Through the Wall by Cleveland Moffett (page 3)

truth from falsehood, struggling against stupidity and cunning, studying each new case as a separate problem with infinite tact and insight, never wearying, never losing his temper, coming back again and again to the essential point until more than one stubborn criminal had broken down and, from sheer exhaustion, confessed, like the assassin who finally blurted out: “Well, yes, I did it. I’d rather be guillotined than bothered like this.”

Such was Judge Hauteville, cold, patient, inexorable in the pursuit of truth. And presently he arrived.

“You look serious this morning,” he said, remarking Coquenil’s pale face.

“Yes,” nodded M. Paul, “that’s how I feel,” and settling himself in a chair he proceeded to relate the events of the night, ending with a frank account of his misadventure on the Champs Elysees.

The judge listened with grave attention. This was a more serious affair than he had imagined. Not only was there no longer any question of suicide, but it was obvious that they were dealing with a criminal of the most dangerous type and one possessed of extraordinary resources.

“You believe it was the assassin himself who met you?” questioned Hauteville.

“Don’t you?”

“I’m not sure. You think his motive was to get the woman’s address?”

“Isn’t that reasonable?”

Hauteville shook his head. “He wouldn’t have risked so much for that. How did he know that you hadn’t copied the name and given it to one of us–say to me?”

“Ah, if I only had,” sighed the detective.

“How did he know that you wouldn’t remember the name? Can’t you remember it–at all?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to do,” replied the other gloomily, “I’ve tried and tried, but the name won’t come back. I put those pieces together and read the words distinctly, the name and the address. It was a foreign name, English I should say, and the street was an avenue near the Champs Elysees, the Avenue d’Eylau, or the Avenue d’Iena, I cannot be sure. I didn’t fix the thing in my mind because I had it in my pocket, and in the work of the night it faded away.”

“A great pity! Still, this man could neither have known that nor guessed it. He took the address from you on a chance, but his chief purpose must have been to impress you with his knowledge and his power.”

Coquenil stared at his brown seal ring and then muttered savagely: “How did he know the name of that infernal canary bird?”

The judge smiled. “He has established some very complete system of surveillance that we must try to circumvent. For the moment we had better decide upon immediate steps.”

With this they turned to a fresh consideration of the case. Already the machinery of justice had begun to move. Martinez’s body and the weapon had been taken to the morgue for an autopsy, the man’s jewelry and money were in the hands of the judge, and photographs of the scene of the tragedy would be ready shortly as well as plaster impressions of the alleyway footprints. An hour before, as arranged the previous night, Papa Tignol had started out to search for Kittredge’s lodgings, since the American, when questioned by Gibelin at the prison, had obstinately refused to tell where he lived and an examination of his quarters was a matter of immediate importance.

It was not Papa Tignol, however, who was to furnish this information, but the discomfited Gibelin whose presence in the outer office was at this moment announced by the judge’s clerk.

“Ask him to come in,” said Hauteville, and a moment later Coquenil’s fat, red-haired rival entered with a smile that made his short mustache fairly bristle in triumph.

“Ah, you have news for us!” exclaimed the judge.

Gibelin beamed. “I haven’t wasted my time,” he nodded. Then, with a sarcastic glance at Coquenil: “The old school has its good points, after all.”

“No doubt,” agreed Coquenil curtly.

“Although I am no longer in charge of this case,” rasped the fat man, “I suppose there is no objection to my rendering my distinguished associate,” he bowed mockingly to M. Paul, “such assistance as is in my power.”

“Of course not,” replied Hauteville.

“I happened to hear that this American has a room on the Rue Racine and I just looked in there.”

“Ah!” said the judge, and Coquenil rubbed his glasses nervously. There is no detective big-souled enough not to tingle with resentment when he finds that a rival has scored a point.

“Our friend lives at the Hotel des Etrangers, near the corner of the Boulevard St. Michel,” went on Gibelin. “I _happened_ to be talking with the man who sent out the banquet invitations and he told me. M. Kittredge has a little room with a brick floor up six flights. And long! And black!” He rubbed his knees ruefully. “But it was worth the trouble. Ah, yes!” His small eyes brightened.

“You examined his things?”

“_Pour sur!_ I spent an hour there. And talked the soul out of the chambermaid. A good-looking wench! And a sharp one!” he chuckled. “_She_ knows the value of a ten-franc piece!”

“Well, well,” broke in M. Paul, “what did you discover?”

[Illustration: “Gibelin beamed. ‘The old school has its good points, after all.'”]

Gibelin lifted his pudgy hands deprecatingly. “For one thing I discovered a photograph of the woman who was in Number Six with Martinez.”

“The devil!” cried Coquenil.

“It is not of much importance, since already you have the woman’s name and address.” He shot a keen glance at his rival.

M. Paul was silent. What humiliation was this! No doubt Gibelin had heard the truth and was gloating over it!

“How do you know it is the woman’s photograph?” questioned the judge.

“I’ll tell you,” replied Gibelin, delighted with his sensation. “It’s quite a story. I suppose you know that when this woman slipped out of the Ansonia, she drove directly to the house where we arrested the American. You knew that?” He turned to Coquenil.

“No.”

“Well, I _happened_ to speak to the _concierge_ there and she remembers perfectly a lady in an evening gown with a rain coat over it like the one this woman escaped in. This lady sent a note by the _concierge_ up to the apartment of that she-dragon, the sacristan’s wife, where M. Kittredge was calling on Alice.”

“Ah! What time was that?”

“About a quarter to ten. The note was for M. Kittredge. It must have been a _wild_ one, for he hurried down, white as a sheet, and drove off with the lady. Fifteen minutes later they stopped at his hotel and he went up to his room, two steps, at a time, while she waited in the cab. And Jean, the _garcon_, had a good look at her and he told Rose, the chambermaid, and _she_ had a look and recognized her as the woman whose photograph she had often seen in the American’s room.”

“Ah, that’s lucky!” rejoined the judge. “And you have this photograph?”

“No, but—-“

“You said you found it?” put in Coquenil.

“I did, that is, I found a piece of it, a corner that wasn’t burned.”

“Burned?” cried the others.

“Yes,” said Gibelin, “that’s what Kittredge went upstairs for, to burn the photograph and a lot of letters–_her_ letters, probably. The fireplace was full of fresh ashes. Rose says it was clean before he went up, so I picked out the best fragments–here they are.” He drew a small package from his pocket, and opening it carefully, showed a number of charred or half-burned pieces of paper on which words in a woman’s handwriting could be plainly read.

“More fragments!” muttered Coquenil, examining them. “It’s in English. Ah, is this part of the photograph?” He picked out a piece of cardboard.

“Yes. You see the photographer’s name is on it.”

“Watts, Regent Street, London,” deciphered the detective. “That is something.” And, turning to the judge: “Wouldn’t it be a good idea to send a man to London with this? You can make out part of a lace skirt and the tip of a slipper. It might be enough.”

“That’s true,” agreed Hauteville.

“Whoever goes,” continued Coquenil, “had better carry him the five-pound notes found on Martinez and see if he can trace them through the Bank of England. They often take the names of persons to whom their notes are issued.”

“Excellent. I’ll see to it at once,” and, ringing for his secretary, the judge gave orders to this effect.

To all of which Gibelin listened with a mocking smile. “But why so much trouble,” he asked, “when you have the woman’s name and address already?”

“I _had_ them and I–I lost them,” acknowledged M. Paul, and in a few words he explained what had happened.

“Oh,” sneered the other, “I thought you were a skillful wrestler.”

“Come back to the point,” put in Hauteville. “Had the chambermaid ever seen this lady before?”

“Yes, but not recently. It seems that Kittredge moved to the Hotel des Etrangers about seven months ago, and soon after that the lady came to see him. Rose says she came three times.”

“Did she go to Kittredge’s room?” put in Coquenil.

“Yes.”

“Can the chambermaid describe her?” continued the judge.

“She says the lady was young and good-looking–that’s about all she remembers.”

“Hm! Have you anything else to report?”

Gibelin chuckled harshly. “I have kept the most important thing for the last. I’m afraid it will annoy my distinguished colleague even more than the loss of the leather fragments.”

“Don’t waste your sympathy,” retorted Coquenil.

Gibelin gave a little snort of defiance. “I certainly won’t. I only mean that your debut in this case hasn’t been exactly–ha, ha!–well, not exactly brilliant.”

“Here, here!” reproved the judge. “Let us have the facts.”

“Well,” continued the red-haired man, “I have found the owner of the pistol that killed Martinez.”

Coquenil started. “The owner of the pistol we found in the courtyard?”

“Precisely. I should tell you, also, that the balls from that pistol are identical with the ball extracted from the body. The autopsy proves it, so Dr. Joubert says. And this pistol belongs in a leather holster that I found in Mr. Kittredge’s room. Dr. Joubert let me take the pistol for verification and–there, you can see for yourselves.”

With this he produced the holster and the pistol and laid them before the judge. There was no doubt about it, the two objects belonged together. Various worn places corresponded and the weapon fitted in its case. “Besides,” continued Gibelin, “the chambermaid identifies this pistol as the property of the American. He always kept it in a certain drawer, she noticed it there a few days ago, but yesterday it was gone and the holster was empty.”

“It looks bad,” muttered the judge.

“It _looks_ bad, but it’s too easy, it’s too simple,” answered M. Paul.

“In the old school,” sneered Gibelin, “we are not always trying to solve problems in _difficult_ ways. We don’t reject a solution merely because it’s easy–if the truth lies straight before our nose, why, we see it.”

“My dear sir,” retorted Coquenil angrily, “if what you think the truth turns out to be the truth, then you ought to be in charge of this case and I’m a fool.”

“Granted,” smiled the other.

“Come, come, gentlemen,” interrupted the judge. Then abruptly to Gibelin: “Did you see about his boots?”

“No, I thought you would send to the prison and get the pair he wore last night.”

“How do you know he didn’t change his boots when he burned the letters? Go back to his hotel and see if they noticed a muddy pair in his room this morning. Bring me whatever boots of his you find. Also stop at the depot and get the pair he had on when arrested. Be quick!”

“I will,” answered Gibelin, and he went out, pausing at the door to salute M. Paul mockingly.

“Ill-tempered brute!” said Hauteville. “I will see that he has nothing more to do with this case.” Then he touched an electric bell.

“That American, Kittredge, who was arrested last night?” he said to the clerk. “Was he put in a cell?”

“No, sir, he’s in with the other prisoners.”

“Ah! Have him brought over here in about an hour for the preliminary examination. Make out his commitment papers for the Sante. He is to be _au secret_.”

“Yes, sir.” The clerk bowed and withdrew.

“You really think this young man innocent, do you?” remarked the judge to Coquenil.

“It’s easier to think him innocent than guilty,” answered the detective.

“Easier?”

“If he is guilty we must grant him an extraordinary double personality. The amiable lover becomes a desperate criminal able to conceive and carry out the most intricate murder of our time. I don’t believe it. If he is guilty he must have had the key to that alleyway door. How did he get it? He must have known, that the ‘tall blonde’ who had engaged Number Seven would not occupy it. How did he know that? And he must have relations with the man who met me on the Champs Elysees. How could that be? Remember, he’s a poor devil of a foreigner living in a Latin-Quarter attic. The thing isn’t reasonable.”

“But the pistol?”

“The pistol may not really be his. Gibelin’s whole story needs looking into.”

The judge nodded. “Of course. I leave that to you. Still, I shall feel better satisfied when we have compared the soles of his boots with the plaster casts of those alleyway footprints.”

“So shall I,” said Coquenil. “Suppose I see the workman who is finishing the casts?” he suggested; “it won’t take long, and perhaps I can bring them back with me.”

“Excellent,” approved Hauteville, and he bowed with grave friendliness as the detective left the room.

Then, for nearly an hour, the judge buried himself in the details of this case, turning his trained mind, with absorbed concentration, upon the papers at hand, reviewing the evidence, comparing the various reports and opinions, and, in the light of clear reason, searching for a plausible theory of the crime. He also began notes of questions that he wished to ask Kittredge, and was deep in these when the clerk entered to inform him that Coquenil and Gibelin had returned.

“Let them come in at once,” directed Hauteville, and presently the two detectives were again before him.

“Well?” he inquired with a quick glance.

Coquenil was silent, but Gibelin replied exultingly: “We have found a pair of Kittredge’s boots that absolutely correspond with the plaster casts of the alleyway footprints; everything is identical, the shape of the sole, the nails in the heel, the worn places–everything.”

The judge turned to Coquenil. “Is this true?”

M. Paul nodded. “It seems to be true.”

There was a moment of tense silence and then Hauteville said in measured tones: “It makes a _strong_ chain now. What do you think?”

Coquenil hesitated, and then with a frown of perplexity and exasperation he snapped out: “I–I haven’t had time to think yet.”

CHAPTER XI

THE TOWERS OF NOTRE-DAME

It was a distressed and sleepless night that Alice passed after the torturing scene of her lover’s arrest. She would almost have preferred her haunting dreams to this pitiful reality. What had Lloyd done? Why had this woman come for him? And what would happen now? Again and again, as weariness brought slumber, the sickening fact stirred her to wakefulness–they had taken Kittredge away to prison charged with an abominable crime. And she loved him, she loved him now more than ever, she was absolutely his, as she never would have been if this trouble had not come. Ah, there was her only ray of comfort that just at the last she had made him happy. She would never forget his look of gratitude as she cried out her love and her trust in his innocence and–yes, she had kissed him, her Lloyd, before those rough men; she had kissed him, and even in the darkness of her chamber her cheeks flamed at the thought.

Soon after five she rose and dressed. This was Sunday, her busiest day, she must be in Notre-Dame for the early masses. There was a worn place in a chasuble that needed some touches of her needle; Father Anselm had asked her to see to it. And this duty done, there was the special Sunday sale of candles and rosaries and little red guidebooks of the church to keep her busy.

Alice was in the midst of all this when, shortly before ten, Mother Bonneton approached, cringing at the side of a visitor, a lady of striking beauty whose dress and general air proclaimed a lavish purse. In a first glance Alice noticed her exquisite supple figure and her full red lips. Also a delicate fragrance of violets.

“This lady wants you to show her the towers,” explained the old crone with a cunning wink at the girl. “I tell her it’s hard for you to leave your candles, especially now when people are coming in for high mass, but I can take your place, and,” with a servile smile, “madame is generous.”

“Certainly,” agreed the lady, “whatever you like, five francs, ten francs.”

“Five francs is quite enough,” replied Alice, to Mother Bonneton’s great disgust. “I love the towers on a day like this.”

So they started up the winding stone stairs of the Northern tower, the lady going first with lithe, nervous steps, although Alice counseled her not to hurry.

“It’s a long way to the top,” cautioned the girl, “three hundred and seventy steps.”

But the lady pressed on as if she had some serious purpose before her, round and round past an endless ascending surface of gloomy gray stone, scarred everywhere with names and initials of foolish sightseers, past narrow slips of fortress windows through the massive walls, round and round in narrowing circles until finally, with sighs of relief, they came out into the first gallery and stood looking down on Paris laughing under the yellow sun.

“Ouf!” panted the lady, “it _is_ a climb.”

They were standing on the graceful stone passageway that joins the two towers at the height of the bells and were looking to the west over the columned balustrade, over the Place Notre-Dame, dotted with queer little people, tinkling with bells of cab horses, clanging with gongs of yonder trolley cars curving from the Pont Neuf past old Charlemagne astride of his great bronze horse. Then on along the tree-lined river, on with widening view of towers and domes until their eyes rested on the green spreading _bois_ and the distant heights of Saint Cloud.

And straightway Alice began to point out familiar monuments, the spire of the Sainte Chapelle, the square of the Louvre, the gilded dome of Napoleon’s tomb, the crumbling Tour Saint Jacques, disfigured now with scaffolding for repairs, and the Sacre Cour, shining resplendent on the Montmartre hill.

To all of which the lady listened indifferently. She was plainly thinking of something else, and, furtively, she was watching the girl.

“Tell me,” she asked abruptly, “is your name Alice?”

“Yes,” answered the other in surprise.

The lady hesitated. “I thought that was what the old woman called you.” Then, looking restlessly over the panorama: “Where is the _conciergerie?_”

Alice started at the word. Among all the points in Paris this was the one toward which her thoughts were tending, the _conciergerie_, the grim prison where her lover was!

“It is there,” she replied, struggling with her emotion, “behind that cupola of the Chamber of Commerce. Do you see those short pointed towers? That is it.”

“Is it still used as a prison?” continued the visitor with a strange insistence.

“Why, yes,” stammered the girl, “I think so–that is, the depot is part of the _conciergerie_ or just adjoins it.”

“What is the depot?” questioned the other, eying Alice steadily.

The girl flushed. “Why do you ask me that? Why do you look at me so?”

The lady stepped closer, and speaking low: “Because I know who you are, I know _why_ you are thinking about that prison.”

Alice stared at her with widening eyes and heaving bosom. The woman’s tone was kind, her look almost appealing, yet the girl drew back, guided by an instinct of danger.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“Don’t you _know_ who I am?” answered the other, and now her emotion broke through the mask of calm. “I am the lady who–who called for M. Kittredge last night.”

“Oh!” burst out Alice scornfully. “A lady! You call yourself a _lady!_”

“Call me anything you like but—-“

“I don’t wish to speak to you; it’s an outrage your coming here; I–I’m going down.” And she started for the stairs.

“Wait!” cried the visitor. “You _shall_ hear me. I have come to help the man you love.”

“The man _you_ love,” blazed the girl. “The man whose life you have ruined.”

“It’s true I–I loved him,” murmured the other.

“What _right_ had you to love him, you a married woman?”

The lady caught her breath with a little gasp and her hands shut tight.

“He told you that?”

[Illustration: “‘I know _why_ you are thinking about that prison.'”]

“Yes, because he was forced to–the thing was known. Don’t be afraid, he didn’t tell your name, he _never_ would tell it. But I know enough, I know that you tortured him and–when he got free from you, after struggling and–starving and—-“

“Starving?”

“Yes, starving. After all that, when he was just getting a little happy, _you_ had to come again, and–and now he’s _there_.”

She looked fixedly at the prison, then with angry fires flashing in her dark eyes: “I hate you, I _hate_ you,” she cried.

In spite of her growing emotion the lady forced herself to speak calmly: “Hate me if you will, but _hear_ me.”

“No,” went on Alice fiercely, “_you_ shall hear _me_. You have done this wicked, shameless thing, and now you come to me, think of that, _to me!_ You must be mad. Anyhow, you are here and you shall tell me what I want to know.”

“What do you want to know?” trembled the woman.

“I want to know, first, who you are. I want your name and address.”

“Certainly; I am–er–Madam Marius, and I live at–er–6 Avenue Martignon.”

“Ah! May I have one of your cards?”

“I–er–I’m afraid I have no card here,” evaded the other, pretending to search in a gold bag. Her face was very pale.

The girl made no reply, but walked quickly to a turn of the gallery.

“Valentine,” she called.

“Yes,” answered a voice.

“Ah, you are there. I may need you in a minute.”

“_Bien!_”

Then, returning, she said quietly: “Valentine is a friend of mine. She sells postal cards up here. Unless you tell me the truth, I shall ask her to go down and call the sacristan. Now then, _who are you?_”

“Don’t ask who I am,” pleaded the lady.

“I ask what I want to know.”

“Anything but that!”

“Then you are _not_ Madam Marius?”

“No.”

“You lied to me?”

“Yes.”

“Valentine!” called Alice, and promptly a girl of about sixteen, bare-headed, appeared at the end of the gallery. “Go down and ask Papa Bonneton to come here at once. Say it’s important. Hurry!”

With an understanding nod Valentine disappeared inside the tower and the quick clatter of her wooden shoes echoed up from below.

“But–what will you tell him?” gasped the lady.

“I shall tell him you were concerned in that crime last night. I don’t know what it was, I haven’t read the papers, but he has.”

“Do you want to ruin me?” cried the woman; then, with a supplicating gesture: “Spare me this shame; I will give you money, a large sum. See here!” and, opening her gold bag, she drew out some folded notes. “I’ll give you a thousand francs–five thousand. Don’t turn away! I’ll give you more–my jewels, my pearls, my rings. Look at them.” She held out her hands, flashing with precious stones.

Suddenly she felt the girl’s eyes on her in utter scorn. “You are not even intelligent,” Alice flung back; “you were a fool to come here; now you are stupid enough to think you can buy my silence. _Mon Dieu_, what a base soul!”

“Forgive me, I don’t know what I am saying,” begged the other. “Don’t be angry. Listen; you say I was a fool to come here, but it isn’t true. I realized my danger, I knew what I was risking, and yet I came, because I _had_ to come. I felt I could trust you. I came in my desperation because there was no other person in Paris I dared go to.”

“Is that true?” asked the girl, more gently.

“Indeed it is,” implored the lady, her eyes swimming with tears. “I beg your pardon sincerely for offering you money. I know you are loyal and kind and–I’m ashamed of myself. I have suffered so much since last night that–as you say, I must be mad.”

It was a strange picture–this brilliant beauty, forgetful of pride and station, humbling herself to a poor candle seller. Alice looked at her in wonder.

“I don’t understand yet why you came to me,” she said.

“I want to make amends for the harm I have done, I want to save M. Kittredge–not for myself. Don’t think that! He has gone out of my life and will never come into it again. I want to save him because it’s right that I should, because he has been accused of this crime through me and I know he is innocent.”

“Ah,” murmured Alice joyfully, “you know he is innocent.”

“Yes; and, if necessary, I will give evidence to clear him. I will tell exactly what happened.”

“What happened where?”

“In the room where this man was–was shot. Ugh!” She pressed her hands over her eyes as if to drive away some horrid vision.

“You were–there?” asked the girl.

The woman nodded with a wild, frightened look. “Don’t ask me about it. There isn’t time now and–I told _him_ everything.”

“You mean Lloyd? You told Lloyd everything?”

“Yes, in the carriage. He realizes that I acted for the best, but–don’t you see, if I come forward now and tell the truth, I shall be disgraced, ruined.”

“And if you don’t come forward, Lloyd will remain in prison,” flashed the girl.

“You don’t understand. There is no case against Lloyd. He is bound to be released for want of evidence against him. I only ask you to be patient a few days and let me help him without destroying myself.”

“How can you help him unless you speak out?”

“I can help with money for a good lawyer. That is why I brought these bank notes.” Again she offered the notes. “You won’t refuse them–for him?”

But Alice pushed the money from her. “A lawyer’s efforts _might_ free him in the future, your testimony will free him now.”

“Then you will betray me?” demanded the woman fiercely.

“Betray?” answered the girl. “That’s a fine-sounding word, but what does it mean? I shall do the best I can for the man I love.”

“Ha! The best you can! And what is that? To make him ashamed of you! To make him suffer!”

“Suffer?”

“Why not? Don’t you suppose he will suffer to find that you have no sympathy with his wishes?”

“What do you mean?”

“You threaten to do the very thing that he went to prison to prevent. You’re going to denounce me, aren’t you?”

“To save him–yes.”

“When it isn’t necessary, when it will cause a dreadful calamity. If he wanted to be saved that way, wouldn’t he denounce me himself? He knows my name, he knows the whole story. Wouldn’t he tell it himself if he wanted it told?”

The girl hesitated, taken aback at this new view. “I suppose he thinks it a matter of honor.”

“Exactly. And you who pretend to love him have so little heart, so little delicacy, that you care nothing for what he thinks a matter of honor. A pretty thing _your_ sense of honor must be!”

“Oh!” shrank Alice, and the woman, seeing her advantage, pursued it relentlessly. “Did you ever hear of a _debt_ of honor? How do you know that your lover doesn’t owe _me_ such a debt and isn’t paying it now down there?”

So biting were the words, so fierce the scorn, that Alice found herself wavering. After all, she knew nothing of what had happened, nor could she be sure of Lloyd’s wishes. He had certainly spoken of things in his life that he regretted. Could it be that he was bound in honor to save this woman _at any cost?_ As she stood irresolute, there came up from below the sound of steps on the stairs, ascending steps, nearer and nearer, then distinctly the clatter of Valentine’s wooden shoes, then another and a heavier tread. The sacristan was coming.

“Here is your chance,” taunted the lady; “give me up, denounce me, and then remember what Lloyd will remember _always_, that when a distressed and helpless sister woman came to you and trusted you, you showed her no pity, but deliberately wrecked her life.”

Half sorry, half triumphant, but without a word, Alice watched the torture of this former rival; and now the loud breathing of the sacristan was plainly heard on the stairs.

“Remember,” flung out the other in a final defiance that was also a final appeal, “remember that nothing brought me here but the sacredness of a love that is gone, a sacredness that _I_ respect and _he_ respects but that _you trample on_.”

As she said this Valentine emerged from the tower door followed wearily by Papa Bonneton, in full regalia, his mild face expressing all that it could of severity.

“What has happened?” he said sharply to Alice. Then, with a habit of deference, he lifted his three-cornered hat to the lady: “Madam will understand that it was difficult for me to leave my duties.”

Madam stood silent, ghastly white, hands clinched so hard that the gems cut into her flesh, eyes fixed on the girl in a last anguished supplication.

Then Alice said to the sacristan: “Madam wants to hear the sound of the great bell. She asked me to strike it with the hammer, but I told her that is forbidden during high mass. Madam offered ten francs–twenty francs–she is going away and is very anxious to hear the bell; she has read about its beautiful tone. When madam offered twenty francs, I thought it my duty to let you know.” All this with a self-possession that the daughters of Eve have acquired through centuries of practice.

“Twenty francs!” muttered the guileless Bonneton. “You were right, my child, perfectly right. That rule was made for ordinary visitors, but with madam it is different. I myself will strike the bell for madam.” And with all dispatch he entered the Southern tower, where the great bourdon hangs, whispering: “Twenty francs! It’s a miracle.”

No sooner was he gone than the lady caught the girl’s two hands in hers, and with her whole soul in her eyes she cried: “God bless you! God bless you!”

Alice tried to speak, but the words choked her, and, leaning over the balustrade, she looked yearningly toward the prison, her lips moving in silence: “Lloyd! Lloyd!” Then the great bell struck and she turned with a start, brushing away the tears that dimmed her eyes.

A moment later Papa Bonneton reappeared, scarcely believing that already he had earned his louis and insisting on telling madam various things about the bell–that it was presented by Louis XIV, and weighed over seventeen tons; that eight men were required to ring it, two poised at each corner of the rocking framework; that the note it sounded was _fa diese_–did madam understand that? _Do, re, mi, fa?_ And more of the sort until madam assured him that she was fully satisfied and would not keep him longer from his duties. Whereupon, with a torrent of thanks, the old man disappeared in the tower, looking unbelievingly at the gold piece in his hand.

“And now what?” asked Alice with feverish eagerness when they were alone again.

“Let me tell you, first, what you have saved me from,” said the lady, leaning weakly against the balustrade. A feeling of faintness had come over her in the reaction from her violent emotion.

“No, no,” replied the girl, “this is the time for action, not sentiment. You have promised to save _him_, now do it.”

“I will,” declared the other, and the light of a fine purpose gave a dignity to her rather selfish beauty. “Or, rather, we will save him together. First, I want you to take this money–you will take it now _for him?_ That’s right, put it in your dress. Ah,” she smiled as Alice obeyed her. “That is for a lawyer. He must have a good lawyer at once.”

“Yes, of course,” agreed Alice, “but how shall I get a lawyer?”

The lady frowned. “Ah, if I could only send you to my lawyer! But that would involve explanations. We need a man to advise us, some one who knows about these things.”

“I have it,” exclaimed Alice joyfully. “The very person!”

“Who is that?”

“M. Coquenil.”

“What?” The other stared. “You mean Paul Coquenil, the detective?”

“Yes,” said the girl confidently. “He would help us; I’m sure of it.”

“He is on the case already. Didn’t you know that? The papers are full of it.”

Alice shook her head. “That doesn’t matter, does it? He would tell us exactly what to do. I saw him in Notre-Dame only yesterday and–and he spoke to me so kindly. You know, M. Coquenil is a friend of Papa Bonneton’s; he lends him his dog Caesar to guard the church.”

“It seems like providence,” murmured the lady. “Yes, that is the thing to do, you must go to M. Coquenil at once. Tell the old sacristan I have sent you on an errand–for another twenty francs.”

Alice smiled faintly. “I can manage that. But what shall I say to M. Paul?”

“Speak to him about the lawyer and the money; I will send more if necessary. Tell him what has happened between us and then put yourself in his hands. Do whatever he thinks best. There is one thing I want M. Kittredge to be told–I wish you would write it down so as to make no mistake. Here is a pencil and here is a piece of paper.” With nervous haste she tore a page from a little memorandum book. “Now, then,” and she dictated the following statement which Alice took down carefully: “_Tell M. Kittredge that the lady who called for him in the carriage knows now that the person she thought guilty last night is NOT guilty. She knows this absolutely, so she will be able to appear and testify in favor of M. Kittredge if it becomes necessary. But she hopes it will not be necessary. She begs M. Kittredge to use this money for a good lawyer_.”

CHAPTER XII

BY SPECIAL ORDER

It was not until after vespers that Alice was able to leave Notre-Dame and start for the Villa Montmorency–in fact, it was nearly five when, with mingled feelings of confidence and shrinking, she opened the iron gate in the ivy-covered wall of Coquenil’s house and advanced down the neat walk between the double hedges to the solid gray mass of the villa, at once dignified and cheerful. Melanie came to the door and showed, by a jealous glance, that she did not approve of her master receiving visits from young and good-looking females.

“M. Paul is resting,” she grumbled; “he worked all last night and he’s worked this whole blessed day until half an hour ago.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s a matter of great importance,” urged the girl.

“Good, good,” snapped Melanie. “What name?”

“He wouldn’t know my name. Please say it’s the girl who sells candles in Notre-Dame.”

“Huh! I’ll tell him. Wait here,” and with scant courtesy the old servant left Alice standing in the blue-tiled hallway, near a long diamond-paned window. A moment later Melanie reappeared with mollified countenance. “M. Paul says will you please take a seat in here.” She opened the study door and pointed to one of the big red-leather chairs. “He’ll be down in a moment.”

Left alone, Alice glanced in surprise about this strange room. She saw a photograph of Caesar and his master on the wall and went nearer to look at it. Then she noticed the collection of plaster hands and was just bending over it when Coquenil entered, wearing a loosely cut house garment of pale yellow with dark-green braid around the jacket and down the legs of the trousers. He looked pale, almost haggard, but his face lighted in welcome as he came forward.

[Illustration: “She was just bending over it when Coquenil entered.”]

“Glad to see you,” he said.

She had not heard his step and turned with a start of surprise.

“I–I beg your pardon,” she murmured in embarrassment.

“Are you interested in my plaster casts?” he asked pleasantly.

“I was looking at this hand,” replied the girl. “I have seen one like it.”

Coquenil shook his head good-naturedly. “That is very improbable.”

Alice looked closer. “Oh, but I have,” she insisted.

“You mean in a museum?”

“No, no, in life–I am positive I have.”

M. Paul listened with increasing interest. “You have seen a hand with a little finger as long as this one?”

“Yes; it’s as long as the third finger and square at the end. I’ve often noticed it.”

“Then you have seen something very uncommon, mademoiselle, something _I_ have never seen. That is the most remarkable hand in my collection; it is the hand of a man who lived nearly two hundred years ago. He was one of the greatest criminals the world has ever known.”

“Really?” cried Alice, her eyes wide with sudden fright. “I–I must have been mistaken.”

But now the detective’s curiosity was aroused. “Would you mind telling me the name of the person–of course it’s a man–who has this hand?”

“Yes,” said Alice, “it’s a man, but I should not like to give his name after what you have told me.”

“He is a good man?”

“Oh, yes.”

“A kind man?”

“Yes.”

“A man that you like?”

“Why–er–why, yes, I like him,” she replied, but the detective noticed a strange, anxious look in her eyes. And immediately he changed the subject.

“You’ll have a cup of tea with me, won’t you? I’ve asked Melanie to bring it in. Then we can talk comfortably. By the way, you haven’t told me your name.”

“My name is Alice Groener,” she answered simply.

“Groener,” he reflected. “That isn’t a French name?”

“No, my family lived in Belgium, but I have only a cousin left. He is a wood carver, in Brussels. He has been very kind to me and would pay my board with the Bonnetons, but I don’t want to be a burden, so I work at the church.”

“I see,” he said approvingly.

The girl was seated in the full light, and as they talked, Coquenil observed her attentively, noting the pleasant tones of her voice and the charming lights in her eyes, studying her with a personal as well as a professional interest; for was not this the young woman who had so suddenly and so unaccountably influenced his life? Who was she, what was she, this dreaming candle seller? In spite of her shyness and modest ways, she was brave and strong of will, that was evident, and, plain dress or not, she looked the aristocrat every inch of her. Where did she get that unconscious air of quiet poise, that trick of the lifted chin? And how did she learn to use her hands like a great lady?

“Would you mind telling me something, mademoiselle?” he said suddenly.

Alice looked at him in surprise, and again he remarked, as he had at Notre-Dame, the singular beauty of her wondering dark eyes.

“What is it?”

“Have you any idea how you happened to dream that dream about me?”

The girl shrank away trembling. “No one can explain dreams, can they?” she asked anxiously, and it seemed to him that her emotion was out of all proportion to its cause.

“I suppose not,” he answered kindly. “I thought you might have some–er–some fancy about it. If you ever should have, you would tell me, wouldn’t you?”

“Ye-es.” She hesitated, and for a moment he thought she was going to say something more, but she checked the impulse, if it was there, and Coquenil did not press his demand.

“There’s one other thing,” he went on reassuringly. “I’m asking this in the interest of M. Kittredge. Tell me if you know anything about this crime of which he is accused?”

“Why, no,” she replied with evident sincerity. “I haven’t even read the papers.”

“But you know who was murdered?”

Alice shook her head blankly. “How could I? No one has told me.”

“It was a man named Martinez.”

She started at the word. “What? The billiard player?” she cried.

He nodded. “Did you know him?”

“Oh, yes, very well.”

Now it was Coquenil’s turn to feel surprise, for he had asked the question almost aimlessly.

“You knew Martinez very well?” he repeated, scarcely believing his ears.

“I often saw him,” she explained, “at the cafe where we went evenings.”

“Who were ‘we’?”

“Why, Papa Bonneton would take me, or my cousin, M. Groener, or M. Kittredge.”

“Then M. Kittredge knew Martinez?”

“Of course. He used to go sometimes to see him play billiards.” She said all this quite simply.

“Were Kittredge and Martinez good friends?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Never had any words? Any quarrel?”

“Why–er–no,” she replied in some confusion.

“I don’t want to distress you, mademoiselle,” said Coquenil gravely, “but aren’t you keeping something back?”

“No, no,” she insisted. “I just thought of–of a little thing that made me unhappy, but it has nothing to do with this case. You believe me, don’t you?”

She spoke with pleading earnestness, and again M. Paul followed an intuition that told him he might get everything from this girl by going slowly and gently, whereas, by trying to force her confidence, he would get nothing.

“Of course I believe you,” he smiled. “Now I’m going to give you some of this tea; I’m afraid it’s getting cold.”

And he proceeded to do the honors in so friendly a way that Alice was presently quite at her ease again.

“Now,” he resumed, “we’ll settle down comfortably and you can tell me what brought you here, tell me all about it. You won’t mind if I smoke a cigarette? Be sure to tell me _everything_–there is plenty of time.”

So Alice began and told him about the mysterious lady and their agitated visit to the tower, omitting nothing, while M. Paul listened with startled interest, nodding and frowning and asking frequent questions.

“This is very important,” he said gravely when she had finished. “What a pity you couldn’t get her name!” He shut his fingers hard on his chair arm, reflecting that for the second time this woman had escaped him.

“Did I do wrong?” asked Alice in confusion.

“I suppose not. I understand your feelings, but–would you know her again?” he questioned.

“Oh, yes, anywhere,” answered Alice confidently.

“How old is she?”

A mischievous light shone in the girl’s eyes. “I will say thirty–that is absolutely fair.”

“You think she may be older?”

“I’m sure she isn’t younger.”

“Is she pretty?”

“Oh, yes, very pretty, very animated and–_chic_.”

“Would you call her a lady?”

“Why–er–yes.”

“Aren’t you sure?”

“It isn’t that, but American ladies are–different.”

“Why do you think she is an American?” he asked.

“I’m sure she is. I can always tell American ladies; they wear more colors than French ladies, more embroideries, more things on their hats; I’ve often noticed it in church. I even know them by their shiny finger nails and their shrill voices.”

“Does she speak with an accent?”

“She speaks fluently, like a foreigner who has lived a long time in Paris, but she has a slight accent.”

“Ah! Now give me her message again. Are you sure you remember it exactly?”

“Quite sure. Besides, she made me write it down so as not to miss a word. Here it is,” and, producing the torn page, she read: “_Tell M. Kittredge that the lady who called for him in the carriage knows now that the person she thought guilty last night is NOT guilty. She knows this absolutely, so she will be able to appear and testify in favor of M. Kittredge if it becomes necessary. But she hopes it will not be necessary. She begs M. Kittredge to use this money for a good lawyer_.”

“She didn’t say who this person is that she thought guilty last night?”

“No.”

“Did she say _why_ she thought him guilty or what changed her mind? Did she drop any hint? Try to remember.”

Alice shook her head. “No, she said nothing about that.”

Coquenil rose and walked back and forth across the study, hands deep in his pockets, head forward, eyes on the floor, back and forth several times without a word. Then he stopped before Alice, eying her intently as if making up his mind about something.

“I’m going to trust you, mademoiselle, with an important mission. You’re only a girl, but–you’ve been thrown into this tragic affair, and–you’ll be glad to help your lover, won’t you?”

“Oh, yes,” she answered eagerly.

“You may as well know that we are facing a situation not altogether–er–encouraging. I believe M. Kittredge is innocent and I hope to prove it, but others think differently and they have serious things against him.”

“What things?” she demanded, her cheeks paling.

“No matter now.”

“There can be _nothing_ against him,” declared the girl, “he is the soul of honor.”

“I hope so,” answered the detective dryly, “but he is also in prison, and unless we do something he is apt to stay there.”

“What can we do?” murmured Alice, twining her fingers piteously.

“We must get at the truth, we must find this woman who came to see you. The quickest way to do that is through Kittredge himself. He knows all about her, if we can make him speak. So far he has refused to say a word, but there is one person who ought to unseal his lips–that is the girl he loves.”

“Oh, yes,” exclaimed Alice, her face lighting with new hope, “I think I could, I am sure I could, only–will they let me see him?”

“That is the point. It is against the prison rule for a person _au secret_ to see anyone except his lawyer, but I know the director of the Sante and I think—-“

“You mean the director of the depot?”

“No, for M. Kittredge was transferred from the depot this morning. You know the depot is only a temporary receiving station, but the Sante is one of the regular French prisons. It’s there they send men charged with murder.”

Alice shivered at the word. “Yes,” she murmured, “and–what were you saying?”

“I say that I know the director of the Sante and I think, if I send you to him with a strong note, he will make an exception–I think so.”

“Splendid!” she cried joyfully. “And when shall I present the note?”

“To-day, at once; there isn’t an hour to lose. I will write it now.”

Coquenil sat down at his massive Louis XV table with its fine bronzes and quickly addressed an urgent appeal to M. Dedet, director of the Sante, asking him to grant the bearer a request that she would make in person, and assuring him that, by so doing, he would confer upon Paul Coquenil a deeply appreciated favor. Alice watched him with a sense of awe, and she thought uneasily of her dream about the face in the angry sun and the land of the black people.

“There,” he said, handing her the note. “Now listen. You are to find out certain things from your lover. I can’t tell you _how_ to find them out, that is your affair, but you must do it.”

“I will,” declared Alice.

“You must find them out even if he doesn’t wish to tell you. His safety and your happiness may depend on it.”

“I understand.”

“One thing is this woman’s name and address.”

“Yes,” replied Alice, and then her face clouded. “But if it isn’t honorable for him to tell her name?”

“You must make him see that it _is_ honorable. The lady herself says she is ready to testify if necessary. At first she was afraid of implicating some person she thought guilty, but now she knows that person is not guilty. Besides, you can say that we shall certainly know all about this woman in a few days whether he tells us or not, so he may as well save us valuable time. Better write that down–here is a pad.”

“Save us valuable time,” repeated Alice, pencil in hand.

“Then I want to know about the lady’s husband. Is he dark or fair? Tall or short? Does Kittredge know him? Has he ever had words with him or any trouble? Got that?”

“Yes,” replied Alice, writing busily.

“Then–do you know whether M. Kittredge plays tennis?”

Alice looked up in surprise. “Why, yes, he does. I remember hearing him say he likes it better than golf.”

“Ah! Then ask him–see here. I’ll show you,” and going to a corner between the bookcase and the wall, M. Paul picked out a tennis racket among a number of canes. “Now, then,” he continued while she watched him with perplexity, “I hold my racket _so_ in my right hand, and if a ball comes on my left, I return it with a back-hand stroke _so_, using my right hand; but there are players who shift the racket to the left hand and return the ball _so_, do you see?”

“I see.”

“Now I want to know if M. Kittredge uses both hands in playing tennis or only the one hand. And I want to know _which_ hand he uses chiefly, that is, the right or the left?”

“Why do you want to know that?” inquired Alice, with a woman’s curiosity.

“Never mind why, just remember it’s important. Another thing is, to ask M. Kittredge about a chest of drawers in his room at the Hotel des Etrangers. It is a piece of old oak, rather worm-eaten, but it has good bronzes for the drawer handles, two dogs fighting on either side of the lock plates.”

Alice listened in astonishment. “I didn’t suppose you knew where M. Kittredge lived.”

“Nor did I until this morning,” he smiled. “Since then I–well, as my friend Gibelin says, I haven’t wasted my time.”

“Your friend Gibelin?” repeated Alice, not understanding.

Coquenil smiled grimly. “He is an amiable person for whom I am preparing a–a little surprise.”

“Oh! And what about the chest of drawers?”

“It’s about one particular drawer, the small upper one on the right-hand side–better write that down.”

“The small upper drawer on the right-hand side,” repeated Alice.

“I find that M. Kittredge _always_ kept this drawer locked. He seems to be a methodical person, and I want to know if he remembers opening it a few days ago and finding, it unlocked. Have you got that?”

“Yes.”

“Good! Oh, one thing more. Find out if M. Kittredge ever suffers from rheumatism or gout.”

The girl smiled. “Of course he doesn’t; he is only twenty-eight.”

“Please do not take this lightly, mademoiselle,” the detective chided gently. “It is perhaps the most important point of all–his release from prison may depend on it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m not taking it lightly, indeed I’m not,” and, with tears in her eyes, Alice assured M. Paul that she fully realized the importance of this mission and would spare no effort to make it successful.

A few moments later she hurried away, buoyed up by the thought that she was not only to see her lover but to serve him.

It was after six when Alice left the circular railway at the Montrouge station. She was in a remote and unfamiliar part of Paris, the region of the catacombs and the Gobelin tapestry works, and, although M. Paul had given her precise instructions, she wandered about for some time among streets of hospitals and convents until at last she came to an open place where she recognized Bartholdi’s famous Belfort lion. Then she knew her way, and hurrying along the Boulevard Arago, she came presently to the gloomy mass of the Sante prison, which, with its diverging wings and galleries, spreads out like a great gray spider in the triangular space between the Rue Humboldt, the Rue de la Sante and the Boulevard Arago.

A kind-faced policeman pointed out a massive stone archway where she must enter, and passing here, beside a stolid soldier in his sentry box, she came presently to a black iron door in front of which were waiting two yellow-and-black prison vans, windowless. In this prison door were four glass-covered observation holes, and through these Alice saw a guard within, who, as she lifted the black iron knocker, drew forth a long brass key and turned the bolt. The door swung back, and with a shiver of repulsion the girl stepped inside. This was the prison, these men standing about were the jailers and–what did that matter so long as she got to _him_, to her dear Lloyd. There was _nothing_ she would not face or endure for his sake.

No sooner had the guard heard that she came with a note from M. Paul Coquenil (that was a name to conjure with) than he showed her politely to a small waiting room, assuring her that the note would be given at once to the director of the prison. And a few moments later another door opened and a hard-faced, low-browed man of heavy build bowed to her with a crooked, sinister smile and motioned her into his private office. It was M. Dedet, the chief jailer.

“Always at the service of Paul Coquenil,” he began. “What can I do for you, mademoiselle?”

Then, summoning her courage, and trying her best to make a good impression, Alice told him her errand. She wanted to speak with the American, M. Kittredge, who had been sent here the night before–she wanted to speak with him alone.

The jailer snapped his teeth and narrowed his brows in a hard stare. “Did Paul Coquenil send you here for _that?_” he questioned.

“Yes, sir,” answered the girl, and her heart began to sink. “You see, it’s a very special case and—-“

“Special case,” laughed the other harshly; “I should say so–it’s a case of murder.”

“But he is innocent, perfectly innocent,” pleaded Alice.

“Of course, but if I let every murderer who says he’s innocent see his sweetheart–well, this would be a fine prison. No, no, little one,” he went on with offensive familiarity, “I am sorry to disappoint you and I hate to refuse M. Paul, but it can’t be done. This man is _au secret_, which means that he must not see _anyone_ except his lawyer. You know they assign a lawyer to a prisoner who has no money to employ one.”

“But he _has_ money, at least I have some for him. Please let me see him, for a few minutes.” Her eyes filled with tears and she reached out her hands appealingly. “If you only knew the circumstances, if I could only make you understand.”

“Haven’t time to listen,” he said impatiently, “there’s no use whining. I can’t do it and that’s the end of it. If I let you talk with this man and the thing were known, I might lost my position.” He rose abruptly as if to dismiss her.

Alice did not move. She had been sitting by a table on which a large sheet of pink blotting paper was spread before writing materials. And as she listened to the director’s rough words, she took up a pencil and twisted it nervously in her fingers. Then, with increasing agitation, as she realized that her effort for Lloyd had failed, she began, without thinking, to make little marks on the blotter, and then a written scrawl–all with a singular fixed look in her eyes.

“You’ll have to excuse me,” said the jailer gruffly, seeing that she did not take his hint.

Alice started to her feet. “I–I beg your pardon,” she said weakly, and, staggering, she tried to reach the door. Her distress was so evident that even this calloused man felt a thrill of pity and stepped forward to assist her. And, as he passed the table, his eye fell on the blotting paper.

“Why, what is this?” he exclaimed, eying her sharply.

“Oh, excuse me, sir,” begged Alice, “I have spoiled your nice blotter. I am _so_ sorry.”

“Never mind the blotter, but–” He bent closer over the scrawled words, and then with a troubled look: “_Did you write this?_”

“Why–er–why–yes, sir, I’m afraid I did,” she stammered.

“Don’t you _know_ you did?” he demanded.

“I–I wasn’t thinking,” she pleaded in fright.

[Illustration: “‘Did you write this?'”]

He stared at her for a moment, then he went to his desk, picked up a printed form, filled it out quickly and handed it to her.

“There,” he said, and his voice was almost gentle, “I guess I don’t quite understand about this thing.”

Alice looked at the paper blankly. “But–what is it?” she asked.

The jailer closed one eye very slowly with a wise nod. “It’s what you asked for, a permit to see this American prisoner, _by special order_.”

CHAPTER XIII

LLOYD AND ALICE

Kittredge was fortunate in having a sense of humor, it helped him through the horrors of his first night at the depot, which he passed with the scum of Paris streets, thieves, beggars, vagrants, the miserable crop of Saturday-night police takings, all herded into one foul room on filthy bunks so close together that a turn either way brought a man into direct contact with his neighbor.

Lloyd lay between an old pickpocket and a drunkard. He did not sleep, but passed the hours thinking. And when he could think no longer, he listened to the pickpocket who was also wakeful, and who told wonderful yarns of his conquests among the fair sex in the time of the Commune, when he was a strapping artilleryman.

“You’re a pretty poor pickpocket, old chap,” reflected Kittredge, “but you’re an awful good liar!”

In spite of little sleep, he was serene and good-natured when they took him, handcuffed, before Judge Hauteville the next morning for his preliminary examination–a mere formality to establish the prisoner’s identity. Kittredge gave the desired facts about himself with perfect willingness; his age, nationality, occupation, and present address. He realized that there was no use hiding these. When asked if he had money to employ a lawyer, he said “no”; and when told that the court would assign Maitre Pleindeaux for his defense, he thanked the judge and went off smiling at the thought that his interests were now in the hands of Mr. Full-of-Water. “I’ll ask him to have a drink,” chuckled Kittredge.

And he submitted uncomplainingly when they took him to the Bertillon measuring department and stood him up against the wall, bare as a babe, arms extended, and noted down his dimensions one by one, every limb and feature being precisely described in length and breadth, every physical peculiarity recorded, down to the impression of his thumb lines and the precise location of a small mole on his left arm.

All this happened Sunday morning, and in the afternoon other experiences awaited him–his first ride in a prison van, known as a _panier a salade_, and his initiation into real prison life at the Sante. The cell he took calmly, as well as the prison dress and food and the hard bed, for he had known rough camping in the Maine woods and was used to plain fare, but he winced a little at the regulation once a week prison shave, and the regulation bath once a month! And what disturbed him chiefly was the thought that now he would have absolutely nothing to do but sit in his cell and wait wearily for the hours to pass. Prisoners under sentence may be put to work, but one _au secret_ is shut up not only from the rest of the world, but even from his fellow-prisoners. He is utterly alone.

“Can’t I have a pack of cards?” asked Lloyd with a happy inspiration.

“Against the rule,” said the guard.

“But I know some games of solitaire. I never could see what they were invented for until now. Let me have part of a pack, just enough to play old-maid solitaire. Ever heard of that?”

The guard shook his head.

“Not even a part of a pack? You won’t even let me play old-maid solitaire?” And with the merry, cheery grin that had won him favor everywhere from wildest Bohemia to primest Presbyterian tea parties, Lloyd added: “That’s a hell of a way to treat a murderer!”

The Sunday morning service was just ending when Kittredge reached the prison, and he got his first impressions of the place as he listened to resounding Gregorian tones chanted, or rather shouted, by tiers on tiers of prisoners, each joining in the unison with full lung power through cell doors chained ajar. The making of this rough music was one of the pleasures of the week, and at once the newcomer’s heart was gripped by the indescribable sadness of it.

[Illustration: “And when he could think no longer, he listened to the pickpocket.”]

Having gone through the formalities of arrival and been instructed as to various detail of prison routine, Lloyd settled down as comfortably as might be in his cell to pass the afternoon over “The Last of the Mohicans.” He chose this because the librarian assured him that no books were as popular among French convicts as the translated works of Fenimore Cooper. “Good old Stars and Stripes!” murmured Kittredge, but he stared at the same page for a long time before he began to read. And once he brushed a quick hand across his eyes.

Scarcely had Lloyd finished a single chapter when one of the guards appeared with as much of surprise on his stolid countenance as an overworked under jailer can show; for an unprecedented thing had happened–a prisoner _au secret_ was to receive a visitor, a young woman, at that, and, _sapristi_, a good-looking one, who came with a special order from the director of the prison. Moreover, he was to see her in the private parlor, with not even the customary barrier of iron bars to separate them. They were to be left together for half an hour, the guard standing at the open door with instructions not to interfere except for serious reasons. In the memory of the oldest inhabitant such a thing had not been known!

Kittredge, however, was not surprised, first, because nothing could surprise him, and, also, because he had no idea what an extraordinary exception had been made in his favor. So he walked before the guard indifferently enough toward the door indicated, but when he crossed the threshold he started back with a cry of amazement.

“Alice!” he gasped, and his face lighted with transfiguring joy. It was a bare room with bare floors and bare yellow painted walls, the only furnishings being two cane chairs and a cheap table, but to Kittredge it was a marvelous and radiantly happy place, for Alice was there; he stared at her almost unbelieving, but it was true–by some kind miracle Alice, his Alice, was there!

Then, without any prelude, without so much as asking for an explanation or giving her time to make one, Lloyd sprang forward and caught the trembling girl in his arms and drew her close to him with tender words, while the guard muttered: “_Nom d’un chien! Il ne perd pas de temps, celui-la!_”

This was not at all the meeting that Alice had planned, but as she felt her lover’s arms about her and his warm breath on her face, she forgot the message that she brought and the questions she was to ask, she forgot his danger and her own responsibility, she forgot everything but this one blessed fact of their great love, his and hers, the love that had drawn them together and was holding them together now here, together, close together, she and her Lloyd.

“You darling,” he whispered, “you brave, beautiful darling! I love you! I love you!” And he would have said it still again had not his lips been closed by her warm, red lips. So they stood silent, she limp in his arms, gasping, thrilling, weeping and laughing, he feasting insatiable on her lips, on the fragrance of her hair, on the lithe roundness of her body.

“_Voyons, voyons!_” warned the guard. “_Soyons serieux!_”

“He is right,” murmured Alice, “we must be serious. Lloyd, let me go,” and with an effort she freed herself. “I can only stay here half an hour, and I don’t know how much of it we have wasted already.” She tried to look at him reproachfully, but her eyes were swimming with tenderness.

“It wasn’t wasted, dear,” he answered fondly. “To have held you in my arms like that will give me courage for whatever is to come.”

“But, Lloyd,” she reasoned, “nothing bad will come if you do what I say. I am here to help you, to get you out of this dreadful place.”

“You little angel!” he smiled. “How are you going to do it?”

“I’ll tell you in a moment,” she said, “but, first, you must answer some questions. Never mind why I ask them, just answer. You will, won’t you, Lloyd? You trust me?”

“Of course I trust you, sweetheart, and I’ll answer anything that I–that I can.”

“Good. I’ll begin with the easiest question,” she said, consulting her list. “Sit down here–that’s right. Now, then, have you ever had gout or rheumatism? Don’t laugh–it’s important.”

“Never,” he answered, and she wrote it down.

“Do you play tennis with your right hand or your left hand?”

“Oh, see here,” he protested, “what’s the use of—-“

“No, no,” she insisted, “you must tell me. Please, the right hand or the left?”

“I use both hands,” he answered, and she wrote it down.

“Now,” she continued, “you have a chest of drawers in your room with two brass dogs fighting about the lock plates?”

Kittredge stared at her. “How the devil did you know that?”

“Never mind. You usually keep the right-hand upper drawer locked, don’t you?”

“That’s true.”

“Do you remember going to this drawer any time lately and finding it unlocked?”

He thought a moment. “No, I don’t.”

Alice hesitated, and then, with a flush of embarrassment, she went on bravely: “Now, Lloyd, I come to the hardest part. You must help me and–and not think that I am hurt or–or jealous.”

“Well?”

“It’s about the lady who–who called for you. This is all her fault, so–so naturally she wants to help you.”

“How do you know she does?” he asked quickly.

“Because I have seen her.”

“What?”

“Yes, and, Lloyd, she is sorry for the harm she has done and—-“

“You have seen her?” he cried, half dazed. “How? Where?”

Then, in as few words as possible, Alice told of her talk with the lady at the church. “And I have this message for you from her and–and _this_.” She handed him the note and the folded bank notes.

Lloyd’s face clouded. “She sent me money?” he said in a changed voice, and his lips grew white.

“Read the note,” she begged, and he did so, frowning.

“No, no,” he declared, “it’s quite impossible. I cannot take it,” and he handed the money back. “You wouldn’t have me take it?”

He looked at her gravely, and she thrilled with pride in him.

“But the lawyer?” she protested weakly. “And your safety?”

“Would you want me to owe my safety to _her?_”

“Oh, no,” she murmured.

“Besides, they have given me a lawyer. I dare say he is a good one, Mr. Full-of-Water.” He tried to speak lightly.

“Then–then what shall I do with these?” She looked at the bank notes in perplexity.

“Return them.”

“Ah, yes,” she agreed, snatching at a new idea. “I will return them, I will say that you thank her, that _we_ thank her, Lloyd, but we cannot accept the money. Is that right?”

“Exactly.”

“I will go to her apartment in the morning. Let me see, it’s on the Avenue–Where did I put her address?” and she went through the form of searching in her pocketbook.

“The Avenue Kleber,” he supplied, unsuspecting.

“Of course, the Avenue Kleber. Where _is_ that card? I’ve forgotten the number, too. Do you remember it, dear?”

Poor child, she tried so hard to speak naturally, but her emotion betrayed her. Indeed, it seemed to Alice, in that moment of suspense, that her lover must hear the loud beating of her heart.

“Ah, I see,” he cried, eying her steadily, “she did not give you her address and you are trying to get it from me. Do you even know her name?”

“No,” confessed Alice shamefacedly. “Forgive me, I–I wanted to help you.”

“By making me do a dishonorable thing?”

“Don’t look at me like that. I wouldn’t have you do a dishonorable thing; but—-“

“Who told you to ask me these questions?”

“M. Coquenil.”

“What, the detective?”

“Yes. He believes you innocent, Lloyd, and he’s going to prove it.”

“I hope he does, but–tell him to leave this woman alone.”

“Oh, he won’t do that; he says he will find out who she is in a few days, anyway. That’s why I thought—-“

“I understand,” he said comfortingly, “and the Lord knows I want to get out of this hole, but–we’ve got to play fair, eh? Now let’s drop all that and–do you want to make me the happiest man in the world? I’m the happiest man in Paris already, even here, but if you will tell me one thing–why–er–this prison won’t cut any ice at all.”

“What do you want me to tell you?” she asked uneasily.

“You little darling!” he said tenderly. “You needn’t tell me anything if it’s going to make you feel badly, but, you see, I’ve got some lonely hours to get through here and–well, I think of you most of the time and–” He took her hand fondly in his.

“Dear, dear Lloyd!” she murmured.

“And I’ve sort of got it in my head that–do you want to know?”

“Yes, I want to know,” she said anxiously.

“I believe there’s some confounded mystery about you, and, if you don’t mind, why–er—-“

Alice started to her feet, and Lloyd noticed, as she faced him, that the pupils of her eyes widened and then grew small as if from fright or violent emotion.

“Why do you say that? What makes you think there is a mystery about me?” she demanded, trying vainly to hide her agitation.

“Now don’t get upset–please don’t!” soothed Kittredge. “If there isn’t anything, just say so, and if there is, what’s the matter with telling a chap who loves you and worships you and whose love wouldn’t change for fifty mysteries–what’s the matter with telling him all about it?”

“Are you sure your love wouldn’t change?” she asked, still trembling.

“Did _yours_ change when they told you things about me? Did it change when they arrested me and put me in prison? Yes, by Jove, it _did_ change, it grew stronger, and that’s the way mine would change, that’s the only way.”

He spoke so earnestly and with such a thrill of fondness that Alice was reassured, and giving him her hand with a happy little gesture, she said: “I know, dear. You see, I love you so much that–if anything should come between us, why–it would just kill me.”

“Nothing will come between us,” he said simply, and then after a pause: “So there _is_ a mystery.”

“I’m–I’m afraid so.”

“Ah, I knew it. I figured it out from a lot of little things. That’s all I’ve had to do here, and–for instance, I said to myself: ‘How the devil does she happen to speak English without any accent?’ You can’t tell me that the cousin of a poor wood carver in Belgium would know English as you do. It’s part of the mystery, eh?”

“Why–er,” she stammered, “I have always known English.”

“Exactly, but how? And I suppose you’ve always known how to do those corking fine embroideries that the priests are so stuck on? But how did you learn? And how does it come that you look like a dead swell? And where did you get those hands like a saint in a stained-glass window? And that hair? I’ll bet you anything you like you’re a princess in disguise.”

“I’m _your_ princess, dear,” she smiled.

“Now for the mystery,” he persisted. “Go on, what is it?”

At this her lovely face clouded and her eyes grew sad. “It’s not the kind of mystery you think, Lloyd; I–I can’t tell you about it very well–because–” She hesitated.

“Don’t you worry, little sweetheart. I don’t care what it is, I don’t care if you’re the daughter of a Zulu chief.” Then, seeing her distress, he said tenderly: “Is it something you don’t understand?”

“That’s it,” she answered in a low voice, “it’s something I don’t understand.”

“Ah! Something about yourself?”

“Ye-es.”

“Does anyone else know it?”

“No, no one _could_ know it, I–I’ve been afraid to speak of it.”

“Afraid?”

She nodded, and again he noticed that the pupils of her eyes were widening and contracting.

“And that is why you said you wouldn’t marry me?”

“Yes, that is why.”

He stopped in perplexity. He saw that, in spite of her bravest efforts, the girl was almost fainting under the strain of these questions.

“You dear, darling child,” said Lloyd, as a wave of pity took him, “I’m a brute to make you talk about this.”

But Alice answered anxiously: “You understand it’s nothing I have done that is wrong, nothing I’m ashamed of?”

“Of course,” he assured her. “Let’s drop it. We’ll never speak of it again.”

“I want to speak of it. It’s something strange in my thoughts, dear, or–or my soul,” she went on timidly, “something that’s–different and that–frightens me–especially at night.”

“What do you expect?” he answered in a matter-of-fact tone, “when you spend all your time in a cold, black church full of bones and ghosts? Wait till I get you away from there, wait till we’re over in God’s country, living in a nice little house out in Orange, N. J., and I’m commuting every day.”

“What’s commuting, Lloyd?”

“You’ll find out–you’ll like it, except the tunnel. And you’ll be so happy you’ll never think about your soul–no, sir, and you won’t be afraid nights, either! Oh, you beauty, you little beauty!” he burst out, and was about to take her in his arms again when the guard came forward to warn them that the time was nearly up, they had three minutes more.

“All right,” nodded Lloyd, and as he turned to Alice, she saw tears in his eyes. “It’s tough, but never mind. You’ve made a man of me, little one, and I’ll prove it. I used to have a sort of religion and then I lost it, and now I’ve got it again, a new religion and a new creed. It’s short and easy to say, but it’s all I need, and it’s going to keep me game through this whole rotten business. Want to hear my creed? You know it already, darling, for you taught it to me. Here it is: ‘I believe in Alice’; that’s all, that’s enough. Let me kiss you.”

“Lloyd,” she whispered as he bent toward her, “can’t you trust me with that woman’s name?”

He drew back and looked at her half reproachfully and her cheeks flushed. She would not have him think that she could bargain for her lips, and throwing her arms about him, she murmured: “Kiss me, kiss me as much as you like. I am yours, yours.”

Then there was a long, delicious, agonizing moment of passion and pain until the guard’s gruff voice came between them.

“One moment,” Kittredge said, and then to the clinging girl: “Why do you ask that woman’s name when you know it already?”

Wide-eyed, she faced him and shook her head. “I don’t know her name, I don’t want to know it.”

“You don’t know her name?” he repeated, and even in the tumult of their last farewell her frank and honest denial lingered in his mind.

She did not know the woman’s name! Back in his lonely cell Kittredge pondered this, and reaching for his little volume of De Musset, his treasured pocket companion that the jailer had let him keep, he opened it at the fly leaves. _She did not know this woman’s name!_ And, wonderingly, he read on the white page the words and the name written by Alice herself, scrawlingly but distinctly, the day before in the garden of Notre-Dame.

CHAPTER XIV

THE WOMAN IN THE CASE

Coquenil was neither surprised nor disappointed at the meager results of Alice’s visit to the prison. This was merely one move in the game, and it had not been entirely vain, since he had learned that Kittredge _might_ have used his left hand in firing a pistol and that he did not suffer with gout or rheumatism. This last point was of extreme importance.

And the detective was speedily put in excellent humor by news awaiting him at the Palais de Justice Monday morning that the man sent to London to trace the burned photograph and the five-pound notes had already met with success and had telegraphed that the notes in question had been issued to Addison Wilmott, whose bankers were Munroe and Co., Rue Scribe.

Quick inquiries revealed the fact that Addison Wilmott was a well-known New Yorker, living in Paris, a man of leisure who was enjoying to the full a large inherited fortune. He and his dashing wife lived in a private _hotel_ on the Avenue Kleber, where they led a gay existence in the smartest and most spectacular circle of the American Colony. They gave brilliant dinners, they had several automobiles, they did all the foolish and extravagant things that the others did and a few more.

He was dull, good-natured, and a little fat; she was a beautiful woman with extraordinary charm and a lithe, girlish figure of which she took infinite care; he was supposed to kick up his heels in a quiet way while she did the thing brilliantly and kept the wheels of American Colony gossip (busy enough, anyway) turning and spinning until they groaned in utter weariness.

What was there that Pussy Wilmott had not done or would not do if the impulse seized her? This was a matter of tireless speculation in the ultra-chic salons through which this fascinating lady flitted, envied and censured. She was known to be the daughter of a California millionaire who had left her a fortune, of which the last shred was long ago dispersed. Before marrying Wilmott she had divorced two husbands, had traveled all over the world, had hunted tigers in India and canoed the breakers, native style, in Hawaii; she had lived like a cowboy on the Texas plains, where, it was said, she had worn men’s clothes; she could swim and shoot and swear and love; she was altogether selfish, altogether delightful, altogether impossible; in short, she was a law unto herself, and her brilliant personality so far overshadowed Addison that, although he had the money and most of the right in their frequent quarrels, no one ever spoke of him except as “Pussy Wilmott’s husband.”

In spite of her willfulness and caprices Mrs. Wilmott was full of generous impulses and loyal to her friends. She was certainly not a snob, as witness the fact that she had openly snubbed a certain grand duke, not for his immoralities, which she declared afterwards were nobody’s business, but because of his insufferable stupidity. She rather liked a sinner, but she couldn’t stand a fool!

Such was the information M. Paul had been able to gather from swift and special police sources when he presented himself at the Wilmott _hotel_, about luncheon time on Monday. Addison was just starting with some friends for a run down to Fontainebleau in his new Panhard, and he listened impatiently to Coquenil’s explanation that he had come in regard to some English bank notes recently paid to Mr. Wilmott, and possibly clever forgeries.

“Really!” exclaimed Addison.

Coquenil hoped that Mr. Wilmott would give him the notes in question in exchange for genuine ones. This would help the investigation.

“Of course, my dear sir,” said the American, “but I haven’t the notes, they were spent long ago.”

Coquenil was sorry to hear this–he wondered if Mr. Wilmott could remember where the notes were spent. After an intellectual effort Addison remembered that he had changed one into French money at Henry’s and had paid two or three to a shirt maker on the Rue de la Paix, and the rest–he reflected again, and then said positively: “Why, yes, I gave five or six of them, I think there were six, I’m sure there were, because–” He stopped with a new idea.

“You remember whom you paid them to?” questioned the detective.

“I didn’t pay them to anyone,” replied Wilmott, “I gave them to my wife.”

“Ah!” said Coquenil, and presently he took his departure with polite assurances, whereupon the unsuspecting Addison tooted away complacently for Fontainebleau.

It was now about two o’clock, and the next three hours M. Paul spent with his sources of information studying the career of Pussy Wilmott from special points of view in preparation for a call upon the lady, which he proposed to make later in the afternoon.

He discovered two significant things: first, that, whatever her actual conduct, Mrs. Wilmott had never openly compromised herself. Love affairs she might have had, but no one could say when or where or with whom she had had them; and if, as seemed likely, she was the woman in this Ansonia case, then she had kept her relations with Kittredge in profoundest secrecy.

As offsetting this, however, Coquenil secured information that connected Mrs. Wilmott directly with Martinez. It appeared that, among her other excitements, Pussy was passionately fond of gambling. She was known to have won and lost large sums at Monte Carlo, and she was a regular follower of the fashionable races in Paris. She had also been seen at the Olympia billiard academy, near the Grand Hotel, where Martinez and other experts played regularly before eager audiences, among whom betting on the games was the great attraction. The detective found two bet markers who remembered distinctly that, on several occasions, a handsome woman, answering to the description of Mrs. Wilmott, had wagered five or ten louis on Martinez and had shown a decided admiration for his remarkable skill with the cue.

“He used to talk about this lady,” said one of the markers; “he called her his ‘belle Americaine,’ but I am sure he did not know her real name.” The man smiled at Martinez’s inordinate vanity over his supposed fascination for women–he was convinced that no member of the fair sex could resist his advances.

With so much in mind Coquenil started up the Champs Elysees about five o’clock. He counted on finding Mrs. Wilmott home at tea time, and as he strolled along, turning the problem over in his mind, he found it conceivable that this eccentric lady, in a moment of ennui or for the novelty of the thing, might have consented to dine with Martinez in a private room. It was certain no scruples would have deterred her if the adventure had seemed amusing, especially as Martinez had no idea who she was. With her, excitement and a new sensation were the only rules of conduct, and her husband’s opinion was a matter of the smallest possible consequence. Besides, he would probably never know it!

Mrs. Wilmott, very languid and stunning, amidst her luxurious surroundings, received M. Paul with the patronizing indifference that bored rich women extend to tradespeople. But presently when he explained that he was a detective and began to question her about the Ansonia affair, she rose with a haughty gesture that was meant to banish him in confusion from her presence. Coquenil, however, did not “banish” so easily. He had dealt with haughty ladies before.

“My dear madam, please sit down,” he said quietly. “I must ask you to explain how it happens that a number of five-pound notes, given to you by your husband some days ago, were found on the body of this murdered man.”

“How do I know?” she replied sharply. “I spent the notes in shops; I’m not responsible for what became of them. Besides, I am dining out to-night, and! I must dress. I really don’t see any point to this conversation.”

“No,” he smiled, and the keenness of his glance: pierced her like a blade. “The point is, my dear lady, that I want you to tell me what you were doing with this billiard player when he was shot last Saturday night.”

“It’s false; I never knew the man,” she cried. “It’s an outrage for you to–to intrude on a lady and–and insult her.”

“You used to back his game at the Olympia,” continued Coquenil coolly.

“What of it? I’m fond of billiards. Is that a crime?”

“You left your cloak and a small leather bag in the _vestiaire_ at the Ansonia,” pursued M. Paul.

“It isn’t true!”

“Your name was found stamped in gold letters under a leather flap in the bag.”

She shot a frightened glance at him and then faltered: “It–it was?”

Coquenil nodded. “Your friend, M. Kittredge, tore the flap out of the bag and then cut it into small pieces and scattered the pieces from his cab through dark streets, but I picked up the pieces.”

“You–you did?” she stammered.

“Yes. _Now what were you doing with Martinez in that room?_”

For some moments she did not answer but studied him with frightened, puzzled eyes. Then suddenly her whole manner changed.

“Excuse me,” she smiled, “I didn’t get your name?”

“M. Coquenil,” he said.

“Won’t you sit over here? This chair is more comfortable. That’s right. Now, I will tell you _exactly_ what happened.” And, settling herself near him, Pussy Wilmott entered bravely upon the hardest half hour of her life. After all, he was a man and she would do the best she could!

“You see, M. Coquelin–I beg your pardon, M. Coquenil. The names are alike, aren’t they?”

“Yes,” said the other dryly.

“Well,” she went on quite charmingly, “I have done some foolish things in my life, but this is the most foolish. I _did_ give Martinez the five-pound notes. You see, he was to play a match this week with a Russian and he offered to lay the money for me. He said he could get good odds and he was sure to win.”

“But the dinner? The private room?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I went there for a perfectly proper reason. I needed some one to help me and I–I couldn’t ask a man who knew me so—-“

“Then Martinez didn’t know you?”

“Of course not. He was foolish enough to think himself in love with me and–well, I found it convenient and–amusing to–utilize him.”

“For what?”

Mrs. Wilmott bit her red lips and then with some dignity replied that she did not see what bearing her purpose had on the case since it had not been accomplished.

“Why wasn’t it accomplished?” he asked.

“Because the man was shot.”

“Who shot him?”