THE WILL
Henry Blaine sat in his office, leisurely turning over the pages of a
morning newspaper; his attitude was one of apparent idleness, but the
occasional swift glances he darted at the clock and a slight lifting
of his eyebrows at the least sound from without betokened the fact
that he was waiting for some one or something.
His eyes scanned the columns of each page with seeming carelessness,
yet their keen glances missed not one significant phrase. And suddenly
his gaze was transfixed by a paragraph tucked away in a corner of the
second page.
It was merely an account of trouble between capital and labor in a
distant manufacturing city, and a hint of an organized strike which
threatened for the immediate future. The great detective was not at
all a politician, and the social and economic conditions of the day
held no greater import for him than for any other conscientious,
far-seeing citizen of the country, yet he sat for a long moment with
wrinkled brow and pursed lips, musing, while the newspaper dropped
unheeded upon the desk.
His reverie was suddenly interrupted by the sharp, insistent tinkling
of the telephone; a clear, girlish voice came to him over the wire:
"Is this Grosvenor 0760? This is Miss Lawton speaking. An alteration
must be made at once in that last gown you sent me, and it is
imperative that I see you in person concerning it. It will be
inconvenient for me to have you come here this morning. Where shall I
see you? At your establishment or--"
She paused suggestively, and he replied with a hurried question.
"It is absolutely necessary, Miss Lawton, that you see me in person?
You are quite sure?"
"Absolutely." Her voice held a ring of earnestness and something more
which caused him to jump to a lightning-like decision.
"Very well. I will meet you in twenty minutes at your Working Girls'
Club. I am an architect, remember, and you wish to build a new and
more improved institution of the same order on another site.
Therefore, you have met me there to show me over the old building and
suggest changes in its plans for the new one. You understand, Miss
Lawton? My name is Banks, remember, and--be a few minutes late."
"I understand perfectly. Thank you. Good-by."
The receiver at the other end of the line clicked abruptly, and the
detective sprang to his feet.
A quarter of an hour later Blaine presented himself at the Anita
Lawton Club, where a trim maid ushered him into a tiny office. There,
behind the desk, sat a girl, and at sight of her, the detective,
master of himself as he was, gave an imperceptible start.
There was nothing remarkable about her; she was quite a common type of
girl: slender, not too tall, with a wealth of red-brown hair, and soft
hazel eyes; yet she reminded Blaine vaguely but insistently of some
one else--some one whom he had encountered in the past.
He recovered himself at once, and presented the card which announced
him as the senior member of the firm of Banks and Frost, architects.
"Whom did you wish to see, sir?" The girl turned slowly about in her
swivel chair and regarded him respectfully but coolly. Her voice was
low and gentle and distinctly feminine, yet it brought to him again
that haunting sense of resemblance which the first vision of her had
caused.
"Miss Lawton," he replied, quietly.
"But Miss Lawton is not here." The girl's surprise was unfeigned.
"I have an appointment to meet her here at this time. She may perhaps
have been detained. She has arranged to go over the club building with
me. As you see by my card, I am an architect and she is planning more
extensive work, I believe, along the lines instituted here--at least
that is the impression she has given my firm. I will wait a short
time, if I may. You are connected with the official work of the
club?"
"I am the secretary." The girl paused and then added, "I understand
perfectly, sir. Will you be seated, please? Miss Lawton had not told
me of her appointment here with you. She will without doubt arrive
shortly."
Henry Blaine seated himself, and as she started to turn back to her
desk, he asked quickly:
"You must find the work here very interesting, do you not? We--our
firm--have erected several philanthropic institutions of learning and
recreation, but none precisely on this order. Miss Lawton has shown us
the plans of this present club and we consider the arrangement of the
dormitories particularly ingenious, with regard to economy of space
and the requisite sunlight and air."
"Oh, yes!" The girl turned toward him swiftly, her face suffused with
interest. "Miss Lawton drew all the plans herself, and they were not
changed in the least. I don't see how they could possibly be improved
upon. Miss Lawton has done splendid work here, sir; the club has been
a wonderful success since it was first opened."
"It must have been." The detective paused, then added easily, "I know
that her late father was very proud of her executive ability.
You--er--you educate young women here, do you not, and train them for
positions?"
"We not only train the members of the club, but obtain positions for
them, with reputable business firms," the girl answered.
"Indeed?" Blaine asked, with apparent surprise. "What sort of
positions do the members of your club fill?"
"Whatever they are capable of acquiring a working knowledge of.
Filing clerks, stenographers, secretaries, switchboard operators,
telegraphers, even governesses. We have never had a failure, and I
think it is because Miss Lawton gives not only her personal
attention, but real love and faith to each girl. She is--wonderful."
The face of the young woman was rapt as she spoke, and Blaine could
guess without further explanation that she herself was a protegee of
Miss Lawton's, and a grateful one--unless she were playing a part. If
so, she was an actress of transcendent ability.
"You say that you have never had a failure. That must, indeed, be
encouraging," Blaine remarked, tentatively. "Perhaps we might arrange
later with you or Miss Lawton to place one or two of your clerks or
stenographers. We are enlarging our offices--"
"Good morning!" a fresh young voice interrupted him, and Anita Lawton
stood upon the threshold. "Did Mr. Banks come yet?--ah, yes, I see.
How do you do?"
Blaine arose, and Anita gave him her hand cordially. His quick eyes
observed that in passing she patted the shoulder of her secretary
affectionately, and the girl looked up at her quickly, with eyes
aglow. The truth was no longer concealed from his discernment. The
girl was staunch in every fiber of her being.
"Miss Lawton, I am sorry, but I have really not any too much time this
morning. If we could proceed to business at once."
"Certainly. If you will come this way, Mr. Banks--" At the door she
paused, and turned to the secretary: "I will see you later, dear."
Anita led the detective swiftly through the wide, clean halls and up
the stairs, explaining in clear, distinct tones the floor-plan. On the
second floor she opened the door leading into a little ante-room at
the front of the house just over the office, and when they were
seated, she said quickly, with rising excitement, although her voice
was carefully hushed.
"Mr. Bl--Banks, I have something to show you--my father's will! It was
discovered, or rather, produced, yesterday. The lawyers who have
charge of the estate--Anderson & Wallace, you know--seem to me to be
perfectly disinterested, and honest, but I am so hedged in on every
hand by a stifling feeling of deceit and treachery that I feel I can
trust no one save you and Mr. Hamilton--not even poor old Ellen, my
maid, who has been with me since I was born!"
"I quite understand, Miss Lawton, and I realize how difficult the
situation is for you, but I want you to trust no one--at least, to
the extent of giving them your confidence. Now about the will; it was
produced by your late father's attorneys?"
"No, by President Mallowe, of the Street Railways. It appears that
Father left it in his charge. Mr. Anderson drew it; his partner, Mr.
Wallace, witnessed it; and they both assure me that it is absolutely
authentic. Here it is."
She opened her bag and handed a long envelope to him, but at first his
attention was held by what she had said, and he frowned as he repeated
quickly:
"'Authentic?' I trust you did not show any suspicion that you doubted
for a moment that it was genuine?"
"Oh, by no means! It was Mr. Anderson himself who took especial pains
to assure me of its authenticity."
Blaine regarded the envelope reflectively for a moment before he
raised the flap. Why had the attorney considered it necessary to
assure his late client's daughter that the will which he had himself
drawn was genuine?
The will was short and to the point. In it Pennington Lawton left
everything of which he died possessed to his daughter, unconditionally
and without reservation.
"Of course, Miss Lawton, since you are only twenty, and your father
has named no guardian or trustee, the courts will at once appoint one,
and I have no hesitation in saying that I believe the guardian so
appointed will be one of your father's three associates, presumably
Mr. Mallowe. However, that will make little difference in our
investigation, and, since it is claimed that all your father's huge
fortune is lost, the matter of a guardian cannot tie our hands in any
way. Now, just a moment, please."
He drew from his pocket a small but powerful magnifying glass and the
slip of paper which Ramon Hamilton had sent him, on which was the
signature of the late Pennington Lawton. Through the microscope he
carefully compared it with that affixed to the will and then looked up
reassuringly.
"It is quite all right, Miss Lawton. In my estimation the will is
authentic and your father's signature genuine." He folded the paper,
slipped it in its envelope and returned it to her. "There is one thing
now which I must most earnestly caution you against. Do not sign any
paper, no matter who wishes it or orders it--no matter if it is the
most trivial household receipt. Do not write any letters yourself, or
notes to any one, even to Mr. Hamilton; you understand they might be
intercepted. If anyone wishes you to sign a paper relating to the
matter of your father's estate, say you cannot do so until you have
shown it in private to Mr. Hamilton--that you have promised you will
not do so. Any other papers you can easily evade signing. As for your
private correspondence, obtain a social secretary, and permit her to
sign everything--one whom you can trust--say, one of your girls from
here, that girl downstairs, for instance. What is her name?"
Anita Lawton rose, and a peculiar pained expression passed over her
features.
"I am sorry, Mr. Blaine--really, really I am sorry. I cannot tell you
her name. That was one of the conditions under which she came to us
here--that is why I have given her an official position here in the
Club. She is staunch and faithful and true; I know it, I feel it; and
she is too high-principled to pass under any name not her own. I know
and am heartily in sympathy with the reason for her secretiveness. You
know that I trust you implicitly, but I know you would not have me go
back on my word when once it has been given."
"Certainly not, Miss Lawton. I realize that many of your protegees
here may come of unfortunate antecedents. If you feel that you can
trust her, use her. Do you feel equally sure of the other members of
your Club?"
"Absolutely. I feel that they all really love me; that they would do
anything for me they could in the world, and yet I have done so little
for them--only given them the little help which I was able to bestow,
which we should all do for those less fortunate than ourselves.... Why
did you ask me, Mr. Blaine, if I felt that I could trust the girls who
have placed themselves under my care?"
"Because we may have need of them in the future. They may be of the
most vital assistance to us in this investigation, should events turn
out as I anticipate and they prove worthy of the charge it may be
necessary for me to impose on them. But enough of that for now. If at
any time you wish to see me, personally, telephone me as you did this
morning and I will meet you here."
The detective left her in the office of the secretary, and as he made
his adieus to them both he cast a last quick, penetrating glance at
the girl behind the desk. Again that vague sense of resemblance
possessed him. With whom was she connected? Why was her name so
significantly withheld?
In the meantime Guy Morrow, from his post of observation in the window
of the little cottage on Meadow Lane, had watched the object of his
espionage for several fruitless days--fruitless, because the actions
of the man Brunell had been so obviously those of one who felt
himself utterly beyond suspicion.
The erect, gray-haired, clear-eyed man had come and gone about his
business, without the slightest attempt at concealment. A few of the
simplest inquiries of his land-lady had elicited the fact that the
gentleman opposite, old Mr. Brunell, was a map-maker, and worked at
his trade in a little shop in the nearest row of brick buildings
just around the corner--that he had lived in the little cottage since
it had first been erected, six years before, alone with his
daughter Emily, and before that, they had for many years occupied a
small apartment near by--in fact, the girl had grown up in that
neighborhood. He was a quiet man, not very talkative, but well liked
by his neighbors, and his daughter was devoted to him. According
to Mrs. Quinlan, Guy Morrow's aforesaid land-lady, Emily Brunell was a
dear, sweet girl, very popular among the young people in the
neighborhood, but she kept strictly at home in her leisure hours and
preferred her father's companionship to that of anyone else. She
was employed in some business capacity downtown, from nine until
six; just what it was Mrs. Quinlan did not know.
Morrow kept well in the background, in case Mr. Pennold should put in
an appearance again, but he did not. Evidently that conversation
overheard by Suraci had been a final one, concerning the securities at
least, and no one else called at the little cottage door over the way,
except a vapid-faced young man to whom Morrow took an instant and
inexplicable dislike.
Morrow made it a point to visit and investigate the little shop at an
hour when he knew Brunell would not be there, and found in the cursory
examination possible at that time that its purpose seemed to be
strictly legitimate. A shock-headed boy of fifteen or thereabout was
in charge, and the operative easily succeeded in engaging his stolid
attention elsewhere while, with a bit of soft wax carefully palmed in
his left hand, he succeeded in gaining an impression of the lock on
the flimsy door. From this he had a key made in anticipation of orders
from his chief, requiring a thorough search of the little shop--orders
which for the first time in his career, he shrank from.
He made no effort to scrape an acquaintance with Brunell himself, but
frequently encountered, as if by accident, the daughter Emily, on her
way to and from the subway station. If she recognized in him the young
lodger across the street, she made no sign, and as the days passed,
Morrow, the man, despaired of gaining her friendship, save through her
father, whom Morrow--the operative--had received orders not to
approach personally.
Before he had seen her, had he known that the old forger possessed a
daughter, he would have laid his plans to worm himself into the
confidence of the little family through the girl, but having once laid
eyes upon her face in all its gentle, trusting purity, every manly
instinct in him revolted at the thought of making her a tool of her
father's probable downfall.
There was a third member of the Brunell household whom Morrow had
observed frequently seated upon the doorstep, or on one of the lower
window sills--a small, scraggly black kitten, with stiff outstanding
fur, and an absurdly belligerent attitude whenever a dog chanced to
pass through the lane. It waited in the doorway each night for the
return of its mistress, and in the soft glow of the lamplight which
streamed from within, he had seen her catch the little creature up
affectionately and cuddle it up against her neck before the door
closed upon them.
One afternoon in the early November twilight, as Morrow was returning
to his own door after shadowing Brunell on an aimless and chilly walk,
he saw the kitten lying curled up just outside its own gate, and an
inspiration sprang to his ingenious mind. He seated himself upon the
steps of Mrs. Quinlan's front porch and waited until the darkness had
deepened sufficiently to cloak his nefarious scheme. Then, with soft
beguiling tone--and a few _sotto voce_ remarks, for he hated
cats--Morrow began a deliberate attempt to entice the kitten across to
him.
"Come here, kitty, kitty," he called softly. "Come, pussy dear! Come
here, you mangy, rat-tailed little beast! Come cattykins."
At his first words the kitten raised its head and regarded him with
yellow eyes gleaming through the dusk, in unconcealed antagonism. But,
at the soft, purring flattery of his voice, the gleam softened to a
glow of pleased interest, and the little creature rose lazily,
stretched itself, and tripped lightly over to him, its tail erect in
optimistic confidence.
Morrow picked it up gingerly by the neck and tucked it beneath his
coat, stroking its head with a reluctant thumb, while it purred loudly
in sleepy content, at the warmth of its welcome. The hour was
approaching when Emily Brunell usually made her appearance, and he
trusted to luck to keep the little animal quiet until she had entered
her home and discovered its loss, but the fickle goddess failed him.
The kitten grew suddenly uneasy, as if some intuition warned it of
treachery, and tried valiantly to escape from his grasp, and never did
Spartan boy with wolf concealed beneath his tunic suffer more
tortures than Morrow with the wretched little creature clawing at his
hands.
Would Emily Brunell never come? What could be keeping her to-night, of
all nights? Morrow gripped the soft, elusive bundle of fur with
desperate firmness and looked across the street. Evidently he was not
the only one impatient for her arrival. The doorway opposite had
opened, and Jimmy Brunell stood peering anxiously forth into the
darkness.
At that moment the kitten emitted a fearsome yowl, which Morrow
smothered hastily with his coat. He fancied that the old man turned
his head quickly and glanced in his direction, and never had the
operative felt guiltier.
Brunell, however, retired within, closing the door after him, and the
kitten's struggles gradually grew weaker and finally ceased.
Morrow felt a horrible fear surging up within him that he had
strangled the little beast, and his grasp gradually relaxed. Then he
opened his overcoat cautiously and peered within. The kitten was
sleeping peacefully, and he heaved a sigh of relief, glancing up just
in time to see Emily Brunell pass quickly through her own gate and up
to the door.
He sat motionless on the steps of Mrs. Quinlan's, and his patience was
rewarded when after a few moments the Brunell's door re-opened and he
heard the girl's voice calling anxiously: "Kitty! Kitty!"
Morrow rose with unfeigned alacrity and crossing the road, opened the
little gate without ceremony and mounted the steps of the porch.
"I beg your pardon," he said blandly. "Is this your kitten?
It--er--wandered across the street to me and fell asleep under my
coat. I board just over the way, you know, with Mrs. Quinlan. My name
is Morrow."
The girl gave a little cry of relieved anxiety, and caught the kitten
in her arms.
"Oh, I am so glad! I was afraid it was lost, and it is so tiny and
defenseless to be out all alone in the cold and darkness. Thank you so
much, Mr. Morrow. I suppose it was waiting for me, as it usually does,
and grew restless at my delay, poor little thing! It was kind of you
to comfort it!"
Feeling like an utter brute, Morrow stammered a humble disclaimer of
her undeserved gratitude, and moved toward the steps.
"Oh, but it was really kind of you; most men hate cats, although my
father loves them. I should have been home much earlier but I was
detained by some extra work at the club where I am employed."
"The club?" he repeated stupidly.
"Yes," replied the girl, quietly, cuddling the kitten beneath her
chin. "The Anita Lawton Club for Working Girls."
She caught herself up sharply, even as she spoke, and a look almost of
apprehension crossed her ingenuous face for a moment, and was gone.
"Thank you again for protecting my kitten for me," she said softly.
"Good-night."
Guy Morrow walked down the steps and across to his own lodgings with
his brain awhirl. The investigation, through the medium of a small
black kitten, had indeed taken an amazing turn. Jimmy Brunell's
daughter was a protegee of the daughter of Pennington Lawton!