in tranter's car, its owner and monsieur dupont started, at half-past one, on their return from the crooked house.
the storm had passed, and the air was fresh and cool. it was possibly the atmospheric clearance which accounted for the fact, that, however, fatigued he had been, or appeared to be, at the end of his conversation with the inspector, monsieur dupont was now particularly wide-awake and alert.
"dieu!" he cried, "what a terrible crime! almost to tear that woman to pieces—to crush her—to rend her! and what a woman! ma foi, what a woman!"
there was a pause. monsieur dupont accepted and lit a cigar from tranter's case.
"my friend," he said quietly, "i wish to be quite fair to you."
[pg 93]"fair to me?" tranter echoed, surprised.
"something happened to-night which you doubtless believe to be unknown to every one except yourself."
tranter turned to him quickly.
"i have not the habit," monsieur dupont continued, "of listening to private conversations between other people. it is only on very rare occasions that i have done so. i did so to-night."
"what do you mean?" tranter exclaimed.
"in that horrible garden, before the crime was committed," pursued monsieur dupont evenly, "i lost my way. such a garden must have been especially designed to cause innocent people to lose their way. i wandered about. how i wandered!"
"what did you overhear?" asked tranter, in a strained voice.
"a conversation—between that unfortunate mademoiselle manderson, and yourself."
"you heard it?" tranter cried sharply.
"i heard it," admitted monsieur dupont. "i heard a great part of it. i believe nearly all. i should not have done so. understand, [pg 94]i make you all my apologies. it was improper to listen. but the storm, the surroundings, the scene itself, excited me. i listened."
tranter remained silent.
"i continued to listen, until mr. bolsover found me. he was following that young man, layton. i went with him to the river."
tranter was still silent—staring straight in front of him with fixed eyes.
"you saw a picture of weakness," he said, at last. "i am not proud of it. i should much prefer to be able to think that no one had seen it. i gave inspector fay an account of the whole scene, and of my previous acquaintance with christine manderson. he promised to keep it to himself. i hope you will do the same."
"i shall indeed," the other assured him.
"i am only human," tranter went on, with an effort—"more human than i thought. i resisted her once by taking flight. i couldn't resist her to-night."
he mastered his emotion.
"from the moment she first came into the room i was helpless. i knew what would come [pg 95]of it—but i couldn't tear myself away. it was the whole spell—with all the new strength of memories. i knew she intended to find me alone in the garden." he paused. "i had to let her."
"human nature," said monsieur dupont consolingly, "is human nature."
silence followed. monsieur dupont thoughtfully puffed at his cigar.
"a crooked house in a crooked garden," he said, at length, "is a combination from which all honest people should shrink. those who frequent it must be, for the most part, crooked people. they were, for the most part, crooked people to-night."
"it was a crooked evening from beginning to end," tranter said wearily.
"it was a wicked evening," monsieur dupont declared—"full of wicked thoughts. a crime was the natural and logical end to such an evening. it would have been surprising if there had not been one."
he smoked vigorously for some moments—then made an expansive gesture.
"are there not," he demanded, "houses and [pg 96]gardens and thunder-storms that awaken cruel and shameful impulses that would never be aroused in other houses and other gardens and other storms? does not the influence of good and noble decorations uplift us to joy and patriotism? why should not the influence of mean and sinful decorations degrade us to murder and destruction? the flags that fly over the innocent revels of children are innocent flags, and inspire kind feelings and happiness. but remove the same flags to a bull-ring, and they become evil flags, inspiring lust for the blood and slaughter of helpless creatures—the basest of human instincts."
"you are fantastic," said tranter, with a gloomy smile.
"in fantasy," returned monsieur dupont, "are the world's greatest truths."
he carefully deposed the ash from his cigar.
"will you please tell me," he went on, "something more about our strange host to-night—the man who chooses so much crookedness to live in, when there is straightness to be had for the same price?"
[pg 97]"i know very little more about him than i told you last night," tranter replied. "he is wealthy, and very eccentric. he seems to pass his life in a perpetual effort to be different from other people."
"he is more than eccentric," monsieur dupont stated. "he is mad. in a few years he will be a dangerous lunatic. and the good god only knows what he may make of himself in the meantime."
"there are plenty of strange stories about him," tranter said. "but i have always looked on them as greatly exaggerated."
"probably," monsieur dupont remarked, "they were true."
"whatever his reputation may be, women seem very ready to put up with his eccentricities, or pander to them, in return, no doubt, for big inroads into his banking account. he is very free with his money where the opposite sex is concerned."
"it is always so," said monsieur dupont, "with such men."
"he mixes chiefly in theatrical and bohemian [pg 98]circles—and often by no means the most desirable of those. the better people look askance on him—but he is supremely indifferent to the opinions of others, and to all the conventions. whatever he takes it into his head to do he does, quite regardless of the approval or disapproval of other people. he is certainly not a man i would introduce to any woman who possessed even the smallest degree of physical attraction. he is supposed to be quite unscrupulous in the attainment of his objects."
"most of us are," said monsieur dupont. "but we dislike to admit it."
he looked steadily out of the window for a moment.
"i wonder," he said, turning back, "what he does with the rest of that house."
"the rest of the house?" tranter repeated.
"it is very large," said monsieur dupont. "it is large enough for twenty men."
"in this country," tranter smiled, "there is no law against one man living in a house large enough for twenty, if he chooses."
"when only a small part of a house is used [pg 99]for ordinary purposes," remarked monsieur dupont, "the remainder is often used for extraordinary ones."
"you know as much of the house as i do," tranter returned.
"as a practical man," monsieur dupont continued, "you may smile when i speak of such a thing as 'psychic intuition.' but you may smile, and again you may smile. i possess that intuition strongly. it has been of great use to me. the moment i entered that house to-night, i knew it was a house of sin. i knew there were hidden things in it—things that were not for honest eyes to see. i do not say—at present—that they have any connection with the crime. but they are there."
"i do not smile at such instincts," tranter said. "i quite admit that there is a strange, uncanny atmosphere about the place. and if there are secrets in it, i am equally ready to admit that they are probably bad ones."
"they are bad ones," declared monsieur dupont. "they could not be anything but bad ones. when that excellent inspector fay has [pg 100]solved the mystery of the garden, he would be wise to turn his attention to the secrets of the house."
there was a pause.
"did layton kill her?" tranter asked suddenly.
monsieur dupont shrugged his shoulders.
"the evidence is against him," he replied judicially. "your coroner's jury will find him guilty, and the police will not look further. they will build up a strong case. they will doubtless find that he was cruelly treated by that poor girl, and was furious to know that she was engaged to another man. he threatened, in the presence of many witnesses, to kill her in a horrible way. he was seen later in the garden, and afterwards she was found—killed in exactly that horrible way. who would not say that in his rage and jealousy he had fulfilled his threat? every one will be perfectly satisfied. it is enough for justice if the most likely person is hanged. and, so far, he is not only the most likely, but the only, person."
"perhaps so," tranter acknowledged. "but—he [pg 101]didn't look like a murderer. he looked a good fellow. is there no other alternative?"
"there is an alternative," said monsieur dupont steadily.
"there is?"
"yes."
monsieur dupont smoked composedly for a minute.
"my friend," he said—"are you inclined for an adventure?"
"i am rather busy," tranter replied. "what is it?"
"suppose ... i were to declare to you positively that james layton is innocent—that he did not commit that crime in the crooked garden to-night—and that i do not intend to allow him to be hanged for a crime that he did not commit—would you give a certain amount of your time to help me to save him?"
"certainly. i will do anything i can."
"then," said monsieur dupont, "i answer the question you asked a moment ago. he did not kill her."
"who did?" tranter demanded, looking at him in astonishment.
[pg 102]"that is another matter. it is one thing to say who did not—but quite another to say who did. that is for us to discover. there will be very little time. i think i can promise you excitement. possibly there will be danger. you do not object to that?"
"i have faced a certain amount of danger in my time," tranter replied.
"good," said monsieur dupont. "then we will set ourselves—quite apart from the efforts of our friend, inspector fay—to solve the mystery of the crooked garden. and we will not speak a word to any one of our intention."
"you seem to have some very definite ideas on the subject already," tranter observed.
"ah, no," demurred monsieur dupont—"do not credit me with the superhuman. we have a very difficult task before us."
"but what of your other object," tranter inquired—"the 'riddle' that you came over to solve?"
"it may be," monsieur dupont replied carefully, "that there is some connection between my riddle and this dreadful affair to-night. at present i cannot say. only events themselves [pg 103]can prove that. but that very possibility compels me to take up a peculiar attitude—unfortunately a most necessary one. if you will assist me—as i beg you to do—you must be content to follow my guidance and instructions without question, and remain, as you call it, in the dark, until the time comes for all to be told."
"you are certainly the most mysterious person i have ever met!" tranter exclaimed.
"it is not that i have the smallest doubt of yourself or your discretion," monsieur dupont hastened to explain. "on the contrary. it is simply that my position at this moment is an extraordinary one, and i cannot do what would seem to be the natural and ordinary thing. will you help me on that understanding?"
"i will help you in any case," tranter agreed, smiling slightly at his companion's intense seriousness. "what is to be my first task?"
"your first task," said monsieur dupont gravely, "is to deposit me at the hotel savoy, and call for me later on your way back to richmond."
tranter spoke some instructions through [pg 104]the speaking-tube to the chauffeur. when he turned again, monsieur dupont was asleep. he did not open his eyes again until the car stopped at the savoy.
entering the hotel, he ascended to his room. in it, he mixed himself a whisky-and-soda, sat down at the writing-table, and unlocked a despatch-box.
he took out two photographs—each of a remarkably beautiful woman.
under one was neatly written—
colette d'orsel. nice. august 1900.
and under the other—
margaret mccall. boston. dec. 1910.
from his pocket he took the photograph which the inspector had allowed him to appropriate, and laid it beside the others. the face that smiled up at him was the most beautiful of the three.
he dipped a pen in the ink, and wrote under it, in the same neat handwriting—
christine manderson. london. july 1919.
