Part 32 (1/2)
Private Detective Belknap stood for a moment, pondering, then he lifted his head and said, with an air of injured virtue beautiful to contemplate:
”Miss Wardour, of course there is no appeal from your decision. In my profession it often happens that we are compelled to unmask fraud and deceit in high places, and to wound the feelings of some we profoundly respect. While in your employ, I was bound to work for your interest; I owed a duty to you. Being dismissed from your service, I owe a duty still to society. As an officer of the law, it becomes my duty, being no longer under your commands, to make known to the proper authorities the facts in my possession. I do not know this Doctor Heath, consequently can have no object in hunting him down; but, believing him guilty, and holding the proof that I do, I must make known the truth, otherwise I should be compromising myself, and compounding a felony.” Here Mr.
Belknap took up his hat. ”I will send in my statement of expenses, etc., to-morrow, Miss Wardour. This withdrawal of the case has been so sudden, so unexpected, that I am not prepared for a settlement of accounts.” And Mr. Belknap turned slowly toward the door.
But the heiress stopped him by a gesture.
”Stay a moment, sir,” she said, and the ominous gleam was intensified into a look of absolute hatred, for an instant. ”I hope I do not quite understand your meaning. Did you intend to tell me that if I dismiss you from my service, you will still continue the search for my diamonds?”
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”Stay a moment, sir.”]
”No, madam: I will simply place the facts I have gathered before the town authorities, and leave them to use the knowledge as they see fit. I then withdraw from the field, unless called upon as a witness, when, of course, I must do my duty.”
Miss Wardour stood for some moments in silent thought, one small foot tapping nervously the while, a sure sign of irritation with her. At last she said, slowly, and with an undertone of sarcasm, that she made a futile effort to conceal:
”I think I comprehend you Mr. Belknap, and I withdraw my dismissal. You are still retained on the Wardour robbery case; I suppose, therefore, you are subject to my orders.”
Mr. Belknap laid down his hat, and returned to his former position.
Without a trace of triumph or satisfaction in his face or manner, he said:
”I am subject to your commands, certainly, Miss Wardour; but I beg that you will not misapprehend me.”
”Be easy on that point,” interrupted Miss Wardour, somewhat impatiently.
”Now then, Mr. Belknap, I want a little time to consider this matter, and to consult with my aunt; also to see Mr. Lamotte. During this time I desire you to remain pa.s.sive, to make no move in the matter; above all, to mention your suspicions to no one. You can, of course, keep as close a watch as you may please over Doctor Heath, but it must be done quietly, do you comprehend? You are to say nothing of this matter not even to Mr. Lamotte.”
Once more the detective took up his hat.
”I comprehend,” he said, gravely; ”you shall be obeyed to the letter, Miss Wardour; for three days, then, my task will be an easy one. On Friday morning I will call on you again.”
”That is what I wish,” she said; ”I will have further instructions for you then.”
With the bow of a courtier, the private detective withdrew from her presence, and for a moment the heiress stood as he had left her, gazing at the door through which he had disappeared, as if she were seeking to transfix an enemy with the angry fire of her eyes. Then she struck her hands together fiercely, and began a rapid march to and fro across the room.
”Ah!” she e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed; ”the sleek, smooth, oily-tongued wretch! To dare to come here and make terms with _me_; to fairly compel me to keep him in my service! and to bring such a charge against _him_. If he had an enemy, I should call it a wretched plot. But I'll not be outwitted by you, Mr. Belknap; I have three day's grace.”
She continued to pace the room with much energy for a few moments, and then seating herself at a writing table, rapidly wrote as follows:
NEIL BATHURST, ESQ, No.---- B---- street. N. Y.
_Dear Sir:_--If in your power, be in W---- in two days, without fail. Danger menaces your friend, Dr. H----, and I only hold detective B---- in my service to bridle his tongue. I fear a plot, and can only stay proceedings against the innocent, by proclaiming the truth concerning my diamonds; acting under your advice, I will withhold my statement until you arrive.
Hastily, etc., CONSTANCE WARDOUR.
There was yet an hour before the departure of the eastern mail, and Constance sealed her letter, and dispatched it by a faithful messenger; this done, she pondered again.
The private detective had waited upon her that morning with a strange statement. For weeks he had been working out this strange case, guided by the fact that the chloroform administered to Constance was scientifically meted out. He had commenced a system of shadowing the various medical men in W----, without regard to their present or previous standing. Nothing could be found in the past or present of any to cause them to fall under suspicion, until he came to investigate Doctor Heath. Here what did he find? First, that his antecedents could be traced back only so far as his stay in W---- had extended. Nothing could be found to prove that his career had been above reproach, previous to his sojourn here; hence, according to the reasoning of Mr.
Belknap, it was fair to suppose that it had not been. ”For,” argued the astute private detective, ”where there is secresy, there is also room for suspicion.” And Constance felt a momentary sinking of the heart, when she recalled the words she had overheard, as they fell from the lips of Clifford Heath: ”Here, I am Clifford Heath, from nowhere.”
Starting with a suspicion, the private detective had made rapid headway.