Quietly the doctors filed into the room, and one of them turned the key
in the door.
It was Dr. Crandall who undertook the delicate task of unmasking the
suspected would-be murderess.
"I will tell you," he said, slowly. "The poor girl on the couch beside
which you have often knelt is dying of slow poison, administered to her
by some person beneath this roof."
Dorothy sprang from her chair and reeled backward, looking at him with
widely dilated eyes. She never knew how it happened, but in that instant
of time a terrible thought came to her. Could Jack Garner be guilty of
administering it to her, to free himself from the bonds he so cruelly
hated?
Oh, God! how the thought tortured her. She would not--she could not
believe it.
"Some one under this roof has been guilty of this most atrocious act,"
continued the doctor, in a stern voice. "We suspect--we know the guilty
party, and that party is in this very room!"
Dorothy clasped her hands in dumb agony, and her terrified eyes never
left the form of him who had once been her lover.
"You do not answer me, Mrs. Brown," said the doctor, frowning. "What
have you to say?"
"What could I say?" she sobbed, piteously.
"The one who is guilty of this diabolical deed must be held accountable
for it," said the doctor, facing her sternly. "A just punishment must
and shall be meted out to the wicked party. If you say that you will not
admit the truth, then I will turn the affair over to Mr. Garner, here
and now!"
What would they do with Jack? In imagination she saw him in a prison
cell, perhaps doomed to drag out all the after years of his life there,
and the thought seemed to drive her to madness.
"I will take it upon myself, and Jack shall go free," she said to
herself--"yes blameless and free."
Slowly the doctor stepped around to Jack's side.
"What have you to say in this matter, Mr. Garner?" he said.
"Let me answer instead of him," Dorothy panted, hoarsely. "He knows
nothing about it. Oh, hear me!--listen to me, I pray you! It is I--I
whom you must hold guilty. Do with me as you will!"
Both of the doctors nodded toward each other. A groan broke from
Garner's lips--this acknowledgement was so terrible for him to hear from
this strange woman's lips.
"Who are you, and what was your motive for this horrible crime?" asked
the doctor, sternly. "You must make a clean breast of why you attempted
to poison Miss Staples, here and now."
There was one person in that room who listened to Dorothy's most
extraordinary confession, white with terror, and that was--Nadine Holt.
She knew full well that the stranger was entirely guiltless; then why
under heaven had she placed herself in such a horrible position?
Nadine recovered her outward composure by a great effort, and listened
intently to what they were saying.
"You must reveal your identity here and now," Doctor Crandall was
repeating, vehemently, "or I shall force you to do so. When we once
become convinced who you are, and your motive for this crime, then we
will know how to proceed against you. In the first place, I order you to
remove both the wig and glasses which we have discovered that you are
wearing. Your identity is the first step in this matter."
Like a flash Dorothy flung herself at Jack Garner's feet.
Ere he could put out his hand toward her, Doctor Crandall had sprung
forward, and with a quick motion gently but deftly snatched the wig from
her head and the glasses from her eyes, and Dorothy--Dorothy Glenn stood
revealed, in all her terror, before the astonished gaze of Jack Garner
and Nadine Holt.
"You--you!" cried Jack, in horror too great for words.
"Save me--save me!" gasped the girl.
He wondered that he did not go mad, then and there at the sight of her.
"Let me go!" she panted, imploring.
The doctor shook his head.
"You must be held answerable for your crime," he said, sternly. "You
showed no pity to the girl lying here so helpless, and why should it be
shown you? She lies here in a deep sleep, and when she awakens we shall
know whether it is life or death she has to face. We hope it is life,
but we can not be too sure. In the interim, while we decide your fate,
you should thank Heaven that your plans are frustrated. We can not
decide, until the crisis is past, as to what is best to be done."
"Jack," she whispered again, "let me go far away and leave you with
Jessie. She will recover, and you will marry her and be happy after all,
and I--I will never cross your path again."
He tore away the white little hands that clung to him, and turned to the
doctors. They were awed at the sight of his white, desperate face.
"You have both assured me that Miss Staples will not die from this
poisoning," he said, hoarsely; "and I--I, the one most vitally
interested in this affair, say to you: Open that door and let her go her
way."
Ah, God! that they should meet and part like this, after all those weary
months of heartache!
"God only knows her object in coming here in disguise and committing
this awful crime," was his mental thought; but aloud, he only said:
"Go, and may Heaven forgive you! Go to the father of your child."
A terrible lump rose in his throat; he could say no more.
The little one had crept out of Dorothy's arms, and out into the middle
of the floor; but Dorothy never, in that awful moment, thought of the
child. She was so stunned that the full import of his words did not
strike her just then.
She only knew that he was opening the door for her, and harshly
commanding her to go.
Like a storm-driven swallow, with one quick glance in his face, the girl
turned and fled from the room, and out of the house.
"You were too generous toward her," cried one of the doctors. "See! she
has abandoned her little child, Mr. Garner."
Then suddenly the doctor stopped short, and looked first at the
fair-haired, beautiful babe, then at Mr. Garner, and said no more.