CHAPTER VIII
THE UNEXPECTED
The blow fell, a thunderbolt from the clear sky. It dazed certain peopleat first; it was difficult to realize what had happened, or if anything_had_ really happened. For might not what seemed a deep and dire mysteryturn out to be nothing so very mysterious after all? A message wouldsoon come; everything would then be "cleared up" and those mostconcerned would laugh at their apprehensions. But the hours went by, andthe affair remained inexplicable; no word was heard concerning MissDalrymple's whereabouts; she seemed to have disappeared as completely asif she had vanished on the Persian magic carpet. What could it mean? Thecircumstances briefly were:
Miss Dalrymple, four or five days before Mr. Heatherbloom's term ofservice came to an end, had expressed a desire to revisit her old homeand friends in the West. One of a party made up mostly of otherCalifornians--now residents of New York city--the girl had failed toappear on the private car at the appointed time, and the train hadpulled out, leaving her behind. At the first important stop a telegramhad been handed to a gentleman of the party from Miss Dalrymple; itexpressed her regret at having reached the station too late owing tocircumstances she would explain later, and announced her intention ofcoming on, with her maid, in a few days. They were not to wait anywherefor her but to go right along.
The party did; it was sorry to have lost one of its most popular membersbut no one thought anything more of the matter until at Denver, after atelegram had been forwarded to the Van Rolsen house, in New York, askingjust when Miss Dalrymple would arrive, as camping preparations for ajoyous pilgrimage in the mountains were in progress.
Miss Van Rolsen gasped when this message reached her. Miss Dalrympleand her maid--a young woman newly engaged by Miss Van Rolsen--had leftthe house for the train to which the private car was attached; neitherhad been heard from since. The aunt had, of course, presumed her niecehad gone as planned; she had received no word from her, but supposingshe was of a light-hearted, heedless company thought nothing of that. Itwas possible Miss Dalrymple had actually missed her train; but if so,why had she not returned to her aunt's house?
Where had she gone? What had become of her? No trace of her could befound. Certain forces in the central railroad office at New York couldnot discover any evidence that the young girl had taken a subsequenttrain. There was no record of her name at any ticket office; nostate-room had been reserved by, or for her; in fact, telegrams toofficials in Chicago and other points west failed to elicit satisfactoryinformation of any kind.
Miss Van Rolsen found herself with something real to worry about; sherose to the occasion; her niece, after all, was everything to her. TheVan Rolsen millions were ultimately for her, and the old lady's everyambition was centered in the girl. She had been proud of her beauty, hersocial triumphs.
With great determination she set herself to solve the puzzling problem.Could people thus completely disappear nowadays? It seemed impossible,she asserted, sitting behind closed doors in her library, to the privateagent of the secret-service bureau whom she had just "called in."
He begged to differ from her and pointed to a number of cases which hadseemed just as strange and mysterious in the beginning. Ransom--the"Black Hand"--Who could say what secret influences had been at work inthis case? It was a very important one; Miss Dalrymple had money of herown; she was known to be her aunt's heiress. The conclusion?--But thiswas not Morocco, or Turkey, Miss Van Rolsen somewhat vehementlyreturned.
True; we have had, however, our "civilized" Ransuilis, answered theagent and mentioned a number of names in support of his theory. Nodoubt, after an interval, Miss Van Rolsen would have news of herniece--through those who had perpetrated the outrage; or she might evenreceive a few written words from the girl herself. After that it was aquestion of negotiating, or, while professing to deal with theperpetrators, to ferret them out if one could. The latter course wasdangerous, for those who stoop to this particular crime are usually of adesperate type; he and Miss Van Rolsen could consider that questionlater. Meanwhile she must avoid worry as much as possible. The younggirl would, no doubt, be well treated.
Had the speaker looked around at this moment, he might have observedthat the heavy curtains, drawn before the door leading into the hall andclosed by Miss Van Rolsen, moved suddenly, but neither the agent norMiss Van Rolsen, engrossed at the far end of the room, noticed. Thedrapery wavered a moment; then settled once more into its folds.
The telegram purporting to be from Miss Dalrymple to one of the party onthe train, could--the agent went on--very easily have been sent by someone else; no doubt, had been. The miscreants had seized upon a luckycombination of circumstances; for two or three days, while MissDalrymple was supposed to be speeding across the continent, they,unsuspected and unmolested, would be afforded every opportunity toconvey her to some remote and, for them, safe refuge. It was a cleverlyplanned coup, and could not have been conceived and consummatedwithout--here he spoke slowly--inside assistance.
The curtain at the doorway again stirred.
"And now, Madam, we come to your servants," said the police agent. "Ishould like to know something about them."
"My servants, sir, are, for the most part, old and trusted."
"'For the most part'!" He caught at the phrase. "We will deal first withthose who do _not_ come in that category."
"There's a young man recently employed that I have not been at allpleased with. He leaves to-morrow."
"Ah!" said the visitor. "Not the person I met going out of the areaway, with the dogs as I came in?"
She answered affirmatively.
"H--mn!" He paused. "But tell me why you have not been pleased with him,and, in brief, all the circumstances of his coming here."
Miss Van Rolsen did so in a voice she strove to make patient althoughshe could not disguise its tremulousness, or the feverish anxiety thatconsumed her. She related the most trivial details, seemingirrelevances, but the visitor did not interrupt her. Instead, he studiedcarefully her face, pinched and worn; the angular figure, slightly bent;the fingers, nervously clasping and unclasping as she spoke. He watchedher through habit; and still forbore speaking, even when she referred tothe escape of her canine favorite from his caretaker and how the dog hadlater been returned, though the listener's eyes had, at this point,dilated slightly.
"After his carelessness in this matter, he seemed to want to get awayfrom the house at once," observed Miss Van Rolsen, "without availinghimself of the two-weeks' notice I had agreed to give him."
The visitor relapsed into his chair; an ironical light appeared in hiseyes.
"Perhaps," added Miss Van Rolsen, "you attach no significance to thefact?"
"On the contrary, I attach every importance to it. Has it not occurredto you there was a little collusion in this matter of the lost dog?"
"Collusion?" Miss Van Rolsen's accents expressed incredulity. "You mustbe wrong. Why, the young woman wouldn't even accept the reward. And itwas not a small one!"
"Two hundred or so dollars, ma'am! Not her stake!" he murmuredsatirically. "I am afraid two hundred thousand dollars would be nearerthe mark these people have set for themselves!"
"But she didn't ask for a place here; only for me to look over herreferences--one was from a lady I knew in Paris--and to recommend her tomy friends--"
"She knew your other maid had left; this confederate had, of course,told her. It was all arranged that she should come here. Rest assured ofthat. And having accomplished her purpose--clever that she is!--she atonce started to ingratiate herself with your niece, to make herselfuseful. As a mistress of languages she _was_ useful, in fact more sothan any ordinary maid. Where did she come from? Find out whom sherepresents, and--we'll have the key to the mystery. But she, too, hasdisappeared; after turning the game over to the others, perhaps. I wouldsuggest cabling those foreign references this young woman gave you. Theywill, of course, including your Paris friend, know nothing of her; thename she gave you was not her own."
"But by what unfortunate co
mbination of circumstances"--Miss Van Rolsenspoke somewhat incoherently--"should these people have been led tosettle on my niece as the victim of their cowardly designs? There are somany others--"
"You forget the publicity concerning this prince your niece is tomarry." The old lady stiffened. "Pardon my mentioning it, but MissDalrymple has in this connection been very much before the public gaze."
"Against her wish, sir, and mine!" snapped Miss Van Rolsen."She--I--have both lamented the fact. But what can one do? Thejournalists settled on the prince as a fruitful source for speculation.He is of noble family, very wealthy, no fortune-hunter; which has madeit all the more distressing for him and us." She seemed about to saysomething further; then her lips suddenly tightened. "As I say, it hasbeen very distressing," she ended, after a pause. "I expect it was oneof the reasons my niece wanted to get away from New York for a time."
"No doubt!" The caller's voice was courtesy itself although he probablybut half-credited Miss Van Rolsen's protestations in the matter. Peopleliked to complain of the press and newspaper notoriety, when in theirhearts, perhaps, they were not so displeased to be in that terriblelime-light; especially when the person associated with them happened tobe a count, or a duke, or a prince. "Unfortunately, one has to put upwith these things," he now added. "But you are positive you have told meeverything?"
An instant she seemed to hesitate. "I am positive you know everythingrelative to the subject."
He arose. "In that event"--his manner indicated a suddenresolution--"there is one little preliminary to be attended to."
"Which is--"
"To arrest this fellow, Heatherbloom!"
"Arrest? When?"
"At once! There is no time to be lost. Already--" He gave a suddenexclamation.
"What is it?" she asked.
He stepped toward the curtain; it moved perceptibly.
"Some one has been listening," exclaimed Miss Van Rolsen excitedly.
"Yes, some one." Significantly. As he spoke he threw back the curtainand revealed the door partly ajar.
"It must have been--Not one of my old servants--- They would nothave--"
He stopped her. "There's the front way out of this house and the areaway below," he said rapidly. "Is there any other way of escaping to thestreet?"
"No."
He darted out of the room to the front door. She followed.
"Quite in time!" he said, casting a quick look both ways along theavenue and then letting his glance fall to the servants' entrance below.
"You think he will try to--"
He regarded her swiftly. "While I stand guard here, would you mindgetting some one to 'phone my office and ask two or three of my men tostep over at once? Not that I doubt my own ability to cope with thecase"--fingering the handle of a weapon on his pocket--"only it isalways well to take no chances. Especially now!"
"Now?"
"Since he has practically convicted himself and confirmed my theory. Weshall get at the truth through him. We're nearer the solution of thematter than I dared hope for."
"I'll telephone myself!" she cried. And started back to do so when anexcited face confronted her.
"If ye plase, ma'am!" It was the cook.
"What is it?" Miss Van Rolsen spoke sharply.
"If ye plase, I think, ma'am, this Mr. Heatherbloom has taken lave avhis senses."
"Why, what has he been doing?"
"He has, faith, just jumped over the fence into our neighbor's yard onthe corner, and--"
The man on the steps did not wait to hear more; with something thatsounded like an imprecation he sprang quickly down to the sidewalk andran toward the corner.