase, and Iris involuntarily smiled.
"You are charming when you smile," the visitor went on. "I may say that, since I am not making a social call——"
"You seem to be, I think," Iris interrupted him.
"Far from it! You are under a distinct misapprehension. But, alas! your smiles and charms are not the prize I'm seeking. ”

“ And I did think of hiding it there at first, but I thought it safer where I put it. You see, it couldn't lose out, and there was little likelihood of her thinking to feel in the hem of my skirt."
"Very well done; you're a heroine, Miss Clyde, indeed you are! But, I fear the end is not yet. When they find they haven't the right pin——"
"How can they possibly know?" exclaimed Miss Darrel. "How can they tell that they haven't?"
"They must be able to tell, because they were not satisfied with the pins Mr. Pollock took from here."
"Pollock!" cried Iris. "It wasn't Pollock who ran that car to-day." ”

“ In a conclave, all agreed that the message was as bewildering as the cipher itself.
Mr. Chapin could give no hint as to what was meant. Neither Iris nor Lucille Darrel could imagine what L and M stood for.
"Seems like a filing cabinet or card catalogue," suggested Stone, but Iris said her aunt had not owned such a thing.
"Well, we'll find them," Stone promised, "having this information, we'll somehow puzzle out the rest."
"Look in the dictionary or encyclopedia," put in Fibsy, who was scowling darkly in his efforts to think it out.
"You can't hide a lot of jewels in a book!" exclaimed Lucille. ”

“ So, as we may conclude, the word crypt stands for cryptogram. And here's the cryptogram. Now, to explain this seemingly miraculous feat of engraving thirty-nine letters on the head of an ordinary pin, I'll say that it is not an unheard-of accomplishment. Several years ago, I saw on exhibition a pin with forty-five letters to it, and I have seen one or two other similar marvels. They are done, in every instance, by a most expert engraver, who has much time and infinite patience and capacity for carefulness. ”

“ Iris nodded her head toward the desk, and the man went to it. He ran his fingers lightly over the various compartments, watching her the while, and as he touched one, she nodded.
She had remembered a small packet of papers, pinned with an old and somewhat rusty pin, and she determined to pass this pin off on him, if she could make herself dramatically convincing.
"I've always thought I could be an actress," the poor child said to herself, "now's my time to make good." ”

“ CHAPTER XI GONE AGAIN!
"The murder mystery is bad enough," said Hughes, "but this disappearance of Miss Clyde is also alarming. There is deep deviltry going on, and since Winston Bannard is in custody it can't be assumed that he had any hand in the matter."
"Unless Iris is doing something for Win," suggested Miss Darrel.
"They may be working in collusion——" began Hughes, but Mr. Chapin interrupted. "Don't use such an expression! Working in collusion implies wrong-doing. If those two, or either of them, should be hunting the hidden jewels, they have a perfect right to do so. ”

“ I'll get Mr. Chapin over here to-morrow to change my will." [Pg 21]
"Who will be the loser?" asked the rector. "To whom are they willed at present?"
"That's telling," and Mrs. Pell smiled mysteriously.
"Don't forget you've promised me the wonderful diamond pin, auntie," said Iris, bristling up a little.
"What diamond pin?" asked Mrs. Bowen, curiously.
"Oh, for years, Aunt Ursula has promised me a marvelous diamond pin, the most valuable of her whole collection—haven't you, auntie?"
"Yes, Iris," and Mrs. Pell nodded her head, "that pin is certainly the most valuable thing I possess." ”

“ That would be better than living in a trick house! Look at my face! It will be days before these stains wear off! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Aunt Ursula!"
The old lady looked roguishly penitent, like a naughty child.
"Oh, fiddle-de-dee, you can get them off with [Pg 29] whatcha-call-it soap. But I hope you won't! They make you look like a clown in a circus!"
Mrs. Pell's laughter had that peculiarly irritating quality that belongs to practical jokers, and Iris' sensitive nature was stung to the core.
"Oh, I hate you," she cried, "you are a fiend in human shape!" ”

“ Young, I wouldn't believe this strange story of yours, but for your brother's statements and my absolute conviction of your brother's honesty. Both he and his wife tell a staightforward tale of your arrival and departure on that Sunday, which exactly coincides with your own. And there is other corroboration. Now, you are held here, as you know, for other reasons; kidnapping is a crime, and not a slight one, either."
"I know it, Mr. Stone, and I'll take my punishment for that, but I'm not guilty of murder. I was possessed to get hold of that pin. ”

“ Pell did the sulking, and Iris scored.
So it was not, perhaps, surprising that the girl concluded to leave her aunt's home and shift for herself. It would, she knew, probably mean disinheritance; but after all money is not everything, and as the old lady grew older, her pranks became more and more an intolerable nuisance.
And Iris wanted to go out into the world and meet people. The neighbors in the small town of Berrien, where they lived, were uninteresting, and there were few visitors from the outside world. ”

“ I am Rodney Pollock, home Chicago, business hardware, but as a recreation I am a collector."
"And you are interested in my late aunt's curios," suggested Iris. "I am sorry to disappoint you, but they are not available for sale yet, and, indeed, I doubt if they ever will be."
"Don't go too fast," Mr. Pollock smiled a little, "my collection is not of rare bibelots or valuable [Pg 125] curios. Perhaps I'd better confide that I'm an eccentric. I gather things that, while of no real use to others, interest me. ”

“ Tears rolled down his cheeks, as he gave the detective a pleading look.
"All right, Fibs, I've no doubt it's the one. Pins don't grow much in coal-holes, and though it may not be——" a glance at the woeful countenance made him quickly revise his speech, "But it is! I'm sure it is," he finished, smiling kindly at the big-eyed blackamoor.
"Sure! sure!" cried Sam, capering about, "nice pinny-pin! Sam put it there after Missy Iris put it in chair."
Fleming Stone looked at the pin curiously. ”

“ Stone reminded them, "and while it may be the truth, yet is it not possible that investigation will only give us further directions or more puzzles to work out?"
"It is not only possible but very probable," said Mr. Chapin. "I know my late client's character well enough to think that she made the discovery of her hoard just as difficult as she could. It was a queer twist in her brain that impelled her to play these fantastic tricks. Moreover, I can't think she would trust that fortune in gems to the lonely and unprotected earth of a cemetery."
"That's just what she would do," Iris insisted. ”

“ Your man Pollock is doubtless the head of the gang. He's no important collector, or I should know of him. And probably his whole collection story was a falsehood. He read of the pin in the paper and used that to distract your mind from what he really was after."
"Very likely," and Iris sighed. "What would you advise me to do?"
"It's too big a case for a layman's advice, and, pardon me, too big a case for a young girl to manage."
"Oh, I know that. I've a very good lawyer, and the police are at work, but nobody seems able to accomplish anything." ”

“ Those people will stop at nothing! The letters asking for the pin, the caller who wanted it for his 'collection,' all represent the same master-mind, who is after the pin.
"But why?" wondered Hughes, "what do they want of the pin?"
"The pin means the jewels," declared Stone, [Pg 202] briefly. "How, I can't say, exactly, for the moment, but the pin is the open sesame to the hiding-place of the gems, and only the possession of it will secure the treasure. We must get the pin—and then, all else will be clear sailing."
"But the pin is gone," lamented Iris. ”

“ But what can he want of it?"
"The whole thing is too mysterious!" exclaimed Lucille. "Let's send for a city detective at once."
"But," objected Iris, "what could he do?" [Pg 184]
"Do? He could do everything! Find the murderer, find the jewels, find the pin——"
"Good gracious!" cried Iris. "I don't want the pin! In fact, I'm glad it's gone. Now, they won't be kidnapping me to get it! But I'm going to find the jewels. And I'm going to start on a new tack. I'm no good at solving mysteries, but I can investigate. I'm going to Chicago——"
"Whatever for?" exclaimed Lucille; "I'll go with you!" ”