THE SIGNET RING
At McKelvie's request I parked my car a block from the house and we
traversed that distance in silence, entering the grounds as though we
had come on no good errand. When we reached the house McKelvie piloted
me to the back and rang the servants' bell. It was late, after six, and
growing dark so that Mason was hardly to be blamed if he failed to
recognize us, especially as he did not expect to see us again so soon.
"It's Mr. Davies, Mason," said McKelvie. "Will you let us in to the main
wing through the passageway, please?"
"Yes, sir," returned Mason. "This way, sir, if you please."
He led us through the passageway and opened the door into the main wing,
going ahead of us to switch on the light in the hall.
"That is all. Leave the door open into the passageway. We shall probably
depart the way we entered."
"Very good, sir."
McKelvie waited until the old man had shuffled away before he approached
the study door. It was little more than six hours since we had been in
that room, yet it seemed more like a week to me, so many things had
cropped up in the interval, and I waited impatiently for McKelvie to
turn the knob of the door.
"I thought I heard someone in there," he whispered, and flung open the
door.
For one swift instant I had the impression of a glaring eye that winked
and faded as I looked, then only darkness confronted us, darkness and a
brooding stillness in which I could hear my very heart-beats.
McKelvie stepped into the room and found the switch, then as the study
was flooded with light, he turned and sped toward the safe with me at
his heels.
"The windows," he said tersely, as he spun the dial. "See if anyone is
hiding behind those curtains."
I hurried to the windows and swept back the hangings. There was no one
there, and I turned back to the safe just as McKelvie stood up and swung
open the door.
"Come on," he said, thrusting his skeleton key into the inner door.
"Don't forget to stoop and be careful to make no noise."
I followed him as he lighted his flash, and passed quickly through the
secret room to the door at the head of the stairs. Unlocking this he
motioned me to keep near him, and together we crept down the stone
staircase and out into the night. We listened a moment, but the only
thing we heard was the wind in the trees, which seemed to mock us
shrilly as we peered into the dusk beyond.
"Come on back," said McKelvie quietly. "We have work to do yonder," and
he nodded toward the entrance.
Wonderingly I obeyed him but asked no questions as he relocked the door
and led the way back to the secret room. Here he paused to turn on the
light and then lifting the divan aside with my help, he knelt and felt
the wall against which it had been placed.
"What is it?" I whispered. His haste and mysterious actions made me feel
somehow that to speak aloud would be to commit an unpardonable offense.
He raised his head as though listening to sounds from without, then he
sprang to his feet.
"The divan, quick, and no noise," he whispered.
I stooped to help him and as we lifted the divan to its place the fringe
of the cover caught in my cuff-link. I tried to untangle it, but
McKelvie had no time for such niceties. He wrenched the fringe free,
leaving a strand in my link, and as he did so something fell to the
floor and rolled along the carpet. He pounced upon the object, then
suddenly turned and switched off the light. By the aid of his flash he
crept to the rear door, and I distinctly heard the sound of steps on
those stairs as McKelvie unlocked the door.
With a sudden movement he pulled the door open and flashed his light on
the stairs. Again there was nothing but darkness and brooding stillness,
and I could see that the door at the bottom was tightly closed.
"Well, I'll be hanged," muttered McKelvie. "I must be hearing things.
Let's get back to the study."
We returned to the brightly lighted room and McKelvie locked up behind
him with scrupulous care. Then he went over to the table and seated
himself at its head in the chair in which Darwin had been found, and
motioned me to take the place beside him.
"Funny thing," he said presently. "I could have sworn there was someone
in this room when we first entered. I'm positive I saw this lamp go
out."
"Was that it?" I answered. "It looked like an eye to me, a great glaring
eye that faded as I gazed."
"You saw it too, then? I'm glad of that," he returned. "I was beginning
to think I was the victim of hallucination. No, it was the lamp, which
means someone was in that safe. However, he had the start of us, and
there is not much use in trying to catch him at present."
"Who was it?" I asked eagerly. "Do you suspect?"
He made no answer but took from his pocket the object which had fallen
from the divan. It was a heavy gold ring, evidently a man's. He looked
at it critically and then held it out to me.
"Do you know whose it is?" he asked low.
Before I could take it from him he hastily slipped it back into his
pocket and leaning closer, said in my ear, "Don't make a sound, but look
at the safe door. Then turn back and listen to me as though nothing were
amiss."
I was sitting around the corner from the head of the table with my chair
turned slightly in McKelvie's direction so that my back was partly
toward the safe. At his words I turned and looked at the safe door,
expecting I know not what, and to my amazement I saw that the knob of
the dial was turning silently and apparently of itself!
There was only one explanation. Someone was opening the door of the safe
from the inside, somebody who knew the combination which McKelvie had
used! And yet how could anyone have cognizance of the six letters
McKelvie had picked out to close the safe. For this was no attempt such
as Jenkins had made, no adept manipulation, since the dial was turning
with precision, as though the hand that twirled it knew exactly how to
spin it.
McKelvie's foot on mine recalled the remainder of his injunction, and
turning back, I held out my hand for the ring. His lips formed the word,
"No," and his eyes directed me to what he held in his hand. It was Lee
Darwin's stick-pin.
"I thought there was someone in the room when we entered," he said in a
clear voice, "but since you say you did not see the light, why I must
have been mistaken. The case is getting on my nerves, and nerves are
queer things when they begin to jump. I've been working too hard, and
it's time I took a vacation."
He paused, and I had an uncomfortable feeling that whoever was in the
safe had succeeded in opening it and was gazing at us from behind the
shelter of the door. I shuddered as I realized the intensity of those
unseen eyes which held me riveted to my chair. I longed to turn around
and look and so break the spell, but McKelvie's glance on mine forbade
it.
"I'm convinced that Lee killed his uncle," he continued. "The stick-pin
proves his presence, and doubtless he had knowledge of the entrance.
There is nothing more to be learned from this study. My work from now on
must be conducted outside. As I said, I've got a man in the South and
until he picks up Lee's trail there is nothing more to be done."
He stood up and put the pin away. "I'm dog tired. We've had a strenuous
day. Take me home, Mr. Davies. I've earned a few days' rest."
Disappointedly I looked up at him. He spoke very convincingly and he did
look tired, but somehow I had hoped that the ring had opened up a new
line of inquiry for the morrow. Inaction was hateful to me while Ruth
remained a prisoner. I wanted to be up and doing, even if it was only
following a false scent.
"Come on, Mr. Davies. It's long past dinner time," he said impatiently.
"All right," I said reluctantly, rising and glancing casually at the
safe as I did so. To my surprise the door was closed and had the
appearance of never having been touched. Was I too beginning to have
hallucinations?
A warning pressure as McKelvie took my arm made me mask whatever
astonishment I felt, and also made me hasten with him from the room
without a backward glance. When we were in the hall I opened my mouth to
question him, but he shook his head and hurried me along to the door
leading into the servants' wing.
"Wait here a moment," he said, indicating the passageway. "I'll be back
in a second. Keep the door closed."
He disappeared down a side hall and I stepped into the passageway and
closed the door, wondering what it was all about, and particularly who
the man was who had evaded us to-night, if it was a man and not a freak
of my imagination. Still, McKelvie had heard him, too, and it was hardly
likely that both of us were dreaming.
"Come, we'll have to hurry," said McKelvie, returning suddenly.
In silence we let ourselves out the back door and crept through the
grounds to the gate. In another minute we had gained the corner and my
car.
As I drove toward town I remarked, "Was there really someone in that
safe, McKelvie?"
"Certainly. I thought I was mistaken at first, but he came back again,
as you observed. I thought you looked uneasy while I was talking," he
said laughing.
I reddened. "It wasn't very pleasant to feel his eyes on me and be
forbidden to see who it was. You were facing the safe. You saw him?" I
questioned.
"No, I didn't see him. He was too clever to risk that. He knew we were
there, and he came to find out how much progress we had made toward
putting him behind the bars where he belongs," retorted McKelvie
grimly.
"You don't mean to tell me that it was the criminal himself who had the
nerve to come there to-night?" I said.
"It must have been, for who else has a key to those doors? Remember that
he took Darwin's key, and mine is the only other one that will open
those locks. Also he would be too clever to take anyone else into his
confidence," he replied.
"How did he know the combination that you used?" I continued.
McKelvie laughed. "When I locked the safe the other day I used the word,
Darwin, the one you suggested. He has since made himself acquainted with
that combination. Just as he was too clever to change it so that I would
believe the safe untampered with, so was I too clever to let him know
that I suspected his visits."
I nodded. "Why didn't you go over to the safe and capture him then?" I
asked. "You missed an opportunity."
"What happened when we chased him before? The moment he saw us making
for the safe he would be gone. Besides, I was playing a little game. I
had put him on his guard by hunting for him. I decided to trick him into
thinking that I no longer had any interest in him."
"Then all that very convincing conversation----"
"Was mere bunk," he answered. "I'm glad it was convincing, though, for I
was trying to fool a very clever devil."
He fished around in his pocket and drew out the ring. I could see it
gleam in the light of the street lamps as we sped toward the park.
"Strange. I had an idea that there was a secret panel or something of
the sort where he could hide such things as he needed, for I could
figure no other reason for his coming to that house, and that is what I
was hunting for when you so opportunely caught your cuff-link in that
Persian cover. This ring must have been tangled in the fringe and when I
yanked the cover I dislodged the ring. That was a stroke of pure luck,
and it changes the whole course of the inquiry. Word from Chicago would
have told me something, but not as much as this band of gold does. Take
a good look at it and tell me whose it is."
He took out his flash and played it over the ring while I looked at it.
Then I turned away, feeling sick at heart. The ring was a heavy gold
signet with a deep-cut monogram, and it was a ring I knew only too well,
since I had bought it myself at Ruth's request that she might give it to
her brother on his birthday. That was three years ago, and what a very
happy time it had been and how pleased Dick had seemed to receive the
ring, for he always made a fuss over Ruth. I remember that he swore to
wear it always as he slipped it on his finger, and now here it was
cropping up to bring more misery to the girl I wanted most to shield
from all harm and sorrow.
"Well?" McKelvie's voice broke the thread of my thought.
"It's Dick Trenton's," I said low. "And now shall I drive you home?"
"Home? I should say not!" he almost shouted. "We're going to get some
dinner and then we're off to Water Street. The trail's too hot to turn
aside now."