MR. BURTON, THE DETECTIVE.
When I came out of the office, I encountered James on the steps, for
the first time that day. I could not stop to make known the robbery to
him, and telling him that his uncle wished to see him a few minutes, I
hurried to my boarding-house, where I had barely time to take some
lunch in my room, while packing a small bag to be sent to the cars,
before hurrying back to Mr. Argyll's to attend the funeral escort to
the train. James and I were two of the eight pall-bearers, yet neither
of us could summon fortitude to enter the parlor where the body lay; I
believe that James had not yet looked upon the corpse. We stood
outside, on the steps of the piazza, only taking our share of the
burden after the coffin was brought out into the yard. While we stood
there, among many others, waiting, I chanced to observe his paleness
and restlessness; he tore his black gloves in putting them on; I saw
his fingers trembling. As for me, my whole being seemed to pause, as a
single, prolonged shriek rung out of the darkened mansion and floated
off on the sunshine up to the ear of God. They were taking the lover
away from his bride. The next moment the coffin appeared; I took my
place by its side, and we moved away toward the depot, passing over the
very spot where the corpse was found. James was a step in advance of
me, and as we came to the place, some strong inward recoil made him
pause, then step aside and walk around the ill-starred spot. I noticed
it, not only for the momentary confusion into which it threw the line,
but because I had never supposed him susceptible to superstitious or
imaginative influences.
A private car had been arranged for. James and I occupied one seat; the
swift motion of the train was opposed to the idea of death; it had an
exhilarating effect upon my companion, whose paleness passed away, and
who began to experience a reäction after his depression of feeling. He
talked to me incessantly upon trifling subjects which I do not now
recall, and in that low, yet sharp voice which is most easily
distinguished through the clatter of a moving train. The necessity for
attending to him--for making answers to irrelevant questions, when my
mind was preoccupied, annoyed me. My thoughts centered about the
coffin, and its inmate, taking his last ride under circumstances so
different from those under which he had set out, only two days ago, to
meet her whom his heart adored; whose hand he never clasped--whose lips
he never touched--the fruition of whose hopes was cut off
utterly--whose fate, henceforth, was among the mysterious paths of the
great eternity.
_I_ could not, for an instant, feel the least lightness of heart. My
nature was too sympathetic; the currents of my young blood flowed too
warmly, for me to feel otherwise than deeply affected by the
catastrophe. My eyes shed inward tears at the sight of the parents,
sitting in advance of us, their heads bowed beneath the stroke; and,
oh! my heart shed tears of blood at thought of Eleanor, left behind us
to the utter darkness of a night which had fallen while it was yet
morning.
Musing upon _her_, I wondered that her cousin James could throw off the
troubles of others as he did, interesting himself in passing trifles. I
have said that I never liked him much; but in this I was an exception
to the general rule. He was an almost universal favorite. At least, he
seldom failed to please and win those for whom he exerted himself to be
agreeable. His voice was soft and well modulated--such a voice as,
should one hear it from another apartment, would make him wish to see
the speaker; his manner was gracious and flattering. I had often
wondered why his evident passion for Eleanor had not secured her
interest in return, before she knew Henry Moreland, and had answered
myself that it was one of two reasons: either their cousinly
intercourse had invested him, to her, with the feelings of a brother or
relative, or her fine perceptions, being the superior woman which she
was, had unconsciously led her to a true estimate of his qualities.
This day I felt less affinity for him than ever before, as I gazed at
his dark, thin features, and met the light of eyes brilliant, unsteady
and cold. That intense selfishness which I had secretly attributed to
him, was now, to my perhaps too acute apprehension, painfully apparent.
In my secret heart, as I listened to his light remarks, and perceived
the rise of spirits which he hardly endeavored to check, I accused him
of gladness that a rival was out of the way, and that the chances were
again open for the hand of his beautiful and wealthy cousin. At first
he had been shocked, as we all were; but now that he had time to view
the occurrence with an eye to the future, I believed that he was
already calculating the results with regard to his own hopes and
wishes. I turned from him with a feeling of aversion.
After neglecting to reply to him until he was obliged to drop the
one-sided conversation, I recollected that I had not yet spoken to him
in regard to his uncle's loss; so I said to him quite suddenly,
"Mr. Argyll has been robbed of a sum of money."
An inexplicable expression flashed into his face and passed off; it
went as soon as it came.
"So he informed me, just before we started. He says that you will put
the police on the track of it--that possibly the five-hundred dollar
bill will be identified. It was taken from his desk, it appears."
"Yes; I wonder what will happen next."
"Ay! I wonder what will."
"Who knows what a narrow escape _you_ may have had," said I. "It is
well that you came here in broad daylight; else, like poor Henry, you
might have fallen a victim to a blow in the dark. Mr. Argyll thinks you
must have been followed from the city by some professional burglar."
"He thinks so?" he asked, while the shadow of a smile just showed a
second in the mirror of his eyes; it was as if there was a smile in his
heart, and a reflection from its invisible self fell athwart his eyes;
but he turned them away immediately.
"It's queer," he resumed; "horribly queer; don't you think so? I saw
that money in the desk Friday evening. Uncle asked me to hold the lamp
a moment, while he found some papers, and I noticed the roll of bills
lying in his cash-drawer, just as I had given them to him. It must have
been abstracted Saturday or Sunday--it's queer--confoundedly so! There
must be some great villain lurking in our midst!"--this last sentence
he uttered with an emphasis, looking me through with his black eyes.
There was suspicion in his gaze, and my own fell before it. Innocence
itself will blush if obliged to confront the insult of accusation. I
had had many wild, and doubtless many wrong and suspicious thoughts
about various persons, since the discovery of the murder; and this was
turning the tables on me rather suddenly. It never occurred to me that
among the dozens upon whom vague and flying suspicions might alight,
might be myself.
"There is an awful mystery somewhere," I stammered.
"Humph! yes, there is. My uncle Argyll is just the man to be wronged by
some one of his many friends and dependents. He is too confiding, too
unsuspecting of others--as I have told him. He has been duped
often--but this--this is too bad!"
I looked up again, and sharply, to see what he meant. If he intended
covertly to insinuate that _I_ was open to imputation as one of the
"friends or dependents" who could wrong a benefactor, I wished to
understand him. A friend, I knew, Mr. Argyll was to me; a friend to be
grateful for; but I was no dependent upon his bounty, as his nephew
was, and the hot blood rushed to my face, the fire to my eye, as I
answered back the cool gaze of James with a haughty stare.
"There is no love lost between us, Richard," he said, presently, "which
is principally your fault; but I am friendly to you; and as a friend, I
would suggest that you do not make yourself conspicuous in this affair.
If you should put yourself forward at all, being so young, and having,
apparently, so small an interest in the matter, you may bring
unpleasant remark upon yourself. Let us stand back and allow our elders
to do the work. As to that money, whether it has or has not any
connection with the--the other affair, time will perhaps show. Let the
police do what they can with it--my advice to you is to keep in the
background."
"Your course may be prudent, James," was my reply; "I do not ask your
approbation of mine. But to one thing I have made up my mind. So long
as I live, and the murderer of Henry Moreland is undiscovered, I will
never rest. In Eleanor's name, I consecrate myself to this calling. I
can face the whole world in her behalf, and fear nothing."
He turned away with a sneer, busying himself with the prospect from the
window. During the rest of the ride we said little; his words had given
me a curious sensation; I had sustained so many shocks to my feelings
within the last forty-eight hours, that this new one of finding myself
under the eye of suspicion, mingled in with the perplexing whirl of the
whole, until I almost began to doubt my own identity and that of
others. A vision of Leesy Sullivan, whose wild footsteps might still be
tracking hills and fields, hovered before me--and out of all this
distraction, my thoughts settled upon Eleanor. I prayed God earnestly
to be with her in this hour; either to strengthen her heart and brain
to bear her affliction without falling to ruins beneath the weight, or
to take her at once to Himself, where Henry awaited her in the mansions
of their eternal home.
The arrival of the train at Thirtieth street recalled me to my present
duties. Carriages were in waiting to convey the coffin and its escort
to the house of the parents, the funeral being arranged for the
following day. I saw the officer who had gone down from Blankville in
the morning, waiting in the depot to speak to me; but I did not need to
be told that he had not found the sewing-girl at her place of business.
I made an appointment to meet him in the evening at the Metropolitan,
and took my place in the sad procession to the house of the Morelands.
I was anxious to give notice of the robbery at the bank, and to
ascertain if they could identify any of the money, especially the large
bill, which, being new, I hoped they would have on record. Banking
hours were over, however, for the day, and it was only by intruding the
matter upon the notice of Mr. Moreland that I could get any thing
accomplished. This I decided to do; when he told me that, by going
directly to the bank, he thought I could gain access to the cashier;
and if not, he gave me his address, so that I might seek him at his
residence. Mr. Moreland also advised me to take with me some competent
detective, who should be witness to the statement of the cashier with
regard to the money paid to James Argyll, on his uncle's draft, and be
employed to put the rest of the force on the lookout for it, or any
portion of it which was identifiable. He gave me the name of an officer
with whom he had a chance acquaintance, and of whose abilities he had a
high opinion; telling me to make free use of his name and influence, if
he had any, with him, and the police.
"And please, Mr. Redfield--or James here, if you should be too
busy--make out an advertisement for the morning papers, offering a
reward of five thousand dollars for the detection and conviction of
the--the--murderer."
James was standing by us during the conversation; and I almost withdrew
my verdict upon his selfishness, as I marked how he shrunk when the eye
of the bereaved father rested upon him, and how vainly he endeavored to
appear calm at the affecting spectacle of the gray-haired gentleman
forcing his quivering lips to utter the word--"murderer." He trembled
much more than myself, as each of us wrung Mr. Moreland's hand, and
departed down the steps.
"It unmanned him," he said, stopping a moment on the pavement to wipe
the perspiration from his brow, though the day was not at all warm. "I
believe," he added, as he walked along, "that if the person who
resolves to commit a crime would reflect on all the consequences of
that act, it would remain undone for ever. But he does not. He sees an
object in the way of his wishes, and he thrusts it aside, reckless of
the ruin which will overwhelm surrounding things, until he sees the
wreck about him. Then it is too late for remorse--to the devil with it.
But I needn't philosophize before you, Richard, who have precociously
earned that privilege of wisdom"--with that disagreeable half-laugh of
his--"only I was thinking how the guilty party must have felt could he
have seen Henry's father as we saw him just now," and again I felt his
eye upon me. Certainly, there seemed no prospect of our friendship
increasing. I would rather have dispensed with his company, while I put
my full energies into the business before me; but it was quite natural
that he should expect to accompany me on an errand in which he must
have as deep an interest as myself. Coming out of the avenue upon
Broadway we took a stage, riding down as far as Grand street, when we
got out and walked to the office of the detective-police.
The chief was not in at the moment of our entrance; we were received by
a subordinate and questioned as to our visit. The morning papers had
heralded the melancholy and mysterious murder through the city;
hundreds of thousands of persons had already marveled over the boldness
and success, the silence and suddenness with which the deed had been
done, leaving not a clue by which to trace the perpetrator. It had been
the sensation of the day throughout New York and its environs. The
public mind was busy with conjectures as to the _motive_ for the crime.
And this was to be one of the sharp thorns pressed into the hearts of
the distressed friends of the murdered man. Suddenly, into the garish
light of day, beneath the pitiless gaze of a million curious eyes, was
dragged every word, or act, or circumstance of the life so abruptly
closed. It was necessary to the investigation of the affair, that the
most secret pages of his history should be read out--and it is not in
the nature of a daily paper to neglect such opportunities for turning
an honest penny. Here let me say that not one character in ten thousand
could have stood this trial by fire as did Henry Moreland's. No wronged
hireling, no open enemy, no secret intrigue, no gambling debts--not one
blot on the bright record of his amiable, Christian life.
To return to the detective-office. Our errand at once received
attention from the person in charge, who sent a messenger after the
chief. He also informed us that several of their best men had gone up
to Blankville that afternoon to confer with the authorities there. The
public welfare demanded, as well as the interest of private
individuals, that the guilty should be ferreted out, if possible. The
apparent impunity with which the crime had been committed was
startling, making every one feel it a personal matter to aid in
discouraging any more such practices; besides, the police knew that
their efforts would be well rewarded.
While we sat talking with the official, I noticed the only other inmate
of the room, who made a peculiar impression upon me for which I could
not account.
He was a large man, of middle age, with a florid face and sandy hair.
He was quietly dressed in the ordinary manner of the season, and with
nothing to mark him from a thousand other men of similar appearance,
unless it was the expression of his small, blue-gray eyes, whose
glance, when I happened to encounter it, seemed not to be looking at me
but into me. However, he turned it away, and occupied himself with
looking through the window at the passers-by. He appeared to be a
stranger, awaiting, like ourselves, the coming of the chief.
Desiring to secure the services of the particular detective whom Mr.
Moreland had recommended, I asked the subordinate in attendance, if he
could inform me where Mr. Burton was to be found.
"Burton? I don't know of any one of that name, I think--if I may except
my stage experience with Mr. Toodles," he added, with a smile, called
up by some passing vision of his last visit to the theater.
"Then there is no Mr. Burton belongs to your force?"
"Not that I am acquainted with. He may be one of us, for all that. We
don't pretend to know our own brothers here. You can ask Mr. Browne
when he comes in."
All this time the stranger by the window sat motionless, absorbed in
looking upon the throng of persons and vehicles in the street beneath;
and now I, having nothing else to do, regarded him. I felt a magnetism
emanate from him, as from a manufactory of vital forces; I felt,
instinctively, that he was possessed of an iron will and indomitable
courage; I was speculating, according to my dreamy habit, upon his
characteristics, when the chief appeared, and we, that is, James and
myself, laid our case before him--at the same time I mentioned that Mr.
Moreland had desired me to ask for Mr. Burton to be detailed to aid our
investigations.
"Ah! yes," said Mr. Browne, "there are not many outsiders who know that
person. He is my right hand, but I don't let the left know what he
doeth. Mr. Moreland had his services once, I remember, in tracking some
burglars who had entered his banking-house. Poor young Moreland! I've
seen him often! Shocking affair, truly. We mustn't rest till we know
more about it. I only hope we may be of service to his afflicted
father. Burton is just here, fortunately," and he beckoned to the very
stranger sitting in the window, who had overheard the inquiries made
for him without the slightest demonstration that such a being had any
existence as far as he was concerned, and who now slowly arose, and
approached us. We four went into an inner room, where we were
introduced to each other, and drawing up our chairs in a close circle,
we began, in low voices, the discussion of our business.
Mr. Browne was voluble when he heard that a robbery had been committed
in Mr. Argyll's house. He had no doubt, he said, that the two crimes
were connected, and it would be strange, indeed, if nothing could be
discovered relating to either of them. He hoped that the lesser crime
would be the means of betraying the greater. He trusted the rogue,
whoever he or she might be, had, in this imprudent act, done something
to betray himself. He had hopes of the five-hundred dollar bill.
Mr. Burton said very little, beyond asking two or three questions; but
he was a good listener. Much of the time he sat with his eyes fixed
upon James, who did a good deal of the talking. I could not, for the
life of me, tell whether James was conscious of those blue-gray eyes;
if he was, they did not much disturb him; he made his statements in a
calm and lucid manner, gazing into Mr. Burton's face with a clear and
open look. After a while, the latter began to grow uneasy; powerful as
was his physical and mental frame, I saw a trembling of both; he forced
himself to remain quiet in his chair--but to me he had the air of a
lion, who sees its prey but a little distance off, and who trembles
with restraint. The light in his eye narrowed down to one gleam of
concentrated fire--a steely, glittering point--he watched the rest of
us and said little. If I had been a guilty man I should have shrunk
from that observation, through the very walls, or out of a five-story
window, if there had been no other way; it struck me that it would have
been unbearable to any accusing conscience; but my own mind being
burdened with no weightier sins than a few boyish follies--saving the
selfishness and earthliness which make a part of all human natures--I
felt quite free, breathing easily, while I noticed, with interest, the
silent change going on in the detective.
More and more like a lion about to spring, he grew; but whether his
prey was near at hand and visible, or far away and visible only to his
mental gaze, I could not tell. I fairly jumped, when he at last rose
quickly to his feet; I expected to see him bound upon some guilty ghost
to us intangible, and shake it to pieces in an honest rage; but
whatever was the passion within him, he controlled it, saying only, a
little impatiently,
"Enough, gentlemen, we have talked enough! Browne, will you go with Mr.
Argyll to the bank, and see about that money? I do not wish to be known
there as belonging to your force. I will walk to his hotel with Mr.
Redfield, and you can meet us there at any hour you choose to appoint."
"It will take until tea-time to attend to the bank. Say about eight
o'clock, then, we will be at the--"
"Metropolitan," said I, and the quartette parted, half going up and
half going down town.
On our way to the hotel we fell into an easy conversation on topics
entirely removed from the one which absorbed the gravest thoughts of
both. Mr. Burton did more talking now than he had done at the office,
perhaps with the object of making me express myself freely; though if
so, he managed with so much tact that his wish was not apparent. He had
but poor success; the calamity of our house lay too heavily on me for
me to forget it in an instant; but I was constantly surprised at the
character of the man whose acquaintance I was making. He was
intelligent, even educated, a gentleman in language and manner--a quite
different person, in fact, from what I had expected in a member of the
detective-police.
Shut up in the private parlor which I obtained at the Metropolitan, the
subject of the murder was again broached and thoroughly discussed. Mr.
Burton won my confidence so inevitably that I felt no hesitation in
unvailing to him the domestic hearth of Mr. Argyll, whenever the habits
or circumstances of the family were consulted in their bearing upon the
mystery. And when he said to me, fixing his eye upon me, but speaking
gently,
"You, too, loved the young lady,"--I neither blushed nor grew angry.
That penetrating eye had read the secret of my heart, which had never
been spoken or written, yet I did not feel outraged that he had dared
to read it out to me. If he could find any matter against me in that
holiest truth of my existence, he was welcome to it.
"Be it so," I said; "that is with myself, and no one else."
"There are others who love her," he continued, "but there is a
difference in the quality of love. There is that which sanctifies, and
something, called by the same name, which is an excuse for infinite
perfidy. In my experience I have found the love of woman and the love
of money at the bottom of most mischief--the greed of gain is by far
the commonest and strongest; and when the two are combined, there is
motive enough for the darkest tragedy. But you spoke of a young woman,
of whom you have suspicions."
I told Mr. Burton that in this matter I trusted to his discretion; that
I had not brought it to notice before Mr. Browne, because I shrunk from
the danger of fixing a ruinous suspicion upon a person who might be
perfectly innocent; yet that circumstances were such as to demand
investigation, which I was sure he was the person to carry on. I then
gave him a careful account of every thing I had seen or learned about
the sewing-girl. He agreed with me that she ought to be placed under
secret surveillance. I told him that the officer from Blankville would
be in after tea, when we could consult together and dispose of the
discussion before the arrival of James and Mr. Browne--and I then rung
the bell, ordering a light supper in our room.
The Blankville official had nothing to report of Miss Sullivan, except
that she had not arrived either at her boarding-house or at the shop
where she was employed, and her character stood high at both places.
She had been represented to him as a "strictly proper" person, very
reserved, in poor health, with a sad appearance, and an excellent
workwoman--that no gentlemen were ever known to call to see her, and
that she never went out after returning to her boarding-house at the
close of work-hours. We then requested him to say nothing about her to
his brother officers, and to keep the matter from the newspapers, as we
should regret doing an irreparable injury to one who might be guiltless.
It seemed as if the Fates were in favor of the guilty. Mr. Browne,
punctually at eight o'clock, reported that there was none of the money
paid out to James Argyll at Mr. Argyll's order, which the bank would
identify--not even its own bill of five hundred dollars, which was a
recent issue. They had paid out such a bill on the draft, but the
number was not known to them.
"However," said Mr. Browne, "bills of that denomination are not common,
and we shall be on the lookout for them, wherever offered."
"But even should the robber be discovered, there is no proof that it
would establish any connection with the murder. It may have been a
coincidence," remarked James. "I have often noticed that one calamity
is sure to be followed by another. If there is a railroad disaster, a
powder-mill explosion, a steamer destroyed by fire, before the horror
of the first accident has done thrilling our nerves, we are pretty
certain to be startled by another catastrophe."
"I, too," said Mr. Burton, "have remarked the succession of
events--echoes, as it were, following the clap of thunder. And I have
usually found that, like the echoes, there was a natural cause for
them."
James moved uneasily in his chair, arose, pulled aside the curtain, and
looked out into the night. I had often noticed that he was somewhat
superstitious; perhaps he saw the eyes of Henry Moreland looking down
at him from the starry hights; he twitched the curtains together with a
shiver, and came back to us.
"It is not impossible," he said, keeping his face in the shadow, for he
did not like us to see how the night had affected him, "that some one
of the clerks in Mr. Moreland's banking-house--perhaps some trusted and
responsible person--was detected by Henry, in making false entries, or
some other dishonesty--and that to save himself the disgrace of
betrayal and dismissal, he has put the discoverer out of the way. The
whole business of the establishment ought to be thoroughly overhauled.
It appears that Henry went directly to the cars from the office; so
that if any trouble had arisen between him and one of the employees,
there would have been no opportunity for his consulting his father, who
was not at the place all that afternoon."
"Your suggestion is good," said Mr. Browne, "and must be attended to."
"The whereabouts of every one of the employees, down to the porter, at
the time of the murder, are already accounted for. They were all in the
city," said Mr. Burton, with precision.
Shortly after, the party separated for the night. An urgent invitation
came from Mr. Moreland for James and myself to stop at his house during
our stay in the city; but we thought it better not to disturb the quiet
of the house of mourning with the business which we wished to press
forward, and returned an answer to that effect. It was nearly ten
o'clock when James recollected that we had not been to the offices of
the daily journals with the advertisements which ought to appear in the
morning. It was the work of a few minutes for me to write one out,
which we then copied on three or four sheets of paper, and finding an
errand-boy below, we dispatched him with two of the copies to as many
journals, and ourselves hurried off with the others. I went to one
establishment and my companion to another, in order to hasten
proceedings, knowing that it was doubtful if we could get them inserted
at that late hour. Having succeeded to my satisfaction with my own
errand, I thought I would walk over to the next street and meet James,
whom, having a little further than I to go, I would probably meet,
returning. As I neared the building to which he had gone, and which was
brilliantly lighted up for its night-work, I saw James come out on the
pavement, look around him an instant, and then start off in a direction
opposite to that which would lead back to Broadway and his hotel. He
had not observed me, who chanced to be in shadow at the moment; and I,
without any particular motive which I could analyze, started after him,
thinking to overtake him and offer to join him in a walk. He went,
however, at so rapid a pace, that I still remained behind. Our course
lay through Nassau and Fulton streets, to the Brooklyn ferry. I
quickened my pace almost to a run, as James passed into the
ferry-house, for I saw that a boat was about to start; but I had a
vexatious delay in finding small change, so that I got through just in
time to see the boat move off, James himself having to take a flying
leap to reach it after it was under way. At that hour there was a boat
only every fifteen minutes; of course I gave up the pursuit; and
sitting down at the end of the bridge, I allowed the cool wind from the
bay and river to blow against my hot face, while I gazed out on the
dark waters, listening to their incessant moaning about the piers, and
watching where they glimmered beneath the lights of the opposite shore.
The blue and red lamps of the moving vessels, in my present mood, had a
weird and ghastly effect; the thousands of masts of the moored shipping
stood up naked against the sky, like a forest of blighted, skeleton
pines. Sadness, the deepest I had ever felt in my life, fell upon
me--sadness too deep for any expression. The shifting water, slipping
and sighing about the works of men which fretted it; the
unapproachable, glittering sky; the leafless forest, the wind fresh
from its ocean solitudes--these partially interpreted it, but not
wholly. Their soul, as far as the soul of Nature goes, was in unison
with mine; but in humanity lies a still deeper deep, rises a higher
hight. I was as much alone as if nearly a million fellow-creatures were
not so encircling me. I thought of the many tragedies over which these
waters had closed; of the secrets they had hidden; of the many lives
sucked under these ruthless bridges; of the dark creatures who haunted
these docks at evil hours--but most I thought of a distant chamber,
where a girl, who yesterday was as full of love and beauty as a morning
rose is full of dew and perfume--whose life ran over with light--whose
step was imperial with the happiness of youth--lay, worn and pallid,
upon her weary bed, breathing sighs of endless misery. I thought of the
funeral procession which to-morrow, at noon, should come by this road
and travel these waters, to that garden of repose, whose white
tombstones I knew, although I could not see them, gleamed now under the
"cold light of stars."
[Illustration:
BAFFLED.
Page 64.]
Thus I sat, wrapped in musings, until a policeman, who, it is likely,
had long had his eye upon me, wondering if I were a suspicious
character, called out--"Take care of your legs, young man!" and I
sprung to my feet, as the return boat came into her slip, drifting up
and bumping sullenly against the end of the bridge where my legs had
been dangling.
I waited until, among the not numerous passengers, I perceived James
hurrying by, when I slipped my hand into his arm quietly, saying,
"You led me quite a race--what in the world have you been across to
Brooklyn for?"
He jumped at my voice and touch; then grew angry, as people are apt to
do when they are startled or frightened, after the shock is over.
"What business is that of yours, sir? How dare you follow me? If you
have taken upon yourself the office of spy, let me know it."
"I beg your pardon," I answered, withdrawing from his arm, "I walked
over to the H---- office to meet you, and saw you walk off in this
direction. I had no particular object in following you, and perhaps
ought not to have done it."
"I spoke too hastily," he said, almost immediately. "Forget it,
Richard. You pounced upon me so unexpectedly, you gave me a nervous
shock--irritated my combativeness, I suppose. I thought, of course, you
had returned to the hotel, and feeling too restless to go back to my
little bedroom, there, I determined to try the effect of a ride across
the river. The bracing air has toned me up. I believe I can go back and
sleep"--offering his arm again, which I took, and we slowly retraced
our steps to the Metropolitan.
I will not pain the heart of my reader by forcing him to be one of the
mournful procession which followed Henry Moreland to his untimely
grave. At two o'clock of Tuesday, all was over. The victim was hidden
away from the face of the earth--smiling, as if asleep, dreaming of his
Eleanor, he was consigned to that darkness from whence he should never
awaken and find her--while the one who had brought him low walked
abroad under the sunlight of heaven. To give that guilty creature no
peace was the purpose of my heart.
James resolved to return to Blankville by the five o'clock train. He
looked sick, and said that he felt so--that the last trying scene had
"used him up;" and then, his uncle would surely want one of us to
assist him at home. To this I assented, intending myself to stay in the
city a day or two, until Mr. Burton was prepared to go out to
Blankville with me.
After such of the friends from the village as had come down to attend
the funeral, had started for home in the afternoon cars, I went to my
room to have another interview with the detective. In the mean time, I
had heard some of the particulars of Mr. Burton's history, which had
greatly increased the interest I already felt in him. He had chosen his
present occupation out of a consciousness of his fitness for it. He was
in independent circumstances, and accepted no salary for what was with
him a labor of love; seldom taking any of the liberal sums pressed upon
him by grateful parties who had benefited by his skill, except to cover
expenses to which long journeys, or other necessities of the case,
might have subjected him. He had been in the "profession" but a few
years. Formerly he had been a forwarding-merchant, universally esteemed
for integrity, and carrying about him that personal influence which men
of strong will and unusual discrimination exercise over those with whom
they come in contact. But that he had any extraordinary powers, of the
kind which had since been developed, he was as ignorant as others. An
accident, which revealed these to him, shaped the future course of his
life. One wild and windy night the fire-bells of New York rung a fierce
alarm; the flames of a large conflagration lighted the sky; the firemen
toiled manfully, as was their wont, but the air was bitter and the
pavements sleety, and the wintry wind "played such fantastic tricks
before high heaven" as made the angel of mercy almost despair. Before
the fire could be subdued, four large warehouses had been burned to the
ground, and in one of them a large quantity of uninsured merchandise
for which Mr. Burton was responsible.
The loss, to him, was serious. He barely escaped failure by drawing in
his business to the smallest compass, and, by the exercise of great
prudence, he managed to save a remnant of his fortune, with which, as
soon as he could turn it to advantage, he withdrew from his mercantile
career. His mind was bent on a new business, which unfitted him for any
other.
The fire was supposed to be purely accidental; the insurance companies,
usually cautious enough, had paid over their varying amounts of
insurance to those fortunate losers, who were not, like Mr. Burton,
unprepared. These losers were men of wealth, and the highest position
as business firms--high and mighty potentates, against whom to breathe
a breath of slander, was to overwhelm the audacious individual in the
ruins of his own presumption. Mr. Burton had an inward conviction that
these men were guilty of arson. He knew it. His mind perceived their
guilt. But he could make no allegation against them upon such
unsubstantial basis as this. He went to work, quietly and singly, to
gather up the threads in the cable of his proof; and when he had made
it strong enough to hang them twice over--for two lives, that of a
porter and a clerk, had been lost in the burning buildings--he
threatened them with exposure, unless they made good to him the loss
which he had sustained through their villainy. They laughed at him from
their stronghold of respectability. He brought the case into court.
Alas! for the pure, white statue of Justice which beautifies the
desecrated chambers of the law. Banded together, with inexhaustible
means of corruption at their command, the guilty were triumphant.
During this experience, Mr. Burton had got an inside view of life, in
the marts, on exchange, in the halls of justice, and in the high and
low places where men do congregate. It was as if, with the thread in
his hand, which he had picked out, he unraveled the whole web of human
iniquity. Burning with a sense of his individual wrongs, he could not
look calmly on and see others similarly exposed; he grew fascinated
with his labor of dragging the dangerous secrets of a community to the
light. The more he called into play the peculiar faculties of his mind,
which made him so successful a hunter on the paths of the guilty, the
more marvelous became their development. He was like an Indian on the
trail of his enemy--the bent grass, the broken twig, the evanescent
dew--which, to the uninitiated, were "trifles light as air," to him
were "proofs strong as Holy Writ."
In this work he was actuated by no pernicious motives. Upright and
humane, with a generous heart which pitied the innocent injured, his
conscience would allow him no rest if he permitted crime, which he
could see walking where others could not, to flourish unmolested in the
sunshine made for better uses. He attached himself to the secret
detective-police; only working up such cases as demanded the benefit of
his rare powers.
Thus much of Mr. Burton had the chief of police revealed to me, during
a brief interview in the morning; and this information, it may be
supposed, had not lessened the fascinations which he had for me. The
first thing he said, after the greetings of the day, when he came to my
room, was,
"I have ascertained that our sewing-girl has one visitor, who is a
constant one. There is a middle-aged woman, a nurse, who brings a
child, now about a year old, every Sunday to spend half the day with
her, when she does not go up to Blankville. On such occasions it is
brought in the evening, some time during the week. It passes, so says
the landlady, for the child of a cousin of Miss Sullivan's, who was
married to a worthless young fellow, who deserted her within three
months, and went off to the west; the mother died at its birth, leaving
it entirely unprovided for, and Miss Sullivan, to keep it out of the
charity-hospital, hired this woman to nurse it with her own baby, for
which she pays her twelve shillings a week. She was, according to her
story to the landlady, very much attached to her poor cousin, and could
not cast off the little one for her sake."
"All of which may be true--"
"Or false--as the case may turn."
"It certainly will not be difficult to ascertain if such a cousin
really married and died, as represented. The girl has not returned to
her work yet, I suppose?"
"She has not. Her absence gives the thing a bad look. Some connection
she undoubtedly has with the case; as for how deeply she was involved
in it, we will only know when we find out. Whoever the child's mother
may have been, it seems evident, from the tenor of the landlady's
story, that Miss Sullivan is much attached to it; it is safe to presume
that, sooner or later, she will return to look after it. In her anxiety
to reach the nest, she will fly into the trap. I have made arrangements
by which I shall be informed if she appears at any of her former
haunts, or at the house of the nurse. And now, I believe, I will go up
to Blankville with you for a single day. I wish to see the ground of
the tragedy, including Mr. Argyll's residence, the lawn, the library
from which the money was abstracted, etc. A clear picture of these,
carried in my mind, may be of use to me in unexpected ways. If we hear
nothing of her in the village, I will return to the city, and await her
reäppearance here, which will be sure to occur within a month."
"Why within a month?"
"Women risk themselves, always, where a little child demands it. When
the nurse finds the baby abandoned by its protector, and the wages
unpaid, she will throw the charge upon the authorities. To prevent
this, the girl will be back here to see after it. However, I hope we
shall not be a month getting at what we want. It will be curious if we
don't finish the whole of this melancholy business before that. And, by
the way, you and young Argyll had quite a hide-and-seek race the other
night!" and when I looked my astonishment at this remark, he only
laughed. "It's my profession, you know," was his only explanation.