_The_
TREVOR CASE
[Illustration: “De Morny’s eyes sparkled with anger as he watched”]
THE
TREVOR CASE
By NATALIE SUMNER LINCOLN
AUTHOR OF
“C. O. D.,” “The Man Outside,” Etc.
With Frontispiece by
EDMUND FREDERICK
A. L. BURT COMPANY
PUBLISHERS - - NEW YORK
PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH D. APPLETON & COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
_Published February, 1912_
Printed in the United States of America
TO THE MEMORY OF
MY DEAR FATHER
AND
TO MY KINDEST CRITIC
MY MOTHER
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. FACE TO FACE 1
II. THE SECRET OF THE SAFE 4
III. AT THE MACALLISTERS’ 14
IV. THE INQUEST 26
V. THE SIGNET RING 42
VI. THE VERDICT 59
VII. WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS 68
VIII. THE CHALLENGE 81
IX. “MAIN 6” 91
X. CAUGHT ON THE WIRES 109
XI. BEHIND CLOSED DOORS 127
XII. BLIND CLEWS 148
XIII. THE THREAT 168
XIV. HAND AND PIN 183
XV. MAN PROPOSES 196
XVI. PLAYING WITH FIRE 204
XVII. ACROSS THE POTOMAC 212
XVIII. NIP AND TUCK 222
XIX. THE CONFERENCE 228
XX. CASTING OF NETS 240
XXI. FORGING THE FETTERS 263
XXII. AT THE TIME APPOINTED 280
XXIII. THE LIFTING OF THE CLOUD 306
XXIV. JOURNEYS END IN LOVERS’ MEETING 322
THE TREVOR CASE
CHAPTER I
FACE TO FACE
A FAINT, very faint scratching noise broke the stillness. Then a hand
was thrust through the hole in the window pane; deftly the burglar
alarm was disconnected, and the fingers fumbled with the catch of the
window. The sash was pushed gently up, and a man’s figure was outlined
for a second against the star-lit sky as he dropped noiselessly through
the window to the stair landing.
For a few moments he crouched behind the heavy curtains, but his entry
had been too noiseless to awaken the sleeping household. Gathering
courage from the stillness around him, the intruder stole down the
steps, through the broad hall, and stopped before a door on his left.
Cautiously he turned the knob and entered the room.
He could hear his own breathing in the heavy silence, as he pushed
to the door, and then flashed the light of his electric torch on his
surroundings. The room, save for the massive office furniture, was
empty. Satisfied on that point, the intruder wasted no time, but with
noiseless tread and cat-like quickness, he darted across the room to
the door of what was apparently a closet. It was not locked, and as it
swung back at his touch the front of a large safe was revealed.
Placing his light where it would do the most good, the intruder tried
the lock of the safe. Backwards and forwards the wards fell under the
skillful fingers of the cracksman. His keen ear, attuned to the work,
at last solved the combination. With a sigh of relief he stopped to mop
his perspiring face and readjust his mask.
“Lucky for me,” he muttered, “the safe’s an old-fashioned one. As it
is, it’s taken three quarters of an hour, and time’s precious.”
The big door moved noiselessly back on its oiled hinges, and the
intruder, catching up his electric torch, turned its rays full on the
interior of the safe. For one second it burned brilliantly; then went
dark in his nerveless hand.
God in Heaven! He was mad! It was some fantasy conjured up by his
excited brain. With desperate effort his strong will conquered his
shrinking senses. Slowly, slowly the light was raised to that fearful
thing which crouched just inside the entrance.
Eye to eye they gazed at each other--the quick and the dead! The
intruder’s breath came in panting gasps behind his mask. Again the
light went out. In his abject state of terror, instinct did for him
what reason could not. His hand groped blindly for the safe door; but
not until it closed did he regain his benumbed wits.
Silently, mysteriously as he had come, so he vanished.