An Artist in Crime Part 18

"Dec. 30. Mr. Mitchel came out of his hotel at ten o'clock, and crossed over to Jersey City, taking an express for Philadelphia. I of course took same train. S----.

"The Miss Remsens were at home all day. They are busy on their costumes for the coming entertainment. W----.

"Dec. 31. Telegram from Philadelphia. 'Mitchel at Lafayette Hotel. Is sick in bed. Doctor in attendance. Sent a telegram to Miss Remsen telling her that he cannot be on hand to-morrow night.' S----.

"Thauret went to Union Square costumer yesterday and obtained the Ali Baba costume ordered for Mitchel. He gave the costumer a letter which he had received from Mitchel, dated at Philadelphia yesterday. It reads: 'Friend Thauret, I am suddenly taken ill. Don't let the Remsens know that it is anything serious. Oblige me, if possible, by attending the Arabian Night festival. I enclose my invitation and a note to Mr. Van Rawlston, which will introduce you. You may wear my costume, and the costumer will give it to you if you present this. You were to have gone out of town I know, but if you wish to do me a favor I hope you will change your plans and take my place. I do not wish Miss Remsen to be entirely unattended. Therefore be with her as much as you can. She will be dressed as Scheherezade.

'(Signed) Mitchel.'

"I obtained this from the costumer by saying I am a detective shadowing a criminal. Q----."

CHAPTER X.

ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES.

After reading the foregoing, Mr. Barnes carefully locked his diary in his cabinet, and immediately after left the house on his way to New York. Reaching there he proceeded up-town, finally ringing the door-bell of the Van Rawlston mansion. He requested to see the master of the house upon urgent business, and that gentleman soon presented himself.

"Mr. Van Rawlston," said Mr. Barnes, "I am a detective. May I have a few moments of strictly private conversation with you?"

"Certainly," was the reply. "Step into my study. We will be entirely safe from prying ears there." A moment later the two men were seated in comfortable leather chairs facing each other.

"Mr. Van Rawlston," began the detective, "to explain my purpose at once, I have only to say that I desire your permission to attend the masquerade which will be held here to-night. I am aware that this must seem an odd request, but I make it entirely in your own interests."

"If you will explain more fully, sir, I may be quite willing to grant your request," said the other.

"You should know that a masquerade is a dangerous kind of entertainment. At such affairs large robberies have often been committed--the thieves operating boldly, and escaping through the aid of their disguises. I have good reason for believing that such a crime is contemplated to-night."

"My dear sir, impossible! Why, no one will be admitted save those with whom we are well acquainted. Tickets have been issued by the society which gives the festival, and every one must unmask before being allowed to enter. Therefore, whilst I am grateful to you for your warning, I hardly think that I need your services."

"Mr. Van Rawlston, I regret to say that you are mistaken. In the first place, your close scrutiny of all who enter will probably be relaxed as the night wears on. Again, there are ways of getting in unperceived, and once within, the thief would be unsuspected. But this is no guesswork on my part. I do not think, I know, that, unless I am here to prevent it, a robbery will be committed. Indeed, I may even fail to prevent it."

"Why, sir, you speak as though you know the person who is to play the criminal."

"I do. For several weeks my men have been watching certain suspicious parties. From data furnished by my spies, I am sure that plans have been perfected by which one or more of your guests will be robbed during the progress of the entertainment."

"Still it seems incredible. As I have said, no one will be able to enter without our knowledge."

"Of course, I cannot intrude upon you, Mr. Van Rawlston. But if you are obliged to appeal to the police to-morrow for the recovery of stolen property, you alone will be to blame if the thief shall have had several hours the start of us. I have warned you. That is the best I can do. I wish you good-morning." Mr. Barnes rose to go, but Mr. Van Rawlston stopped him.

"One moment," said he. "If you are so sure that there is a scheme of robbery afoot, of course I must not be so rash as to refuse your aid.

What do you advise? We could postpone the festival."

"By no means. The course to pursue is to keep what I have told you strictly secret. In fact, if possible, dismiss it entirely from your mind, so that by your behavior the thief may not know that suspicions have been aroused. Do as I requested at first, and as I know my man I will be able to keep an eye upon him should he be present."

"I suppose it must be as you say. But you must be in costume. I have it!

The committee have ordered some costumes which they will give to those who come unprovided. You may have one of those."

"What costume shall I ask for?"

"Oh, they are all alike. They are the Forty Thieves."

"The Forty Thieves?" Mr. Barnes was surprised. "Is not that an odd costume?"

"Oh, no! It was Mr. Mitchel's idea. He is the chairman of the committee.

He argued that rather than provide a lot of meaningless dominos, the stragglers, who will be chiefly invited guests who are not members of the society, may be thus garbed, and still fall into the scheme of the evening, which is that every one shall play the part of some character of the Arabian Nights."

"Very well, Mr. Rawlston, for once the detective will don the garb of a thief. After all, you know the adage, 'it takes a thief to catch a thief.'"

"Very good, Mr. Barnes--I believe that is the name on your card?

Yes--Well, come to-night early and you shall be fitted out. Later, if you should wish to speak to me, I shall be dressed as the Sultan, a character about as foreign to my true self as yours will be to you."

Mr. Barnes left the house thoroughly satisfied with the result of his visit. In the first place he had learned something. Mr. Mitchel had decided upon the costuming of the guests. He had arranged that at least forty of them should be dressed alike. Could there have been any secret design in this? If so, Mr. Barnes was glad to be one of the forty.

Again, this would be better than to use the Aladdin costume, for the reason that he had come to count Mr. Mitchel as so clever that it would not have astonished the detective at all if it were known to him that this Aladdin costume had been ordered. In that case the absence of such a costume amongst the guests would confuse the conspirators. Mr. Barnes had fully decided that more than one person was interested in the approaching evening.

As early as nine o'clock the maskers began to arrive at the home of the Van Rawlstons. The host appeared for the time in evening dress, and received and welcomed his guests, all of whom wore wraps that covered their costumes, thus hiding the disguises which they meant to use later on. Mr. Barnes was on hand early, and loitered about the hall, in his thief's garb, scanning the faces of all as they pa.s.sed in. After a very brief period of waiting he saw the Remsen party alight from their carriage, escorted by Mr. Randolph. Soon after Mr. Thauret entered. He handed a note to Mr. Van Rawlston who upon reading it at once shook him cordially by the hand. Then almost as suddenly an expression of suspicion pa.s.sed across his face, and he looked toward Mr. Barnes, who, however, turned away, refusing to notice his glance of inquiry.

Evidently the host, not knowing Mr. Thauret and remembering the detective's words, had begun to suspect that perhaps the note which he had just read was fraudulent. Mr. Barnes was fearful that he would make some remark which would ruin everything, when to his intense relief Miss Remsen came into the hall with her wraps still on and went directly up to Mr. Thauret.

"How are you this evening, Mr. Thauret? I am glad you decided to come.

Mr. Van Rawlston, Mr. Thauret is a friend of Mr. Mitchel's."

That sufficed, and Mr. Van Rawlston seemed much relieved.

Mr. Thauret was not in costume, but he had brought with him a satchel, and now asked where he might find a place to dress. He was turned over to one of the liveried boys, who showed him to one of the rooms set aside for the gentlemen. Mr. Barnes did not enter, for had he done so without removing his mask it might have aroused suspicion. He however kept watch near the door, and soon saw a man come out dressed as Ali Baba. This was easily learned, for the committee had prepared handsome badges, upon each of which was engraved the name of the character a.s.sumed. These were of burnished silver, the lettering being done in blue enamel. They were worn on the left breast, and were intended to serve as souvenirs of the evening. Mr. Barnes smiled behind his mask as he looked down at his, which, to his mind, reminded him of a policeman's shield.

The rooms were gorgeously decorated in Oriental splendor. The larger one was designated the Sultan's Palace, and was truly regal in its arrangement. There were no chairs, but soft divans, and many-hued alluring cushions were to be found everywhere around the walls. The floors were covered with rugs four deep. The walls were draped with satin, drawn apart to reveal mirrors which multiplied the beauty of everything. The ceiling was hung with garlands, in which were twined roses of all kinds, which made the atmosphere redolent with perfume.

From among these garlands hundreds of gilded cages held singing-birds, and electric lights made the rooms so brilliant that many times during the evening they warbled in chorus, thinking it morning.

The smaller room represented Aladdin's Cave. Stalact.i.tes, resplendent with seeming jewels, hung pendent from the ceiling. The walls were made to resemble rough stone, and every few inches a large precious stone was made fiery by the tiny electric lamp hidden behind it. The floor alone was unlike a cave, being waxed for dancing. In a grotto up ten feet above the floor, the musicians played soft, sensuous music.

The festival opened informally. That is, whilst awaiting the arrival of others, those already present amused themselves waltzing, chatting, or chaffing one another. Mr. Barnes sauntered about, keeping Ali Baba in sight. Scheherezade came in on the arm of the Sultan. These he knew to be Miss Remsen and Mr. Van Rawlston. Ali Baba joined them almost immediately, and a few minutes later led Scheherezade into Aladdin's Cave for a dance. Mr. Barnes stood observing them, when some one touched him on the arm, and turning, he saw a man costumed as himself.

"We must be careful, or Ali Baba may discover our pa.s.sword, 'Sesame,' as he did in the real story."

"I do not understand you," replied Mr. Barnes.

The other man looked at him intently a moment through his mask, and without a word moved away.

Mr. Barnes was mystified. He regretted that he had not replied in some less candid fashion, that he might have heard the voice again. But taken by surprise as he was, he had lost his self-possession for a moment. If he were not mistaken the voice was one which he had heard before. He racked his memory for some minutes, and suddenly started as this thought entered his mind.

"Were he not sick in Philadelphia, I should say that was Mitchel." He followed across the room after the person, but he saw him go out into the hall, and by the time that he himself reached there, there were at least a dozen similar costumes in a group. He looked them over carefully, but there was nothing by which he could pick out the special man for whom he was searching. He went up to one at hap-hazard, and whispered to him:

"Sesame."

"Sesa--what!" came the reply, in a strange tone.