The Gold Bag Part 38

"You are right, Mr. Hall," I went on. "I hold Miss Lloyd in very high esteem, and I a.s.sure you, as man to man, that so long as you and she are betrothed, neither of you will have cause to look on me as other than a detective earnest in his work in your behalf."

"Thank you," said Hall, a little taken aback by my frankness.

I went away soon after that, and without quizzing him any further, for, though I still suspected him, I realized that he would never say anything to incriminate himself.

The theory that the criminal was some one who came in on that midnight train was plausible indeed; but what a scope it offered!

Why, a total stranger to Sedgwick might have come and gone, entirely un.o.bserved, in the crowd.

It was with little hope, therefore, that I arranged for an interview with the conductor of the train.

He lived in Hunterton, a few stations from West Sedgwick, and, after ascertaining by telephone that he could see me the next day, I went to his house.

"Well, no," he replied, after thinking over my query a bit; "I don't think Mr. Hall came out from New York that night. I'm 'most sure he didn't, because he usually gives me his newspaper as he steps off the train, and I didn't get any 'extra' that night."

Of course this wasn't positive proof that Hall wasn't there, so I asked him to tell me all the West Sedgwick people that he did remember as being on his train that night.

He mentioned a dozen or more, but they were nearly all names unknown to me.

"Do you remember the Cunninghams being on the train?" I asked.

"Those Marathon Park people? Oh, yes. They were a gay party,--coming back from a theatre supper, I suppose. And that reminds me: Philip Crawford sat right behind the Cunninghams. I forgot him before. Well, I guess that's all the West Sedgwick people I can remember."

I went away not much the wiser, but with a growing thought that buzzed in my brain.

It was absurd, of course. But he had said Philip Crawford had sat right behind Mrs. Cunningham. How, then, could he help seeing the gold bag she left behind, when she got out at the station just before West Sedgwick?

Indeed, who else could have seen it but the man in the seat directly behind? Even if some one else had picked it up and carried it from the car, Mr. Crawford must have seen it.

Moreover, why hadn't he said he was on that train? Why conceal such a simple matter? Again, who had profited by the whole affair? And why had Gregory Hall said: "Ask the conductor who did get off that train?"

The rose petals were already explained by Florence. If, then, Philip Crawford had, much later, come to his brother's with the gold bag and the late newspaper, and had gone away and left them there, and had never told of all this, was there not a new direction in which to look?

But Philip Crawford! The dead man's own brother!

XIX. THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN

The enormity of suspecting Philip Crawford was so great, to my mind, that I went at once to the district attorney's office for consultation with him.

Mr. Goodrich listened to what I had to say, and then, when I waited for comment, said quietly:

"Do you know, Mr. Burroughs, I have thought all along that Philip Crawford was concealing something, but I didn't think, and don't think now, that he has any guilty secret of his own. I rather fancied he might know something that, if told, would be detrimental to Miss Lloyd's cause."

"It may be so," I returned, "but I can't see how that would make him conceal the fact of his having been on that late train Tuesday night.

Why, I discussed with him the possibility of Hall's coming out on it, and it would have been only natural to say he was on it, and didn't see Hall."

"Unless he did see him," remarked the district attorney.

"Yes; there's that possibility. He may be shielding Hall for Miss Lloyd's sake--and--"

"Let's go to see him," suggested Mr. Goodrich. "I believe in the immediate following up of any idea we may have."

It was about five in the afternoon, an hour when we were likely to find Mr. Crawford at home, so we started off at once, and on reaching his house we were told that Mr. Randolph was with him in the library, but that he would see us. So to the library we went, and found Mr. Crawford and his lawyer hard at work on the papers of the Joseph Crawford estate.

Perhaps it was imagination, but I thought I detected a look of apprehension on Philip Crawford's face, as we entered, but he greeted us in his pleasant, simple way, and asked us to be seated.

"To come right to the point, Mr. Crawford," said the district attorney, "Mr. Burroughs and I are still searching for new light on the tragedy of your brother's death. And now Mr. Burroughs wants to put a few questions to you, which may help him in his quest."

Philip Crawford looked straight at me with his piercing eyes, and it seemed to me that he straightened himself, as for an expected blow.

"Yes, Mr. Burroughs," he said courteously. "What is it you want to ask?"

So plain and straightforward was his manner, that I decided to be equally direct.

"Did you come out in that midnight train from New York last Tuesday night?" I began.

"I did," he replied, in even tones.

"While on the train did you sit behind a lady who left a gold bag in the seat when she got out?"

"I did."

"Did you pick up that bag and take it away with you?"

"I did."

"Then, Mr. Crawford, as that is the gold bag that was found in your brother's office, I think you owe a more detailed explanation."

To say that the lawyer and the district attorney, who heard these questions and answers, were astounded, is putting it too mildly. They were almost paralyzed with surprise and dismay.

To hear these condemning a.s.sertions straight from the lips of the man they incriminated was startling indeed.

"You are right," said Philip Crawford. "I do owe an explanation, and I shall give it here and now."

Although what he was going to say was doubtless a confession, Mr.

Crawford's face showed an unmistakable expression of relief. He seemed like a man who had borne a terrible secret around with him for the past week, and was now glad that he was about to impart it to some one else.

He spoke very gravely, but with no faltering or hesitation.

"This is a solemn confession," he said, turning to his lawyer, "and is made to the district attorney, with yourself and Mr. Burroughs as witnesses."

Mr. Randolph bowed his head, in acknowledgment of this formal statement.

"I am a criminal in the eyes of the law," said Mr. Crawford, in an impersonal tone, which I knew he adopted to hide any emotion he might feel. "I have committed a dastardly crime. But I am not the murderer of my brother Joseph."