She shook her head. He stood undecided for a space.
"Let me see your card."
"I decline to produce it,"--haughtily.
Haggerty seemed staggered for a moment. "I am sorry to annoy you, but
you must be identified at once."
"And why?"--proudly. "Was it forbidden to go into the club cellars for
such harmless things as apples?"
Apples! I looked at her admiringly.
"Apples?" repeated Haggerty. "Couldn't you have sent a servant for
them?"
She did not reply.
"You were with this clever gentleman in the cellars. You may or may
not be acquainted with him. I do not wish to do anything hasty in
regard to yourself, but your position is rather equivocal. Produce
your card and be identified--if you really can."
"I refuse!"
"Then I shall ask you to accompany us to the room up stairs till the
police-patrol arrives."
"I will go,"--quietly.
"Nonsense!" I objected. "On my word of honor, I do not know this lady.
Our presence in the cellar was perfectly harmless. There is no valid
reason for detaining her. It is an outrage!"
"I am not going to stand here arguing with you," said Haggerty. "Let
the lady produce her card; let her disclose her identity. That is
simple enough."
"I have already given you my determination on that subject," replied
the girl. "I can very well explain my presence here, but I absolutely
decline to explain it to the police."
I didn't understand her at all. She had said that she possessed an
alibi. Why didn't she produce it?
So the two of us left the gorgeous ball-room. Every one moved aside
for us, and quickly, too, as if we had had the plague. I looked in
vain for Hamilton. He was a friend in need. We were taken into the
steward's office and the door was shut and locked. The band in the
ball-room went galloping through a two-step, and the gaiety was in full
swing again. The thief had been rounded up! How the deuce was it
going to end?
"I can not tell you how sorry I am to have mixed you up in this," I
said to the girl.
"You are in no manner to blame. Think of what _might_ have happened
had you blown up the post-office!"
She certainly was the least embarrassed of the two of us. I addressed
my next remarks to the great Haggerty.
"Did you find a suitable pistol in Friard's?"
"A man in my business," said Haggerty mildly, "is often found in such
places. There are various things to be recovered in pawnshops. The
gentlemen of this club sent _me_ the original ten of hearts, my
presence being necessary at such big entertainments. And when I saw
that card of yours, I was so happy that I nearly put you on your guard.
Lord, how long I've been looking for you! I give you credit for being
a clever rascal. You have fooled us all nicely. Not a soul among us
knew your name, nor what you looked like. And but for that card, you
might still be at large. Until the lady submits to the simple process
of identification, I shall be compelled to look upon her and treat her
as an accomplice. She has refused the offer I have made her, and she
can not blame me if I am suspicious, when to be suspicious is a part of
my business." He was reasonable enough in regard to the girl.
He turned to the chief of the village police, who was sitting at the
desk ordinarily used by the club's steward.
"No reporters, mind you."
"Yes, sir. We'll see that no reporter gets wind of the capture."
The telephone bell rang. One of the police answered it.
"For you, Mr. Haggerty," he said.
Haggerty sprang to the telephone and placed the receiver to his ear.
"What?" we heard him exclaim. "You have got the other fellow? A horse
and carriage at once!"
"Take mine," said the chief excitedly. "What is it?"
"My subordinate at the railway station has just landed the fellow with
the jewels. Mighty quick work. I must hustle into town at once.
There'll be plenty of time to attend to these persons. Bring them to
town the moment the patrol arrives. The gems are the most important
things just now."
"Yes, sir. You can rely upon us, Mr. Haggerty. Billy, go down with
Mr. Haggerty and show him my rig."
"Good!" said Haggerty. "It's been a fine night's work, my lads, a fine
night's work. I'll see that all get some credit. Permit no one to
approach the prisoners without proper authority."
"Your orders shall be obeyed to the letter," said the chief
importantly. He already saw his name figuring in the New York papers
as having assisted in the capture of a great thief.
I cursed under my breath. If it hadn't been for the girl, I am ashamed
to confess, I should have cursed out loud. She sat rigid and
motionless. It must have been a cruel ordeal for her. But what was
puzzling me was the fact that she made not the slightest effort to
spring her alibi. If _I_ had had one! Where was Hamilton? I scarcely
inclined to the idea of sleeping in jail in a dress-suit.
Haggerty departed. A silence settled gloomily down on us. Quarter of
an hour passed. The grim-visaged police watched us vigilantly. Half
an hour, three-quarters, an hour. Far away we heard the whistle of an
out-going train. Would I had been on it! From time to time we heard
faint music. At length there was a noise outside the door, and a
moment later Hamilton and two others came in. When he saw me, he
stopped, his eyes bulging and his mouth agape.
"Dicky Comstalk?" he cried helplessly. "What the devil does this
mean?"--turning to the police.
"Do you know this fellow, Mr. Hamilton?" asked the chief.
"Know him? Of course I know him," answered Teddy; "and I'll stake my
last dollar on his honesty."
(Thanks, Teddy!) I began to breathe.
"But--" began the chief, seized with sudden misgivings.
"It is impossible, I tell you," interrupted Hamilton. "I know this
gentleman is incapable of the theft. There is some frightful mistake.
How the dickens did you get here, Dicky?"
And briefly I told him my story, my ass's ears growing inch by inch as
I went along. Hamilton didn't know whether to swear or to laugh;
finally he laughed.
"If you wanted to come, why didn't you write me for an invitation?"
"I shouldn't have come to your old ball, had I been invited. It was
just the idea of the lark."
"We shall have to hold him, nevertheless," said the chief, "till
everything is cleared up. The girl--"
Hamilton looked at the Blue Domino.
"Madame, will you do me the honor to raise your mask?"
[Illustration: "Madame, will you do me the honor to raise your mask?"]
She did so; and I saw Hamilton draw in his breath. Her beauty was
certainly of an exquisite pattern. He frowned anxiously.
"I never saw this young woman before," he admitted slowly.
"Ha!" cried the chief, glad to find some one culpable.
"Did you receive your invitation through the proper channels?" asked
Hamilton.
"I came here to-night,"--coldly, "on the invitation of Mrs.
Hyphen-Bonds, who sailed for Europe Wednesday."
Here was an alibi that was an alibi! I was all at sea. Hamilton
bowed; the chief coughed worriedly behind his hand. The girl had told
me she was an impostor like myself, that her ten of hearts was as
dark-stained as my own. I could not make head or tail to it. Mrs.
Hyphen-Bonds! She was a law in the land, especially in Blankshire, the
larger part of which she owned. What did it all mean? And what was
her idea in posing as an impostor?
The door opened again.
"The patrol has come," said the officer who entered.
"Let it wait," growled the chief. "Haggerty has evidently got us all
balled up. I don't believe his fashionable thief has materialized at
all; just a common crook. Well, he's got him, at any rate, and the
gems."
"You have, of course, the general invitation?" said Hamilton.
"Here it is,"--and she passed the engraved card to him.
"I beg a thousand pardons!" said Hamilton humbly. "Everything seems to
have gone wrong."
"Will you guarantee this man?" asked the chief of Hamilton, nodding
toward me.
"I have said so. Mr. Comstalk is very well known to me. He is a
retired army officer, and to my knowledge a man with an income
sufficient to put him far beyond want."
"What is your name?" asked the chief of the girl, scowling. It was
quite evident he couldn't understand her actions any better than I.
"Alice Hawthorne," with an oblique glance at me.