OLD NANON SPEAKS
Ashton-Kirk was at breakfast next morning when Fuller entered.
"I beg pardon," said the assistant, "but I've just had a call from
Burgess, and I thought you'd like to hear what he had to say."
"Good. Let's have it."
"He went to 424 Lowe Street last night after I gave him your
instructions. It's a large building, once used as a factory, but now
rearranged as an apartment house. There was a gas-lighted sign over the
door which said rooms might be had. Burgess took one on the fourth
floor, and in a conversation with the caretaker mentioned that he had a
friend, a Pole, who had lived there.
"'Do you know Kendreg?' says the caretaker. 'He's right across the hall
from you.'
"But Burgess says no, that's not the name. And when the man went away he
waited a while, and then knocked at the door opposite. The person who
opened in answer to the knock was a middle-aged man, stout and with
grayish hair. Burgess says he was enough like the description we had of
Karkowsky to be his twin brother."
Ashton-Kirk set down his coffee cup, a smile upon his face.
"It is Karkowsky himself, just as I expected," said he. "But," glancing
at Fuller, "what happened then?"
"Burgess merely asked if he could bother him for a match, which the
stout man provided willingly enough, and then promptly closed his door."
"Nothing more?"
"That is all, so far."
"What do the papers report that is new?"
"Nothing, except that Osborne has returned and will now plunge into the
intricacies of the case with renewed zeal. They seem to suspect him of
having made wonderful discoveries of some sort."
"Have you heard anything from Purvis?"
"Yes. He reports that no one but Drevenoff has made any movement away
from the house in Fordham Road, Eastbury. And that _he_ has merely
walked about a little, apparently for exercise, or gone to the nearest
post-box to mail some letters."
"Dr. Morse is to be buried to-day, I believe?"
"Yes, at about noon."
It was at that hour that Stumph entered the study.
"There is a woman below, sir," said he. "She is quite old--and quite
remarkable. She wishes to speak to you, and says that I'm to inform you
that she is from Dr. Morse's."
"Bring her up."
Old Nanon came in a few moments later, grim, erect and angular. Her keen
eyes seemed somewhat sunken, and her wrinkled face more gaunt; but her
glance was as sharp as ever, and her mouth was set in the same stern
line.
"You are surprised," she said, when she had seated herself and studied
him for a moment. "You thought that because Simon Morse was being
carried to the grave that I, an old servant of his family, would remain
near him to the last."
"It's the sort of thing that's usually expected," said the secret agent.
"No one who knows would expect it from me," said the old woman. "No one
who knows would expect it from me," she repeated, her lips forming the
words slowly, and her gray head swaying from side to side. "I knew him
from a child. He was evil--possessed of evil; and what he was in the
last days of his life, so he was always."
Ashton-Kirk said nothing; he remained gazing at the old Breton woman,
his hands clasping his knee and his head tilted so as to rest upon the
back of his chair.
"There was never any other in the family like him," she continued. "Not
one. I have known them for four generations. His great-grandmother it
was who employed me first; I was a girl then, and she was good to me.
They were _all_ good to me, and I remained with them and served them as
well as I could. But there must have been something wicked in them
somewhere, something hidden and black, and in this son it showed
itself." Here her voice lowered and she leaned toward the secret agent.
"In Brittany there is a belief that there are those gifted with a
strange vision. Have I that, I wonder? Sometimes I have thought so; for
it was I alone who saw Simon Morse entirely as he was. To be sure,
others have heard him blaspheme, and still others have read his books.
But I alone knew him for what he was."
The secret agent still sat attentively silent; if he wondered what all
this would eventually lead to, he made no sign.
"I have always been thankful," proceeded Nanon, "that only one of the
family was so cursed. All those who had gone before were mild and
religious and gentle. And because of this I felt that I should not
desert this tainted one, but remain and strive with him, even if it did
no good." She paused for a moment, and the bony old hands, with their
thick blue veins, were locked tightly together. "Yes," she resumed, "I
was always thankful that only one of them was evil of heart, but now,"
whisperingly, "I am not so sure that I have even that to be thankful
for."
A faint wrinkle showed itself between the eyes of Ashton-Kirk; but other
than this he made no sign that he was disturbed.
"Love," said the old woman, after a few moments, "is the one thing which
is thought to be the corrector of what is bad. Through love, I have
heard it said, the fair-hearted influences the wrong-doer. It is as a
bridge between them, over which is passed the saving grace. That is what
every one says. But," and there was a note in her voice which was almost
savage, "is it true? And if it works one way, why should it not work the
other? If good passes between two people because they love each other,
why should not evil? And," very slowly, "Simon Morse and his niece were
much attached to each other."
Through the open window, the roar of midday arose from the street. The
throaty voices of peddlers, the grind of wheels and the warning cries of
drivers were ceaseless; and below all this was an undertone, a subdued
murmurous undertone such as is made by cautious creatures, each with a
private design.
"Sometimes," said the old woman, "things are expected, and when they
come they create no surprise. And, again, there are others which are so
unexpected that they all but crush one to the earth."
Ashton-Kirk nodded.
"Something unexpected has happened," he said.
"You shall hear all for yourself," said the old servant. "It was for
that purpose that I came to you." She settled herself rigidly in her
chair, upright, unbending, full of purpose. "I have read the
newspapers," she said. "I have heard the police and the coroner's
deputy. They have all said much, and in the end their talk comes to
this: Philip Warwick murdered Simon Morse.
"Perhaps," and her gray eyes searched his face, "you too think so. But
no matter. I tell you, _and I know_, that he did not do this thing."
There was a moment's silence, then Ashton-Kirk said, quietly:
"Then who did?"
She gestured with both hands.
"Because I say that I know that _he_ did not," she replied, "does it
follow that I must know who _did_?" She waited for an answer, but as
none came, she went on: "You have heard that Philip Warwick and Stella
Corbin were to be married? I thought so. He is a very boyish fellow; he
was proud of her and told every one. I was glad when I heard it, for I
thought them well mated. But Simon was not pleased; the young man
perhaps would not follow where he led; at any rate he disliked him. They
quite frequently had high words; but Mr. Warwick never allowed himself
to go too far in his resentment--at least never until lately. The day
that you first visited the house, they almost came to blows; and on the
night that Simon was killed, he actually struck his secretary."
"This was not told to the police," said the secret agent. "Why?"
"I was the only one that saw it," said the old woman, "and I did not
tell of it because I knew that it would only make them suspect the young
man all the more."
"Go on," said Ashton-Kirk.
"This is how I came to be a witness to what passed between them. I had
gone to the front door to answer a ring, but it was only a person to
inquire about some one who had lately left a house across the street. As
I closed the door, I saw that of the library ajar; and through the
opening I saw Dr. Morse and Mr. Warwick standing facing each other.
"'Very well, then,' Mr. Warwick was saying, 'it shall be done in spite
of you.'
"And with that the other lifted his hand, and I heard the sound of the
blow even where I stood."
"Did Warwick return it?"
"I think not. I did not wait to see, however, but went on along the
hall. I turned, though, as I reached the end, and saw Mr. Warwick step
out of the library and walk toward the stairs. He had gone up perhaps
three steps when he stopped and was about to turn back; but, though he
was fairly shaking with anger, he thought better of it and went on up to
his room."
"At what time was this?"
"Immediately after dinner." If such a thing were possible, the old woman
sat more erect than ever, the craggy brows bent over the sharp eyes, and
the voice sank a tone lower. "And as Philip Warwick went up the stairs,
I saw Miss Stella come out of the room opposite the library; she stood
looking after him--and on her face was a look which I had never noticed
there before. She had seen what had happened, and for some reason was
glad of it.
"There was nothing more, until I left the front door some time later and
went to the kitchen to make the coffee. Then I heard something on the
back stairs. Thinking it might be Drevenoff, taken bad, I opened the
door. But it was Miss Stella and Mr. Warwick. They stood on the landing,
and were talking in low tones. I could not help overhearing what they
said; and I remember it because I have repeated it over and over to
myself a thousand times since then.
"'Is it possible?' Mr. Warwick said. 'Have you really got it?'
"I did not hear what was said in answer; and then he spoke again.
"'But how in the world did you manage it? I know he thinks a great deal
of you, but I never dreamed that he'd give----'
"Here she must have stopped him by putting her fingers to his lips, a
way that she had.
"'Don't stop to talk,' I heard Miss Stella say. 'You must go at once.
And no matter what you hear, do not return until I send you word.'
"Then I closed the door softly, as they stole down-stairs; and after a
little again came the soft footfalls, this time going up the stairs."
There was a pause, and then the old woman crossed her hands in her lap,
her eyes looking sternly into the face of Ashton-Kirk.
"It was only a few minutes after that," she said, "that I found Simon
Morse dead in his chair.