Part 7 (2/2)
”Of course,” a.s.sents Miss Wardour, not at all abashed. ”Mrs. Malloy is an oracle.”
”As soon as I could make my escape from her, I came nearer Wardour Place, and made a circuitous survey. Still later, I came upon your gardener, sitting, ruminating, upon a stone fence, in the rear of the premises. I found him inclined to be communicative, in fact, he seemed rather desirous to air his notions, and he has some peculiar ones, concerning this robbery. I gave him a drink out of my black bottle, and he grew quite eloquent.”
”Oh, dear,” interrupts Constance once more. ”Then, no doubt, he has pruned away half the garden shrubs. Old Jerry always _is_ seized with a desire to prune things, the moment he has taken a drink.”
”It was getting too dark for pruning, Miss Wardour, and he went to his supper. Then, I approached the kitchen cautiously, found a comfortable lurking place, close to an open window, and listened to the table talk of the servants. From them I learned the bearings of the library, and so, while you were at dinner, I entered, without difficulty, and have explored that room to my entire satisfaction.”
Amazement sits on the face of all three listeners.
”Well!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.es Dr. Heath, ”You are a modest tramp! What did you do next?”
”Next I prowled 'round and round the house,' examining all the windows, and drawing some conclusions; and then, having seen you, Doctor Heath, through the drawing-room windows, I established myself in yonder tree to wait until you should go home, and to waylay you.”
”Much obliged, I'm sure,” says the Doctor, gratefully. ”What demoniac design had you on my defenseless self?”
”Several; to appeal to your hospitality; to renew an acquaintance, which in the beginning did me honor; and to quiz you unmercifully.”
”Then I forgive you,” grandiloquently. ”And my doors are open to you, and my hand is extended, and the secrets of my bosom are laid bare. But Miss Wardour has something to say; I see it trembling on her lips.”
”Right,” smiles Constance. ”I was about to ask if Mr. Bathurst, having effected his object thus far independently, will be satisfied to inspect my dressing room, the real scene of action, in the ordinary manner and without any obstacles in the way.”
”Perfectly,” says the detective, dropping his tone of badinage and becoming alert and business like at once. ”And the sooner the better. I am anxious to complete my deductions, for my time is limited, and I must wait for daylight to overlook the grounds more closely than I could venture to do to-day.”
”We are all anxious for your opinion, and so, will you take one of those lamps and my keys, or will you have an escort?”
”I wish you to point out to me the exact position of everything this morning, Miss Wardour. I think we may all go up.”
So they all ascended to the disordered dressing room, and the detective seats himself, deliberately, upon the first unoccupied chair, and begins to look slowly about him. It is not a long survey, and then the safe is examined. Here he looks at Constance.
”This has not been done without noise; not loud enough to be heard across the hall, perhaps, but enough to be heard by a light sleeper, or, indeed, any one who did not sleep too soundly and with m.u.f.fled ears, say, in that room,” pointing through the curtained arch which divided the dressing from the sleeping room.
”Did you sleep there, Miss Wardour?”
Constance nods, then goes through the arch and returns with a little phial of chloroform, and a fragment of cambric in her hand.
She places them before him, telling him quietly how they were found before her that morning.
The detective takes them, turns them over in his hand, and examines them closely.
”Ah!” he exclaims, drawing out the fancifully carved stopper, ”this phial is one of a set.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”Ah! this phial is one of a set.”]
Doctor Heath nods. ”So I thought,” he says, glancing at Constance.
Once more, and in silence, the detective examines the safe, then he goes quietly about the room not overturning or handling, simply observing closely; then he says:
”Now, I think I am done here. We will go down, if you please, and I will give you the benefit of my conjectures.” He puts the bottle and the piece of linen in his pocket, and turns from the room. Instinctively he takes the lead, instinctively they follow, naturally according him the leaders.h.i.+p.
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