"He's a puzzle, at present.But I wish you'd find out if that chauffeur has a girl.That's the best way to do, or undo, a man that I know of.Find out if he has a girl.That'll be your trick.""All right - that and golf.I'm ready."
And Jack Young worked to such good advantage that three days later he had a pretty complete report ready for his chief.
"Jean Forette has a girl," said Jack; "and she's a little beauty, too.Mazi Rochette is her name.She's a maid in one of the swell families here, and she's dead gone on our friend Jean.I managed to get a talk with her, and she thinks he's going to marry her as soon as he gets another place.A better place than with the Carwells, she says he must have.This place was pretty much on the blink, she confided to me.""Or words to that effect," laughed the colonel.
"Exactly.I'm not much on the French, you know.Still I got along pretty well with her.She took a notion to me.""I thought you might be able to get something in that direction," said the colonel with a smile."Did you learn where Jean was just prior to the golf game which was the last Mr.Carwell played?""Yes, he was with her, the girl says, and she didn't know why I was asking, either, I flatter myself.I led around to it in a neat way.He was with her until just before he drove Mr.Carwell to the links.In fact, Jean had the girl out for a spin in the new car, she says.She's afraid of it, though.Revolutionary devil, she calls it.""Hum! If Jean was with her just before he picked up Carwell to go to the game - well, the thing is turning out a bit different from what I expected.Jack, we still have plenty of work before us.Did I tell you Morocco Kate was mixed up in this?""No!Is she?" "Seems to be."
"Good night, nurse!Whew!If he fell for her - ""I don't believe he did, Jack.My old friend was a sport, but not that kind.He was clean, all through.""Glad to hear you say so, Colonel.Well, what next?" They sat talking until far into the night.
There was rather a sensation in Lakeside two days later when it became known that the coroner's jury was to be called together again, to consider more evidence in the Carwell case.
"What does it mean?" Viola asked Colonel Ashley."Does it mean that Harry will be - ""Now don't distress yourself, my dear," returned the detective, soothingly."I have been nosing around some, and I happen to know that the prosecutor and coroner haven't a bit more evidence than they had at first when they held Mr.Bartlett.""Does that mean Harry will be released?" "I think so.""Does it mean he will be proved innocent?""That I can't say.I hardly think the verdict will be conclusive in any case.But they haven't any more evidence than at first - that he had a quarrel with your father just before the fatal end.As to the nature of the quarrel, Harry is silent - obstinately silent even to his own counsel; and in this I can not uphold him.However, that is his affair.""But I'm sure, Colonel, that he had nothing to do with my father's death; aren't you?""If I said I was sure, my dear, and afterward, through force of evidence and circumstance, were forced to change my opinion, you would not thank me for now saying what you want me to say," was the reply."It is better for me to say that I do not know.I trust for the best.I hope, for your sake and his, that he had nothing to do with the terrible crime.I want to see the guilty person discovered and punished, and to that end I am working night and day.And if I find out who it is, I will disclose him - or her - no matter what anguish it costs me personally - no matter whatanguish it may bring to others.I would not be doing my full duty otherwise.""No, I realize that, Colonel.Oh, it is hard - so hard! If we only knew!""We may know," said the colonel gently."Soon ?" she asked hopefully.
"Sooner than you expect," he answered with a smile."Now I must attend the jury session."It was brief, and not at all sensational, much to the regret of the reporters for the New York papers who flocked to the quiet and fashionable seaside resort.The upshot of the matter was that the chemists for the state reported that Mr.Carwell had met his death from the effects of some violent poison, the nature of which resembled several kinds, but which did not analyze as being any particular one with which they were, at present, familiar.
There were traces of both arsenic and strychnine, but mingled with them was some narcotic of strange composition, which was deadly in its effect, as had been proved on guinea pigs, some of the residue from the stomach and viscera of the dead man having been injected into the hapless animals.
Harry Bartlett was not called to the stand, but, pale from his confinement, sat an interested and vital spectator of the proceedings.
The prosecutor announced that the efforts of his detectives had resulted in nothing more.There was not sufficient evidence to warrant accusing any one else, and that against Harry Bartlett was of so slender and circumstantial a character that it could not be held to have any real value before the grand jury nor in a trial court.
"What is your motion, then?" asked the coroner.
Well, I don't know that I have any motion to make," said Mr.Stryker."If this were before a county judge, and the prisoner's counsel demanded it, I should have to agree to a nolle pros.As it is I simply say I have no other evidence to offer at this time.""Then the jury may consider that already before it?" asked Billy Teller."Yes.""You have heard what the prosecutor said, gentlemen," went on the coroner."You may retire and consider your verdict."This they did, for fifteen minutes - fifteen nerve-racking minutes for more than one in the improvised courtroom.Then the twelve men filed back, and in answer to the usual questions the foreman announced:
"We find that Horace Carwell came to his death through poison administered by a person, or persons, unknown."There was silence for a moment, and then, as Bartlett started from his seat, a flush mantling his pale face, Viola, with a murmured "Thank God!" fainted.
