AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR
Waiting in anticipation of hearing good news, Sidney Prale paced the
floor of the living room of his hotel suite until noon the following
day, expecting Jim Farland to put in an appearance at any time and make
his report.
Murk, having done all the work that there was to do, spent the most of
his time looking from the window at the busy, fashionable avenue, and
glancing now and then at Prale as if wishing to anticipate his wishes
and save him the trouble of voicing them.
Prale had luncheon served in the suite, and then he stepped to the
telephone and called Jim Farland's office. Farland's stenographer
informed him that the detective had not been there during the morning,
though there was some business that needed his attention.
Then Prale got Farland's residence on the telephone, and the detective's
wife answered the call. Prale gave his name, and asked where Jim could
be found.
"That is more than I can tell, Mr. Prale," Mrs. Farland said. "He got a
telephone call last evening, and from what I overheard I think he went
some place to meet a man. He left soon after he received the call, and I
have not heard from him since. That is peculiar, too. When he is obliged
to remain away, he generally finds time to telephone and let me know."
This conversation bothered Sidney Prale, but he tried to tell himself
that Farland was following a hot trail, and that perhaps it had led him
some distance away, or that he was in a locality where he did not care
to telephone.
He did not want to miss Farland if he did call, and so he remained at
the hotel during the afternoon and kept Murk there also.
"I have a hunch that something is going to happen soon," Prale said to
his valet.
"A little action wouldn't make me mad any!" Murk declared. "I'm spoilin'
to mix with the enemy, Mr. Prale. Most of all, I'd like to meet up with
them two thugs that got gay with us. You're sure about that Jim Farland,
boss?"
"I've told you a hundred times, Murk, that Jim Farland is my friend and
as square a man as you can find anywhere. He has not deserted us, if
that is the thought in your head."
"I'm beginnin' to like him a bit myself," said Murk. "Ain't you got any
idea, boss, who's engineerin' this deal against you?"
"Once more, Murk, old boy, allow me to state that I haven't the faintest
idea who my enemies are, or why they are trying so hard to make life
miserable for me. If I knew where to start to round them up, I wouldn't
be standing in this room talking to you--I'd be out rounding them up!"
"Well, if you ask me, I think it's about time that Farland settled that
murder case," Murk said. "If he don't get busy pretty quick, I'll tackle
it myself. I've got an idea----"
The ringing of the telephone bell cut his sentence off. Sidney Prale was
near the instrument, and he answered the call.
"Mr. Prale?" asked a man's voice.
"Talking."
"I just wanted to inform you that you needn't depend on Detective Jim
Farland any more. We've got him--and we'll get anybody else you engage.
And we'll get you, too, Mr. Prale, before very long. Don't think we'll
not!"
The man at the other end of the wire hung up his receiver. Prale paced
the floor and told Murk of the conversation.
"They've got Farland!" Prale exclaimed. "They probably got him last
night, decoyed him in some way. Well, Murk, if that is the truth, and I
imagine that it is, we'll have to do our sleuthing ourselves."
"Suits me!" Murk said. "I'm ready to start out right now and sleuth
until it's settled. Let's get in action, boss!"
"We are in the same old quandary, Murk. We don't know where to start,"
Sidney Prale said. "If our foes would come out in the open, instead of
fighting from the dark, we might have a chance. This is some city, Murk,
and there are several million persons in it and around it. Starting
right in such a maze isn't the easiest thing in the world, you know."
For the second time that afternoon, Murk was interrupted by the ringing
of the telephone bell, and once more Sidney Prale happened to be near
and answered the call.
"Send them up at once!" Murk heard him say.
And then Sidney Prale hung up the receiver and whirled around with a
puzzled expression on his face.
"Murk," he said, "Miss Kate Gilbert is coming up here with that big maid
of hers--coming to see me. What she wants is more than I can guess,
remembering what happened the last time I talked with her. It may be
good news, Murk!"
They waited impatiently for the ring at the door. Murk opened it and
ushered them in.
He grinned at the gigantic Marie, but she did not return the compliment.
There was a serious expression in her face, and Murk looked past her at
Kate Gilbert, who was being greeted by Sidney Prale.
Something important had happened, Murk told himself immediately. Kate
Gilbert did not look frightened exactly or sorrowful or triumphant.
There was a peculiar expression about her mouth, and her face seemed
pale.
"I felt that I had to come, Mr. Prale, and have this talk with you,"
Kate Gilbert said, when she was seated near the window. "I wanted to
speak to you here instead of in some public place, and so I brought
Marie and came to your suite."
"You are welcome, Miss Gilbert, I am sure," Prale said. "If you wish to
speak in private, Marie and Murk can step into the adjoining room."
"Please," she said softly.
Murk opened the door, and the maid stepped in. Then he followed and
closed the door again. Prale sat down near Kate Gilbert and turned
toward her.
"Now, Miss Gilbert," he prompted.
She met his eyes squarely as she spoke, but her lips trembled at times
as if she were undergoing an ordeal.
"Mr. Prale," she said, "as you know, I have been associated with others
in an attempt to bring retribution home to you. When I became associated
with them, it was understood between us that there was to be no
violence, nothing outside the law. We were simply to attack you from
every angle, cause you trouble and annoyance, take away your money if we
could, break you in every way."
"Pardon me, but----"
"Please say nothing until I am finished, Mr. Prale. We began at once to
gather all the information we could about you and your affairs. We began
to plan for your downfall. We found that we could do nothing that
amounted to anything while you were in Honduras, where you were a
powerful man. But we were about to try, even there, when we learned that
you were selling out your properties and preparing to return to New
York.
"You may know how that struck us. You had gone away and made your
fortune, and you were coming home, possibly with the hope that the past
had been forgotten. We intended showing you that it had not been
forgotten, that you could not return and enjoy the fortune whose
foundation was----But enough of that!
"I had been in Honduras spying upon you. I was sent because you did not
know me, and would not be on guard, as you might have been, had some man
gone down there. We did not care to send an ordinary detective, of
course. I kept the people here informed of all your movements. I began
the punishment by leaving that note in your stateroom and pasting the
other on your suit case, began it by reminding you that the past lived
in the minds of some persons.
"You know the rest. We began our work. We caused you annoyance from the
first, with the banker, the hotel manager, and all that. Before we could
do any more, you were accused of murder. That pleased us, of course. We
did not believe you guilty, but we were glad to see that you were being
caused some trouble, that your name was being stained. Some of us even
began to think that the law of retribution was at work itself, without
our poor help.
"We went ahead with our plans, however. You engaged a prominent
attorney, and finally we induced him to leave you. But some who were
handling the affair went too far. You were assaulted in Central Park.
Your valet was knocked on the head and kidnaped, and an attempt made to
get him to take payment and spy upon you. At that time I told a certain
man who had the handling of the affair that there could be no more
violence.
"We should not break a law to undo you, I declared. If we did that, we
were as bad as you. I said that, if there was any more violence, I
should cease having anything to do with the affair, and would come to
you and tell you so. An hour ago, I found out that Detective Farland, a
man in your employ, had been seized and treated with violence and was
being held prisoner because he insisted upon remaining loyal to you. So
I am here!"
"This is amazing, Miss Gilbert!" Sidney Prale told her. "The whole thing
has been amazing. Somebody has tried to connect me with that murder.
Somebody tried to smash my alibi. The little annoyances were bad enough,
and the knowledge that I had unknown foes who fought in the dark; but
the murder charge was the worst of all, for it placed me in a position
where I had to clear myself absolutely or remain forever suspected by
many persons."
"I understand that," Kate Gilbert said.
"And now you have come to me to say that you are no longer associated
with my enemies?"
"For what you did, there can be no forgiveness, Mr. Prale. I want to see
you punished. But I will not be a party to violence. It seems to me that
the man who has been managing this affair has gone beyond proper bounds.
For some reason, he is particularly vindictive, though he did not suffer
at all, as did some of the others. I cannot forgive you for what you
did, Sidney Prale. But I can wash my hands of the entire affair and try
to forget you entirely and hope that there is a law of retribution that
will take vengeance for me. That is all, Mr. Prale. Only please remember
that, from this hour, I am not concerned with the others in this
affair."
She started to rise, but Prale motioned for her to retain her seat. He
bent forward and looked at her searchingly.
"I am very glad that you have come here and spoken to me in this way,
Miss Gilbert," he said. "I scarcely know how to express what I feel that
I must tell you. I have listened to you patiently, without interruption.
Will you be kind enough to listen to me for a moment now?"
"I'll listen, though it will be useless," she said.
"When I left Honduras, Miss Gilbert, I was a happy man. I had made my
pile and was coming home. I had left ten years before because a selfish
woman, whom I imagined I loved, jilted me for a wealthier man. That
wound had healed, and when I left Honduras, I did not think that I had
an enemy in the world, unless it was some poor devil of a disgruntled
native workman I had been forced to discharge, or somebody like that.
"I believed those notes on the ship to be in the nature of a jest, or
else that somebody was making a mistake. Then troubles began, and I was
at a loss to understand them. Next came the murder charge! We will put
that aside for the moment, for it seems to be the result of
circumstantial evidence and probably has nothing to do with the other
affair--merely a coincidence.
"Miss Gilbert, look at me! I want you to believe what I am going to say.
You must believe it! In the name of everything I hold sacred, I swear to
you that I do not know these foes of mine, or the reason for their
enmity!"
"How can I believe that?" she cried. "Why should you ask me to believe
such a statement?"
"Because I want some light on this subject, Miss Gilbert, and I am
determined to get it. There is some terrible mistake. I am being
punished for the fault of some other person."
"Can you not remember back ten years?" she asked.
"Easily. I can live over again the last day I spent in New York ten
years ago."
"And the few days before that time?"
"Certainly, Miss Gilbert."
"And yet you ask why others should seek to punish you? Perhaps you are
one of those men whose natures are so dishonorable that you think you
did nothing wrong at that time."
"So it was then that I was supposed to have done this terrible
thing--whatever it was?"
"As you know, Mr. Prale."
"But I do not know, Miss Gilbert. To the best of my recollection I left
New York without having done anything in the least dishonorable; and
certainly I did nothing to merit a band of enemies working against me."
"What is it that you wish me to do?" she asked.
"Be fair with me, Miss Gilbert. I tell you that there is some terrible
mistake! If I am supposed to know all about this, what harm can there be
in your repeating the details to me? Tell me what crime I am supposed to
have committed to merit this attack. Give me a chance to prove my
innocence! The common thug gets that chance in a court of law, you
know."
"But this is ridiculous!" she exclaimed. "There can be no question of
it! The whole thing came out at the time."
"Then you do not wish to be fair?" Prale asked.
"I cannot allow you to say that. I will tell the story to you, Mr.
Prale, tell exactly what you did--as you know very well--if that will be
any satisfaction to you. But it will do you no good to deny it!"
"Tell me!" Sidney Prale said.