The Bride of the Tomb and Queenie's Part 23

He adopted quite a bold method of obtaining the desired knowledge regarding Mr. Colville.

He called upon that gentleman attired in a very plain business suit, and still further disguised by a rather long wig of reddish hair, set off by beard and eyebrows of the same ruddy hue. He sent up a card to the gentleman of pleasure, simply engraved: "J. Styles."

After some delay he was ushered into Mr. Colville's parlor. That gentleman, attired in the extreme of fashion, merely nodded at his visitor's entrance. He did not think it necessary to rise for such a plain-looking personage.

"I have not the honor of knowing you, sir," said he, stiffly.

"J. Styles, under-clerk to the bankers, Lawrence and Co.," explained the visitor, briskly.

"Indeed!" said Mr. Colville, affecting nonchalance, but he started violently and the keen eyes of "J. Styles" saw that he turned a trifle paler.

"You have met with a loss, I see," said the under clerk, abruptly bending forward and taking hold of the broken locket that dangled among the charms of the gentleman's watch-chain.

"A personal affair that does not concern strangers," answered Mr.

Colville, haughtily, as he drew back.

"I beg your pardon--it is the very business on which I called," replied the visitor, imperturbably. As he spoke he slipped his fingers into his breast pocket, produced the missing half of the locket, and deftly fitted it to the broken part that dangled from the chain. "I have the honor to return this to you, sir," said he, slipping the jewel into Mr.

Colville's hand.

The gentleman's fingers closed over it mechanically.

"Why, what--the devil--where did you find it?" asked he, thrown off his guard by the unconcerned and business air of the under-clerk.

"I did not find it at all," answered "J. Styles," calmly. "I was commissioned to return it to you by Mr. Lawrence. It was found in the hallway of his residence on the evening of the twenty-first instant."

Mr. Colville started as if a bullet had struck him. He grew deathly white even to the lips, and stared at the visitor a moment in silence.

At length he recovered himself with a powerful effort, and asked, curtly:

"Well, why did Lawrence think of sending it to me? I did not lose it there. Lawrence is a friend of mine, certainly, but I have not called on him for several months."

"He recognized it as your property, and supposed that you might have called on the ladies that day in his absence," returned the visitor, fabricating this lie with bare-faced effrontery.

"Yes, that seemed plausible," answered Colville, with evident relief.

"I suppose now that you have no idea where you actually lost it?"

inquired the clerk, respectfully.

"Not the slightest--indeed, it was but yesterday that I discovered the loss. That must have been several days afterwards if, as you said, it was found on the twenty-first," replied Colville, more affably than he had yet spoken. "You will return my thanks to Mr. Lawrence for its prompt return."

"It appears strange that it should be found in the hallway of a house which you have not entered for months--does it not, sir?" remarked the clerk with a musing air.

"Exceedingly strange," returned Colville, uneasily. "But perhaps it had been found on the street by some person who might have lost it in Mr.

Lawrence's hall that day. That is the only explanation of the mystery I can think of, for I a.s.sure you I have not been to the house for months.

Not since long before the--the tragic death of his daughter," said he, growing pale as the words left his lips.

"By the way, a most startling event occurred at the home of Mr. Lawrence the same night on which your locket was found," said the clerk, who seemed in no haste to leave. "Your mention of Miss Lily recalls it to my mind."

"Indeed, and what was that?" inquired Colville, with an affectation of carelessness.

"Why, the spirit of the deceased young lady actually appeared to the family, who were all a.s.sembled in the drawing-room in company with the gentleman to whom she was to have been married," replied the visitor in a voice of awe.

"Can it be possible?" inquired Mr. Colville in a tone of surprise and interest. "In what manner did the apparition appear?"

"She appeared in the doorway, sir, with her arms extended towards her lover. She was heard to utter her father's name twice, then the whole illusion faded out in the thick darkness."

"Dear me, how very interesting," said Colville, shifting uneasily on his chair as though it were set round with thorns. "I have heard of such things, but never witnessed any manifestations myself. Miss Lawrence was a charming girl. A pity she should have destroyed herself."

"Yes, sir--a most lamentable affair--well, I must be going," said "J.

Styles," rising.

"You will let me offer you a reward for your trouble in returning my property?" inquired Mr. Colville.

"Oh! no, I thank you, sir--but perhaps the housemaid who found it would be glad of a trifle, sir!"

Mr. Colville placed a bill in his hand, and the pair separated courteously, the fine gentleman returning to his seat in a tremor of anxiety and trepidation, while the detective took himself to the office of Mr. Lawrence, and after revealing his ident.i.ty (for his disguise completely deceived that gentleman) he proceeded to detail the interview with Mr. Colville and its result as we have already described it.

"I took the liberty of borrowing the name of one of your under-clerks,"

said he. "I suppose there is no harm done."

"None at all, I should say," returned the banker, with a smile.

"And here is the reward the gentleman gave me for the housemaid who found the locket," continued the detective, producing the money.

"Ah! he was generous," commented the banker, tucking the five-dollar bill into his vest pocket. "Well, and what do you make of all this, Shelton?"

"Much, if I could guess at the meaning of it," returned the detective, frankly. "At present I am all at sea, but from this day forward until I get at the truth, Colville will be a shadowed man. I shall be on his track like a bloodhound. His agitation and alarm at learning where his locket had been found meant much, and his lying a.s.sertion that he had not been at your house that night meant more. I a.s.sure you that Harold Colville was in your house that night and with no good purpose. I will yet give you proofs of my a.s.sertion."

"You have done well so far," said Mr. Lawrence, approvingly; "I believe you will succeed in ferreting out that mystery, and I will try and bide the time patiently. And now about the man who had the key of my vault the night of my daughter's interment. Have you tracked him yet?"

"I have," answered Mr. Shelton, triumphantly.

"You have?" cried the banker, eagerly. "His name?"

"You remember the physician who was called in to examine your daughter's body the morning she was found dead--the same man who testified at the inquest? The man is one Doctor Pratt, a physician of fair repute in this city and of some skill in his profession."

"A physician, Shelton? My G.o.d! Then poor Lily's body was stolen for purposes of dissection!"

"I do not think so. They would not have run so great a risk to gain so little. No, Mr. Lawrence, I still firmly believe that it was done for the sake of a large ransom."

"Then why do the thieves not return the body, since I have long ago offered a ransom for it and no questions asked?" said the banker, impatiently.

"Perhaps you have not offered as much as they expected," answered Shelton.

"Would you advise me to increase the amount? I would willingly double and treble it if necessary," said Mr. Lawrence, earnestly.

"Do not do so at present, sir. I hope that we shall succeed in finding the body and punishing the knaves for their unholy sacrilege. I am loth to reward their treachery and suffer them to go scot-free," answered Shelton, earnestly.

"Well, you know best, Shelton. I will wait yet a little longer, then--but, oh, Heavens, this suspense is very dreadful. I feel myself growing old before my time with the pressure of my troubles," said Mr.

Lawrence, pa.s.sing his hand wearily through his fast whitening hair.