The Diamond Cross Mystery Part 15

To the eternal credit of the keeper and the detective be it said that, at this moment, they found something of great interest in the calendar that hung on the opposite wall, while Kenneth talked earnestly with the warden. And the prisoners beyond the barred door were too busy with their exercise to look around.

"Jimmie boy!"

"Amy! You--you don't--"

"Of course I don't! Didn't I tell you so in my letter?"

"Yes, but--"

"Now, that isn't the way to talk, especially when I have come to bring you good news."

"Good news? You mean your father--"

"Oh, it isn't about dad! I told you he was as firm a believer in you as I am--that he said he'd 'go the limit,' if you know what that means, to get you free. Jimmie boy, when dad likes a person he likes him!"

"I hope his daughter does the same."

"Don't you know--_Jimmie_ boy?"

The warden, the detective, the keeper and the lawyer--all now seemed interested in that prosaic calendar.

Amy had had but little chance to speak to Darcy since, his arrest. In police headquarters he was kept in seclusion except as to his lawyer, and events had followed one another so rapidly that there had been no other opportunity until now, though the girl had sent him a hasty note in which she said she knew he was innocent and that everything possible was being done for him.

"And now, Jimmie, for the good news. I have engaged the best detective in this country for you," and she beckoned to the lawyer to come forward.

"The best detective?"

"Yes. You need one as well as a lawyer. They're going to work together--aren't you, Mr. Kenneth?"

"Indeed a detective can help us best at this stage of the game, I think, Mr. Darcy," was the lawyer's answer. "I can look after the court proceedings, when it comes time for them, but what we want most is evidence tending to show that some one else, and not you, committed this crime."

"As, most a.s.suredly was the case!" and for the first time in days Darcy's voice had its old ring and vigor in it.

"Of course, Jimmie boy," murmured Amy. "Now let me tell you all about it. They say I can't stay very long, so I'll have to talk fast, and you must listen--mostly. Now what do you say to--Colonel Ashley?" and Amy looked triumphantly at her lover.

"Colonel Ashley?"

"Yes. As the detective who is going to help prove you innocent by discovering the real--ugh! I hate to say it--_murderer_?"

"Why, Colonel Ashley is one of the greatest detectives in the United States--at least, he used to be. He must be pretty old now."

"I know he is--but not too old to take hold. Now when he comes--"

"But, Amy, my dear! You can't get _him_! Why, he's not only one of the highest-priced detectives in the country, but he's retired I've read, and I doubt if he'd take a case--"

"He's going to take _your_ case, Jimmie boy!" and Amy smiled.

"But how--how--"

"I think we'll have to give Miss Mason credit for a whole lot in this matter," broke in Kenneth. "She surprised me when she told me. And I want to say that when the colonel gets going we'll have you out of here in short order, Mr. Darcy!"

"But I don't understand--"

"That's what I came to tell you about, Jimmie boy! Now just keep quiet and listen!"

Thereupon Amy went on to relate all that had happened when she sought out the fisherman at the trout brook--how she had been cared for by him and s.h.a.g after her faint, and how, after some persuasion, the great detective had agreed to take up the matter of seeking out the real murderer of Mrs. Darcy.

"He came here under a different name," Amy continued, "for he did not want to be bothered with work. But Tom--he's the little jockey dad got a place for as train-boy--met him on the express and learned that the colonel was the great detective. Then Tom came and told me when he read of your--of your--"

"Oh, say _arrest_, Amy! I'm getting hardened to it by now."

"Well, then, your--arrest. I hate the word! Tom came and told me and said we must get Colonel Brentnall at once. That was the name he used, but, now he has consented to take your case, he's Colonel Ashley again."

"And what am I to do, Amy?"

"Just what he tells you--nothing more or less. Tell him everything from the beginning to the end. All about your quarrel with Mrs.

Darcy--I read in the papers you had one. Was that so?"

"Yes, and, I am sorry to say, it was partly about you."

"I don't mind, Jimmie boy. I know it couldn't have been very bad."

"It wasn't. She--well, she sneered at you for thinking of marrying me--a poor man--and--"

"As if money counted, Jimmie boy!" cried the girl fondly.

"I know. But it angered me, I admit. However, nothing more came of that. And as for her finding fault with me about my electric lathe, and about the money she owed me--well, that was a sort of periodic disagreement."

"Tell the colonel all about it."

"I will. And are you sure your father--"

"Dad's with me in this--with me and you! He'd have come to see you himself to-day, but I said I wanted to see you first. He'll be along soon. So you see, Jimmie boy, things aren't so bad as they seem, though I hate it that you should be in this horrible place."

"It is horrible, Amy. But now that I know you--you haven't given me up--"

"Don't _dare_ say such a thing, Jimmie boy!" and the girl's eyes sparkled with a new light.

"Well, it won't be so horrible from now on. And is the colonel really going to take my case?"

"Really and truly! I told him he _had_ to if he wanted to fish in dad's trout stream," and she laughed--a strange sound in that gloomy place.

Then they talked about many things. James Darcy had read much of Colonel Ashley's achievements in detective work, and the very magic of the name was enough to give a prisoner courage.

Soon it was time to leave, after Kenneth had conferred briefly with his client. The prisoner went back to his little cell with a happier look on his face than when he had left it.

As for Colonel Ashley, after he had revived Amy from her faint at the stream, he had told s.h.a.g to take apart the fishing rod.