THE BACK TRAIL.
All this time the carriage which had carried Opal and Carter to the
house had waited for the girl just around the nearest corner.
When Opal emerged from the place no excitement was noticed about her.
She walked as gayly as if she had not sent a man to his doom, and when
she stepped into the carriage there was a smile on her lips.
She knew what she had done, and the secret was hers.
The vehicle went straight to the Lamont mansion, and the girl dismissed
it at the door.
She entered the house and passed directly to her room on one of the
upper floors, where she changed her gown; then she descended to the
library, where she had left her father.
She found him in the same position at the desk as if he had not stirred
since her departure.
He met her eye the moment she entered the room, and she came forward,
saying nothing.
“I’m glad to see you back, Opal. Did you get rid of that man?”
“Yes.”
“You did not let him blackmail you?”
“I did not.”
“You did not----”
Perry Lamont stopped as if he was on dangerous ground, but Opal could
not avoid his gaze.
Her eyes seemed to betray her.
“You surely did not----” began the millionaire again, but stopped as
before.
“Never mind where he is,” put in Opal. “I’m quite sure Nick Carter will
not give us any more trouble.”
“That’s good. I’m glad to hear you say that, and your manner convinces
me that it is so. I trust he didn’t give you any trouble, child?”
“None in the least. There, don’t bother about that man. He’s out of the
way; won’t trouble you any more.”
Opal arose and swept from the room, the eyes of the nabob following her
with mute questioning.
He heard her on the floor above, and closed his eyes as he leaned back
in the chair.
Did he suspect the truth?
Did the rich man dream that his child had handled a revolver within the
last hour, and that she had aimed at a man’s breast?
If he thought of such things he made no sign.
It was some hours after these events that the door of the library was
opened and Claude, his son, came in.
Lamont was now fast asleep, and the young sport watched him for ten
minutes.
Stealing over to the desk, Claude opened a drawer near his father’s
hand and extracted a large envelope therefrom.
As he was transferring it to his pocket Opal looked into the room, and
then came forward.
“Don’t awaken him,” she said. “I want to see you, Claude. Come across
the hall.”
“Mother----”
“Mother won’t hear us, for she is lying down overhead. Come with me. I
didn’t know you were in the house.”
“I just came in.”
“Good.”
The pair left the library and crossed the hall to the darkened parlor,
where Opal turned suddenly on her brother.
“Have you done it yet?” she asked.
Claude started in spite of himself.
“Done what?”
“You know. I happened to overhear you and father. Have you finished
him?”
“I don’t understand you?”
“Oh, yes, you do. You know about the two hundred thousand. You were to
get the confession, besides silencing him.”
“I’ve done nothing yet. I understand now,” said Claude, with a faint
smile.
“When will you?”
“Just as soon as I get a chance.”
“Don’t you think you’re putting it off too long?”
“I don’t know. I’m doing my best.”
“But while he lives and keeps the confession written in Hell’s Kitchen
it will be against us.”
“Yes.”
“You’re his chum. You know where he nests, and you are the proper
person to silence this man with the terrible secret. You’re not afraid
of the law, are you?”
Again Claude Lamont started and looked down into the flushed face of
his sister.
“No, I’m not afraid of that, but you see I can’t strike till I have a
fair target.”
“I know that.”
“There is that bothersome detective,” suggested Claude.
“Never mind him,” laughed Opal; “he’s silenced.”
“Since when?”
“Don’t ask too many questions. He’s silenced, I say.”
“I guess not. I’ve seen him lately.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“I’ve got later news than that!” cried the young girl. “I’m right from
the seat of war, so to speak.”
Claude wanted to ask further questions, but she stopped him by laying
her hand on his shoulder.
“That man was an enemy of us all,” she said. “He was dangerous, Claude.”
“Positively so,” was the reply.
“He was a living menace to our future happiness; he was as dangerous
as this man Richmond, your friend, and his confession. I shuddered
whenever I thought of Nick Carter, who would not let me buy him off.”
“He was incorruptible, was he?” laughed Claude.
“Yes, but he’s fixed now.”
“With whose money, Opal? Father’s?”
“With something that silences better than gold,” was the startling
answer. “I would never face him the second time with a bribe. I know
what’s what.”
“See here. You’ve got me on nettles. What’s become of this man? I
demand to know?”
Opal thought a moment, and then turned her head away.
“When have you been to the Cedar Street house?” she asked, without
looking at him.
“Not in six months.”
“Here’s the key. Go and look inside.”
“Pshaw! there’s nothing there for me.”
“You don’t know what’s there, since you confess that you haven’t
crossed its threshold in six months.”
“If you tell me the secret I won’t have to make the trip.”
“Go and find it.” Opal pushed her brother away. “I want to make sure of
a certain thing.”
“I see. You’ve been to the Cedar Street house.”
Opal gave him a knowing look, and again pushed him toward the door.
“I’ll go, hang me if I don’t!” he exclaimed. “I say, sis, if you’ve
intrusted a secret to that house it ought to be safe, for it hasn’t
been tenanted for half a year. Into which part of it shall I look?”
“In the first room to the right.”
“The old-fashioned parlor, eh?”
“Yes, there, there!” cried the millionaire’s child. “God forgive me,
Claude, I couldn’t help it. I had him in the snare.”
Five minutes later Claude Lamont stood on the sidewalk in front of his
home.
“In creation’s name, what does sis mean?” he asked himself. “What has
she been doing in that old house? Something desperate, I’ll bet my
head.”
He walked to the first corner, where he took a passing car and rode
downtown.
A few minutes later he left it, and proceeded to Cedar Street.
The millionaire owned half a dozen houses there, but the one designated
by Opal was the best of all.
With the key supplied by his sister, the city sport let himself into
the house and shut the door carefully behind him.
Then he made his way to the first room on the right of the hall and
opened its portal.
It was quite dark, all the curtains down--Lamont kept his untenanted
houses already furnished--and Claude had to strike a match.
“Jehu! what did sis mean, anyhow?” he exclaimed, as the light flickered
up. “No one here.”
He held the lucifer above his head and took a survey of the parlor.
Everything seemed in place, and he looked everywhere as he moved about
the room.
He noticed that the transom over the hall door was wide open, but he
thought nothing of this.
The faintest odor of burned powder assailed his nostrils and he stood
in the middle of the room a few seconds and sniffed the air.
“The girl’s mad!” he suddenly cried. “What is the fool’s errand she
wanted me to attend to, I’d like to know? There’s nothing in this
room, and yet she wanted me to look nowhere else but in this chamber.
There’s the smell of powder here. What does it mean? She was here, she
admitted. She can shoot like a professional. I’ve seen her at it in the
gallery. I’ll have to go back and laugh at her foolery.”
Claude quitted the room, and, to make sure there was nothing out of the
way in the house, went all over it.
“Sis is out of her head,” he again exclaimed, when he had inspected
the last room. “She may have thought she trapped the detective, but she
did nothing of the kind.”
When he left the Cedar Street house it was to go straight home.
He peeped into the library, but his father was no longer there.
“You?” cried a person who came out of the shadows of the bookcases, and
Claude Lamont stood in the presence of Opal.
Her look was a question, but her lips framed one.
“You’ve been there?” she cried.
“You sent me down there, didn’t you?”
“I did. Well?”
“I always obey you, don’t I, sis?”
“You do, Claude. You are my best friend. But tell me--you looked into
the room on the right?”
“Yes.”
“And----”
“It was empty!”
“Empty? My God!” and Opal, the millionaire’s daughter, staggered back
and dropped into her father’s chair.