XXVI.
A TILT WITH MR. GRYCE.
At seven o'clock the next morning my patient was resting so quietly thatI considered it safe to leave her for a short time. So I informed MissAlthorpe that I was obliged to go down-town on an important errand, andrequested Crescenze to watch over the sick girl in my absence. As sheagreed to this, I left the house as soon as breakfast was over and wentimmediately in search of Mr. Gryce. I wished to make sure that he knewnothing about the rings.
It was eleven o'clock before I succeeded in finding him. As I wascertain that a direct question would bring no answer, I dissembled myreal intention as much as my principles would allow, and accosted himwith the eager look of one who has great news to impart.
"O, Mr. Gryce!" I impetuously cried, just as if I were really the weakwoman he thought me, "I have found something; something in connectionwith the Van Burnam murder. You know I promised to busy myself about itif you arrested Howard Van Burnam."
His smile was tantalizing in the extreme. "Found something?" herepeated. "And may I ask if you have been so good as to bring it withyou?"
He was playing with me, this aged and reputable detective. I subdued myanger, subdued my indignation even, and smiling much in his own way,answered briefly:
"I never carry valuables on my person. A half-dozen expensive ringsstand for too much money for me to run any undue risk with them."
He was caressing his watch-chain as I spoke, and I noticed that hepaused in this action for just an infinitesimal length of time as I saidthe word rings. Then he went on as before, but I knew I had caught hisattention.
"Of what rings do you speak, madam? Of those missing from Mrs. VanBurnam's hands?"
I took a leaf from his book, and allowed myself to indulge in a littlebanter.
"O, no," I remonstrated, "not those rings, of course. The Queen ofSiam's rings, any rings but those in which we are specially interested."
This meeting him on his own ground evidently puzzled him.
"You are facetious, madam. What am I to gather from such levity? Thatsuccess has crowned your efforts, and that you have found a guiltierparty than the one now in custody?"
"Possibly," I returned, limiting my advance by his. "But it would begoing too fast to mention that yet. What I want to know is whether _you_have found the rings belonging to Mrs. Van Burnam?"
My triumphant tone, the almost mocking accent I purposely gave to theword _you_, accomplished its purpose. He never dreamed I was playingwith him; he thought I was bursting with pride; and casting me a sharpglance (the first, by the way, I had received from him), he inquiredwith perceptible interest:
"Have _you?_"
Instantly convinced that the whereabouts of these jewels was as littleknown to him as to me, I rose and prepared to leave. But seeing that hewas not satisfied, and that he expected an answer, I assumed amysterious air and quietly remarked:
"If you will come to my house to-morrow I will explain myself. I am notprepared to more than intimate my discoveries to-day."
But he was not the man to let one off so easily.
"Excuse me," said he, "but matters of this kind do not admit of delay.The grand jury sits within the week, and any evidence worth presentingthem must be collected at once. I must ask you to be frank with me, MissButterworth."
"And I will be, to-morrow."
"To-day," he insisted, "to-day."
Seeing that I should gain nothing by my present course, I reseatedmyself, bestowing upon him a decidedly ambiguous smile as I did so.
"You acknowledge then," said I, "that the old maid can tell yousomething after all. I thought you regarded all my efforts in the lightof a jest. What has made you change your mind?"
"Madam, I decline to bandy words. Have you found those rings, or haveyou not?"
"I have _not_," said I, "but neither have you, and as that is what Iwanted to make sure of, I will now take my leave without furtherceremony."
Mr. Gryce is not a profane man, but he allowed a word to slip from himwhich was not entirely one of blessing. He made amends for it nextmoment, however, by remarking:
"Madam, I once said, as you will doubtless remember, that the day wouldcome when I should find myself at your feet. That day has arrived. Andnow is there any other little cherished fact known to the police whichyou would like to have imparted to you?"
I took his humiliation seriously.
"You are very good," I rejoined, "but I will not trouble you for any_facts_,--_those_ I am enabled to glean for myself; but what I shouldlike you to tell me is this: Whether if you came upon those rings in thepossession of a person known to have been on the scene of crime at thetime of its perpetration, you would not consider them as anincontrovertible proof of guilt?"
"Undoubtedly," said he, with a sudden alteration in his manner whichwarned me that I must muster up all my strength if I would keep mysecret till I was quite ready to part with it.
"Then," said I, with a resolute movement towards the door, "that's thewhole of my business for to-day. Good-morning, Mr. Gryce; to-morrow Ishall expect you."
He made me stop though my foot had crossed the threshold; not by word orlook but simply by his fatherly manner.
"Miss Butterworth," he observed, "the suspicions which you haveentertained from the first have within the last few days assumed adefinite form. In what direction do they point?--tell me."
Some men and most women would have yielded to that imperative _tell me_!But there was no yielding in Amelia Butterworth. Instead of that Itreated him to a touch of irony.
"Is it possible," I asked, "that you think it worth while to consult_me_? I thought your eyes were too keen to seek assistance from mine.You are as confident as I am that Howard Van Burnam is innocent of thecrime for which you have arrested him."
A look that was dangerously insinuating crossed his face at this. Hecame forward rapidly and, joining me where I stood, said smilingly:
"Let us join forces, Miss Butterworth. You have from the first refusedto consider the younger son of Silas Van Burnam as guilty. Your reasonsthen were slight and hardly worth communicating. Have you any betterones to advance now? It is not too late to mention them, if you have."
"It will not be too late to-morrow," I retorted.
Convinced that I was not to be moved from my position, he gave me one ofhis low bows.
"I forgot," said he, "that it was as a rival and not as a coadjutor youmeddled in this matter." And he bowed again, this time with a sarcasticair I felt too self-satisfied to resent.
"To-morrow, then?" said I.
"To-morrow."
At that I left him.
I did not return immediately to Miss Althorpe. I visited Cox's millinerystore, Mrs. Desberger's house, and the offices of the various cityrailways. But I got no clue to the rings; and finally satisfied thatMiss Oliver, as I must now call her, had not lost or disposed of them onher way from Gramercy Park to her present place of refuge, I returned toMiss Althorpe's with even a greater determination than before to searchthat luxurious home till I found them.
But a decided surprise awaited me. As the door opened I caught aglimpse of the butler's face, and noticing its embarrassed expression, Iat once asked what had happened.
His answer showed a strange mixture of hesitation and bravado.
"Not much, ma'am; only Miss Althorpe is afraid you may not be pleased.Miss Oliver is gone, ma'am; she ran away while Crescenze was out of theroom."