Classic Audiobook Collection - The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Katharine Green ~ Full Audiobook [mystery]

Starting point is 00:00:00 the mystery of the hasty arrow by anna catherine green book one a problem of the first order chapter i let some one speak the hour of noon had just struck and the few visitors still lingering among the curiosities of the great museum were suddenly startled by the sight of one of the attendants running down the broad central staircase loudly shouting close the doors let no one out an accident has occurred and nobody's to leave the building there was but one person near either of the doors and has he chanced to be a man closely connected with the museum being in fact one of its most active directors he immediately turned about and in obedience to some gesture made by the attendant ran up the marble steps followed by some dozen others At the top, they all turned, as by common consent, toward the left-hand gallery, where in the section marked two, a tableau greeted them,

Starting point is 00:01:11 which few of them will ever forget. I say tableau, because the few persons concerned in it, stood as in a picture, absolutely motionless, and silent as the dead, sense, if not feeling, was benumbed in them all, as in another moment it was benumbed in the breasts of these new arrivals. Tragedy was there in its most terrible, its most pathetic aspect.

Starting point is 00:01:39 The pathos was given by the victim, a young and pretty girl, lying face upward on the tessellated floor, with an arrow in her breast, and death stamped unmistakably on every feature. The terror by the look and attitude of the woman they saw kneeling over her, a remarkable woman, no longer young, but of a presence to hold the attention, even if the circumstances had been of far less tragic nature. Her hand was on the arrow, but she had made no movement to withdraw it, and her eyes, fixed upon space, showed depths of horror, hardly to be explained, even by the suddenness and startling

Starting point is 00:02:24 character of the untoward fatality of which she had just been made the unhappy witness. The director, whose name was Roberts, thought as he paused at the edge of the crowd, that he had never seen a countenance upon which woe had stamped so deep a mark, and greatly moved by it, he was about to seek some explanation of a scene to which appearances gave so little clue, when the tall but stooping figure of the curator entered. and he found himself relieved from a task whose seriousness he had no difficulty in measuring. To those who knew William Jewett well, it was evident that he had been called from some task which still occupied his thoughts and, for the moment, somewhat bewildered his understanding.

Starting point is 00:03:14 But as he was a conscientious man and quite capable of taking the lead, when once roused to the exigencies of an occasion, Mr. Roberts felt a certain interest in watching the slow awakening of the self-absorbed man to the awful circumstances which in one instant had clouded the museum in an atmosphere of mysterious horror. When the full realization came, which was not till a way had been made for him to the side of the stricken woman crouching over the dead child, the energy which transformed his countenance, gave character to his usually bent and inconspicuous figure, was all, if not more, than the anxious director expected. Finding that his attempt to meet the older woman's eye only prolonged the suspense,

Starting point is 00:04:08 the curator addressed her quietly and in sympathetic tones, inquired, whose child this was, and how so dreadful a thing had happened. She did not answer. She did not even look his way. With a rapid glance into the faces about him, ending in one of deep compassion directed toward herself, he repeated his question. Still no response.

Starting point is 00:04:34 Still that heavy silence, that absolute immobility of face and limb. If her faculty of hearing was dulled, possibly she would yield to that of touch, stooping, he laid his hand on her arm. This roused her. Slowly her eyes lost her fixed there, and took on a more human light. A shudder shook her frame, and gazing down into the countenance of the young girl lying at her feet,

Starting point is 00:05:02 she broke into moans of such phantomless despair as wrung the hearts of all about her. It was a scene to test the nerve of any man. To one of the curator's sympathetic temperament, it was well-nigh unendurable, Turning to those nearest, he begged for an explanation of what they saw before them. Someone here must be able to tell me, let that someone speak. At this, the quietest and least conspicuous person present, a young man heavily spectacled, and of student-like appearance, advanced a step and said, I was the first person to come in here after this poor young lady,

Starting point is 00:05:48 fell. I was looking at coins just beyond the partition there, when I heard a gasping cry. I had not heard her fall. I fear I was very much preoccupied in my search for an especial coin I had been told I should find here. But I did hear the cry she gave, and startled by the sound, left the section where I was and entered this one, only to see just what you are seeing now. The curator pointed at the two women. this the one woman kneeling over the other with her hand upon the arrow yes sir a change took place in the curator's expression involuntarily his eyes rose to the walls hung closely with indian relics among which was a quiver in which all could see arrow similar to the one now in the breast of the young girl lying dead before them this woman must be made to speak he said in answer to the low murmur which followed this discovery if there is a doctor present waiting but receiving no response he withdrew his hand from the woman's arm and laid it on the arrow

Starting point is 00:07:02 this roused her completely loosing her own grasp upon the shaft she cried with sudden realization of the people pressing about her i could not draw it that causes death to her i could not draw it that causes death they say wait she may still be alive she may have a word to speak she was bending to listen it was hardly a favorable moment for further questioning but the curator in his anxiety could not refrain from saying who is she what is her name and what is yours her name repeated the woman rising to face him again how she she was she what is your name repeated the woman rising to face him again how she was she she said she was her name repeated the woman rising to face him again how she was she should I know. I was passing through this gallery and had just stopped to take a look into the court when this young girl bounded by me from behind, and flinging up her arms fell with a deep sigh to the floor. I saw an arrow in her breast and— Emotion choked her, and when someone asked if the girl was a stranger to her, she simply bowed her head, then, letting her gaze pass from face to face, till she was a little.

Starting point is 00:08:12 it had completed the circle of those about her, she said in her former mechanical way, My name is Emmyn Trude Taylor. I came to look at the bronzes. I should like to go now. But the crowd which had formed about her was too compact to allow her to pass. Besides, the director, Mr. Roberts, had something to say first. Working his way forward, he waited till he had attracted her attention, and then remarked in his most considerate manner, You will pardon these importunities, Mrs. Taylor. I am a director of this museum, and if Mr. Jewett will excuse me, here he bowed to the curator, I should like to inquire

Starting point is 00:08:58 from what direction the arrow came which ended this young girl's life. For a moment she stood aghast, fixing him with her eye, as though to ask whither this inquiry tended. Then, with an air of intention, which was not without some strange element of fear, she allowed her glance to travel across the court till it rested upon the row of connected arches facing them from the opposite gallery.

Starting point is 00:09:28 Ah, he said, putting her look into words, you think the arrow came from the other side of the building? Did you see anyone over there? In the gallery, I mean. at or before the instant of this young girl's fall? She shook her head. Did any of you, he urged, with his eyes on the crowd? Someone must have been looking that way.

Starting point is 00:09:51 But no answer came, and the silence was fast becoming oppressive, when these words, whispered by one woman to another, roused them anew and sent every glance again to the walls. Even hers, for whose benefit, this remark, had possibly been made but there are no arrows over there all the arrows are here she was right they were here quiver after quiver of them nor were they all beyond reach as the woman thus significantly assailed noted this and saw with what suspicion others noted it also a decided change took place in her aspect i should like to sit down she murmured possibly she was afraid she might fall has some one brought a chair she spoke but very tremulously to the director are there no arrows in the rooms over there i am quite sure not and no bows none if if any one had been seen in the gallery no one was you are sure of that you heard the question asked

Starting point is 00:11:04 It brought no answer. But these galleries are visible from below. Someone may have been looking up from the court and— If there was any such person in the building, he would have been here by this time. People don't hold back such information. Then, then she stammered, her eyes taking on a hunted look.

Starting point is 00:11:28 You conclude, these people conclude, what? Madam, the word came coldly, stinging her into drawing herself to her full height it is not for me to conclude in a case like this that is the business of the police at this word with its suggestion of crime her air of conscious power vanished in sudden collapse possibly she had seemed a significant gesture with which the curator pointed out a quiver from which one of the arrows was missing that this was so was shown by her next question but where is the bow look about on the floor you will find none how can an arrow be shot without a bow it cannot be came from some one at her back but it can be driven home like a dagger if the hand wielding it is sufficiently powerful a cry left her lips she seemed to listen as for some echo then in a wild abandonment which ignored person and place, she flung herself again at the dead girl's side, and before the astonished people surrounding her could intervene,

Starting point is 00:12:43 she had caught up the body in her arms, and bending over it, whispered word after word, into the poor child's closed ear. End of Chapter 1. Book 1, Chapter 2 of the mystery of the hasty arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. In Room B. Five minutes later, the curator was at the phone, calling up police headquarters.

Starting point is 00:13:20 A death had occurred at the museum. Would they send over a capable detective? What kind of death was the harsh reply? We don't send detectives in cases of heart failure or simple accident. Is it an accident? No, no, hardly. it looks more like an insane woman's attack upon a harmless stranger. It's the oddest sort of affair, and we feel very helpless.

Starting point is 00:13:46 No common officer will do. We have one of that kind in the building. What we want is a man of brains he will need them. A muffled sound at the other end. Then a different voice asking some half-dozen comprehensive questions, which, having been answered to the best of the curing, ability, were followed by the welcome assurance that a man on whose experience he could rely would be at the museum doors within five minutes.

Starting point is 00:14:17 With an air of relief, Mr. Jewett stepped again into the court, and repelling with hasty gestures the importunities of the small group of men and women, who had lacked the courage to follow the more adventurous ones upstairs, crossed to where the doorman stood on guard over the main entrance. Locked, he asked. Yes, sir, such were the orders. Didn't you give them? No, but I should have done so had I known. No one's to go out, and no one's to come in, but the detective, whom I am expecting any moment. They had not long to wait. Before their suspense had reached fever point, a tap was heard on the great door. It was opened, and a young man stepped in. Coast clear, he sang out with a humorous twist of his jaw, as he noted the curator's evident

Starting point is 00:15:12 chagrin, had his meager and unsatisfactory appearance. Oh, I'm not your man, he added, as his eye ran over the whole place with a look which seemed to take in every detail in an instant. Mr. Grice is in the automobile. Wait till I help him up. He was gone before the curator could utter a word. only to reappear in a few minutes with a man in his wake whom the former at first blush thought to be much past the age where experience makes for efficiency as the other seemed to be short of it but this impression if impression it were was of short duration no sooner had this physically weak but extremely wise old man entered upon the scene than his mental power became evident to every person there

Starting point is 00:16:06 timorous hearts regained their composure and the curator who in his ten years of service had never felt the burden of his position so acutely as in the last ten minutes showed his relief by a volubility quite unnatural to him under ordinary circumstances as he conducted the detectives across the court he talked not of the victim as might reasonably be expected but of the woman who had been found leaning over her with her hand on the arrow We think her some escaped lunatic, he remarked. Only a demented woman would act as she does. First she denies all knowledge of the girl. Then, when she was made to see that the arrow sticking in the girl's breast had been taken from a quiver hanging with an arm's reach on the wall and used as lances are used, she fell a-moning and crying,

Starting point is 00:17:01 and began the whisper in the poor child's senseless ear. A common woman? One of low-down type? Not at all. A lady. And an impressive one at that. You seldom see her equal. That's what has upset us so.

Starting point is 00:17:19 The crime and the criminal do not seem to fit. The detective blinked, then suddenly, seemed to grow an inch taller. Where is she now, he asked. In room B, away from the crowd. She is not alone. A young lady detained with the rest of the people here is keeping her company to say nothing of an officer we have put on guard. And the victim? Lies where she fell in Section 2 on the upper floor.

Starting point is 00:17:49 There was no call to move her. She was dead when we came upon the scene. She does not look to be more than sixteen years old. Let's go up, but wait. Can we see that section from here? They were standing at the foot of the great staircase, connecting the two floors, above them, stretching away on either side, ran the two famous highly ornamented galleries, with their row of long, low arches, indicating the five compartments into which they were severally divided.

Starting point is 00:18:24 Pointing to the second one on the southern side, the curator replied, That's it, the one where you see the Apache relics hanging high on the rear wall. We shall have to shift those to some other place just as soon as we can recover from this horror. I don't want the finest spot in the whole museum made a mecca for the morbid and the curious. The remark fell on unheeding ears. Detective Grice was looking, not in the direction named, but in the one directly opposite to. it. I see, he quietly observed, that there is a clear view across. Was there no one in the right-hand gallery to see what went on in the left? Not that I have heard of. It's the dullest hour

Starting point is 00:19:12 of the day, and not only this gallery, but many of the rooms were entirely empty. I see, and now, what about the persons who are here? How many of them have you let go? Not one. The doors have been open twice only, once to admit the officer you will find on guard, and the other to let in yourself. Good, and how many have you here, all told? I have not had time to count them, but I should say less than thirty. This includes myself, as well as to attendance. With a thoughtful air, Mr. Grice turned in the direction of the few persons he could see huddled together around one of the central statues. Where are the others, he asked?

Starting point is 00:20:01 Upstairs, in and about the place where the poor child lies. They must be got out of there, Sweetwater? The young man who entered with him was at his side in an instant. Clear the galleries, then take down the name and address of every person in the building. Yes, sir. Before the last word had left his lips, the busy fellow was halfway up the marble steps. Lightning, some of his pals called him, perhaps, because he was as noiseless as he was quick. Meanwhile, the senior detective had drawn the curator to one side.

Starting point is 00:20:41 We'll take a look at these people as they come down. I have been said to be able to spot a witness with my eyes shut. Let's see what I can do with my eyes open. Young and old, rich and poor, murmured the curator, has some dozen persons appeared at the top of the stair-carried. case. Yes, sighed the detective, noting each one carefully, has he or she filed down. We shan't make much out of this experiment. None of them avoids our looks, emotion enough, but not of the right sort.

Starting point is 00:21:15 Well, we'll leave them the sweetwater. Our business is above. The curator offered his arm. The old man made a move that take it, then drew himself up with an air of quiet confidence. Many thanks, said he, but I can go alone. Rheumatism is my trouble, but these mild days loosen its grip upon my poor old muscles. He did not say that the prospect of an interesting inquiry

Starting point is 00:21:43 had much the same effect, but the curator suspected it, possibly because he was feeling just a little bit spry himself. Stealed, as such experienced officers necessarily are to death in all its phases, it was with no common emotion that the age detective entered the presence of the dead girl and took his first look at this latest victim of mental or moral aberration. So young, so innocent, so fair, a schoolgirl, or a little more, of a class certainly above the average.

Starting point is 00:22:21 whether judged from the contour of her features or the niceties of her dress, with no evidence of great wealth about her, there was yet something in the cut of her garments and the careful attention to each detail, which bespoke not only natural but cultivated taste. On her breast, just above the spot where the cruel dart had entered, a fresh and blooming nosegay still exhaled its perfume, A tragic detail, accentuating the pathos of a death, so sudden that the joy with which she had pinned on this simple adornment seemed to linger about her yet.

Starting point is 00:23:03 The detective, with no words for this touching spectacle, stretched out his hand, and with a reverent and fatherly touch pressed down the lids over the unseen eyes. This off is done to the innocent dead. he asked if anything had been found to establish the young girl's identity. Surely he observed, she was not without a purse or handbag. All young ladies carry them. For answer, the officer on guard thrust his hand into one of his capacious pockets, and drawing out a neat little bag of knitted beads, passed it over to the detective with a laconic remark,

Starting point is 00:23:44 Nothing doing. And so it proved. It held only a pocket-handkerchief, embroidered, but without a monogram, and a memorandum book without an entry. A blind alley, if there ever was one, muttered Mr. Grice, and ordering the policeman to replace the bag as nearly as possible, on the spot from which it had been taken, he proceeded with the curator to Room B. Prepared to encounter a woman of disordered mind, the appearance presented by Mrs.

Starting point is 00:24:17 tailor at his entrance greatly astonished mr gryce there was a calmness in her attitude which one would scarcely expect to see in a woman whom mania had just driven into crime surely lunacy does not show such self-restraint nor does lunacy awaken any such feelings of awe has followed a prolonged scrutiny of her set but determined features only the grief of the most intent and sacred character, could account for the aspect she presented, and has the man, to whom the tragedies of life were of daily occurrence, took in this mystery with all its incongruities, he realized, not without a sense of professional pleasure, no doubt, that he had before him an affair, calling for the old-time judgment, which, for forty or more years, had made his record famous in the police annals of the metropolis. She was seated with no one near her but a young lady, whom sympathetic interest had drawn to her side. Mr. Roberts stood in one of the windows,

Starting point is 00:25:28 and not far from him, a man in the museum uniform. At the authoritative advance of the old detective, the woman, whose eye he had caught, attempted the struggle to her feet, but desisted after a moment of hopeless effort and sank back in her chair. There was no pretense in this, though gifted with a strong frame, emotion had so weakened her that she was simply unable to stand. Quite convinced of this, and affected in spite of himself, by her look of lofty patience, Mr. Grice prefaced his question with an apology,

Starting point is 00:26:08 quite an unusual proceeding for him. Whether or no she heard it, he could not tell, but she was quite ready to answer when he asked her name, and then her place of residence, saying in response to the latter query, I live at the Calderon, a family hotel in 67th Street. My name? Here she paused for a second to moisten her lips. Is Taylor, Eminrood Taylor, nothing else, she speedily added, in a tone which drew every eye her way. Then more evenly, you will find the name on the hotel's books.

Starting point is 00:26:48 Wife or widow? Widow. What a voice. How it reached every heart, waking strange sympathies there. As the word fell, not a person in the room but stirred uneasily. Even she herself started at its sound, and moved, perhaps, by the depth of silence which followed, she added in the same. She added, suppressed tones. A widow within the hour. That's why you see me still in colors, but crushed as you behold, killed, killed.

Starting point is 00:27:21 That settled it. There was no mistaking her condition after an expression of this kind. The curator and Mr. Grice exchanged glances, and Mr. Roberts, stepping from his corner, betrayed the effect which her words had produced on him by whispering in the detective's ear, what you need is an alienist had she heard it would seem so from the quick way she roused and exclaimed with indignant emphasis

Starting point is 00:27:52 you do not understand me i see that i must drink my bitter cup to the dregs this is what i mean my husband was living this morning living up to the hour when the clock in this building struck twelve i knew it from the joyous hopes with which my breast was living this morning living up to the hour when the clock in this building struck twelve i knew it from the joyous hopes with which my breath was filled. But with a stroke of noon the blow fell. I was bending above the poor child, who had fallen so suddenly at my feet when the vision came, and I saw him gazing at me from a distance so remote, across a desert so immeasurable, that nothing but death could create such a removal, or make him the ghastly silhouette I saw. He is dead. At that moment I felt his soul pass, and so I say that I am a widow. Ravings, no, the calm certainty of her tone, the grief, touching death so profound it had no need of words,

Starting point is 00:28:53 showed the confidence she felt in the warning she believed herself to it received. Though probably not a single person present put any faith in occultism, in any of its form, there was a general movement of sympathy which led Mr. Grice to pass the matter by without any attempt at controversy, and returned to the question in hand. With a decided modification of manner, he therefore asked her to relate how she came to be kneeling over the injured girl

Starting point is 00:29:25 with her hand upon the arrow. Let me have a moment in which to recover myself, she prayed, covering her eyes with her hand. Then, while all waited, she gave a low cry. I suffer, I suffer, and leaped to her feet, only to sink back again inert and powerless. But only for an instant, with that one burst of extreme feeling, she recovered her self-control, answering with apparent calmness the detective's question. I was passing through the gallery, as any other visitor might,

Starting point is 00:30:02 when a young lady rushed by me, stopped short, threw up her arms, and fell backward to the floor, pierced to the heart by an arrow. In a moment I was on my knees at her side, with hand outstretched to withdraw this dreadful arrow. But I was afraid. I had heard that this sometimes causes death, and while I was hesitating, the vision came, engulfing everything. I could think of nothing else. She was near collapsing again, but being a woman of great nerve, she fought her weakness, and waited patiently for the next question. It was different, without a doubt, from any she had expected. Then you positively deny any act of connection with a strange death of this young girl?

Starting point is 00:30:53 A pause, as if to take in what he meant, then, slowly and impressively, came the answer, I do. Did you see the person who shot the arrow? No. From what direction would it have had to come, the striker as it did? From the opposite balcony. Did you see anyone there? No.

Starting point is 00:31:17 But you heard the arrow? Heard? An arrow shot from a bow. Makes a whizzing sound as it flies. Didn't you hear that? I don't know. She looked troubled and uncertain. I don't remember.

Starting point is 00:31:31 I was expecting no such thing. I was not prepared. The sight of an arrow, a killing arrow in that innocent breast, overcame me with inexpressible grief and horror. If the vision of my husband had not followed, I might remember more, as it is, I have told all I can. Won't you excuse me? I should like to go.

Starting point is 00:31:55 I am not fit to remain. I want to return home, to hear from my husband, to learn by letter or telegram, whether he is indeed dead. Mr. Grice let her finish. An inquiry so unofficial might easily await the moods of such a witness. Not till the last word had been followed, by what some thereafter called a hungry silence, did he make use of his prerogative to say? I shall be pleased to release you, and will do so just as soon as I can.

Starting point is 00:32:29 But I must put one or two more questions. Were you interested in the Indian relics you had come among? did you handle any of them in passing no i had no interest i liked glass bronzes china i hate weapons i shall hate them eternally after this and she began the shudder the detective with a quick bend of his head approached her ear with a whispered remark i am told that when your attention was drawn to these weapons you fell on your knees and murmured something into the dead girl's ears How do you explain that? I was giving her a message to my husband. I felt, strange as it may seem to you, that they had fled the earth together.

Starting point is 00:33:17 I wanted him to know that I would be constant and other foolish things you will not wish me to repeat here. Is that all you wish to know? Mr. Grice bowed and cast a quizzical glance in the direction of the curator. Certainly for oddity, this case transcended any he had had in years. With this woman eliminated from the situation, what explanation was there for the curious death he was there to investigate?

Starting point is 00:33:49 As he was meditating how he could best convey to her the necessity of detaining her further, he heard a muttered exclamation from the young woman standing near her, and following the direction of her pointing finger, he saw that the strange silence which had fallen upon the room had a cause mrs taylor had fainted away in her chair end of chapter two book one chapter three of the mystery of the hasty arrow by anna catherine green this librivox recording is in the public domain i have something to show you mr gryce took advantage of the momentary disturbance to slip from the room he was followed by the curator who seemed more than ever anxious to talk you see mad as a march hare was his hurried exclamation as the door closed behind them i declare i do not know which i pity more her victim or herself the one is freed from all her troubles the other do you think we ought to have a doctor look after her shall i telephone not yet we have much to learn before taking any decided steps then as he caught the look of amazement with which this unexpected

Starting point is 00:35:17 suggestion of difficulties was met, he paused on his way to the stairhead to ask in a tentative way, peculiarly his own. Then you still think the girl died from the thrust given by this woman? Of course, what else is there to think? You saw where the arrow came from? You saw that the only bow, the place contained, was hanging high and unstrung upon the wall, and you are witness to this woman's irresponsible condition of mind. The sight of those arrows well within her reach, evidently aroused a homicidal mania, often latent in one of her highly emotional nature. And when this fresh young girl came by, the natural result followed. I only hope I shall not be called upon to face the poor child's parents. What can I say to them? What can anybody say?

Starting point is 00:36:12 yet, I do not see how we can be held responsible for so unprecedented attack as this, do you? Mr. Grice made no answer. He turned his back toward the stairhead and was wondering if this easy explanation of a tragedy so peculiar has to have no prototype in all the hundreds of cases he had been called upon to investigate in a long life of detective activity would satisfy all the other, person stand in the building. It was his present business to find out, to search and probe among the dozen or two

Starting point is 00:36:50 people he saw collected below, for the witness who had seen or had heard some slight thing as yet unrevealed, which would throw a different light upon this matter, for his mind, or shall we say, the almost unerring instinct of this ancient delver into human hearts, who would not accept without question this theory of sudden madness in one of Mrs. Taylor's appearance, strange and inexplicable as her conduct seemed, though it was quite among the possibilities that she had struck the fatal blow and in the manner mentioned. It was equally clear to his mind that she had not done it in an excess of frenzy. He knew a mad eye, and he knew a despairing one. Fantastic, as her story certainly was,

Starting point is 00:37:43 he found himself more ready to believe it than to accept any explanation of this crime, which ascribed its peculiar features to the irresponsibilities of lunacy. However, he kept his impressions to himself, and, in his anxiety to pursue his inquiries among the people below, was on the point of descending thither when he found his attention arrested

Starting point is 00:38:08 and that of the curators as well, by the sight of a young man hastening toward them through the Northern Gallery. The tragedy, as you will remember, had occurred in the Southern one. He was dressed in the uniform of the museum and moved so quickly and in such an evident flurry of spirits

Starting point is 00:38:28 that the detective instinctively asked, Who's that, one of your own men? Yes, that's Corey, our best informed and most trusted attendant, looks as if he had something to tell us. Well, Corey, what is it? He queried, as the man emerged upon the landing, where they stood.

Starting point is 00:38:49 Anything new? If there is, speak out plainly. Mr. Grice is anxious for all the evidence he can get. With an ingenuousness, rather pleasing, than otherwise to the man, thus presented to his notice, the young fellow stopped short and subjected the famous detective to a keen and close scrutiny before venturing to give the required information.

Starting point is 00:39:15 Was it because of the importance of what he had to communicate? It would seem so, from the suppressed excitement of his tone, as after his brief but exceedingly satisfactory survey, he jerked his finger over his shoulder in the direction from which he had come, with a short remark. I have something to show you." Something. Mr. Grice had been asking for this something only a moment before. We can imagine, then, the salarity, with which he followed this new guide into the one spot

Starting point is 00:39:48 of all others which possessed for him the greatest interest. For if by any chance the arrow, which had done such deadly work, had been sped from a bow instead of having been used as a dart, than it was from this gallery. and from no other quarter of the building that it had been so sped. Any proof of this could have but one effect on exonerating from all blame, the woman who had so impressed him. He had traversed the first section and had entered a second. When the curator joined him, together they passed into the third.

Starting point is 00:40:26 For those who have not visited this museum, a more detailed description of these galleries may be welcome. acting has a means of communication between the row of front rooms and those at the back they also serve to exhibit certain choice articles which call for little space and are of a nature more or less ornamental for this purpose they are divided into five sections connected by arches narrower but not less decorative than those which open in a direct row upon the court of these sections the middle one on either side is much larger than the rest otherwise they do not differ it was in the midst of this larger section that cori now stood awaiting their approach there had been show cases filled with rare exhibits in the two through which they had just passed but in this one there was nothing to be seen but a gorgeous hanging covering very nearly the whole wall flanked at either end by a pedestal, upholding a vase of inestimable value

Starting point is 00:41:37 and corresponding ugliness. A highly decorative arrangement, it is true, but in it what lay its interest for the criminal investigator? Corey was soon to show them. With a significant gesture toward the tapestry, he eagerly exclaimed, You see that? I've run by it several times

Starting point is 00:41:59 since the accident sent me flying all over the building at everybody's call. But only just now, when I had a moment to myself, did I remember the door hid behind it. It's a door we no longer use, and I'd no reason for thinking that it had anything to do with the killing of the young lady in the opposite gallery. But for all that, I felt it would do no harm to give it a look, and running from the front, where I happened to be,

Starting point is 00:42:28 I pulled out the tapestry and saw, But supposing I wait and let you see for yourselves, that will be better. Leaving them where they stood face to face with a great hanging, he made a dive for the pedestal, towering aloft at the farther end, and edging himself in behind it drew out the tapestry from the wall, calling on them as he did so to come and look behind it. The curator did not hesitate, he was there almost as soon as the young man himself but the detective was not so hasty with a thousand things in mind he stopped to peer along the gallery and down into the court before giving himself away to any prying eye

Starting point is 00:43:15 satisfied that he might make the desired move with impunity mr gryce was about to turn in the desired direction when struck by a new fact he again stopped short He had noticed how the heavy tapestry shivered under Corey's clutch. Had this been observed by anyone beside himself? If by chance some person wondering about the court had been looking up? But no, the few people gathered there, stood too far forward to see what was going on in this part of the gallery. And relieved from all further anxiety on this score, he joined Corey at the pedestal and had a word from him, succeeded in squeezing himself around it, into the small space they had left for him,

Starting point is 00:44:04 between the pushed-out hanging and the wall. An exclamation from the curator, who had only waited for his coming to take his first look, added zest to his own scrutiny. It would take something more than the sight of a well-known door, to give it such a tone of astonished discovery. What? Even he, with the accumulated surprises of years, to give wings to his imagination, did not succeed in guessing.

Starting point is 00:44:34 But when his eyes, once accustomed to the semi-darkness of the narrow space, which Corey had thus opened out before him, saw not the door but what lay within its recess. He acknowledged to himself that he should have guessed, and that a dozen years before he certainly would have done so. It was a bow, not like the one hanging high in the Apache exhibit, but yet a bow strong of make and strung for use. Here was a discovery, as important as it was unexpected, eliminating Mrs. Taylor at once from the case and raising it to a mystery of the first order. By dint of long custom, Mr. Grice succeeded in hiding his extreme satisfaction, but not the perplexity into which he was thrown by this complete change of base.

Starting point is 00:45:27 The curator appeared to be impressed in much the same way, and shook his head in a doubtful fashion when Corey asked him if he recognized a bow as belonging to the museum. I should have to see it nearer to answer that question with any sort of confidence, he demurred. For such glimpses as I can get of it from here, I should say that it has not been taken from any of our exhibits. I am sure it has not, muttered Corey.

Starting point is 00:45:58 Then with a side glance at Mr. Gricey at it. Shall I slip in behind and get it? The detective, thus appealed to, hesitated a moment. Then with any reverence, perhaps natural to the occasion, he inquired where this door, so conveniently hidden from the general view, led to. It was the curator who answered, To a twisting, breakneck staircase, opening directly into my office. But this door has not been used in years.

Starting point is 00:46:30 See? Here's the key to it on my own ring. There is no other. I lost the mate to it myself, not long after my installation here. The detective, working his way back around the pedestal, cast another glance up and down the gallery, and over into the court still no spying eye save that of the officer opposite we will leave the bow where it is for the present he decided a secret between us three and motioning for corrie to let the tapestry fall he stood watching it settle into place till it hung quite straight again with its one edge close to the wall and the other sweeping the floor had its weight been great enough

Starting point is 00:47:17 to push the bow back again into its former place close against the door yes no eye however trained would from any bulge in the heavy tapestry detect its presence there he could leave the spot without fear their secret would remain theirs until such time as they chose to disclose it as the three walked back the way they had come the curator glanced earnestly at the detective who seemed to have fallen into a kind of anxious dream Would it do to interrupt him with a question? Would he obtain a straight answer if he did? The old man moved heavily, but, now the fully alert curator, could not fail to see that it was with the heaviness of absorbed thought.

Starting point is 00:48:08 Dare he disturbed that thought? They had both reached the broad corridor, separating the two galleries at the western end, before he ventured to remark. This discovery alters matters, does it not? may I ask what you propose to do now, anything in which we can help you? The detective may have heard him, and he may not. At all events, he made no reply, though he continued to advance with a mechanical step, until he stood again at the top of

Starting point is 00:48:39 the marble steps leading down into the court. Here, some of the uncertainty, pervading his mind, seemed to leave him, though he still looked very old and very troubled, or so the curator thought as pausing there he allowed his glance to wonder from the marble recesses below to the galleries on either side of him and from these on to the seemingly empty spaces back of the high carved railing guarding the great well Would a younger man have served them better? It began to look so. Then without warning, and in a flash, as it were, the whole appearance of the octogenarian detective changed, and turning with a smile to the two men, so anxiously watching him, he exclaimed with an air of quiet triumph. I have it, follow and see how my plan works. Amazed, for he looked and moved like a little.

Starting point is 00:49:40 another man, a man in whom the almost extinguished spark of early genius had suddenly flared again into full blaze. They hastily joined him in anticipation of they knew not what. But their enthusiasm received a check when at the moment of descent Mr. Grice again turned back with a remark. I had forgotten. I have something to do first. If you will kindly see that the people down there, are kept from growing too impatient, I will soon join you with Mrs. Taylor, who must not be left on this floor after we had gone below. And with no further explanation for his purpose, he turned and proceeded without delay to

Starting point is 00:50:27 room B. End of Chapter 3. Book 1, Chapter 4 of The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording and is in the public domain. A Strategic Move. Part 1 He found the unhappy woman quite recovered from her fainting spell,

Starting point is 00:50:57 but still greatly depressed and not a little incoherent. He set himself to work to soothe her, for he had a request to make, which called for an intelligent answer. Relieved from all suspicion of her having been an active agent in the deplorable deed he was here to investigate, he was lavish in his promise of speedy release, and seeing how much this steadied her, he turned to Mr. Roberts, who was still in the room,

Starting point is 00:51:28 and then to the young lady who had been giving her a woman's care, and signified that their attentions were no longer required, and that he would be glad to have them join the people below. When the door had closed and Mr. Grice found himself, For the first time alone with Mrs. Taylor, he drew up a chair to her side and remarked in his old benevolent way. I feel guilty of cruelty, madam. In repeating a question, you have already answered, but the conditions are such that I must, and do it now. When this young lady fell so unexpectedly at your feet was your first look at her or at the opposite gallery.

Starting point is 00:52:11 For an instant her eyes held his, something which did not often happen to him. At her, she vehemently declared, I never thought of looking anywhere else. I saw her at my feet and fell on my knees at her side. Who wouldn't have done so? Who would have seen anything but that arrow, that arrow? Oh, it was terrible. Do not make me recall it. I have sorrows enough.

Starting point is 00:52:38 Mrs. Taylor, you have my utmost sympathy, but you must realize how important it is for me to make sure that you saw nothing in the place from which that arrow was sent, which would help us to locate the author of this accident. The flitting of an escaping figure up or down the opposite gallery, even a stir in the great tapestry confronting you from that far-away wall, might give us a clue. I saw nothing, she replied coldly, but with extreme firmness, nothing but that lifeless child, and the picture of desolation which rose in my own mind. Do not, I pray, make me speak again of that. It would sound like delirium, and it is my wish to impress you with my sanity so that you will allow me to go home. You shall go, after the coroner has had an honest.

Starting point is 00:53:37 opportunity to see you. We expect him at any moment. Meanwhile, you will facilitate your release and greatly help us in what we have to do, if you will carry your fortitude to the point of showing me in your own person just where you were standing when this young girl dashed by you to her death. Do you mean for me to go back to that, that? Yes, Mrs. Taylor, surely you can do so, if you will. when you have time to think you will be as anxious as ourselves to know through whose carelessness, to call it nothing worse, this child came to her death. Though it may prove to be quite immaterial, whether you stood in one place or another at that fatal moment, it is a question which will be sure to come up at the inquest.

Starting point is 00:54:29 That you may be able to answer correctly, I urge you to return with me to the exact spot, before your recollection of the same has had time to fade. After that, we will go below, and I will see that you are taken to some quiet place where you can remain undisturbed till the coroner comes. Had she been a weak woman, she would have succumbed again at this, but she was a strong one,

Starting point is 00:54:57 and after the first moment of recoil, she rose tremulously to her feet and signified her willingness to follow him to the scene of death. Is, is she there alone? Was her sole question, as they crossed the corridor separating the room they had been in from the galleries. No, you will find an officer there. We could not leave the place quite unguarded. If she shuddered, he did not observe it.

Starting point is 00:55:28 Having summoned up all her forces to meet this ordeal, she followed him without further word, and re-entering the spot she had so lately left in great agony of mind stopped for one look, and for one look only, at the sweet face of the dead girl smiling up at her from the cold floor. Then she had showed Mr. Grice as nearly as she could, just where she had paused in shock and horror, when the poor child, smitten by the fatal arrow,

Starting point is 00:55:58 fell back almost into her arms. the detective with a glance at the opposite gallery turned and spoke to the officer who had stepped aside into the neighboring section take the place just occupied by this lady he said and hold it till you hear from me again then offering his arm to mrs taylor he led her out i see that you were approaching the railing overlooking the court when you were stopped in this fearful manner he remarked when well down the gallery toward its lower exit what did you have in mind a nearer glimpse of the tapestry over there in the two great vases no no she was wrought up by now to attention almost unendurable it was the court what i might see in the court oh she impulsively cried the child the child that innocent beautiful child and breaking away from his arm she threw herself against the wall in a burst of uncontrollable weeping he allowed her a moment of unrestrained grief then he took her on his arm and again led her down into the court where he gave her into the charge of cori he had gone as far as he dared in her present hysterical condition besides he could no longer defer the great experiment by means of the way of the moment of the moment by means of the very far as he dared by means of her present hysterical condition besides he could no longer defer the great experiment by means of the by means of which he hoped to reach the heart of this mystery taking the slip of paper handed him by sweetwater he crossed to the court where the various visitors detained

Starting point is 00:57:39 some against their will and some quite in accordance with it stood about in groups or sat side by side on the long benches placed along the front for their comfort as he confronted them his face beamed with that benevolent smile which had done so much for him in days gone by raising his hand he called attention to himself then when he was quite sure of being heard by them all he addressed them with a quiet emphasis which could not fail to gain and hold their attention i am detective gryce sent here from police headquarters to look into this very serious matter till the coroner arrives i am the authority here and being so will have to ask your indulgence for any discomfort you may experience in helping me with my investigation a young girl full of life an hour ago lies dead in the gallery above we do not know her name we do not know who killed her but there is some one here who does the man or woman who wittingly or unwittingly Launch that fatal shaft is present with us in this building. This person has not spoken. If he will do so now, he will save us and himself, too, no end of trouble.

Starting point is 00:59:08 Let him speak, then. I will give him five minutes in which to make this acknowledgement. Five minutes, if that man is wise, or can it be a woman? He will not keep us waiting. Silence. heads moving, eyes peering, excitement visible in every face, but not a word from anybody.

Starting point is 00:59:31 Mr. Grice turned and pointed up at the clock. All looked, but still, no word from man or woman. One minute gone. Two minutes. Three. The silence had become portentious. The movement, involuntary and simultaneous, which had run through the crowd

Starting point is 00:59:52 at first had stopped. They were waiting, each and all, waiting with eyes on the minute-hand, creeping forward over the dial, toward which the detective's glance was still turned. The fourth minute passed, and then the fifth, and no one had spoken. With a sigh, Mr. Grice wheeled himself back

Starting point is 01:00:15 and faced the crowd again. You see, he quietly announced, the case is serious, twenty-two of you and not one to speak the half-dozen words which would release the rest from their present embarrassing position what remains for us to do under circumstances like these my experience suggests but one course to narrow down this inquiry to those you will not find them many who from their nearness to the place of tragedy or from some other cause equally pertinent may be looked upon as possible witnesses for the coroner's jury this may be done speedily and surely i'm going to ask you every one of you to retake the exact place in the building which you were occupying when you heard the first alarm i will begin with the curator himself mr jewett would you be so good as a return to the room and if possible to the precise spot you were occupying when you first learned what had occurred here the curator who stood at his elbow made a quick bow and turned in the direction of the marble steps which he hastily remounted a murmur from the crowd followed this action and continued till he disappeared

Starting point is 01:01:40 in the recesses of the right-hand gallery. Then at a jester from Mr. Grice it suddenly ceased, and with a breastless interest easy to comprehend, they, one and all, waited for his next word. It was a simple one. We are all obliged to Mr. Jewett for his speedy compliance with so unusual a request.

Starting point is 01:02:04 He has made my task a comparatively easy one. Then glancing at him, at the lists of names and addresses, which had been compiled for him by Sweetwater, he added, I will read off your names as recorded here. If each person, on hearing his own, will move quickly to his place and remain there, to my young man, can make a note of the same, we shall get through this matter in short order, and let me add, as he perceived here and there, a shoulder shrugged, or an eye turned, askance, that once the name is called, no excuse of non-recollection will be accepted.

Starting point is 01:02:45 You must know every one of you, just where you were standing, when the cry of death rang out, and any attempt to mislead me or others in this matter will only subject the person making it to a suspicion he must wish to avoid. Remember that there are enough persons here for no one to be sure that his whereabouts that so exciting a moment escape. notice. Listen, then, and when your own name is spoken, step quickly into place, whether that place beyond this floor, or in the rooms or galleries above. Mrs. Alice Lee. You can imagine the flurry, the excitement, and the blank looks of the average men and women

Starting point is 01:03:30 he addressed, but no one hesitated to obey. Mrs. Lee was on the farther side of one of the statues, before her name had more than left his lips. Her example set the pace for those who followed. Like soldiers at roll call, each one responded to the summons, going now in one direction and now in another, until on reaching the proper spot he or she stopped. Only six persons followed the curator upstairs, an old woman who shook her head violently as she plodded slowly up the marble steps,

Starting point is 01:04:11 Corey, a man with a packet of books under his arm, the same who had been studying coins in Section 2, a young couple whose movements showed such a marked reluctance that more than one eye followed them as they went hesitatingly up, clinging together with interlocking hands, and stopping now on one step and now on another to stare at each other invisible consternation. And a boy of fourteen, who grinned from ear to ear as he bounded gaily up three steps at a time, and took his position on the threshold of one of the upper doors,

Starting point is 01:04:51 with all the precision of a soldier called to sentry duty, a Boy Scout, if ever there was one. There were twenty-two names on the list, and with the calling out of the twenty-second, Mr. Grice perceived the space before him entirely cleared of its odd assortment of people. As he turned to take a look at the result, a gleam of satisfaction crossed his time-worn face.

Starting point is 01:05:19 By this scheme, which he may be pardoned for looking upon as a stroke of genius, worthy of his brilliant prime, he had set back time a full hour, restoring as if by magician's wand the conditions of that fatal moment of initial alarm. Surely with the knowledge of that hidden bow in his mind, he should be able now to place his hand upon the person who had made use of it to launch the fatal arrow. No one, however sly of foot and quick of action,

Starting point is 01:05:53 could have gone far from the gallery where the bow lay in the few minutes which were all that could have elapsed between the shooting of the arrow and the gasping cry which had brought all within hearing to the Apache section. The man or woman whom he should find nearest to that concealed door

Starting point is 01:06:14 in the northern gallery would have to give a very good account of himself. Not even the curator would escape suspicion under those circumstances. However, it is only fair to add that Mr. Grice had no fear of any such embarrassing end to his inquisition as that. He had noticed the young couple who had betrayed their alarm so ingenuously to every eye

Starting point is 01:06:41 and had already decided within himself that the man was just such a fool, as might in a moment of acuity, pick up a bow and arrow to test his skill at a given mark. Such things had been, and such results had followed. The man was a gawk, and the woman a ninny. A few questions, and their guiltiness would appear, that is, if they should be found near enough to tapestry, to warrant his suspicion. If not, the alternative held an interest all its own,

Starting point is 01:07:17 and sent him in haste toward the stairway. To reach it, Mr. Grice had to pass several persons, standing where fate had fixed them among the statuary grouped about the court, and had his attention been less engrossed by what he expected to discover above, he would have been deeply interested in noting how these persons, or most of them at least,

Starting point is 01:07:43 had so thoroughly accepted the situation that they had taken the exact position and the exact attitude of a moment preceding the alarm. Those who were admiring the grower, great torsos or carved chariots of the ancients made a show of admiring them still. The man or woman who had been going in an easterly direction, faced east, and those who had been on the point of entering certain rooms, stood haltingly in the doorways with their backs

Starting point is 01:08:15 to the court. Unfortunately, he did not take note of all this, or give the poor pawns thus parading for his purpose more than a cursory glance. When he did think, which was when he was halfway up the staircase, it was to look back upon a changed scene. For with his going, interest had flagged, and the tableau lost its pointedness. No one had ventured as yet to leave his place, but all had turned their faces his way, and on many of these faces could be seen signs of fatigue, if if not absolute impatience he had ordered them to stand and they had stood but to be left there while he went above was certainly trying the one spot which held the interest was in the southern gallery if they could only follow him there all this was to be seen in their faces and possibly the cunning old man read it there but if he did it was to ask himself if their conclusions were quite well as to ask himself if their conclusions were quite

Starting point is 01:09:24 correct. The locale of interest had shifted in the last half-hour, and while most of these people believed him to be searching for the witness who could tell him what had occurred in the death gallery, he really was hunting for one who could add to his knowledge of what had happened in the opposite one, and this witness might not be found in the gallery or even on the upper floor. It was well among the probability. that there might be among the various persons he saw posing in the court below. Some who by an upward look might take in a part, or if not the whole, broad sweep of that huge square of tapestry upon which his thoughts were centered.

Starting point is 01:10:13 It was for him to make a note of these persons. A diagram of a court, as it looked to him at that moment, is shown for your enlightenment. 1. Ephraim Short. 2. Mrs. Lynch. 3. Director Roberts. 4. Dorman. 5. Copiast. 6.

Starting point is 01:10:34 Mrs. Alice Lee. 7. 8. Mr. and Mrs. Draper. 9. Mr. Coyt. 10. Mr. Simpson. 11. Professor Turnbull.

Starting point is 01:10:46 12. 2. Doorman. 13. Ms. Hunsicker. 14 attended. Fifteen, Miss Blake. Sixteen, officer. Sixteen persons. Ten in view from the steps and six not.

Starting point is 01:11:04 Of the sixteen, only the following seemed to afford any excuse for future interrogation. Numbers 2, 6, 10, 7, 8, and 13. Making a mental note of these during which operation, the poor unfortunates, who had just been considering themselves, as quite out of the game, revived in a startling manner under his eye. He proceeded on his way. End of Chapter 4, Part 1. Book 1, Chapter 4 of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green.

Starting point is 01:11:51 This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Strategic Move, Part 2. As the action had now shifted to the upper floor, a diagram of the second story is now in order. As you will see, a straight glimpse is given, down either gallery, from the arches opening into the broad corridor into which Mr. Grice had stepped on leaving the central staircase.

Starting point is 01:12:21 He had, therefore, only to choose which of the two would better repay his immediate investigation. He decided on the Northern One, which, you will remember, was the one holding the tapestry, since to find anybody there, no matter whom, would certainly settle the identity

Starting point is 01:12:41 of the person responsible for that flying arrow. For, as all conceded, too little time had elapsed, between its delivery and the discovery of the victim, for the quickest possible attempt at escape to have carried the concealer of the bow very far from the spot where he had thrown it. It was possible, just possible, that he might got as far as one of the four large rooms opening into the corridor, stretching across the front, but that he was not in the gallery itself.

Starting point is 01:13:17 Mr. Grice soon convinced himself by a rapid walk through its entire length. that he did not follow up this move by an immediate searching of the rooms i have mentioned was owing to a wish he had to satisfy himself on another point first what was this point in passing along the rear on his way to this gallery he had noticed the narrow staircase opening not a dozen feet away to his left this undoubtedly led down to the side entrance if by any chance if by any chance the user of the bow had fled to the rear instead of to the front he would be found somewhere on the staircase for he never could have gotten to the bottom before the cry of close the doors let no man out rendered his chance of immediate exit unavailable so mr gryce retraced his steps and barely stopping to note the boy eyeing him with eager glances from the doorway of room a he approached the iron balustrade guarding the small staircase and cautiously looked over a man was there a man going down not coming up and this man as he soon saw from his face in uniform was cori the attendant so that is where you were he called down as he beckoned the man up as near as i can remember i was on my way in search of mr jewett for whom i had a message and had got as far as you saw me when i heard a cry of pain from somewhere in the gallery this naturally quickened my steps and i was up and on this floor in a jiffy did you notice as you stepped from the landing

Starting point is 01:15:11 Whether the boy staring at us from the doorway over there was facing just as we see him now. He was. I remember his attitude perfectly. Coming out of the door, not going in? Sure, he was on the run. He had heard the cry, too. And followed you into the gallery? Proceeded me.

Starting point is 01:15:35 He was on the scene almost as soon as the man who stepped in from the adjoining section. I see, and this man? Was well within my view from the minute I entered the first arch. He seemed the more bewildered than frightened, till he had passed the communicating arch and nearly stumbled over the body of the girl, shot down almost at his elbow. And yourself?

Starting point is 01:16:02 I knew by his look that something dreadful had happened, and when I saw what it was, I didn't think of anything better to do, than to order the doors shut. On your own initiative, where was the curator? Not far, it seems, but he gets awfully absorbed in whatever he is doing, and there was no time to lose.

Starting point is 01:16:26 Someone had shot that arrow and someone who might escape. Mr. Grice never allowed himself, or very rarely, to look at anyone full and square in the face, yet he always seemed to form an instant opinion of whomever he talked with. Perhaps he had already gauged this man, and not unfavorably, for he showed not the slightest distrust, as he remarked, quite frankly. You must have had some suspicion of foul play even then, to act in so expeditious a manner. I don't know what my suspicions were.

Starting point is 01:17:03 I simply followed my first impulse. I don't think it was a bad one, do you, sir? Far from it. But enough of that. Do you think? Here he drew Corey into the gallery out of earshot of the boy who was watching them, with all the curiosity of his fourteen years. That this lad could have stolen from where we are standing now,

Starting point is 01:17:29 to the door where you first saw him, during the time you were making your rush up the stairs. boys of his age are mighty quick, and— I know it, sir, and I see what you mean, but even if he had been able to do this, which I very much doubt, no boy of his age could have strung that bow, or had he found it strung, have shot an arrow from it with force enough to kill. Only a hand accustomed to its use could handle a bow like that with any success.

Starting point is 01:18:02 You know the bow then? Saw it nearer than you said, possibly handled it? No, sir, but I know it's kind and have handled many of them. In this building? Yes, sir. And in other museums where I have been. I have arranged and rearranged Indian exhibits for years. Then you think that the bow we saw behind the tapestry is an Indian one?

Starting point is 01:18:30 without question. The detective nodded and left him. One word with the boy, and he would feel free to go elsewhere. It proved to be an amusing one. The boy, for all his enthusiasm as a scout, proved to be so hungry that he was actually doleful. More than that, he had a ticket for the afternoon's ballgame in his pocket and feared that he would not be let out in time to see it.

Starting point is 01:19:00 he therefore was quick with his answers which certainly were ingenuous enough he had been looking at the model of a ship which could be seen through an open door when he heard a woman cry out as if hurt from somewhere down the gallery he was running to see what it meant when a man came along who seemed in as great a hurry as himself but he got there first and so on and on corroborating corrie's story in every particular he was so honest mr gryce had been at great pains to trip him up in one of his statements and had openly failed and yet so anxious for the detective to notice the ticket to the ball game which he held in one hand that the old man took pity on him and calling an officer ordered him to let the boy out a concession to youth and innocence he was almost ready to regret when a woman of uncertain years an irate mean attacked him from the doorway he had just left with a loud remark if you let him go you can let me go too i was in this room at the same time he was and know no more about what happened over there than the dead i have an appointment downtown of great importance i shall miss it if you don't let me go at once it is of greater importance that the right which this dead girl's friends have to know by whose careless hand the arrow killing her was shot and without waiting for a reply which was not readily forthcoming mr gryce handed her over to corrie with an injunction to see that she was given a comfortable seat below

Starting point is 01:20:54 and proceeded to finish up this portion of the building by a search through the three great rooms extending along the rear he found them all empty and without a clue of any kind and satisfied that his real work lay in front he returned thither and with as much expedition as old age and rheumatism would admit why in doing so he went for the third time through the gallery instead of through rooms j h and i he did not stop to inquire though afterward he asked the question of himself more than once had he taken this latter course he might not have missed but that will come later what we have to do now is to accompany him to the front of the building where matters of importance undoubtedly await him had he noted in his previous passage to and fro that the young man who had been nearest to the tragedy was in his place before the cases of coins in section one this time he noted something more the young man was in the selfsame spot but during this brief interval of waiting the passion he evidently cherished for numismatics had reasserted itself and he now stood with his eyes in his eyes He bent as eagerly upon the display of coins over which he hung, as if no shaft of death had crossed the space without, and no young body lay in piteous quiet beyond the separating partition. It was an exhibition of one of the most curious traits of human nature, and Mr. Grice would undoubtedly have expended a few cynical thoughts upon it, if upon entering the

Starting point is 01:22:51 the broad front corridor, which he had hitherto avoided, he had not run upon Sweetwater, pointing in a meaning way, toward two huge cases, which stacked with medieval arms, occupied one of the corners. Odd couple over there, he whispered, as the older detective paused to listen. Been watching them for the last five minutes. They pretend to be looking at some old armor, but they are mighty uneasy, and just keep glancing up at the window overhead as if they would like to jump out. Mr. Grice indulged in one of his characteristic exclamations. This was the couple whose queer actions he had noticed on the staircase.

Starting point is 01:23:38 I'll have a talk with them presently. Anyone in the room's opposite? Yes, the curator. He's in room A, where there are a lot of ingressions. cravings waiting to be hung. I guess he was pretty well up to his neck in business when that fellow Corey set up his shout. And have you noticed that he's a bit deaf,

Starting point is 01:24:01 which is the reason, perhaps, why he was not sooner on the scene? No, I hadn't noticed. Anyone else at this end? Only the young couple I speak of. Mr. Grice gave them a second look. They were by many paces. farther from the pedestal from behind,

Starting point is 01:24:22 which the bow had been flung back of the tapestry, than would quite fit in with the theory he had formed, and by means of which he hoped to single out the person who had sent this deadly arrow. But then, under the stress of fear, people can move very swiftly, and besides, what guaranteed did he have that these poor frightened creatures

Starting point is 01:24:47 had located themselves with all the honesty the occasion demanded. According to Sweetwater, there was nobody sufficiently near to notice where they had been at the critical instant, or where they were now. The student's back was toward them, and the curator, quite out of sight, behind a close-shut door. With his doubt in his mind, Mr. Grice started to approach, approached the couple, as he did so he observed another curious fact concerning them. They were neither of them in the place natural to people, interested in the contents of the

Starting point is 01:25:30 great cases which they had crossed the hall to examine. Instead of standing, where a full view of these cases could be had, they had withdrawn so far behind them that they presented the appearance of persons in hiding. as he drew nearer, and noted their youth and country-fied appearance, Mr. Grice was careful to assume his most benign deportment, so as to modulate his voice, as to call up the pink into the young woman's cheek, and the deep red into the man's.

Starting point is 01:26:07 What Mr. Grice said was this. You are interested, I see, in this show of old armor. I don't wonder. It is very curious. Is this your first visit to the museum?' The man nodded. The woman lowered her head. Both were self-conscious to a point, painful to see.

Starting point is 01:26:28 It is a pity your first visit should be spoiled by anything so dreadful as the accidental death of this young girl. It seems to have frightened you both very much. Yes, muttered the man. We never saw anybody hurt before. Did you know the young lady? Oh no, oh no, they both hastened,

Starting point is 01:26:51 to cry out in a confused jumble, after which the man added, We're from up the river, we don't know anybody in this big town. As he spoke, he began the edge away from the wall, the girl following. Wait, smiled the detective. You were getting out of place.

Starting point is 01:27:12 You were looking at the armor, when you first heard the hubbub over there. Both were silent. What were you looking at? I was looking at her, and her was looking at me, stammered the man. We were. We were talking together here. We didn't notice.

Starting point is 01:27:31 Just married, huh? Yesterday noon, sir. How, how did you know? I didn't know. I only guessed, and I think I can guess something else. What you're really? reason was for stealing into this dark corner. It was the man who now looked down, and the woman who looked up, in a pinch of this kind, it is the woman who is the more courageous.

Starting point is 01:27:59 He was a kissing of me, sir, she whispered, in a frank but shamefaced way. There was no harm in that, was there? We're so fond of one another, and how could we know that anyone was dying so near? no there was no harm mr gryce reluctantly admitted caught in an absurdity amusing enough in its way he would certainly under less strenuous circumstances have rather enjoyed his own humiliation but the occasion was too serious and his part in it too pronounced for him to take any pleasure in this misadventure in the prosecution of so daring a scheme for locating witnesses if not of discovering the actual user of the bow it would not do to fail he must find the man he sought if the curator but one glance into the room where that gentleman stood amid a litter of prince satisfied him that sweetwater was right as to the impossibility of getting any information from this quarter nor could he hope remembering what he himself had seen that he would succeed any better with the last person now remaining on this floor the young man busy with the coins in number one that he was to be so fortunate as to lay an immediate hand on the person who had shot the fatal arrow was no longer regarded by him as among the possibilities

Starting point is 01:29:38 whoever this person was he had found a way of escape which rendered him for the time being safe from discovery but there was another possible miscalculation which he felt it his duty to recognize before he proceeded further in his difficult task the bow found back of the tapestry had every appearance of being the one used for the delivery of the arrow but was it might it not in some strange and unaccountable way have been flung there previous to the present event and by some hand no longer in the building such coincidences have been known and while as a rule this old and experienced detective put little confidence in coincidences of any kind he had but one thought in mind in approaching this final witness which was to get from him some acknowledgment of having seen on or about the time of the accident a movement in the tapestry behind which the bow lay concealed if once this fact could be established there could be no further question as to the direct connection between the bow there found and the present crime but mr gryce might have spared his pains so far as to the direct connection between the bow there found and the present crime but mr gryce might have spared his pains so far as this young man was concerned he had been so engrossed in his search for a particularly rare coin that he had had no eyes for anything beyond besides he was abnormally near-sighted not being able even with his glasses to distinguish faces at any distance much less a movement in a piece of tapestry

Starting point is 01:31:30 all of this was discouraging even if anticipated but there were still the people below some one of whom might have seen what this man had not he would go down to them now but by a course which would incidentally enlighten him in regard to another matter about which he had some doubts in his goings to and fro through the hall he had passed the open door of room h and noted how easily a direct flight could be made through it and rooms i and jay to the small staircase running down at the rear whether or not this explained the absence of any one on this floor who by the utmost stretch of imagination could be held responsible for the accident which had occurred there he felt it incumbent upon him to see in how short a time the escape he still believed in could be made through these rooms. Timing his steps from the pedestal nearest this end, he found that even at his slow pace, it took but three minutes for him to reach the arcade,

Starting point is 01:32:43 leading into the court from the foot of the staircase. A man conscious of wrong and eager to escape would do it unless, and if, as possibly happened, he had the weight in the doorway of Room J, till Corey and the boy had cleared the way for him by their joint run into the farther gallery. He would still have time to be well on his way to the lower floor before the cry went up, which shut off all further egress.

Starting point is 01:33:15 Relieved, if not contented with the prospect, this gave of a new clue to his problem. He re-entered the court and was preparing to renew his investigation, when the arrival of the coroner put a temporary end to his efforts, as well as to the impatience of the so-called pawns, who are now allowed, one and all, to leave their posts. End of Part 2 of Chapter 4.

Starting point is 01:33:52 Book 1, Chapter 5, of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. main. Three where two should be. It was a good half-hour before Mr. Grice again found himself in a position to pursue the line of investigation thus summarily interrupted. The condition of Mrs. Taylor, which had not been improved by delay, demanded attention, and it was with a sense of great relief that Mr. Grice finally saw her put into a taxi. Her hurried examination by corner price had elicited nothing new. And, of all who had noticed her distraught air on leaving the building, there was not one, if we accept the detective, but felt convinced that if she had

Starting point is 01:34:47 not been of unsound mind previous to this accident, she certainly had become so since. He still held to hysterie that her story, fantastic and out of character as it seemed, was true in all its essentials, and that it was the warning she believed herself to have received of her husband's death rather than what had taken place under her eyes, which had caused her such extreme suffering, and temporarily laid her reason low. With the full approbation of the coroner, to whom he had explained his idea, Mr. Grice began the sifting process by which he hoped to discover. the one witness he wanted.

Starting point is 01:35:32 To subject to further durrance such persons, as from their positions at the moment of tragedy, could have no information to give bearing in any way upon their investigation, was manifestly unfair. The old woman who had been found in room A was of this class, and accordingly, was allowed to go,

Starting point is 01:35:54 together with such others as had been within twenty feet or more of the main entrance. These eliminated. It was curious to see how loath these few chosens were to depart now that the opportunity was given them. Mr. Grice settled down to business by asking Mrs. Lynch to come forward. She, as you will see by consulting the chart, answered to the person marked two, a little dried-up, eager woman, rose from the bench on which were collected the few people still remaining, and met his inquiring look with a nervous smile. She, of all the persons moving about on the main floor at the moment of alarm,

Starting point is 01:36:38 had been in the best position for seeing the flight of the arrow and the fall of the victim in Section 2. Had she seen them? The continued jiggling of the small, wiry curls, hanging out from either side of her old-fashioned bonnet, would seem to betray an inner perturbation indicative of some hitherto suppressed information. At all events, Mr. Grice allowed himself this hope,

Starting point is 01:37:07 and was most bland and encouraging in his manner as he showed her the place which had been assigned her on the chart drawn up by Sweetwater, and asked if the position given her was correct. Perhaps a ready reply was too much to expect. Women of her stamp, not knowing as a rule, very much about charts. But when he saw her hasten to the very spot assigned her by Sweetwater,

Starting point is 01:37:34 he took heart, and with a suggestive glance, at the gallery intimated that he would be very glad to hear what she had seen there. Her surprise was evident, much too evident for his satisfaction. The little curls about more than ever, and her cheeks grew quite pink, as she answered hastily. I didn't see anything. I wasn't looking. Did you think I saw anything? I hoped you had, he smiled. If your eyes had chanced to be turned toward that end of the gallery. But I was going the other way. My back was to it, not my face, like this. And wheeling herself about, she showed him that she had been walking toward the rear of the building, rather than advancing toward the front.

Starting point is 01:38:21 His disappointment was great, but it would have been greater if he had not realized that under these conditions she was in the precise position to meet face-to-face any person emerging into the court from the foot of the small staircase. If she could tell him of having seen any such person and closely enough to be able to give a description of this person's appearance, then she might prove to be his prime witness after all. but she could not satisfy him on this point she had been on her way out and was too busy searching in her bag for her umbrella check to notice whether there were people about her or not she had not found it when the great shout came and then oh then she was so frightened and so shocked that everything swam before her eyes and she nearly fell her heart was not a strong one and sometimes missed a beat or two and she thought it must have done so then, for when her head steadied again she found herself

Starting point is 01:39:28 clinging to the balustrade of the great staircase. Then you have nothing whatever to add to what the others have told? Her no, if a shaky one, was decisive, and seeing no reason for detaining her further, he gave her permission to depart. Disturbed in his calculations but not disheartened, Mr. Grice next proceeded to interrogate the doorman at this end of the building. From his position, facing as he did the approach from the small staircase, he should be able to say if the old lady could not, whether anyone had crossed the open strip of court

Starting point is 01:40:09 toward what she had been advancing. But Mr. Grice found him no more clear-headed on this point than she. He was the oldest man connected with the museum. and had been very much shaken up by what had occurred. Really, he could not say whether anyone had passed across his line of vision at that time or not. All he could be sure of was that no attempt had been made by anyone to reach the door after he had been bidden to close it. So this clue ended like the rest in no thoroughfare.

Starting point is 01:40:46 Would he have any better luck with the subject of his next inquiry? the young lady tabulated as number thirteen was where she could have seen the upper edge of the tapestry shake if she had been looking that way but she was not she was also going from instead of toward the point of interest in other words entering and not leaving the room on whose threshold she stood only two men were left from whom he could hope to obtain the important testimony he was so anxiously seeking numbers ten and eleven. He had turned back toward the bench where they should be waiting his attention, and was debating whether he would gain more by attacking them singly or together, when he suddenly became aware of a fact which drove all these small considerations out of his mind. According to every calculation and according to the chart, there should only be these

Starting point is 01:41:45 two men on that bench. But he saw three. who was his third man, and where had he come from? End of Chapter 5. Book 1, Chapter 6 of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow, by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. The Man in the Gallery Beckoning to Sweetwater, Mr. Grice pointed out this extra man

Starting point is 01:42:20 and asked him if he recognized him as one of the twenty-two he had tabulated. The answer was a vigorous no. It's a new face to me. He must have dropped from the roof or come up through the flooring. He certainly wasn't anywhere about when I made out my list. He looks a trifle-hipped, huh? Troubled. Decidedly troubled. You might go a little further and say done up.

Starting point is 01:42:49 good-looking, though, appears to be a foreign birth. English, I should say, and just over. English, without a doubt. I'll go speak to him, you wait here, but watch out for the coroner and send him my way as soon as he's at leisure. Then he approached the bench, and observing, with the keenness

Starting point is 01:43:13 which he observed everything without a direct look, that with each step he took, the stranger's confusion increased. He decided to wait till after he had finished with the others before he entered upon an inquiry, which might prove not only lengthy, but of the first importance. He was soon very glad that he had done this.

Starting point is 01:43:36 He got nothing from Mr. Simpson, but the questions put to Mr. Turnbull were more productive. Almost at the first word, this gentleman acknowledged, that he had seen a movement in the great square of tapestry to which Mr. Grice drew his attention. He did not know when or just where he stood at the time, but he certainly had noticed it shake. Can you describe the movement? asked the gratified detective.

Starting point is 01:44:04 It swayed out. As if blown by some wind? No, more as if pushed forward by a steady hand. Good, and what then? It settled back, almost without a quiver. Instantly? No, not instantly. A moment or two passed, before it fell back into place.

Starting point is 01:44:27 This was before the attendant, Corey, called out his alarm, of course. Yes, of course, it was before. But how long before he couldn't say? A minute, two minutes, five minutes. How could he tell? He had no watch in hand. Mr. Grice thought possibly he might assist the man's memory on this point, but forbore to do so at the time. It was enough for his present purpose that the necessary link to the establishment of his theory had been found.

Starting point is 01:45:00 No more doubt now that the bow, lying in the niche of the doorway overhead, had been the one made use of in this desperate tragedy, and the way thus cleared for him he could confidently proceed in his search for the man who had flung it there. He believed him to be within his reach at that very moment, but his countenance gave no index to his thought, as re-approaching the young man, now sitting all alone on the bench, he halted before him, and pleasantly inquired, Do I see you for the first time? I thought we had listed the name of every person. in the building. How is it that we did not get yours?'

Starting point is 01:45:44 The tide of color which instantly flooded the young man's countenance, astonished Mr. Grice, both by its warmth and fullness. If he were as thin-skinned as this betokened, one should experience but little difficulty in reaching the heart of his trouble. With an air of quiet interest, Mr. Grice sat down by the young man's side. Would this display of friendliness have the effect of restoring some of his self-possession and giving him the confidence he evidently lacked? No, the red fled from his cheek, and a ghastly white took its place, but he showed no other change. Meanwhile, the detective studied his countenance.

Starting point is 01:46:31 It was a good one, but just now so distorted by suffering, that only such as were familiar. with his every look, could read his character from his present expression. Would a more direct question rouse him, possibly? At all events, Mr. Grice decided to make the experiment. Will you give me your name, he asked, your name and residence? The man he addressed gave a quick start, pulled himself together, and made an attempt to reply. My name is Travis. I am an English. just off the steamer from Southampton. My home is in the county of Hertfordshire. I have no residence here.

Starting point is 01:47:18 Your hotel, then. Another flush, then quickly. I have not yet chosen one. This was too surprising for belief. A stranger in town without rooms or hotel accommodations, making use of the morning hours to visit a museum. You must be very much interesting. interested in art, observed his inquisitor, a little dryly.

Starting point is 01:47:44 Again that flush, and again the quick, recurring pallor. I, I am interested in all things beautiful, he replied at last, in broken tones. I see. May I ask where you were, when that arrow flew which killed a young lady visitor? Not in this part of the court, I take it. Mr. Travis gave a quick shudder, and that was all. the detective waited but no other answer came i am told that as she fell she uttered one cry did you hear it mr travis it wasn't a cry was as quick reply it was something quite different but dreadful dreadful mr gryce's manner changed then you did hear it you were near enough to distinguish between a scream and a gasp where were you and why weren't you seen by my man when he went through the building i was kneeling out of sight too shocked to move but i grew tired of that and wanted to go but on reaching the court i found the doors closed so i came here

Starting point is 01:48:55 kneeling where were you kneeling he made a quick gesture in the direction of the galleries the detective frowned perhaps to hide his secret satisfaction won't you be a little bit more definite he asked then as the man continued to hesitate he added but as yet without any appreciable loss of kindliness every other person here has been good enough to show us the exact place he was occupying at that serious moment i must ask you to do the same it is only just was the look he called up one of fear or simple repugnance it might be either but the detective was disposed to considerate fear will you leave the way he pursued i shall be glad to follow a glance of extreme reproach then these words uttered with painful intensity you want me to go back there where i saw where i can see again i cannot i'm not well i suffer you will excuse me you will allow me to say what i have to say here i'm sorry but i cannot do that the others have gone without question to their places why should not you because the word came brokenly and was followed by silence then seeing the hopelessness of contending with police authority he cast another glance of strong repulsion in the direction of the gallery and started to his feet mr gryce did the same and together they crossed the court but they got no further at this time than the foot of the staircase coroner price by an extra effort which seemed to be called for by the circumstances

Starting point is 01:50:52 had succeeded in picking up a jury from the people collected on the street and entering at this moment created a diversion which effectively postponed the detective's examination of his new witness when the opportunity came for resuming it so much time had elapsed that mr gryce looked for some decided change in the manner or bearing of the man who unfortunately for his purposes had thus been given a quiet hour in which to think better much better for the cause of justice if he could have pushed him to the point at once harried him as it were in hot blood now he might find him more difficult but when in company with a coroner who now found himself free to assist him in his hunt for witnesses he reapproached the englishman sitting as before alone on his bench It was to find him to all appearance in the same mind in which he had left him. He wore the same look and followed with the same reluctance when he was made to understand that the time had now come for him to show just where he was standing when that arrow was sped on its death course.

Starting point is 01:52:15 And greatly impressed by this fact, which in a way contradicted all his expectations, Mr. Grice trod slowly after, watching with the keenest interest to see whether, on reaching the top of the steps, this man, upon whose testimony so much depended, would turn toward the Southern Gallery, where the girl had fallen, or toward the Northern One, where Corey had found the bow. It looked as if he were going to the left, for his head turned that way as he cleared the final step, but his body soon swayed aside in the other direction, and by the time the old detective had himself reached the landing, Travis, closely accompanied by the coroner, had passed through

Starting point is 01:53:04 the first of the three arches, leading to that especial section of the gallery where the concealing tapestry hung. This man is honest, was Mr. Grice's first thought. He is going to show us the bow and confess, to what was undoubtedly an accident. But Mr. Grice felt more or less ready to modify this impromptu conclusion when, on passing through the arch himself,

Starting point is 01:53:32 he came upon the young man still standing in Section 6 with his eyes on the opposite gallery and his whole frame trembling with emotion. Is she, the young lady who was shot, still lying on those cold stones alone, forsaken and— Mr. Grice knew misery when he saw it. This man had not overstated the case when he had said,

Starting point is 01:53:59 I suffer. But the cause? To what? Could this excess of sensibility be attributed? To remorse or to an exaggerated personal repulsion? It looked like remorse, but that there might be no doubt as to this, Mr. Grice hastened to assure the Englishman that on the departure of the jury the body had been removed to one of the inner rooms. The relief which this gave to Mr. Travis was evident.

Starting point is 01:54:30 He showed no further reluctance to proceed, and was indeed the first of the three to enter where the great drapery hung, flanked by the two immense vases. would he pause before it, or hurry by into the broad corridor in front? If he hurried by, what would become of their now secretly accepted theory? But he did not hurry by, that is, he did not pass beyond the upper end, but stopped when he got there and looked back with an air of extreme deprecation at the two officials. Have we arrived? asked Mr. Grice. His suspicions all returning, for the man had stepped aside from the drapery, and was standing in a spot conspicuously opened the view, even from the lower court.

Starting point is 01:55:23 The Englishman nodded, whereupon Mr. Grice, approaching to his side, exclaimed an evident doubt. You were standing here, when? Not at the moment the young girl fell, or you would have been seen by someone, if not by everyone in the building. i want you to take the exact place you occupied when you first learned that something had gone wrong in the opposite gallery the stranger's distress grew with a show of indecision scarcely calculated to inspire confidence in either of the two men watching him he moved now here and now there till he finally came to his standstill close by the pedestal so close indeed to its inner corner that he was almost in a line with its rear it was here he declared with a gulp of real feeling i am sure i am right now i had just stepped out from behind the tapestry no his blank astonishment at the quickness with which he had been caught up left him staring for a moment at the speaker before he added from behind the pedestal the vase as you see is a very curious one i wanted to look at it from all sides without a word the coroner slipped past him and entering the narrow space behind the pedestal took a look up at the vase from his present cramped position

Starting point is 01:56:56 as he did this two things happened first sweetwater who had stolen upon the scene possibly at some intimation from mr gryce took a step toward them which brought him in alignment with the englishman of whose height in comparison with his own he seemed to take careful note and secondly the sensitive skin of the foreigner flushed red again as he noticed the coroner's sarcastic smile and heard his dry remark one gets a better view here of the opposite gallery than of the vase perched so high overhead had you wished to look at those ladies without being seen by them you could hardly have found a better loophole than the one made by the curving in of this great vase toward its base then quickly you surely took one look their way that would be only natural the answer mr travis gave was certainly unexpected It was after I came out that I saw them, he stammered. There were two ladies, one tall, and one very young and slight. The older lady was stepping toward the front, the other entering from behind. As I looked, the younger made a dash and ran by the first lady, then.

Starting point is 01:58:21 Proceed, Mr. Travis. Your emotion is very natural, but it is imperative that we hear all you have. have to tell us. She ran by the older lady, and then? Still silence. The Englishman appeared to be looking at Coroner Price, who in speaking emerged from behind the pedestal, but it is doubtful if he saw him. A tear was in his eye, a tear. Seeing it, Mr. Grice felt a movement of compassion, and thinking to help him, said kindly enough. Was it so very dreadful? The answer came with great simplicity. Yes.

Starting point is 01:59:04 One minute she was all life and gaiety. The next she was lying outstretched on the hard floor. And you? Again that look of ingenuous surprise. I don't remember about myself, he said. I was thinking too much about her. I never saw anyone killed before. Killed?

Starting point is 01:59:26 Why do you say killed? You say you saw her fall, but how did you know she was killed? I saw the arrow in her breast, as she fell backward. I saw the arrow. As he uttered these words, the three men watching him perceived the sweat starred out on his forehead, and his eyes take on a glassy stare. It was as if he were again in gaze upon that image of youthful loveliness falling to the ground with the arrow of death in her heart.

Starting point is 02:00:00 The effect was strangely moving. To see this event reflected, as it were in horror from this man's consciousness, made it appear more real and much more impressive than when contemplated directly. Why, had remorse given it its poignancy? Had it been his own hand

Starting point is 02:00:21 which had directed this arrow from behind the pedestal? if not, why this ghastly display of an emotion so far beyond what might be expected from the most sentimental of onlookers? In an endeavor to clear this situation, the coroner intervened with the following question. Have you ever seen a shot made by a bow and arrow before Mr. Travis? Archery practice, I mean, or, well, the shooting of wild animals in India, Africa, or elsewhere. Oh, yes, I come from a country where the bow and arrow are used, but I never shoot. I can only speak of what I have seen others do. That is sufficient.

Starting point is 02:01:08 You ought to be able to tell, then, from what direction this arrow came. It must have come from this side of the gallery, not from this section, as you call it, but from some one of the other places along here. Why not from this one? Because there was nobody here but me, was the simple and seemingly ingenuous answer. It gave them an unexpected surprise. Innocence would speak in this fashion. But then the bow, the bow which was lying not a dozen feet from where they stood, nothing could eliminate that bow. After a short consultation between themselves, which the Englishman seemed not to notice,

Starting point is 02:01:52 The coroner addressed him with a soothing remark. Mr. Travis, you must not misunderstand me. The accident which has occurred, we will not yet say crime, is of so serious a nature that it is imperative for us to get at the exact facts. Only yourself and one other person whom we know can supply them. I allude to the lady you saw first in front and then behind the girl, girl who was shot. Her story has been told. Yours will doubtless coincide with it. May I ask you, then, to satisfy us on a point you were in better position than herself to take note of.

Starting point is 02:02:37 It is this. When the young girl gave that bound forward, of which you both speak, did she make straight for the railing in front, or did she approach it in a diagonal direction? I do not know. You distress me very much. I was not thinking of anything like that. Why should I think of anything so immaterial? She came. I saw her smiling, beaming with joy, a picture of lovely youth. Then her arms went suddenly up, and she fell backward, the arrow showing in her breast. If I told the story a hundred times, I could not tell it differently. not wish you to, Mr. Travis, only there must be somewhere in your mind a recollection of the angle which her body presented to the railing as she came forward. The unhappy man shook his head, at which token of helplessness, Mr. Grice beckoned to Sweetwater and whispered a few words in his ear. The man nodded and withdrew, going the length of the gallery where he disappeared among

Starting point is 02:03:47 the arches, to reappear shortly after in the gallery opposite. When he reached Section 2, Mr. Grice again addressed the witness, who, to his surprise, and to that of the coroner as well, had become reabsorbed in his own thoughts to the entire disregard of what this movement might portend. It took a sharp word to rouse him. I'm going to ask you to watch the young man, who is so much a little man who is the same way to just shown himself on the other side and tell as to what extent his movements agree with those made by the young lady prior to her collapse and fall to the floor. For an instant indignation robbed the stranger of all utterance.

Starting point is 02:04:34 Then he burst forth, you would make a farce of what is so sad and dreadful, and she scarcely cold. It is dishonoring to the young lady. I cannot look at the young man. that hideous young man, and think of her, and of how she looked and walked the instant before her death. The two officials smiled. They could not help it.

Starting point is 02:04:59 Sweetwater was certainly no beauty, and to associate him in any kind of physical comparison with the dead girl was certainly incongruous. Yet they both felt that the point just advanced by them should be settled, and settled now while the requisite remembrance was fresh in the mind of this invaluable witness. But in order to get at what they wanted, some show of consideration for his feelings was evidently necessary. Police persistence often defeats its own ends. If he was to be made to do what they wished,

Starting point is 02:05:38 it would have to be through the persuasion of someone outside the force, to whom should they appeal. The question answered itself. Mr. Roberts was approaching from the front, and to him they turned. Would he use his influence with his stranger? He may listen to you, urged the coroner, in the whispered conference which now followed. If you explain to him how much patience, you and all the rest of these people in the building, have had to exercise in this unhappy crisis, he seems a good enough fellow,

Starting point is 02:06:16 but not in line with her ideas mr roberts who saw the man for the first time surveyed him in astonishment where was he standing he asked just where you see him now or so he says he couldn't have been someone would have observed him the woman who was in the compartment with a stricken girl or the man studying coins in the one next to it so it would seem admitted the coroner but if he were behind the pedestal behind the pedestal that's where we think he was but no matter about that now we can explain that to you later at present all we want is for you to reassure him Not altogether pleased with this task, but seeing no good reason for declining it, the affable director approached the Englishman, who, recognizing one of his own social status, seemed to take heart and turn a willing ear to Mr. Roberts' persuasions. The result was satisfactory. When the coroner again called Mr. Travis' attention to Sweetwater, awaiting orders in the opposite gallery, he did not refuse to look, though his whole manner showed how much he was

Starting point is 02:07:37 affected by this forced acquiescence in their plans. You will watch the movements of the young man we have placed over there, the coroner had said, and when he strikes a position, corresponding to that taken by the young lady, at the moment she was shot, lift your hand thus, I will not ask you to speak. But you forget that there is a little. blood on the floor, that man will step in it. I cannot lend myself to such sacrilege. It is wrong. Let the lady be buried first. The outburst was so natural, the horror so unfeigned, that not only the men he addressed, but all within hearing, showed the astonishment it caused.

Starting point is 02:08:24 One would think you knew the victim of this random shot, the coroner intimated, with a fresh and close scrutiny of this very reluctant witness. Did you? Was she a friend of yours? No, no, came in quick disavowal. No friend. I have never exchanged the word with her, never. Then we will proceed. One cannot consider sensibilities in a case like this,

Starting point is 02:08:51 and he made a signal to Sweetwater, who turned his body this way and that. The distressed Englishmen watched these movements with slowly dilating eyes. It is the angle we want, the angle at which she presented her body to the gallery front, explained the relentless official. A shudder, then rigidity of fixed attention. Broken in another moment, however, by the impulsive movement and the unexpected question. Is it to find the man who did it?

Starting point is 02:09:26 that you were enacting this horrible farce. Somewhat startled, the coroner retorted. If you object on that account, but Mr. Travis has vehemently exclaimed, But I don't. I want the man caught. One should not shoot arrows about in a place where there are beautiful young women. I want him caught and punished.

Starting point is 02:09:52 As they were all digesting this unexpected avowal, they saw his hand go up the coroner gave a low whistle and the detective in obedience to it stood for one instant stock still then bent quickly to the floor what is he doing cried mr travis yes what is he doing echoed mr roberts running a mark about his shoes to fix their exact location was the grim response end of chapter six Book 1, Chapter 7 of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow, by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. You think that of me? We're certainly up against it this time, were the words with which Dr. Price led the detective down the gallery.

Starting point is 02:10:55 What sort of opinion can a man form of a fellow like that? Is he a fool or knave? Mr. Grice showed no great alacrity in answering. When he did speak, it was to say, We shall have to go into the matter a little more deeply before we can trust our judgment as to his complete sincerity. But if you want to know whether I believe him to have loosed the arrow which killed the innocent child,

Starting point is 02:11:23 I am ready from present appearances to say yes. Who else was there to do it? he and only he was on the spot but it was a chance action without intention or wish to murder no man even if he were a fool would choose such a place or such a means for murder that's true but how does it help to call it accident accident calls for a bow in hand an arrow within reach an impulse to try one's skill at a fancied target now the arrow whatever may be said of the bow was not within the reach of any one standing in this gallery the arrow came from the wall at the base of which this young woman died it had to be brought from there here that does not look like accident but crime yet as the coroner uttered this acknowledgment he realized as plainly as mr gryce how many incongruous elements lay in the way of any such solution of the mystery if they accepted the foreigner's account of himself which for some reason neither seemed ready to dispute into what amaze of improbabilities it at once led them a stranger just off the ship the victim a mere schoolgirl, the weapon, such an unusual one, to be o'et, beyond belief. Only a madman.

Starting point is 02:12:55 But there, Travis had less the appearance of a lunatic than Mrs. Taylor. It must have been an accident, as Grice said, and yet? If there is much virtue in an if, there is certainly a modicum of the same in a yet. In the corner, in full recognition of the state, Dumbling Block, remarked with unusual dryness. I agree with you that some half-dozen questions are necessary before we weigh deeper into this quagmire. Where shall we go to have it out? The curator will allow us to use his office.

Starting point is 02:13:33 I will see that Mr. Travis joins us there. See that he comes before he has a chance to fall into one of his reveries. But quickly has Mr. Grice worked. he was not speedy enough to prevent the result mentioned the man upon whose testimony so much hinged did not even lift his eyes when brought again into their presence the coroner in his determination to be satisfied on this point made short work of rousing him from his abstraction with a few leading questions he secured his attention and then without preamble or apology asked him with what purpose he had come to america and why he had been so anxious to visit the museum that he hastened directly to it from the steamer without making an effort to locate himself in some hotel the ease with which this apparently ingenuous stranger had managed to meet the opening queries of this rough-and-ready official was suddenly broken he stammered and turned red and made so many abortive attempts to reply that the latter grew impatient and finally remarked if the truth will incriminate you you are quite justified in holding it back incriminate me with a repetition of this alarming word

Starting point is 02:14:57 a change of the most marked character took place in young travis's manner what does that mean he asked i am not sure that i understand your use of that word incriminate dr price explained himself to the seeming horror of the startled englishman you think that of me he cried of me who but here indignation made him speechless till some feeling stronger than the one subduing him to silence, forced him again into speech, and he supplemented in broken tones. I am only a stranger to you, and consequently am willing to pardon your misconception of my character and the principles by which I regulate my life. I have a horror of crime and all violence, besides, the young lady, she awakened my deepest admiration and reverence. I, again he stopped again he burst forth i would sooner have died myself than see such angel graces laid low let my emotion be proof of what i say it was a man of the hardest heart who killed her it would seem so it was the coroner her spoke he was nonplussed and mr gryce no less so never had either of them been confronted by a blinder or more bewildering case

Starting point is 02:16:26 an incomprehensible crime and a suspect it was impossible to associate with a deed of blood there must be some other explanation of the mournful circumstance they were considering there had been twenty or more people in the building but and here was the rub if the chart which they had drawn up was correct and the calculations which they had drawn from it were to be depended upon this man was the only person who had been in this gallery when the arrow was shot With a side glance at Mr. Grice, who seemed content to remain silent in the background, Dr. Price turned again to Mr. Travis. Your admiration of the young lady must have been as sudden as it was strong, or possibly you had seen her before you hid behind the pedestal. Had you, Mr. Travis? She was a charming child.

Starting point is 02:17:23 Perhaps you had been attracted by her beauty before you even entered the galleries. Instantly, the man was another being. You are right, he acquiesced, with undue alacrity. I had seen her crossing the court. Her beauty was heavenly. I'm a gentleman. But I followed her. When she moved, I moved.

Starting point is 02:17:46 And when she went upstairs, I followed her. But I would not offend. I kept behind, far behind her. And when she entered the gallery on one side, I took pains to enter it on the other. this is how i came to be looking in her direction when she was struck down you see i speak with candor i opened my whole heart dr price stroking his long beard eyed the man with a thoughtful air which changed to one of renewed inquiry Instead of being convinced by this outburst, he was conscious of a new and deepening distrust. The transition from a low state of feeling to one so feverishly eager had been too sudden.

Starting point is 02:18:33 The avidity with which this man just off the ship had made a grasp at the offered explanation had been too marked. It lacked sincerity and could impose on no one. Of this he seemed himself aware, for again the reddy flush ran from forehead to neck, and with a deprecatory glance, which included the silent detective, he vehemently exclaimed, I am poor at a lie. I see that you'll have the whole truth. It was on her account I crossed the ocean. It was by dogging her innocent steps, but I came to the museum this morning. I am a man of me, and I can do as I please. When I said that I had never exchanged the word with her,

Starting point is 02:19:20 I spoke the truth. I never have. Yet my interest in her was profound. I have never seen any other girl or woman, who I was anxious to make my wife. I hope the meet and woo her in this country. I had no opportunity for doing so in my own. I did not see her till a night or so before she sailed,

Starting point is 02:19:43 and then it was at the theater. where she sat with some friends in an adjoining box she talked and i heard what she said she was leaving england she was going to america to live and she mentioned the steamer on which she expected the sail It may strike you as impetuous, unnatural in an Englishman and all that, but next morning I secured my passage on that same ship. As I have just said, I am my own master, and can do as I please, and I pleased to do that. But for all the opportunity on which a voyage sometimes gives, I did not succeed in making her acquaintance on shipboard, much as I desired it. i was ill for the first three days and timorous the rest i could only watch her moving about the decks and wait for the happy moment in which i might be able to do her some service but that moment never came and now it never will come

Starting point is 02:20:46 the mournfulness with which this was uttered seemed genuine the coroner was silenced by it and it was left to mr gryce to take up the conversation This he did with the same show of respect, invents by Dr. Price. We are obliged to you for your confidence, said he. Of course you can tell us this young girl's name. Angeline. Angeline Willits. I saw it in the list of passengers.

Starting point is 02:21:17 What ship? The Castanilla from Southampton. We are greatly obliged to you for this information. It gives us the much-wanted clue to her identity. Angeline Willits. Whom was she with? A Madame DuClo, a French lady.

Starting point is 02:21:35 I once spoke to her. You did? And what did you say? I bade her good morning as we were passing on the main deck stairs, but she did not answer, and I was not guilty of impertinence again. I see. Such then was the situation up to this morning,

Starting point is 02:21:55 but since? How did it happen? that a young girl, six hours after landing in this country, should come to a place like this without a chaperone. I don't know what brought her here. I can only tell you why I came. When she left the dock, I was standing near enough to hear the orders, Madame Duclou, gave on entering the cab.

Starting point is 02:22:18 Naturally, mine were the same. I have been in New York before, and I knew the hotel. If you will consult the Universal's register for the day, you will find my name in it under hers. You will understand why I shrank from confessing to this fact before. I held her in such honor. I was and am, so anxious that no shadow should fall upon her innocence from my poor story of secret and unrecognized devotion. She knew nothing of what led me to follow every step she took.

Starting point is 02:22:54 I was a witness of her fate, but that is all the connection between us. I hope you believe me. It would be difficult not to, in the face of his direct gaze, from which all faltering had now vanished, yet the matter not being completely thrashed out. Mr. Grice felt himself obliged to say in the answer to this last, We see no reason to doubt your word or your story, Mr. Travis, all that you have said is possible but how about you following the young girl here how did that come about that was occasioned by my anxiety for her an anxiety which seems to have been only too well founded

Starting point is 02:23:40 how what both of the officials showed a greatly increased interest please explain yourself mr travis what reason had you for such feeling in regard to a person with whom you had held no conversation. Anything which you saw or heard at the hotel? Yes, I was sitting in the foyer. I knew that the ladies were in the house, but I had not seen them. I was anxious to do so, see, I am telling all, and was watching the door of the lift from behind my journal when they both stepped out.

Starting point is 02:24:17 Miss Willits was dressed for the street, but Madame Duclowe was not, which seemed very strange. to me. But I felt no concern till I caught some fragments of what the madam said in passing me. She spoke in French, a language I understand, and she was exclaiming over her misfortune at not being allowed to accompany her young charge to whatever place she was going. It was bad, bad, she cried, and she would not have a moment's peace till her dear Angeline got back. Anxiety of this kind was natural in a French woman, not accustomed to see a young lady enter the streets alone,

Starting point is 02:25:00 but the force with which she expressed it betrayed a real alarm, an alarm which communicated itself to me. Where could this unprotected girl be going, alone, and in a hotel cab? I could not imagine, and when I saw Madame stop in the middle of her talk, to buy some fresh flowers and pin them to miss willet's corsage i got a queer feeling and flinging my newspaper aside i strolled to the door and so out in time to hear madam's orders to the chauffeur the young lady was to be taken to a museum to a museum at this early hour and alone alone such a proceeding is not at all in accord with french ideas and i feared a plot though it was far from being my affair i determined to make it so and as soon as i dared i followed her just as i had followed her from the dock but fruitlessly not knowing the danger how could i avert it i was in one gallery she and the other it was my evil fate to see her fall but by whose hand i am as ignorant as yourselves now i have told it all will you let me go Not yet, interposed the corridor.

Starting point is 02:26:22 There are one or two questions more, which you will undoubtedly answer with the same frankness. Were you standing in front of the pedestal or behind it when you saw Miss Willits fall? I was standing just where I said, somewhere near it in the open gallery. This seemed so open the question that the coroner paused a moment to recall the exact situation and see if it were possible for a man as conspicuous in figure as Mr. Travis to have stood thus in full view of gallery and court without attracting the attention of anyone in either place. He found, after a moment's consideration, that it was possible.

Starting point is 02:27:08 Mr. Grice, for all his efforts, and systematic inquiry into the position, which each person had held at or near this time, had been able to find but he was able to find, but one who chanced to be looking in the direction of this gallery, and he, with a limited view, which took in only the upper part of the tapestry. A probe, in a fresh direction, might reach a more vulnerable spot. But you had been behind the pedestal, Dr. Price suggested. Yes, the quick flush coming again. My old timidity led me to conceal myself, where I could watch undetected.

Starting point is 02:27:48 Her bright young figure passed from arch to arch along the opposite gallery. Not till she had got past my line of view did I step out, and then— Then it was to see what I've already told you. Her rush toward the front, the start she gave, the fall, that cruel arrow. I owned that I shrank back into my narrow hiding-place, when I realized that all was at an end, that she was dead. Why, you had been witness to a deed of blood, a deed which must have recalled to you the anxiety expressed by the woman, who you regarded as a young girl's guardian, and yet you shrank back, out of sight, away from those who had the right to make inquiries? How do you explain that, Mr. Travis? I cannot, except that I was so dazed, so stricken, that I was hardly conscious of what I did. and sirs believe me or not had it not been for the refuge afforded by that narrow space behind the pedestal i think i should have fallen headlong to the floor

Starting point is 02:28:57 when i came again to myself which was after some of the confusion had abated i had only one thought in mind to suppress myself and my story least some shadow should fall across her sweet purity waiting to the attention of the man you had placed on guard over her body was attracted another way. I slid out and hastened to the front, where I managed to find a quiet room in which to sit down and brood again over my misfortune. Forewarned, as you have said, and on the spot, with every wish to protect her, I had failed to do so. I fear it will make me mad some day. Had it made him insane already? Was a story to be trusted. It was full of incongrued. Were they those of a disordered mind? Such had been the excuse made for Mrs. Taylor when she had been thought guilty of this attack. Why should it not be applied to this man who certainly had given evidence of not being of the usual type of young Englishmen?

Starting point is 02:30:06 With a sidelong look at Mr. Grice, which that individual perfectly understood, Dr. Price thanked Mr. Travis for his candor, and Anne, asked if he could point out the room in which he had sat while their young man had gone through the building checking off the position of everybody in it. To his surprise, the Englishman answered, quite simply, I will try, and rose when they rose. The glances exchanged between the other two men were eloquent. Where was he about to take them? Sweetwater was no fool. How had this man of marked appearance, and he, generous proportions managed to elude him. As it happened before, it proved to be easily explainable, when once the conditions were known. The room to which he led them was on the upper story marked H on chart two. It was devoted, like one or two others near it, to a line of famous paintings at once the hope and despair of young girl copyists.

Starting point is 02:31:14 The one most favored for this purpose hung just behind the door X, which half opened as they found it, made with the easel, the canvas upon it, and an apron hanging carelessly over all, an impromptu screen, behind which a man crouched in misery on the copiest stool, might easily remain unnoticed by anyone passing hurriedly by him. And thus vanished, one hindering. one hindrance till a full belief in young Travis's story. But a greater one remained, the bow. The bow found behind the tapestry at the edge of which he had stood in timorous hiding.

Starting point is 02:31:57 In hope that a shock might startle him into some admission, which would give a different aspect to the case, they now led him back to this place of first concealment. He was showing strain by this time, and no delay was made to press their purpose. point. Giving the tapestry a pull, the coroner bade him tell what he saw behind it. The answer came with much emotion. The bow, the bow which sped the arrow, which killed Miss Willits. I do not want to see it. It hurts me, hurts me physically, let me go, I entreat.

Starting point is 02:32:35 Mr. Travis urged the coroner, as they again emerged upon the open gallery. You have said that there was no one with you in the section where you stood. If that was so, how came this bow to be where you have just seen it? A bewildered look, a slow shake of the head and nothing more. Did you know it was there? Did you see it thrown there? No, I saw nothing. I am an honest man.

Starting point is 02:33:02 You may believe me. The coroner scrutinized him closely, but not unkindly. We shall know before night who handled that bow, Mr. Travis, it carries its own clue with it. A gleam of unmistakable joy lighted up the Englishman's features. I am glad he cried, I am glad. Corner Price was a man of experience. He recognized the ring of truth in the Englishman's tone, and, saying no more, led the way from the gallery. A few minutes later he was on the lower floor. He had a short conversation with the two Dorman. Then he proceeded to the telephone and called up the Universal.

Starting point is 02:33:46 The result was startling, asked if the name of Rupert Henry Travis, hurt for Shire, England, was on the register. The answer was yes. The date of his arrival? Early this morning. Any other arrivals today from the other side? Yes, a Madame Duclowe and a Miss Willets. The coroner's tone altered. So much of the stranger's story was true then. Will you connect me with Madame Duclowe? I have important news to give her. Some woman had better be with her when she receives it.

Starting point is 02:34:22 I am sorry, but I cannot do this. Madame Duclowe has left. Left? Gone out, you mean? No, left the hotel. She's been gone about half an hour. The young lady who came with her has gone out too, but we expect her back.

Starting point is 02:34:40 you do and what took this older woman away what excuse did she give and where has she gone i cannot tell you where she has gone she left after receiving a telephone message from some one in town came down to the desk looking extremely distressed said that she had had bad news and must go at once i made out her bill and at her request that of the young lady whom she said would be called for her good news and must go at once i made out her bill and at her request that of the young lady whom she said would be called for by a friend on her return to the hotel. These bills she paid. After that, she left the hotel on foot, carrying her own bag. The young lady has not returned. Enough. The young lady is dead, killed by chance here at the museum.

Starting point is 02:35:30 A plain clothesman will be with you shortly from headquarters. Meanwhile, keep your eyes and ears open. If a message comes for either Madame Duke, Clough or Miss Willits, notify me here, and if anyone calls, detain the party at all hazards. That's all. No time to talk. And now Grice entered the room. He was accompanied by an inspector.

Starting point is 02:35:56 This was a welcome addition to their force. Coroner Price greeted him with cordiality. You've come in good time, Inspector. The death of this young girl struck down by an arrow, shot by an, unknown hand, from the opposite side of the building, bids fair to make greater call on your resources than on mine. The woman, who appears to act as companion to Miss Willits, has fled the hotel, where they both took rooms immediately upon leaving the steamer. Either she has heard of the accident which has occurred here, and if so how, or she's but carrying out

Starting point is 02:36:36 some deep-laid plan, which it is highly important for us to know. It looks now like a premeditated crime. With this Englishman involved? I doubt that. I seriously doubt that, don't you, Grice? A more subtle head than his planned this strange crime. Yes, there can be little doubt about that. Shall I set the boys to work, Inspector? This French woman must be found. At once a general alarm. You can get a description of her from the clerk at the Universal. She must not be allowed to leave town. Mr. Grice sat down before the telephone. Coroner Price proceeded to acquaint the inspector with such details of the affair as were now known. The curator moved restlessly about. Gloom had settled upon the museum. On only one face was there a smile to be seen,

Starting point is 02:37:34 but that was a heavenly one, irradiating the countenance of her who had passed from the lesser to the larger world with the joy of earth still warm in her innocent heart. End of Chapter 7. End of Book 1 Book 2, Chapter 8, of the mystery of the hasty arrow by Anna Catherine Green.

Starting point is 02:38:05 This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Book 2. Mr. X. Chapter 8 On the Search It was late in the afternoon. The inspector's office had hummed for hours with messages and reports, and the lull, which had finally come, seemed grateful to him. With a relaxed brow and a fresh cigar, he sat in quiet contemplation of the facts brought out by the afternoon's inquiries.

Starting point is 02:38:38 He was on the point of dismissing even these from his mind when the door opened and Grice came in. Instantly, his responsibilities returned upon him in full force. He did not wait for the expected report, but questioned the detective at once. You have been to the hotel, he said, pointing out a chair into which the old man dropped with a sigh as eloquent of anxiety as of fatigue. What more did you learn there? Very little. No message has come.

Starting point is 02:39:16 No persons called. For them and for us, these two women, Madame DuClo, and Miss Willits, are still an unknown quantity. Their baggage which arrived while I was there supplied the only information I was able to obtain. Their baggage, but that should tell us, us everything. It may, if you think best, to go through it. It is not heavy, a trunk for each,

Starting point is 02:39:43 besides the one they brought with them from the steamer. From the pastors to be seen on them, they have come from the Continental Hotel, Paris, by way of the Ritz, London. At this latter place their stay was short. This is proved by the fact that only the steamer trunk is pasted with the Ritz label, and this trunk was the one I found in their room at the Universal. From it Miss Willits had taken the dress she wore to the museum. Her other clothes, I mean those she wore on arriving, lay in disorder on the bed and chairs, I should say, that they had been tossed about by a careless, if not hasty hand, while the trunk— Well, stood open on the floor.

Starting point is 02:40:32 stood open? Yes, I went through it, of course, and found nothing? Nothing to help us today. No letters, no cards, some clothing, some little trifles, bought in Paris, by the way, and one little book.

Starting point is 02:40:50 A name in it? Yes, Angeline, and one line of writing from some poem, I judge. I put it back where I found it. When we know more, it may help us find her friends. And is that all? Almost, but not quite. The young girl had a bag, too. It stood on a table. Well, empty. Everything had been tumbled out, turned upside down, and the contents scattered. I looked them carefully over, nothing, positively nothing, but what you would be likely

Starting point is 02:41:25 to find in any young girl's traveling bag. There's but one conclusion to be drawn. And what is that? That all these things, such as they were, had been pushed hastily about after being emptied out on the table. This was not the young girl's work. Madame Duclowe?

Starting point is 02:41:47 You've hit it. She was in search of some one thing she wanted, and she took the quickest way of finding it, and— yes gryce she was in a desperate hurry where she wouldn't have left the trunk open or all those dainty things lying about french women are methodical and very careful of their belongings one other thing i noted there was a loose nail in the lock of the trunk sticking to this nail was a raveling of brown wool here it is sir the woman madame du clow wore a dress of brown sirs if my calculations are not wrong and we succeed in getting a glimpse of that dress we shall find a tear on the skirt and what is more one very near the hem made to-day yes another token of haste she probably jerked at the skirt when she found herself caught she could not have been herself to have done this for which we may be glad you mean by this thoughtless action she has left the clue in our hands

Starting point is 02:42:58 that and something more the tear in her decent skirt will bother her she will either make an immediate attempt to mend it or else do the other obvious thing by a new one in either case it gives us something by which the tracer i have put sweetwater on that job he never tires never wearies never lets go no report in yet from the terminals not a word but she will not get far sooner or later we shall find her if she does not come forward herself after reading the evening papers she will never come forward i am not so sure something not a little peculiar happened at the museum after you left we had reynolds up and he made a most careful examination of that bow for finger-prints he did not find any but fortune favored us in another way almost as good Now you interest me. We had brought the bow into the curator's office, and it lay on the long table in the middle of the room. I had been looking it over—this was after Reynolds had gone, of course, and had already noted a certain defect in it. When on chancing to look up, my eyes fell on a mirror, hanging in a closet, the door of which stood wide open.

Starting point is 02:44:23 The face was visible in it, a very white face. which altered under my scrutiny into a semblance more natural. It was that of Corey. You remember Corey, one of the assistants, and an honest fellow enough, but more troubled at this moment than I had ever seen him. What could have happened? Wheeling quickly about, I caught him just as he started to go. He had openly declared that he did not know this bow, but it was evident that he did, and I did not hesitate to say so. Taken unawares he could not hide his distress, which he proceeded to explain thus.

Starting point is 02:45:04 He did remember the bow, now that he had the opportunity of seeing it closer. He pointed to the nick, I myself noticed, and said that, owing to this defect, the bow had been cast aside, and the last time he had handled it. Here he caught his breath and stopped. another memory had evidently returned to embarrass him. Did you succeed in getting him to acknowledge what it was? Yes, after I had worked with him for some time, he didn't want to talk.

Starting point is 02:45:38 In a moment you will see why. Going back to the time he had seen it before, he said that he had found it in the cellar in an old box, the contents of which he had been pulling over in a search for something very different. A maze to find it there. He had taken it out, examined it carefully, noted the nick I mentioned, and tossed it back again into the box. This he told, but reluctantly. Why reluctantly? I was soon to find out. He was not alone in the cellar. The shadow of some person at his back had fallen across the lid of the box as he was closing it. he did not recognize the shadow and had not given it at the time a second thought but the remembrance of it came back vividly when he saw the bow lying before him and realized the part it had played in the morning's tragedy was it because he knew that the only person actively connected with the museum would have access to that part of the cellar i asked i did not expect an answer and i did not get it

Starting point is 02:46:50 we looked at each other for a moment then i let him go a momentary silence which the inspector broke by saying later i called the curator in and he also recognized the beau as belonging to the museum but he volunteered no explanations and in fact had little to say on the subject he was evidently too much startled by the direct connection which had thus been made between the crime or accident if you will and the personnel of the museum that was natural he should be the first to see that the bow which shot the arrow must of necessity have been brought into the building by some other door than those at which the doorman stood guard i had a talk with those men and they both declared that no sticks or umbrellas or anything of that nature ever went by them or would be allowed to go by them no matter how concealed or wrapped up but to revert to the matter in hand so cori made absolutely no attempt to explain how this weapon had been carried from the cellar to gallery without his knowledge no he for one will have a sleepless night not he alone i must and we'll see a way through this maze to-morrow may bring luck ah i forgot to say that i spent an hour of the three who allowed me with the captain of the steamer which brought over these two women. As might be expected,

Starting point is 02:48:28 he had no information of any significance to give me, nor could I obtain much from such members of the crew as I could get hold of. One steward remembered the Englishman, chiefly because he never showed himself unless the young lady was on deck, but he never saw them speak. Which bears out Travis's story to the last detail.

Starting point is 02:48:52 Exactly. I think we can depend upon him, otherwise we should be at sea. Yet his story is a very strange one. The whole affair is strange, the strangest I ever knew, but that isn't against it. It's the commonplace cases which baffles. We shall get the key to the whole mystery yet. I've no doubt. Is Mr. Travis to be detained? yes, as a witness. Does he object?

Starting point is 02:49:26 Not at all. Having spoken, told his whole story, as he says, he is rather glad than otherwise to be relieved from the common curiosity of strangers. He's a rare bird, Grice. If he stops to think, he must see that he stands in a more or less ticklish position. But he does not betray by look or action

Starting point is 02:49:49 any doubt of our entire belief in the truth of all his statements. His only trouble seems to be that he has lost by these inhuman means, the girl upon whom he had set his heart. Tomorrow we will confront him with Mrs. Taylor. She should be able to say whether he did or did not stand out in the open gallery at the moment Miss Willits fell. But Mr. Grice had no encouragement to give him on this head.

Starting point is 02:50:21 Miss Taylor is ill, very ill as I take it. I stopped at her hotel to inquire. I was anxious about her for more than one reason, and the report I got of her condition was far from favorable. She is suffering cruelly from shock, how occasioned, whether by the peculiar and startling death to which she was a witness, or by the strangely coincident fancy, to which she herself attributes her deep emotion

Starting point is 02:50:52 will have to be decided by further developments. Nothing which I was able to learn from the doctor or nurse settled this interesting question. Meanwhile, no one is allowed to see her or will be till she is on the direct road to recovery. Let us hope that this may be soon, or the inquest may be delayed indefinitely. I don't know, as that is the way.

Starting point is 02:51:19 to be deplored. I imagine we shall find enough to fill in our time. Any communications made by her before she collapsed? Did she send out or receive messages of any kind since her return from the museum? She received none, but it is impossible to say whether or not she sent any out. There is a letter shoot very near her door. She may have dropped a letter in that any time before a watch was put upon her. You were thinking, of course, of the anxiety she expressed about her husband, and whether she took any measures for ascertaining, if her fears for him had any foundation, in fact? I was, yes, but I presume this fancy had passed, or else she is too ill to remember her own aberrations. Were you able to affect an understanding with her nurse?

Starting point is 02:52:16 Yes, that's fixed. I had a short talk, too, with the proprietor of the hotel. He thinks very highly of Mrs. Taylor. She has lived in the one apartment for years, and he cannot say enough of her discreet and uniform life. Though she made no secret of the fact that she does not live with her husband, her conduct has always been such as to ensure universal respect. he did not even make mention of eccentricities if she is crazy it is a late development she seemed to have been all right up to this morning whichever way you turn you encounter mystery and a closed door

Starting point is 02:53:02 the papers may spring the lock of that door at any moment publication does much in a case of this kind to-morrow we may be in a much more favorable position meantime let us recount the facts it is our business to clear up on what hypothesis on all hypotheses we are not sure enough of our premises as yet to confine ourselves to one very good these are the ones which seem to me to be of the greatest importance whose hand carried the bow from the cellar to gallery was it the same which carried the arrow from one gallery to the other is it possible for an arrow shot through the loophole made by the curving in of the vase to reach the mark set for it by mr travis's testimony which one of the men or woman known to be in the museum when this arrow was released has enough knowledge of archery to string a bow a mark can be reached by chance but only an accustomed hand can string a bow as unyielding as this one who telephoned to madame du clow and of what was the nature of the message which sent her from the hotel so precipitately that she not only left the most important part of her baggage behind but went away without making adequate provision for the young girl confided to her charge does this mean that she had been made acquainted with the fate of the young girl and if so by whom business enough for all of us was the inspector's comment as gryce paused in this enumeration as you put it i am more and more convinced that the key you spoke of a short time ago will be found in this missing woman's tightly shut hand

Starting point is 02:55:05 which brings us round full circle to our first conclusion that miss willet's death is not only a crime but a premeditated one carried out not by the one benefited but by an agent selected for the purpose an agent moreover who knew the ways and possibilities of the place a logical conclusion but still too incredible for belief I find it hard to trust to appearances in this case. And I also. But, as we both have said, time may clear away some of its incongruities. Meanwhile, I have an experiment to propose. And leaning close to the inspector,

Starting point is 02:55:52 notwithstanding the fact that there was nobody within hearing and he knew it, he whispered a few words in his ear. The inspector stared. Tonight, he asked. The detective nodded. End of Chapter 8. Book 2, Chapter 9, of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Libravox recording is in the public domain, while the city slept. Night, the night of a great city, with its myriad of garish lights and its many curious and incongruous activities. Who has not felt his imagination stirred by the contrasts thus offered?

Starting point is 02:56:43 Contrasts never more apparent than at these hours of supposed rest, grim walls with dimpled children sleeping behind them, places of berry making a throb with music, and dazzling with jets of incandescent light, with grief in the heart of the dancer, and despair making raucous the enforced laugh. but nowhere in the great city of which we write on this night of may twenty third nineteen thirteen was there to be found a scene of greater contradictions than in the courts and galleries of its famous museum lighted as for a reception the architectural beauties of its moorish arcades and carven balustrades flashed in full splendor gems of antique art casts

Starting point is 02:57:35 in which genius had stored its soul and caused to live before us the story of the ancients pillars from desert sands freezes from the parthenon and bass reliefs from neneva and heliopolis filled every corner commanding the eye to satisfy itself in forms of deathless grace or superhuman power and no one to heed not an eye to note that the venus in one corner seemed the smile in the soft light with more than its accustomed allurement or that the armor in which kings had fought wore a menacing sparkle exceeding that of other times and quieter days ghosts of vanished ages might parade at will among the chattels of their time or drain the iridescent beaker to their unknown gods no one would have noticed or turned aside to sea for there was something else within these walls to-night for men assembled there to look upon and a story to be read would shut the imagination upon the past by amply filling it with the present what is this something let us follow the gaze of the half-dozen persons grouped in front of the tapestry hanging in the northern gallery and sea but first of whom is the small and mystic group composed Who are these men in the middle of the night, in the security of a completely shuttered building, busy themselves, not with the inestimable treasures surrounding them,

Starting point is 02:59:12 but with an odd and seemingly mountebank adventure, totally out of keeping with the place and their absorbed demeanor. We will name them. Mr. Roberts and a second director seen here for the first time. inspector Jackson, Mr. Grice, two lesser detectives, and a strange young man of undoubted Indian extraction, who kept much in the background, and yet stood always at attention, like one awaiting orders. Are these all, yes, in the one gallery, but in the other, shadowy figures are visible among the arches at one end, with whose identity we shall probably

Starting point is 02:59:58 soon be made acquainted. And what are these various persons, in the one gallery, as in the other, looking so intently that all are turned one way, the way of the greatest interests, the way the fatal arrow had flown some fourteen hours before, carrying death to the innocent girl, smiling upon life in youthful exuberance? Is it at some image of herself they see restored to hope and joy? An image is there, but alas, it is but a dummy, taking from one of the exhibits, and so set up as to present the same angle to the gallery front as her young body had done, according to Mr. Travis's reluctant declaration. Why so placed, and why regard it with such concentrated interest by the men confronting it from the opposite gallery, will become apparent when, upon the Indians'

Starting point is 03:00:58 being summoned from his place of modest retirement, it can be seen that the bow he carries in one hand is offset by the arrow he holds in the other. Attest is to be made, which will settle, or so they hope, the truth of Mr. Travis's story. If an arrow launched from before the pedestal, or even from behind it through the loophole, made by the curving in of the vase toward its base,

Starting point is 03:01:24 can be made to reach its mark in the breast of this dummy, then they would feel some justification in doubting his statement that the arrow whatever the appearances was not shot from this gallery if it could not belief in his statements would be confirmed and their minds be cleared of doubts which must hamper all their future movements the second director whose name was clayton stood at the left of the inspector and close against the tapestry to him the official now turned with his explanation the bow you see in mr lafleche's hand is similar in length and weight to the one found line strung for use in the doorway back of where you are now standing the arrow is from the same quiver as the one which entered miss willet's breast did you speak no mr clayton had not spoken yet for some reason a thrill had passed through the small group surrounding him which had heightened the consciousness of them all eyes and ears became alert only the indian showed stolidity mr lafletchet will you first stand here continued the inspector pointing to the spot which mr travis had finally settled upon as the one where he had been standing at the moment he saw miss willet's fall the indian took the place sighted the figure diagonally opposite and laid his finger on the string an inch to the left of the bunch of flowers pinned on the dummy's breast murmured mr gryce almost in his ear it was a breathless moment even the two detectives showed excitement

Starting point is 03:03:14 but the indian failed to shoot instead he looked around at the inspector and quietly remarked i will shoot standing since you so request but i think you will find that the arrow which caused death was delivered by a man kneeling A flash of the eye between the two detectives, which only one man saw. All the others were watching the lightning flight of the arrow. It struck the dummy full and square. Everyone shuddered. Even the inspector. It brought the real tragedy so vividly to mind. Meanwhile, a movement had taken place in the small group of men watching from the other side.

Starting point is 03:03:57 One of them stepped fully into view, and approaching the... The figure, thus attacked, drew out the arrow, and made close examination of the hole it had made, and shook his head. It was Coroner Price. Try again from behind the pedestal this time, he called out, across the intervening space, as he stepped back into his former place of observation. The inspector motioned his wishes to the Indian, who with a subtle twist of his body, slipped behind the pedestal.

Starting point is 03:04:29 That's better, was the inspector's quick comment. Can you handle the boat easily from where you now stand? There's plenty of room. Very well, but wait. Before we proceed further, there is a matter to which I wish to call the attention of these gentlemen. It must have been apparent to you all that a person standing where Mr. Lafletche did a moment ago would be easily visible to anyone looking up from most of the gentleman. the court or across from the opposite gallery, or even from the broad corridors at either

Starting point is 03:05:03 end of the building. But would the same hold true if instead of being in front he had been behind the pedestal, as Mr. Lafletche is now? Run below, Barney, and gentlemen, disperse yourselves in different directions, and give me your opinion. Now, he demanded, after a few minutes wait, during which there had been a scattering to right and left along the galleries. What do you say? If anyone chanced to be looking directly there, yes, was shouted up from below. What do you say, Coroner Price? Ask the man to kneel.

Starting point is 03:05:43 The inspector gave the word. Ah, that's different. The bulge of the vase hides the upper part of his head, and the pedestal itself below her. He might shoot from his present position with impunity. Do you all agree? Yes, yes, came from different parts of the building. Then, Mr. Lafletchet, here's another arrow from the same quiver. Take fresh aim and shoot. Another breathless moment, more breathless than the other.

Starting point is 03:06:14 Then a second arrow flew across the court and hung quivering in the breast of the dummy. From both ends of the gallery men came running, and leaning eagerly over the gallery, rail, they watched a corner as he stepped again into view to make a second examination. This time he kept them several minutes in suspense, and when he had drawn out the arrow, he looked long at the hole it had made. Then instead of shouting his decision across the court, he could be seen leaving the gallery and coming around their way. What had he to say,

Starting point is 03:06:53 as they waited a clock struck from some neighboring steeple, three sonorous peels. The two directors glanced at each other, doubtless. They felt the weirdness of the hour as well as of the occasion. It was a new experience for these amateurs in police procedure. Arrived on their side, the coroner advanced quickly. When close upon the reassembled group, he remarked quickly, but with great decision. Mr. Travis seems to have been correct in denying that the arrow flew either from before or behind this pedestal. The first arrow sent by Mr. Laflechey entered the dummy almost at a right

Starting point is 03:07:38 angle. The last departed but a little from the same line. But the real wound which I probed and located to a hair was a decidedly slanting one. It must have been sent from a place further off. From behind the other pedestal spoke up Mr. Grice, all fire and interest at once. Either the Englishman deceived us, or each pedestal had its man. We'll see, another shot, and from behind the further pedestal Mr. Lafletche. The Indian glided into view, and started for the other end of the tapestry, followed by the inspector, his detectives, and the two directors. As they passed one by one across the face of the great hanging,

Starting point is 03:08:29 they had the appearance, not of living men, but of a parade of specters, so silent their step and somber their air. The dread of some development hitherto unacknowledged made their movements slow instead of hasty, the upper pedestal instead of the lower. Why should this possible fact make any difference in their feelings? yet it did. Perhaps because it meant deception on the part of one they had instinctively believed

Starting point is 03:08:59 trustworthy, or—'But why pursue conjecture when actuality only is of moment? Let us proceed with our relation and await the result. Arrived at the upper pedestal, Mr. Lafletche took his place, received the third arrow, and presently delivered it. The coroner, who had already started for the other side, hastily approached the dummy, made his examination, and threw up his hands with a loud shout. The shot was made from there. The matter is settled. Question. Had Mr. Travis wilfully misled them, or had the presumption, in his favor, been strengthened by this proof that it had been shown possible for another hand than his to have shot the arrow from the same section of the gallery,

Starting point is 03:09:53 without disturbing his belief that he was the only person in it at the time. End of Chapter 9. Book 2. Chapter 10 of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. And he stood here? The inspector, finding himself very much disturbed

Starting point is 03:10:25 by the doubt just mentioned, felt inclined the question whether any perceptible advancement had been made by this freak business of his canny subordinate. He was hardly ready to say yes, and was not a little surprised when on his way toward the head of the staircase, he heard the exultant voice of Mr. Grice whisper in his ear. That's all right, we've gained a point. We know now the exact place from which the arrow was shot. But not who shot it. No, except that it was not the man, Travis. How can you be sure of that? For two reasons.

Starting point is 03:11:04 This is the first one. It is difficult to understand how a man could slip from behind the eastern pedestal and make his way along the open gallery to room H without attracting the attention of the officer posted opposite. How next to impossible we should find it if 30 feet were added to his course, which is the distance between the two pedestals. What was the fellow doing, that he shouldn't have seen this effort at escape, whether it involved a short flight or a long one?

Starting point is 03:11:38 He says he was not given detective duty, that he was placed there to keep watch over the body of the young girl, that at a certain moment he imagined himself to hear a stealthy footstep approaching from the farther end of the gallery and anxious to spot the man yielding to so doubtful of curiosity, he approached the arch separating his section from the adjoining one, and stopping just inside, stood for a moment or so, listening. As this involved the turning of his back upon the court,

Starting point is 03:12:10 and consequently upon the opposite gallery, it gave Travis just the opportunity he needed for an unobserved escape. But I see, you are not very much impressed, by the reason I have advanced for believing his story and placing him where he says he was placed behind the eastern pedestal. You doubtless think that if the officer opposite had stood long enough with his back to the court, Travis might have taken those extra thirty steps, as easily as the twenty he had confessed to. Listen then, to my second reason, or rather, step this way.

Starting point is 03:12:48 leading his superior toward room B, the door of which stood wide open, he paused just outside the threshold to note the effect produced upon the inspector by what he saw inside. Evidently, it was as marked with surprise as the detective had calculated upon, for with an air of great astonishment the inspector turned upon him with the whispered exclamation. Travis here? Where he could listen, see? Yes, take a good look at him, Inspector. It won't trouble him any. I doubt if he would notice us if we stepped into the room. And such was the opinion of the Inspector himself, as he remarked the extreme excitement under which the Englishman was laboring. Absorbed in thoughts of his own, he was pacing the room with long strides, turning mechanically as he met some impediment, but otherwise oblivious

Starting point is 03:13:50 to his surroundings, even to the point of not noticing the presence of Sweetwater, who stood quietly watching him from one of the corners. This display of feeling was certainly eloquent enough to attract anyone's attention, but what gave it impressiveness to the official mind was this. His excitement was that of triumph, not fear, of hope without any trace of confusion. It is not of himself he is thinking, muttered Grice. And he stood here? No, we left him free to move about at will, and his will carried him into full view of the whole performance. And Sweetwater?

Starting point is 03:14:32 Was near enough to notice every move, but, of course, kept himself well out of sight. Then as they both stepped back from the doorway, Mr. Travis didn't know he was being watched. He thought himself alone, and having an expressive countenance, very expressive for an Englishman, it was easy enough for Sweetwater to read his thoughts. And those thoughts?

Starting point is 03:14:59 Relief to find an explanation of the phenomenon he had doubtless been puzzling over for hours. The moments he had spent in a moment he had spent in hiding behind one of the pedestals had evidently failed to suggest that another man might have been in hiding behind the other. I am not surprised. Coincidences of this astonishing kind are not often met with, even by us, was the inspector's dry retort.

Starting point is 03:15:28 During the interchange of these hurried sentences, they had withdrawn still farther out of sight and hearing of the man discussed. But at this point, Inspector Jackson re-approached the doorway, and entering in a manner to intercept Mr. Travis in his nervous goings to and fro, remarked in an offhand way, I see that you have met with a surprise, Mr. Travis. Like ourselves, you gave little thought to what that upper pedestal might conceal. You are right. I never even glanced that way, but if I had, I should have seen nothing. He was well hid. exceedingly well hid whoever he was but he could not escape now you'll get him won't you inspector he could not have left the building all say that this was impossible he was one of them of the people i saw moving about when i went down into the court find him find this murderer of innocence of the sweetest purest child he turned away grief was taking the place of indignation and revenge At this sight the two men left him.

Starting point is 03:16:42 The inspector was at last convinced, both of the man's probity and of one stern, disconcerting fact, that the real culprit, the man whose guilty fingers had launched the fatal arrow, had been, as Travis said, one of the twenty-two persons who had been moving about for hours, not only under his eyes, but under those of the famous detective, posted there.

Starting point is 03:17:11 End of Chapter 10. Book 2, Chapter 11 of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Footsteps. Wanted. A woman, calling herself Antoinette DuClo.

Starting point is 03:17:36 Just arrived from Europe on the steamer, Castanilla, who, after taking rooms at the Universal for herself, and her steamer companion, Angeline Willits, left the hotel in great haste late in the afternoon of May 23rd, and has not been heard of since. In person she is of medium height, but stocky for a French woman, dark hair, black eyes, with an affection of the lid which causes the left one to droop. Her dress consisted of skirt and jacket of a soft, shade of brown, hat indistinguishable. She carried on leaving the hotel a dark brown leather bag

Starting point is 03:18:20 of medium size, long and narrow in shape. Her only peculiarity, saving the one drooping eyelid, is a hesitating walk. This is particularly obvious when she attempts to hasten. It is to be hoped that this person, on hearing of Miss Willett's death, will communicate at once with the clerk of the hotel. If in two days this does not occur, a reward of five hundred dollars will be given to the man or woman who can give definite news

Starting point is 03:18:53 of this Frenchwoman's whereabouts. Police headquarters, Mulberry Street. This notice, appended to such particulars of the tragedy, has appeared in all the morning papers, roused to the city. I may even say the country, to even greater wonder in excitement than had followed the first details given in the journals of the evening before.

Starting point is 03:19:18 Would anything come of it? Morning passed. No news of Antoinette Duclowe. Afternoon. Messages of all kinds leading to much work, but bringing no result. Five o'clock, amissive from the directors of the museum to the effect that under the peculiar circumstances and the seeming absence of any friends of the deceased, they would be glad to furnish the means necessary

Starting point is 03:19:47 to the proper care and burial of the young woman killed in such an unhappy manner within their walls. A half-hour later Grice, for whose appearance the inspector had been anxiously waiting, came in with his report. A chair was pushed up for him, for he was an old man and had had a sleepless night, as we know,

Starting point is 03:20:10 Besides, two days of continued work. But he did not drop into it, as the inspector expected, or give any sign of exceptional fatigue. When he had seated himself and they were left alone, he did not hasten to speak, though he evidently had much to say, but remained quiet, holding counsel, as it were, in his old way, with some small object he had picked up from the desk before him. At last the inspector spoke. You have been on the hunt? What did you find? Not much, Inspector, and yet enough to disturb me in a way I was not looking for.

Starting point is 03:20:52 Of course, in studying the situation carefully, you have asked yourself how the man who shot the arrow from behind the upper pedestal got away. He did not wait, as Travis did, to the first excitement had abated. and the way was in a manner cleared for an escape into the court. For X, as we will call him, was certainly among those I saw lined up before me. At the moment I bade them one and all to return and stand until released, in the exact spot occupied by them when the first alarm rang out. After the surprise Travis gave us, we had the building searched from roof to cellar. Not another soul was found in it, whose name was not registered on the chart.

Starting point is 03:21:41 As I have already said, the guilty one had managed to escape immediately upon the flight of the arrow. Though how, even then, he could have got below in the time he did is a mystery which trips me up every time I think of it. But letting that go for the present, he did get there and get there unnoticed. How? Now, there are three ways of escape from behind either of those pedestals. The way Travis took, that is, toward the front and round through the suite of rooms, headed by the one marked H to the rear staircase, the more direct one of an immediate exit from the gallery through Section 6 and 7 to the same staircase, and, the only one worth

Starting point is 03:22:29 considering a straight plunge for the door behind the tapestry and so down by the winding staircase beyond into the curator's office. The unknown never went Travis's way, and he couldn't have gone the other without running into the arms of Corey, so he must have made use of the hidden door. So convinced was I of this, after last night's discovery eliminated Travis as a suspect, that I made it my first duty this morning to examine the store and the mysterious little passageway back of it. When first notified of the store, we had been assured that it had not been opened in years, that the only key remaining to it was the one the curator showed us hanging from the ring he drew from his own pocket. In acting upon these statements, which I would not allow myself to doubt for a moment,

Starting point is 03:23:25 we decided to open the door in our own way, which we immediately did. The result was the instant discovery that someone had passed through this door and down these stairs very much later than years ago. We could see without taking a step beyond the doorway, traces of a well-shod foot in the dust lined thickly on every tread. These traces were so many and so confused that I left him for Stephen's experienced eye and depth manipulation to separate and make plain to us. He is making an examination of them now, and will be able to report to you before night.

Starting point is 03:24:08 The inspector was a man of little pretense. He felt startled and showed it. But this is a serious matter, Grice. Very serious. No mere visitor to the museum would have presumed upon this very venture. No, which means that someone actively connected with it had a guilty hand in this deplorable affair. I'm afraid so. Someone well acquainted with the existence of this door and who had means of opening it. The question is, who? In saying this, Mr. Grice studiously avoided the inspector's eye, while the inspector in his turn looked up, then down, anywhere, but in the detective's direction. It was a moment of mutual embarrassment, broken when it was broken, by a remark which manifestly avoided the issue. Possibly those traces you speak of were not made at the time you specify.

Starting point is 03:25:11 They may have been made since, or they may have been made before. Perhaps the curator was curious and tried his hand at a little detective work on his own account. He hadn't the chance. Every portion of the building has been very thoroughly guarded since we first entered it. He may have gone up prior to the shooting. That is open to dispute. But if he had done so, why did he not inform us of the fact when he showed us to Key? The curator is the soul of honor.

Starting point is 03:25:44 He would hardly deceive us in so important a matter. The quick glance which this elicited from the inspector awoke no corresponding flash in the eye of the imperturbable detective. He continued to shake his head over the small object he was twirling thoughtfully about between his thumb and finger, and only from his general seriousness could the inspector gather that his mind was no more at rest than his fingers. fingers. Was this why his remark took the form of a question?

Starting point is 03:26:19 Where was the curator when you forced open that door behind the tapestry? Was he anywhere in the building? No, sir. He has not been there today. He was ill last night, and he is ill today. He sent us his excuses. If he had been in the building, I doubt whether I would have given the order to burst open the door. I would simply have requested him to use his key and he would have done so and kept his own counsel i do not know as i can say as much for any of his subordinates happily no spying eye was about at that time and stephens will be sure to see that he has not watched at his work if he has to lock the door upon the whole bunch of directors this is to be a secret investigation then i would so advise with every reporter headed off and any one likely to report to a reporter headed off also do you not advise this i do anything more not till we hear from stevens they had not long to wait sooner than they expected the expert mentioned came in he held a batch of papers in his hand which had a gesture from the inspector he spread out

Starting point is 03:27:40 before them. Then he spoke. One man, and one man only, has passed down those stairs, but that man has passed down them twice, once with rubbers on, and once without. There are signs equally plain of his having gone up then, but only once, and at the time he wore the rubbers. I took every pains possible to preserve and photograph the prince, but as you see great confusion was caused by the second line of steps falling half on and half off the other. All I dare read there is this, a quick run up and a quick run down by a man in rubbers, and then a second run down by the same man in shoes. That's the whole story.

Starting point is 03:28:29 These other scraps of paper, he went on, as he saw the inspector's eye travel to some small bits lying on, or what I have to show as a result of my search on and about the western pedestal for fingerprints. A gloved hand drew that bow. See here. This is an impression I obtained from the inner edge of the pedestal in question. He pulled forward a small square of paper. The sewing of a kid glove was plainly indicated there. When Stevens had gone, the inspector exclaimed,

Starting point is 03:29:07 meaningly. Grice, name your man. We shall get on faster. The aged detective rose. I dare not, he said, Give me one, two days. I must have time to think, to collect my evidence.

Starting point is 03:29:23 A name once mentioned leaves an echo. When my echo rings, it must carry no false sound. Remember, I did not sleep last night. When I present this case to you as I see it, i must be at my best i am not at my best to-day this was doubtless true but the inspector had not discovered it end of chapter eleven chapter twelve of the mystery of the hasty arrow by anna katherine green this librivox recording is in the public domain spare nobody i say spare nobody on his way home mr gryce stopped at the calderon to inquire how mrs taylor was doing and what his prospects were for a limited interview with her

Starting point is 03:30:21 he was told that no such interview could be considered for days that she still lay in a stupor with brief flashes of acute consciousness during which she would scream no no that brain fever was feared, and that increased excitement might be fatal. Another bar to progress. He had hoped to help her memory into supplying him with a fact which would greatly simplify a task whose anomalies secretly alarmed him. She had been in a fair state of mind before her nerve was attacked by the event which robbed the little Angeline of life and herself of reason. and if carefully approached, might possibly recall some of the impressions made upon her

Starting point is 03:31:10 previous to that moment. If, for instance, she could describe, even in a general way, the appearance of any person she may have seen advancing in the direction of the Northern Gallery, at the moment she herself turned to enter the Southern one, what a stability it would give to his theory and what certainty to his future procedure. But he must wait for this. He must wait for Angeline's story from Madame DuClo. Meantime, a word with sweetwater, after which rest.

Starting point is 03:31:47 It was Mr. Grice's custom, especially when engaged upon a case of marked importance, to receive this his recognized factotum in his own home. No prying ears, no watchful eyes, were to be feared there. He was the absolute master of everything, even of Sweetwater, he sometimes thought, for this young fellow loved him, had reason to, and when Sweetwater played the violin, as he sometimes did after one of their long talks, the aged detective came as near to happiness as he ever did.

Starting point is 03:32:26 now that his little grandchild was married and had gone with her husband to the other side of the world. Tonight he was not anticipating any such relaxation as this, yet to Sweetwater, arriving later than he wished. He had never looked more in need of it, as, sitting in his old and somewhat dingy library, he mused over some little object he held in his half-closed palm, with an intent careworn gaze which had distressed the young subordinate to see. Uncertainty incites the young and fires them into action, but it wearies the old and saps what little strength they have,

Starting point is 03:33:11 and Sweetwater detected uncertainty in his patron's troubled brow, and prolonged stare at the insignificant article, absorbing his attention. However, Grice roused quickly at the young detective's cheery greeting, and looking up with an answering welcome, plunged at once into business. So you have seen Turnbull. What did he say? That it was the left-hand upper corner of the tapestry he saw shaking, and not the right-hand one, as we had blindly supposed. Good. Then we can take it for granted that our new theory.

Starting point is 03:33:52 is well-founded. Certain things have come to light in your absence. The tapestry was pulled aside, not merely for the purpose of flinging in the bow, but to let the flinger pass through the door at its back, down to the curator's office, and so out into the court. And who? If this fact had been made known to me sooner, you would have had a different day's work, not getting it until late this afternoon, we have perhaps wasted some valuable hours. But we won't fret about that. Mrs. Taylor, being no better, we are likely to have all the time we want for substantiating my idea. It cannot take long if we succeed, either in tracing the Duclowe woman, or in drawing the net I am quietly manufacturing, so closely about—well, I've decided to call him X, that it

Starting point is 03:34:50 will hold against all opposition. I have hopes of finding the woman, but great doubts as to the efficacy of the net I have mentioned. It will have to be so wide and deep, and so absolutely without a single weak strand. Sweetwater sat astonished, and what was more silent. He who had a word for everything, accustomed as he was to the varying moods of his remarkable friend, he had to the varying moods of his remarkable friend. he had never before been met with a recitence so absolute.

Starting point is 03:35:25 It made him think, but for once in his life, did not make him loquacious. Mr. Grice seemed to be gratified by this, though he made no remark to that effect, and continued to preserve his abstracted look and quiet demeanor. So Sweetwater waited, and while waiting, managed to steal a glimpse at the small object to which his professional friend still paid his undivided attention. It looked like a narrow bit of dingy black cloth, just that and nothing more. The thing as trivial as the band which clips a closed umbrella. Was it such a band?

Starting point is 03:36:07 And would he presently be asked to find the umbrella from which it had fallen or been twisted away? No, umbrellas are not carried about museum buildings. Besides, this strip of cloth had no ring on the end of it. Consequently, it could not have served the purpose he had just described to it. It must have had some other use. But when, after impatient flinging aside of this nondescript article, Mr. Grice spoke, it was to say, I had a long talk with Corey today.

Starting point is 03:36:43 It seems that he goes through both galleries every morning, before the museum opens, though he will not swear to it. He is of the opinion that the quiver holding the Apache arrows had its full compliment when he passed it that morning. He has a way of running things over with his eyes, which has never yet failed to draw his attention to anything defective or in the least out of order. I see, sir, acquiesced Sweetwater, in an odd tone.

Starting point is 03:37:15 Mr. Grice's attitude showing that he awaited some expression of interest on his part. The elder detective either did not notice the curious note in the young one's voice, or noticing it, chose to ignore it, for with no change of manner he proceeded to say, I wish you would exercise your wits, sweetwater, on the following troublesome question. If the arrow which slew this young girl was in one of the one of the one of the one of the one, gallery at ten o'clock, how did it get into the other at twelve? The bow, here he purposely hesitated, might have been brought up the iron staircase, but the arrow?

Starting point is 03:37:58 His eyes were on sweetwater, a direct glance, was a rare thing with Mr. Grice, and he waited, waited patiently for the word which did not come. Then he remarked dryly, We are both dull. You are tired with your day's work, and I with mine. We will let difficult questions rest until our brains are clearer. But here he reached for the strip of dingy cloth he had cast aside, and tossing it over to Sweetwater, added with some suggestion of humor,

Starting point is 03:38:34 If you want a subject to dream upon tonight, there it is. If you have no desire to dream, and want work for tomorrow, make an effort to discover from whose clothing that fell and what was its use. It was picked up in room B on the second floor, the one where Mrs. Taylor was detained, before going downstairs. Ah, something tangible at last. I don't know about that. I honestly don't know, but we cannot afford to let anything go by us. Little things like that have not infrequently opened up a fresh trail which otherwise might have been missed. Sweetwater nodded, and laying the little strip along his palm examined it closely. It was made of silk, doubled, and stitched together except at the ends.

Starting point is 03:39:28 These were loose, but rough with bits of severed threads, as if the thing had been hastily cut from some article of clothing, to which it had been attached by some half-dozen very clumsy stitches. I think I understand you, Mr. Grice, observed Sweetwater, rising slowly to his feet, but a dream may help me out. We will see. I shall not leave here till ten tomorrow morning. Very good, sir, if you don't mind, I'll take this with me. Take it by all means.

Starting point is 03:40:04 As Sweetwater turned the go, he was induced by the silence of his patron to cast a backward glance. Mr. Grice had risen to his feet and was leaning toward him with an evident desire to speak. My boy, said he, if your dream leads you to undertake the search I have mentioned, spare nobody, I say, spare nobody. Then he sat down, and the memory which Sweetwater carried away. with him of the old detective at the moment he uttered this final injunction was far from being a cheerful one end of chapter twelve book two chapter thirteen of the mystery of the hasty arrow by anna catherine green this librivox recording is in the public domain write me his name refreshed by a good night's rest and quite ready to take up his task again mr gryce sat at the same table in the early morning awaiting the expected message from sweetwater

Starting point is 03:41:17 meanwhile he studied with a fuller attention than he had been able to give it the evening before the memorandum which this young fellow had handed him of his day's work a portion of this may be interesting to the reader against the list of people registered on his chart as present in the museum at the moment of tragedy he had inscribed such details concerning them as he could gather in the short time allotted him one effron short a sturdy new englander visiting new york for the first time he has a big story to take back don't care much for broken marbles and pictures so dingy you cannot tell what you are looking at but the sight of a lot of folks standing up like scarecrow's in a field here and there all over a great building because something had happened to somebody who'll make a story the children will listen to for years a dress taken an account of himself verified by telegraph two mrs lynch widow with a small house in jersey and money to support it no children interested in church work honest and of reliable character only fault of physical one extreme nervousness three mr carleton roberts director active in his work member of the union league and an aspirant for the high office of u s senator lives in bachelor apartment sixty seven west street a universally respected man of unquestioned integrity and decided importance close friend of curator jewett four ebon clark dorman been long in the employ of the museum considered entirely trustworthy home in a decent quarter of west eightyth street wife and nine children mostly grown

Starting point is 03:43:22 never been abroad has no foreign correspondence five emma sutton an art enthusiast gaining her living by copying old masters is at museum six days in the week it was behind her easel travis found a hiding-place in room h six mrs alice lee widowed sister of edward cronk taylor sixth avenue lives with brother kindly in disposition much like and truthful to a fault no acquaintance abroad seven and eight john and mary draper husband and wife living in east orange new jersey decent respectable folk with no foreign connections nine hetty armstrong young girl not too bright but honest to the core impossible to connect her with this affair ten charles simpson resident of minneapolis in town on business stopping at hotel st dennis eager to return home but willing to remain if requested to do so hates foreigners thinks the united states the greatest country on earth eleven john turnbull college professor one of the new type alert observant and extremely precise not apt to make a misstatement twelve james hunter dorman a little old for his work but straight as a string and methodical to a fault no wife no child bank account more than sufficient for his small wants thirteen miss charlotte hunsicker one of last season's debutants given to tennis and all outdoor sports generally

Starting point is 03:45:16 offhand but staunch it was she who gave a woman's care to mrs taylor when the latter fainted in room b fourteen museum attended coming up from basement fifteen eliza blake a schoolteacher convalescing after a long illness sixteen officer rudd seventeen tommy evans a boy scout did not lose his game went to the field after lunching on a pie at a bakery eighteen mrs nathaniel lord wealthy widow living at the st regis nineteen mrs emetrude taylor nothing to add to what is already known twenty henry abbott columbia student good-hearted and reliable but living in a world of his own to such an extent as to make him the butt of his fellow-students twenty one twenty two young couple from haverstraw just married he a drug clerk she a farmer's daughter both regarded in their home town as harmless twenty three james corrie attendant bachelor bachelor bachelor living with widowed mother fair record on the whole reprimanded once not for negligence but for some foolish act unbecoming his position thorough acquaintance with the museum and its exhibits a valuable man well liked notwithstanding the one lap saluted to at home and among his friends regarded as the best fellow going a little free perhaps when unduly excited but not given to

Starting point is 03:47:04 to drink and very fond of games. A member once of a club devoted to contests with foils and target shooting. Always champion. Visits a certain young lady three times a week. 24. Curator Jewett. A widower with two grandchildren, a daughter, married to an Englishman and living in Rheingold, Hunts, and a son, owner of a large ranch in California. lives when in the city at hotel gorham known too well for any description of himself of character to be necessary here if he has a fault or rather a weakness it is his extreme pride in the museum and his own conduct of its many affairs as on the evening before mr gryce lingered longest over one name he was still brooding anxiously over it when the telephone rang at his elbow and he was called up from headquarters cablegrams had been received from london and paris in acknowledgment of those sent and in both these cablegrams promises were made of a full examination into the antecedents of madame du clow and her companion Miss Willets.

Starting point is 03:48:25 That was all. No further news regarding them from any quarter. Mr. Grice hung up the receiver with a sigh. It's likely to be a long road full of unexpected turns and perilously near the precipice's edge, he muttered in weary comment to himself. Nothing to start from, but... Here Sweetwater walked in. Mr. Grice showed the... surprise. He had not expected to see the young man himself. Perhaps he was not quite ready to,

Starting point is 03:49:00 for he seemed to shrink, for one brief instant, as from an unwelcome presence. But the cheer, which always entered with Sweetwater, was contagious, and the old detective smiled as the newcomer approached, saying significantly, I had those dreams you spoke of last night, Mr. Grice, and found them too weighty for the telephone. i see i see sit down sweetwater and tell me how they ran i haven't as much confidence in my own dreams as i hope to have in yours speak up mention names if you want to no echo follows confidences uttered in this room i know that but for the present perhaps it will be best for me to follow your lead and when i have to speak of a certain person say x as you do x mr gryce is the man who for reasons we do not yet understand brought up the discarded bow from the cellar and stored it somewhere within reach on the floor above x is also the man who for the same unknown reason robbed the quiver hanging in the southern gallery of one of its arrows and kept the same on hand or in hiding till he could mate it with the bow my dreams showed me this picture

Starting point is 03:50:24 a man with a predominating interest in sport but otherwise active in business correct in his dealings and respectable in private life seize and frequently handles weapons of ancient and modern make which rouses interests and awaken the longing common to such men to test his skill in their use sometimes it is a sword which he twirls vigorously in sly corners again it is a bow calling for a yeoman's strength to pull he is a man of sense and for a long time goes no further than the play i have just indicated perhaps he has no temptation to go further until one unfortunate day he comes upon an idle bow rotting away in the cellar here mr gryce looked sharply up a proof of awakened interest which sweetwater did not heed possibly he was not expected to at all events he continued rapidly it was a fine strong bow a typical one from the plains he took it up examined it closely noted a slight defect in it somewhere and put it back but he did not forget it before many days it passed he goes down the cellar again and brings it up and stands it on end in where do you think sir in the closet of the curator's office how did you learn that from the woman who comes every day to wipe up the floors i happen to think she might have something worth while to tell us so i hunted her up go on boy another long mark in your favor thank you sir i'm relating a dream you know he stands it on end then in this closet into which nobody is supposed to go but the curator and the scrub woman

Starting point is 03:52:25 and there he leaves it possibly as yet with no definite intention how long it stood there i cannot say it was well hidden it seems by something or other hanging over it nor am i altogether sure that it might not be standing there yet if the impulse swaying x had not been strengthened by seeing daily over his head a quiver full of arrows admirably fitted for this bow time is no place in dreams or i might be able to state the day and the hour when he stood looking at the ring of keys lying on the curator's desk and struck with what it might do for him singled out one of the keys which he placed in the keyhole of a door opening upon a certain little iron staircase he was alone but he stopped to listen before turning that key i can see him can't you his heir is a guilty one but it is the guilt of folly not of premeditated crime he wants a try at that bow and recognizes his weakness and laughs but his longing holds and running up the little staircase to a second door he unlocks this also and after another moment of hesitation pulls it open he has brought the bow with him but he does not take it past the drapery hanging straight down before his eyes he simply drops it in the doorway and leaves it there within easy reach from the gallery if ever his impulse should be strong enough to lead him to make an attempt at striking a feather from the indian head-dress on the other side of the court you think him mad so do i but dreams are filled with that kind of madness

Starting point is 03:54:18 and when i see him shut the door upon this bow and steal back without relocking it or the one below i have no other excuse than this to give in answer to your criticisms i do not criticise i listen sweetwater you will criticise now as bunyan says in his pilgrim's progress i dreamed again this time i saw the museum proper it was filled with visitors the morning of may twenty second was a busy one i am told and a whole lot of people singly and in groups were continually passing up and down the marble steps and along the two galleries partaking of the feelings of the one whose odd impulses i am endeavouring to describe i was very uneasy and very restless until these crowds had thinned and most of the guests vanished from the building the hands of the clock were stealing toward twelve the hour of greatest quiet and fewest visitors. As it reached the quarter-mark, I saw what I was looking for, the man X, reaching for one of those arrows,

Starting point is 03:55:30 hanging in the southern gallery, and slipping it inside his coat. Did you speak, sir? No, Mr. Grice had not spoken, and Sweetwater, after an interval of uncertainty, went on quietly. And I saw both of his hands quite free the next minute. I judge that something had been attached to the lining of that coat to hold the arrow by its feathered head.

Starting point is 03:55:56 But this is a deduction rather than a fact. He stopped abruptly, an exclamation, one of Mr. Grice's very own, had left that gentleman's lips, and Sweetwater felt that he must pause, if only for an instant, to enjoy his small triumph. But the delay was short. Go on, said Mr. Grice, and Sweetwater obeyed, but in lowered tones, as though the vision he was describing was actually before his eyes. Next, I see a sweep of tapestry and an eager, peering figure, passing slowly across it.

Starting point is 03:56:37 It is that of the lovelorn Travis, watching his in Amarada, tripping up the marble staircase, and turning at its top in the direction of the opposite gallery. He is a timid soul, and anxious as he is to watch her, he is not at all anxious to be detected in the act of doing so. So he slips behind the huge pedestal, towering near him, thus causing the whole gallery to appear empty to the eyes of X, now entering it at the other end. This ladder has come there with but only,

Starting point is 03:57:14 one idea in his head to shoot an arrow across the court at the mark I have mentioned. It may have been on a dare. Sometimes I think it was. But shoot it he means to, before a fresh crowd collects. He already has, as you will remember, the arrow hidden somewhere about his person, and it is only a few steps to the edge of the tapestry behind which he has secreted the bow. If he takes a look opposite, it is at the moment when both Mrs. Taylor and Miss Willits are screened from his view by one of the partitions separating the various sections.

Starting point is 03:57:55 For unless he felt the way to be free for his arrow, he would never have proceeded to slip behind his chosen pedestal, secure the bow, pause to string it, then crouch for his aim in such apparent confidence. For after he has left the open. gallery and limited his outlook to what is visible beyond the loophole through which he intends to shoot. He can see, as we know from Mr. Lafletche, little more than the spot where the cap hangs and the one narrow line between.

Starting point is 03:58:28 Unhappily, it was across this line. The young girl leaped, just as the arrow left the bow. Don't you see it, sir? I do. And I see what follows, too. The escape of X? Yes, inadvertently, as you see, he has committed a horrible crime.

Starting point is 03:58:49 He can never recall it. Whatever his remorse or shame, nothing will ever restore the victim of his folly to life, while he himself has many days before him, days which would be ruined if his part in this tragedy were known. Shall he confess to it, then, or shall he fly? the way is so easy and leave it to fate to play his game fate whose well-known kindness to fools would surely favor him it does not take long for such thoughts to pass through a man's head

Starting point is 03:59:24 and before the dying cry of his innocent victim had ceased to echo through those galleries he is behind the tapestry and on his way toward the court beyond that my dream does not go how about yours sir my dream was of a crime not of an accident no man could be such a fool as you have made out this ex of yours to be only an extraordinary purpose or some imperious necessity could drive a man to shoot an arrow across an open court where people were passing hither and yawn even if he didn't see any one in the gallery by which you mean that he had already marked the approach of his victim and was ready with his weapon you are undoubtedly right and i only wish to say this that the purpose in my relation was merely to show the method and manner of this shooting leaving you to put on the emphasis of crime if you saw fit the gravity with which mr gryce received this suggestion had the effect of slightly embarrassing sweetwater Yet he presently ventured, to add, after a moment of respectful waiting. Did you know that after I woke from my dream? I had a moment's doubt as to its accuracy on one point.

Starting point is 04:00:51 The bow was undoubtedly flung behind the curtain, but the man. He paused abruptly. A morsel of clean white paper had just been pushed across the table under his eyes, and a preemptory voice was saying, Write me his name. I will do the same for you. End of Chapter 13. Book 2, Chapter 14.

Starting point is 04:01:23 Of the mystery of the hasty arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. A loop of silk. Sweetwater hesitated. I am very fond of the one of your own choosing, he smiled. But if you insist, mr gryce was already writing in another moment the two slips were passed in exchange across the table instantly a simultaneous exclamation left the lips of both each read a name he was in no wise prepared to see they had been following divergent lines instead of parallel ones and it took some few minutes for them to adjust themselves to this new condition

Starting point is 04:02:13 then mr gryce spoke what led you into loading up cori with an act which to accept us true would oblige us to deny every premise we have been at such pains to establish because and i hope you will pardon me mr gryce since our conclusions are so different i found it easier to attribute this deed of folly or crime if we can prove it such to a man young in year than one old enough to know better. Very good. That is undoubtedly an excellent reason. As this was said with an accent we will want for a better word called dry, Sweetwater, hearty as he was, flushed to his ears. But then any prick from Mr. Grice went very deep with him.

Starting point is 04:03:08 Perhaps he ventured, you will give even less indulgence, to what I have to add in way a further excuse. I shall have to hear it first. Corey is a sport, an incorrigible one. It is his only weakness. He bets like an Englishman. Not for the money, for the sums he risks are small, but for the love of it, the fun,

Starting point is 04:03:33 the transient excitement it might be. Here, Sweetwater's words came slowly, and with shame-faced pauses. that the shooting of that arrow i believe i said something like this before was the result of a dare a halt took place in the quick tattoo which mr gryce's fingers were drumming out on the table-top it was infinitesimal in length but it gave sweetwater courage to add then i hear that he wishes to marry a rich girl and shrinks from proposing to her on account of his small sound What has that got to do with it? Nothing so far as I can see. I am only elaborating the meager report lying there under your hand.

Starting point is 04:04:23 But I recognize my folly. You ordered me to dream, and I did so. Cannot we forget my unworthy vapourings and enter upon the consideration of what may prove more profitable? Here he glanced down at the slip of paper he himself held the slip which Mr. Grice had handed him with a single word written on it, and that word, a name. In a moment was Mr. Grice's answer.

Starting point is 04:04:52 First explained to me how, with the facts all in mind, and your chart before your eyes, you reconciled Corey's position, on the side staircase two minutes after the shooting, with your theory of a quick escape to the court by means of the door back of the tapestry, have you hurried matters to get him so far in such a short space of time? Mr. Grice, I have heard you say yourself that this question of time has been, from the first, our greatest difficulty. Even with these three means of escaping our minds, it is difficult to see how it was possible for anyone to get from the gallery to the court in the minute or so elapsing between

Starting point is 04:05:39 the cry of the dying girl. and the appearance at her side of the man, studying coins in the adjoining section. You are right. There was a delay somewhere, as we shall find later on. But granting this delay, a man would have to move fast

Starting point is 04:05:57 to go the full length of the court from the curator's room, even in the time which this small delay might afford him. But perhaps you cut this inextricable knot by locating Corey somewhere else than where he placed himself at the making of the chart. No, I cut it in another way. You remember my starting to tell you just now how, in my dissatisfaction, with a certain portion of my dream, I refused to believe in the escape of my Mr. X

Starting point is 04:06:31 by way of the curator's office. The tapestry was lifted, the bow flung behind. but the man stepped back instead of forward. An open flight along the gallery commended itself more to him than the doubtful one previously arranged for. If you will accept that for a fact, which of course you will not, it is easy to see how Corey might have been somewhere on that staircase when the inspiration came to turn the appearance of flight

Starting point is 04:07:03 into a show of his own innocence. by a quick rush back into the further gallery and a consequent loud-mouthed alarm. But I see that I am getting deeper and deeper into the quagmire of a bad theory badly stated. I am forgetting. Many things, Sweetwater, I will only mention a very simple one. The man who shot the arrow wore gloves. You wouldn't attribute any such extraordinary precaution as that, to a fellow shooting an arrow across the court on a dare.

Starting point is 04:07:40 You wouldn't expect it, sir, but in going about the museum that afternoon, I came upon Corey's coat hanging on its peg. In one of its pockets was a pair of kid gloves. You say the fellow was courting a rich girl, suggested Mr. Grice. Under those circumstances, some show of vanity is excusable. Certainly he would not carry a-y-lawful.

Starting point is 04:08:06 his folly so far as to put on gloves for the shooting match with which you credit him, unless there was criminal intent back of his folly, which, of course, would be as hard for you as for me to believe. Sweetwater winced, but noting the kindly twinkle which Mr. Grice softened the bitterness of this lesson, he brightened again and listened with becoming patience, as the old man went on to say. To discuss probabilities in connection with this other name seems futile this morning. The ease with which one can twist the appearances of things, to fit a preconceived theory, as exemplified by the effort you have just made, warns us to be chary of pushing one's ideas

Starting point is 04:08:56 too far without the firmest of bases to support it. If you find a man's coat showing somewhere on its lining evidences that there had once been sown to it a loop of the exact dimensions of the one I passed over to you last night, I should consider it a much more telling clue to the personality of X than a pair of gloves in the pocket of a man, who in all probability intends to finish up the day with a call on the girl he admires. I understand. Sweetwater was quite himself again. But do you know that this is no easy task you are giving me, Mr. Grice? Where a man has but two coats or three at best, it might not be so hard, perhaps, to get at them. But some men have a dozen, and if I don't mistake.

Starting point is 04:09:50 Sweetwater, I meant to give you a task of no little difficulty. It will keep you out of mischief. End of Chapter 14. Book 2 Chapter 15 of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. News from France For the next three days the impatience of the public met with nothing but disappointment. The police were recant, more recitent, far than usual,

Starting point is 04:10:31 and the papers, powerless to add to the facts already published, had little but conjecture to offer. The hunt for Madame DuCloe continued, joined in now by the general public, but for all the efforts made, aided by a careful search through her entire baggage, there was as little known concerning her as on the morning of her disappearance.

Starting point is 04:10:57 Nor did any better success follow the exhibition at the morgue of the poor little victim's innocent body. The mystery covering the whole affair seemed to be impenetrable, and the rush made upon the museum, upon its first reopening to the public, was such as to lead to its being closed again till some limit could be put upon the attendance. And thus matters stood when one morning the country was startled, and the keenest interest again aroused in this remarkable case by an announcement received from France to the effect

Starting point is 04:11:34 that the young lady so unfortunately killed in one of the public buildings in New York City was from the description sent not the ward of the woman Antoinette DuClo but her own child, Angeline DuClo. That the two were well known in St. Pierre, Sir Lurray, where they had lived for many years

Starting point is 04:11:57 in the relationship mentioned. At the convent where she was educated, She had been registered under the name of DuClo, also at the hotel, where she and her mother had spent a few days before leaving for England. Though of pure French descent, the father, being a Breton, they could not furnish her birth certificate, as she had not been born in France. According to the records to be seen at the convent, the father, Achilles du Cloe, was a professor of languages, whom her first of her.

Starting point is 04:12:32 Her mother had met in England and married in France before going to the States. So far as known, their story was a simple one, affording no reason so far as could be learned for any change of name on the part of the young woman in her visit to America. This was supplemented by a word from Scotland Yard, England, received a few hours after the other to the effect that Madame Duclowe and Miss Willits arrived at the Ritz from Dover on the morning of May 16th and left the next morning for Southampton.

Starting point is 04:13:09 They spent the evening at the theater with friends who called for them in a public automobile. These people had not been found, but they had been advertised for and might yet show up. Nothing more could be learned of either of them. Now here was the astonishing discovery, that two women, known and recognized as mother and daughter in France, should pass

Starting point is 04:13:34 for unrelated companions on leaving that country to enter ours. What were we Americans to think of this, especially in the light of the tragic event which so soon terminated their companionship? That the French records, imperfect as they were, were to be relied upon, as stating the truth as to the exact nature of the connection between these two, there could be no doubt, but granting this what fresh complexities were thus brought into an affair already teeming with incongruities, nay, absolute contradictions. Madame DuClo's conduct has shown toward her young charge had seemed sufficiently strange

Starting point is 04:14:21 and inconsistent when looked upon as that of a governess or guardian. but for a mother and a french mother at that to allow a young and inexperienced girl to go alone to a strange museum on the very day of their arrival and then with her without knowledge of what had happened to her there to efface herself by flight without promise of return was inconceivable to any one acquainted with the most ordinary of french conventions some sinister secret despite the seeming harmlessness of their lives must hide behind such unnatural conduct was it one connected with or entirely disassociated from the tragedy which had terminated the poor child's existence this was the great question this was what gave a new zest to the search for the dark-skinned frenchwoman with her drooping eyelid and hesitating walk and led sweetwater to whisper in the gryce's ear as they stepped out that same day from headquarters no more nonsense now we must find that woman or her dead body before the next twenty-four hours have elapsed with our fingers on that end of the string we will get hold of some family secret but not of the immediate one which especially concerns us madame du clow sent her daughter unattended to the museum but she did not direct the shaft which killed her that was the work of our friend let us then make sure that we fit the right man to this algebraic symbol and trust to her testimony to convict him by this time they had reached the taxi which was to convey Mr. Griceholm.

Starting point is 04:16:12 But though Sweetwater lent his arm to help the old man in, he did it with such an air of hesitation that it caused the other to remark. You have not ended your argument. There is something more you want to say. What is it? Speak up. No, no, I'm quite satisfied.

Starting point is 04:16:31 So far as to do Clow matter as concerned. It is only— Would you mind stepping aside for a moment? till I tell you a bit of gossip which has just come to my ears. Thank you, sir. Forbes is all right, Forbes was a chauffeur. But confidences are sacred, and this thing was told me in confidence. The humorous twist of his features, as he said this,

Starting point is 04:16:58 quite transformed his very plain countenance. Mr. Grice, noting it, began the stare at the first isolated object handy. which in this case happened to be the crooked end of his umbrella, a sign to those who knew him well of awakened interest. Well, let's hear, he said. It doesn't sound like much, but it will probably be news to you, as it certainly was to me. It's this, Mr. Grice, a certain gentleman we know

Starting point is 04:17:30 has been contemplating matrimony, but since this accident happened at the museum, that is, within the last two days, days, the engagement has been broken off." So? But I thought he had not gone so far as an engagement. You mean young Corey? No, Mr. Grice, I do not.

Starting point is 04:17:51 I mean the other. The other? Well, that's worth listening to. Engaged, huh? And now, all of a sudden, free again. At whose instance, Sweetwater? His or hers? Did you hear?

Starting point is 04:18:06 Not exactly. But it's quite a story, sir. I heard it from his chauffeur, and we'll tell it to you later if you are in a hurry to go home. Home? Come back with me into headquarters. I've got to sleep tonight. Sweetwater laughed, and together they retraced their steps. You see, sir, the young detective began,

Starting point is 04:18:29 as they drew their chairs together in an unoccupied corner. You gave me a task the other day, which called for the help of a friend. one at court, I mean, a fellow who not only knows the gentleman, but has access to his person and his wardrobe. X does not keep a man's servant. Men of his intellectual type seldom do, but does own a limousine, and consequently, employs a chauffeur.

Starting point is 04:18:58 To meet and make this chauffeur's mind took me just two days. I don't know how I did it. I never know how I do it, he added, with a sheepish small. smile, which Mr. Grice gave utterance to his old-fashioned, H-F. I don't flatter, and I don't bring out my pocket-book, or offer drinks or even cigars, but I get them, as you know, and get him strong, perhaps, because I don't make any great effort. After an evening spent in the garage with this man, he was ready to talk,

Starting point is 04:19:32 and this is what slipped out, among a lot of nonsensical gossip. Look. Mr. X, the real Mr. X, this time, has, besides his apartment in New York, a place on Long Island. The latter has been recently bought, and, though fine enough, is being added to and refitted, as no man at his age would take the trouble of doing, if he hadn't a woman in mind. The chauffeur, Holmes is his name, is no fool, and has seen for some time that Mr. X, for all his goings to and fro, and the many calls he is in the habit of making on a certain young lady, did not expect him, that is Holmes, to notice anything beyond the limits of his work, or to recognize in any way his employer's secret intentions. But fortunately for us, this man Holmes is just one of those singularly meddlesome people, whose curiosity grows with every attempt at repression. and when coincident with the disastrous happening at the museum all these love-like attention ceased and no calls were made and no presence sent and gloom instead of cheer marked his employer's manner

Starting point is 04:20:48 he made up his mind to sacrifice a portion of his dignity rather than endure the fret of a mystery he did not understand this meant not only keeping his eyes open this he had always done but his ears as well the young lady whose name he never mentioned lives not in the city but in that same long island village where mr x's country house is in the process of renovation if he homes should ever be so fortunate as to be ordered to drive there again he knew of a gravel walk running under the balcony where the two often sat he would make the acquaintance of that gravel walk instead of sitting out the hour somewhere in the rear as he had hitherto been accustomed to do what's the use of having ears if you don't use them nobody would be any the worse and his mind would be at rest and do you know sir that he did actually carry this cowardly resolution through there came a night i think it was tuesday when the order came and they took the road to belport not a word did his employer utter the whole way solemn and still he sat and when they arrived he descended without a word rang the bell and entered the house it was very warm that night holmes said and before long he heard the glass door open on to the balcony and knew that as wished for chance had come leaving the limousine he crept around to secure a place among the bushes and what he heard while there seemed to compensate him for what he called his loss of dignity the young girl was crying and the man was talking to her kindly enough but in a way to end whatever hopes she may have had holmes heard him say it cannot be now circumstances have changed for me lately

Starting point is 04:22:50 and much as i regret it i must ask you to be so good as to forgive me for giving up our plans then he offered her money an annuity i believe they call it but she cried out at that saying it was love she wanted, to be petted and cared for, money she could do without. When he showed himself again in front, he was stiffer and more solemn than ever, and set home in a dreary way, which made the chauffeur feel decidedly uncomfortable. Of course Holmes is quite blind to what this all means, but you may possibly see some connection between this sudden act of sacrifice on X's part and the work of the arrow. At all events, I thought you ought to know

Starting point is 04:23:39 that Mr. X's closets hold a skeleton, which he will doubtless take every pains to keep securely locked from general view. Holmes says that his last word to the disappointed girl was in the way of warning. No mention of this break in her plans was to be made without his sanction.

Starting point is 04:24:01 Good work, sweetwater. You have strong, strengthened my hands wonderfully. Does this fellow Holmes know you were a police detective? Indeed not, sir. That would be fatal to our friendship, I am sure. I haven't even let him discover that what he was burning to tell me had any especial interest for me. I let him ramble on with just a word here and there to show I wasn't bored. He hasn't any idea. Very good. Now, what do you propose to do now, what do you propose to do now? next. Take up my residence in Belport. Why, Belport? Because X proposes to move there, bag and baggage,

Starting point is 04:24:42 this very week. Before his house is done? Yes, he hates the city, wants to have an eye to the changes being made. Perhaps he thinks a little work of this kind may distract him. And you? Was a master carpenter once, you know. I see, and have a friend on the spot who promises to recommend me. Our workmen want it there? A good one very much. I'm sure you'll fill the bill. I shall try to, sir. But for the risk you run of being recognized, I should bet on you, sweetwater. I know. People will not forget the unfortunate shape of my nose. You are up and down the for hours. He must know your face like a book. It can't be helped. I shall keep out of sight as much as possible whenever he is around. I am an expert workman in the line wanted. I understand

Starting point is 04:25:43 my trade, and he will see that I do and doubt his eyes rather than stretch probabilities to a point of connecting me with a force. Besides, I get quite another expression when my hands get in touch with the wood. And I can look a man in the eye if I have to, without a quiver of self-consciousness. His will drop before mine will. Your name is carpenter? Jacob's shot.

Starting point is 04:26:13 It's the name by which Holmes already knows me. Well, well, the game may be worth the candle. You can soon tell. I will keep you posted. The rest was business with which we need not concern ourselves. End of Chapter 15. End of Book 2.

Starting point is 04:26:39 Book 3, Chapter 16. Of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Book 3. Storm in the Mountains. Friends A shaded walk with a glimpse of sea beyond. In bowering trees, a stretch of the mountain. lawn on one side, and on the other the dormer windows of a fine old house, half hidden

Starting point is 04:27:09 by scalfolding, from which there came now and then the quick strokes of a workman's hammer. It was half past four if the sharp little note of a cuckoo-clock, snapping out one, told the time correctly. Two men are pacing this leafy retreat, both of whom we have seen before, but under circumstances is so distracting that we took little note of their appearance fine as it undoubtedly was in either case. However, we are more at leisure now, and we'll pause for an instant to give you some idea of these two prominent men, with one of whom our story will henceforth have very much to do. One of them, the curator of our famous museum, lacks comeliness of figure, though at moments

Starting point is 04:28:01 he can be very impressive. We can therefore recognize him at a distance by means of a certain ungainliness of stride, sometimes seen in a man wholly given over to intellectual pursuits. But when he turns and you get a glimpse of his face, you experience at once the scope of mind and charm of spirit which make his countenance a marked one in the metropolis. A little gray about the temples, a tendency,

Starting point is 04:28:31 Growing upon him, alas, to raise his hand to his ear, when called upon the listen, show that he has already passed the meridian of life. But in his quick glance and clear and rapid speech, youth still lingers, making of him a companion, delightful to many and admirable to all. The other, Carlton Roberts, his bosom friend, and the museum's chief director, is of a different type, but no less striking to the eye. For him, personality has done much toward raising him to his present status among the leading men of New York. While not tall, he is tall enough never to look short, owing to the trim elegance of his figure and the quiet

Starting point is 04:29:19 dignity of his carriage. He does not need to turn his face to impress you with the idea that he is handsome. But when he does so, you find that your own expectations are more than met by the reality. For though he may not have the strictly regular features, we naturally associate with one of his poise and matchless outline, there is enough of that quality and more than enough of that additional elusive something which is an attraction in itself to make for handsomeness in a marked degree. He, like his friend, has passed his fortieth year, but no worse. save in his abundant locks, can one see any sign of approaching age. They are quite white,

Starting point is 04:30:05 cut close, but quite white. So white, they attracted the notice of his companion, who stole more than one look at them, as he chatted on in what had become almost a monologue. So little did Roberts join in the conversation. Finally, the curator paused, and stealing another look at that white head, remarked anxiously, "'Have you not gone gray very suddenly? I don't remember you being whiter than myself the day I dined with you, just preceding the horrible occurrence at the museum.'

Starting point is 04:30:41 "'I have been going gray for a year, rejoined the other. My father was white at forty. I am just forty-three. It becomes you, and yet, Roberts, you have taken this matter too much to heart. We are not to blame in any way, unless it was having such deadly weapons within reach. How could one suppose?" Yes, how could one suppose, echoed the director, and the mystery of it.

Starting point is 04:31:08 The police seemed no nearer solving the problem now than on the night they practiced archery in the galleries. It does wear on me, possibly, because I live so much alone, I see. Here he stopped abruptly. they had been strolling in the direction of the house, and at this moment were not many paces from it. "'See what?' urged the curator. With an accent one might almost call tender, which would have been called tender if used in addressing a woman. See her, that dead girl, constantly, at night when my eyes are shut, in the daytime while I go

Starting point is 04:31:48 about my affairs, here, there and everywhere, the young, young, young, face so white, so still, so strangely and so unaccountably familiar. Do you feel the same? Did she remind you of anyone we know? I grow old trying to place her. I can say this to you, but not to another soul could I speak of what has become to me a sort of blind obsession. She was a stranger.

Starting point is 04:32:17 I know of no Madame New Clow, and am sure that I never saw her young daughter before, and yet I have started up in my bed more than once during these past few nights, confident that in another moment memory would supply the clue, which will rid my mind of the eternal question as to where I have seen a face like hers before. But memory fails to answer, and the struggle, momentarily interrupted, begins again to the destruction of my peace and comfort. "'Od. But you must rid yourself of what unnerves you so completely. It does no good, and only adds to regrets which are poignant enough in themselves.' "'That is true. But stop a minute. I see it now. Her face, I mean. It comes between me and the house there. Even your presence does not dispel it. It is. No, it's gone again. Let us go back once more, and take another look at the sea. It is the one thing which draws me away from

Starting point is 04:33:24 this pursuing vision. They resumed their stroll, this time, away from the house, and toward the oval cut in the trees for a straight view out to the sea. Across this oval, a ship was now sailing, which attracted the eyes of both. Not till it had passed, did the curator say, You live too lonely a life. You should seek change, recreation, possibly something more absorbing than either. You mean marriage? Yes, Roberts, I do. Pardon me.

Starting point is 04:33:59 I want to see your eye beam again with contentment. The loss of your late companion has left you desolate, more desolate than you have been willing to acknowledge. You cannot replace her. I am wed at the politics. an untrustworthy jade when did politics ever make a man happy happy they were turned toward the house again when near roberts capped his exclamation with the remark you ask a great deal of me more than you ask for yourself you have not married again but my mistress is not a jade i find joy in my work i have had no time to woo a woman as she should be wooed if she is to be a happy second wife. I should have so much to explain to her. When I get looking over Prince, the dinner

Starting point is 04:34:51 bell might ring a dozen times without my hearing it. A letter from an agent, telling of some wonderful fine in Mesopotamia, would make me forget whether my wife's hair was brown or black. I don't need diversion, Roberts. Yet you enjoy a couple of hours in the country, a whiff of fresh chair, and a chat with a friend. Yes, I do, but if the museum were open, Mr. Roberts smiled. I see that you are incorrigible, then, with a gesture toward the house, come and see my new veranda, its outlook will surprise you. As you have already surmised, he was the owner of this place, and the man, for whose better understanding Sweetwater had again taken up the plane and the hammer.

Starting point is 04:35:45 End of Chapter 16. Book 3, Chapter 17 of the mystery of the hasty arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. The cuckoo clock. As they made their way through the scattered timber and litter of fresh carpentry work, the man who was busy there,

Starting point is 04:36:15 who certainly had overstayed his time, took up his kit, and disappeared around the corner of the house. Neither noted him. The cuckoo clock was chirping out its five small notes from the cheerful interior, and the curator was remarking upon it. That's a merry sound, both sweet and stimulating. And what is still better, I can hear it without effort. I believe I should like to have a clock of that kind.

Starting point is 04:36:45 it goes where i go muttered its strange owner with what seemed an involuntary emphasis then as the curator turned upon him in some surprise he added with studied indifference i brought it from switzerland when i was younger than i am now a silly memento but i fancy it a commonplace explanation surely why then did that same workman who had stopped short after rounding the corner to pick up something which he as quickly threw down turned a quick head and listened eagerly for what might be said next nothing came of it for the verandah door was dear and the two gentlemen had stepped in but to one who knew sweetwater the smile with which he resumed his work had an element in it which if seen would have darkened still further the gloom in the troubled eye of the speaker switzerland he had said switzerland it was not long after this that the curator and his host left for new york the house was not quite ready for occupancy but was in the process of being made so by the woman who had done duty as housekeeper for mr rober's both before his marriage and since his wife's death during the fifteen years which had intervened she had been simply the cook this woman hilda weston by name did not accompany them she was in belport to stay and as it behooves us to remain there for a while longer ourselves we will join her in the quiet rest she has taken on the kitchen steps before shutting up the house for the night she is not alone a young man is with her one to whom she has given temporary board and lodging in exchange for the protection of his presence

Starting point is 04:38:41 and such slight help as he can afford her in the heavy task of distributing and arranging the furniture we know this man it is the one we have just seen halting at the corner of the house on quitting his work on the new veranda sweetwater he is a genial soul she though very old for the responsibilities she still insist upon carrying enjoys a good laugh nor is she averse to the numberless little kindly attentions with which she shows his respect for her age, if not a personal liking for herself. In short, they're almost friends, and she trusts him, as she has never trusted any young man yet, save the boy she lost when she was still a comely widow. Perhaps this is why on this night, when we find the two together, he ventures to turn the talk upon the man she had so devotedly served during the better part of her life. He began with the cuckoo clock.

Starting point is 04:39:45 Where did it come from? How long had they had it? What a jolly little customer that wee bird was, darting out and darting in, with its hurry call to anyone who would listen. It made a fellow feel ashamed of dwindle at his work. It wouldn't do to let any mere bird get ahead of him. A wooden bird at that. he got her talking she had known mr roberts's mother and she had been in the house as a young girl then when he went away to europe he had not wanted to go he was in love or thought he was with a woman older than himself

Starting point is 04:40:23 but the mother did not approve of the match though the lady had a mint of money and everything in her favor but those seven years she afterward became his wife and for all his mother's fears they lived together very happily since her death which had occurred about a year ago he'd been a different man very sad and much giving to sitting alone any one can see the effect it has had upon him if they look at him closely she was a good woman then very good well life must be lonesome for a widower especially if he has no children but perhaps he has some married or at school no he has no children and no relations to speak of and he brought that clock from switzerland did he ever say from what part of switzerland if he did i don't remember i've no memory for foreign names this sent sweetwater off on another tack he knew such a good story which having told he seemed to have forgotten all about the clock for he said nothing more about it and not much more about mr roberts but when a little while later he followed her into that gentleman's room for the purpose of unlocking a trunk which had been delivered that day he took advantage of her momentary absence in search of the key to pull out that cuckoo clock from the wall where it hung and read the small slip of paper pasted across its back as he hoped it gave both the name and address of the merchant from whom it had been brought but that was not all running in diagonal lines across this label he saw some faded lines and fine handwriting which proved to be a couplet signed with five initials

Starting point is 04:42:17 the latter were not quite legible but the couplet he could read without the least difficulty it was highly sentimental and might mean much and might mean nothing if the handwriting should prove to be mr roberts the probabilities were in favor of the former supposition or so he said to himself as he swung the clock back in the place when mrs weston returned he was standing as patiently as possible in the middle of the room saying over and over to himself to ensure remembrance till he could jot the lines down in his note-book bosburg lucerne i love thee and thee will i love to eternity his interest in this slight undoubtful clue however sank into insignificance when having unlocked and unstrapped the trunk which mrs weston pointed out he saw to his infinite satisfaction that it held mr roberts's clothing the one thing in the world toward which at this exact moment his curiosity mainly pointed if only he might help her handle the heavy coats which lay so temptingly on top should he propose to do so looking at her firm chin and steady eye he felt that he did not dare to rouse the faintest suspicion in this woman's intelligent mind would be fatal to all further procedure and so he stood indifferent while she lifted garment after garment and laid them carefully on the bed he counted five coats and his many vests and was racking his brains for some plausible excuse for a nearer inspection when she stopped in the midst of her work with a cheery remark

Starting point is 04:44:07 that will do for to-night to-morrow i will look them all over for moths before hanging them away in the closet and he had to go leaving them lying there within the reach of his hand when one glance at the lining of a certain coat which had a certain coat which had a small one glance at the lining of a certain coat which had a especially attracted his eye, might have given him the one clue he most needed. The room which had been allotted to him in this house was in the rear and at the top of a steep flight of stairs. As he saw it that night, he cast a quick glance through the narrow passageway, opening just beyond his own door. Would it be possible for him to thread those devious ways, and reached Mr. Roberts' room, without rousing Mrs. Weston, who in spite of her years, had the alertness of a watchdog with eye and ear ever open. To be found strolling through quarters where he had no business would be worse than being

Starting point is 04:45:08 suspected of taking a personal interest in the owner's garments. He was of an adventurous turn, and ever ready to risk something on the turn of a die. but not too much a false move might hazard all besides he remembered the airing these clothes were to get and the nearness of the clothes yard to the pump he so frequently patronized and all the chances which this gave for an inspection which would carry little danger to one of his ready wit so he gave up the midnight search he might have attempted under other circumstances and shut his room from the moon and his eyes to sleep and dreamed was it of the great museum with its hidden mystery in shrouding its many wonders of high art or of a far-off time and a far-off scene where in the stress of some great emotion the trembling hand of carlton roberts had written on the back of this foolish clock for which he still retained so great a fancy the couplet which he himself had so faithfully memorized i love but thee and thee will i love to eternity at eight o'clock on the following morning the quick strokes of the workman's hammer reawakened the echoes at the end of the building where the big enclosed veranda was going up as the clock struck nine mrs weston could be seen hanging up her master's coats and trousers on a long line stretched across the clothes yard

Starting point is 04:46:46 they remained there for two hours viewed from afar by sweetwater but not approached till he saw the old woman disappear from one of the gates with a basket on her arm then he developed thirst and went rearward to the pump while there he took a look at the sea a brisk wind was springing up it gave him an idea making sure that his fellow-workmen were all busy he loosened one end of the line holding the fluttering garments and then went back to his work as the wind increased the strain on the line became too great and soon he had the satisfaction of seeing the whole thing fall in one wild flap to the ground with an exclamation calculated to draw the attention of the men about him to what had happened he rushed to the rescue lifted the line and rearranged the clothes. Then, refastening, this time securely, the end of the line which had slipped loose, he returned to his post,

Starting point is 04:47:52 with just one quick and disappointed look, thrown back at the now safe, if wildly fluttering garments. He had improved his opportunity to examine the inside of every coat and had found nothing to reward his scrutiny. But it was not this which had given him, him his chief annoyance. It was the fact that the one coat from which he had expected the

Starting point is 04:48:16 anticipated clue, the coat which Mr. Roberts had certainly worn on that tragic day at the museum, was not there. A summer overcoat had filled out the number, and his investigation was incomplete. Why was that one coat lacking? He was sure he had seen it the night before, lying on the bed with the others. Was it still there, or had it been stowed away in drawer or closet? Irrespective of its danger from moffs, for a reason he would give his eye-teeth to know, but dare not inquired into, till he had clinched his friendship with this old woman so thoroughly that he could ask her anything, which certainly was not the case as yet. The absence of the one coat he wanted most to see afflicted him sorely.

Starting point is 04:49:07 he told Mrs. Weston on her return how the line had fallen and how he had replaced it, but for all his wits he could not get any further. With the close of the day's work and the reappearance of Mr. Roberts, he slipped away to the village to avoid an encounter of the results of which he felt very doubtful. His dinner would not be ready till after Mr. Roberts had been served, and the three hours which must necessarily elapse before that happy moment looked very long and very unproductive to him especially as he had found no answers yet to the question which so grievously perplexed him he had paced the main street twice and had turned into a narrow lane ending in the smallest of gardens and the most infinitesimal of houses when the door of the same house opened and a man came out whose appearance held him speechless for a moment then sent him forward with a quickly beating heart it was not the man himself that produced a somewhat startling effect

Starting point is 04:50:17 it was his clothes so far as his hat and nether garments went they were if not tattered not very far from it but the coat he wore was not only trim but made of the finest cloth and without the smallest sign of wear It was so conspicuously fine and looked so grotesquely out of place on the man wearing it that he could pass no one without rousing curiosity, and he probably had all he wanted to do for the next few days in explaining how a fine gentleman's coat had fallen to his lot. But the Sweetwater, its interest lay in something more important than the amusing incongruity it offered to the eye. It looked exactly like the one belonging to Mr. Roberts, which had escaped his scrutiny in so remarkable a way. Should it prove to be the same how fortunate he was to have it brought thus easily within his reach and under circumstances so natural, it was not necessary for him to think twice how best to take advantage of them.

Starting point is 04:51:26 Father Dobbins, for that is the name by which his old cajure was known to the boys, was as might be expected, very proud of his new acquisition, and quite blind to the contrast it offered to his fringed-out trouser legs. He had a smile on his face which broadened, as he caught Sweetwater's sympathetic glance. Fine day, he mumbled. Are you wanting something of me, that you're coming this way? Perhaps and perhaps, answered Sweetwater, if that fine coat I see you wearing is the one given you by Mrs. Weston up the road.

Starting point is 04:52:05 Deed, sir, and what's a miss? She gave it to me, yes. Came all the way into the village to find me and give it to me. Too small for her master, she said, and would I take it to oblige him? Does she want it back? Oh, no, not she. She's not that kind.

Starting point is 04:52:23 It's only that she has since remembered that one of the pockets has a hole in it, an inside one, I believe. she's afraid it might lose you a dime some day. Will you let me see if she is right? If so, I was to take you to the tailors and have it fixed immediately. I am to pay for it. The old man stared in slow comprehension.

Starting point is 04:52:46 Then, with the deliberation which evidently marked all his movements, he slowly put down his basket. I warn you, it's all right, he said. But look, and you will. I don't want to lose no dimes. sweetwater threw back one side of the coat then the other felt in the pockets and smiled but grice and not ignorant father daubbins should have seen that smile there was comedy in it and there was the deepest tragedy also for the marks of stitches forcibly cut were to be seen under one of the pockets stitches which must have held something as narrow as an umbrella band and no longer than the little strip at which Mr. Grice had been looking one night in a melancholy little short of prophetic.

Starting point is 04:53:40 End of Chapter 17. Book 3, Chapter 18 of The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Mrs. Davis's Strange Lodger If you will look carefully at this chart and note where the various persons then in the museum were standing at the moment, Corey shouted his alarm. You will see that of all upon whom suspicion can, with any probability be attached, there is but one who could have fulfilled the conditions of escape as just explained to you.

Starting point is 04:54:28 Stretching forth an impressive finger, Mr. Grice pointed to a certain number on the chart, outspread between him and the chief inspector. He looked and saw the number three, and glanced anxiously down at the name it prefigured. Roberts, the director, impossible, not to be considered for a moment. I'm afraid you're getting old, Grice, and he looked about to be sure that the door was quite shut. Mr. Grice smiled, little drearily, perhaps, as he acknowledged this self-evident fact. You are right, Chief. I am getting old.

Starting point is 04:55:06 but not so old as the venture upon so shocking an insinuation against the man of mr robert's repute and seeming honor if i had not some very substantial proofs to offer in its support no doubt no doubt but it won't do i'll tell you gryce it won't do there cannot be any such far-fetched and ridiculous explanation to the crime you talk about why he's next to be in the republican nominee for senator an attack upon him especially of this monstrous character would be looked upon as a clear case of political persecution and such it would be and nothing less and it would be all to no purpose i am sure i hope you are alone in these conclusions that you have not seen fit to share your ideas on this subject with any of the boys only with sweetwater who did some of the work for me and joyce how about him he had the same opportunities as myself but we have not reached the point of mentioning names i thought it best to consult with you first good then we'll drop it it was decisively said but gryce gave no signs of yielding i'm afraid that's impossible said he then with the dignity of long experience he added with quiet impressiveness i have as you know faced crime these many years in all its aspects i have tracked the ignorant almost imbecile murderer of the slums and laid my hand in arrest on the shoulder of so-called gentlemen hiding their criminal instincts under a show of culture and sometimes of wide education human nature is not so very different in high and low

Starting point is 04:57:02 and what may lead an irresponsible dago into unsheathing his knife against his fellow may work a like effect upon his high-bred brother if circumstances lend their aid to make discovery appear impossible mr roberts is a friend of many a good man who would swear to his integrity with a clear conscience i would have sworn to it myself a month ago had i heard it questioned in the slightest manner and i may live to swear to it again notwithstanding the doubts which have been raised in my mind by certain strange discoveries which link him to this unhappy affair by what we are pleased to call circumstantial evidence for as i am obliged to acknowledge the one great thing we rely upon in accusations of this kind is so far lacking in his case i mean the motive i know of none and can in fact conceive of none which would cause a gentleman of even life and ambitious projects to turn a deadly weapon upon an innocent child with whom he is not so far as we can discover even acquainted dementia only can account for such a freak and to dementia we must ascribe this crime if it is necessary for us to find cause before proceeding to lay her evidence before the district attorney all i propose to do at present is to show you my reasons for thinking that the arrow which slew angeline willets or as we have been assured by unimpeachable authority angeline ducloe masquerading under the name of Angeline Willets, was set to bow and loosed across the court by the gentlemen we have

Starting point is 04:58:53 just mentioned. Here Mr. Grice stopped for a look of encouragement from the severely silent man he was endeavoring to impress, but he did not get it. With a full sense of his years weighing upon him as never before, he sighed, but continued with little change of tone. In the first day or two of keen surprise, following an event of so many complicated mysteries, I drew up in my own mind a list of questions which I felt should be properly answered before I would consider it my duty to submit to you a report to the disadvantage of any one suspect.

Starting point is 04:59:34 This was question one. Whose was a hand to bring up into the museum gallery, the bow, recognized by Corey as the one which had been lying by for an indefinite length of time in the cellar. Not till yesterday did I get any real definite answer to this. Corey would not talk, nor with the curator, and I dared not press either of them beyond a certain point, for equally with yourself I felt it most undesirable to allow anyone to suspect the nature of my theory, or whom it especially involved. The curator had nothing to hide on this or any other point connected with a tragedy.

Starting point is 05:00:18 But it was different with Corey. He had some very strong ideas about the visit to the cellar, only he would not acknowledge them. So yesterday, after the satisfactory settlement of another puzzling question, I made up my mind to trap him, which I did after this manner. He has, as most men have, in fact, a great love. for the curator. In discussing with him the mysterious fetching up of the bow and its subsequent concealment in the curator's office, I remarked with a smile that I did not mean to have him take as real, that only the curator himself would do such a thing, and then forget it, that it

Starting point is 05:01:01 must have been his shadow he saw, and I begged him, in a way, half chicoast, half earnest, to say so and have done with it. It works, sir. He flushed like a man who had been struck. Then he grew white with indignation, and blurted forth that it was no more his shadow than it was Mr. Roberts, that indeed it was much more like Mr. Roberts than the curators. At which I simply remarked, you think so, Corey? To which I replied, I do not think anything. But I know that curator Jewett never brought up that bow from the cellar,

Starting point is 05:01:37 or he would have said so the minute he saw it. There's no better man in the world than he, nor than Mr. Roberts either, I put in, and left him comforted, if not quite reassured. Such for question one. Number two is of similar nature. Was the transference of the arrow from one gallery to the other, due to the same person who brought up the bow? Now, in answer to that, I have a curious thing to show you, and lifting into view a bundle of goodly size,

Starting point is 05:02:13 wrapped in heavy brown paper, he opened it up and disclosed a gentleman's coat. Spreading this out between them, lining side out, and pointing out two marks an inch or so apart, showing the remains of stitches for which there seemed to have been no practical use, he took from his own vest pocket,

Starting point is 05:02:33 what looked like a bit of narrow black tape. This he laid down on the upturned, lining in the space bounded by the two lines of marks I have mentioned, and drawing the chief's attention to it, observed in quiet explanation. The one fits the other, stitch for stitch. Look closely at them both, I beg, and tell me if in your judgment it is not evident that this strap or loop, or whatever we may call it, has been cut away from this coat to which it had been previously sold, and by no woman either.

Starting point is 05:03:08 any one could see that this had been so there could be but one reply this coat i bought from an old man to whom it had been given by mr rober's housekeeper on their arrival at his new home on long island The strip was picked up at the museum in the room, where Mrs. Taylor spent an hour or so immediately upon leaving the scene of crime. With her, at that time, was a young lady who kindly offered to look after her, and two or three men directly associated with the museum, of whom Mr. Roberts was one. These and these only. Now this strap, or let us say, loop, since we are beginning to see for what purpose it was used, was not on the floor previous to the entry of these few persons into this room,

Starting point is 05:04:01 or indeed, for some little time afterward. Otherwise, this young lady, who was the one to open my eyes to this clue, surely would have seen it in the half-hour she stood at Mrs. Taylor's side, with no one to talk to and quite free to look about her. But it was there, after the lady had revived from her fainting fit, dropped as you see cut from its owner's coat and dropped chief let me ask why this should have been done in a time of such suspense if it had nothing to do with a crime then occupying everybody's attention a good coat too almost new as you will observe the chief possibly with a shade less of irony in his manner answered this direct question with one equally direct and what connection have you succeeded in establishing between this abominable crime and the coat with her without a loop worn by the museum's leading director one is straight and indisputable no doubt as that you have just attempted to make between the same gentleman and the museum beau he added with biting incredulity

Starting point is 05:05:13 yes returned the other in calm disregard of the sarcasm straighter and more indisputable if anything we are asking as you will remember how an arrow could have been carried from the southern to the northern gallery without attracting any one's attention I will show you how. With a wrap on the table, which brought Sweetwater into the room, he proceeded to pin again into its old place on the lining of Mr. Roberts' coat, the so-called tag. Then taking the arrow which Sweetwater proceeded to hand him, he slipped it into the loop, thus made, and showed how securely it could be held there by its feather end.

Starting point is 05:05:57 A man of Mr. Roberts' upright carriage might, with his coat well buttoned up, walked the length of Broadway, without disclosing the presence of this stick, remarked Mr. Grice, as, At his look, Sweetwater doffed his own coat, and put on the one thus discreetly weighted. The chief stared, paling slightly, as he noted the result. Mr. Grice, who never overemphasized his effects, motioned Sweetwater to leave, and proceeded to the next question. number three he now observed should have come first as it has already been answered it asks if it is possible to hit the mark in section two of the museum's gallery from behind the pedestal in section eight from the pedestal nearest the front no

Starting point is 05:06:49 but from the one further back upon which by the way stephens found the print of a gloved finger yes who wore gloves that day kid gloves mind you for the mark of the stitching is exact as you can see in this print of the saying made by stephens all the ladies except the young copyist who was leaving in a hurry and had not stopped to put hers on but of the men only one mr roberts the careful dresser who was never known to enter the street without this last touch to his toilet how do i know this look at the chart chief this one which shows the court and the persons in it at the precise minute of first alarm you see how near the exit mr roberts was and who was closest to him i had a little talk the most guarded one imaginable with this lady who was the very one of whom i had just said she had admitted to put on her gloves and she gave me the fact i have just passed on to you she noted mr robert's hands because they shamed hers and she was just stopping to pull her gloves from her coat pocket when cori's voice rang out and everything else was forgotten coravative only corabative sir i am quite aware of that but what i have now to add may give it weight the stringing of a bow is no easy task for an amateur nor is a discharge of an arrow under such dangerous circumstances has marked the delivery of the one we are discussing, one which would be lightly attempted

Starting point is 05:08:32 by a person altogether ignorant of archery. However strong the evidence might be against a man who was not an utter fool, I would never have presumed to lay it out before you if I am not verified the fact that the director, whatever is life now, was once greatly addicted to sports and thoroughly acquainted with the management of a bow and arrow. It has taken time. Many cablegrams were necessary, but I have at last received this copy of a report made sixteen years ago by a club in Lucerne, Switzerland,

Starting point is 05:09:09 in which mention is made of a prize given to one Carlton Roberts, an American, for twelve piercings of the bullseye in as many shots, in an archery contest which included all. nationalities. Nor is that all. In a study of himself, his home, his life, his secret interests, we come upon things which call for closer inspection.

Starting point is 05:09:34 For instance, not a day has passed since that poor child has been in the morgue, that he has not been one online to see her. He dreams of her, he says. He cannot get her face out of his mind. You notice that he has been growing gray. but i will stop here i do not wonder that you look upon all this as the ravings of a man on the verge of senility if i were in your place i should undoubtedly do the same but ungracious as the task has proved i owed it to myself to rid my mind of its secret burden it is for you to say whether all things considered i am to drop the matter here or proceed blindly in search of the motive lying back of every premeditated crime i can imagine none in this case as i have frankly stated save the very weak and improbable one already advanced by young sweetwater in connection with another party upon whom he had fixed his eye

Starting point is 05:10:39 that of the irresistible desire of an expert to test his skill with a bow which comes unexpectedly into his hands that wouldn't apply to roberts not in the least affirmed the chief with the emphasis of strong conviction even if we should allow ourselves to regard these stray bits of circumstantial evidence has in any way conclusive of the extraordinary theory you have advanced he is much too able and cautious a man to yield to any such full temptation as that but to let that matter pass for the present why have you paid such close attention to one end of your string and quite ignored the other madam do close hasty flight and continued absence in face of circumstances which would lead a natural mother to break through every obstacle put in the way of her return offers a field of inquiry more promising it appears to me than the one upon which would lead a natural mother to break through every obstacle put in the way of a return offers a field of inquiry more promising it appears to me than the one upon which you have expended your best energies you say nothing of her i have nothing to say i am glad to leave that particular line of investigation to you and more than glad if it has proved or is likely to prove fruitful have you heard read that he tossed a letter within the detective's grasp and leaned back while gryce laboriously perused it it was illy written but well worth it worth the pains he gave to it as witness. To the chief of police, dear sir, I am told that there is a reward out for a certain woman

Starting point is 05:12:18 by the name of Duclowe. I do not know any such person, but there is a woman who has been lodging in my house for the last two weeks who has acted so strangely at odd times that I have become very suspicious of her and think it right for you to know what she did here one night. It was about a fortnight since she came to my house in search of lodgings. Had she been young, I would not have opened my doors to her, decent as she was in her dress and ways, for she was a foreign woman, and I don't like foreigners.

Starting point is 05:12:53 But being middle-aged and ready, with her money, in advance, I not only allowed her to come in, but gave her my very best room. This is not saying much, because the elevated road runs by my door, darkening my whole front, besides making an awful clatter. But she did not seem to mind this, and I took little notice of her, till one of the other lodgers, a woman with a busy tongue, began to ask why this strange woman, who was so very dark and plain, went out only at night.

Starting point is 05:13:25 Did she sew her right for a living? If not, what did she do with herself all day? As the last was a question I could easily answer, I said that she spent most of her time in reading the newspapers, and this was true, because she always came in with her arms full of them. But there I stopped, as I never discussed my lodgers, yet I must acknowledge that my curiosity had been roused by all this talk, and I began to watch the woman, who, I soon saw, was in what I call a flustered state of mind,

Starting point is 05:13:59 and as unhappy as anyone could be, who hadn't suffered some great bereaved. but still i wasn't really alarmed being misled by the name she gave which was clary night before last i went to bed early i'm a heavy sleeper as i need to be with those cars pounding by the house every few minutes but there are certain noises which wake me and i found myself all of a sudden sitting up in bed and listening with all my ears everything was quiet even on the elevated road but when the next train came to my sudden and i found myself all of a sudden sitting up in bed and listening with all my ears everything was quiet even on the elevated road but when the next train came to came thundering along, I heard piercing shrilly through the rumble and roar, the same sharp ping, which had wakened me. What was it? It seemed to come from somewhere in the house. But how could that be?

Starting point is 05:14:48 I was startled enough, however, to get up and slip on some of my clothes and stand with ears a stretch for the next train. It came and passed, and right in the middle of the noise it made, I heard again that quick, sharp sound. This time, I was sure it came from somewhere near, and opening my door, I slid out into the hall. All my lodgers were in but one, a young gentleman who has a night key, and most of the rooms were dark, as I can very well tell from the fact that none of the door is fit as they ought to, and there is sure to be a streak of light showing somewhere about them, if the gas is burning inside. Everything looks so natural, and the house is a house.

Starting point is 05:15:32 was so still, that I was going back again when another train swept by, and the sound was repeated. This time I was sure it came from somewhere on the lower floor, and mindful of Miss Cleary's queer ways. I stole downstairs to her door. She was up. That was plainly enough to be seen. But what was she doing? I was just a little frightened, or I would have knocked on the door and asked. As I was waiting for the passing by of the next train, My last lodger came in and caught me standing there before Mrs. Clary's door. I know him pretty well, so I put my fingers to my lips and then beckoned him to join me. As the train approached, I seized him by the arm and pointed toward Mrs. Clary's door.

Starting point is 05:16:20 He didn't know what I meant, of course, but he looked and listened, and when the train had gone by, I drew him down the hall and said, You heard it? And then asked him what it was. He answered that it was a pistol shot, and he wanted to go back to see if any dreadful thing had happened. But I shook my head and told him, it was one of five, each one taking place when the roar of the trains going by was at the loudest.

Starting point is 05:16:47 Then he said that this woman was practicing at a mark and bade me to look out where we should have a house full of anarchists. At that I loudly declared she should go the very first thing in the morning, and so got rid of him. But I did not keep my word, and for this reason, when I went to do her room work, as I always do immediately after breakfast, I was all smiles, and full of talk, till I had taken a good look at the walls for the bullet holes I expected to see there. But I didn't find any, and was puzzled enough, you may be sure, for those bullets must have gone somewhere, and I was quite certain that they had not been fired out the window. I hardly dazed at the window.

Starting point is 05:17:29 I hardly dared to look at the ceiling, for she was watching me, and kept me chatting and wondering, till all of a sudden I noticed that one of the sofa pillows was missing from its place. This set me thinking, and I was about to ask her what she had done with it when my attention was drawn away by seeing among the scraps in the waist-basket I had lifted the carry-out, the end and corner of what looked like a partly destroyed photograph. This was something too strange, not to rouse any woman's curiosity, but I was careful not to give it another glance till I was well out of the room.

Starting point is 05:18:11 Then, as you may believe, I drew it quickly out to find that all the middle part was gone, shot the pieces by those tearing bullets. Not a particle of the face was to be seen, only enough of the neck and shoulders to show that it had been a portrait of a man. I enclose it for you to see, and if you want to talk to the woman, she is still here, though I only keep her in the hope of her being that Madame du Cloe, for whom money is offered. I will tell you why I think this. Not because of a torn skirt.

Starting point is 05:18:44 You see, I have been looking over the advertisement printed in the newspapers, but because she is foreign and dark and has a decidedly drooping eyelid. Then, too, she halts a little on one foot. as i noticed when i called her hurriedly to the window to see something if you want to have a look at her come after five and before seven we both are in then yours respectfully caroline davis no doubt that's the woman commented gryce we are fortunate in hitting her trail at this critical moment he had already glanced at the mutilated photograph lying before him but now he took it up very little here he remarked has he examined first the face of it and then the back but if you will let me take it i may find that its place is in our incomplete chain take it and if you would like to have a talk with this woman herself yes chief i would like that above all things very good i am expecting her here any minute but-well what now what's up an officer had entered hurriedly after one quick knock.

Starting point is 05:19:58 Mrs. Davis-Lodger is gone, said he, left without a word to anybody. When they went to her room, they found it empty, with a five-dollar bill pinned to the riddled cushion, and nobody saw her go. We are as much at sea as ever. A smile, both curious and fine, crossed Mr. Grice's lips as he listened to this,

Starting point is 05:20:22 and turning earnestly to the chief, he begged for the job of looking her up. I think with that little start we now have that I can find her, said he. At all events, I should like to try. And let the other matter rest quiescent, meanwhile? If it will, what do you mean by that? I hardly know myself, Chief. All is hazy yet, but sky's clear, and so do most of our problems.

Starting point is 05:20:50 If the two ends of my string should chance to come together. but here a look from his chief stopped him. Let us pray that they won't, but if they do, we shall not shirk our duty, Grice. End of Chapter 18. Book 3, Chapter 19 of the mystery of the hasty arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Leiprovoc's recording is in the public domain. Mr. Grice and the timid child. Assurance does it, so.

Starting point is 05:21:28 a great deal of assurance, not that I have much. Here Mr. Grice laughed, with a result that Sweetwater laughed also. A moment of fun was a welcome relief, and they both made the most of it. Not that I lack it entirely, Sweetwater hastened to say. Then they laughed again, after which their talk proceeded on serious lines. Sweetwater, what is it that you once told me about a family named du clow. Why this, sir, there is one such family in town, as Peters discovered, in looking up the name in the directory a day or two after Madame's disappearance. But there's nothing

Starting point is 05:22:11 to be learned from them. Mr. and Mrs. Edward Duclo are a most respectable couple, and have but one answer to every question. They know no one of their name outside their own family. Though the man of the house is of Breton, he has lived many years in this. country, and in all that time he has never met another Duclowe. And Peters let it go at that? Had to. What else could he do, however, he made this admission that there was a child in the room who betrayed a nervousness under his questions which was not observable in her elders, a girl

Starting point is 05:22:49 of twelve or so who put her hands behind her when she found she could not control their twitching. And I've an idea that if he could have gotten this child by herself, he might have heard something quite different from the plain denial he got from the mother. I have always thought so, but I've had too many other things to do to make an effort in this direction. Now if you approve, I'll see what I can do with this girl, for it stands the reason there must be someplace in town where this woman, just off ship, found an immediate refuge, and a change of clothing and effects. Nor should I be much surprised if we should discover that she is an

Starting point is 05:23:34 inmate of this very house. What do you think, Mr. Grice, is it worth looking into? It is worth my looking into. I have other work for you. Where does this Duclo family live? Sweetwater told him. It was in one of the eighties, not a quarter of a mile from the Hotel Universal. This settled. Mr. Grice took from his pocket the mutilated photograph, which had served as a target, to the woman in 53rd Street. You see this, said he, the face is all gone, only a sweep of the hair on one side, and a bit of collar and the tip of a shoulder on the other.

Starting point is 05:24:16 Remain to act as a clue. Yet I expect you to find the negative from which this photograph was printed. It should not be so difficult, that is, if in the course of time it has not been destroyed, for look here, and turning over what remained of the mutilated photograph, he displayed the following. Corner, Ninth Street, West, York. New York, the portrait was made here, and at Fredericks. His studio was on the corner of Ninth Street up to a few years ago.

Starting point is 05:24:50 It's a trail after my own mind. If that negative is in existence, I'll find it. If I have to ransack half to photograph studios in town. And how old do you think this picture is? Old enough to give you trouble, but that's what you're used to. We want to know what we must know is this. The name of the man who has incurred madame's enmity to such a degree that she spends the small hours of the night in knocking out his features from a fifteen-year-old.

Starting point is 05:25:23 year old photograph. If it should prove to be that of a public man, rich or otherwise, we might consistently lay it to social hatred. But if, on the contrary, it turns out to be that of a private individual, well, in that case, I shall have a task for you which may call for a little of that assurance of which we have just acknowledged you possess a limited share. That evening, just at dusk, a taxi-cab, which had been wandering up and down a well-kept block in Eighty-seventh Street, stopped suddenly in front of a certain drugstore to let an old man out. He seemed very feeble and leaned heavily on his cane while crossing the sidewalk toward the store. But his face was kindly, and his whole aspect, that of one who takes the ills of life

Starting point is 05:26:17 without bitterness or complaint when half-way to his goal for twenty steps or a journey to one who has to balance himself carefully with every one he slipped or stumbled and his cane flew out of his hand happily because he seemed unable to reach it himself a young girl just emerging from the drug store saw his plight and stooping for the stick handed it to him he received it with a smile and waddo as yet in both of their hands said in the most matter-of-fact way in the world thank you little miss duclowe then suddenly where's your aunt she did not stop to think she did not stop to ask herself what this question meant or whether this old gentleman who seemed to know so much about her and the family's secrets had a right to ask it but blurted it out in nervous haste as if she knew of nothing else to do she's gone, and then started to run away. Come back, little one. His tone was very imperative, but for all that of a nature,

Starting point is 05:27:29 to win upon a frightened child. I know she's gone, he added, soothingly, as she looked back, hesitating, and I'm sorry, for I have something for her. I recognized you the moment you stepped out of the store, but I see that you don't remember me. but why should you little girls don't remember old men again that benevolent smile as he poked about in one of his pockets and finally drew out a little parcel which he held out toward her this belongs to your aunt see it has her name on it madame antoinette du clow it came to the lodging-house in fifty-third street just after she left and i was asked to bring it to her

Starting point is 05:28:16 i was going to your house as soon as i had done my little errand at this store but now that i have met you i will ask you to see that she gets it the girl looked down at the parcel then up at him and reaching out her hand took it his old heart which had almost stopped beat again naturally and with renewed strength he was on the correct trail when mrs duclowe and the rest of them had said that they knew of no one of their name in this country but themselves it was because the madame of the hotel universal was of their family the widow of their brother as this child's acknowledgment showed he was turning back to his taxi when the child's still trembling very much, took a step toward him and said, I don't know where to find my aunt. She didn't tell us where she was going, and, and I'd rather not take this parcel back with me. Mother don't like us to speak of Aunt Nettie, and,

Starting point is 05:29:20 and I don't believe Aunt Nettie would care to have this now. Won't, won't you forget about it, sir, if I promised to tell her some day that it was brought back and I wouldn't take it. Mr. Grice felt a qualm of conscience. The child really was too simple to be made game of. Besides, he felt sure that she had spoken the truth, so far as she herself was concerned. She didn't know where her erratic aunt had gone,

Starting point is 05:29:50 and any further questioning would only frighten her without winning him the knowledge he sought. He therefore took the parcel back, said some soothing words, and made his way across to walk to his stupe. taxi. But the number he gave the chauffeur was that of the house where this little girl lived.

Starting point is 05:30:10 He arrived there first, to him, waiting in the parlor and very near the window. Her shrinking little figure looked pathetic enough, as glancing in at the taxi and finding it empty, she realized who might be awaiting under her mother's eye. He remembered his grandchild and made up his mind as she slid nervously in, no matter what happened, he would keep this innocent child out of trouble. The lady who presently came in to receive him was one who called him instinctively to his feet in respect and admiration.

Starting point is 05:30:49 She was an American, and of the best type, a woman who, if she told a lie, would not tell it for her own comfort or gain, but to help someone else to whom she owed fealty or love. But would she lie for anyone? As he studied her longer, taking in his own way, the candid expression of her eye and the sweet but firm set of her lips, he began to think she would not, and the interest with which he proceeded to address her was as much due to herself as to the knowledge he hoped to gain from her.

Starting point is 05:31:26 Mrs. Duclowe, he asked, yes sir and you i am a member of the new york police my errand is one which you can probably guess you have a sister-in-law the widow of your husband's brother as her testimony is of the utmost importance in the inquiry which is to be made into the cause and manner of her daughter's death i should be very glad to have a few minutes talk with her if as we have every reason to believe she is in this house at the present moment. Mrs. Edward Duclowe was a strong and upright woman, but this direct address, this open attack, was too much for her. However, before replying, she had a question of her own to put, and she proceeded to ask it firmly, quietly, and apparently, with every expectation of its being answered. How did you learn that Mr. Duclowe had a brother, and that his brother had left the widow.

Starting point is 05:32:27 Not from you, madam, he smiled, nor from your husband. I very much wish we had. We had been waiting for some such word ever since our advertisement appeared. It has not come. She gave him a quick interrogating glance, folded her hands, and answered without further hesitation. We had our reasons for silence, reasons, which we thought quite justifiable. But they don't hold good. if we are to be brought in the conflict with the police.

Starting point is 05:32:59 Mr. Duclode told me this morning that if we were driven to speak, we must do so with complete honesty and without quibble. What do you want to know? Everything. First, your sister-in-law's story, then her reason for sending her child alone to the museum, as well as the cause of her flight, before she could have heard of that poor child's fate.

Starting point is 05:33:23 More hangs upon an understanding of these. facts, then I am at liberty to tell you. She herself would agree with me in this, if I could have a few minutes' conversation with her. She is not in the house. She left us late last night, without giving us the least hint as to where she was going. She is, as you can very well see, as little anxious to talk of her great trouble as you are to have her, and recognizing that attempts were being made to find her and make her speak, she fled before it was too late. I'm sorry she did so, sorry for her, and sorry for ourselves. We do not approve her, of course, whatever reasons she may have for it. At the same time, I feel bound to assure you

Starting point is 05:34:14 that to her they are all sufficient. She is a conscientious woman, with many fine qualities, and when she says as she did to us it is my duty to flee, and again as she bade us a final adieu, I will die rather than speak a word of what is on my mind. I know that it is no small matter which sends her wandering about like this. I should think not, a mother to leave her daughter to be exposed at the morgue, and never intervene, to protect her from this ignominy, or to see that she has proper burial after that dread display is over. I know it was dreadful, and we, do you not think we felt the horror of this also?

Starting point is 05:35:02 Your own flesh and blood, that is your husband's, I wonder you could stand it. We had promised. She made us promise the first day she came, that we would keep still and make no move, whatever happened. It was here she came then, directly from her. from the hotel? I am obliged to admit it. With her torn dress and her little bag? Yes. And you procured her different clothes, and the suitcase in which she now lugs about her effects. You seem to know it all. Mrs. Duclowe, I hope you will answer my next question, as honestly as you have the previous ones. Had Madame Duclowe heard of her daughter's death when she first presented herself to you? Since you ask me this I must answer. She was in great distress, but did not tell me why,

Starting point is 05:35:56 till I asked her where Angeline was. Then she broke down utterly, and flinging herself face down on the sofa, sobbed and wailed and finally confided to us, that a terrible accident had happened to the child, and that she was lying dead in one of the city's great museums. Did she say what accident? No, she was almost delirious with grief, and we couldn't question her. After the papers came, and we had read the dreadful news, we tried to get from her some explanation of what it all meant, but now she wouldn't answer, before she couldn't. Did you ask her how she came to know that Angeline was dead?

Starting point is 05:36:39 before the news was circulated outside the museum yes but she did not answer only looked at us it was the most despairing look i ever saw in my life it made it easier for us to promise her all she wanted though we regretted having done this when we came to think the matter over so you positively do not know any more than this of what she has so religiously held secret no and i have got to the point where i do not wish to did you know she was coming to this country yes but not her reason for doing so she has been a little mysterious of late did she say she was going to bring her daughter with her yes she mentioned angeline also the name of the ship on which they expected to sail was this letter mailed from paris or london it came from paris did you understand that she was leaving france for good i got that idea certainly but not her reason for it no the letter was very short and not very explicit i really have given you all the information i have on this subject mrs duclowe it is my duty to inform you that your sister-in-law had a deep and intense hatred for a man to us at present unknown can you name him is there anything in her early history or in what you know of her later life here and abroad to enlighten you as to his identity with a steady look and a slow shake of her head mrs duclowe denied any such knowledge even showing a marked surprise at what was evidently a new development to her

Starting point is 05:38:30 antoinette has had little to do with the men since our brother's death she said i can hardly conceive of her being greatly interested either in favor of or against any of the opposite sex yet she is even to the point of wishing him dead mrs duclowe rose quickly to her feet but instantly sat again how do you know she asked should he tell her at first he thought not then he reconsidered his decision and spoke out plainly madam said he some day you will hear what i had rather you heard now and from me madame du clow left the lodging-house where she had been to-cloe left the lodging-house where she had said he some day you will hear what i had rather you heard now and from me madame du clow left the lodging-house where she was so safe because she was detected or was suspicious of having been detected shooting the face from a photograph she had set up before her as a target in the small hours of the night impossible the woman thus exclaiming was quite sincere i cannot imagine antoinette doing that yet she did we have the remains of the photograph and who was the man when we know that we shall know all or be in the way of knowing all you alarmed me she certainly looked alarmed why madame do you not think it better for the truth to be known in such a case you forget what i told you antoinette will not survive the betrayal of her secret she said she would not and she is a woman who weighs her words there is a firm edge to her resolve her resolve it has always worked for good till now i cannot bear to think of its working in any way for evil has she socialistic ideas can her hatred be for some of our plutocrats or suppose oppressors of the people

Starting point is 05:40:27 Oh, no, she is of aristocratic descent and proud of her order. The due clothes are bourgeois, but Antoinette is a de Montfort. Mr. Grice suppressed all token of his instinct of amazement. This fine American woman was not without a sense of reflected glory given by this fact. Her sister-in-law was a de Montfort. Expressing his thanks for her candor, he rose to depart. for all that said he she may be at heart a revolutionaire then as he noticed a negation in her look he added softly the least clue as to the present refuge would make me greatly your debtor i cannot give it i do not know it and somehow he believed her as absolutely as even she could desire if he should be yet fortunate enough to find this elusive madame it

Starting point is 05:41:26 it would have to be through some other agency than these relatives of hers by marriage as he passed out he heard a frightened gasp from somewhere back in the hall turning he asked in the most natural manner whether there were children in the house mrs duclowe answered with some dignity that she had three daughters you are fortunate madame he remarked with his old-fashioned bow i live alone my last grandchild left me a year ago for a man many years my junior this brought the little one into view she was smiling and he went away in a state of relief marred by but one regret he was as ignorant as ever where to look for the mother of angeline end of chapter nineteen book three chapter twenty of the mystery of the hasty arrow by anna catherine green this librivox recording is in the public domain mr gryce and the unwary woman nevertheless mr gryce was proud of the gain he had made in his talk with mrs duclowe and he smiled as he thought of his next interview with sweetwater assurance will often accomplish much it is true but it sometimes needs age to make it effective he could not imagine either mrs duclowe or her daughter yielding to the blandishments of one even as gifted in this special direction as sweetwater authority was needed as well the authority of long experience and an ineradicable sympathy with human nature thus he gratified himself with a few complacent thoughts but when he stopped to think what a great haystack new york was

Starting point is 05:43:27 and how elusive was the needle which had escaped them now these three times his spirits sank a trifle and by the time he had ridden half a block on his way back to headquarters he was at that low ebb of disheartenedment from which only some happy inspiration can effectually lift one he was glad to be able to report that he had learned a few important facts in regard to madame du clow but he equally hated to admit that for all his haste in following up the clue given him he knew as little as ever of her present whereabouts and he hated even worse to have to give the clue which would lead to a surveillance however secret over a house which held a child of so sensitive and tremulous a nature as that of the little friend who had picked up his stick in front of the drug store he was recalling to mind the pathetic spectacle presented by her agitated little figure when his eyes chanced to fall upon a small shop he was then passing it was devoted to ladies furnishings and as he took in the contents of the window and such articles as could be seen on the shelves beyond a happy thought came to him madame du clow had left her hotel in a hurry carrying but few of her belongings with her a lady of cultivated taste she must have missed many articles necessary to her comfort and having money would naturally buy them prevented by her fears from going down-town or even from going anywhere in the daytime what was left for her to do but to patronize some such small shop as this its nearness to her late refuge as well as its neat and attractive appearance made this seem all the more likely a question or two would suffice to settle his mind on this point

Starting point is 05:45:27 and perhaps lead to results which might prove invaluable in his present emergency signaling to the chauffeur to stop he got out in front of this little shop toward which he immediately proceeded with an uncertainty of step not altogether assumed he did have some rheumatic twinges that day entering mr gryce first cast a comprehensive glance at the shelves and counters to make sure that he had some rheumatic twingees that day entering mr gryce first cast a comprehensive glance at the shelves and counters to make sure that he had had had had a comprehensive glance to make sure that he he would find here the line of dress goods in which he had decided to invest. Then approaching the middle-aged woman, who seemed to be in charge, he engaged her in a tedious display of the goods, which led on to talk, and finally to a casual remark from him, quite in keeping with the anxiety he had been careful to show. I'm buying this for a woman, to whom you have probably sold many odd little things within in the past few days. Perhaps you know her taste, and can help me choose what will please her.

Starting point is 05:46:31 She lives down the street and buys always in the evening, a dark, genteel-appearing French woman, with a strange way of looking down, even when other people would be likely to look up. Do remember her? Yes, she remembered her, and recognized her perfectly from his description. He saw this at once, but he kept right on talking as he handled first one. one piece of goods and then another, seeming to hesitate between the gray and the brown. She went out of town yesterday, and wanted this material sent after her. Do you think you could do that for me, or shall I have to see to expressing it myself? I'll do it if I must, only I've forgotten her exact address.

Starting point is 05:47:17 This he muttered self-reproachfully. I have a shocking bad memory, and it's growing worse every day. You don't happen to know where she's gone to, do you? The innocence of this appeal from one of his years and benevolent aspect did not appear to raise the woman's suspicion, and yet she limited her reply to this short statement. I'll send the goods, if you will make your choice, and it was not till long after, that he learned that Madame Duclo, being very anxious for her mail, and such newspapers as she wanted had made arrangements with this woman to forward them.

Starting point is 05:47:58 Disappointed, but still hoping for some acknowledgement that would give him what he wanted, he continued to putter with the goods. When she broke in with harsh decision, I think she would prefer the gray. Oh, do you, said he, with just a hint of disapproval at the suggestion. I like Brown best myself, but let it be gray. "'Ten yards,' he ordered. "'She was particular to say that she wanted ten yards, "'and that I was to be sure

Starting point is 05:48:28 "'and purchased the dress at the shop adjoining the drug-store. "'You see, I have obeyed her,' he added, "'with a touch of senility in his quiet chuckle, "'which threw the busy woman off her guard. "'I fear,' said she, "'that the dress I sold her before "'will not prove very becoming, "'but Gray is always good.

Starting point is 05:48:50 that's why i advised it i see i see chattered away the old man not without some slight compunction but in my opinion she's too dark for such sombre dresses i've told her so a score of times then as he watched the woman before him rolling up the goods he proceeded to ask with fussy in portunity what she thought the express charges were likely to be for he wanted to pay the whole bill and be done with it. She was caught, fairly caught this time, though I doubt if she ever knew it. We don't often send up the river, she said, but I should say that for a package of this size and weight, the charges would be about forty cents, but that you can leave her to pay. She will be quite willing to do so, I'm sure. Of course, of course, I didn't think of that. She'll pay for it. Of course she'll pay for. And he continued to fuss and chat

Starting point is 05:49:53 with that curious fixture of native shrewdness and senile interest in little things which he thought most likely to impress the woman attending him and trap her into giving him the complete address. But she was too wary

Starting point is 05:50:08 or too much preoccupied with her own affairs to let the cat any farther out of the bag. And he had to be content with her promise that the package should be given to the expressman as early as possible the next morning. The feebleness he showed while leaving the shop was in marked contrast, however, to the vigor with which he took down the telephone receiver in the booth of the neighboring drugstore. But she was not there to see, nor anyone else who had the least interest in his movements. He could therefore give all the emphasis he desired to the demand he made upon.

Starting point is 05:50:47 headquarters for a close watch to be set on the adjoining dry-goods shop for the purpose of intercepting and obtaining the address of a certain package on the point of being expressed from there to some place up the river then he went home for by now he was fully as tired as his years demanded end of chapter twenty book three chapter twenty one of the mystery of the hasty arrow by anna katherine green this librivox recording is in the public domain preplexed elvira brown that the name on the package yes and the address the name of a small town in the catskills was given him thank you very good work and mr gryce hung up the receiver then he stood thinking elvira brown a very fair alias that is the brown end but what am i to think of elvira and what am i to think of the brown now that i remember that the woman who has chosen to hide her identity under another name is a frenchwoman something queer let me see if i can call up the station-master at the place she's gone A long-distance connection, proving practicable, he found himself after a little while in

Starting point is 05:52:22 communication with a man he wanted. I'm Grice of the New York Police, a woman in whom we're greatly interested, has just entered your town under the name of Alvira Brown. Elvira Brown? Mr. Grice was startled at the tone, in which this was repeated, even making due allowance for the medium through which it came. Yes, what's there strange about that? Only this, that's the name of a woman who has lived in these mountains for 40 years,

Starting point is 05:52:56 and who died here three days ago. Today we're going to bury her. This was a blow to the detective's expectations. What awful mistake had he made, or had it been made by the man, detailed to steal the name from the package. or by the woman in the shop or by all these combined he could not stop to ask but he caught at the first loose end which presented itself well it isn't she were after that's certain the one we want is middle-aged and plain in looks and dress if she came into your town it was yesterday or possibly the night before you wouldn't be apt to notice her unless your attention was caught by her lameness do you remember any such person no and i don't think any one like that passed through my station we're off the main road and our travellers are few i would have noticed the arrival of a woman like that

Starting point is 05:53:57 mr gryce with an exclamation of chagrin hung up the receiver he felt completely balked but old as he was he still had some of the tenacity of youth He was not willing to accept defeat without one more effort. Going downtown, as usual, he wandered again into the little dry-goods shop to see if the package had been sent. Yes, it had gone, but the expressman had had some trouble with a drunken man, who actually took the package out of his hands and didn't give it back without a squabble. Strange how men can drink till they can't see, and so early in the morning at that. Mr. Grice's vigorous hunch dismissed summarily this expression of opinion as altogether feminine. But he had something to say about the package itself, which kept the good woman waiting,

Starting point is 05:54:55 though a customer or two demanded her attention. You'll think me a fussy old man, said he, but I've worried about that package all night. She needs a new dress so much, and I'm afraid you didn't have the right address. I remembered it now. It was, was. Barford on the Hudson, she finished promptly. Evidently she begrudged the time. She was wasting Hana's imbecilities. That's it, that's it. Way up in the Catskills, isn't it? I don't know. Those people are waiting, sir. I shall really. One moment. I want to buy something more for her, but I'll send it myself this time. I won't bother you again. Another dress, something bright and prettier, than anything she has. She'll forgive me.

Starting point is 05:55:46 She'll be glad to have it. I don't know, sir. The woman was really very much embarrassed. She was honest to the core, and though she enjoyed seeing her goods disappear from the shelves, it wasn't in her heart to take advantage of a man so old as this. I'm afraid she wouldn't be pleased, you see? It isn't a fortnight since she brought and made up the one I sold her first, and she thought that a great extravagance. Now with the gray—' Are you speaking of the blue one? No, it wasn't blue. What color was it? Haven't you a bit left to show me? I should know better what to do then. She pointed to a bolt of striped wool, a little gaudy for a woman whose taste they had both been speaking of, as inclined to the plain and somber.

Starting point is 05:56:40 That? But that's bright enough. I've never seen her in that. She didn't like it, but something made her take it. She wore it when she came in last. She did. Then I'm satisfied. Thank you all the same.

Starting point is 05:56:56 Just give me a pair of gloves for her, and I'll be getting on. She picked out a pair for him, and he trotted away. mumbling cheerily to himself as he passed between the counters. But once in his taxi again, he concentrated all his salt on that bolt of striped dress goods. The colors were crimson and black, with a dot here and there of some lighter shade. He took pains to fix it in his mind, for this was undoubtedly the dress she fled in. an important clue to him if this hunt should resolve itself into a chase with doubling and redoubling of the escaping quarry he spent the next two hours in acquainting himself with the location and some of the conditions of the town he now meant to visit though he could not understand madame du clow's reason for taking the name of a woman so well known as this elvira brown there was something in this circumstance and the fact that the person so styled

Starting point is 05:58:00 had been at that moment at the point of death which called as he felt for personal investigation he hardly felt fit for any such purely speculative expedition as this especially as he must do without the compassion ship, to say nothing of the assistance of Sweetwater, who he hardly felt justified in withdrawing from the task he had given him. So he picked out a fellow named Perry, and together they took the west shore into Green County, where they stopped at a station from which a branch road ran to the small town whither the package addressed to Alvira Brown had preceded them. Accidents frequently determine our course, as well as turn us from the one we had mapped out for ourselves. By accident, I mean, in this case, an actual one which had occurred on the branch road I have

Starting point is 05:58:59 mentioned, by which the trains were held up, and further progress in that direction made impossible. When this came to the knowledge of Mr. Grice, he found it necessary to choose between trusting himself to an automobile for the rest of the journey or remaining all night in the town where the train had stopped. A glance at the hills towering up between him and his goal decided him to wait for the running of the trains the next day, and after an inquiry or two he left a station on foot for the hotel to which he had been recommended. A philosopher in many regards, Mr. Grice quieted himself under the

Starting point is 05:59:42 the irritation of his annoyance, with the thought that in this world we do not always know just what is best for us, and that the few hours of rest, thus forced upon him by the seemingly unfortunate break in his plans, might prove in the end to be the best thing that could happen to him. He accordingly took a good room, enjoyed a good dinner, and then sat down in the lobby to have an equally good smoke. He chose a chair which gave him a prospect of the river, and for a long time, while vaguely listening to the talk about him,

Starting point is 06:00:20 he feasted his eyes on the view and allowed some of its calm to enter his perturbed spirit. But gradually, as he looked and smoked, he found his attention caught, first by what a man was saying in his rear, and secondly, by something he saw intervening between, between himself and the flow of the shining river which had hitherto filled his eye the sentence which had roused him was one quite foreign to his thoughts and seemingly of little importance to him or to anyone about it was in connection with a factory on the other side of the river which was running over time and had not help enough to fill its orders it's women we want he heard shouted out young women we want

Starting point is 06:01:09 young women middle-aged women any sort of women who are anxious for steady work and good wages the emphasis with which this announcement was made perhaps gave it point at all events this one brief sentence sank in the mr gryce's ear just as he began to notice a woman who sat with her back to him on the hotel piazza he was not thinking of madame du clow at that moment nor was there the least thing about this woman to recall his secret quarry to mind yet once his eyes had fallen on her they remained there for several minutes why perhaps because she sat so unnaturally still and all the time he stared at her simple bonnet and decently clothed shoulders the silhouette she made against the silver band of the river did not change by an iota He had been a gaze upon the landscape, too, but he was quite sure that he had not sat as still as this, and when, after an interval, during which he had turned to sea, what kind of man it was who had spoken so vigorously, he wheeled back in the place and glanced out again through his window. She was there yet, had in shoulders and all, a movable as an

Starting point is 06:02:34 image and almost as rigid. Well, what of it? There was surely nothing very remarkable, and so commonplace of fact. Yet during the ensuing half-hour, during which he had gave or tried to give, the greater part of his attention to the political talk which followed the statements he had heard made in regards to the needs of a certain factory, his eye would turn riverward from time to time, and always with a view to see if this woman had been. had moved, and not once did he detect the least change in her attitude.

Starting point is 06:03:10 She will sit there all night, he muttered to himself, and after a while his curiosity mounted to such a pitch that he got up and went out on the piazza for one of his short strolls. End of Chapter 21. Book 3, Chapter 22 of The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. He remembers, just an ordinary woman, lost in a dream of some kind, while awaiting her departure on an outgoing train. Or such was Detective Grice's conclusion, as he hobbled slowly past her.

Starting point is 06:04:01 Why should he give her a moment's thought, yet he did? He noticed her dress in the way she held her hands, and the fact, not suspect, expected before that she was not looking out at the landscape outspread before her eyes, but down into her lap at her own hands, clasped together in an unnaturally tight grip. Then he straightway forgot her in the thought of that other woman whose track he was following with such poor promise of success. Madame Duclowe's image was in his mind, as plainly as if she sat before him in place of

Starting point is 06:04:40 this chance passenger. He knew the sort of hat she would wear, or thought he did. He also knew the color of her dress. Had he not been shown the pieces of goods from which it had been taken, and had he not understood her choice, bizarre as it was, and for this very reason that it was bizarre. Being a woman of subtle mind, she would reason that since the police were seeking one of plain exterior and simple dress,

Starting point is 06:05:10 a gaudy frock would throw them off their guard and ensure her immunity from any close inspection therefore the striped material rather than the plain black she so much preferred then her eyes she would try to hide the defect which particularized them by the use of glasses or at least by a very heavy veil while her walk well she might successfully conceal her halter her halting step if she were not hurried, but he promised himself that he would be very careful to see that any woman rousing his suspicion should be given some reason for hurrying. While thus musing, he had reached the farther end of the piazza. In willing about the comeback the woman whose profile he now faced attracted his eye again, in spite of himself, and he gave her another idle thought. How absorbing was the subject upon which she was brooding, and how deeply it affected her.

Starting point is 06:06:15 It struck him as he quietly repassed her that he had never seen a sadder face. Then that impression passed from his mind, for he saw Perry coming toward him with a pencil and telegram blank in hand. He had decided to let Sweetwater know where he could be reached that night, and Perry had come for the message. it must have been fully two hours later that mr gryce sitting down in his former chair looked up and found his view unobstructed to the river the woman had gone just for the sake of saying something to parry who had drawn up beside him he remarked upon the fact adding an explanation of his interest in so small a matter it's the thoughts and feelings of people which take hold of my curiosity now human nature is a big book a great book i have only begun the thumbet and i am an old man some people betray their emotions in one way some in another some are loudest when most troubled and some are so quiet one would think them dead the woman i was watching there was one of the quiet ones her trouble was deep that was apparent that was apparent from her outline, an outline which never varied.

Starting point is 06:07:36 Yes, she's a queer duck. I saw her. I even did an errand for her. That was before you sat down here. You did an errand for her? Yes, she wanted a newspaper. Of course I was glad to get it for her, as she said she was lame. Lame? Yes, I suppose she spoke the truth. I didn't think of her being in any special trouble. But I did think her an odd one. She seemed to be wearing two dresses. Mr. Grice started and turned sharply toward him. What's that you say?

Starting point is 06:08:12 What do you mean by that? Why this? When she stopped to get her money out of some hidden pocket, she pulled up the skirt of her dress, and I saw another one under it. Perhaps she thought that was the easiest way of carrying it. I noticed her suitcase was a small one. Describe that under frock to me, Mr. Grice's air and tone, were unaccountably earnest.

Starting point is 06:08:37 What was its color? Why reddish, I think? No, it had stripes in it, and something like spots. Do you suppose it was her petticoat? Mr. Grice brought his hand down on his lame knee and did not seem to feel it. Find out where she's gone, he cried. No, I will do it myself. And before the other could recover from him.

Starting point is 06:08:59 his astonishment, he had started for the piazza, where he had just seen the proprietor of the hotel take his seat. This comes from an old man's folly in thinking he could manage an affair of this kind without help, he mumbled to himself, as he went stumping along. Had I told Perry, whom we were after, and how he was to recognize her, I should have spent my time talking with this woman, instead of staring at her, two dresses. with a bright one under. Well, she's even more subtle than I thought. And by this time, having reached the man he sought, he put his question.

Starting point is 06:09:41 Can you tell me anything about the woman who is sitting here? Who she is, and where she has gone. The woman who was sitting here? Why, I should say she was a factory hand, and has gone to her work on the other side of the river. Her name. Do you know her name? I'm a detective from New York, one of the regular police force. I am in search of a woman, not unlike the one I saw here, though not I am bound to state, a factory worker, except on compulsion.

Starting point is 06:10:14 You are a police detective, huh? And at your age, it must be a healthy employment. But about this woman, I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything, except that she came on the same train you did, and wanted a boat right. away to take her across the river. You see, we've no ferry here, and I told her so, and the only way she could get across was to wait for Phil Jenkins, who was going over at five. She said she would wait and sat down here, refusing dinner, or even to enter the house. Perhaps she wasn't hungry, and perhaps she didn't wish to register, huh? Had her speech and accent? Did you take her for a

Starting point is 06:10:58 foreign woman. Yes, I did, and I didn't. She spoke very well. She's not young, you know. I'm not looking for a young woman. Well, she's gone, and you can't reach her tonight. There they are now, see, about a quarter of the way across, the small boat just slipping across the wake of the big one. Mr. Grice looked and saw that she was in the way of escape for tonight. When can I get over, he asked. Not till Phil crosses again tomorrow noon. Meanwhile, she may go anywhere. I shall certainly lose her.

Starting point is 06:11:38 Hardly. She's bound for the factory. You can just see the roof of it above the trees a little to the right. She asked me all sorts of questions about the work over there and whether there were decent places to live within walking distance of the factory. Then she isn't lame. my woman is a trifle lame so may this woman be for all i know i didn't see her on her feet but she carried no crutch only a bag and an umbrella a brown bag neat like herself in appearance no it was light in color and old she herself was neat enough mr gryce's brows came together he was in a quandary he felt convinced with a positiveness which surprised

Starting point is 06:12:26 him that in watching the withdrawal of the small boat farther and farther toward the opposite shore, he was watching the escape of Antoinette Duclowe from his immediate interference. Yet circumstantial as were the proofs which had led him to this conclusion, he felt that he would gladly welcome some further corroboration of those proofs before risking the time and opportunity he might lose in following the person of two skirts to her destination on the other side of the Hudson. There were more reasons than one why he could not afford to lose one unnecessary minute. An extra twinge or two of rheumatism warned him that he was approaching the point of disablement. Moreover, of Mr. Grice's secret fears, there was one which loomed larger than the

Starting point is 06:13:21 others, and held an impulsive, unconsidered movement in check. He must have proof of her identity, which nevertheless he did not question, before hazarding himself and the success of his undertaking by a delay of so many additional hours. But what proof could he hope to obtain under the circumstances in which he found himself placed? any appeal to Mrs. Edward Duclo, by telephone or telegram, would certainly fail of its purpose. Even if the neat black dress in which his sister-in-law now traveled was one from her own wardrobe, he would find it impossible to establish the fact in time to make his own decision.

Starting point is 06:14:07 The child, yes, he might worm that fact out of the child if he were where he could reach her, but he was miles away, and besides, something within him, revolted from involving this child furthering schemes, honest enough from his standpoint, but certainly not helpful to her. No, he would have to trust his intuition, or— He had thrown himself into a chair at the side of his host, but he rose quickly as his musings reached this point. The proof he had been looking for was his. In recalling the child to mind, there it flashed upon his inner vision,

Starting point is 06:14:48 an instantaneous picture of her appearance, and she stooped to pick up his stick in front of the drugstore. He saw again the bending figure, the flushed cheeks and the flaxen locks surmounted by a little hat. Ah, it was that little hat. The impression it had made upon him was greater than he thought. He found that he remembered not only its ribbons, but the bunches of curiously tinted flowers hanging down in front.

Starting point is 06:15:20 And these bunches, or some precisely like them, had been the sole trimming of the hat he had been contemplating so long from the other side of the window. The woman was Madame DuClo. These flowers had been taken from the child's hat and pinned upon the ants, and it was their familiar look which had given him, without any recognition of the reason, his surety as to the latter's identity. Calmed immensely by this assurance, he turned back to have another word with the proprietor, now busily engaged with his newspaper.

Starting point is 06:15:59 Will you be obliging enough to see that I am given an opportunity? For a few words with his Phil Jenkins on his return, he asked, and if you will be so good respect my confidence to i'm sure i have made no mistake in thinking what i have of his passenger the proprietor nodded and mr gryce settled himself again inside to watch for the rowboat's return what he learned that night from this man jenkins calmed him still further the woman had acknowledged on leaving him that she was going to seek work at the factory a little old for the job the man volunteered but spry how she did clamber up that bank it was enough mr gryce was satisfied and he engaged the seat in his small boat for the following day end of chapter twenty two book three chapter twenty three of the mystery of the hasty arrow by anna catherine green this librivox recording is in the public domain girls girls nothing but girls the superintendent was puzzled and showed it he listened to mr gryce with a shrug saying that so many women had been taken on that day that he really couldn't remember whether any one of them answered to the given description there's a timekeeper's book look it over all the names are there he said mr gryce did as he advised but of course without finding there the name of antoinette du clow or of any one else of whom he had ever heard

Starting point is 06:17:52 the next thing was for him to go through the factory itself and see if he could pick her out from those already at work this he was greatly adverse to doing for it would be too long and pay him to go through the factory itself and see if he could pick her out from those already at work this he was greatly adverse to doing for it would be too long and pay painful an effort for him, and he could not trust Perry with any such piece of nice discrimination. How he missed Sweetwater, how tempted he was to send for him. It was finally decided that when the hour came for the departure of the whole day shift, he should take his stand where he could mark each employee as she filed out. A sorry attempt followed by a sorry a failure. He did not see one of the first. among them who was over twenty-five years of age.

Starting point is 06:18:38 But this did not mean the end of all hope. There was the night shift. Might she not be put on that? A different man had charge at night. He would wait for this man's appearance, present his cause to him, and see what could be done. Not much, he found, when the night superintendent finally entered the office, and he had the chance of introducing himself.

Starting point is 06:19:03 Newer to authority than the superintendent of the day shift, he was also of a more active temperament and much more self-assertive. He was not impressed by the detective's years or even by his errand. It was a busy night, a very busy night, new hands in every department. To take him through the building at present was quite out of the question. Perhaps later it might be done, but not now, not now. with that the night superintendent bustled out this was not very encouraging but mr gryce did not despair he had seen with what ease he could look from the broad rear window near which he stood into the rooms where rows upon rows of girls were already at work only a narrow court divided him from these girls and as the three stories of which the factory was composed were all brilliantly lighted he should have little difficulty in picking out from among them

Starting point is 06:20:07 the middle-aged woman who held in her closed and mysterious hand the key to that formidable affair threatening the honor of one of new york's most prominent men before doing this mr gryce stopped to locate himself and recall if possible the entire plan of the building he was in what was called the outer office the inner one used only by the president of the concern opened on his left there was no one in the latter room at present the president seldom showing up at night another door led to the platform outside and a third one located in the middle of the right-hand partition to a large vestibule or locker-room belonging exclusively to the girls which in its turn communicated with the workrooms of the factory running in unbroken continuity around a narrow central court he had been through this locker-room in the late afternoon it was here he had stood to watch the girls file out at the close of their day's work the exit for all employees was in one of the corners and out of this antoinette duclowe would have to pass when it came her time to leave the building that is if she were really in it as he had every reason to believe However, certainty on this point would relieve him from much of his present in patience, and with this end in view he prepared to enter the room again,

Starting point is 06:21:46 in hope of spying among the various hats with which the walls were hung, the one with whose shape and trimmings he was so well acquainted. But promising, as this attempt looked, it was destined to immediate failure. The room was not empty. He could hear girls whispering not a dozen steps away, and anxious as he was not to attract any unnecessary attention to himself. He turned his back upon this door and returned to the window, from the broad view of which he anticipated so much.

Starting point is 06:22:22 A brilliant scene awaited him. This building, built originally for other purposes, had been hastily reconstructed for its present use in a manner, possibly opened the criticism, but which certainly gave those who worked in it an abundance of light and air. The narrow columns supporting its three stories were so inconspicuous at night when a blaze of electricity dominated the hole that it presented the appearance of being made entirely of windows. One break, and one only, he observed, in the double row of lights encircling the courtyard. This was in a spot diagonally opposite,

Starting point is 06:23:05 where a space of several feet showed a dimness he failed to understand. But as no workers appeared to be there, he passed a matter over as one of no importance. The task before him looked hopeless. In the first place, there were the three floors, with no faces visible above the first one. Then of the long rectangle stretching out before him, he could see but two sides,

Starting point is 06:23:33 which fact was further complicated by there being as many of the workers' faces turned toward the outside of the building as toward the court. Yet having determined upon his course, he was bound to see it through. His position near the corner of the huge rectangle precluded his seeing anyone working at his own end. He was obliged to pass them over, but those opposite, especially those directly so, he could easily take count. They were all girls of fifteen or so, and could be passed over also, without more than a cursory glance. Further on he saw a role of older women, and student as he was of human nature, there were faces among them, at which he was tempted to look twice, though once answered his person. purpose. There was no madame there. Continuing his examination, he encountered the space so unaccountably

Starting point is 06:24:34 darkened, and having skipped this came upon a stretch of benches displaying great activity. Only old hands seemed to be at work in this section. Their method and dispatch showed a training which made it useless to look among them for one, who had probably never worked before amid the hum of machinery. In the corner beyond he saw nobody, but when he came to look along the end connecting the opposite rooms with those on his side,

Starting point is 06:25:06 a different scene awaited him. There every bench seemed occupied both back and front, and mostly by newcomers, as was apparent, from the anxious way the superintendent moved about among them, explaining the work and directing them with a zeal, which not only attested his interest in the task, but showed how completely he had forgotten the man he had left behind him in his office.

Starting point is 06:25:33 Well, well, such is the way of the world. The old man saw that he would have to depend upon himself, and realizing this bent all his energies to his present, far-off inspection of these women, hoping against hope that he would be able, at least, to tell the young from the old. Yes, he could do that, but the older women seemed to be in the majority,

Starting point is 06:25:59 and this perplexed him. It was all too distant for him to see clearly, but he took heart of grace as he observed how the faces and figures he was studying so closely were resolving themselves in the mere silhouettes under his gaze. For, as I have already said, he had a quick eye for outline, and felt sure that he could sufficiently recall that of the woman,

Starting point is 06:26:25 whose head and shoulders, had been so long under his eye that day, to recognize it even among fifty others. But not one of them, not one of them all, had the precise narrowness and rigidity of Madame DuClo. And after many painful minutes of renewed effort, followed by renewed disappointment, he moved back from the window and sat down. there was one thing you could always count on in mr gryce and that was his patience but it was a patience not without its brakes

Starting point is 06:27:01 once he rose to look out front to make sure he had not miscalculated the distance of this factory from the river then after another period of waiting he got thinking how much he might discover if he could get one glimpse into that far corner contiguous to the end of the rectangle where he had seen so many raw workers receiving the assistance of the night superintendent there was a way of doing this which he had not thought of before But he had to step outside, walk the length of the platform where the loading of shipments was going on, and look in at one of the great windows at the farther end. But when he came to make the attempt, he found himself plunged into such a turmoil, and the way so blocked by the loading of boxes and the backing up and driving off of horses, that he retreated precipitately. Rather than encounter all this, he would await events,

Starting point is 06:28:00 from the inside. So he took his old seat again, and for another half-hour listened to the thump of machinery and the squeak of a rusty elevator brake which almost robbed him of thought. He was even inclined to doze when he suddenly became aware

Starting point is 06:28:18 of some change, either in himself or in what lay about him. Had the machinery stopped? No, it was not that. The place seemed darker, yet it was still very light. With a restless move, he rose heavily and peered again into the court.

Starting point is 06:28:38 Immediately it was evident what had occurred. The whole string of lights in the third story had been shut off, and now those of the middle story were following suit. Only the ground floor remained active, with all its lights at the maximum and every belt moving. At this unexpected narrowing down, of his field of operations he felt greatly relieved. He had dreaded those long walks through the innumerable rooms.

Starting point is 06:29:08 He could manage circling the building once, but three times would have been too much. In a mood of increased contentment, he started to return to his seat, but found himself stayed by something he saw in what had been but a dimly lighted space when he looked there last. It was now as bright as the room.

Starting point is 06:29:29 rest, and showed him the figure of the superintendent, stooping over a woman, explaining to her some intricate manipulation of the work in hand, which was evidently quite new to her. He could see him very plainly, but her figure was more or less hidden. Not for long, though. The superintendent passed on, and she came into full view. It was Antoinette Duclowe. He was confident of this even before he noted her dress. When his eyes fell on that, he was sure there was no mistaking the stripes and the dots. Antoinette Duclowe, and she was where he could reach her in five minutes, in fact, as soon as the superintendent returned.

Starting point is 06:30:17 As he stood and watched her working quite assiduously, but in something like isolation, He felt as though ten years had slipped from his age, and trifled with his pleasure, as the rest of us do, when we behold a despaired of goal loomed suddenly in sight. Was she the woman he had pictured in his mind's eye hardly? Yet there was an admirable directness in her movements. From the way she went about things, he could plainly see that she would master her duties in no time if fate did not interpose to pre-examings. event. It was certainly hard to interrupt her in her work, just as she was on the way to safety and competence. But there could be no question of his duty, or of the claims of Mr. Roberts to whatever help, might accrue from an understanding of the relationship of this woman, to events

Starting point is 06:31:13 threatening his reputation with such utter destruction. Her story might free him from all suspicion, where it might actually determine his guilt. Therefore her story must be had, and at once, if possible, this very night. But he must wait, wait for the coming of the superintendent. He felt safe to do this. Meanwhile, he was determined not to let this woman out of his sight. So drawing up a chair he settled down,

Starting point is 06:31:44 within view of her active figure, from which all rigidity had vanished in the interest she was rapidly developing in her work. If he could have seen her countenance more clearly, he would have been glad. There seemed to be a veil between him and it, a hazy indistinctness which he found it difficult to understand. But remembering that he was looking through two windows and on a long diagonal, he accepted this slight drawback with equanimity, and was about to indulge in the comfort of a cigar, when he saw the scene he still held in view change and changed vividly to the excitation of a fresh interest and a still more careful watch

Starting point is 06:32:30 a girl had approached madame duklo from some place quite out of sight and in passing her by had slipped a note into her hand the french woman had taken it but in a way indicating shock The ease which had given suppleness to her form, and surety to all her movements, was gone in an instant. And from the furtive way in which she sought to read the communication, thus handed her, Mr. Grice saw that his own powers would soon be taxed to keep him even with his situation, changing thus from moment to moment under his eye. What did that note contain, and who could have taken advantage of the arrival of some latecomer to slip it into her hand.

Starting point is 06:33:19 Mr. Grice found this a very formidable question and watched with ever-increasing anxiety to see what effect these unknown words would have upon their recipient when her opportunity came for reading them. A startling one, of that he was presently a witness, for no sooner had she taken in their import that she cast a hurried look about her,

Starting point is 06:33:45 and left her place without fuss or flurry, but with an air of quiet determination, which Mr. Grice felt confident, covered a resolution which nothing could balk. She had not only left her bench, but seemingly, was in the act of leaving the building. This, of course, it was for him to prevent, and he rose to do so. It might be interesting to wait and watch her hurrying figure, threading its way to the lock, a locker room through the double row of girls on the opposite side of the court. But there were reasons why he wished to reach that last-mentioned room before she did, reasons which seemed good enough to send him there without any further delay.

Starting point is 06:34:32 If he could but discover her hat, among the many, he had seen hanging on pegs in one of the corners how easy it would be for him to hold her back till he could make her listen to the few words, which must be said, before he could allow her to leave the building. Quick of eye, if not of step, he had run and review the varying headgear, depending from those isolated pegs, before he had half-circled the lockers, but hers he did not see. Could she have been given a locker, on this her first night? He did not think so, and approaching closer.

Starting point is 06:35:10 He looked again. The hat was there. but lying on the floor. Somebody had knocked it down, perhaps the latecomer who had given her the letter. Greatly gratified by the advantage, he now indisputably held over her. He picked up the hat and approached the door,

Starting point is 06:35:30 through which she must in another minute emerge. She did not come. He waited and waited, and still she did not come. At last driven by impatience, He ventured to open the door he had previously hesitated to touch and took a quick look in. Girls, girls,

Starting point is 06:35:51 nothing but girls. No madame do clow anywhere. Something must have happened to interrupt her escape. Either she had been caught in the attempt by the superintendent or by someone else of equal authority. This, if bad for her,

Starting point is 06:36:08 was also bad for him. As a quiet hold-up, in the manner he had planned, was certainly better than the public one which must now follow. Sorry for her and sorry for himself, Mr. Grice returned to the office, just as the superintendent entered from the opposite door. He thought the latter looked a little queer, and in an instant he learned why. Was the woman you wanted a staid, elderly person, apparently a foreigner? Yes, a French birth, I am told. Well, I guess you were right in distrusting her.

Starting point is 06:36:46 She's gone, took a notion that night work didn't agree with her, and left without so much as a, by your leave. She must have smelt you out in some uncanny way. Too bad. She bade fair to be just a woman we wanted for a very nice part of the work. Do you mean she's really out of the building that you didn't stop her? i didn't know what she was up till till she was gone i but how did she get out she didn't go by the employee's door for i stood there on watch i had seen her receive a note a note how who gave it to her some girl and you saw this how could you been through the workrooms no i saw her from this window as i was looking diagonally across the court she was in one of the opposite rooms she was in one of the opposite rooms

Starting point is 06:37:39 over there?" The superintendent broke into a hearty laugh. Fooled, he cried. You police detectives are a smart crowd, but our old factory, with its string of useless windows, has led you astray for once. You aren't looking into any one of the rooms over there. You are looking at a reflection in that useless old window

Starting point is 06:38:03 behind which the elevator runs. That happens when the elevator running on that side. is down. I've seen it often, and laughed in my sleeve at the chance it gives me to observe on the sly how things are going on at certain benches. Many a girl got her discharge, but no matter about that, come here. The room you think you see over there, you will notice that nobody is at work in it now, is on this side of the building, and the woman you have in chase escaped by the south delivery door. we are loading cars there to-night from this side of the building and she took a flying advantage of it men give way to a woman though there's an order against any such use of that door you can't get one of them to hold on to a woman when she once gets it into her head to skip the premises

Starting point is 06:38:59 but she can't have gone far this is a place of few houses and no big buildings beside the factory if you take pains to head her off at the station you'll be safe for to-night and in the morning you can easily find her now i must go but first what was her offence theft no this woman whom we have let slip through our fingers is madame du clow the mother of the girl shot in a new york museum there is a big reward out for her recovery and detention the superintendent stood aghast why didn't you say so why didn't you say so at once i'd have had the whole troop file out before you i'd have had the detective caught at his hat i wasn't aware that i had reached an age where i couldn't tell the difference between a reflection and reality he growled and hurried out the town was a small one and perry would see that she didn't escape from the station besides she had fled without her hat surely with all this in his favor he would soon be able to lay his hand upon her if not to-night certainly before another day was at an end end of chapter twenty three book three chapter twenty four of the mystery of the hasty arrow by anna catherine green this librivox recording is in the public domain flight in leaving the building mr gryce almost ran into the arms of perry in his anxiety to be within call the young detective had seated himself on the steps outside and now stood ready for any emergency

Starting point is 06:40:57 mr gryce's spirits rose as he saw him there the great door leading to the elevator opened not twenty feet to the left of him perhaps perry had seen the woman and could tell which way she ran questions followed rapid and to the purpose perry had seen a woman flash by but she seemed to be in company with a man he had not been able to see either clearly which way were they heading asked mr gryce perry told him it would look as though they were making for the station alarmed at the idea mr gryce stepped down into the road and endeavored to pierce the darkness in that direction all he could see were the station lights everything else was in shadow the night hung over all and had it not been for the grinding of machinery in their rear the silence would have been just as marked perry is the way rough between here and the station i mean rough for me not very if you keep in the road run ahead then and learn how soon the next train is due any train going north or going south i don't care which if it is soon look for a middle-aged woman in a striped dress and if you can't prevent her getting on without a fracas follow her yourself and never quit her telegraphing me at the first opportunity run parry gave a leap and was soon swallowed up in the darkness which was intense as soon as he had passed beyond the glare from the factory mr gryce followed after moving as quickly as he dared it was not far to the station platform but in his anxiety it seemed a mile

Starting point is 06:42:50 nor did he breathe with ease till he saw a flying shadow come between him and the station lights and knew that perry had reached the platform it was just at the hour when the fewest trains pass and mr gryce was himself across the tracks and on the platform before a far-off whistle warned him that one was approaching looking hastily around he saw perry hurrying up behind him no one said he no such person around they waited the train came in stopped took on two unimportant passengers and rushed away north i'm afraid i shall have to ask you to stay here perry it would be so easy for her to board one of these night trains and buy a ticket from the conductor but as he spoke he paused and gripping perry's arm turned his ear to listen a boat said he a small boat leaving shore it was so they could hear the dip of the oars distinctly in the quiet which had followed the departure of the train no other sound but that was in the air and it struck cold upon one old heart it is she i am sure of it muttered gryce the man across the river warned her sent a boat for her perhaps run down to the point and see if there is any one there who saw her go parry slid into the night and mr gryce stood listening the quiet dip of the oars was growing fainter every instant the boat was rapidly withdrawing carrying with it all hope of securing offhand this desirable witness to be sure there was nothing very serious in this he had only to telephone across the river to have the woman detained till he could reach her himself in the early morning yet he felt unaccountably disturbed and anxious

Starting point is 06:44:55 for all his many experiences and a record which should have made him immune from the ordinary disappointments of life he had never or so it seemed to him felt more thoroughly depressed or weary of the work which had given him occupation for many years than he liked to number then in the few minutes of solitary waiting with his face toward the river and the sense of some impending doom settling slowly over his aged heart but he was still in the few minutes of solitary waiting with his face toward the river and the sense of some impending doom settling slowly over his aged heart but he was still too much the successful detective to allow his disheartenedment to be seen by his admiring subordinate as the latter approached the old man's countenance brightened and nothing could have been more deceptive than the calmness he displayed when the fellow reported that he had just been talking to a man who had recognized the boat and the oarsmen it was the same boat and the same oarsman that had brought them over earlier in the day. He had made an extra trip at this most unusual hour for the express purpose of taking this woman back. I suppose there is no possibility of your drumming up anyone to row us over in time to catch them? Not in the least, I have inquired. Then follow me into the station. I have a few messages to send. Among these messages was a preemptory one to Sweetwater.

Starting point is 06:46:23 morning and an early crossing to the other side here a surprise awaited them they found on inquiry that the man responsible for madame's flitting was not as they had supposed the hotel proprietor but phil himself the good-natured easily imposed upon ferryman on whose sympathies she had worked during their first short passage from one shore to the other perhaps a little money had helped to deepen this impression one never knows but this was not all the woman was gone she had fled the town on foot before they were able to locate phil who had not made sure at his usual place but at some point up the river about which they knew nothing when he finally showed up it was almost daybreak where is he now at home or ought to be show me the house in ten minutes the two were face to face the result was not altogether satisfactory to the detective Though he used all this skill in his manipulation of this kind-hearted ferryman, he got very little from him, but the plain fact that the woman had insisted upon taking to the road when she heard that the train service had stopped, that he could not persuade her to wait till daylight,

Starting point is 06:47:50 or to listen for a moment to what he had to say of the danger and terrors awaiting her in the darkness and the awful loneliness of the hills. She didn't fear nature, even at its worst, and she knew these hills better than many who had lived among them for years. She was bound to go, and she went. This was six hours ago. Asked to explain his interest he had shown in her. It soon became evident that he was in complete ignorance of her identity.

Starting point is 06:48:22 He had simply, on their first trip over, seeing that she was middle-aged, suffering, and much too good and kind, to be followed up by enemies and wicked police officials. True, he had rode them over in her pursuit in the early part of the day, but that was because he had not known their business. When on returning he had learned it, he made up his mind to help her out with a warning,

Starting point is 06:48:48 even if it kept them up all night. He had not expected to bring her back with him, but she had insisted upon his doing so, saying that she had friends in the mountains who would look after her. He saw that she was dreadfully in earnest, for she had not stopped to get her hat and would not have had so much as an extra stitch with her if she had not taken the precaution to hide a bag of things

Starting point is 06:49:14 somewhere in the bushes near the factory in anticipation of some such emergency, and he couldn't resist her. She made him think of a sister of his who had had a dreadful, time of it in the world, and was now well out of it, thank God. When the ferryman heard that a reward of hundreds of dollars was waiting for the man who succeeded in bringing her before the police officials in New York, he betrayed some

Starting point is 06:49:43 chagrin, but even this did not last. He was soon declaring with heartfelt earnestness that he didn't care anything about that. It was peace of mind he wanted and not money. when mr gryce left him it was with an even slower step than usual peace of mind how about his own peace of mind was he trailing this poor unfortunate from pillar to post for the reward it would bring him no with his advancing years money had lost much of its attraction nor if he knew himself was he particularly affected by the glory which attends success duty and duty only drove him on to elucidate his problem and merit the confidence put in him by his superiors if suffering followed that was not his fault his business was to go ahead it was in this frame of mind that he prepared himself for the automobile trip he saw before him there was no question in mr gryce's mind now as to this woman's destination or whither he should be obliged to go in order to find her as he now saw into her mind she had left new york with the intention of hiding her in the remote village to which she had ordered her mail sent under the name of elvira brown whom she evidently knew but hearing either on the car or in the hotel where she was detained

Starting point is 06:51:21 the plea which was being made for workers in the factory on the east side of the river she had modified her plans to the extent already known only to return to her original intention as soon as the attempt to provide for herself in this independent way had proved a failure he would proceed then in her wake conscious of the fresh disappointment which awaited her in the loss through mrs brown's sudden death of the asylum she counted upon could he have gone on foot like herself he might have been tempted to do so for a trail is best followed slowly and with ear and eye very close to the ground but as this was beyond his strength he must wait till an automobile could be procured and possibly till sweetwater should arrive for Perry was no man for this job. There were no automobiles in this small town, and it might be necessary to send up or down the river some distance before one could be found, capable of carrying them over the precipitous road,

Starting point is 06:52:31 they would be obliged to take in order to avoid the washout, which had driven them to this extremity. But all would come right in time, and with Sweetwater at his elbow, the journey would be made, and the woman caught, soon enough, for him, no doubt, hard as he felt it to wait. Why so hard, he might have found it difficult to say, since hitherto he had found it easy enough when the goal seemed sure, and it was only with time that he had to reckon. End of Chapter 24.

Starting point is 06:53:13 Book 3, Chapter 25 of The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Terror A woman, fleeing from publicity, as one flies from death, a refined woman, too, whose life had hitherto been passed in the open. When Antonet Ducle, after a night and morning, of unprecedented fatigue and extraordinary fears,

Starting point is 06:53:45 with little to upbear her in the way of food, stepped from the train, which brought a few local passengers into the quiet village of Wrexham, she hardly would have been recognized by her best friend. Such marks may a few hours leave upon one battling with untoward fate in one supreme effort. She seemed to realize this, for meeting more than one eye fixed inquiringly upon her,

Starting point is 06:54:13 she drew down the veil, wound about a short cap she wore, till it concealed not only her features but her throat, which a restless pulse had tightened almost to the exclusion of her breath. Ready to drop, she yet made use of the little energy left her to approach with faltering steps a lumbering old vehicle waiting in the dust and smoke for such passengers as might wish to be taken up long hill. There was no driver in sight.

Starting point is 06:54:47 but she did not hesitate to take her seat inside. There was extra business at the station, for this was the first train to come in for two days, and if anybody noticed her in the shadowy recesses of the cumbrous old coach, nobody approached her, nor was she in any way disturbed. When the driver did show himself, she was almost asleep, but she woke up quickly enough when his good-natured face peered, in at her, and she heard him ask where she wanted to go, and whether she had any baggage.

Starting point is 06:55:24 I want to go up Long Hill, and be set down at the first crossroad, she said. My baggage is here, and she pointed to the space at her feet, but that space was empty. She had no baggage. She had dropped both bag and umbrella at the side of the road, after one of her long climbs, under a fitful moon, and had not so much as thought of them since. Now she remembered and flushed, as she met the eyes of a man looking in at her, with his hand on his whiskers, smoothing them thoughtfully down, but saying nothing, though his countenance and expression showed him to be one of loquacious sort.

Starting point is 06:56:09 If any smiles remained to her from the old days, now was a time for one. But before she could twist her dry lips into any such attempt, he had uttered a cheerful, all right, and turned away to clamor up into his seat. The relief was great, and she settled back, rejoicing in the fact that they would soon be moving, and that she was likely to be the sole passenger. But she soon came to rue this fact,

Starting point is 06:56:39 for the driver wanted to talk, and even made many abortive tempts that way. but she could not fall in with his mood and seeing this he soon withheld all remarks and bent his full energies to the task of urging his horses up the interminable incline houses at which she scarcely looked disappeared gradually from view and groups of spreading trees and patches of upland took their places deepening into the forest as they advanced when half-way up the farther mountains which had hitherto been hidden by nearer hills burst into view behind them the sun was setting and the scene was glorious if she saw it at all she gave no sign of pleasure or even of admiration her head which she had held straight up for the first quarter of a mile sank lower and lower as they clambered on yet she gave no sign of drowsiness only of a mortal weariness which seemed to attack the very springs of life the pomp and pageantry of the heavens burning with all the pigments of the rainbow failed to appeal to his soul shut within dungeon bars rocks and mighty gorges darkening to the eye and stirring to the imagination held no story for her

Starting point is 06:58:13 she looked neither to the right nor the left while the beauty lasted much less when the last gleam had faded from the mountain-tops and a troop of leaden clouds coming up from the east added their shadows to those of premature night the driver who had been eyeing these clouds for some little time felt that he ought to speak if she did not pulling up his horses as though to give them a breathing spell he remarked over his shoulder with a strain of anxiety in his voice i hope your friends live near the top of the hill mrs A storm is coming up, and it's getting very dark. Will you have to walk far? No, no, she assured him, with a quick glance up and around. A little way, a very little way. Then she became quiet and absorbed again.

Starting point is 06:59:09 I've got to go on, he broke in again, as the top of the hill came in sight. I have a passenger for the eight-fifty train, waiting for me more than a mile along the road. I shall have to leave you after I set you down. That's right, I expect that I can take care of myself, don't worry. Not but what you're very kind, she added after a moment, in her cultured voice, with just enough trace of accent to make it linger sweetly in the ear.

Starting point is 06:59:41 Then here we are, he called back a moment later, jerking his horses to a standstill and jumping down into the road. Going east or going west, he asked, as he took another glance at her frail and poorly protected figure. This way, she answered, pointing east. He stopped and stared at her. Nobody lives that way, he said, that is, nobody near enough for you to reach shelter before the storm bursts. You are mistaken, she said, cringing involuntarily, as the first big clap of thunder. rolled in endless echoes among the mountains, and turning about, she started hurriedly into the

Starting point is 07:00:26 shadows of the narrow cross-road. He gave one glance back at his horses. The twitching of whose ears showed nervousness, uttered some familiar word, and launched out after the woman. Pardon me, Mrs. he cried. But is it Mrs. Browns, you mean? The widow stopped, glanced back at him over her shoulder. made a quick protesting gesture and dashed on. With a shake of his head and a muttered, Well, women, do beat the devil, he retraced his steps, and she proceeded on alone.

Starting point is 07:01:04 As the last sound of his horse's hoofbeats died out on the road, a second clap of thunder seemed to bring heaven and earth together. She scarcely looked up. She was approaching a little weather-beaten house, nestled among the trees on the edge of a deep gorge. As her eyes fell on it, her footsteps quickened, and lifting a hasty hand, she pulled off her veil. A change quite indescribable, but real for all that,

Starting point is 07:01:35 had taken place in her worn and waxen features. Not joy, but a soft expectancy, relieve them from their extreme tension. If a friend awaited her, that friend would have no difficulty in recognizing her now. But alas. A few steps more, and she stood before the door. It had a desolate look. The whole house had a desolate look, possibly,

Starting point is 07:02:03 because every shade was drawn. But she did not notice this. She was too sure of her welcome. Raising her hand to the knocker, she gave two sharp wraps. Then she waited. no answer from within no sound of hurrying steps only another rumble in the sky and a quick rustling of the trees on either side of her as if the wind which made the horizon black had sent an avant courier over the hill-tops elvira is out gone to some church-meeting or social gathering down in the village she will be back but i won't wait i will try and get in the old way the storm may delay her indefinitely

Starting point is 07:02:52 leaving the door which was raised only two steps above the road she walked to the corner of the house and stooping down felt behind a projecting stone for what she had certainly expected to find there a kidd to the front door. But her hand came away empty. Surprised, for this was not her first visit to this house. She had once spent weeks there, and knew the habits of its mistress well. She felt again in the place where the key should be, and where she had so often found it when her friend was out. But all to no avail it was not there, and presently she was in the case.

Starting point is 07:03:36 the road again, staring at the closed-up front. As she did so, these words left her lips, and she knew I might come at any minute. Tottering from fatigue, she caught at the trunk of a great tree, which held roof and wall in its embrace. Why did it quiver? Why did the ground beneath her feet seem to rock and all nature darken as with the falling of a pall? The storm was upon, upon her. It had rolled up with incredible swiftness and was about the break over her head. With a shock, she realized her position, no shelter, and the storm of the season upon her. What should she do? There was no way of getting into the house at the rear, for the bushes were too thick. She must accept her fate, be drenched to the skin, perhaps smitten by the next

Starting point is 07:04:35 thunderbolt. But Antoinette Duclowe was no coward. So far his physical ills were concerned. She drew herself up straight against the trunk of the tree, thinking that this, bad as it was, was better than shelter with the enemy at the door. She would be calm, and she was fast-growing so, when she suddenly became aware of a man standing very near and hunting her out through the dusk. She never knew why the scream which rose in her throat did not pass her lips. Her terror was unspeakable, for she had heard no advance, indeed. There was too much noise about her for that. But it was the silent terror of despair, for she thought it was the man from whom she had made this great effort at escape. But he soon proved to her he was not. It was just the driver of

Starting point is 07:05:32 the stage-coach, returned. to see what had become of her. He had feared to find her stricken down in the road, and when he saw her clinging alone, and in a maddening way to this tree, he made no bones of speaking to her with all necessary plainness. I asked you,

Starting point is 07:05:52 if it was Mrs. Brown you had come to see, he called to her through the din, and you wouldn't answer. Why should I, she shouted back. Why do you speak like that, Has anything happened to her? Don't you know? No, no, she was well when I heard from her last,

Starting point is 07:06:11 and expecting me, or so she wrote, Is she? Dead, Mrs. We buried her last Tuesday. I'm sorry, but... Why finish. She was lying out before him, Straight and stark in the road. A bolt of lightning, which at that moment tore

Starting point is 07:06:33 its way through the heavens, brought into startling view her face, white with distraction, framed in a mass of iron-grey locks released by her fall. Good heaven burst from the lips of the frightened man, as he stooped to lift her. What am I going to do now? The thunder answered him, or rather, it robbed him for the moment of all thought. Peel after peel, rattled over the neighboring peaks. rocking the air of the uplands and filling his soul with dismay but when quiet had come again hope returned with it she was not only standing upright but was crying in his ear can i get into the house if i could stay there to-night i could go back to-morrow i'll see that you get in if i have to break in a window he answered but you're sure that you will not be afraid to stay out this terrible storm in a storm and a-morrow i'll see that you get in if i have to break in a window he answered but you're sure that you'll not be afraid to stay out this terrible storm and a-morrow a house with no neighbors within half a mile.

Starting point is 07:07:37 I know the house. I have been here before, and if Elvira Brown could face the storms of forty years from her solitary home, I can surely face a single one without losing my courage. He said no more, but approaching the house he began to test such windows as he could reach. He finally broke in a pain and released the latch after that. that, entrance was easy. Yet after he had opened the way for her, she had stepped in to the dim interior, he felt loath to leave her. Duty called him away. The passenger awaiting him up the road was a man he could not afford to disappoint. Yet he stood there longer than the occasion warranted, with the knob of the door in hand, watching her struggle with a lamp, which she at last

Starting point is 07:08:31 succeeded in lighting. As the walls of the hall and her anxious bending figure burst into view, he uttered a quick goodbye. She turned, smiled, and tried to thank him, but the words failed to leave her lips. A nearer and fiercer bolt had shot the earth at that instant striking a tree so near that the noise of its fall mingled with the crash of the heavens.

Starting point is 07:08:59 When it had ceased, He had gone. He could not face a look with which she met this new catastrophe. That look never again left her. When she saw herself in a glass, as she presently did, on entering one of the rooms' lamp in hand, she was startled and muttered. My own mother would pass me by if she saw me now. I could go anywhere I wished, without fear or dread.

Starting point is 07:09:28 Why did I leave New York? and setting the lamp down she covered her face and wept. The storm abated, a few minutes of fiercely pouring rain, and all was over. She was left in a ghastly quiet, quiet, which was almost worse than the turmoil which had preceded it. To face her memories and accustom herself to the thought that the solitary woman, with whose life everything she looked upon, was so intimate. intimately connected, was gone. Never to pass through these doors again, or touch with depth and careful fingers,

Starting point is 07:10:08 the infinite number of little belongings with which the house was filled. For as yet, nothing had been changed, nothing had been moved. How fitting this was! Antoinette knew better than anybody else, perhaps, for she was the only person whom Elvira Brown had ever allowed to spend any length of time with her, and she could remember, alas, how vividly, in spite of the one great fear for ever gnawing at her heart, that an article, no matter how small, when once given place in this house, held that place always, till broken, or in some other way, robbed

Starting point is 07:10:50 of its usefulness. She looked at her friend's pet chair, standing, just in the one spot where she had seen it eight years before, and her heart swelled, and a tear rose in her eye. But there was no time for another. A sense of the straits in which she found herself, placed by the death of this dependable friend, returned upon her in full force. The past retired into its old place and the present, with its maddening problems, seized upon her nerve and quelled her once indomitable spirit.

Starting point is 07:11:28 the fate which had pursued her ever since she had left her happy home in france had not spared her at this crisis a storm of so little consequence to her had roused the driver's sympathy this had not only fixed her image in his mind but given away her destination all hope of hiding herself among the mountains was therefore gone she would have to move on but where if she were but able to leave now Now she might, before morning, find some covert from which help might be given her for further escape. But the condition of the roads, as well as her own weakness, forbade that. She needed food, she needed sleep. Of food, she would find plenty. She was sure.

Starting point is 07:12:18 But sleep? How could she sleep, with the promise of the morrow before her? Yet she must. everything depended upon her strength. How could she win that rest which alone would secure it? Pausing in the midst of the hall whither her restless thought had driven her, she stared in a fruitless inquiry at the wall confronting her. Her mind, like her feet, was at a standstill.

Starting point is 07:12:47 She could neither think nor act. In fact, she was at the point of a nervous collapse, when slowly from out of the void there rose to her view and pierced its way into her mind the outline of the door upon which she had been steadily looking but without seeing it till now why did she start as it thus took on shape before her there was nothing strange or mysterious about it it led nowhere it hid nothing unless it was the yard upon which it directly opened but that yard she remembered it well it was unlike any she had ever seen in this country or her own it was small and semi-circular it was shut in by a high board fence except at the extreme end where it was met by a swinging bridge topping a forty-foot chasm the bridge led through a sparsely wooded forest to a road running in a quite different direction from the one by which the house was approached as she strove to recall her memories of it she became more and more assured that her one and only opportunity for a successful flight lay that way moved to joy at the thought she bowed her head for one wild moment in heartfelt thankfulness and then quickly drew the bolts of the door which offered her this happy deliverance

Starting point is 07:14:20 she did not mean to seek escape to-night but an irresistible impulse which quite robbed her of her judgment drove her to take a look into the yard and make sure for herself that the bridge was still there and everything as she had last seen it but when with the help of the wind she pulled open the heavy door and stood throbbing under the force of the gale on the shallow step outside She found herself confronted by a darkness so hollow and so absolute that she felt as though she had stumbled into a pit. But instead of retreating, if only to procure a lantern, she took the one step down to the narrow walk which led through grass and flowers to the edge of the plateau from which the bridge extended. Would she be satisfied now? No. She must see the bridge, or if she could not see,

Starting point is 07:15:18 it, must feel it with foot, or touch it with her hand. Once sure of his presence there, she would return, take off her clothing, and seek refreshment. But how was she to find her way in such absolute darkness, alone, with a dying tempest, now moaning in fitful gusts, now shrieking a last protest in her ear, she stood peering helplessly before her. Already her arms in gone out like those of a blind person loosed upon an unknown road. She was conscious of a great fear. All the solitude of her position had rushed upon her. She felt herself lost, forsaken, yet she had no idea of turning back. If she could but find some support, something upon which the lay her fingers. She thought of the fence, and her courage revived.

Starting point is 07:16:16 if she could but reach and follow that. There were obstacles in her way, she was sure of this, for she remembered some of them, and Elvira no more changed her garden than her house. But with care she succeeded in getting around these, and soon knew by the lessened force of the wind that she was near, if not directly under, the high fence upon which she depended for guidance. A few bushes, another unexpected obstacle, followed by a bad stumble, separated her from the contact for which she had reached.

Starting point is 07:16:55 Then, by a final effort, her fingers found the boards, and she went eagerly on, dragging herself through the wet without knowing it, and only stopping with a sense of shock when her hand, sliding from the boards, fell groping about in mid-air, with nothing that. the grass bat. She had come to the end of the fence, and was within a foot of the bridge, if the bridge was still there. But her fears on this score were few, and she felt about with hand and foot, till the former struck the rail at her side, and the latter, the narrow planking, spanning the gorge. She hesitated now, who would not, but the impulse which had led her thus far, continued to urge her on. She stepped upon the bridge and proceeded to cross it,

Starting point is 07:17:48 clinging to the rail with a feverish clutch, and feeling every board with her foot, before venturing to trust her full weight upon it. She found them seemingly firm, and went about halfway across, she stopped to listen for the roar of the mountain stream, which she knew to be rushing over its rocky bed, some forty awesome feet below her. she heard it but the swish of the trees lining the gorge was in her straining ears and half drowned its sullen sound with feelings impossible to describe she tossed up her arms to the skies where a single brilliant star was looking through the mass of quickly flying quickly disintegrating clouds then she sought again the safety of the guiding rail and clinging to the guiding rail and clinging desperately to it, took one more step and stopped with a smothered shriek. The rail had snapped under her hand, and had gone tumbling down into the abyss. She heard it as it struck,

Starting point is 07:18:55 or thought she did, and for a moment stood breathless and fearing the move, the world, and all it held, vanishing in semi-unconsciousness from her heart and mind. What was she but a trembling a littleing atom, floating in an unknown void, on the phantomless sea of eternity. Then as her mind steadied, she began to feel once more the boards under her feet, and to hear the smiting together of the great limbs wrestling in the depths of the forest. She even caught such a homely sound as the violent slamming of the door she had left unlatched behind her, And summoning up all her courage, which was not small, when she was released from her first surprise, she stepped firmly backward, till she felt the rail strong again under her clutch.

Starting point is 07:19:51 Then she turned resolutely, and retraced her steps along the bridge, and so across the plateau to the house, whose light had acted as a beacon to her, whenever the door blew wide enough, to let the one inner beam be seen. when she was inside again she lingered for a long time in the darkening hall her slight form and whitened head leaning against the wall in a desolation such as few hearts know Then something within the woman flared up in a rekindled flame, and she passed quickly into the room, where she had left her lamp burning, and blowing it out, she threw herself down on a couch and tried to sleep.

Starting point is 07:20:38 An hour later, the moon shone in upon her pale features, and wild, staring eyes upturned to meet it. Then it vanished, and she and the whole house were given up again to darkness. She had forgotten to eat, though the cupboards in this well-stored house were quite full. End of Chapter 25. Book 3, Chapter 26 of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. The Face in the Window.

Starting point is 07:21:23 Is this the place? According to our instructions, yes. the first house after the first turn to the right we took the first turn and this is the first house romantic situation eh but a bit lonesome for a city chap shall i help you down while talking sweetwater who was already in the road held up his elbow to mr gryce who slowly descended it was early morning and the glory of the sunshine was everywhere misleading the eye from the ravages of the night before yet neither of these two men wore an air in keeping with the freshness of renewed life and the joyous aspect of exultant nature there seemed to be an oppression upon them both a hesitation not common to either and to all appearance without cause to when what he probably considered a weakness sweetwater approached the door staring somewhat blankly from the flat front of the primitive old house whose privacy they were about to invade and wrapped on its weather-beaten panels first gently and then with quick insistence There was no response from within, no sound of movement, no token, that he had been so much as heard.

Starting point is 07:22:49 Sweetwater turned and consulted his companion before making another attempt. It's early. Perhaps she's not up yet, rejoined the old detective, as he painfully advanced. The storm of the preceding night had got into his bones. I don't know. there's something uncanny about this silence. She ought to be here, but I'm afraid she isn't. Sweetwater rapped again, this time with decided vehemence. Suddenly, in one of the uncurtained windows a face appeared. They saw it, and both drew a deep breath. The eyes were looking their way, but they were like ghost's eyes, without sight or speculation in them.

Starting point is 07:23:36 They simply looked. Then the face slowly withdrew, growing ghastlier every minute, and the window stared on. But the woman was gone, yet the door did not open. I hate to use force, objected Sweetwater. Before answering, Mr. Grice stepped to one side and cast a glance around the corner of the house in the direction of the gorge opening in the rear. There's something like a yard at the back, he announced. but the fence which shut it in is so high and so protected by means of prickly underbrush that you would have difficulty in climbing it just so at this end called out sweetwater after a short run to the left If we get in at all, he remarked on coming back, it will have to be by the window you see there,

Starting point is 07:24:31 with one pain knocked out. I don't like that. I don't like any of it. But we can't stay out here any longer. The looks of the woman herself forbid it. We shan't forget that hollow stare. They said the woman who lived here was dead. Yes, it's a bad business, sweetwater.

Starting point is 07:24:52 Rap once more, and then, if she'd be a woman. she doesn't come, throw up the window and climb in. Sweetwater did as he was bid, and meeting with no more response than before, thrust his hand through the hole made by the broken pane, and finding the window had been left unlocked, he pushed it up and entered. In another moment he appeared at the front door, where Mr. Grice joined him, and together they took their first look at the small but surprisingly well-furnished interior. The hall in which they stood was without staircase, and had many of the appointments of a room.

Starting point is 07:25:35 Doors opened here and there along its length, and in the rear they saw a closed one, evidently leading into the yard. There was no one within sight. One would have said that with the death and carrying out of the owner of this little dwelling, all life had departed from it. Yet these two men knew that life was there, and raising his voice, Mr. Grice called out in the least alarming way possible. Madame DuClove, following this utterance of her name,

Starting point is 07:26:08 with an apology for the intrusion and a prayer for one-minute's interview. Silence was his answer. No stir anywhere. Apprehensive of they knew not, what, the two detectives started simultaneously, one for the door on their right and the other for that on the left. When they met again in the ill-lighted hall, Mr. Grice was shaking his head, but Sweetwater had lifted a beckoning finger. Unconsciously moderating his step, Mr. Grice

Starting point is 07:26:43 followed him through one room to the door of another, which he saw standing partly open. Through the crack thus made between the hinges, they could get a very fair glimpse of what was going on inside. They saw a bed, and a woman kneeling beside this bed, her eyes upraised in prayer. The look which had awed them at the window was gone, and in its place was one so high and so full of religious faith that for an instant they were conscious of the reversal of all their ideas. but only for an instant for while they waited hesitating to break in upon her evidently sincere devotions she started to her feet and with a half-insane look about her disappeared from their view in the direction of the hall sweetwater was after her in a twinkling but by the time he and mr gryce each going a separate way had themselves reached the hall it was to see the end door the one giving upon the plateau closing behind her madame called out sweetwater bounding briskly in her wake mr gryce said nothing but approached with hastening steps the door which sweetwater had left open behind him and took a quick survey of the fenced-in plateau the bridge and the towering trees beyond toward which she seemed to be making she cannot escape was his ready conclusion and he shouted to sweetwater to go easy

Starting point is 07:28:24 sweetwater who was in the act of setting foot upon the bridge down which she was running slacked up at this command and presently stopped for she had stopped herself and was looking back from a spot about half-way across with the air of one willing at last to hear what they had to say who are you she cried and what do you want of me are you not madame duclowe yes i am antoinette then you must know why you are wanted by the police authorities in new york your daughter her hand went up i've nothing to say nothing will you take that for your answer and let me go Alas, madam, we cannot spoke up Mr. Grice in his calm, benevolent way. Miss Duclowe's death was of a nature demanding an inquest. Your testimony, hard as it may be for you to give, is necessary for a righteous verdict. That is all we want. It is too much, she cried, and with a quick glance upward, she took another step or two

Starting point is 07:29:36 along the bridge till she had reached the broken rail, and before Sweetwater, in his dismay, could more than give a horrified bound in her direction, she had made the fatal leap, and was gone from their sight into the gorge below. End of Chapter 26. End of Book 3. Book 4. Chapter 27 of The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Book four, Nemesis.

Starting point is 07:30:21 From lips long silent. This finishes my usefulness as a detective. I have had my fill of horrors, all in fact, that my old age can stand. Thus, Mr. Grice, as hours afterwards, he and Sweetwater turned their faces back toward New York. I appreciate your feelings, responded the latter, who had been strangely silent all day, speaking only when directly addressed. I can assure you that in my way I am as much cut up as you are.

Starting point is 07:30:57 I wish now that I had made an attempt from the rear to head off this distracted woman, even if I had been obliged, to scratch my hands to pieces, tearing a board from the fence. It would have done no good. She was determined to die rather than give up her secret. I remember the look with which her sister-in-law warned me that she would never survive a capture. But I thought that mere exaggeration. Then after a moment of conscious silence on the part of both,

Starting point is 07:31:30 the weary old man added with bitter emphasis, her testimony might, I do not say would, have cleared away our suspicions of Director Roberts. Sweetwater, who was acting as chauffeur, slowed down his machine till it came to a standstill at the side of the road, then wheeling quietly about till he faced his surprised companion,

Starting point is 07:31:55 he remarked very gravely, Mr. Grice, I hadn't the heart to tell you this before, but the time has come for you to know that Mr. Roberts' cause is not so favorably affected, as you seem to think, by the suicidal death of one who, without doubt, would have proved to be a leading witness against him. I am sure you will agree with me in this, when I inform you, that in pursuing the task you set me, I came upon this.

Starting point is 07:32:28 Thrusting his hand into his pocket, he pulled out a large envelope, from which he proceeded to draw forth first the tattered square of what had once been a cabinet portrait, and then a freshly printed proof of the same. Holding them both up, he waited for the word that was sure to follow. It came with all the emphasis he expected. Roberts, Director Roberts? The same, sir, and the eyes of the two detectives met in what was certainly one of the most solemn moment. of their lives. They had paused for this short conference at a point where the road, running for a few yards on a level,

Starting point is 07:33:13 gave them a view of slope on slope, a varying verdure, with glimpses of the Hudson between, glancing up, with a gesture of manifest shrinking from the portrait, which Sweetwater still held, Mr. Grice allowed his glance to run over the wonderful landscape laid out to his view.

Starting point is 07:33:34 and said with breaks and halts bespeaking his deep emotion if my death here and now following fast upon that of this unhappy frenchwoman would avail to wipe out the evidence i have so laboriously collected against this man i should welcome it with gratitude i shrink from ending my career with the shattering of so fine an image in the public eye what lies back of this crime What past memories or present miseries have led to an act which would be called dastardly in the most uninstructed and basest of our sex? I lack the imagination to conceive. Would the God I had never tried to find out? But no man standing where Roberts does today, among the leaders of a great party, can fall into such a pit of shame, without weakening the faith of the young,

Starting point is 07:34:31 and making a travesty of virtue and honor. Yet, if he is guilty, it is our business to pursue him to the end, only I liked the man, Sweetwater. I had a long talk with him yesterday on indifferent matters, and I came away liking him. This was certainly something Sweetwater had not expected to hear, and it threw him again into silence as he started up the machine,

Starting point is 07:34:59 and they pursued their course home. hard as a day had been for mr gryce its trials were not yet over he had left it to sweetwater to report the case to the new york authorities and had gone home the rest from the shock of the occurrence and to prepare for that interview with the chief inspector which he was satisfied would now lead to even a more exacting one with the district attorney he was met by a messenger from downtown who handed him a letter to a letter to-he was met by a messenger from downtown who handed him a letter He opened it abstractly and read the following. Mrs. Taylor is talking. He had forgotten, Mrs. Taylor. To have her thus brought forcibly back to mind was a shock heightened rather than diminished

Starting point is 07:35:47 by a perusal of the few connected words which the careful nurse had transcribed as falling from her delirious patient's lips. They were these. I love but thee, and thee I will love to eternity." The exact lines, no more, no less, which Sweetwater had found written on the back of the Swiss clock,

Starting point is 07:36:12 cherished by Mr. Roberts. End of Chapter 27. Chapter 28 of the mystery of the hasty arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Romantic, too romantic, part one. Next morning, Mr. Grice left his home an hour earlier than usual. He wished to have a talk with Mrs. Taylor's nurse before encountering the inspector. It was an inconvenient time for the nurse to leave the sick bed,

Starting point is 07:36:55 but the matter being so important she was prevailed upon to give him a few moments, in the little reception room where he had seated him. himself. The result was meager, that is, from her standpoint, all she had to add to what she had written him the day before was the fact that the two lines of verse quoted in the note she had sent him were Mrs. Taylor's first coherent utterance, and that they had been spoken not only once but many times, in every kind of tone, and with ever-varying emphasis, that, and a dreamy request for the papers the papers, which had followed some action of her own this very morning,

Starting point is 07:37:39 comprised all that she had to give in fulfillment of the promise she had made him at the beginning of this illness. Mr. Grice believed her, and rose reluctantly to his feet. Then she is still very ill? Very ill, but mending daily, or so the doctor says, if she talks again as she is liable to do at any moment do not check her but remember every word the importance of this i cannot impress upon you too fully

Starting point is 07:38:13 but do not by any show of curiosity endanger her recovery she seems to be one of the very best sort i would not have her body or mind sacrificed on my account you may trust me sir he nodded giving her his hand but as he was turning away he looked back with the quiet remark i should like to ask a final question you have been in constant attendance on this lady for some time and must have seen many of her friends as well as taken charge of her mail and of any messages which may have been left for her has there been anything in this experience to settle the doubt as to weather her talk of a vision in which she saw her absent husband stricken simultaneously with the poor child lying at that very moment dead at her feet simply delirium or a striking instance of telepathy recording an accomplished fact in other words do you believe her husband to be living or not living at the present time that is a subject on which i have not been able to form any opinion i have heard nothing seen nothing to influence my mind either way some other people have asked me the same question if her mail contains any news it is still in the hands of the proprietor of the hotel he has refrained from sending it up she has lived here as you know for a long while has she no relative to share your watch or take such things in charge i have seen none friends she has in plenty but no one who claims relationship with her or who raises the least objection to anything i do

Starting point is 07:40:04 he seemed about to ask another question but refrained and allowed her to depart after some final injunction as to what she should do in case of certain emergencies then he had a talk with a proprietor which added little or nothing to his present knowledge and these duties off his mind he went down-town as he expected he found the chief inspector awaiting him the death of madame du clow had added still another serious complication to the many with which this difficult affair was already encumbered and he was anxious to talk over the matter with one who had been on the spot and upon whose impressions he consequently could rely but when he heard all that mr gryce had to say on the subject he grew as serious as the detective himself could wish even going so far as to propose an immediate ride over to the district attorney's office fortunately they found that gentleman in and ready to listen though it was evident that he expected little from the conference but his temper changed as mr gryce opened up his theory and began to substantiate it with facts the looks which he exchanged with the chief inspector grew more and more earnest and inquiring and when mr gryce reached that portion of his report which connected mr roberts so indisputedly with the arrow he called in his assistant and together they listened to what mr gryce had further to say with this addition to his audience the old man's manner changed and became a trifle more formal he related the fact not generally known of mr roberts's engagement to a young girl residing on long island and how this was broken off immediately after the occurrence at the museum seemingly for no other reason than the unhappy condition of mind in which he found himself

Starting point is 07:42:11 a condition added to if not explained by the pertinency with which he had haunted the morgue and dwelt upon the image of the young girl who had perished under no random shot here the old man paused shrinking as much from what he had yet to say as they from the hearing of it it was not till the chief inspector had made him an encouraging gesture that he found the requisite courage to proceed he did so in these words i know that the evidence i have thus far advanced is of a purely circumstantial nature capable perhaps of a more or less satisfactory explanation but what i have to add cannot be so easily disposed of connections have been developed between persons we thought strangers which have opened up a field of inquiry which brings the doubts and surmises of an old detective within the scope of this office. I do not know what to make of them. Perhaps their full meaning can only be found out here. Of this only, I am assured.

Starting point is 07:43:25 The gentleman, whom it seems presumptuous on my part, to connect even in a casual way with crime, has not gained but lost but what I have to tell of Madame DuClo's suicidal death. To those who see no other. association between the two, it looks like the opening of a new lead. But when I tell you that they knew each other, or at all events, she knew him, and in the way of actual hatred, it looks more like a deepening of the old one. See here, gentlemen. Opening a package he had hitherto held in his hand,

Starting point is 07:44:03 he showed them the Frederick's fifteen-year-old photograph of Mr. Roberts, together with its mutilated counterpart, and explained how the latter came to be in its present mutilated condition. But this is not all, he continued, as the remarks incident upon this proof of deadly hatred on the part of the mother of the victim for the man, whom circumstances seemed to point out, as her slayer, subsided under the pressure of their interest in what he had further to impart. As you will see after a moment's consideration, this token of animosity does not explain Madame DuClo's flight, and certainly not her death, which, as the unhappy witness of it, I am ready to declare, was not the death of one driven at extremity from personal fear,

Starting point is 07:44:58 but by some exalted feeling, which we have yet to understand. All that I now wish to point out in its connection is the the proof offered by this shattered photograph that Mr. Roberts was in some manner, and from some cause, a party to this crime from which a superficial observation would completely disassociate him. Where is the connecting link? How can we hope to establish it? That is what has now become my unfortunate duty to make plain to you.

Starting point is 07:45:33 Carlton Roberts, drawing a bow to shoot an innocent schoolgirl, is in question. credible. In spite of all I have said and shown you, I do not believe him guilty of so inhumane an act. He drew the bow. He shot the arrow, but, here allow me to pause a moment, to present another aspect of the case as surprising, as any, you have yet heard. You are aware, as we all are aware, that the inquest we await has been held back for the purpose of giving Mrs. Taylor an opportunity to recover from the illness into which she has been thrown by what she saw and suffered that day. Gentlemen, this Mrs. Taylor, whom we all, I will not even exclude myself from this category, regard it not only as a casual visitor to the museum, but a stranger to all

Starting point is 07:46:28 concerned, is, on the contrary, as I think you will soon see, more closely allied to the seemingly dispassionate director, than even Madame Duclowe. The shock which laid her low was not that usually ascribed to her, or even the one she so fantastically offered to our acceptance. But the recognition of Carlton Roberts as the author of this tragedy, Carlton Roberts, whom she not only knew well, but had loved in days gone by as sincerely as he had loved her. This I now propose to prove to you by what I cannot but regard as incontestable evidence. Taking from a small portfolio, which he carried another photograph, unmounted this time,

Starting point is 07:47:20 evidently the work of an amateur, he laid it out before them. The silence with which his last statement had been received, the kind of silence. which covers emotions too deep for audible expression, remained unbroken, save for an involuntary murmur or so, as the district attorney and his assistant bent over this crude presentation of something they hardly knew what, which this old but trusted detective was offering them in substantiation of the well-nigh, unbelievable statement he had just made.

Starting point is 07:47:57 This gentleman he went on as he pointed to the following. is the copy of a label pasted on the back of a certain Swiss clock to be seen at this very moment on the wall of Mr. Roberts' own bedroom in his home in Belport, Long Island. He prizes this clock. He has been heard to say

Starting point is 07:48:17 that it goes where he goes and stays where he stays, and as it is as far from a valuable one, either from intrinsic worth, or from any accuracy in its displays in keeping time, the reason for this partiality must lie in old associations and the memories they invoke, a love token. Can you not see that it is such from the couplet scrawled across it?

Starting point is 07:48:45 If not, just take a look at the initials appended to that couplet. May I ask you to read them? The district attorney's stooped adjusted his glasses and slowly read out. carlton clifton roberts explained mr gryce then slowly the other two if you will be so good e t emetrude taylor declared the inexorable voice and written by herself here is her signature which i have obtained and here is his compare them at your leisure with their initials inscribed according to the date there sixteen years or more ago now where were these two this man and this woman at the time just designated alone or together let us see if we can find out pursued the detective with a quiet ignoring of the effect he had just produced which revealed him as the master of a situation probably as difficult and disconcerting as the three officials hanging in manifest anxiety upon his words had ever been called upon the face mr roberts was in switzerland as his housekeeper will be obliged to admit on oath she being an honest woman and a domestic in his mother's house at the time an emmitude tailor i have a witness to prove where she was also a witness i shall be glad to have you interrogate here is her name and address and he slipped a small scrap of paper into the district attorney's hand

Starting point is 07:50:29 what she will say is this for i think i have very thoroughly sounded her first that she is mrs taylor's most intimate friend this is conceded by all who know her secondly that while her intimacy does not extend back to their girlhood days mrs taylor being an english woman by birth and remarkably recitent as to her former life and experiences she has one story to tell of that time which answers the question i have given you she got it from mrs taylor herself and in this manner they were engaged in talking one day about our western mountains and the grandeur of scenery generally when mrs taylor let fall some remark about the alps which led this friend of hers to ask if she had ever seen them mrs taylor answered in the affirmative but with such embarrassment and abrupt change of subject that it was plainly apparent she had no wish to discuss it indeed her abruptness was so marked and her show of trouble so great that she herself was disturbed by what might very easily give offence and being of a kindly even loving disposition took occasion when next they met to explain that it was as a girl she had visited switzerland and that her experiences there had been so unfortunate that any illusion which recalled those days distressed her. That is all that ever passed between these two on this subject, but it is not enough when we read this couplet,

Starting point is 07:52:13 and mark the combined initials, and recognize them as those of Carlton Roberts and Emmetrude Taylor. But least you should doubt even this evidence of an old-time friendship, so it would be that. intimate that it has almost the look of a betrothal, I must add one more item of corroborative fact which came to me as late as last night. In a moment of partial consciousness, while the nurse hung over her bed, Mrs. Taylor spoke her first coherent sentence since she fell into a state demanding medical assistance. And what was that sentence? A repetition of this couple of gentlemen spoken not once, but over and over again, till even the nurse grew tired of listening to it. I love but thee, and thee I will love to eternity.

Starting point is 07:53:07 As the last word fell from Mr. Grice's lips, the district attorney muttered a quick exclamation, and sat down heavily in his chair. No coincidence that he cried with forced vivacity, the couplet is too little known. exactly came from mr gryce in dry confirmation mrs taylor as well as her friend can judge is a woman of thirty-five or thirty-eight if she went on to switzerland as a girl this would make her visit coincident so far as we can calculate from our present knowledge with that of carlton roberts for the surer advancement of our argument let us say that it was what follows let the inscription of this label speak for us they met they loved as was natural when we remember the youth and good looks of both and they parted this we must concede or how could the experience have been one she could not recall without a heart-break they parted and he returned home to marry within the year while she i do not think she married though i have no doubt she looks upon herself as a wife and forever bound to the man who deserted her women of her kind think in this way of such matters and act upon them too as if shown by the fact that on following him here she passed herself off as a woman separated from her husband

Starting point is 07:54:41 changing the miss before her name to mrs she lived under this assumption for twelve years at her present hotel in all that time so far as i can learn she has never been visited by any one of an appearance answering to that of her former lover nor have i any reason to think she ever intruded herself on him or made herself in any way obnoxious he was married and settled and contrary to the usual course of men who step with one stride into affluence was living a life of usefulness which was rapidly making him a marked man in public esteem perhaps she had no right to meddle with what no longer concerned her at all events there is no evidence of her having done so in all these fourteen years even after mrs roberts's death all went on as usual but here mr gryce became emphatic when he turned his attention to a second marriage and that with a very young girl i can name her to you gentlemen if you wish her patient soul may have been roused she may have troubled him with importunities may have threatened him with a scandal which would have interfered greatly with his political hopes if it had not ended them at once i can conceive of such an end to her long patience can't you gentlemen and what is more if this were so and the gentlemen found the situation intolerable it might account for the flight of that arrow as nothing else ever will end of chapter twenty eight part one chapter twenty eight of the mystery of the hasty arrow by anna catherine green this librivox recording is in the public domain romantic too romantic part two

Starting point is 07:56:48 both men had started to their feet how it was not she it was not she who was struck but it was she who was aimed at the young girl merely got in the way but before i enlarge upon this point he continued in lower tones as the two officials slowly receded themselves allow me to admit that any proof of correspondence between these old-time lovers would have added much to my present argument But while I have no doubt that such an interchange of letters took place, and that in all probability some one or more of them still exist, Mrs. Taylor's illness and Mr. Roberts' high position prevent any substantiation of the same on our part. I must therefore ask you to assume that it was an obedience to some definite agreement between them that she came to the museum on that fatal morning, and, and, you know, to the museum on that fatal morning, and made her appearance in that especial section of the gallery mark two if this strikes you as inconceivable and too presumptuous for belief you must at least concede that we have ample proof of his entire readiness for her coming

Starting point is 07:58:05 the beau brought up so many days before from the cellar was within reach the arrow under his coat and his place of concealment so chosen as to make his escape feasible the moment that arrow flew from the bow had she entered that section alone had the arrow found lodgment in her breast instead of in that of another nay i will go even further and say that had no cry followed his act an expectation he had every right to count upon from the lightning-like character of the attack he would have reached the curator's office and been out of the building before quick discovery of the deed made his completion of this attempt impossible but the girl did cry out remarked the assistant district attorney how do you account for that since as you say it was not natural for one pierced to the heart without warning ah you see the big mistake we made cori and all the rest of us had miss willets or i should say mademoiselle du clow been the one to let out that dolorous cry the man just behind the partition would have been there almost in time to see her fall cori who started up the stairs at the first sound would have been at the gallery entrance before the man of the arrow could have dropped the hanging over his retreating figure but it was not from her lips poor girl that this gasping shriek went up but from those of a woman who saw the deed knew from whom the arrow came and for whom it was meant how do i know this because of the time which elapsed the few precious minutes which allowed mr roberts to get as far away as the court for she did not voice her agony immediately even she with her own unwelcome

Starting point is 08:00:05 at heart, keeping up its functions, stood being numbed before this horror. Not until the full meaning of it had penetrated her reluctant brain did she move or cry out. How long this interval was, whether three minutes were consumed by it or five, we have no means of telling. She and her despair would take no note of time, nor would Mr. Travis, reeling in the opposite gallery, under the shock of seeing all that he loved, taken from him in one awful minute. Here the detective turned with great earnestness toward the two officials. This question of time has been, as I have repeatedly said, the greatest stumbling block we have encountered in our consideration of this crime.

Starting point is 08:00:57 How could the assassin, by any means possible, have got so far away from the pedestal in the infinitesimal lapse of time between the cry that was heard and the quick alarm which followed. Now we know. Have you anything to say against this conclusion? Any other explanation to give, which will account for every fact as this does. His answer came in a dubious gesture from the district attorney and a half-hearted no from his assistant. They were both either too awed by the circumstance, or too fearful of mistake, to accept without a struggle an accusation of this grave and momentous

Starting point is 08:01:40 character against one of Mr. Robert's stamp and consequence. This was no more than Mr. Grice had expected, and while he realized that his reputation as a detective of extraordinary insight in cases of an unusually baffling nature trembled in the balance, he experienced a sudden distaste of his work which almost drove him in to renouncing the whole affair. But the habits of a lifetime are not parted with so easily. And when the chief inspector observed, evidently, with the idea of goading him on, this seems to be mainly a matter of conjecture, Grice.

Starting point is 08:02:20 His old self reasserted itself, and he answered boldly. I acknowledge that, but conjecture is what, in nine cases out of ten, smooths out many of our difficulties. i have here a short statement made by myself after the most careful inquiries of all that mrs taylor and the untrapped director did and said in the few difficult moments when they met face to face over the body of his unfortunate victim i ask you to listen to a portion of it she had not moved after her one cry of horror which had brought a rush of witnesses upon the scene she remained fixed on her knees in the absorbed introspection common to those brought suddenly face to face with a life and death crises he finding that his own safety demanded action suitable to his position as a director had entered with the crowd and now stood in her presence in face of his own diabolical work in an attitude of cold courage such as certain strong natures are able to assume under the pressure of great emergencies so long as she was death to all appeal to rouse and explain the situation he stood back watchful and silent but when she finally roused and showed a disposition to speak

Starting point is 08:03:47 his desperation drove him into questioning her in order to see how much she understood of the attack which had killed a harmless stranger and let herself go free he asked her first if she could tell from which direction came the arrow which ended this young girl's life. She made no reply in words, but glanced significantly at the opposite gallery. This called from him the direct inquiry. Did you see anyone over there at the moment this young girl fell? She shook her head. Afterwards she explained the denial

Starting point is 08:04:25 by saying that she had been looking down into the court. But he did not cease his inquiries, turning to the people crowding about him, he put the like question to them, but receiving no answer a silence followed, by which a woman suggested in tones loud enough for all to hear that there were no arrows on the other side of the court, but that the gallery where they stood was full of them. This seemed to alarm, Mrs. Taylor, turning to the director, she asked whether he was sure that the opposite gallery held no arrows and no bows, and when he replied that nothing

Starting point is 08:05:05 of the kind was to be found along its entire length, she proceeded to inquire whether any such deed could be committed in a place so open to view, without attracting the observation of someone wandering in court or gallery. This undoubtedly, to ascertain the full extent of his danger, before bestowing a thought upon herself. But at his answer, given with the cold precision of a thoroughly selfishness. man, that if anyone in the whole building had seen so much as a movement in a spot, so under suspicion, that person would have been heard from by this time, she faltered, and was heard

Starting point is 08:05:48 to ask what he had in mind and why the people about her looked at her so. He did not respond directly, but made some remark about the police, which increased her alarm to the point of an attempted justification. She said that it was true about the arrows, as anyone could see by looking up at the walls. But where was the bow? No one could shoot an arrow without a bow. And when someone shouted that if the arrow was used as a dagger, one wouldn't need a bow, a sort of frenzy seized her, and she acted quite insane,

Starting point is 08:06:25 falling at the young girl's side and whispering sentence after sentence in her ear. What more was needed to stamp her as a woman. a madwoman in the eyes of the ordinary observer, nothing, but to you and me, with the clue just given, it has another look. She had just seen the man whom she had herself spared from an accusation which would have been as ruined to accept in the coldest fashion and explanation which left her own innocence in doubt. What wonder she succumbed to temporary aberration? As will be remembered, she soon became comparatively calm again, and so remained until in an interview I had with her. A half hour or so later, I urged her, possibly, with too much insistence, for some explanation of the extreme agitation she had shown at the time when she broke forth with a remarkable statement that it was not the child but her husband she was mourning.

Starting point is 08:07:30 stricken the death as she would have us believe simultaneously with the young and innocent victim then lying dead at her feet of course such a coincidence was much too startling not to be regarded by us all as the ravings of delirium nor has anything occurred since in the way of communication from or in regard to the absent one to show that the so-called warning of death has been followed up by fact but if you test her action by the theory i've just advanced viz that the man she called husband at that moment was in the room with us and that these words were a plea to him the last appeal of a broken-hearted woman for the support she felt to be her due, how the atmosphere of unreason and mystery clears itself. His suggestion that what was needed there was an alienist, and the pitiful efforts she made to exonerate herself without implicating him in the murderous event fall naturally in the place, as the action of a guilty man and the self-denying conduct of a devoted woman. Romantic, too romantic, objected the district attorney, I should think we are listening

Starting point is 08:08:51 to one of Dumas's tales. Dumas got his greatest effect from life, or so I have been told, remarked the chief inspector. Mr. Grice sat silent. Suddenly, the district attorney observed with the slightest tinge of irony, edging his tone, I presume you would find the like explanation, for the messages she presented. professed to be sending to her husband when engaged in babbling full words into the dead girl's ears. Certainly, he was there, Marku. He stood where he could both see and hear her. All she said and all she did was by way of appeal to him for some token of regret, some sign that he appreciated

Starting point is 08:09:38 her recitence, and when she found that it was bringing her nothing, she fainted away. ingenuous very ingenuous gryce had you failed to give us proofs connecting this idol of the republican party with the actual shooting it would have been simply ingenuous and a quite useless expenditure of talent but we have these proofs and while they are mainly circumstantial they undoubtedly call upon us for some recognition and so we will hear you out whatever action we may take afterwards But first I should like to ask Mr. Bryce one question, interposed his assistant, then addressing the detective. Two mysteries are involved in this matter. You have given us a clever explanation of one of them, but how about the other? Will you, before going further, tell us what connection you find between the theory just advanced

Starting point is 08:10:39 and the flight and ultimate suicide of Madame DuCloh under the search of the search of circumstances which point to a desire to suppress evidence even at the cost of her life. It was not from consideration for Mr. Roberts, whom you have shown she hated. What was it, then? Have you an equally ingenuous explanation for that, too? I have an explanation, but I cannot say that it is altogether satisfactory. She died but yesterday, and my opportunities have been very small for any way. since. What I have learned was from her sister-in-law, whom I saw this morning, realizing that she will be obliged to give full testimony at the inevitable inquest, she is at last ready to

Starting point is 08:11:29 acknowledge that she has been aware for a long time of a secret in the madam's life, that while she knew nothing of its nature, she had always thought that it was in some manner connected with her prolonged residence abroad. Whether it would also explain the meaning of a return at this time, and the seemingly inexplicable change made in her daughter's name while en route must be left to our judgment. Madame had told her nothing. She had simply made use of their home, coming and going, not once but twice,

Starting point is 08:12:05 without giving them the least excuse for her inexplicable conduct. a hundred questions could not elicit more but the one who like myself has had the opportunity of observing this wretched woman at the moment of her supreme distress an insight is given into her character which suggests the only plausible explanation of her action her sacrifice was one of devotion she perished in an exaltation of feeling love drove her to this desperate act not the love of woman for a man but the love which women of her profound nature sometimes feel for one of their own sex mrs taylor was her friend wait i hope to prove it and to save her from experiencing the extreme misery of seeing the man who was the joy as well as the bane of her life suffer from the consequences of his own misdeeds antoinette duclowe felt willing to die and did you smile gentlemen you think this old man is approaching senality perhaps i am but if the contention is raised that no connection has been shown to exist between mrs taylor and this foreign madame save such as was made by the death of madame's child i must retort by asking who warned madame du clow of the fatal occurrence at the museum in time for her to flee before even our telephone messages reached her hotel gentlemen there is but one person who could have done this our chief witness emmatoode taylor

Starting point is 08:13:52 she alone had not only the incentive but the necessary opportunity coroner price as well as myself made a great mistake when we allowed mrs taylor taylor to go home alone that day very likely this from the chief inspector but if the information i have received on this point is correct she seemed at that time to be so entirely disassociated with a deed whose origin had just been located in the opposite gallery that you have no real cause to blame yourselves in this regard true our minds would divert it but you are waiting for me to explain what i mean by opportunity since my attention has been drawn to mrs taylor again i have been making inquiries the chauffeur who drove her to her hotel has been found and he admits that she stopped once on her way home to buy some coffee he watched her as she went into the store and he watched her as she came out and he smelled the coffee happily the interest he took in her as a sick woman entrusted to his care was strong enough for him to remember the store. It was one with two entrances, front and back, and next door to it there is a public building, with a long row of telephone booths on the ground floor. If I read the incident aright, she bought her coffee, ordered it ground, slipped out at the rear door, and into the

Starting point is 08:15:24 adjoining building, where unnoticed and unheard, she called up the universal and got into communication with Madame Ducloe. When she returned, it was by the same route. She did not forget her coffee, nor give way under the great strain, to which she had subjected herself till she reached her own apartment. Clever.

Starting point is 08:15:49 And true, gentlemen, I will stake my reputation on it, unable as I am to explain every circumstance and close up every gap. Have you any further questions to ask you? Ask, or shall I leave you to your deliberations? End of Chapter 28, Part 2. Book 4, Chapter 29, of the mystery of the hasty arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Libravox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 08:16:26 A strong man. An hour later, when the chief inspector rose to depart, it was with the understanding that until their way clear, and their duty in this matter had become inevitable, no word of this business should reach the press or even pass beyond the three officials interested. Strange to say, they were able to keep this compact, and days elapsed without any public recognition of a new factor,

Starting point is 08:16:56 which had entered into the consideration of this complicated crime. Then a hint of what was seething in the official mind was allowed to carry its own shock to the person most interested. Mr. Roberts was summoned to an interview with Coroner Price. No reason was given for this act, but the time was set with an exactness which gave importance to a request which they all felt the director would not venture to disregard. Nor did he.

Starting point is 08:17:30 He came at the appointed time, and Coroner Price in welcoming him with becoming deference, could not but notice the great change which had taken place in him since that night when they stood together in the museum and saw the Indian make the trial with bow and arrow, which located the point of delivery as that of the upper pedestal. In just what this change lay, the coroner hardly knew unless it was the increased grayness of his hair. Mr. Robert's face, handsome as it was, was not an expressive one. Slight emotions made no impression there, nor did he today present anything but a calm and dignified appearance. Yet he was changed, and anyone who had not seen him since that night

Starting point is 08:18:23 must certainly observe it. The coroner, who was also a man of somewhat stolid cut, proffered him a seat, and at once opened fire you will pardon me any inconvenience i may have put you to mr roberts when i tell you that coroner d of green county is anxious to have a few words with you he would have visited you at your home but i induced him to see you here coroner d of green county mr roberts was entirely surprised and what business can he have with me it is in regard to the suicide of madame antoinette duclowe committed as you know a week since in the cat-skills ah an extraordinarily sad affair and a considerable moment i should judge from its seeming connection with the one previously occurring at our museum the girl's mother was she not grief evidently unseated her brain but here he changed his position quietly but with evident effort in what manner am i supposed to be in a position to help the coroner in his inquiry into this case i was a witness together with many others of what happened after the accident which took place at the museum but i know nothing of madame du clow or of her self-inflicted death beyond what has appeared in the papers the papers an uncertain guide mr roberts you may not believe it

Starting point is 08:20:03 coroner price remarked with a strange sort of smile but there are secrets known to this office as well as to police headquarters which never get in to the most enterprising journals was this meant to startle the director and did it succeed in doing so it may have startled him but if so he made no betrayal of the fact his manner continued to be perfectly natural and his voice under full control as he replied that it would be strange if in a case like this they should give out all the extraneous facts and possible clues which might be gathered in by their detectives this was carrying the offense into the enemy's camp with a vengeance but the coroner was saved replying by mr roberts remarking but this is not an answer to my question why should the coroner of green county want to see me coroner price proffered him a cigar during the lighting of which the former remarked it's certainly very odd you say that you didn't know madame du clow no how should i she was a foreigner was she not yes a french woman both by birth and marriage her husband a professor of languages was located some sixteen years ago in new orleans i never knew him indeed i find it hard to understand why i should be expected to show any interest in him or his wife well i will tell you you may not have known the madame but it is very certain that she knew you she this certainly unexpected blow seemed to make some impression will you give me your reason for such an assertion was the name du clow a false one

Starting point is 08:21:58 was her name like that of her daughter willets if so allow me to assure you that i never heard of a willets any more than i have of a duke that a woman of whatever name and nationality should desert her child fills me with horror i cannot speak of her dead though she be with any equanimity a mother and acts as she did she herself was the blame and only she for what happened to that beautiful girl so young so sweet so innocent i have a weakness for you to me a girl of that type is sacred had i been blessed with such a child but there i am straying again from our point what makes you say madame du clow knew me before replying the coroner rose and taking a small package from his desk opened it and laid out before the astonished eyes of mr roberts the freshly printed photograph of himself with which we are so well acquainted and then the half-demolished one which for all its imperfections showed that it had been originally struck off from the same negative do you recognize this portrait of yourself as one taken by fredericks some dozen years ago certainly but this other this end and corner of what must have been my picture too where was it found ah that is what i have called you here to learn this remnant of what you have just admitted to have been your photograph also was found in the very condition in which you see it now in the waist-basket of the room

Starting point is 08:23:46 where Madame Duclowe lodged previous to her flight to the Catskills. This, with a face, just that, with a face riddled out of it by bullets. She shot six times into it at intervals, waiting for the passing of an elevated train by her windows, in hopes that the bigger noise would drown the lesser. It is nothing, was Mr. Roberts' indignant comment, as he brushed the picture aside. That was never my picture, or she wanted a target for her skill, and didn't care what she took. This is all I have to say to you or to the coroner of Green County, on a matter in which I have no concern. I am sorry to disappoint both of you, but it is so.

Starting point is 08:24:34 He rose, and the coroner did not seek to detain him. He merely observed as the director turned to go. Have you heard the latest news about Mrs. Taylor? her? No. She is improving rapidly. She will soon be able to appear before the jury, already chosen, to inquire into the cause and manner of Miss Willett's death. The fine woman came in a burst from the director's lips as he faced about for a goodbye nod. I don't know when I have seen one. I admired more. And Coroner Price had nothing to say. He was stupefied. but it was not so with mr gryce who entered immediately upon mr robert's departure not a jarring note he remarked evidently he had heard the whole conversation

Starting point is 08:25:29 i never for a moment imagined that he knew madame du clow any knowledge we gain of her will have to come from mrs taylor he's a strong man we will find it difficult to hold our own against him if we are brought to such an actual struggle Why did he run the forefinger of his right hand so continuously into his right hand vest pocket, was Mr. Grice's sole comment, by which it looks as if he had seen as well as heard? I didn't notice it. Is the district attorney prepared to make the next move? Mine has failed. Not yet.

Starting point is 08:26:10 The game is too hazardous. We should only make ourselves ridiculous in the eyes of a whole world. if we should fail in an attack upon a man of such national importance. After the two inquests and a letter I hope to receive from Switzerland, we may be in a position to launch our first bomb. I don't anticipate the act with any pleasure. The explosion will be something frightful. If half you think is true, the unexpected confronting of him with Mrs. Taylor

Starting point is 08:26:44 should produce some result. That's what I reckon on now, if the business falls first to me. I reckon on nothing. Chance is going to take this thing out of our hands. Chance? I don't understand you. I don't understand myself. But this is a case which will never come into court.

Starting point is 08:27:07 I differ with you. I almost saw a confession in his face when he turned upon me at last. With that extravagant expression of admiration, for the woman you say he meant to kill. Why did his finger go so continuously to his vest pocket? When you answer that, I will give a name to what I just called Chance. End of Chapter 29. Book 4, Chapter 30, of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the book four.

Starting point is 08:27:49 the public domain. The Creeping Shadow. Mrs. Taylor suffered a relapse, and the inquest which had been held back in anticipation of her recovery was again delayed. This led to a like postponement of an inquiry into the death of Madame Ducloe, and a consequent let-up in public interest, which thus found itself for the nonce, deprived of further food on which to back. Latin. Meanwhile, Mr. Grice was not idle, anxious to determine just how and where Madame Newclothes story fitted into the deeper and broader one of the museum crime. He made use of his fast-waning strength to probe its mysteries and master such of its details as bore upon

Starting point is 08:28:41 the serious investigation to which he was so unhappily committed. When he had done this, when he had penetrated, as it were, into the very heart of the matter, to the elimination of all doubt, and the full establishment of his own theory, it was felt that the time had come for some positive action on the part of those interested in the cause of justice. This they decided should take the form of a personal interview between certain officials and Mr. Roberts himself. A lesser man would have been asked to meet the district attorney in his office, but in a case of such moment where the honor of one so prominent in many ways was involved, it was thought best for them to visit him in his own home. To do this without

Starting point is 08:29:31 exciting his apprehension, while still making sure of his presence, required some management. Various plans were discussed with a result that a political exigency was brought in the play. The district attorney asked Mr. Roberts for an interview for the purpose of introducing him to a man whose influence could not fail to play an important part in his future candidacy. He did not name this man, but we will name him. It was the chief inspector. The appointment was made and the day set. It was the following Monday. On Tuesday, Coroner Price was to open his inquest. did carlton roberts see any connection between these two events who can tell the secrets of such a brain are not to be read lightly if we possessed sweetwater's interest and were to follow in secret fashion every action of the director on the evening preceding this date what conclusion should we draw in this regard how would we characterize his anticipations or measure in our own mind the possibility of our own mind the possibility of the conclusion should we draw in this regard how would we characterize as anticipations or measure in our own mind the possibility of the possibility of

Starting point is 08:30:45 of the future as felt by him. He was very quiet. He ate his meal with seeming appetite. Then he took a look over his whole house. From the carefulness with which he noted everything, the changes which he had caused to be made in it were not without their interest for him. Not a young man's interest,

Starting point is 08:31:07 but yet an interest as critical and as acute as though he had expected it to be shared by one, whose comfort he sought, and in whose happiness he would fain take part. This to Sweetwater, had he our vision, would have been incomprehensible from any point of view, especially had he seen what followed, when the owner of all this luxury returned to his library. There was a picture there, a small-framed photograph, which occupied the post of honor on his desk. It showed a young and pretty face, untouched as yet, by the cares or troubles of this world. He spent a minute or so in looking at it.

Starting point is 08:31:54 Then he slowly lifted it, taking the picture from the frame, gave it another look, during which a smile, almost derisive, gathered slowly on his lips. Before this smile had altogether vanished, he had torn the picture in two, and thrown the fragments into the fire he had kindled early in the evening with his own hands. If he stopped to watch these fragments burn, it was from abstraction rather than from interest, for his step grew lighter as he left the fireplace. Whatever this young girl's face had meant to him in days gone by was now as completely dissipated as the little puff of smoke which had marked the end of her picture.

Starting point is 08:32:40 if he read the papers afterward it was mechanically night and the one great planet sinking in the west appeared to appeal to him much more strongly than his books or the more than usually stirring news of the day he must have stood an hour in his unlighted window gazing out at the tumbling waves lapping the shore but of his thoughts god wot he gave no sign later he slept slept with his hand under his pillow slept though there were others in the house awake or why this creeping shadow of a man outlined upon the wall wherever the moon shone in and disappearing from sight whenever the way led through darkness it came from above no noise accompanied it where the great window opened upon the sea lighting up the main staircase it halted halted for several minutes then passed stealthily down a shadowy silhouette descending now quickly now slowly has tread after tread is left behind and the great hall is reached here there is no darkness open doors admit the light from many windows a semi-obscurity is all and through this the figure passes but hesitatingly still and with pause after pause till a certain door is reached a closed door the only door which is closed in this part of the house here it stands stands with profile to the panels one ear against the wood one minute two minutes five minutes pass then a hand goes out and touches the knob it yields yields without a sound and a small gap is seen between the door and its casing this gap grows still no sound to disturb the tragic silence stop what was that a moan

Starting point is 08:34:47 Yes, from within. Another, yes. Then all is quiet again. The dream has passed. Sleep has resumed its sway. The gap can be safely made wider. This is done, and the figure, halting without, passes in. End of Chapter 30. Book 4, Chapter 31 of the mystery of the hasty arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Confronted. Late in the afternoon of the following day, the expected car entered Mr. Roberts' spacious grounds. It contained, beside the chauffeur, just two persons, the district attorney and the chief inspector,

Starting point is 08:35:45 but it was followed by another, in which could be seen Mr. Grice and a stenographer from the district attorney's office. The house was finished by this time, and to one approaching through the driveway, presented a very attractive appearance. As the last turn was made, the sea burst upon the view, a somewhat tumultuous sea, for the wind was keen that day, and whipped the waves in the foam and froth from the horizon to the immediate shoreline.

Starting point is 08:36:18 To add to the scene a low black cloud with coppery edges, hovered at the meeting of sea and sky, between which in themselves one-taught sail could be seen trailing its boom in the water. To one of them, to Mr. Grice, in fact, upon whose age fancy had begun to work, this battling craft presented an ominous appearance. It was doomed. The gale was too much for it. Did he see in this obvious fact the prophecy of what lay before the main? upon whose privacy they were on the point of intruding. The house was so arranged that to reach the main entrance, it was necessary to pass a certain window. As they did so, the figure of Mr. Roberts could be seen in the room beyond,

Starting point is 08:37:10 moving about in an interested survey of its new furnishings and present comfortable arrangement. To these men bent on an errand, as far as possible removed from interests of this kind, the evidence of Mr. Robert's pleasure in the promise of future domesticity gave a painful shock and raised in the minds of more than one of them a doubt,

Starting point is 08:37:35 perhaps the first in days, whether a man so heavily weighed with a burden of unacknowledged guilt could show this pleasurable absorption in his new surroundings. However, when they came to see him nearer, and marked the stiffening of his body and the slight toss-up of his head, as he noted the number and the exact character of his guests, their spirits fell again, for he was certainly a broken man, however much he might seek to disguise it. Yet there was something in this extraordinary man's personality, a force or a charm, wholly disassociated it may be, from worth or the sterling

Starting point is 08:38:17 qualities which ensure respect, which appealed to them in spite of their newfound prejudice, and prevented any dallying with his suspense or the use of any of the common methods usually employed in an encounter of this kind. The chief inspector, to whom the first say had been given, faced the director squarely as he saw how the hand, which had just welcomed the district attorney, fell at his approach. you are surprised mr roberts and rightly to see me here not only in connection with the prosecuting attorney of the city of new york but with a member of my own force this you will say is no political delegation such as you have been led to expect nor is it mr roberts but let us hope you will pardon this subterfuge when you learn that it was resorted to for the sole purpose of sparing you all unnecessary unpleasant in an interview which can no longer be avoided or delayed.

Starting point is 08:39:23 Let us sit. It was his only answer. When they had all complied, the district attorney took the lead by saying, I am disposed to admit all preliminaries, Mr. Roberts. We have but one object in this visit, and that is to clear up to your satisfaction, as well as to our own, certain difficulties of an unexpected nature. which have met us in our investigation into the crime in which you, as a director of the museum in which it occurred, and ourselves as protectors of the public peace, are all vitally concerned.

Starting point is 08:40:01 Granted, came in the most courteous manner from their involuntary host, yet I fail to understand why so many are needed for a purpose so laudable. Perhaps this will no longer surprise you, if you will allow me, to draw your attention to this chart was the answer made to this by the district attorney he took from a portfolio which he carried a square of paper which he proceeded to lay out on a table standing conveniently near mr roberts threw a glance at it and straightened again explain yourself said he i am quite at your service the district attorney made perhaps one of the greatest efforts of his life i see that you recognize this chart mr roberts you know when it was made and why but what you may not know is this that in serving its original purpose it has proved to be our guide in another of equal if not greater importance for instance it shows us quite plainly who all the persons present at the time of the first alarm were near enough to the curator's office to be in line of escape from the person's present from the first alarm were near enough to the curator's office to be in line of escape from the particularly secluded spot from which the arrow was delivered.

Starting point is 08:41:24 Of these persons, only one fulfills all other necessary conditions with an exactness, which excuses any special interest we may feel in him. It is he who is tabulated here as number three. It was said. Mr. Roberts was well acquainted with his own number. He did not have to follow with his eye the point of the district attorney's finger, to know upon whose name it had settled, and for a moment, surprise, shock. The greatest which can befall a man, struggled with countless other emotions,

Starting point is 08:42:00 and is usually in passive countenance. Then he regained his poise, and with a curiously sarcastic smile such as his lips had seldom shone, he coldly asked. And by what stretch of probability do you pick me out for this attack? there were other men and women in this court some very near me if i remember rightly in what are their character superior or their claims to respect greater that you should thus single me out as the fool or knave who can not only commit so wild and despicable an act but go so far in folly let alone knavery as to conceal it afterwards no evidence has been found against the others you have named which could in any way connect them with this folly or shall we say knavery since you yourself have made use of the word but hard as it is for me to say this in a presence so highly esteemed that is not true of you mr roberts however high our hopes that you will have such explanations ready as will relieve our minds from further doubts and send us home rejoicing

Starting point is 08:43:15 shall i be frank in stating the precise reasons which seem to justify our present presumption the director bowed the same curious smile giving an unnatural expression to his mouth Let me begin, then, the other continued, by reading to you a list of questions made out at headquarters, as a test by which suspicion might be conscientiously held or summarily dismissed. They are few in number, he added, as he unfolded a slip of paper taken from his vest pocket. But they are very vital, Mr. Roberts. Here is the first. Whose hand carried the bow from cellar to gallery. The director remained silent, but the oppression of that silence was difficult for them all to endure.

Starting point is 08:44:07 This the second. Was it the same that carried the arrow from one gallery to another? Still no word, but Mr. Grice, who was watching Mr. Roberts' every move, without apparently looking up from the knob of his own cane, turned resolutely aside. The strain was too great. how long could such superhuman composure endure, and which word of all that were to come would break it? Meanwhile, the district attorney was reading the third question. Is it possible for an arrow shot through the loophole made by the curving inn of the vase

Starting point is 08:44:47 to reach the mark set for it by Mr. Travis's testimony? That question was answered when Mr. Lafla Shea made his experiments, from behind the two pedestals it could not have been done from the one behind which mr travis crouched but was entirely possible from the rear of the other with a wave of his hand mr roberts dismissed this and the district attorney proceeded which of the men and women known to be in the museum when this arrow was delivered had enough knowledge of archery to string a bow a mark can be reached by chance but but only an accustomed hand can string a bow as unyielding as this one i will pause there mr roberts you may judge by our presence here to whose hand and to whose skills we have felt forced to ascribe this wanton shooting of a young and lovely girl we wish to be undeceived and stand ready to listen to anything you may have to say in contradiction of these conclusions that is if you wish to speak you know that you will be well within your rights to remain silent likewise if you decide to speak it will be our painful duty to make a record of your words for any use or duty may hereafter suggest i will speak the words came with difficulty but they came ask what you will satisfy my curiosity as well as your own first then the bow it was brought to you to you will-satisfy my curiosity as well as your own

Starting point is 08:46:24 first then the bow it was brought up from the cellar a fortnight or more before it was used and placed on end in the curator's office from where it was seen more than once by the woman who wipes up the floors the person who did this cast a shadow on the cellar wall that shadow was seen need i say more a man's shadow is himself sometimes i brought up that bow but i do not see how that implicates me in the use which was afterward bade of it my reasons for bringing it up were innocent enough he stopped not even knowing that he had stopped his eyes had been drawn to a small article which the district attorney had dropped from his hand on to the table it looked like an end of black tape but whether it was this or something quite different it held the gaze of the man who was speaking so completely that he forgot to go on the hush which followed paled the cheeks of more than one man there to release the tension the district attorney resumed his argument observing quietly as if no interruption had occurred as to the arrow and its means of secret transfer from one side of the building to the other in the face of a large crowd let me direct your attention to this little strip of folded silk you have seen it before-and-the-face of a large crowd you have seen it before surely i am quite justified in asking whether indeed you have not handled it both before and after the lamentable occurrence we are discussing

Starting point is 08:48:10 i see it for the first time came from lips so stiff that words were with difficulty articulated what is its purpose he asked after a short pause i hardly think it necessary to tell you came in chilling response from the feeling response from the question for a short pause i hardly think it necessary to tell you came in chilling response from the now thoroughly disenchanted official it looks like a loop and notwithstanding your assertion that you see it now for the first time we have ample evidence that it was once attached to the coat you wore on that fatal day and later carefully severed from it and dropped on the museum floor the district attorney waited they all waited with eyes on the subject of this attack for some token of shame or indignation at this scarcely veiled insinuation but beyond a certain stillness of expression still further masking a countenance naturally cold and irresponsive no hint was given that any effect had been produced upon him by these words the coal before it falls apart in the ash holds itself intact act, though its heart of flame has departed. So he, and such was Mr. Grice's thought, as he waited for the district attorney's next move. It was of a sort which recalls the sole harrowing legend of the man hung up in an iron cage

Starting point is 08:49:36 above a yawning precipice, from under whose madly, shifting feet, one plank after another is withdrawn from the cage's bottom, till no spot is left for him to stand on. and he falls. I hear that you are an expert with the bow and arrow, Mr. Roberts, or rather were, at an earlier stage of your career. You have even taken a prize for the same from an alpine club. Ah, that told. It was such an unexpected blow, and it showed so much knowledge.

Starting point is 08:50:11 But the man who thus beheld his own youth brought up an accusation against him, quickly recovered, and with an entire, change of demeanor, face them all, and spoke up at last quickly and defiantly. Gentlemen, I have shown patience up till now, because I saw that you had something on your minds, which it might be better for you and possibly for me to be rid of. This affair of Miss Willett's death is, as all must acknowledge, baffling enough, to strain even to the point of folly any effort made to explain it. I had sympathy with your difficulties, and have still enough of that sympathy left, not to express

Starting point is 08:50:56 too much indignation at what you are pleased to call your suspicions. I will merely halt for the moment your attempts in my direction by asking, What have you or anybody else ever seen in me, to think I would practice my old-time skill on a young and beautiful stranger, enjoying herself in a place so dear to my heart? as the museum, of which I have been a director now these many years. Am I a madman, or a destroyer of youth? I love the young. This inhuman death of one so fair and innocent

Starting point is 08:51:32 has whitened my locks and seared my very heartstrings. I shall never get over it, and whatever evidence you may have or think you have of my having handled bow and arrow in that museum gallery, it must fall before the fact of my natural incapacity to do the thing with which you have charged me. No act possible to ban is more in contradiction to my instincts than the wanton or even casual killing of a young girl. I believe you. It was the inspector who spoke, and the emphasis which he gave to his words lifted the director's head again into its old self-reliant. poise. But the silence which followed was so weighted with possibilities of something yet to be said

Starting point is 08:52:24 by this portentous holder of secrets, that it caused the nobly lifted head slowly to droop again, and the lips which had opened impulsively to close. Were the words coming, the words which might, at a stroke, pull down the whole fabric of his life, past, present, and to come. In his excited state of mind, he seemed already to hear them. Doom was in their sound, and the world, once so bright, was growing dark about him, dark. Yet how could these men know, and if they did, why did they not speak? And they did not, they did not. There was silence in the air, not words, and life or him was taking on once more its ancient colors,

Starting point is 08:53:15 when Sharp and Mary, through the heavy quiet, there rang out the five clear calls of a cuckoo clock from some nearby room. One, two, three, four, five. Jolly reminder of old days. But to the men who listened, the voice of doom spoke in its gladsome peal, whether the ears which caught it were those of accuser or accused. Old days were not the days to be rejoiced in, at a moment so perilous to one and so painful to the others with the cessation of the last shrill cry the inspector repeated the phrase i believe you mr roberts but how about the woman who was troubling you with demands you had no wish to grant miss willets as you choose to call her though you must know that her name is due clow was not the only person in the line of the arrow shot on that night day, from one gallery to the other. Perhaps this weapon of destruction was meant for one it failed to reach. Perhaps, but I have gone far enough. I should not have gone so far, if it had not been my wish to avoid any misunderstanding,

Starting point is 08:54:32 with one of such undoubted claims to consideration as yourself. If you have explanations to offer, if you can any way relieve our minds from the responsibilities, which are weighing upon us pray believe in our honest desire to have you do so there may be something back of appearances which has escaped our penetration but it will have to be something startling clear for we know facts in your life which are not open to the world at large i may even say to your most intimate friends as for instance that mrs taylor is no stranger to you even if mademoiselle du clow was we have evidence you will find it hard to dispute that you knew and liked each other fifteen years or so ago evidence incontrovertible mr roberts attested to by her i do not believe it i never shall believe it and i deny the charge the ravings of a sick woman if it is such you have listened to i advise you to stop there mr roberts interjected the district attorney mrs taylor had said nothing neither has madame duklo what the former may say under oath i do not know we shall both have an opportunity to hear to-morrow when coroner price opens his inquest she is in sufficiently good health now i believe to give her testimony pray say nothing mr roberts had started to his feet do nothing-nothing

Starting point is 08:56:12 you will be one of the witnesses called. There he stopped, meeting with steady gaze the wild eyes of the man who was staring at him, staring at them all in an effort to hold them back, while his finger crept stealthily and ever more stealthily toward his right hand vest pocket. You would dare, he shouted, then suddenly dropped his hand and broke into a low, inarticulate murmur, harrowing and dreadful to hear to some it sounded like a presage to absolute confession but presently this murmur took on a distinctiveness and they heard him say i should be glad to have five minutes talk with mrs taylor before that time in your presence gentlemen or in anybody's presence i do not care whose did he know had he felt whose steps was in the hall who whose form was at the door.

Starting point is 08:57:12 If he did, then the agitation, which in another moment shook his self-possession into ashes, was that of hope realized, not of fear surprised. Emmetrude Taylor entered the room, and at the sight of her he rose, and his arms went out. Then he sank back weak and strickened into his chair, gazing as if he could never have his fill of her noble countenance, luminous, with a boundless pity, if not with the tenderness of unforgotten love. When she was near enough to speak without effort, and had thanked the gentleman who had made way for her, with every evidence of respect, she addressed him in quite a natural tone,

Starting point is 08:57:58 but with strange depths of feeling in her voice. "'What is it you want to say to me? As I stood at the door, I heard you tell these gentlemen that you would like to have a few minutes talk with me. I was glad to hear that, and I am ready to listen to anything. The pause she made before uttering the last words caused it to ring with double force when it fell. All heads drooped at the sound, and the lines came out on Mr. Grice's face

Starting point is 08:58:29 till he looked his eighty-five years and more. But what Carlton Roberts had to say at this critical moment of his double life was not at all what they expected to hear rising for her eyes seemed to draw him to his feet he cried in the indescribable tone of suppressed feeling shadows are falling upon me my interview with these gentlemen may end in a way i cannot now foresee in my uncertainty as to how and when we may meet again i should like to make you such amends as opportunity allows me emma trude will you marry me now to-night before leaving this house a low cry escaped her she was no more prepared for this astounding offer than were these others carleton came in a groan from her lips carleton carleton the word rising in intensity as thought followed thought and her spirits ran the full gamut of what this proposal on his part meant in past present and future then she fell silent and they saw the great soul of the woman illumine a countenance always noble with the light of a purpose altogether lofty when she spoke it was to say i recognize your kindness and the impulse which led to this offer but i do not wish to add so much as a feather's weight to your difficulties let matters remain as they are till after he took a quick step toward her

Starting point is 09:00:08 not if my heart is full of regret he cried not if i recognize in you now-the one influence left in this world which can help me bear the burden of my own past and the threatening collapse of my whole future. No, she replied, with an access of emotion, of so elevated a type, it added to, rather than detracted from her dignity. It is too much, or it is not enough. His head drooped, and he fell back, throwing a glance to right and left, at the two officials, who had drawn up on either side of him. It was an expressive glance, and it was, as if he said, you see, you see, and it was a

Starting point is 09:00:51 see, she knows as well as you, for whom the arrow was intended, yet she is kind. But an instant later he was before her again, with an aspect so changed that they all marveled. I had hoped he began, then stopped. Passion had supplanted duty in his disturbed mind. A passion so great it swept everything before it, and he stood bare to the soul before the woman he had wronged, and under the eyes of these men who knew it life is over for us too said he whether your presence here is a trap in which i have been caught and from which it is hopeless for me to extricate myself or whether it is by chance or an act of providence that we should meet again with eager ears listening and eager eyes watching for such tokens of guilt as will make their own course clear true it is that they have got what they sought and whatever the result nothing of real comfort or honor is left for either you or me our lives have gone down in shipwreck but before we yield utterly to our fate will you not grant me my prayer if i preceded by an appeal for forgiveness not only for old wrongs but for my latest and gravest one emma trude i entreat

Starting point is 09:02:18 ah then they were witness to the fascination of the man hidden heretofore but now visible even to the schooled spectators of this tragedy of human souls the tone permeated with pathos and charm the look the attitude from which all formality had fled and only the natural grace remained all were of the sort which sways without virtue and rouses in both weak and strong an answering chord of sympathy the woman in whom it probably awakened a thousand memories trembled under it she drew back but her whole countenance had softened revealing whatever of native charm she also possessed. Would she heed his prayer, if she did not? They could well be silent, if she did. But the woman gave no sign of yielding. Cease Carlton, came in stern reply,

Starting point is 09:03:18 stern for all the approach to concession in her manner. If your life and mine are both over, let us talk of other things than marriage. When one faces death, whether of body or spirit, it, one clings to higher hopes than those of Earth, or its remaining interests. If my forgiveness will help you to this end, you have it. I have had but one aim in life since we parted, and that was to see your higher self triumph over the material one. If that hour has come or is coming, my life needs no other

Starting point is 09:03:54 consolation. In having that, I possess all. The man who listened, The men who listened stood for a moment in awe of the nobility with which she thus expressed herself. Then the only one person present, whom she seemed to see, burst forth with a low cry, saying, You shall not be disappointed, I, but there she hushed him. No, said she, and he seemed to understand and was silent. What did this mean? The district attorney betrayed his doubt, the chief his, each in a characteristic way. The former frowned, the latter, tapped his breast absently with his forefinger,

Starting point is 09:04:41 while looking askance at Mr. Grice, who in his turn took up some little object from the desk beside which he was standing, and to it confided whatever surprise he felt at this proof of some uncommunicated secret shared by these two. of which he had not yet become possessed then he again looked up and the glances of the three men met should they attempt to sound this new mystery of mutual understanding to which as yet they had received no clue no the inquest would do that neither this man nor this woman could stand a close examination he would weaken from despair she from the candour of her soul they would wait but ah the tragedy of it even these men hardened by years of contact with every species of human suffering and crime were openly moved if they needed an excuse surely they could find it in the superior abilities and attainment of the man upon whom justice was about to wreak its vengeance and yet what more despicable crime had they ever encountered in the long line of their duty the youth and innocence of the real victim and the worth of the intended one only added to its wickedness and shame it was this thought which again steeled their hearts meantime the two upon whom they now redirected their attention had attempted no further speech and made no further move she had said no to something he was willing to concede and he had accepted that no as final

Starting point is 09:06:28 had this brought him any relief possibly and she had it had a like effect on her hardly though her aspect was one of calm resignation her physical physical powers were perceptibly failing. This in itself was alarming, and determined them not to subject her any longer to an interview which might rob her of all strength for tomorrow. Accordingly, the district attorney, addressing Mr. Roberts, suggestively remarked, Mrs. Taylor is showing fatigue. Would it not be better for you to say at once, while she is yet in a condition to remain with us, whether you prefer to make a public statement of your case or leave it to unfold itself

Starting point is 09:07:16 in the ordinary manner through the two impending inquests and the busy pen of the reporter. First, am I under arrest? Am I to leave this house? Not tonight. An officer will remain here with you, tomorrow, after the inquest, perhaps. I will make a statement. I will make it now. i wish to be left in peace to-night to think and to regret then turning to her amatrude a woman who has served me and my family for twenty-five years is at this very moment in the rear of the house go to her and let her care for you i have business here business of which i am sure you approve yes carleton and remember that i shall be put upon my oath to-morrow the questions i am asked i must answer and truthfully she added with a look as full of anguish as inquiry i shall be truthful myself he assured her and again their eyes met after a while she gave a stumble backward which mr gryce perceiving held out his arm and assisted her from the room but once in the hall he felt the clench of her fingers digging into his arm is there no hope she whispered must i live yes he interrupted kindly but with the authority given him by his relations to this case

Starting point is 09:08:50 you have won his heart at last and he speaks truly when he says that to you and to you alone can he look for comfort wherever the action of the law may leave him she shivered then glowed again with renewed fire thank you she said and they passed on end of chapter thirty one book four chapter thirty two of the mystery of the hasty arrow by anna catherine green this librivox recording is in the public domain why is that here they waited while he wrote a sinister calm quite unlike that which the victim of his ambition had shown under the stress of equal suffering if not equal guilt had subdued his expression to one of unmoved gloom never to be broken again word after word flowed from the point of his pen upon the paper spread out before him the two officials sitting aside in the shadow watched for the flicker of an eyelash were a trembling of the fingers so busy over their task but no such sign of weakening did they see once only did he pause to look away was it into the past or into futurity with a steady self-forgetful gaze which seemed to make a man of him again then he went on with his task with the grimness of one who takes his last step into ignominy we will follow his words as he writes leaving them for others to read on their completion i carlton roberts in face of an inquiry which is about to be held on the death of her her, who called herself Angeline Willits, but whose real name is, as I have since been told,

Starting point is 09:10:55 Angeline Duclowe, wished to make this statement in connection with the same. It wasn't my hand she died. I strung the bow and let fly the arrow which killed this unfortunate child, not with the intention of finding my mark in her innocent bosom. She simply got in the way of the woman for whom it was intended. If I really was governed by intent, of which I here declare before God, I am by no means sure. The child was a stranger to me, but the woman in whose stead she inadvertently perished I have known long and well. My wrong to her had been great, but she had kept silence during my whole married life, and in my blind confidence, in the exemption this seemed to afford me, I put no curb upon my ambition, which had already carried me far beyond

Starting point is 09:11:50 my deserts. Those who read these lines may know how majestic were my hopes, how imminent the honor, to attain which I had employed my best energies for years. Life was bright, the future dazzling. Though I had neither wife nor child, the promise of activity on the lines which appeal to every man, of political instinct, gave me all I seemed to need in the way of compensation. I was happy, arrogantly so, perhaps, when without warning, the woman I had not seen in years, who, if I thought of her at all, I honestly believed to be dead, wrote me a letter, recalling her claims and proposing a speedy interview with a view to their immediate settlement. Though couched in courteous terms, the whole letter was instinct with a confidence which staggered me.

Starting point is 09:12:48 She meant to re-enter my life, and if I knew her openly, nothing short of bearing my name and being introduced to the world as my wife would satisfy her. And this not only threatened a scandal, destructive of my hopes, but involved the breaking of a fresh matrimonial engagement into which I had lately entered, with more ardor I fear than judgment. What was I to do? Let her have her way, this woman I had not seen in fifteen years, who, if at the age of twenty, had seemed to my enthusiastic youth, little short of a poet's dream, must be far short of any such perfection now. I rebelled at the very thought, yet to deny her, meant the possible facing of consequences such as the strongest may well shrink from and the time for choice was short she had limited her patience to a fortnight and one day of that fortnight had already passed

Starting point is 09:13:53 i have in my arrogant manhood sometimes credited myself with a possession of a mind of more or less superiority but i have never deceived myself as to the meretricious quality of the goodness, with which may have thoughtlessly endowed me. I've always known it was not even up to that of men whose standards fall far short of the highest integrity. But never, till that hour came, had I realized to what depths of evil my nature could sink, under a disappointment threatening the fulfillment of my ambitious projects. Had there been any prospect of escape from the impending scandal by means usually employed by men in my position, I might have given my thought less rain, and been saved, at least from crime. But these were not available in my case.

Starting point is 09:14:48 She was not a woman who could be bought. She was not even one I could conjole. Death only would rid me of her, kindly death, which does not come at call. This is as far as my thoughts went at first. I was a gentleman, and had some of a gentleman's feelings. But when my sleep began to be disturbed by dreams, and this was very soon, I could not hide from myself toward what fatal goal my thoughts were tending, to be freed from her.

Starting point is 09:15:21 To be freed from her dinned itself in my ears, sleeping or waking, at home or abroad. But I saw no plain road to this freedom, for our paths never crossed, and my honor, as well as safety, demanded that the coveted result should be without any possible danger to myself. Cold heartless villain, you say? Well, so I was. No colder, nor more heartless villain lives today than I was between the inception of my purpose and its diabolical fulfillment in the manner publicly known.

Starting point is 09:15:58 So true is this that, as time went on, my ideas cleared and, the plan for which I was seeking unfolded itself before me from the day I came upon a discarded bow lying open to view in the museum cellar. The dreams of which I have spoken had prepared me for this sudden knowledge. The woman who blocked my way and against whom I meditated this crime was connected in my mind with alpine scenery and alpine events. It was at Lucerne I had first met her, young and fresh, but giving no promise of the woman she has since become. And in the visions which came and went before my eyes, it was not herself I saw, so much as the surroundings of those days, and the feats of prowess by which I had hoped to win her approbation.

Starting point is 09:16:52 Among these was the shooting at a small target with a bow and arrow. I became very proficient in this line. I shot as by insolice. I could never tell whether I really took aim or not, but the arrow infallibly hit the mark. In my dreams I always saw it flying, and when this bow came the hand, a thought of what the two might accomplish came with it. Yet even then, I had no real idea of putting into practice this fancy of a distempered brain. I brought up the bow from the cellar and hid it unstrung in the curator's closet. more from idle impulse I fondly thought than from any definite purpose.

Starting point is 09:17:38 Another day I saw the curator's keys lying on his desk and took them to open a passage to the upper floor. But for all that I felt sure that I would never use a bow even after I had thrust it near to hand behind the tapestry masking the secret entrance to this passage. One dreams of such things, but they do not purpose. perpetrate them. I might approach the deed, I might even make every preparation for its accomplishment, but that did not mean that the day would ever come when I should actually loose an arrow from

Starting point is 09:18:13 this bow against a human breast. More than once I laughed at the mere idea. But the devil knew me better than I knew myself. Impeled by these same instincts, I answered the letter sent me with the assurance that I would surely see her. but i did not name any day intuitively knowing that what i dreamed of doing but certainly should not do required a set of circumstances not easily to be met with instead i bade her show herself in the second section of the southern gallery every tuesday and friday at the exact hour of noon if at the moment the two hands of the clock came together she saw me on the lower step of the main staircase she was to know that i was free to talk and would soon join her if she did not see me there she was to return home and come another day she answered that she would come but once and set the day this was startling to my pride but in a way it brought me a sense of relief to wait till all was propitious might mean continual delays the very fact of my uncertainty as to whether or not i should have the courage of my wishes at the critical moment made an indefinite prolongation of my present condition undesirable better one straight risk and be done with it

Starting point is 09:19:43 i was the wait two weeks why she exacted so long and seemingly unnecessary a delay i do not know before i saw her i thought it was from a sheer desire to make me suffer now i know it was not for that however it did make me suffer from the alternate weakening and strengthening of my resolve when the day came the most trivial of circumstances would have deterred me from what still had been the nature of a dream to me unhappily everything worked for its fulfilment there had never been fewer persons in the building at the noon hour nor had there been a time during the past two weeks when the curator was more completely occupied in a spot quite remote from his office as i tried the door leading up the little winding staircase to the one back of the tapestry where the bow lay and found it just as i had left it unlocked i had left it unlocked i had a little winding staircase to the one back of the tapestry where the bow lay and found it just as i had left it unlocked i had a little bit of the door I had a sense for the first time that the courage concerning which I had so many doubts would hold. At that moment I was a murderer in heart and purpose, whatever I was after or have been since. As I recognized this fact, I felt my face go pale and my limbs shake from sheer horror of myself. But this weakness was short-lived, and I felt my blood flowing evenly again,

Starting point is 09:21:15 When having slipped into my place behind the upper pedestal, I peered through my peephole in a search for her figure in the spot where I had bidden her await me. She was not there, but then it was not quite twelve, though the noon hour was so near, she must be somewhere in the gallery and liable at any minute to cross my line of vision. It was fifteen years, as I have already said, since I had seen her, and I had no other picture of her in my mind than the appearance she had made as a girl, coarsened by time and disappointment. Why should I have looked for just this sort of change in her, God knows,

Starting point is 09:21:59 but I did expect it, and probably would not have recognized her if I had passed her in the court. But I was not worrying about any mistake I might make of this kind. All I seemed to fear was that at the critical moment someone else, would pass between us on my side of the gallery. I never thought of anyone passing in front of her. I had picked out Section 2 as the place where she was to show herself, because it was in a direct line with a course an arrow would take from a sight behind the vase.

Starting point is 09:22:34 I had bade her to look for me in the court, and that would bring her forward to the balustrade in front. A knot of scarlet ribbon at her breast was to distinguish her, But the spot I had thus chosen for her, and the spot I had chosen for myself, had this disadvantage, that while I could see straight to my mark from the peephole I have mentioned, I could see nothing to the right or left of that one line of vision. Why I did not realize the hazard involved in this fact? I do not know.

Starting point is 09:23:07 Enough of my whole thought was centered on the lookout I was keeping, and it was with a shock of surprise. I suddenly saw the whole scene blotted from my view by the passing of someone on my own side of the gallery. This must have been the Englishman, who found his vantage point from behind the other pedestal. He went by quickly, and as the opening cleared once more, I beheld the woman for whom I was waiting, appear in the spot selected. For an instant I was dazzled. I had not expected to see so noble a figure.

Starting point is 09:23:42 And in that instant a cloud came before my eyes. My resolution failed. I was almost saved. She was almost saved. When instinct got the better of my judgment, and the arrow flew, just as that young creature bounded forward, in her delight at seeing her steamer admirer,

Starting point is 09:24:03 watching her from my side of the court. The shock of thus beholding a perfect stranger fall under my hand benumbed me, but only for an instant. In the two weeks of intolerable waiting through which I just passed, I had so forcibly impressed upon my consciousness the exact course I was to pursue, from the instant the arrow left the bow,

Starting point is 09:24:27 that I went about the same automatically. Pulling out the edge of the tapestry, I slipped behind it, dropping my bow in the doorway, left open for my passage. This caused me no thought and awake. no fears. But what took all the nerve I possessed, and gave me in one awful moment, a foretaste of the terror and despair awaiting me in the days to come, was the opening of the second door, the one leading into the curator's office. What might I not be forced to encounter, when the knob to this was turned? Some strolling guest, Corey the attendant, or even the guard who was never

Starting point is 09:25:08 where he was needed and always where he was not. For anyone to be there of sufficient intelligence, to note my face and the place from which I came meant the end of all things to me. It was not necessary for this imaginary person to be in the room. To be within sight of it was enough, but this fear, this horror of impending retribution, did not make me hesitate or delay my advance a single instant. instant. Everything dependent upon my being one of the crowd when the first alarm was raised, for with the daring of one who, in escaping a present danger, hurls himself knowingly into

Starting point is 09:25:52 another equally perilous, I pushed open the door and entered the office. It was empty. Fortune had favored me thus far, nor was there anyone in the court beyond. near enough or interested enough to note my presence or observe any effort I might make at immediate departure. With the hope riding high within my breast that I should yet reach the street before my crime was discovered I made for the nearest exit. But I was not destined to reach it. When I was only some half-dozen paces from the great door, Corey's cry rang loudly

Starting point is 09:26:32 through the building, with a result that all egress was shut off, and I was left with no other aid than my own assurance to face my hideous deed with all its appalling consequences. How it served me you have seen. Stealed by a sense of my own danger, I was able to confront the woman who I had so deeply wronged, whom I had endeavored to kill, and plier with those questions upon whose answer dependent not only my honor, but my very life. My cold-blooded absorption in my own security, and her almost superhuman devotedness,

Starting point is 09:27:13 must have given the powers cognizant of mortal lives a new lesson in human nature. Never has a greater contrast been shown between self-seeking man and self-forgetful woman. But deeply as I was impressed by the steadfastness and magnanimity of her spirit, nay, by the woman herself, I have been less oppressed by the great debt

Starting point is 09:27:37 I owed her than by the thought, growing more intolerable every day, that in my frenzied struggle against fate, I had cut short the existence of a young and lovely girl, whose right to live was by all comparison superior to my own. But now has the shadows fall thickly about me, and the last page of my dishonorable existence awaits to be turned, my mortal wound is this,

Starting point is 09:28:05 that I must leave to loneliness an unspeakable grief, the great-souled woman, who has seen into the heart of my crime, and yet has forgiven me. All else of anguish or dread is swallowed up in this one over mastering sorrow. To her my heart's thanks are here given. To her, my last word is due.

Starting point is 09:28:27 She find it in all that her soul calls for in this hour of supreme disaster. Repentance equal to my sin, and a recognition of her worth which, late as it is for her comfort, may lead to her acceptance of the consolation yet to be met it out to her from eternal sources. That was all. The pen dropped from his hand, and he sat inert, almost pulseless, in the desolation of a despair, known only to those who at a blow have sunk from the height of public applause into the depths of irretrievable ignominy the district attorney who was a man of more feeling than was usually supposed contemplated him in compassionate silence for a moment then gently very gently for him leaned forward and drew from under the unresisting hands the scattered sheets which lay in dissonate silence for a moment then gently very gently for him leaned forward and drew from under the unresisting hands the scattered sheets which lay in disson. order before him, and passed them on to a stenographer.

Starting point is 09:29:32 Reed, said he, but immediately changed his mind and took them back. I will read them myself, Mr. Roberts. I must ask you to listen. It is right for you to know exactly what you have written before you affix your signature to it. Mr. Roberts bowed mechanically, but he looked very weary. The district attorney began the read. it is a matter of doubt whether mr roberts so much has heard him yet the reading went on and when the last word was reached the district attorney after a pause during which his eye had consulted that of the chief inspector

Starting point is 09:30:12 remarked in a kindly tone and yet with an emphasis impossible to disregard i see that you have made no mention of madame du clow in this relation of the cause and manner of her young daughter's debt is it possible that you are ignorant of the part she played in your affairs or the reasons she had for the suicide with which she terminated her life i know nothing of the woman but that she was the mother of the girl who he hesitated then added with a gesture of despair fell under my hand the district attorney said nothing in reply he simply waited but no denial or further admission came she was a friend of mrs taylor suggested the chief inspector as the silence grew somewhat oppressive an old friend a friend of her early days do you not remember i do not His tormentors went no further. Why harass him for an item of knowledge which tomorrow would certainly bring to light? Instead, they hurried through the remaining formalities, adding to the reading already made a capitulation of such answers as he had given to their questions

Starting point is 09:31:31 and witnessing while he signed both papers. This done, he was left for a moment in peace, while the two officials drew aside into the umbra sure of the window for a momentary conference. He seemed to notice to hush, for he roused from the torpor in which he was again about to sink and glanced cautiously about him. The stenographer was busy with his papers, and the other two stood with their backs to him. If help was to come, it must come now. This he realized, with a sudden grain of his face which took from it the last vestige of that youthfulness which had been its distinguishing features, and the finger which he had fumbled

Starting point is 09:32:19 from time to time in his vest pocket stalled thither once more, bringing forth a little vial which in another moment he raised to his lips. Was there no one to see, no one to stop him? No, the stenographer was closing up his back. and the two officials deepened conversation. He could drain the last drop unseen. But the sound of the little vial crashing upon the hearthstone, whither he had flung it, broke the quiet,

Starting point is 09:32:50 and startled the district attorney forward in a doubt bordering upon terror. What is that, he asked, pointing to the fragments that had just missed the ash-heap. It contained oblivion, was the answer, given him in steady tones. Do you wonder that I sought it? Nothing can save me. I have two minutes before me.

Starting point is 09:33:14 I would dedicate them to her. His head fell forward on his hands. The clock on the mantel struck. Could it be that when the second hand circled its small disc twice? This was the thought of the district attorney, but not of the chief inspector. He had advanced to the desk. where Mr. Roberts was still sitting, and remarked with a gravity exceeding any he had hitherto

Starting point is 09:33:41 shone. Mr. Roberts, I have a great disappointment for you. This little vial of yours which held poison yesterday contained nothing but a few drops of harmless liquid to-day. The change was made in the night by once suspicious of your intention. You'll have to face the full consequences of your crime. Carlton Roberts' arms collapsed, and his face fell forward upon them, and they heard a groan. Then in the short silence which followed, another and a very different sound broke upon their ears.

Starting point is 09:34:18 Seven clear calls from the cuckoo clock rang out from the room beyond, followed by a woman's smothered cry. It was the one ironic touch the situation had lacked. It pierced the heart of Carlton Roberts and started him in anguish to his feet. Oh, God, he cried, that I should have let that thing of evil shriek out the wicked hours from day to day, only to torment her now with old remembrances. Why did I not crush it to Adams long ago? Why did I leave it hanging on my wall? With a dash he was into the hall.

Starting point is 09:34:58 In another instant he was at the door of his bed-bed. room, followed by the two officials, crowding, closely up behind him. Would they find her there? Yes. Where else should she be? She, whom this call from the past, might almost draw from the grave. She was there, but not in the spot where they had expected to see her, nor in that state of collapse, of which her former weakness had given promise.

Starting point is 09:35:28 Apart from Mr. Grice, with her form drawn up to its full heart, but her form. height she stood, with her finger pointing, not at the cuckoo clock, as would seem most natural, but at a small newspaper print of the dead girl's face pinned upon another wall. Why is that here, she cried in passionate inquiry, which ignored every other presence than that of him who must heed and answer her? Carlton, Carlton, why have you pinned that young girl's face opposite your bed, where you can see it on waking? where it can look at you and you at it oh here checked by a sudden thought she broke off and her tone changed to one of doubt perhaps you didn't put it there yourself

Starting point is 09:36:15 perhaps its presence on your wall is a trick of the police to startle you into betrayal was it was it no emetrude the words came slowly but firmly i put it there myself i thought it would haunt me less than if left to my imagination then in a low tone which perhaps reached no other ears than hers i do not know what it does to me or what i see in it something besides youth and beauty something hush she had him by the arm forget it these men are listening but with a convulsive movement he broke from her hold and in doing so his eyes fell on a mirror confronting him from the opposite side of the room Two faces were visible in it, his own, and that of his young victim pictured in the print hanging on the wall behind him. They seemed alive. Both of them seemed alive. And as he saw them thus in conjunction, the sweet, pure countenance of the child he had instinctively mourned, peering at him over his guilty shoulder. The sweat started on his forehead, and he uttered a great cry. Then he stood still, swaying from side to side, the eyes, starting from his head in a horror,

Starting point is 09:37:42 transcending all that had gone before. Take him away, she cried out of the room. Let him remain anywhere, but here. I pray you, I entreat. But he was not to be moved. Emma Trude, he whispered, They say her last name was Duclo. She gave her name as Willits.

Starting point is 09:38:02 What was her name? You know the truth and can tell me. End of Chapter 32. Book 4, Chapter 33, of the mystery of the hasty arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Again, the cuckoo clock. Then to the wonder and admiration of all. This extraordinary woman showed her full strength

Starting point is 09:38:42 and the inexhaustible power she possessed over her own emotions. With a smile piteous in his triumph over his suffering, the depths of which they were just beginning to sound, she held his gaze in hers and quietly said, You have driven me to the wall, Carlton, if I answer, nothing remains to us of hope or honor, nothing upon which to stay our souls, but a consciousness of truth.

Starting point is 09:39:12 shall we let all go and meet our fate as people should who stand on a desolate shore and see the whole world roll away before them what was her name at his look at this repetition of his question she straightened up and addressed herself to mr gryce you were astonished and regarded me curiously when at the sound of that foolish little clock i entered this room That little clock means everything to me, gentlemen. Here she surveyed them, one after the other, with her proud and candid eye. It is the one witness I have, is it not, Carlton? She asked, turning quickly upon him. You have not failed me in this? He shook his head.

Starting point is 09:40:02 A witness to what? I am still ready to ignore. If such is your will, Carlton. Terror, terror. Far beyond anything they had seen. seen him in yet, paled his cheek, and made his face almost unrecognizable. But he could still speak, and in the murmur he let fall, she heard not a word of protest. May I ask one of you to take down that clock?

Starting point is 09:40:28 In a few minutes it lay on the table to which she had pointed. Mr. Grice, who had at that moment in his pocket, a copy of the inscription, pasted on its back, expected her to turn it over, and showed her. So then the token of Mr. Roberts and her united initials. But it was not this she had in mind. Though she took up the clock, she did not turn it round, only looked at it steadily, her trembling lips and a tear the first they had seen, testifying to the rush of old memories which the simple little object brought back to her long-suffering heart.

Starting point is 09:41:07 Then she laid it down again and seemed to hesitate. i want to get at the works inside she appealed to them with a helpless accent can you tear off the back that would be the quickest way but no i know a quicker and lifting the clock again she turned it upside down and shook it they heard what did they hear no one could say but when she again reversed it there fell out upon the table and rolled to the floor a small gold circlet lifting it mr gryce held it out to her taking it she carried it over to the district attorney and placed it in his hand read the inscription inside he did so and looking up quickly said this is a wedding ring yours you believe yourself to have been married to him i was married to him in switzerland the marriage was legal he knows it he acknowledges it or why should he keep this ring i have endured seeing him put another woman in my place i have kept silence for years but when he asks the right name of the child shot down in the museum and asks it in a way which compels answer that i must make known my rightful claims for that child was not only mine but his born after he left me and reared without his knowledge first in this country and then in france and breaking down now utterly she fell to her knees sobbing out her soul at the feet of him from whose honor she had torn the last poor pitiful shred

Starting point is 09:42:51 as for him he said nothing even his lips refused the smallest cry only his hand which had hung at his side went to his heart and thus he stood swaying swaying till he finally fell forward into the arms she suddenly threw out to receive him carlton carlton she wailed searching for consciousness in his fast glazing eyes it was to show you your child that i made the appointment at the museum not for myself oh not for myself but for your sake that you might have useless all useless he was dead would she have had it otherwise with any of them when they were quite sure of the fact she placed the ring in a still warm hand and then she solemnly put it on her finger, and turning, face them all. Don't blame me too much for this final blow I gave him. He had already seen the truth in that mirror over there, his face, look at it, and then at this picture of her taken after death, and see the resemblance. It is showing plainer every minute.

Starting point is 09:44:04 It was something which had worried and eluded him. Nothing could have kept back the truth from him, After that one glimpse he caught of himself and her in the mirror. I loved him. Mine is the grief. You will let me stay here with him tonight. Tomorrow I will answer all questions. End of Chapter 33.

Starting point is 09:44:34 Book 4 Chapter 34 Of the mystery of the hasty arrow by Anna Catherine Green. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. The Bud, then the Deadly Flower, Part One. You who have read thus far will care little, for the legalities which followed the events just related, but you may wish to know to a fuller extent some of the facts in Emmetrude Taylor's life which led to this tragic end of all her hopes. Her story is twofold, the portion connecting her with Carlton Roberts being entirely

Starting point is 09:45:14 disassociated from that which made her the debtor of Antoinette Duclo. Let me tell the latter first, as it proceeds the other, and tell it in episode. Two girls stood at one end of a long walk of immemorial ewes. At the other could be seen the advancing figure of a man, young, alert, English-clad, but unmistakably foreign. They were schoolgirls and bosom friends. he their instructor in french the walk one attached to a well-known seminary when they had entered this walk it had been empty now it held for one of them and possibly for the other too a world of joy and promise the world of seventeen innocent and unthinking neither of them had known her own heart much less that of her fellow but when in the face of that approach i met i

Starting point is 09:46:14 with an askance look of eager question revelation came crimsoning the cheeks of both and marking an epoch in either life noble of heart and tender toward each other they were yet human arm fell from arm and with an equally spontaneous movement they turned to search each the other's countenance not for betrayal for that had already been made but for those physical charms or marks of mental superiority which might attract the eye or win the heart of a man of the ideality of this one alas these gifts for gifts they are were much too unequally distributed between these two to render the balance at all even emmitrude was handsome antoinette was not emmertrude had besides what even without beauty would have made her conspicuous to the eye the figure of a goddess and the air of a queen but antoinette was small and had to feel secure and in a happy mood to show the excellence of her mind and the airy quality of her wit then emma trude had money and could dress while antoinette who was dependent upon an english uncle for everything she possessed wore clothes so plain that but for their exquisite neatness one would never dream that she came from french ancestry and that ancestry noble yes she had that advantage rank was hers but not the graces which should accompany it more than that she had nothing with which to support it

Starting point is 09:47:59 better be of the yeoman class like emetrude and smile like a duchess granting favors or so she thought poor girl as her meek regard passed from the friend whose affections she had thus acknowledged to the man whose approbation would make a goddess of her too. He was coming, not with his usual indifferent swing, but eagerly, joyously, as though this moment meant something to him, too. She knew it did. Small memories rushing upon her made no doubt of that. But why? Because of Emmetrued or because of herself. Alas, she could recall nothing which would answer that. They were much together. He had scarcely ever seen them separate. It might be either. Hardly alive from suspense, she watched him coming, coming. In a moment, he would be upon them, on which would his eyes linger. That would tell the tale. In an anguish of ungovernable shyness, she slipped behind the ample figure of her friend till only her fluttering

Starting point is 09:49:08 skirt betrayed her presence. Perhaps she was saved something by this move, perhaps not. She did see the beam of joy sparkling in his eye as he greeted emetrude but she could not but mark the heaviness of his step as he passed them by and wandered away into the shadows and that she understood emetrude had not smiled upon him to him the moment had brought pain it was enough now she knew but why had not emetrude smiled a dormitory lighted only by the moon two beds close together in one a form of noble proportions and in the other the meagre figure of a girl almost buried from sight among pillows and huddled up blankets both are quiet save for an occasional shudder which shakes the bed of the latter emetrude lies like the dead though the moonlight falls upon her face blanching it to the aspect of marble even her lashes rest moveless on her cheek but she is not sleeping she is listening listening to the sobs almost inaudible which now and then escape from the beloved one at her side as they grow fainter and fainter and gradually die away altogether till stillness rains through the whole dormitory she rouses and bending forward on her elbow looks long and lovingly at the wet brow of her sleeping mate she then sinks back again into rigidity with a low moan ending in the whispered words he does not love not yet a slight thing will turn him did i not see him

Starting point is 09:50:58 glance back twice and both times at her. The look with which she greeted him was so wonderful. A village street in Brittany, a parish church in the distance, two women bidding each other farewell amid a group of wedding guests, gay as the heavens are blue. Orvois was the whisper, breathed by the bride, into the ear of the other. Orvois, my Emmetrude, may you have a happy year in Switzerland. Orvo, little madame, you will be happy. I know in those United States

Starting point is 09:51:35 to which you are going. And the tears stood in the eyes of both. You will write, I will write. But the bride did not seem quite satisfied. Glancing about and finding her young husband busy with his ado, she drew her friend apart and softly murmured. There's something I must say,

Starting point is 09:51:56 something I must know before the sea divides us. You remember that day we all left school, and you went home and I came the Brittany. Emmetrude. Achille tells me that on that day he sought the whole house over for you till he came upon you in one of the classrooms. And that you, whom I had sometimes seen so sad,

Starting point is 09:52:21 were very gay, and told him between laughing and crying, that you were bidding a solemn farewell to all the nooks and corners of the old seminary, because your fiancé awaited you at home, and there would be no coming back. I meant my music. He did not know that, Ametrude, and here she laid her hands upon the other's shoulders, drawing back as she did so to look earnestly up into her face. Was that done for me?

Starting point is 09:52:51 They were too near for anything but the truth to put. pass from eye to eye. Emmetrude tried to laugh and uttered a quick no-no. But the little bride was not deceived. Again upon her face there appeared that wonderful look of hers, which made

Starting point is 09:53:08 her face for the moment verily beautiful, and unclasping her hands, she threw them about the other's neck, whispering in awed tones. You loved him, loved him too. Then after a moment of silence,

Starting point is 09:53:24 dear to both their hearts she drew back to give her friend one other look and quietly said his heart is mine now emmertrude wholly and truly mine and so you would have it be i am sure life looks fair to me and very sweet but however fair however sweet that life is yours if ever you wanted and when you wanted the time may come one never knows when i can pay you back this debt till then let there be perfect trust and perfect love between us give me your hand upon it not just your lips for i speak as men speak when they mean to keep their word their eyes met their hands clasped and then the bridegroomed and then the bridegroomed and then the bridegroom drew away as bride, and Emmetrued turned with bowed head and glistening eyes to enter upon the new life awaiting her in ways she had yet to tread. The second series of episodes opens with the meeting of a man and a woman on a rustic bridge spanning a Swiss chasm. There are strangers to each other, yet both instinctively paused and a flush of intuitive

Starting point is 09:54:40 feeling dyes the cheeks of each. the eternal ever-recurring miracle has happened he sees woman for the first time though he thought himself in love before and had wondered thus far in an effort to forget so likewise with her she had had her fancies or rather her one fancy but when in strolling along this road ahead of her party she saw rising between her and the glorious landscape which had hitherto filled her eye the fine masculine head and perfect figure of carlton roberts this fancy floated from her mind like the various thistledown leaving it free to expand in fuller hopes and deeper joys than visit many women even when they think they love alas why in that instant of mutual revelation had not the further grace been given them of quick catastrophe shutting the door upon a future of which neither could then dream or sense the coming doom. It was not to be. He passed, she passed, and for a time the look they gave each other was all, but the world had been glorified for them both, and destiny waited. Good looks, yes, but nothing else. Very ordinary connections vary, a little money true.

Starting point is 09:56:11 Her uncle, whom by the way I judge you have not seen, will leave her a few thousands, but meanwhile, he is a fixture, will not leave her or let her leave him, which is a misfortune, since in a social way he is simply impossible. No sort of match for you, Roberts. Cut and run while there is time. That's my advice to you, given in the most friendly spirit. Thank you. As I have just but met, Miss Taylor, don't you think such advice is a little premature?

Starting point is 09:56:45 Sure? No, I don't. She is a woman who must be loved or left, that's all. You've heard me. Did Carlton Roberts heed these words? No. What man in the thrall of his first romance ever did? You love me, Emmetrude. I love you, Carlton. For a day, for a month, or for a year, he smiled. Forever, she answered. That's a long time, he murmured. With his eyes on a little little clock hanging in the shop window before which they had stopped in one of their infrequent walks together. A long time. That foolish little clock will beat out the hours of its short life and go the way of all

Starting point is 09:57:30 things before we shall hardly have entered upon the souls forever. That clock will last our lifetime, Carlton, afterward. Love will not be counted by hours. As she said this she turned her face his way, and he saw it in its full flower with the light of heaven upon it. In later years he may have forgotten the emotion of that moment, but they were the purest, the freest from earthly stain that he was ever destined to know. I will love you forever, he whispered, that little clonk shall be my witness, and he drew her into the shop. cuckoo emma trude glanced up the clock hung on her wall oh she murmured each hour it will speak to me of him and his words then softly like one a dream in paradise i love but thee and thee will i love to eternity such was the event to her what was it to him let's see a hotel room a view of pilatus

Starting point is 09:58:43 but with its top lost in enveloping clouds. Seated before it with a pen in hand and above a sheet of paper, Carlton Roberts eyes these clouds, but does not see them. He is hunting in his brain for words, and they do not come. Why? His mother's name is on the page, and he is only to write that she has been quite correct in her judgment as to the unfitness of the marriage he had had in mind. that youth should mate with youth that if she could see the glorious young girl whose acquaintance he had made here she would be satisfied with his new choice which promised him the fullest happiness

Starting point is 09:59:26 why then is she yet blank and a hesitating hand when all it had to do was to write who can tell man knows little of himself or of the conflicting passions which sway him disway or the swaying passions which sway him disway or that, even when to the outward eye, and possibly to the inner one as well, action looks easy. Did he feel, without its reaching the point of knowledge, that this mother of keenest expectation and highest hope would not be satisfied with what this charming but undeveloped girl of middle-class parentage would bring him? Or was there deep down in his own undeveloped nature, a secret nerve, alive to ambitions yet unnamed, to hopes not yet formulated, which warned him to think well before he spoke the irrevocable words linking a chain, which, though twined with roses, was nevertheless a chain, which nothing on earth should have the power to break. He never sounded his soul for

Starting point is 10:00:31 an answer to this question, but when he rose the paper was still blank, the letter had not been written. I do not like secrecy. Only for a little while, Emmetrude. My mother is difficult. I would prepare her. And uncle? What of uncle?

Starting point is 10:00:50 He made me take an oath to-day. An oath? That I would not leave him while he lived. And you could do that? I could do nothing else. He's a sick man, Carlton. The doctors shake their heads when they leave him. He will not live a year.

Starting point is 10:01:07 A year, but that's an eternity. Can you wait? Can I wait a year? He loves me, and I owe everything to him. Next week we go to Nice. These are days of parting for you and me, Carlton. Parting? What word, more cruel?

Starting point is 10:01:26 She saw that it shook him, and held her breath for his promise that she should not be long alone. But it did not come. He was taking time to think, she hardly understood his doing this surely his mother must be very difficult and he a most considerate son she knew he loved her perhaps never with a more controlling passion than at this moment of palpitating silence as she smiled he caught her to his breast we have a week yet he cried and left her hurriedly precipitately it was their last ride and they had gone far, too far, Amitrud thought, for a day so chilly and a sky so threatening. They had entered gorges, they had skirted mountain streams, had passed a village, left a

Starting point is 10:02:20 ruin tower behind, and were still facing eastward, as if Lucerne had no further claims upon them, and the world was all their own. As the snows on the higher peaks burst upon their view, she made an attempt to stop the seeming flight. My uncle, she said, he will be counting the hours. Let us go back. Then Carlton Roberts spoke. Another mile, he whispered, not because he feared being overheard by the driver,

Starting point is 10:02:51 but because love's note is instinctively low. You are cold. We shall find there a fire and dinner. And listen, Emmetrude, a minister, ready to unite us. We are going back, man and wife. carlton yes dear it is quite understood letters are urging my return to new york your uncle is holding you here i cannot face an uncertain separation i must feel that you are mine beyond all preadventure must be able to think of you as my wife and that will hold us both and make it proper for you to come to me if i cannot come to you the moment you are free to go where you will but why this long ride this far-away spot why couldn't a minister be found in lucerne is our marriage to be as secret as our engagement is that what you wish carleton

Starting point is 10:03:47 yes dear for a little while just a little while till i have seen my mother and rid our way of every obstacle to complete happiness it will be better when one is promised to love for ever what are a few weeks or months make me happy dear dear you have it in your power to do so. Happy, when once I can whisper wife, The world will not hold a happier man than I. Did she yield because of her own great longing? No, it was by that phrase he caught her. The world will not hold a happier man than I. Mountains, icy peaks, with sides heavy with snow, and so near,

Starting point is 10:04:33 almost they seemed to meet across the narrow valley. She gave them one quick glance. Then her eyes in her heart became absorbed in what she could see of this alpine village, holding up its head in the eternal snows like an Edelweiss on the edge of a glacier. It was to be the scene of her one great act in life, the spot she was entering as a maiden

Starting point is 10:04:59 and would leave as a wife. What other spot would be a spot would, ever be so interesting. To notice every detail of house and church would not take long. It was such a small village, and the streets were so few, and the people, why she could count them. Afterward, she found that the exact number and the difference in color of the short line of timbered houses, stretching between them and the church, were imprinted on her brain.

Starting point is 10:05:29 but she did not know it at the time, for her attention was mainly fixed upon the people, when once she had seen them, for there was a strangeness in their looks and actions she did not understand, all the more that it seemed to have nothing to do with either Carlton or herself. It was not fear they showed, not exactly, though consternation was not lacking in their aspect, so strangely similar in all, whether they were men, and they were men, and men or women, or whether they stood in groups in the street or came out singly on the doorstep to glance about and listen, though there seemed to be nothing to listen to, for the air was preternaturally still.

Starting point is 10:06:14 Carlton, Carlton, she asked, as he came to lift her to the ground. See those people how oddly they act? The whole town is in the street. What is the matter? except that if we do not hasten, we shall have to return unmarried. The minister is waiting for us. What, in the church? Yes, dear, we are a little late.

Starting point is 10:06:40 She took his arm, and though they were a fine couple, and the event wasn't almost unprecedented one in that remote village, only a few followed them. The rest hung around their homes, or gazed with indecision, at the mountains, or up and down, along the empty roads. wilt thou have this woman the ceremony had proceeded thus far and all seemed well when with a rush and a cry a dozen people burst into the building the snows are moving rang up the aisles in accents of mad terror save yourselves then came the silence of emptiness every soul had left the church save the three people before the pulpit an avalanche and the ceremony was yet incomplete emetrude never forgot carlton roberts look doubtless he never forgot hers meanwhile the minister spoke there's a chance for escape take it the good god will pardon you but the bridegroom stood firm and the bridegroom stood firm and the bride's a child

Starting point is 10:07:47 shook her head. Not till the words are said, which makes us man and wife, declared Carlton Roberts, unless, and here his perfect courtesy manifested itself, even in this crisis of life and death. You feel it is your duty to carry what assistance you can to the saving of your frightened flock. God must save my flock, said the minister, with a solemn glance upward. I am where my duty places me. and calmly as though the pews were filled with guests and joy attended the ceremony instead of apprehended doom he proceeded with a right wilt thou have this man the glad i will leaped bravely from emmitrude's lips but it was lost in loud calls and shrieks from without mingled with that sound terrible to all who hear impossible to describe of the might of the hills made audible in this down-rushing mass now halting now gathering fresh momentum but coming always coming till its voice but now a threat swells into thunder in which all human crime eyes are lost. And only from the movement of the minister's lips can this couple see that the

Starting point is 10:09:06 words which make them one are being spoken. Then comes to benediction, and with the falling of this holy hands a headlong rush into the open air, a vision of flying forms here, there, and everywhere. Men staggering under foolish burdens, women on their knees, with arms lifted at the heaven were flung around their babes, hope lost under the bowing mountain, and in the midst of it all, plain to the view of all, the stranger's horse and carriage which standing there stamped with undying honor these terrified villagers, who had seen and not touched them, though death had them by the hair. Quick, quick, you mother there with a child, get in, get in.

Starting point is 10:09:54 There is room here for one more. but another got the place the driver reeling as he ran sprang for the empty seat and hung there between the wheels as the horse plunged and tore away to safety just as the great mass with its weight of gathered boulders and uprooted forests crashed into the final doom upon that devoted village burying it from sight as though it had never been to safety yes for two of them the other struck by a flying stone fell in the road and was covered in a trice so close were they to destruction's edge at this moment of headlong flight not till the painted towers encircling lucerne had come again into sight did the newly wedded pair find words or make the least attempt to speak then carleton kissed his bride and for a moment love was triumphant was it triumphant enough to lead him to acknowledge their marriage she looked anxiously in his face to see and finally she asked how much of this are we to tell carleton all about the catastrophe but nothing more he answered and while her heart retained its homage the light in her eyes was veiled married but not acknowledged would it not have been better if the avalanche had overwhelmed them she almost thought so till bending he murmured in her ear i shall follow you soon do you think i could go on living without you why so thoughtful emma trude you are not quite yourself to-day uncle is very ill the doctor say he may not live a month

Starting point is 10:11:45 and does that grieve you a yes was on her lips but she did not utter it instead she drew a little ribbon from her breast on which hung a plain gold ring and gazing earnestly at this token she remarked very quiet greatly, Carlton, have you ever thought that but for this ring no proof remains in all this world of her ever having been married? But our hearts know it, is that not enough, he asked? For to-day, yes, but when Uncle goes. His kisses finished the sentence for her, and love resumed its sway. But when alone and wakeful on her pillow, she recalled his look, the sting of her first doubt darted through her uneasy heart, and feeling eagerly after the ring, she tore it from its ribbon and put it on her finger. It is my right, she whispered. Henceforth I shall wear it. He loves me too well to quarrel with my decision. Now am I really his wife. End of Chapter 34,

Starting point is 10:12:53 Part 1. Book 4 Chapter 34 of the Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna, Catherine and green. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. The Bud, then the Deadly Flower, Part Two. Did she see a change in him? Did he come less frequently? Did he stay less long? Was there uneasiness in his eye, coolness, languor? No, no. It was her exacting heart, which thus interpreted his look, which counted the days for God as many engaged. saw impatience in the quickness with which she corrected her faults in manner or language instead of the old indulgence which met each error with a smile love cannot always keep at fever heat he the sinusore of the whole foreign element had the world at his feet here as in lucerne it needed no jealous eye to see this while she well she had her attractions too as had been often proved and with god's help she would yet be a fit mate for him what she now lacked she would acquire she would watch these fine ladies who blushed with pleasure at his approach

Starting point is 10:14:20 and when her time of morning was over she would astonish him with her graces and her appearance for she knew how to dress yes with the best of them and hold her head and walk like a queen she would feel herself to be when once she bore his name patience then till she had stored her mind and learned the ways he was accustomed to in others she had money enough now that her uncle was dead and she could do things yes but something had gone out of her face and the ring hung loose on her finger and he had her fears read him aright had he grown indifferent or was he simply perplexed let us watch him as he paces his hotel room one glorious afternoon now stopping to reread a letter he held in his hand and now to gaze out with unseen eyes to where the blue of the sea melts into the blue of the sky on the far horizon love had been sweet but man has other passions and he is in the grip of one of the mightiest in men of his stamp that all engrossing all demanding one of personal ambition without solicitation without expectation even a hand had been held out to him whose least grasp meant success in the one field most to his mind a political career under auspices which had never been known to fail. But there were conditions attached, conditions which a year before would have filled him with joy, but which now stood like a barrier between him and his goal, unless. But he was not

Starting point is 10:16:09 ready to disavow his wife, trampled upon her heart, nay, on his own as well, that is, without a struggle. For the third time he read the letter, which you will see, was from his mother. My son, I have an apology to make and a bit of good news to give you. When I urged you to give up Lucy and to seek distraction abroad, I felt that I was doing justice to your immaturity and saving you from ties, which might very easily jeopardize your future happiness. But I have lately changed my mind. In seeing more of her, I have not only learned her worth,

Starting point is 10:16:49 but the advantage such a woman would be to one of your tastes and promise and she loves you more devotedly perhaps than you have loved her how do i know this let me tell you of an interview i had with a certain relative of hers last night i allude to her brother and for a recognized boss buried out of sight in politics he has more heart in his breast than i have ever given him credit for not having children of his own he has centered his affections on this choice little sister of his and finding her far from happy came to see me yesterday evening with this proposition if i would consent to your union with lucy and withdraw my opposition to your immediate marriage he would take your future in charge and put you in the way of political advancement only to be limited as he says by your talents which he is good enough to rate very high after this how can i do otherwise then bid you follow your impulses and marry lucy in spite of the disparity of years to which i have hitherto taken exception where she is poor as she is accounted rich i should say the same now that i have sounded the depths of her lovely disposition and the rare culture of a mind which even though seven years have enriched beyond what is usual even in women of intellect her money does not influence me in her favor nor does it weigh with me in my present opinion of her complete fitness for the position you are so eager to give her that this will make you happy i know let it hasten your return which cannot be too speedy this was the bombshell which had disturbed carlton roberts complacency

Starting point is 10:18:46 bared his own soul to this horrified view and revealed to him the weakness of his moral nature which he had hitherto considered strong for his first impulse was one of recoil not only from the secret marriage which shut him off from these new hopes but from his youthful bride as well he found himself weary of his flowery bonds and eager for a man's life in his native city a why had he urged this immature girl to take the ride which had led him into slavery to one who could not advance him in life however queen-like she moved and talked and smiled upon the world from the heights of her physical perfections it was brain that was needed an understanding like lucy's tempered like hers by years not months of culture and refined association it was at this point he paused in his restless walk and looked for inspiration to the far-off waters of the bluest of all seas suddenly he resumed his walk then quickly stopping again sat down at his desk with an air of desperate haste began the right to his mother the announcement it is too late unfortunately for your scheme i am already he never got any further a fresh impulse drove him into the streets he could not thus summarily settle his future fate it meant too much to him he must take time to think his heart clamors loudly for its rights he is only twenty-six and in a rush of feeling which should have been his salvation he turned toward the nest among the flowers where help was to be had if help was to come at all in this crisis of conflicting passions.

Starting point is 10:20:42 The hour was noon, one which he had never chosen for a visit to Emmetrude. Would he find her in? Would she be in spirits to meet him? Would she look beautiful, worthy of his name, worthy of the greatest sacrifice a man can make for a woman?

Starting point is 10:20:59 He halfed hoped that she would, that he would find his chains riveted and secure beyond the power of any force to break. As his musings faltered, he turned the knob of the little side door and went in. As he did so, a shower of rose leaves fell upon him from the vines enveloping the balcony. He shuddered slightly and passed down the hall. Everything was very still.

Starting point is 10:21:28 She was asleep, lying on a couch in utter weariness or pain. She had drifted off into the land of dreams, and he felt that he had a moment of redoubt. He could look and weigh the question, love or a quick success, a weakling's paradise, or the goal of the strong man. Meanwhile, she was not as beautiful as he thought, but she was more touching, less robust, less bounteous of aspect, more childlike, more appealing, a woman who, if he were no more of a man than he appeared to be in this hurly-burly of pleasure and fashion, might in time do him credit and hold him back from follies but he was not just a man these casual friends and admirers considered him

Starting point is 10:22:19 there was much more to him than that he knew this better than lucy did or her powerful brother or even his adoring mother great opportunities awaited him and a large space in the affairs of men if not of nations such confidence did he feel in himself at this fevered moment that he never doubted that eventually he would gain all this even with the handicap of a good-looking but unsophisticated wife but not quickly step by step perhaps and he was longing to take it all at a bound poor girl and she lay there under his eyes all unmindful of his conflict or of the fact that her fate as well as his was trembling in the balance unmindful though her dreams were far from joyous or why the tear welling from between her lashes as he gazed she was alone in the house he knew it by the complete silence he could look and look and study her every feature without fear of interruption wait for her waking and be ready to meet her first glance of tender astonishment which might restore him to his better self drawing up a chair he sat down then started upright again with dilating eyes and a strange shadow on his brow one of her arms lay uppermost and on the hand almost as fine as lucy's but not quite he saw the ring his ring and it hung loosely the poor child was growing thin very thin If she were to hold her hand downward, he muttered to himself, I believe the ring would fall off.

Starting point is 10:24:06 Did some stray glimpse of his own features, wearing a look never seen on them before, confront him from some nearby mirror, that he started so guiltily as his heart murmur rose to his lips? Or was it at a thought, hideous but tempting, which held him, gained upon him, and soon absolutely possessed him, till his own hand went out stealthily, and with hesitations, toward those helpless fingers of hers, now approaching, now withdrawing.

Starting point is 10:24:39 And now approaching them again, but not touching them. Great as his impulse was to do so, for fear she should wake, while yet the devil gripped his arm, and lit up baleful fires in his eyes. He remembered those words of hers, have you ever thought that with the exception of this ring no proof exists in all the world of our ever having been married remember them he had not remembered them he had heard them sounding and resounding in his ears to the whole room seemed to palpitate with them

Starting point is 10:25:15 then the devil made his final move amatrude shuddered and her position changing the hand which had been uppermost fell down at her side and the ring slipped, left her finger, paused on the edge of the couch, then came the rest in his palm, held out to receive it. He had not drawn it from her hand. Fate had restored it. As he forced himself to look at it lying in his grasp, a faintness as death seized and held him for a moment, then this passed, and he slowly rose and step by step,

Starting point is 10:25:51 with side-long looks and hair standing upright on a side-and-lawed. forehead, like one who has walked in blood, and seized a trail of guilt following him along the floor. He left her side. He left the room. He left the house. And the rose-leaves fell about him once more, maddening him with their color, maddening him with the memories inseparable from their sweetness, a sweetness which spoke of her,

Starting point is 10:26:20 of love, and the attachment of a true heart, destined to grieve for a little while at least, for he was never going back never never there was no eye to see no tongue to tell him that speed destined to flower into awful crime some dozen or more years later put forth its first bud at this fatal hour he wrote her a letter he had the grace to do that addressing her simply as emetrude he told her that he had been called home to enter upon the serious business of life that he was not likely to come back and as she was not really his wife however pleasing the fiction had been in which they had both indulged it seemed to him wiser to end their happy romance thus suddenly while much of its glamour remained then to linger on and see it decay day by day before their eyes till nothing but bitterness remained he loved her and he felt the wrench more than she did but duty and his obligations as a man etc etc till it ended in his signature limited to initials like his love despicable the work of a man without conscience or heart yes and he knew it and for weeks his sleep was broken by visions and his waking hours rendered dreadful by fears how had she taken this cool assumption that the ceremony performed in the path of the snow was voided by lack of proof to whom had she ascribed the loss of her ring and what must she think of him he had left niece almost immediately but wherever he went in whatever hotel he stayed or through whatever street he passed he was always expecting to see her figure rise up before him in the majesty of innocence and outraged love

Starting point is 10:28:17 of. Thus several weeks passed, and seeing nothing of her, hearing nothing from her, a different apprehension darkened his days, and despoiled him of rest at night. Grief, if not shame, it killed her, and the weight of her fancied doom lay heavy on his heart. At last he could bear it no longer, and stealing back to Nice he entered it one dark night, and prepared to learned for himself what he feared to trust to the discretion of another. Alone with hidden face and heavily throbbing heart, he trod the familiar ways and encircled the familiar walls. Had she been there? But the windows were blank and the place desolate, and he fled the spot and the town, with his questions unasked and his fears unallayed.

Starting point is 10:29:12 In two days he had sailed for home. With the ocean between them he might forget, and in time he did. As week followed weak, and the silence he had half trusted, half feared, remained unbroken. His equanimity gradually returned, and he prepared to face the prospect of his new marriage, much as a man who watches for a dreaded door to open, moves with restored confidence about his affairs, when at last convinced that the door is padlocked, and the key, lost. One precaution in one only, he was wise enough to take. He told his story to Lucy's brother, and left it to him to say whether or not he should marry his sister. And the answer

Starting point is 10:30:00 was yes, that if trouble came, he would see him through it. A marriage which could not be proved was no marriage. And as for anything else, Lucy's happiness must not be sacrificed to a boy's peccadillo's. a few wild oats sown by a man of his promise. And was this the end? Did Emmetrude accept her doom without a struggle? Let us see. One afternoon in June there entered the parlor of the old-fashioned mansion of the Roberts family,

Starting point is 10:30:34 a lady who had asked to see Mrs. Roberts, on business of an important nature, though plainly clad her appearance possessed in elegance, which ensured respect. but when alone and seated in the darkest corner of the great drawing-room she put up a trembling hand to thrust back her veil the countenance thus revealed betrayed an emotion hardly in keeping with the quiet bearing with which she had advanced under the servant's eye he is home and these the surroundings amid which he had grown to manhood why should the sight of all this rousy motions she believed eliminated by a treachery most cruel in the face of promises most sacred why as she looked about and noted object after object which must have been there previous to his birth did she see him as a child and a boy and not as a man who at first won and then deserted her she would not have had it so at this hour when strength was needed rather than tenderness but she could not help her nature or still the wild surgings of her rebellious heart

Starting point is 10:31:48 as his portrait seen upon the wall challenged her constancy and whispered of the hour when his for ever echoed her forever and the compact for eternity was sealed he had broken this compact broken it soon broken it before the honeymoon had passed but she was she to show no firmer spirit whose love was of soul and took no note of time she was his wife and acknowledged or unacknowledged must yet prove to be his blessing though he he but this would not do the interview before her called for calmness she would not add to the turbulence of her spirits by another glance at what brought back too much of the past to fortify her for the impending struggle She had to do credit to his choice to impress a difficult woman with her dignity as a wife. She must not shake or weep. Yet when she heard a step at the door, instinct told her to pull down her veil till the first greetings were over,

Starting point is 10:32:57 the precaution for which she was deeply grateful when, in another moment, a young woman entered instead of her husband's mother, for whom she had asked and whom she naturally expected to see. In the humiliation of the moment her disappointment took words, and she muttered within herself, a companion or possibly a relative. I am to be put off with kindly excuses, beg to state my errand, rehearsed my claims and my hopes to some gentle go-between. I have not the strength for that.

Starting point is 10:33:33 I must see the mother, the mother. God give me wisdom and keep me calm, calm. meanwhile the young woman she had instinctively called gentle advanced into the centre of the room mechanically emmitrued rose to meet her and thus stepped in to a better light tragedy came with her this was impossible not to see not to feel but the warning which her aspect gave passed as she spoke and said in tones a little tremulous perhaps but with an air of perfect courtesy i had hoped to see mrs roberts herself the smile with which this was greeted the flush of pride and the joy of possession which lit the other's pleasing features as she replied i am mrs roberts should have carried the truth to emetrude but they did not she looked surprised baffled and after the briefest hesitation observed i am a stranger in this city and have doubtless made some mistake the mrs roberts i have called the sea and i was told she lived here is the mother of a gentleman of the name of she could not speak it but the other could carlton she asked and had emma trude's agitated nod added with friendly interest this is her home but she has left it for a while to us i am mr carleton roberts's wife

Starting point is 10:35:04 there are blows which prostrate and there are others which sear but leave the body intact feet still supporting it eyes still gazing ahead unmoved lips moving with mechanical exactness and sometimes still retaining their smile only the soul which gave life to all of this is dead the image is there but the spirit is gone and if sufficiently preoccupied the one who struck the blow sees no change so it was with emmertrude and lucy we are looking for mother to return next week added the latter as emetrude stood stark and silent before her would you like to leave a message for her at these words uttered with the sweetness of a rich and sympathetic nature the soul returned to emetrude's body with a long and earnest look which took in the full measure of the other's personality radiant with happiness and the consciousness of an assured wife-dom she answered softly no i will leave no message and turned as if to go nor any name queried lucy i am with admiration the noble lines of a figure whose perfect proportions her own could never hope to compete nor any name came back in indescribable accents from the doorway lucy paused and gazing in vague trouble after her rapidly disappearing visitor murmured to herself who is she but the one who could have answered her was gone carleton you seldom see such a woman younger than i she had the poise of a woman of thirty who could she have been describe her i wish i could i hardly saw her face it was her figure her voice her way of moving and holding herself i felt as small and quiet as a little mouse beside her only i was happy and she was not

Starting point is 10:37:14 that much i feel now that i recall her look in leaving was she an american or foreign he asked hiding his trouble for a great fear had seized him she had an english accent which added very much to her charm forget her for a moment his accent was almost fierce then he laughed the matter off assuring the bride of a month that she made him cross with herself depreciation that there was no one of a finer meaning and manner than herself, the chosen of his heart, upon whom he always looked with pride, which subtle tribute to what was her greatest charm, accomplished its end. She did forget the stranger. But he did not. He knew what was before him, and prepared himself for the inevitable meeting, which would be followed by what? not by what he had ever right to expect and evidently did emmertrude had learned all she would both of his marriage and of the woman who had supplanted her and had made her resolve this he saw as they came together in the isolation of a quiet corner of the park and so was not greatly surprised though a little move as after the first few words and with an earnest look she said

Starting point is 10:38:40 i am your wife i amitrude roberts married to you in the sight of god and man i cannot prove it but as you once said our hearts know it and will continue to know it as long as either of us live but i am not going to obtrude my claims upon you carleton or stand like a spectre in your path had this woman you have deceived and weak or foolish or unloving or indeed anything but what she is I might have held to my rights and insisted upon a recognition which would have profited you in the end. But I cannot shame that woman. I can neither shame her or bring her to grief. You have broken one heart, but you shall be saved the remorse of breaking two. I had rather suffer myself.

Starting point is 10:39:30 I am alone in the world. I have means. I can ultimately be useful and face good men and women without fear. Why then should I drag down to the dust, one as innocent as myself, or take from you what may make you the man I once thought you, and hope to see you again? But that I may have strength for this, and for all the sacrifices it involves, you must declare here and now, in this open park where we stand, with no one within sight, much less within hearing, that I am your wife.

Starting point is 10:40:08 You are my wife. It is enough. Now I can say what otherwise could never have left my lips. I love you, Carlton. Love you to eternity, as I promised. But I shall never seek you again, and you can go on your way unperturbed. I have consolations here, lay in her hand on her breast.

Starting point is 10:40:31 It will no longer be my portion to watch your face for signs of falling regard. What I have is mine. and that is the undying memory of two months of perfect happiness she would have said more but she saw that he had been greatly shaken she feared the renewal of a flame not yet altogether extinct in a heart which once beat for her alone and so contending herself with a low farewell she was turning swiftly away when one last thought made her pause and say i cannot return your ring it is lost i was careless with it and it fell unnoticed from my hand but to-night i will send you back the little clock which unites our initials destroy it if you will but if some sentiment bids you keep it let it be this one and no other i recall emetrude only that i may be faithful to lucy with a low cry his head fell upon his breast with a low cry his head fell upon his breast in extreme self-abasement then he slowly lifted his eyes and seeing in her face a full knowledge of his sin murmured in overwhelming shame and contrition

Starting point is 10:41:48 you know me for the wretch i am i have the ring it fell from your hand in the mind one day while you lay asleep i do not ask for forgiveness but this i promise you emetrude if that little clock comes back I will make a place in it for this ring, and neither clock nor ring shall leave me again while I live. Instinctively her hands went out to him, then they fell back on her breast. God will hold you to that promise, she said, and melted away from his sight in the midst which had been gradually enveloping them without being seen by either. Thus the struggle ended for him, which for her, had simply begun. done. Not till she found herself in the South with her girlfriend, Antoinette DuClo, that she

Starting point is 10:42:40 discovered the closest bond which can unite man and woman, held her in spite of her late compact with Carlton Roberts. Should she reassert her rights and demand that the father should recognize his child? Her generous heart said no. The old arguments held good. She appealed to Antoinette for advice. the result we know when antoinette's own child died at birth she took emetrudes to her heart and brought it up as her own there was little difficulty in this as the professor had already yielded to a southern fever and lay at rest in a new orleans cemetery and this brings us to another episode the widow in fact and the widow in heart stood face to face above a sleeping infant they were both dressed for travelling and so was the babe the dismantled rooms showed why young still for the years of either's romance had been few each face as the other contemplated it told the story of sorrow which time for all its kindliness would never efface

Starting point is 10:43:56 but the charm of either remained perceptible at this hour as perhaps it would never be again to the same extent antoinette basked in the light of emmitrude's beauty ennobled by renunciation and emetrude in that wonderful look in her friend's plain face which came at great crises and made her for the moment the equal of the best they had said little and they said little now as is the way of the strong amongst us when an act is to be performed which brings the heart but satisfies the conscience the child was legitimate it must not grow up under a shadow to ensure its welfare and raise no doubt in its own mind as it grew in knowledge and feeling the two women must separate no paltering with his duty and no delay a month of baby cries and baby touches might weaken the real mother it should be now it should be to-day but first a final word a parting question who was uttered by emetrude you will go back to france yes i can easily live there and you emetrude to new york i shall never be far from him but he and i will never meet you my world will not be his world i shall make my own place has emetrude taylor has mrs emetrude taylor i am a wife i shall never forget that fact and the child will you never come to see it emma trude's head fell and she stood a long time without answering then with a steady look she calmly said i can think of but one contingency which might shake my resolution to leave her yours without the least interruption from me

Starting point is 10:45:55 if he antoinette if he were left alone and childless i might see my duty differently from now you must be prepared for that amitrude when you send me this little shoe see i will leave one on and give you the other i shall know that you are coming or that you want the child my life is yours as i once promised and do you think i would hold back the child again their hands met as once before in that strong clasp which means trust me to the death and beyond it with antonette it was to the death as we have seen warned by emetrude of the appalling result of their plan to bring father and child together and entreated to fly least her story should imperil the secret upon the preservation of which his very life now hung she answered to the call as she had promised and thus acquitted her debt though she failed to save him of her previous act in disfiguring his photograph in her temporary lodging-place we shall never know the full story the picture had been hers for years given her by emmtrude on their parting so that the child should not be without some semblance of her father even if she should not know him as such and it was to secure this clue to their now doubly dangerous secret that madame du clow ransacked her baggage previously to her flight from the new york hotel but whether its destruction in the peculiar manner we know was the result of simple precaution or of a feeling of antagonism so strong against this destroyer of her beloved's peace

Starting point is 10:47:48 that it had to be expended in some way before she felt strong enough for that supreme sacrifice in his favor toward which events seemed hurrying her may be known in eternity but will never be told in time and ametrude what of her alone robbed of husband and child and friend where shall we look for her in this world of extreme tribulation search the hospitals of france where they press closest to the trenches there you will find the woman who losing all has found much blessing and blessed the angel of the battlefields the field whom the bullets spare since her work on earth is not yet accomplished end of chapter thirty four part two end of book four end of the mystery of the hasty arrow by anna catherine green

Classic Audiobook Collection - The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Katharine Green ~ Full Audiobook [mystery]

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