CHAPTER V
It was late Sunday afternoon. Hutchinson Hatch did not run lightly upthe steps of the Greyton home and toss his cigar away as he rang thebell. He did go up the steps, but it was reluctantly, dragging one footafter the other, this being an indication rather of his mental conditionthan of physical weariness. He did not throw away his cigar as he rangthe bell because he wasn't smoking--but he did ring the bell. The maidwhom he had seen on his previous visit opened the door.
"Is Mrs. Greyton in?" he asked with a nod of recognition.
"No, sir."
"Mr. Greyton?"
"No, sir."
"Did Mr. Meredith arrive from Baltimore?"
"Yes, sir. Last midnight."
"Ah! Is _he_ in?"
"No, sir."
The reporter's disappointment showed clearly in his face.
"I don't suppose you've heard anything further from Miss Meredith?" heventured hopelessly.
"She's upstairs, sir."
Anyone who has ever stepped on a tack knows just how Hatch felt. Hedidn't stand on the order of being invited in--he went in. Being in, heextracted a plain calling-card from his pocketbook with twitchingfingers and handed it to the waiting maid.
"When did she return?" he asked.
"Last night, about nine, sir."
"Where has she been?"
"I don't know, sir."
"Kindly hand her my card and explain to her that it is imperative that Isee her for a few minutes," the reporter went on. "Impress upon her theabsolute necessity of this. By the way, I suppose you know where I camefrom, eh?"
"Police headquarters, yes, sir."
Hatch tried to look like a detective, but a gleam of intelligence in hisface almost betrayed him.
"You might intimate as much to Miss Meredith," he instructed the maidcalmly.
The maid disappeared. Hatch went in and sat down in the reception-room,and said "Whew!" several times.
"The gold plate returned to Randolph last night by express," he mused,"and she returned also, last night. Now what does that mean?"
After a minute or so the maid reappeared to state that Miss Meredithwould see him. Hatch received the message gravely and beckonedmysteriously as he sought for a bill in his pocketbook.
"Do you have any idea where Miss Meredith was?"
"No, sir. She didn't even tell Mrs. Greyton or her father."
"What was her appearance?"
"She seemed very tired, sir, and hungry. She still wore the masked ballcostume."
The bill changed hands and Hatch was left alone again. There was a longwait, then a rustle of skirts, a light step, and Miss Dollie Meredithentered.
She was nervous, it is true, and pallid, but there was a suggestion ofdefiance as well as determination on her pretty mouth. Hatch stared ather in frank admiration for a moment, then, with an effort, proceeded tobusiness.
"I presume, Miss Meredith," he said solemnly, "that the maid informedyou of my identity?"
"Yes," replied Dollie weakly. "She said you were a detective."
"Ah!" exclaimed the reporter meaningly, "then we understand each other.Now, Miss Meredith, will you tell me, please, just where you have been?"
"No."
The answer was so prompt and so emphatic that Hatch was a littledisconcerted. He cleared his throat and started over again.
"Will you inform me, then, in the interest of justice, where you were onthe evening of the Randolph ball?" An ominous threat lay behind thewords, Hatch hoped she believed.
"I will not."
"Why did you disappear?"
"I will not tell you."
"There was a suggestion of defiance as well asdetermination on her pretty mouth"]
Hatch paused to readjust himself. He was going at things backward. Whennext he spoke his tone had lost the official tang--he talked like ahuman being.
"May I ask if you happen to know Richard Herbert?"
The pallor of the girl's face was relieved by a delicious sweep ofcolour.
"I will not tell you," she answered.
"And if I say that Mr. Herbert happens to be a friend of mine?"
"Well, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!"
Two distracting blue eyes were staring him out of countenance; twoscarlet lips were drawn tightly together in reproof of a man who boastedsuch a friendship; two cheeks flamed with indignation that he shouldhave mentioned the name. Hatch floundered for a moment, then cleared histhroat and took a fresh start.
"Will you deny that you saw Richard Herbert on the evening of the maskedball?"
"I will not."
"Will you admit that you saw him?"
"I will not."
"Do you know that he was wounded?"
"Certainly."
Now, Hatch had always held a vague theory that the easiest way to make asecret known was to intrust it to a woman. At this point he revised hisdraw, threw his hand in the pack, and asked for a new deal.
"Miss Meredith," he said soothingly after a pause, "will you admit ordeny that you ever heard of the Randolph robbery?"
"I will not," she began, then: "Certainly I know of it."
"You know that a man and a woman are accused of and sought for thetheft?"
"Yes, I know that."
"You will admit that you know the man was in Burglar's garb, and thatthe woman was dressed in a Western costume?"
"The newspapers say that, yes," she replied sweetly.
"You know, too, that Richard Herbert went to that ball in Burglar's garband that you went there dressed as a Western girl?" The reporter's tonewas strictly professional now.
Dollie stared into the stern face of her interrogator and her courageoozed away. The colour left her face and she wept violently.
"I beg your pardon," Hatch expostulated. "I beg your pardon. I didn'tmean it just that way, but----"
He stopped helplessly and stared at this wonderful woman with the redhair. Of all things in the world tears were quite the mostdisconcerting.
"I beg your pardon," he repeated awkwardly.
Dollie looked up with tear-stained, pleading eyes, then arose and placedboth her hands on Hatch's arm. It was a pitiful, helpless sort of agesture; Hatch shuddered with sheer delight.
"I don't know how you found out about it," she said tremulously, "but,if you've come to arrest me, I'm ready to go with you."
"Arrest you?" gasped the reporter.
"Certainly. I'll go and be locked up. That's what they do, isn't it?"she questioned innocently.
The reporter stared.
"I wouldn't arrest you for a million dollars!" he stammered in direconfusion. "It wasn't quite that. It was----"
And five minutes later Hutchinson Hatch found himself wanderingaimlessly up and down the sidewalk.