The House Opposite Part 6

"Ah, indeed; I am sorry to disturb him," replied Mr. Merritt. "However, it can't be helped. Will you please tell your master that two gentlemen must see him for a few moments on important business."

"Yes, sir," and showing us into a gaudily furnished room on our left, the girl vanished. I saw at once that this was not the scene of last night's drama, but a smaller room adjoining the other. My observations were almost immediately interrupted by the entrance of a young man, whose handsome face was at that moment disfigured by a scowl.

"Mr. Atkins, I believe," said Mr. Merritt, advancing towards him with his most conciliatory smile. Mr. Atkins nodded curtly. "It is my painful duty," continued the detective, "to inform you that a very serious accident has occurred in the building."

The frown slowly faded from the young man's forehead, giving place to a look of concern. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, in the most natural manner; "what has happened? Can I do anything?"

"Well, Mr. Atkins," replied Mr. Merritt, slowly, "to tell you the truth, a man has been killed, and as we haven't been able to find any one so far who can identify him we are going through the formality of asking every one in the building to take a look at the corpse, hoping to discover somebody who knew the dead man, or at any rate can give us some clue to his ident.i.ty. Will you and Mrs. Atkins and your two servants, therefore, kindly step down-stairs? The body is lying in the unoccupied apartment on the next floor."

"Killed!" exclaimed young Atkins. "How dreadful! how did it happen?"

But without waiting for an answer he pulled out his watch, which he consulted anxiously. "Pardon me, gentlemen, but I have a most important engagement down town which it is impossible for me to postpone. My wife is not up yet, and I really can't wait for her to get ready; but I can go with you now, and take a look at the poor fellow on my way out. In the meantime, Mrs. Atkins will dress as quickly as possible, and follow with the two girls as soon as she is ready."

"All right," said Mr. Merritt; "that will do nicely. Dr. Fortescue,"

with a wave of his hand in my direction, "will stay here, and escort Mrs. Atkins down-stairs. Ladies sometimes are overcome by the sight of death."

"Yes, yes; and my wife is very excitable," rejoined the young man. "I am glad Dr. Fortescue will wait and go down with her--if it isn't troubling you too much," he added, turning towards me.

"Not at all," I replied, politely but firmly, with my eyes on Mr.

Merritt. "I shall be delighted to _return_ for Mrs. Atkins in a quarter of an hour and escort her down-stairs."

I watched the detective keenly to see how he would take this disregarding of his orders, but he only smiled amiably, almost triumphantly, I thought. Mr. Atkins now left us, and I could hear him dashing up-stairs several steps at a time. How I longed to pierce the ceiling, and hear how he broke the news to his wife, and above all to observe how she took it. He returned in a few minutes, and, s.n.a.t.c.hing his hat from the hall-table, prepared to follow us. On the way down he inquired with great interest about the accident, but Merritt put him off with evasive replies. When confronted with the dead body, he gazed at it calmly, but with a good deal of curiosity.

"Did you know the deceased?" the Coroner asked him.

The young man shook his head. "Never saw him before." Then, looking at the corpse more closely he exclaimed: "Why, he is a gentleman; can't you find out who he is?"

"We haven't been able to, so far," replied the Coroner.

"How did the accident occur?"

"He was murdered."

The young man started back in horror.--"Murdered, and in this house--How, when?"

"Presumably the night before last."

Was it my imagination, or did Mr. Atkins turn slightly pale? "Tuesday night," he muttered. After a brief silence he turned to us, and withdrawing his eyes from the corpse with obvious difficulty, said, in a hearty, matter-of-fact voice: "Gentlemen, I regret that I have to leave you. I should like to hear some more of this affair, but I suppose if you do discover anything you will keep it pretty close?"

"You bet we'll try to," the Coroner a.s.sured him. After shaking us all most cordially by the hand, Mr. Atkins departed, and was escorted down-stairs by the detective, whose excessive politeness seemed to me very suspicious. "Was he going to put a sleuth on the young man's tracks?" I wondered.

The air in the room was heavy with the odour of death, so I stepped out on the landing. The workmen were all talking in low tones. "I know that Frenchman did it; I know it," I overheard one of them say. Much excited by these words, I was just going to ask who the Frenchman was, and why he should be suspected, when Mr. Merritt stepped out of the elevator and rang the bell of the opposite apartment. Miss Derwent had evidently not been far off, for the door was opened almost immediately, and a tall, slight young figure stood on the threshold. She was dressed in a quiet travelling suit, and a thick brown veil pulled down over her face rendered her features, in the dim light of the landing, completely invisible.

"Miss Derwent?" inquired Mr. Merritt. She bowed. "You have no doubt been told," he continued, "that a very serious accident has occurred in the building." She inclined her head slowly. "As we have been unable to identify the corpse"--here the detective paused, but she gave no sign and he went on--"we are asking every one in the house to take a look at it."

Instead of answering, the girl went back into the apartment, but returned in a minute, carrying a handbag. Stepping out on to the landing she shut and locked the door behind her with apparent composure. As she turned to follow the detective she asked, in a low but distinct voice: "How did this accident occur?"

"That, we have not yet been able to ascertain," he replied, leading her to the room where the dead lay. I hastily stepped back and resumed my former position at the foot of the corpse. As the girl crossed the threshold she hesitated a moment, then walked steadily in.

"Miss May Derwent, I believe?" the Coroner inquired, in his suavest tones. Again she bowed a.s.sent.

"Please look at this man and tell me if you have ever seen him before."

Before replying, the girl slowly lifted her veil and revealed to my astonished eyes, not only a face of very unusual beauty, but--and this is what I found inexplicable--coils of golden hair! Where were the raven locks I had seen only a few hours before? Had I dreamed them? But no, my memory was too clear on this point. My surprise was so great that I am afraid I showed it, for I caught Mr. Merritt looking at me with one of his enigmatical smiles. Miss Derwent was excessively pale, with heavy black rings under her eyes, but otherwise she seemed perfectly composed.

She looked at the corpse a moment, then turning towards the Coroner, said, in a clear, steady voice: "I do not know the man."

"Have you ever seen him before?"

"No," she answered, quietly.

"Miss Derwent, pardon my questioning you still further, but I have been told that a gentleman closely resembling the deceased called on you on Tuesday evening. Now, do you see any resemblance between the two?"

A burning blush overspread the girl's face, and then she grew so ghastly pale that I moved to her side, fearing she would fall.

"Mr. Coroner, can't the rest of the questions you have to ask Miss Derwent be put to her somewhere else?" I suggested. "The atmosphere here is intolerable."

"Certainly," he replied, with unexpected mildness.

I drew the young lady's unresisting hand through my arm and supported her into the next room. She was trembling so violently that she would have fallen if I had not done so, and I could see that it was only by the greatest self-control that she kept any semblance of composure.

"Now," resumed the Coroner, "if you feel well enough, will you kindly answer my last question?"

"The gentleman who called on me on Tuesday does not resemble the dead man, except in so far that they both have black, pointed beards."

"At what time did your friend leave you on Tuesday evening?" was the next question asked.

"I cannot see why the private affairs of my visitors or myself should be pried into," she replied, haughtily. "I decline to answer."

"My dear young lady," here interposed Mr. Merritt, "you have, of course, every right not to answer any question that you think likely to incriminate you, but," he continued with a smile, "it is hardly possible that anything could do that. On the other hand, it is our duty to try and sift this matter to the bottom. You certainly will agree with the necessity of it when I tell you that this man has been murdered!"

"Murdered!" the girl repeated, as if dazed. "Oh, no!"

"I regret to say that there is absolutely no doubt of it. Now, one of the elevator boys has identified the corpse as that of the gentleman who called on you the day before yesterday. I do not doubt that he was mistaken,--in fact, I am sure of it; but as no one saw your friend leave the building, it becomes inc.u.mbent on us to make sure that he did so. It will save a great deal of trouble to us, and perhaps to yourself, if you will tell us the gentleman's name and at what hour he left here."

She had covered her face with her hands, but now dropped them, and lifting her head, faced us with an air of sudden resolution.

"Gentlemen," she began, then hesitated and looked at us each in turn, "you can readily imagine that it will be a terrible thing for me if my name should in any way, however indirectly, be connected with this tragedy. But I see that it is useless to refuse to answer your questions. It will only make you believe that I have something to conceal. I can but ask you, you on whom I have no claim, to shield from publicity a girl who has put herself in a terribly false position."

"Miss Derwent, I think I can a.s.sure you that we will do everything in our power to help you. Nothing you say here shall be heard beyond these walls unless the cause of justice demands it." The Coroner spoke with considerable warmth. Evidently, Miss May's charms had not been without their effect on him.

"Very well, then," said the girl, "I will answer your questions. What do you want to know?"

"In the first place, please tell us how you came to spend two nights in an unoccupied apartment?"

"I suppose you already know," she answered, a trifle bitterly, "that I arrived here unexpectedly on Tuesday afternoon?" The Coroner made a motion of a.s.sent.

"I had reached the city earlier in the day, and had meant to catch the five o'clock train to Bar Harbor. As I had several errands to do, I sent my maid ahead to the Grand Central Depot with orders to engage a stateroom and check my luggage. I forgot to notice how the time was pa.s.sing till I caught sight of a clock in Madison Square pointing to eight minutes to five. I jumped into a hansom, but got to the station just in time to see the train steam away, with my maid hanging distractedly out of a window." She paused a moment. "A gentleman happened to be with me," she continued with downcast eyes, "so we consulted together as to what I had better do. On looking up the trains I found that I could not get back to my mother's country place till nine o'clock that evening, and then should have to leave home again at a frightfully early hour so as to catch the morning train to Bar Harbor.

Otherwise I should be obliged to wait over till the following afternoon and take a long night journey by myself, which I knew my mother would not wish me to do. Altogether, it seemed so much simpler to remain in town if I could only find a place to go to. Suddenly, our apartment occurred to me. Of course, I knew that the world would not approve of my staying here alone; nevertheless, I decided to do so."

"You went out again very soon after your arrival, did you not?" asked the Coroner.