DUDIE DUNNE LISTENS TO A STRANGE STORY AND ENTERS
UPON A TRAIL THAT LEADS TO MANY VERY STARTLING
ADVENTURES.
"I am surprised to see you here."
"Is that so, madam?"
"Yes."
"Why should you be when you expressed a desire to see me?"
"When did I express such a desire?"
"The desire was implied in your advertisement."
"But I did not put my address in the advertisement. How did you
establish my identity?"
The detective smiled and said:
"It was a very simple matter, madam."
"I do not understand it."
"I will explain."
"Please do."
"We detectives are compelled to be very careful in all our movements. We
have enemies who are constantly seeking to trap us."
"What has all that to do with the fact that you knew my address?"
"I read your advertisement."
"Yes."
"I did not know whether it was genuine or a decoy sent out by the
thieves who robbed you."
"But even that does not explain how you obtained my address."
"By a very simple plan, madam."
"Tell me your plan."
"I mailed the letter to you."
"Yes."
"I knew you would send a messenger for it."
"Certainly."
"I lay around the post office for your messenger. When she came I
followed her here."
"Oh, I see; well, how stupid I am. It is evident I am not a female
detective. I never should have thought of that expedient."
"It is a very simple one. If it had been a trap the parties sending the
letter would have taken precautions not to be trapped that way."
"I see, yes, I see; well, you are not a dunce after all."
"Thank you. You wished to see me?"
"Yes."
"Madam, what is your name, please?"
"My name is Mrs. Frewen."
"Who is the young lady who called for the answer to the advertisement?"
"My niece."
"And her name?"
"Alice Frewen. She is my brother's daughter. She is an orphan."
"You wished to see me on business?"
"Yes."
"Why did you send for me?"
"I will tell you. I read in the papers that you were a detective. I saw
your bold act in catching the thief who had robbed me, and a little
incident occurred that suggested to me that I had better consult with a
detective. I had beheld your gallant action and my niece suggested the
plan of the advertisement for your employment."
"Very well, madam; on what business do you desire to consult me about?"
The old lady produced a letter which read:
"DEAR MADAM: You are in danger. Remove all the portable valuables
from your house; leave nothing around that thieves can carry away.
A FRIEND."
The detective read and re-read the missive and finally asked in a simple
sort of way:
"Who sent this, madam?"
"You see the signature."
"A friend."
"That is all I know."
"Can you form the least idea as to who this friend, or rather this
so-called friend is? Have you the least suspicion as to his identity?"
"I have not."
"Has your niece?"
"No."
"This letter would suggest that there is a scheme on foot to rob you."
"That is the suggestion that came to me when I first read the note."
"Have you any articles of special value in the house?"
"You are a detective."
"I am."
"I believe your identity and respectability are sufficiently well
established for me to answer you frankly."
"Madam, you can reserve your answer if you choose until you thoroughly
establish my identity and respectability."
"It is not necessary. I am satisfied. Yes, I have articles of special
value in this house."
"Who would be likely to know the fact?"
"No one beyond my niece."
"You cannot think of any one who would be apt to know that you had
articles of special value in the house?"
"No."
"Is there any one whom you suspect of wishing to scare you?"
"No, the fact is we have no acquaintances in New York. We have lived
abroad many years and only returned to New York about six months ago.
This house came to me by inheritance. It was leased for ten years to a
family whom I never knew. My agent leased it. It stood idle for six
months, until I came and reopened it upon my return home about six
months ago."
"When you were abroad where did you reside principally?"
"In Paris; my niece attended school in France."
"I suppose you had a great many friends in Paris?"
"No, very few; I am not of a social turn at all. I do not seek friends.
I live a very secluded life for reasons which it is not necessary to
explain."
"Then there are none of your Paris friends whom you would suspect as the
author of that warning note?"
"No."
The detective re-read the note, examined it very carefully, and finally
said:
"We can form no suspicion from the note itself."
"No."
"Madam, have you an album?"
"Yes."
"Will you let me look at it?"
"For what purpose?"
"I wish to look at the pictures of some of the people you knew in
Paris."
The old lady smiled and said:
"The album belongs to my niece. It is merely a collection of prominent
French characters--public men, statesmen, army officers, musicians,
painters and actors--the photographs do not represent friends of ours."
"Still you have no objection to my seeing it?"
"No, sir."
"Please let me see it, and if you have no objection let your niece be
present. She may recall facts that have possibly slipped from your
memory."
"You are a very strange young man."
"Yes, I am a very strange young man and I go about my business in a
strange manner. Madam, you did the right thing when you sent for me. You
and your niece are two lone ladies living in this house. It is evident
some one has discovered that you have valuables in your house. A scheme
of robbery, it would appear from the warning note, is contemplated. Some
one friendly to you has learned of the intended robbery and has warned
you. This warning may not only save your property but your life, and it
is necessary that we should make every effort to learn who sent the
warning note. I desire to see the photographs."
Mrs. Frewen summoned her niece and requested her to bring her photograph
album. The niece entered the room and was introduced to our hero, and
she failed to conceal her surprise upon being informed that the handsome
young man, so exquisitely attired, was a celebrated and successful
detective. If Oscar noted her surprise he did not indicate it, but took
the album and deliberately commenced turning over its pages, and the
niece standing over him said:
"You will only find pictures of well-known characters in the album. I do
not think there is a photograph of a single friend of ours in the book."
"Then you have another book?"
"No."
"You do not keep pictures of your friends?"
"No."
"It is unfortunate under the present circumstances; but, miss, what
public character is the original of that photograph?"
The girl blushed and answered:
"I had forgotten that the picture was in the album."
"Ah, I see; but who is the original?"
"Oh, he is a young man whose mother I knew in Paris. Aunty was very kind
to the mother and also to the young man at the time he was sick."
"Did you ever see this young man?"
"Never."
"Did your aunt ever see him?"
"Yes, she remained with the mother one or two nights, aiding in nursing
him, and she supported them during his illness."
"What created your aunt's interest in the young man?"
"His mother had been her maid many years previously."
"What is the character of the young man?"
The girl did not answer.
"You do not answer me."
"It is a very singular question."
"It is?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"I never saw the young man, how should I know anything concerning his
character?"
Mrs. Frewen had been an interested listener to the conversation, and
turning to the aunt our hero said:
"You know this young man?"
"Yes."
"He is a very handsome young fellow, I should think, from his picture."
"Yes, and a very unfortunate young man."
"Unfortunate?"
"Yes."
"In what way--simply because his mother was poor?"
"No, there is a mystery connected with his life."
"A mystery?"
"Yes."
"What is the mystery?"
"I believe his father is a nobleman, although his mother was my
governess."
"Ah, your governess?"
"Yes."
"Not your maid?"
"She acted as governess and maid both. She was a very handsome woman. We
were in Italy when she eloped and ran away."
"Did she run away and get married?"
"She claimed she was married."
"Whom did she marry?"
"She would never reveal the man's identity."
"Do you know that it was a nobleman?"
"No."
"You only suspect?"
"Yes."
"What led you to the suspicion."
"Hints that Madam Donetti dropped from time to time."
"This young man's name is Donetti?"
"He is known as Alphonse Donetti."
"An Italian name."
"Yes."
"Then you conclude his mother married an Italian?"
"Yes."
"Was he a sober, industrious young man?"
"No, he appeared to feel very much embittered at the idea of being poor.
He claimed to be of high birth. Indeed I have suspected that his mother
was a woman descended from a good old French family; at any rate the
young man is very high-blooded, fond of gay life, and unable to gratify
his desires."
"Did he ever to your knowledge commit a crime?"
"Never to my knowledge."
"Did you ever hear it whispered that he was a criminal?"
The old lady did not answer.
"You do not answer me."
"I fear he caused his mother a great deal of anxiety at times."
"His mother still resides in France?"
"She is dead."
"Where is the young man?"
"I don't know."
"Where did you see him last?"
"In Paris."
"How long ago?"
"About a year ago."
"When and where?"
"I saw him upon the street."
"Did you address him?"
"No."
"Why not?"
The woman did not answer.
"Please answer me."
"He was in the hands of a sergeant de ville."
"He was under arrest?"
"Yes."
"For what offense?"
"I never inquired, and the day following my niece and I started for
London."
"You have no reason to suspect that Alphonse Donetti is in the United
States, in fact in New York?"
"The suggestion did not arise in my mind until you began to question me
about him, then I did ask myself the question: Could it have been
Alphonse Donetti who sent me that warning note?"
The detective meditated a long time and then said:
"The chances are that Alphonse Donetti sent you that warning note."
"I cannot think who else could have sent it, and yet I have no knowledge
that he is in the United States."
"The note is written in good English."
"Yes, Alphonse was educated in England; his mother devoted her life to
him, and as long as she had a cent she denied him nothing. All her money
was spent when she came to me, and I aided her."
"And Alphonse knew of your generosity to his mother?"
"Yes."
"And she married an Italian?"
"I believe it was an Italian with whom she eloped. We were living in
Florence at the time. She deserted me and ran away."
"And you did not see her until many years afterward?"
"No."
"And then you met her in Paris?"
"Yes."
"Was Donetti her married name?"
"I have every reason to believe it was an assumed name. I firmly believe
she eloped with some man of high family, even though he may not have
been a nobleman, but I believe he was a nobleman."
"You say Madam Donetti was a handsome young lady?"
"Very handsome--a beautiful woman and refined, also highly educated.
There was a mystery about her while she was acting as my governess."
"Governess to whom--yourself?"
"No, an older sister of Alice."
"She was a Frenchwoman?"
"I always believed so, but as she assumed the name of Donetti it is
possible she may have been Italian, or her parents may have been Italian
people."
"She spoke Italian?"
"She did indeed. She spoke all the continental languages, also English,
and her son is a splendid linguist."
"Madam, that note came from Alphonse Donetti."
"And what does it portend?"
The detective meditated a few moments and then said:
"I can only theorize."
"And what is your theory?"
"I fear Alphonse has gotten into bad company. I fear he is associating
with thieves. He may have learned that there was a scheme on foot to rob
you. He did not dare warn you fully, but sent you this missive, and the
fact that he sent you this note would indicate that no matter how bad a
man he has become he still possesses the quality of gratitude. A very
rare quality, madam; few possess it. Forgetfulness and selfishness
prevail as a rule."
"What are we to do?"
"Will you leave the decision with me?"
"Certainly."
"We will guard against a robbery, and in the meantime I will hunt up
this young man Donetti; if he is in New York I will find him."
Mrs. Frewen meditated a few moments in turn and then said:
"I do not know as I wish to renew his acquaintance, especially as he has
probably become a criminal."
Oscar smiled, but the smile on his face vanished as he caught an
expression on the face of the niece Alice as she said:
"Aunty, we have no reason to assume that Al--I mean the young man has
become a criminal."
The girl started to say Alphonse but checked herself and said, "the
young man."
Oscar was a regular mind-reader, and he remarked in a tone indicating a
forgetfulness that the question had once been answered:
"So you never had the pleasure of seeing this young man, Miss Alice?"
The girl blushed and appeared restless and uneasy as she answered:
"No."
The detective turned to Mrs. Frewen and said:
"It may be necessary to hunt up this young man in order to run down the
criminals who, we are to assume, are about to make an attempt to rob
you."
"I fear the young man is a criminal."
"But, aunty, he is very considerate when he warns us."
"Yes, he owes it to me, and I am glad he evidently possesses at least
one good quality; but I fear his deeds were the death of his mother. She
did not reveal to me all she knew about her son, that is evident, and
now under the new light I can see clearly and interpret many little
incidents that before I could not understand."
"I will ask to borrow this picture, madam."
"You can take it," said the elder lady, but the younger one said:
"No, no, aunty, do not let the gentleman have the picture."
"Why not, my child?"
"Well, it is better that he does not discover the young man. In case his
theories are correct it might lead to mortifying incidents. We do not
know the young man, and probably it is better that we let him drop from
our memories forever."
"I will see that no complications arise from the discovery of the young
man. If he is a criminal who has come over here from France it may be as
well to cut him short in his career of crime on this side of the ocean
as quickly as possible."
"And what would you do?"
"It is my duty to note every criminal as far as I can, and run him down
if he makes himself answerable to our laws."
"You have no proof that this young man is a criminal."
"No, I have no proof, but I am satisfied that he is a criminal, and it
is possible I can already associate him with a very grave crime."
The face of Alice became ghastly as her aunt asked:
"Alice, why do you show such interest in this criminal?"
"Aunty, I only show the interest that is natural, considering the esteem
in which you held his mother."
The keen eyes of the detective were on the girl and he reached a very
startling conclusion, and other very strange and startling suggestions
and suspicions were running through his mind.
"I will take the photograph," he said, "and will guarantee no
unpleasant incidents will follow my possession of it; and now, madam,
one more point--I will come to your house to-night between eleven
o'clock and midnight and remain here as a private watchman in order to
anticipate the visit of the burglars in case a raid on your house is
meditated."
"I am glad to have you do so, and I will have a room prepared for you,
and I will pay you according to what you may think your services
demand."