Wadsworth Camp

“ Some survivor of those days might turn up and try blackmail. It was safer to bury himself here."
"Then," Bobby said, "Maria must have brought her father with her when she came from Spain last summer."
"Brought him or sent for him," Paredes answered. "She's made most of her money on this side, you know. And she's as loyal and generous as she is impulsive. Undoubtedly she had the doctors do what they could for her father, and when she got track of Silas Blackburn through you, Bobby, she nursed in the warped brain that dominant idea with her own Latin desire for justice and payment." ”

“ Robinson, I want you to listen to me for a moment. I honestly believe, for everybody's sake, I did a good thing when I asked Silas Blackburn just before he disappeared why he had thrown his brother's body in the lake. I'd hoped it would simply make him run for it. I prayed that we would never hear from him again, and that Miss Katherine and Bobby could be spared the ugly scandal. Doesn't this do as well? Can't we get along without much publicity? ”

“ I was like Howells, as I've told you, in believing the case couldn't be complete without the discovery of the secret entrance of the room of death. My belief in the existence of such a thing made me lean from the first to Silas Blackburn rather than Robert. It's a tradition in many families to hand such things down to the head of each generation. Silas Blackburn was the one most likely to know. Such a secret door had never been mentioned to you, had it, Bobby?"
Bobby shook his head. Paredes turned and smiled at the haggard butler. ”

“ Bobby echoed. "You're right, Carlos. Maria must be considered now. She shall have what was taken from her father, with interest. I know Katherine will agree."
Katherine nodded.
"I doubt if Maria will want it or take it," Paredes said simply. "She has plenty of her own. It isn't fair to think it was greed that urged her. You must understand that it was a bigger impulse than greed. It was a thing of which we of Spanish blood are rather proud—a desire for justice, for something that has no softer name than revenge."
Suddenly Rawlins stooped and took the Panamanian's hand. ”

“ Paredes watched her curiously.
"Get Jenkins," he said softly to Rawlins.
He faced Maria again.
"I could have told you, I think, when you fought me away out there. No one wants to arrest you. Jenkins will verify my own knowledge."
"This is dangerous," the doctor rumbled. "This woman shouldn't wait here. She should have dry clothing at once."
Maria shrank from him. For the first time her wet skirt exposed her feet, encased in torn stockings. The dancer wore no shoes, and Bobby guessed why she had been so elusive, why she had left so few traces. ”

“ Paredes was saying, "that Howells wouldn't succeed, and it was obvious you and Rawlins would do worse, while Graham's blundering from the start left no hope. Somebody had to rescue Bobby."
"Then why did you give us the impression," Graham asked, "that you were not a friend?"
Paredes held up his hand.
"That's going rather far, Mr. Graham. Never once have I given such an impression. I have time after time stated the fact that I was here in Bobby's service. That has been the trouble with all of you. As most detectives do, you have denied facts, searching always for something more subtle. ”

“ It's only decent to tell him that anything he says may be used against him."
"Keep your mouth shut," Robinson shouted.
But Paredes smiled at Graham.
"It's very good of you, but I agree with the district attorney. There's no point in being a clam now."
"Can you account for Silas Blackburn's return?" the doctor asked eagerly.
"That's right, Doctor," Paredes said. "Stick to the ghosts. I fancy there are plenty in this house. I'm afraid we must look on Silas Blackburn as dead."
"You don't mean we've been talking to a dead man?" Katherine whispered. ”

“ Robinson put in. "Then the rumpus up here started, and I forgot about it."
"The woman in black is very brave," Paredes mused. "We should have had a visit from her long before this."
"Do you know who she is?" Robinson asked. "And as Rawlins says, no tricks. We haven't let you go yet."
"I thought," Paredes mocked, "that you had identified the woman in black as Miss Katherine. She hasn't had anything to do with the mystery directly. Neither has Bobby. Neither have I."
"Then what the devil have you been doing here?" Robinson snapped.
"Seeing your job through," Paredes answered, "for Bobby's sake." ”

“ Jenkins bobbed his head jerkily.
"Then," Paredes went on, "you might answer one or two questions. When did the first letter that frightened your master come?"
"The day he went to Smithtown and talked to the detective," the butler quavered.
"You can understand his reflections," Paredes mused. "Money was his god. He distrusted and hated his own flesh and blood because he thought they coveted it. He was prepared to punish them by leaving it to a public charity. ”

“ The men who got along held life cheaper than a handful of coppers. That's what I meant when I walked around the hall talking of the ghosts of Panama. For I was beginning to see. Silas Blackburn's fear, his trip to Smithtown, were the first indications of the presence of the other Blackburn. The papers outlined him more clearly. Why had it been forgotten here, Doctor, that Silas Blackburn had a brother—his partner in those wretched and profitable contract scandals? ”

“ There isn't even a latch. You merely push hard against its face. Such arrangements are common enough in colonial houses, and there was more than the nature of the crimes to tell you there was some such thing here. I mean if you will examine the farther door closer than you have done you will find that it has fewer coats of paint than the one leading to the corridor, that its frame is of newer wood. In other words, it was cut through after the wing was built. This panel was the original door, designed, with the private stairway and the hall, for the exclusive use of the master of the house. ”

“ Why are people like that?"
As he moved the cards with a deft assurance to their desired combination he smiled drolly at Graham, Rawlins, and Robinson.
"I guess it must be human nature. Don't you think so, Mr. District Attorney?"
•⁠•⁠•⁠•⁠•⁠•⁠•
The condition Paredes had more than once foreseen was about to shroud the Cedars in loneliness and abandonment. After the hasty double burial in the old graveyard the few things Bobby and Katherine wanted from the house had been packed and taken to the station. At Katherine's suggestion they had decided to leave last of all and to walk. ”

“ I tried to tell her that her father was dead. I begged her to come in. I told her we were friends. But she fought. She wouldn't answer my questions. She struck me finally when I tried to force her to come out of the storm. ”

“ All of those details indicated Silas Blackburn."
"How could my handkerchief indicate anything of the kind?" Bobby asked, "How did it come there?"
"What," Paredes said, "is the commonest form of borrowing in the world, particularly in a climate where people have frequent colds? I found a number of your handkerchiefs in your grandfather's bureau. The handkerchief furnished me with an important clue. It explains, I think, Jenkins will tell you, the moving of the body. It was obviously the cause of Howells's death."
"Yes, sir," Jenkins quavered. "Mr. ”