Part 47 (2/2)
”DEAR MISS b.u.t.tERWORTH:
”Pardon our interference. _We_ have found the rings which you think so conclusive an evidence of guilt against the person secreting them; and, _with your permission_ [this was basely underlined], Mr. Franklin Van Burnam will be in custody to-day.
”I will wait upon you at ten.
”Respectfully yours,
”EBENEZAR GRYCE.”
_Franklin Van Burnam!_ Was I dreaming? _Franklin_ Van Burnam accused of this crime and in custody! What did it mean? I had found no evidence against Franklin Van Burnam.
_BOOK III_.
THE GIRL IN GRAY.
XXIX.
AMELIA BECOMES PEREMPTORY.
”Madam, I hope I see you satisfied?”
This was Mr. Gryce's greeting as he entered my parlor on that memorable morning.
”Satisfied?” I repeated, rising and facing him with what he afterwards described as a stony glare.
”Pardon me! I suppose you would have been still more satisfied if we had waited for _you_ to point out the guilty man to _us_. But you must make some allowances for professional egotism, Miss b.u.t.terworth. We really could not allow you to take the initiatory step in a matter of such importance.”
”Oh!” was my sole response; but he has since told me that there was a great deal in that _oh_; so much, that even he was startled by it.
”You set to-day for a talk with me,” he went on; ”probably relying upon what you intended to a.s.sure yourself of yesterday. But our discovery at the same time as yourself of the rings in Mr. Van Burnam's office, need not interfere with your giving us your full confidence. The work you have done has been excellent, and we are disposed to give you considerable credit for it.”
”Indeed!”
I had no choice but to thus indulge in e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns. The communication he had just made was so startling, and his a.s.sumption of my complete understanding of and partic.i.p.ation in the discovery he professed to have made, so puzzling, that I dared not venture beyond these simple exclamations, lest he should see the state of mind into which he had thrown me, and shut up like an oyster.
”We have kept counsel over what we have found,” the wary old detective continued, with a smile, which I wish I could imitate, but which unhappily belongs to him alone. ”I hope that you, or your maid, I should say, have been equally discreet.”
My maid!
”I see you are touched; but women find it so hard to keep a secret. But it does not matter. To-night the whole town will know that the older and not the younger brother has had these rings in his keeping.”
”It will be nuts for the papers,” I commented; then making an effort, I remarked: ”You are a most judicious man, Mr. Gryce, and must have other reasons than the discovery of these rings for your threatened arrest of a man of such excellent repute as Silas Van Burnam's eldest son. I should like to hear them, Mr. Gryce. I should like to hear them very much.”
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