Part 19 (2/2)
”n.o.body in particular,” Miss Gurney a.s.serted, as she looked timidly at Let.i.tia. ”But Sir Herbert's chambermaid,----”
”Yes, go on.”
”Well, she refused to take care of his room, he was so cross to her. But I don't suppose she'd kill him just for that.”
”I'll look up the matter. Glad you mentioned it. Andy they gave him another maid?”
”Yes, the same one we have.”
”I must have a talk with her. Much may be learned from a room servant.
That's what I want, facts,--not theories. We've got the big primal fact,--'women did it.' We've got a possible fact,--an uncertain statement,--'get both'--or, maybe, get some particular person. Now any side lights we can get that may throw illumination on that uncertain bit of writing is what is needed to show us which way to look. Isn't that right, Mr. Bates?”
”Why, yes, I suppose so. Personally, I can't seem to see women doing such a deed----”
”That, sir, is the result of your own manly outlook and your lack of experience with a desperate woman. You know, 'h.e.l.l hath no fury like a woman scorned,' and we can readily imagine a woman scorned by this Sir Herbert.”
”He could do the scorning, all right----”
”And they could do the rest! Oh, yes, sir, it isn't a pleasant thing to believe, but it is a fact that women can be just as revengeful, just as vindictive, just as cruel as men,--and can commit just as great crimes, though as we all know, such women are the exception. But they are in existence and that fact must be recognized and remembered.”
”But the circ.u.mstances--” demurred Bates, ”the time----”
”My dear sir, it seems to me the circ.u.mstances and time were most favorable for the work of women. Granting some women wanted to kill that man, or had determined to kill him,--or even, killed him on a sudden irresistible impulse, what more conducive to an opportunity than this house late at night? The great lobby, guarded, as it is at that hour, by only one man and he often up in the ascending elevator car. You see, the women could easily have been in hiding in that onyx lobby. The great pillars give most convenient and un.o.bservable places of concealment, and they could have been tucked away there for a long time, waiting.”
”Oh, ridiculous! Supposing my uncle hadn't come in?”
”Then they could have slipped out again. They may have been hidden there night after night, waiting for just the chance that came last night.”
”But, suppose Moore had been downstairs when Sir Herbert entered--”
”Just the same,” Gibbs explained, wearily. ”Then they would have gone away and tried again the next night. A woman's perseverance and patience is beyond all words!”
”It's all beyond all words,” and Richard folded his arms despondently.
”I can't get a line on it.”
”Well, I can,” a.s.serted Gibbs; ”they came, no doubt, prepared. Else, where'd they get the knife? Now, naturally one criminal would be a.s.sumed,--that's why _women_ was written so clearly. Several who know, have agreed the handwriting is positively that of Sir Herbert Binney,--so, there's nothing left to do but _cherchez les femmes_.”
CHAPTER VIII
Julie Baxter
Richard Bates and the two detectives stood waiting for the already summoned elevator to take them downstairs.
”You see,” Gibbs was saying, ”in nearly every investigation there's somebody who won't tell where he was at the time of the crime.”
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