IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY.
Nothing would deter Clara from a trip to police headquarters after
luncheon, and, as in the forenoon, her Cousin Louise accompanied her.
As they entered the building in Pemberton Square, they met the infirm
old man, Dexter, he who had arrived late at the church, he whom Clara
had interrupted in conversation with Mr. Pembroke. He bowed to the
young ladies with an attempt at graciousness, and reached for the
shapeless, soft cap that covered his head, but he only succeeded in
pulling the visor awry, and he passed them, mumbling about the weather.
"I am afraid," said Clara, "that my trouble is making me harsh toward
everybody, but that old man seems to me the most disagreeable and
repulsive being I ever saw. Who is he?"
"I only know that his name is Dexter," replied Louise; "he has some
business with papa, I believe."
Clara inquired for the detective who had been assigned to the Strobel
case, and after such delays as are naturally incident to strangers
making their first call at the offices of the department, she was
confronted by Mr. William Bowker, a commonplace-looking individual, who
said:
"Well, ladies, what can I do for you?"
"I am Miss Hilman," replied Clara.
"Ah!" and Bowker raised his brows regretfully, "I informed your uncle
this forenoon, Miss Hilman, of what I have done and found in the
matter."
"He told me about it, but I couldn't be satisfied with a report at
second hand. Won't you tell me just what you told him?"
"It will be very unpleasant for you, Miss Hilman, and if Mr. Pembroke
has told you the result of my investigation, that is really all there
is to be said."
"I won't trouble you to repeat that a gentleman answering the
description of Mr. Strobel alighted from a closed carriage at the
Park Square Station, shortly after the accident on Park Street and
bought a ticket for New York, or that Miss White took the same train.
I am willing to take it for granted that you have traced Miss White's
movements correctly. I want to know what makes you so certain that the
gentleman who took the train was Mr. Strobel?"
Detective Bowker stared at the young lady a moment; it was his delicate
way of expressing surprise.
"The description of the man and the time tallied with Strobel and his
accident," he answered, "to say nothing of the reasons for his running
away."
"Is that all, Mr. Bowker?"
"No, it ain't; that was what we found at first. Don't it look
reasonable----" and he proceeded to theorize on the matter until Clara
checked him.
"I could have heard all that from half the people in Boston," she said,
"if I had paid any attention to the rumor. I supposed professional
detectives would base their reports on something better than
conjecture."
Bowker shrugged his shoulders.
"What would you say," he asked with a little temper, "if an
acquaintance of Strobel's was to tell you that he saw the gentleman buy
his ticket and go to the train?"
"Have you such evidence as that? If so, who is it?"
"I can't answer the question, Miss Hilman. I have no right to make
public the workings of the department. I expect to get further evidence
this afternoon to prove that Strobel eloped. It's by no wish of mine,
you understand, that I tell you these disagreeable things."
"You needn't apologize, Mr. Bowker. I came for information. I
understand, then, that you do not regard your investigation as
finished."
"Well, not exactly. Of course we want to clinch it."
"Have you seen the driver of the closed carriage?"
"No. We have no means of identifying him except recognition by the man
who drove the coupé. If a man should walk in here and say that he drove
the closed carriage, we'd examine him, of course, but we've been unable
yet to find that man. The thing being in the papers, it may happen--in
fact, it's quite likely--that the missing driver will turn up to-day.
Cabmen are usually anxious to please the department. I suppose the
evidence of the cabman would be satisfactory, wouldn't it?"
"Quite, if I was satisfied that it was the man, and that he told the
truth."
"I guess you're hard to satisfy, Miss Hilman."
"Mr. Bowker," and Clara beamed on him with a smile so sweet and radiant
that he started with astonishment, "I think you are working hard and as
faithfully as you know how to prove a theory which you formed early in
your investigations, even before you had Lizzie White's flight to base
it on. I shouldn't think you'd do that, you know. Honestly, wouldn't
you rather find out the truth, even if it did upset your first theory?"
Bowker stared in undisguised discomfort.
"If you've got any facts," he said, "you'd ought to let us have them.
Of course we want to find out the truth. What is it you know, or think
of?"
"No, thank you, Mr. Bowker," responded Clara, rising, and still
bewildering him with her lovely smiles; "you work along in your way
and I'll work in mine. When I learn that you've found anything worth
considering, I may take you into my confidence; I might even co-operate
with you. Good-afternoon."
No one was more amazed at Clara's coolness than her Cousin Louise.
"I don't see how you can do it, Clara," she said when they were again
in Pemberton Square.
"Do you realize," returned Clara, "what might happen if I didn't do
something of this kind? Somebody must stir everybody else up, or else
the public will not only come to believe that Ivan was false, but we
shall never find him. I may be making mistakes, but I don't believe
that detective will be content to stop where he is. He'll look further,
and the further he looks the more certainly will he find that he has
been working at a wrong theory. Let's go somewhere and find a business
directory."
They went to the parlor of a neighboring hotel, where for an hour Clara
busied herself making a list of all the livery and hack stables in the
city. Then she hired a cab, and for hours the young ladies went from
one to another stable, Clara always with the same inquiry, seeking for
some trace of him whom for convenience she came to call the "second
driver."
There is no need to go into the details of her tedious search. It was
not concluded when evening came, and she had to desist from sheer
fatigue. She had found no clew that promised the discovery of the one
witness who could certainly be of use to her.
From Mrs. White's Litizki went to his shop and toiled patiently and
methodically for two or three hours. He hardly opened his lips during
the whole time, but his brain was busy with projects. That Poubalov
was responsible for the fate of Ivan Strobel did not admit of a shadow
of doubt; that he had concealed the young man in his lodgings was not
so certain, but Litizki deemed it altogether probable. The spy would
have plenty of money, he could have put up at a hotel; why had he not
done so? Because, according to Litizki's reasoning, he had uses for a
lodging to which the public conveniences of a hotel could not safely
be bent. Distrustful of all men, the spy would keep his prisoner under
his own charge, and in a lodging-house it would not be difficult
to purchase the discreet silence of a not too scrupulous landlady
concerning a mysterious co-tenant.
The more he thought about it the more firmly the idea took possession
of the tailor that Strobel was confined in the Bulfinch Place
lodging-house which Poubalov had entered by means of a latch-key.
If any one had suggested to him the spy's arguments to the effect
that as the agent of a friendly government he could not venture, if
he would, to violate American law, Litizki would have laughed, and
that would have been very significant of his immeasurable contempt
for the argument, for it was not in the memory of his associates that
the tailor had ever smiled. His nearest approach to it, in fact, was
when he manifested pleasure at the idea of being countenanced in an
investigation of Poubalov's doings in his own way. Respect American
law, indeed! Then would Poubalov be other than he was, and the leopard
might be expected to change his spots.
Litizki hated Poubalov with all the concentrated venom of his small
nature, a nature that had known little of good in the world save
in Ivan Strobel's kindness, that had felt the blows of tyranny and
the stabs of treachery at the hands of this same spy. A desire for
vengeance had smoldered long in his heart, and he had never expected
that any breeze of fortune would fan it into living flame; and now,
suddenly, it had burst forth a raging fire, and the possibility of
opportunity rose before his dull eyes as the one glad hope of his
wretched life. Poubalov in America! Poubalov at his treacherous work
against the one man who had inspired Litizki with confidence and
stirred his affections! and he, Litizki, knew Poubalov's secret, knew
where he could lay hands upon him! Fate must have placed him there in
order that Litizki's vengeance might be the more complete.
The tailor laid down his tools and bent his head upon his hands.
Poubalov must be checkmated, Strobel rescued; and if in accomplishing
this end, the spy should be--Well, what then?
Litizki put on a long coat with a high collar that he turned up about
his ears, and a soft hat that he pulled down over his eyes. At the foot
of the stairs that led to his shop he met Paul Palovna.
"Hello, Litizki," exclaimed the young man, "where in the world are you
going rigged out as if it were winter?"
The grotesque little figure looked sourly up at the inquirer and
replied:
"I am going to begin my work."
"See here, Litizki," said Paul, seriously, "you mustn't do anything
rash. I was just coming to see you to give you warning. Poubalov is
dangerous and very clever. Don't get yourself into trouble, and don't
spoil all chance of trapping him, if he has really got hold of Strobel,
by any premature act."
The little tailor reflected.
"For myself," he answered presently, "nothing matters. I will be
careful, Paul Palovna, as careful as man can be not to compromise
any chances. I shall act for myself alone. Nobody sends me, nobody
influences me. If I succeed, we shall all rejoice; if I fail"--he
shrugged his shoulders significantly--"I will be the only loser. I
promise you not to be rash, Paul Palovna, for the sake of noble Ivan
Strobel and his beautiful lady."
Then he moved away, and Palovna knew hardly whether to smile at his
ludicrous make-up, or shudder at the purpose that unquestionably lurked
in his thoughts.
"I hope good may come of it!" sighed Palovna.
Litizki went to Bulfinch Place, and shrinking as far as possible into
his long coat, walked along on the sidewalk opposite Poubalov's house.
Yes, there the villain was, calmly reading a newspaper! One flight from
the ground, front room. At the side of the room was a smaller one over
the hall. Litizki knew the arrangement of the houses in that vicinity,
and the blinds of that room were closed. Perhaps, though, the prison
chamber would be in some more remote part of the house. Time and the
night would tell.
The tailor went to the corner of Bowdoin Street, and stood there,
unmindful of the curious glances of passers until he saw Poubalov leave
the lodging-house. It was just possible that the spy had his prisoner
concealed elsewhere, and was now going to him. Litizki followed. It
occurred to him that now might be the time to get into the house
on some pretext and make a search, but he dismissed the thought as
ruinous. If Strobel were there, the landlady would be paid to be
watchful during Poubalov's absence. No; the night was the time when
nobody would be watching, and when every corner in the house could be
searched from cellar to garret.
Poubalov went to State Street, and entered the bank where Strobel had
been employed. He brushed past Litizki when he emerged, but apparently
did not see him. The tailor followed him from one place to another,
waited under a hotel window for an hour while the spy was dining,
saw him into a theatre and eventually back to his lodgings, where he
arrived at about eleven o'clock. It was evident that he went directly
to bed, for the light in his room was extinguished very shortly after
he went in.
Litizki then went to a cheap restaurant, where he appeased his appetite
and drank several cups of bad tea. It was after midnight before he left
the place, and his one wish was that he had a dark lantern. To make up
for his lack, he was plentifully supplied with matches.
A printer, whom Litizki knew by sight, lived in the house adjoining the
one where Poubalov lodged. The tailor knew that he ordinarily arrived
home at one o'clock. He was on time this night, and as he turned into
the tiny yard before the building, Litizki stepped down from the
doorway.
"I'm glad you've come," he said, "I left my key in the room and I can't
rouse anybody by ringing."
"No," responded the printer with a laugh, "they don't get up for
anybody. How long you been living here?"
"Only a few days."
The door was opened, and both men went upstairs. The printer, with a
cheery "good-night," entered a room on the second landing. Litizki
continued to the top floor, and thence through a skylight to the roof.
Fortune was, indeed, favoring him. He had supposed the skylight would
be raised for the sake of ventilation. There had been doubt whether
the steps leading to it would be in place.
He cared little whether the skylight on the adjoining roof would be
found open and the steps in place, or not; he would get in in any
event. Both were in just the condition most favorable to his project,
and a moment later Litizki had struck a match and was peering about in
an empty room on the top floor of Poubalov's lodging house.
The little tailor exulted more and more as he crept down the stairs
after examining every room. Not a sleeper had been awakened, not a door
had been found locked. He would search the whole house before trying
the door to the hall room adjoining Poubalov's. That would be found
locked. He had no doubt he should pick the lock, for he had skeleton
keys in his pocket, and if not--a vigorous shove and he would burst it
open. What cared he for details at the very end of his search?
He had come to the floor above the spy's room. Here, as before, every
door was unlocked, most of the rooms empty. He had just extinguished a
match preparatory to descending further, when from somewhere out of the
darkness heavy hands were laid upon him and he was borne to the floor.
Another instant and a hand was pressed upon his mouth and there was a
dazzling flash of light from a dark lantern held over him.
Litizki saw the cruel eyes of Alexander Poubalov glaring down, and then
the slide of the lantern was closed again.