Through the Wall Part 34

She stared at him in genuine admiration: "My G.o.d, you're the cleverest man I ever met!"

M. Paul bowed politely, and glancing at a well-spread tea table, he said: "Mrs. Wilmott, if you think so well of me, perhaps you won't mind giving me a cup of tea. The fact is, I have been so busy with this case I forgot to eat and I--I feel a little faint." He pressed a hand against his forehead and p.u.s.s.y saw that he was very white.

"You poor man!" she cried in concern. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? I'll fix it myself. There! Take some of these toasted m.u.f.fins. What an extraordinary life you must lead! I can almost forgive you for being so outrageous because you're so--so interesting." She let her siren eyes shine on him in a way that had wrought the discomfiture of many a man.

M. Paul smiled. "I can return the compliment by saying that it isn't every lady who could throw a clumsy thing like an auger from a moving cab over a wide roadway and a stone wall and land it in a river. I suppose you threw it over on the right-hand side?"

"Yes."

"How far across the bridge had you got when you threw it? This may help the divers."

She thought a moment. "We were a little more than halfway across, I should say."

"Thanks. Now who bought this auger?"

"Martinez."

"Did _you_ suggest the holes through the wall?"

"No, he did."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite sure."

"But the holes were bored for you?"

"Of course."

"Because you wanted to see into the next room?"

"Yes," in a low tone.

"And why?"

She hesitated a moment and then burst out in a flash of feeling: "Because I knew that a wretched dancing girl was going to be there with----"

"Yes?" eagerly.

"With my husband!"

CHAPTER XV

p.u.s.s.y WILMOTT'S CONFESSION

"Then your husband was the person you thought guilty that night?"

questioned Coquenil.

"Yes."

"You told M. Kittredge when you called for him in the cab that you thought your husband guilty?"

"Yes, but afterwards I changed my mind. My husband had nothing to do with it. If he had, do you suppose I would have told you this? No doubt he has misconducted himself, but----"

"You mean Anita?"

It was a chance shot, but it went true.

She stared at him in amazement. "I believe you are the devil," she said, and the detective, recalling his talk with M. Gritz, muttered to himself: "The tall blonde! Of course!"

And now p.u.s.s.y, feeling that she could gain nothing against Coquenil by ruse or deceit, took refuge in simple truth and told quite charmingly how this whole tragic adventure had grown out of a foolish fit of jealousy.

"You see, I found a _pet.i.t bleu_ on my husband's dressing table one morning--I wish to Heaven he would be more careful--and I--I read it. It began '_Mon gros bebe_,' and was signed '_Ta pet.i.te Anita_,' and--naturally I was furious. I have often been jealous of Addison, but he has always managed to prove that I was in the wrong and that he was a perfect saint, so now I determined to see for myself. It was a splendid chance, as the exact rendezvous was given, nine o'clock Sat.u.r.day evening, in private room Number Seven at the Ansonia. I had only to be there, but, of course, I couldn't go alone, so I got this man, Martinez--he was a perfect fool, I'm sorry he's been shot, but he was--I got him to take me, because, as I told you, he didn't know me, and being such a fool, he would do whatever I wished."

"What day was it you found the _pet.i.t bleu?_" put in Coquenil.

"It was Thursday. I saw Martinez that afternoon, and on Friday, he reserved private room Number Six for Sat.u.r.day evening."

"And you are sure it was _his_ scheme to bore the holes?"

"Yes, he said that would be an amusing way of watching Addison without making a scandal, and I agreed with him; it was the first clever idea I ever knew him to have."

"That's a good point!" reflected Coquenil.

"What is a good point?"

"Nothing, just a thought I had," he answered abstractedly.

"What a queer man you are!" she said with a little pout. She was not accustomed to have men inattentive when she sat near them.

"There's one thing that doesn't seem very clever, though," reflected the detective. "Didn't Martinez think your husband or Anita would see those holes in the wall?"

"No, because he had prepared for that. There was a tall palm in Number Seven that stood just before the holes and screened them."

Coquenil looked at her curiously.

"How do you know there was?"

"Martinez told me. He had taken the precaution to look in there on Friday when he engaged Number Six. He knew exactly where to bore the holes."

"I see. And he put them behind the curtain hangings so that your waiter wouldn't see them?"

"That's it."

"And you held the curtain hangings back while he used the auger?"