The Mansion of Mystery Part 25

"Margaret, dearest, you must try to keep quiet," he interrupted soothingly. "It will all come out right, I feel certain of it."

"Right? I don't know what you mean by that word. Was I on trial, or what?"

"No, not on trial. It was simply the coroner's inquest. But don't think of it, dear." He tried to brush back her hair, but she stopped him. The wild look in her eyes was increasing.

"The inquest? Oh, yes, I know now, and they said--they said--" She gave a piercing scream. "They said I had killed her and killed my own father! Yes, that I had killed them! Do you hear, Raymond, I had killed them!" She sat up and motioned him away. "Do not touch me! Do not come near me!"

"Margaret!" he interrupted appealingly.

"No! no! It is too late, too late!" Her voice sank to a hoa.r.s.e whisper. "I see it all--the blood on the ring, the chloroform, our quarrels, and what she said to me, and then, and then--" She gave another scream. "Go away! go away! You must not come near me again!"

"But Margaret, dear--"

"No, I cannot listen! You must go away, and let them take me to prison, let them hang me if they will!" Her voice sank still lower.

"There is nothing else to do--I see the end. They have cornered me, have found me out! Yes, they have found me out!" She gave a wild, uncanny laugh that made his flesh creep. "Ha! ha! I thought they could not do it, but they did. They have found me out! They have found me out!" And then, with another scream, she pitched back and lay again like one dead.

CHAPTER XV

LOVE VERSUS BUSINESS

"Uncle Adam, you must tell me everything. Do you hear?--everything!"

"But my dear Letty, I am not sure of these things. I only want you to wait. That's easy enough, isn't it?"

"It will be, if you tell me everything. But I can't wait if I am kept in the dark." The girl raised her tear-stained face to that of the detective. "Oh, I am sure you will do the best you can and all that--you have always been so kind to me. But--but I must know the details."

A half hour had pa.s.sed since he had discovered that Letty Bernard was in love with Tom Ostrello, that she had been in love with the traveling man ever since they had first met. He had heard her whole tale, how the young man had taken her out and how they had planned for the future--a tale not uncommon even in these plain, common-sense days, when Romance lingers only on the outskirts of society. He had been tremendously interested, as much so as if the girl was his own flesh and blood.

"Of course, he invited me to the theatre before he knew of the death of his mother," Letty went on. "And I suppose he has been so upset he hasn't thought to notify me. But he might have sent me word," she added wistfully. "I should have done so if it was my mother."

"He is not like you, Letty."

"Well, he is just as good."

"That remains to be seen."

"Are you going to tell me what you have in your mind or not, Uncle Adam?"

He gazed at her fondly. How could he tell her? And yet, if his suspicions were correct, it would be better for her to know the truth now than to be struck down by it later on.

"There is nothing very definite, Letty," he said slowly. "You know that all detectives get on the wrong trail at times--I have made a mess of more than one case--you know that, even if the general public doesn't."

"Then he is suspected of these murders?" she said boldly.

"If you must have the whole story, I'll tell it to you. It is certainly a curious situation. At first suspicions pointed to Mr.

Langmore's daughter; now they appear to point to Mrs. Langmore's son.

For your sake and for the sake of Miss Langmore, who appears to be a very nice young lady, I trust we shall be able to prove some outside party guilty."

"Tom isn't guilty, I am sure of that."

"And Raymond Case is equally certain that Miss Langmore isn't guilty."

"He is the young man who came here and engaged you?"

"Yes."

"Is he engaged to her?"

"Yes."

"Then, of course, he thinks her innocent."

"I think her innocent myself."

"Do you think Tom is guilty?"

At this direct question Adam Adams winced. He saw before him a disagreeable duty which must be performed.

"I see I must give you the facts, Letty. But I will do so on one condition only, and that is, that you keep what I have to say to yourself--considering them as office secrets."

"Very well, Uncle Adam, I'll promise," she answered, with a pale face upturned to him. He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. Then he locked the office door, sat down in an armchair and let her sit on his lap, just as she had done since childhood.

His recital took the best part of an hour, and he gave all the particulars of his interview with Cephas Carboy and with Doctor Calkey, and told of the finding of the bit of paper with the address of the drug firm on it, and of the strange Chinese poison. At the mention of the fatal drug she drew a sharp breath.

"I--I--" she began, and stopped short.

"Do you know anything of that drug, Letty? Perhaps he spoke to you about it?"

"He did, once, when we were speaking of poisons. He said he was glad his firm had decided not to handle it, for it was too dangerous. It has a power that most folks do not know about."

"The power to kill people, I suppose."

"No, not that. He said it was a fatal drug, but more than that, he said it had a strange power, according to the Chinese chemists who manufactured it. That power was, if it was used on a person and did not kill it would, in a few days or a week, make that person mad."

"Humph! Worse and worse! Such a drug should be banished by law. But to go on with my story, if you must hear the whole of it. I am fairly certain it was that drug which was used to kill Mr. and Mrs. Langmore."

"But Tom did not use it," she insisted. "Somebody else must have gotten the drug from him or from his traveling sample case."

"That is possible. Now there is another side to this case, which I cannot understand at all." And then he told of the counterfeit bank bills.

"Counterfeits!" she exclaimed, and the color began to leave her face once more. "What kind of bills were they, Uncle Adam?"

"They were one hundred dollar bills, on the Excelsior National Bank of New York City."

She gave a gasp and clenched her little hands to control herself. He could not help but notice her increased agitation.