CHAPTER XV
THE VEILED WOMAN
Inside the house the atmosphere of danger reached Garth more positivelythan it had done even through Brown's unreasoning terror. Alsop andMarvin met them in the hall. Both were white-faced and nervous. Throughthe open door of a library Garth saw five men in evening clothesgathered about a table which was littered with papers. Alsop closed thedoor.
"I hope you and the inspector are satisfied," he jeered. "We're properlytrapped."
"The house is surrounded by detectives," Garth said. "We've arranged totake care of the one with the bomb. For there is a bomb, Mr. Alsop.There's no point lying about that."
Alsop scarcely made an effort to hide his fear.
"How are your detectives outside going to help us in here?"
He pointed to the closed door of the library.
"All my figures, all of my plans that I've ever put on paper I'vebrought out here for the first time to-night for this conference. Don'tyou suppose those devils know? And that thing--you can laugh at me ifyou like--I tell you that thing in white is after them. When I wentupstairs just now to bring them from the safe I felt it. I _saw_something white, and I ran down. Ask Marvin. I'm afraid. I acknowledgeit. Stay in this house with that--that influence, then if you'll tell meI'm a coward I'll believe it."
"I'm not sneering," Garth said grimly. "As a matter of fact we know yourveiled woman is actually to be in this house at nine o'clock. It'slikely enough she's upstairs now in some hidden corner after failing tosteal your papers. I'll search every rat hole, because you can take itfor granted her apparent magic is pure trickery, and if she isn't to befound upstairs we've a net arranged down here for her a little later."
He explained briefly the arrangement that Nora's presence and herdisguise had made possible. Alsop and Marvin were not impressed.
"Better find out what you can now," Alsop advised.
He nodded at Marvin. Garth and Nora followed the secretary towards thestairs. Suddenly, with a sharp intake of breath, Garth turned, graspedNora's arm, and drew her back.
"Alsop," he whispered excitedly, "I don't give a hang how long you'vehad your servants, or how much you trust them. The thing's obviousanyway. Nora! You saw that?"
Nora nodded. Her eyes were wide.
"What do you mean?" Alsop gasped.
Without answering Garth ran down the hallway and flung the curtain atthe end to one side. Across a wide dining-room he saw a woman, slenderand middle-aged. Her attitude was of flight. Her hand rested on the knobof the farther door. As Garth called sharply for Alsop she opened thedoor and went through. Alsop had only a glimpse.
"It's my housekeeper," he said. "She's worked here for twenty years.Certainly there's nothing wrong there."
"I wonder." Nora spoke softly. "Such people are clever enough to involveone's own family against one. She can't leave the house anyway. Suppose,Jim, we look upstairs."
While Alsop, angry and at a loss, went back to the library, Garth andNora climbed to the upper hall. Garth supposed that Marvin would havemade a light for them, but of all the doors that opened from the stairlanding one alone was wide, and no light gleamed through that.
"Marvin!" he called, and again: "Marvin! Marvin!"
He was aware of Nora's shivering. He glanced at her. The color had lefther cheeks.
"Something's wrong up here, Jim," she said. "I know it. I feel it. Don'tyou feel anything strange? You heard him come up, and after what Mr.Alsop said--where is he? Why doesn't he answer?"
Garth stepped forward. Nora reached out and grasped his arms. Thequality of her voice startled him.
"Don't go in there without a light, Jim."
He shook off her hands. He entered the dark room, and immediately heknew she had been right, that he had advanced too precipitately. Hestumbled against something soft and yielding, and went down, stretchingout his hand to save himself. He knew what his fingers had found. Hesnatched them away with a little cry:
"Get back to the hall, Nora!"
But he heard no movement from her, so, since he didn't dare wait, hetook his flashlight from his pocket, pressed the control, and turned theray on the features his hand had touched in the dark. Marvin wasstretched, face downward on the floor near the head of the bed. His armlay beyond his head, pitiful evidence that he had reached for theelectric light switch which had been just beyond his grasp.
Nora with a reluctant air had come closer. Crying out her horror, sheindicated the collar, at the back of Marvin's neck.
"Blood!"
Garth nodded.
"Like Brown. The same place as Brown's wound."
Nora covered her face with her hands.
Garth sprang up, unconsciously quoting Brown's words:
"That's madness!"
He ran to the bathroom and brought water with which he bathed Marvin'sface and head. He looked up after a moment with a sigh of relief.
"It was only a glancing blow," he said. "He'll come around."
Marvin, indeed, before long stirred, and tried to struggle to a sittingposture as Brown had done. He cried out, as Brown had cried:
"The veiled woman!"
"You see," Nora breathed.
Garth lifted the secretary to the bed, but when, to an extent, the manhad recovered consciousness he had nothing reasonable to tell.
He had started, he said, up the stairs, thinking Garth at his heels. Hehad been about to press the switch.
"I knew she was there," he sobbed. "I saw her--all white, and with aveil over her face. Then I don't know. I don't remember being struck.Everything went black."
Garth with a gesture of determination turned and commenced examining theroom. Nora, crouched against the wall, watched him with the assurance ofone who sees an evil prophecy fulfilled. After a quarter of an hour hegave it up. There was no one concealed in the room. Nor, he would havesworn, was there any reasonable hiding place. From behind the screenwhere the veiled woman had evidently disappeared twice there was nopossible escape.
"Before long, Marvin," he muttered, "I'll be as bad as you and oldAlsop. If you believe in ghosts, Nora, this certainly looks like one."
He glanced at his watch.
"Are you still anxious to try that plan of yours after what you'veseen?"
She nodded. She went uncertainly from the room. Marvin stumbled afterthem. They helped him down the stairs and to a sofa in the lower hall.Garth led Nora to the west door.
"We've less than ten minutes," he said, "and I don't understand. I'drather you kept out of it."
In silence and with determination she slipped on the white gown she hadbrought and draped the white veil over her face. Garth, shaking hishead, arranged a screen just within the doorway. He turned out theelectric lamp, lighted a single candle, and placed it on a stand at somedistance.
"Wait behind the screen," he said. "Actually, Nora, unless we aredealing with something beyond the human, the result is certain. I shallbe at the other end of the hall just within the library door. Anybodycoming from the interior of the house must pass me. I'll grab the woman.I'll see she makes no outcry. I'll keep her out of the way for she mustbe human to that extent. When you hear the two raps open the door andtake the bomb. According to Alsop's description you won't be suspectedin this light. A little over five minutes! I'll get Alsop and his crewout of the library and where their precious skins will be safe."
He touched her hand in farewell. Her fingers were very cold. Sheshivered and slipped behind the screen. He went to the library, knocked,entered, and closed the door. The faces that greeted him were restlesswith misgiving.
"I want you all out of this room now, please," Garth said. "I've delayedmoving you as long as I dared, so, if anything goes wrong, those outsidewon't know you have left. Take them to the back part of the house, Mr.Alsop. Into the cellar, if you like. It's safest. In fifteen or twentyminutes I hope you will be able to resume your conference in perfectsecurity."
Without words the men gathered up their papers and filed out.
Garth, left alone in the room, turned out the light, went to the window,slipped behind the curtain, opened the casement, and peered through.
The darkness was still unrelieved. Through that darkness, he knew, mencrept on an errand of fanaticism and death. Through that silence he wasmomentarily expectant of the audible evidence of their approach. But hecould hear nothing, see nothing. He couldn't wait. It was necessary forhim to go to the door from behind which he was to ambush the veiledwoman in order that Nora might take her place.
As he thrust the curtain aside a thin, tinkling sound stole from thesilence of the room. He felt his way to the telephone and lifted thereceiver.
"Hello!" he whispered. "Hello!"
The inspector's hoarse voice came to him, lowered to a note of caution.
"You, Garth? I'm in the gardener's cottage. Tell me Alsop and his peopleare safe."
"Yes," Garth said. "Hurry! Hurry! What's up?"
"For Heaven's sake, be careful," the inspector answered, "because,Garth, all your dope was right. There are four of them in the groundsnow, and one carries a thing that looks like a bomb. Are you going toget away with it? The veiled woman--"
"She's in the house," Garth murmured. "I'm waiting. I must go. Hush! Ihear--"
He broke off. Through the appalling quietness of the house he had hearddistinctly from the direction of the west door two sharp raps. Heflashed his light at the clock over the mantel. Its hands pointedexactly to nine o'clock. Yet he had seen no one pass the dim frame ofthe library doorway--nothing white.
He ran through. In the wan candle light he could see the slender figurein the white gown and the flowing veil slip from behind the screen andopen the door. Then Nora would get the bomb, but where was the realveiled woman? What unaccountable intuition had warned her away?
Garth slipped along the hall, clinging to the shadow of a tapestry. Heknew from the black patch at the end of the corridor that the door waswide. In that dark patch he suddenly saw the silhouette of a man. Thehands were stretched out as if to meet the hands which Nora appeared tooffer for the bomb. But the man carried no bomb. In the dim light Garththought at first that he carried nothing. Then he understood hismistake, and he cried out, drawing his own revolver, darting forward:
"Nora! Look out!"
He had seen that the man's fingers fondled an automatic, raised it,aimed it at the confident, expectant figure.
"For police spies!" the man called.
Before Garth could reach the door the harsh, tearing report of theautomatic came, and was repeated twice. There was no question. At thatshort range each sound from the stubby cylinder was the voice of death.Garth saw the form that he loved sway, clutch at nothing, without a crycrumple and lie motionless across the threshold.
Before the other could turn his gun on him the detective had grappledwith the murderer. He bore him to the porch floor and struck him acrossthe temple with the butt of his revolver. Garth arose then, and,scarcely aware of what he did, placed his police whistle at his lips,and blew shrilly through the night.
While he waited for the help that he knew would be too late for Nora orfor him, he gazed at the silent, slender form. The veil alone moved,trembling from time to time in the wind which came gently from thewoods. That reached the candle also, which flickered, making the lightghastly, unbearable.
* * * * * *
Garth shook. He covered his face with his hands, for the dim, unrealillumination had shown him that the figure was no longer completelywhite. The reason for its stillness exposed a scarlet testimony.
That which Garth had feared but had forgotten in the rush of his morepersonal terror rent the silence with a chaotic turmoil. A terrificdetonation was followed by the shattering of glass. Shouts and cursesarose from the house. Someone hurried across the drive and up the steps.Garth was aware of a heavy hand on his shoulder. He glanced up at theinspector's startled face. Suddenly the detective realized that the oldman had no misgivings for Nora. At this moment, with the white form athis feet, he must picture her quietly, safely at home. Garth moved away,but the inspector grasped him again.
"What's the matter with you? You've let them use their infernal bomb.You're responsible for Alsop and his people."
"They're safe," Garth answered.
The candle still burned. In its wan and flickering light he indicatedthe still, white figure.
"The veiled woman!" the inspector said. "Dead!"
He stooped swiftly.
"You've done well here anyway, Garth. Let's have a look."
Frantically Garth snatched at his arm and tried to pull him away.
"Don't look! Not you!"
The inspector glanced up amazed. Garth knelt with a gesture of despair.
"What's that?" the inspector whispered, and his voice was suddenlyafraid. Garth followed his glance. From the black shadows of the woods awhite figure glided. Its face was hidden beneath a white cloth.
Garth's shaking fingers reached out and lifted the stained veil from thesilent form. He drew back. His cry was like a sob. For a long time theinspector and Garth stared at the features, apprehensive even in death,of the secretary, Marvin.
* * * * * *
Nora, who ran up the steps crying out her fear for those in the house,gave Garth no opportunity for questions or for the expression of thatrelief which shook him with a power nearly physical. Even the inspector,after his first shock of surprise, had no time to demand the particularsof her share in the night's work.
The four prisoners were brought to the hall. They knew they must standtrial for Brown's death as well as for this attempt. The one who hadshot Marvin and who had gone down before Garth's attack was still dazed.Garth identified him as the man who had disguised himself as an Orientalin the shop. The sharp face of the Levantine twitched with hatred andfright. The other two, although he knew the type, the detective hadnever seen before. They boasted openly that the shop had been only anoutpost for this affair. Through a dictaphone and the telegraphy of thepipe, instructions had been sent to and from their headquarters.To-night, they declared, the shop had ceased to be useful. No trailwould lead from it to the central force that worked in New York.
As they drove home in a taxicab the inspector bitterly lamented the factto Garth and Nora.
"We'll get to it later," Garth said.
"If only things hadn't gone wrong at the last minute!" Nora cried. "Ifonly I might have taken the bomb and talked to the man who brought it!Even with the others! For it's clear those fellows will give nothingaway now. We can blame poor Marvin that I never had a chance."
"What do you mean?" Garth asked. "You haven't told us what happened whenI left you by the west door."
"You remember we had got Marvin on a sofa in the hall," Nora answered."He must have seen you close the door when you went in the library towarn Alsop and the others, because from my hiding place I saw him getup, and, with no appearance of an injured man, sneak along the wall tothe stairs. I followed him up, and, Jim, I found him on the floor in hisroom again, but this time he didn't hear me, and he was talking. Then Isaw his whole game. There was a dictaphone hidden beneath the bed withwhich he had probably communicated with those outside the house fordays. We had stopped him the first time when he had just learned of myintended masquerade. Don't you see? He had to tell them that. We caughthim, and he scratched himself to throw us off the track with the detailsof another case like Brown's. Now I heard him tell everything--just whatI was to do, and that Alsop and the others were in the library. I randownstairs, but when I reached the lower hall I saw him coming after me.So I said I had changed my mind, that I was afraid, that I wanted onlyto leave the house. I went to the kitchen and slipped out, intending toget to you, Jim, with my information. But I knew these men were in thegrounds, and I had to go carefully. When I crept up to the librarywindow I thought I saw you. Then the telephone bell rang, and I couldn'tmake you hear."
"Of course," Garth said, "Marvin, coming down, had seen that the libra
rydoor was open, and that there was no longer a light there. It was toolate to use the dictaphone again, but he knew he must change hisinstructions and tell them not to waste the bomb in the library. So hethrew on his disguise and rushed to the west door as he had originallyplanned, in too much of a hurry to dream such a mistake could happen. Isuppose he got past while I was at the window."
"Marvin," the inspector mused, "was just the man for them. Probably fullof wild-eyed ideas, and feeling a divine call to help smash Alsop. Ihold no brief for that millionaire. I understand he had to work, likemost everybody else, for what he's got, and maybe that's the reason hecan't understand these new social notions. And far be it from me to sayanything about Marvin's grand thoughts, although it may be his share inthis affair was made worth his while. My part in life is to see that thelaw's kept, and I guess without the law there wouldn't be anything muchworth while for anybody to fight over. These rough boys had certainlyfixed Marvin to help them break the law into little bits of pieces. Somaybe he deserves just what he got. Alsop tells me he didn't trust anyof his employes with his schemes for putting a stop to socialisticmovements in his concerns, and that's where the big hitch came. Marvin,whenever he knew there were private papers in the house, was alwayssearching. He had a key to Alsop's door. He used that old ghost story,and dressed himself up in case any of the servants should see him. Theirfright would give him time to cover himself. When Alsop did catch him hecame across with the terrible experiences he had had himself with theveiled woman. Ought to have got on to him before."
"It wasn't easy to suspect him," Nora said, "particularly after we hadseen the housekeeper's curiosity, and had found him, apparentlyunconscious, in his room. He was really too frightened at the flat, andwe might have suspected when Jim heard those directions at the shop.Such luck as that doesn't often happen. It's easily explained now. Thetime it took you, Jim, to go to the hospital and to visit the shop wasjust the time he needed to return to Wall Street with Mr. Alsop, makesome excuse, and get into the shop by a back way to receive his neworders. It was simple enough."
The inspector grunted.
"If we saw all the simple things there'd be no need for detectives."
He commenced to cough with a persistent vehemence.
"Take me home, Nora," he groaned. "Back to the fireplace and the flannelfor the old man. You're always right, Nora. Isn't she always right,Garth?"
But Garth, recalling that moment before Nora and he had entered theAlsop house, shook his head. Nora must have seen and understood, for shelaughed lightly.
"Maybe she is," Garth said thoughtfully, "but sometimes I wonder."