CHAPTER III
"HE KNOWS THE WORD"
The next moment the doubt natural to the occasion asserted itself.
"How do you know all this? You state the impossible. Explain yourself."
Gerridge was only too willing to do so.
"I have just come from Mr. Fulton's house," said he. "Inquiries thereelicited the facts which have so startled you. Neither Mr. Fulton nor hiswife meant to deceive you. They knew nothing, suspected nothing of whattook place, and you have no cause to blame them. It was all a plotbetween the two women."
"But how--why--"
"You see, I had a fact to go upon. You had noticed that your so-calledbride's gloves did not fit her; the boy below, that her shoes were sotight she hobbled. That set me thinking. A woman of Mrs. Ransom'sexperience and judgment would not be apt to make a mistake in two suchimportant particulars; which, taken with the veil and the promise sheexacted from you not to address or touch her during your short ride tothe hotel, led me to point my inquiries so that I soon found out thatyour wife had had the assistance of another woman in getting ready forher journey and that this woman was her own maid who had been with herfor a long time, and had always given evidence of an especial attachmentfor her. Asking about this girl's height and general appearance (for thepossibility of a substitution was already in my mind), I found that shewas of slight figure and good carriage, and that her age was not farremoved from that of her young mistress. This made the substitution Ihave mentioned feasible, and when I was told that she was seen taking herhat and bonnet into the bride's room, and, though not expected to leavetill the next morning, had slid away from the house by the basement doorat the same moment her mistress appeared on the front steps, mysuspicions became so confirmed that I asked how this girl looked, in thehope that you would be able to recognize her, through the description,as the woman you had seen sitting in Reception-room No. 3. But to mysurprise, Mrs. Fulton had what was better than any description, thegirl's picture. This has simplified matters very much. By it you havebeen able to identify the woman who attempted to mislead you in thereception-room, and I the person who rode here with you from Mr. Fulton'shouse. Wasn't she dressed in brown? Didn't you notice a similarity in herappearance to that of the very lady you were then seeking?"
"I did not observe. Her face was all I saw. She was looking directly atme as I stepped into the room."
"I see. She had taken off her veil and trusted to your attention beingcaught by her strange features,--as it was. But that dress was brown;I'm sure of it. She was the very woman. Otherwise the mystery isimpenetrable. A deep plot, Mr. Ransom; one that should prove to you thatMrs. Ransom's motive in leaving you was of a very serious character. Doyou wish that motive probed to the bottom? I cannot do it withoutpublicity. Are you willing to incur that publicity?"
"I must." Mr. Ransom had risen in great excitement. "Nothing can hide thefact that my bride left me on our wedding-day. It only remains now toshow that she did it under an influence which robbed her of her own will;an influence from which she shrank even while succumbing to it. I canshow her no greater kindness, and I am not afraid of the result. I haveperfect confidence in her integrity"--he hesitated, then added withstrong conviction--"and in her love."
The detective hid his surprise. He could not understand this confidence.But then he knew nothing of the memories which lay back of it. Not to himcould this grievously humiliated and disappointed man reveal the secretsof a courtship which had fixed his heart on this one woman, and arousedin him such trust that even this uncalled-for outrage to his pride andaffection had not been able to shake it. Such secrets are sacred; but thereflection of his trust was strong on his face as he repeated:
"Perfect confidence, Mr. Gerridge. Whatever may have drawn Mrs. Ransomfrom my side, it was not lack of affection, or any doubt of my sincerityor undivided attachment to herself."
The detective may not have been entirely convinced on the first point,but he was discretion itself, and responded quite cheerfully with anemphatic:
"Very well. You still want me to find her. I will do my best, sir; butfirst, cannot you help me with a suggestion or two?"
"I?"
"There must be some clew to so sudden a freak on the part of a young andbeautiful woman, who, I have taken pains to learn, has not only a cleanrecord but a reputation for good sense. The Fultons cannot supply it.She has lived a seemingly open and happy life in their house, and themystery is as great to them as to you. But _you_, as her lover and nowher husband, must have been favored with confidences not given to others.Cannot you recall one likely to put us on the right track? Some factprior to the events of to-day, I mean; some fact connected with her pastlife; before she went to live with the Fultons?"
"No. Yet let me think; let me think." Mr. Ransom dropped his face intohis hands and sat for a moment silent. When he looked up again, thedetective perceived that the affair was hopeless so far as he wasconcerned. "No," he repeated, this time with unmistakable emphasis,"she has always appeared buoyant and untrammeled. But then I have onlyknown her six months."
"Tell me her history so far as you know it. What do you know of her lifeprevious to your meeting her?"
"It was a very simple one. She had a country bringing up, having beenborn in a small village in Connecticut. She was one of three children andthe only one who has survived; her sister, who was her twin, died whenshe was a small child, and a brother some five years ago. Her fortune waswilled her, as I have already told you, by a great-uncle. It is entirelyin her own hands. Left an orphan early, she lived first with her brother;then when he died, with one relative after another, till lastly shesettled down with the Fultons. I know of no secret in her life, noentanglement, not even of any prior engagements. Yet that man with thetwisted jaw was not unknown to her, and if he is a relative, as she said,you should have no difficulty in locating him."
"I have a man on his track," Gerridge replied. "And one on the girl'stoo; I mean, of course, Bela Burton's. They will report here up to twelveo'clock to-night. It is now half-past eleven. We should hear from one orthe other soon."
"And my wife?"
"A description of the clothing she wore has gone out. We may hear fromit. But I doubt if we do to-night unless she has rejoined her maid or theman with a scar. Somehow I think she will join the girl. But it's hard totell yet."
Mr. Ransom could hardly control his impatience. "And I must sit helplesshere!" he exclaimed. "I who have so much at stake!"
The detective evidently thought the occasion called for whatever comfortit was in his power to bestow.
"Yes," said he. "For it is here she will seek you if she takes a notionto return. But woman is an uncertain quantity," he dryly added.
At that moment the telephone bell rang. Mr. Ransom leaped to answer;but the call was only an anxious one from the Fultons, who wanted toknow what news. He answered as best he could, and was recrossingdisconsolately to his chair when voices rose in the hall, and a man wasushered in, whom Gerridge immediately introduced as Mr. Sims.
A runner--and with news! Mr. Ransom, summoning up his courage, waited forthe inevitable question and reply. They came quickly enough.
"What have you got? Have you found the man?"
"Yes. And the lady's been to see him; that is, if the description of hertogs was correct."
"He means Mrs. Ransom," explained Gerridge. Then, as he marked hisclient's struggle for composure, he quietly asked, "A lady in a darkgreen suit with yellowish furs and a blue veil over her hat?"
"That's the ticket!"
"The clothes worn by the woman who went out of the basement door, Mr.Ransom."
The latter turned sharply aside. The shame of the thing was becomingintolerable.
"And this woman wearing those yellow furs and the blue veil visited theman of the broken jaw?" inquired Gerridge.
"Yes, sir."
"When?"
"About six this afternoon."
"And where?"
"At the hotel St. Denis where I have si
nce tracked him."
"How long did she stay?"
"About an hour."
"In the parlor or--"
"In the parlor. They had a great deal to say. More than one noticed them,but no one heard anything. They talked very low but they meant business."
"Where is this man now?"
"At the same place. He has engaged a room there."
"The man with the twisted jaw?"
"Yes."
"Under what name?"
"Hugh Porter."
"Ah, it was Hazen only five hours ago," muttered Ransom. "Porter, did yousay? I'll have a talk with this Porter at once."
"I think not to-night," put in the detective, with the mingled authorityand deference natural to one of his kind. "To-morrow, perhaps, butto-night it would only provoke scandal."
This was certainly true, but Mr. Ransom was not an easy man to dominate.
"I must see him before I sleep," he insisted. "A single word may solvethis mystery. He has the word. I'd be a fool to let the night go by--Ah!what's that?"
The telephone bell had rung again. A message from the office this time. Anote had just been handed in for Mr. Ransom; should they send it up?
Gerridge was at the 'phone.
"Instantly," he shouted down, "and be sure you hold the messenger. It maybe from your lady," he remarked to Mr. Ransom. "Stranger things than thathave happened."
Mr. Ransom reeled to the door, opened it and stood waiting. The twodetectives exchanged glances. What might not that note contain!
Mr. Ransom opened it in the hall. When he came back into the room, hishand was shaking and his face looked drawn and pale. But he showed nofurther disposition to go out. Instead, he sank into a chair, with amotion of dismissal to the two detectives.
"Question the boy who brought this," said he. "It is from Mrs. Ransom;written, as you see, at the St. Denis. She bids me farewell for a time,but does not favor me with any explanations. She cannot do differently,she says, and asks me to trust her and wait. Not very encouraging tosleep on; but it's something. She has not entirely forsaken me."
Gerridge with a shrug turned sharply towards the door. "I take it thatyou wouldn't object to knowing all the messenger can tell you?"
"No, no. Question him. Find out whether she gave this to him with her ownhand."
Gerridge obeyed this injunction, but was told in reply that the note hadbeen given him to deliver by a clerk in the hotel lobby. He could tellnothing about the lady.
This was unsatisfactory enough; but the man who had influenced her tothis step had been placed under surveillance. To-morrow they wouldquestion him; the mystery was not without a promise of solution. SoGerridge felt; but not Mr. Ransom; for at the end of the lines whosepurport he had just communicated to the detective were these few,significant words:
"Make no move to find me. If you love me well enough to wait in silencefor developments, happiness may yet be ours."