CHAPTER V--ROBBERY IN HIGH PLACES
The next morning Mr. Janney had to read the papers to himself for MissMaitland went to town on the 8:45. He sat on the balcony and missed her,for the Chicago murder had developed several new features and he had noone to talk them over with. Suzanne, who never came down to breakfast,appeared at twelve and said she was going to the Fairfax's to lunch withbridge afterward. Though she was not yet aware of Mrs. Janney'sintention to once more come to her aid, her gloom and ill-humor haddisappeared. She looked bright, almost buoyant, her eyes showing alively gleam, her lips parting in ready smiles. She was going to thebeach before lunch, and left with a large knitting bag slung from herarm, and a parasol tilted over her shoulder. It was not until she washalf way across the lawn that old Sam remembered her nocturnalappearance which he had intended asking her about.
She was hardly out of sight when Bebita and Annie came into view on thedrive, returning from the morning bath. Bebita had a trouble and racedup the steps to tell him--she had lost her torch. She was quitedisconsolate over it; Annie had said they'd surely find it, but itwasn't anywhere, and she _knew_ she'd left it on the nursery table whenshe went to bed. In the light of subsequent events Mr. Janney thoughthis answer to the child had been dictated by Providence. Why he didn'tsay, "Your mother knows; she had it last night," he never could explain;nor what prompted the words, "Ask your mother; she's probably seen itsomewhere." Bebita accepted the suggestion with some hope and then,hearing that her mother would not be home until the afternoon, fell intomomentary dejection.
Mrs. Janney was to take her accustomed drive at four and her husbandsaid he would go with her. Some time before the hour he appeared on thebalcony, cool and calm, his poise restored after the trials of theprevious day and the disturbed night, and sat down to wait. Inside thehouse his wife was busy. Several important papers had come on themorning mail and these, with the opals, she decided to put in the safebefore starting. After they were stored in their shelves and the opalsback in their box she could not resist a look at her emeralds, of allher material possessions the dearest. She lifted the purple velvet caseand opened it--the emeralds were not there.
She stood motionless, experiencing an inner sense of upheaval, her heartleaping and then sinking down, her body shaken by a tremor such as theearth feels when rocked by a seismic throe. She tried to hold herselfsteady and opened the other cases--the two pearl necklaces, the sapphireriviere, the diamond and ruby tiara. As each revealed its emptiness herhands began to tremble until, when she reached the white suede box ofthe black pearl pendant, they shook so she could hardly find the clasp.Everything was gone--a clean sweep had been made of the Janney jewels.
Moving with a firm step, she went to the balcony. In the doorway shecame to a halt and said quietly to her husband:
"Sam, my jewels have been stolen."
Mr. Janney squared round, stared at her, and ejaculated in feebledenial:
"Oh _no_!"
"Oh yes," she answered with the same note of grim control, "Come andsee."
When he saw, his old veined hands shaking as they dropped the rifledcases, he turned and blankly faced his wife who was watching him with alevel scrutiny.
"Mary!" was all he could falter. "Mary, my _dear_!"
"Last night," she nodded, "when we were out. The place was almost empty.I'll call the servants."
She went to the foot of the stairs and called Elspeth, old Sam,bewildered by this sudden catastrophe, emerging from the safe, as paleand shaken as if he was the burglar.
"Last night, of course last night," he murmured, trying to think. "Theywere here at eight. I saw them, we saw them, anybody could have seenthem."
Elspeth appeared on the stairs and came running down, Mrs. Janney'sorders delivered like pistol shots upon her advance:
"I've been robbed. The safe's been opened and all the jewels are gone.Go and call the servants, every one of them. Tell them to come here atonce."
Elspeth knew enough to make no reply, and, with a terrified face,scudded past her mistress to the kitchen. Mrs. Janney, her attentionattracted by sounds of distracted amazement from her husband, mobilizedhim:
"Go and get Miss Maitland. We'll have to send for detectives. She can doit--she doesn't lose her head."
Mr. Janney, too stunned to be anything but meekly obedient, trotted offdown the hall to Miss Maitland's study, then stopped and came back:
"She's in town; she hasn't got back yet."
"Tch!" Mrs. Janney gave a sound of exasperation. "I'd forgotten it. Howmaddening! You'll have to do it. Go in there to the 'phone"--sheindicated the telephone closet at the end of the hall. "Call up theKissam Agency--that's the best. We had them when the bell boy atAtlantic City stole my sables. Get Kissam himself and tell him what'shappened and to take hold at once--to come now, not to waste a minute.And don't you either--hurry!--"
Mr. Janney hasted away and shut himself in the telephone closet, as theservants, marshaled by Dixon and Elspeth, entered in a scared group.They had been taking tea in their own dining room when Elspeth burst inwith the direful news. Eight of them were old employees--had been yearsin Mrs. Janney's service. Hannah, the cook, had been with her nearly aslong as Dixon; Isaac, the footman, was her nephew. Dixon's large,heavy-jowled face was stamped with aghast concern; the kitchen maid wasin tears.
Mrs. Janney addressed them like what she was--a general in command ofher forces:
"My jewels have been stolen. Some time last night the safe was openedand they were taken. It is my order that every one of you stay in thehouse, not holding communication with any one outside, until the policehave been here and made a thorough investigation. Your rooms and yourtrunks will have to be searched and I expect you to submit to itwillingly with no grumbling."
Dixon answered her:
"It's what we'd expect, Madam. Me and Isaac both know the combinationand we'd want to have our own characters cleared as much as we'd wantyou to get back your valuables."
Hannah spoke:
"We'd welcome it, Mrs. Janney. There's none of us wants any suspicionrestin' on 'em."
Delia, the housemaid with the inflamed eye, took it up. She was anewcomer in the household, and in her fright her brogue acquired anunaccustomed richness:
"God knows I was in my room at nine, and not a move out of me till sivinthe nixt mornin' and that's to-day."
Mr. Janney, issuing from the telephone closet, here interrupted them. Headdressed his wife:
"It's all right. I got Kissam himself. He'll be here on the 5:30."
She answered with a nod and was turning for further instructions toDixon when Suzanne entered from the balcony. Up to that moment Mr.Janney had forgotten all about his nocturnal vision; now it came backupon him with a shattering impact.
He felt his knees turn to water and his heart sink down to inner,unplumbed depths in his anatomy. He grasped at the back of a chair andfor once his manners deserted him, for he dropped into it though hiswife was standing.
"What's all this?" said Suzanne, coming to a halt, her glance shiftingfrom her mother to the group of solemn servants. She looked very pretty,her face flushed, the blue tint of her linen dress harmonizinggraciously with her pink cheeks and corn-colored hair.
Mrs. Janney explained. As she did so old Sam, his face as gray as hisbeard, watched his stepdaughter with a furtive eye. Suzanne appearedamazed, quite horror-stricken. She too sank into a chair, and listened,open-mouthed, her feet thrust out before her, the high heels planted onthe rug.
"Why, what an awful thing!" was her final comment. Then as if seized bya sudden thought she turned on Dixon.
"Were all the windows and doors locked last night?"
"All on the lower floor, Mrs. Price. Me and Isaac went round them beforewe started for the village, and there's not a night--"
Suzanne cut him off brusquely:
"Then how could any one get in to do it?"
There was a curious, surging movement among the servants, a mutter ofprotest. Mr. Janney intervened:
/> "You'd better let matters alone, Suzanne. Detectives are coming andthey'll inquire into all that sort of thing."
"I suppose I can ask a question if I like," she said pertly, thensuddenly; looking about the hall, "Where's Miss Maitland?"
"In town," said her mother.
"Oh--she went in, did she? I thought her day off was Thursday."
"She asked for to-day--what _does_ it matter?" Mrs. Janney was irritatedby these irrelevancies and turned to the servants: "Now I've instructedyou and for your own sakes obey what I've said. Not a man or womanleaves the house till after the police have made their search. Thatapplies to the garage men and the gardeners. Dixon, you can tell them--"she stopped, the crunch of motor wheels on the gravel had caught herear. "There's some one coming. I'm not at home, Dixon."
The servants huddled out to their own domain and Dixon, with aresumption of his best hall-door manner, went to ward off the visitor.But it was only Miss Maitland returning from town. She had several smallpackages in her hands and looked pale and tired.
The news that greeted her--Mrs. Janney was her informant--left her asblankly amazed as it had the others. She was shocked, asked questions,could hardly believe it. Old Sam found the opportunity a good one tostudy Suzanne, who appeared extremely interested in the Secretary'sremarks. Once, when Miss Maitland spoke of keeping some of her books andthe house-money in the safe, he saw his stepdaughter's eyelids flutterand droop over the bird-bright fixity of her glance.
It was at this stage that Bebita ran into the hall and made a joyousrush for her mother:
"Oh, Mummy, I've _waited_ and _waited_ for you,"--she flung herselfagainst Suzanne's side in soft collision. "I've lost my torch and I'veasked everybody and nobody's seen it. Do _you_ know where it is?"
Suzanne arched her eyebrows in playful surprise, then putting a fingerunder the rounded chin, lifted her daughter's face and kissed her,softly, sweetly, tenderly.
"Darling, I'm so sorry, but I haven't seen it anywhere. If you can'tfind it I'll buy you another."