_The Bandit_
Joseph Maillard's library was on the ground floor of the house; it was a
sedate and stately room, and was invariably shut off to itself. Not even
to-night, of all nights, was it thrown open with the remainder of the
house.
Here, for a good half hour, had been Uncle Neb. The old butler was
mysteriously engaged with certain tall silver goblets, fragrant mint,
and yet more fragrant--if illegal--bottles. And it was here that Joseph
Maillard summoned half a dozen of his particular cronies and friends,
after the stroke of midnight had assured him that there was no danger to
be expected from the bandit. His son was not among the number. The half
dozen were nearly all elderly men, and, with the exception of Jachin
Fell, all were men of prominent affairs.
About the table grouped Maillard and his guests, while in the background
hovered Uncle Neb, glistening black, hugely important, and grinning
widely. Fell was the last to enter the room, and as he did so old Judge
Forester turned to him smilingly.
"Ah, here is an attorney in whom there is no guile! Jachin, come and
settle a dispute. I maintain that the dignity of the law is not less now
than in the old days; that it has merely accommodated itself to changing
conditions, and that it is a profession for gentlemen now as always.
Jules, state your argument!"
Jules Delagroux, a white-haired Creole lawyer of high standing, smiled a
trifle sadly.
"My case," he said, "is that the old days are dead; that the law is no
longer a profession, but a following for charlatans. In a word, that the
law has been killed by the lawyers." He gestured finality and glanced at
Fell.
"So?" Jachin Fell smiled in his shy fashion. "Gentlemen, I heartily
agree with you both. I am an attorney, but I do not practise because I
cannot accommodate myself to those very changing conditions of which
Judge Forester speaks. To-day, the lawyer must be a politician; he must
be an adept in the trick of words and deeds; he must be able not to
serve his profession but to make it serve him, and he must remember
always that the rights of property are more sacred than those of life
and liberty. Otherwise, he will remain honest and poor."
An ejaculation of "True" from the judge brought smiles. Jachin Fell
continued whimsically:
"Regarding these very conditions many years ago, gentlemen, I was
tempted to change my profession--but to what? I was tempted to enter the
church until I saw that the same conditions hold good of a clergyman. I
was tempted to enter medicine until I saw that they also held true of a
doctor. I was tempted to other things, always with the like result.
Well, you know the story of Aunt Dixie and her black underwear--'Honey,
I ain't ashamed of mah grief; when I mourns, I _mourns_!' Even so with
the law----"
A burst of laughter drowned him out, and the original argument was
forgotten. Maillard, standing before a small wall safe that flanked the
open hearth, lifted his silver goblet, asteam with beads. The moment for
which he had been waiting was here; he launched his little thunderbolt
with an air of satisfied importance.
"My friends, I have a confession to make!" he announced. "To-day I
received a note from the Midnight Masquer stating that he would be with
us this evening, presumably at the hour of midnight, his usual time."
These words brought an instant silence. Uncle Neb, from his corner,
uttered a startled "Fore de lawd!" that rang through the room; yet no
one smiled. The half-dozen men were tense, watchful, astonished. But
Maillard swung up his silver cup and laughed gaily.
"I took full precautions, gentlemen. The hour of danger is past, and the
notorious bandit has not arrived--or, if he has arrived, he is now in
the hands of the law. After all, that note may have been something in
the nature of a carnival jest! So up with your cups, my friends--a
lifelong health to Mardi Gras, and damnation to prohibition and the
Midnight Masquer!"
From everyone broke a swift assent to the toast, a murmur of relieved
tension. The silver goblets were lifted, touched in a musical clinking
of edges, and the aromatic breath of juleps filled the library as the
drinkers, in true Southern fashion, buried noses in the fragrant mint.
Then, as the cups were lowered, from the recess of the curtained windows
at one end of the room came a quiet voice:
"I thank you, gentlemen! But I must remind you, Maillard, that there was
not a time limit set in the note."
With a simultaneous gasp everyone turned. Maillard staggered; his face
went livid. Uncle Neb, who had been advancing to refill the cups,
dropped his silver tray with a crash that went unheeded, indeed unheard.
Every eye was fastened upon that amazing figure now advancing from the
shadows of the recess.
It was the figure of an aviator, clad in leather from top to toe, the
goggles and helmet shield completely masking his head and features from
recognition. In his hand he held an automatic pistol, which covered the
group of men before him with its threatening mouth.
"Not a sound, if you please," he warned, his voice thin and
nasal--obviously disguised. "I trust that none of you gentlemen is
armed, because I am very quick on the trigger. A very pleasant surprise,
Maillard? You'd given me up, eh?"
For an instant no one spoke. Then Maillard moved slightly, moved his
hand toward a button set in the wall near the safe. The voice of the
bandit leaped out at him like thin steel:
"Quiet, you fool! If you touch that button----"
Maillard stiffened, and gripped the table edge with his shaking hand.
"This is an outrage, suh!" began Judge Forester, his white goatee
bristling. The bandit bowed slightly, and addressed the gathering in a
tone of dry raillery:
"An outrage? Exactly. You were just now discussing the majesty of the
law. Well, I assure you that I found your discussion intensely
interesting. Mr. Fell correctly stated that the rights of property are
more sacred in legal eyes than the rights of human life. You see,
gentlemen, the discussion touched me very closely!
"I am now engaged in outraging the law, and I have this amendment to
propose to Mr. Fell: That if he had been tempted to follow the
profession of a robber he would have found the same conditions
prevailing which he quoted as applying to other professions."
Jachin Fell, alone of those about the table, allowed a smile to curve
his lips.
"The rights of property," pursued the bandit with a deadly smoothness,
"are to me, also, far more sacred than human life; there I agree with
the law. So, gentlemen, kindly empty your pockets on the table." His
voice became crisp. "The jewelled scarf-pins which you received as
favours this evening may be added to the collection; otherwise, I shall
not touch your private possessions. No watches, thank you. Maillard,
kindly begin! I believe that you carry a wallet? If you please."
The banker could not but obey. His hands trembling with fear and rage,
he took from his pocket a wallet, and emptied a sheaf of bills upon the
table. One after another, the other men followed his example. The bandit
made no attempt to search them, but watched with eyes that glittered
from behind his mask as they laid money and scarf-pins on the table.
When it came his turn, Jachin Fell drew a single bill from his pocket,
and laid it down.
"You put some faith in that warning, Mr. Fell?" The bandit laughed. "Do
you think that you will know me again?"
"I hardly believe so, sir," answered Fell in his apologetic fashion.
"Your disguise is really excellent."
"Thank you." The bandit's voice held a thin mockery. "Coming from you,
sir, that compliment is most welcome."
"What the devil does the fellow mean?" exploded Judge Forester.
"Then you are not aware that Mr. Fell is a man of large affairs?" The
bandit's white teeth flashed in a smile. "He is a modest man, this
attorney! And a dangerous man also, I assure you. But come, Mr. Fell,
I'll not betray you."
Jachin Fell obviously did not appreciate the pleasantry. His shy and
wondering features assumed a set and hardened look.
"Whoever you are," he responded, a subtle click of anger in his tone,
"you shall be punished for this!"
"For what, Mr. Fell? For knowing too much of your private affairs?" The
bandit laughed. "Fear not--I am only an amateur at this game,
fortunately! So do your worst, and my blessing upon you! Now, gentlemen,
kindly withdraw a few paces and join Uncle Neb yonder against the wall.
All but you, Maillard; I'm not through with you yet."
The automatic pistol gestured; under its menace everyone obeyed the
command, for the calm assurance of the bandit made it seem extremely
likely that he would use the weapon without compunction. The men
withdrew toward the far end of the room, where a word from the aviator
halted them. Maillard remained standing where he was, his heavy features
now mottled with impotent anger.
The Masquer advanced to the table and gathered the heap of money and
scarfpins into the leathern pocket of his coat. During the process his
gaze did not waver from the group of men, nor did the threat of his
weapon lift from the banker before him.
"Now, Maillard," he quietly ordered, "you will have the kindness to turn
around and open the wall safe behind you. And don't touch the button."
Maillard started.
"That safe! Why--why--damn you, I'll do nothing of the sort!"
"If you don't," was the cool threat, "I'll shoot you through the
abdomen. A man fears a bullet there worse than death. It may kill you,
and it may not; really, I care very little. You--you financier!"
Scorn leaped into the quiet voice, scorn that lashed and bit deep.
"You money trickster! Do you think I would spare such a man as you? You
draw your rents from the poor and destitute, your mortgages cover half
the parishes in the state, and in your heart is neither compassion nor
pity for man or woman. You take the property of others from behind the
safety curtain of the law; I do it from behind a pistol! I rob only
those who can afford to lose--am I really as bad as you, in the eyes of
morality and ethics? Bah! I could shoot you down without a qualm!"
In his voice was so deadly a menace that Maillard trembled. Yet the
banker drew himself up and struggled for self-control, stung as he was
by this flood of vituperation before the group of his closest friends.
"There is nothing of mine in that safe," he said, his voice a low growl.
"I have given it to my son to use. He is not here."
"That," said the Masquer, calmly, "is exactly why I desire you to open
it. Your son must make his contribution, for I keenly regret his
absence. If you are a criminal, he is worse! You rob and steal under
shelter of the law, but you have certain limitations, certain bounds of
an almost outgrown honour. He has none, that son of yours. Why, he would
not hesitate to turn your own tricks back upon you, to rob _you_, if he
could! Open that safe or take the consequences; no more talk, now!"
The command cracked out like a whiplash. With a shrug of helplessness
the banker turned and fumbled with the protruding knob of the safe. With
one exception all eyes were fastened upon this amazing Masquer. The
exception was Jachin Fell, who, suddenly alert and watchful, had turned
his attention to Maillard and the safe, a keen speculation in his gaze
as though he were wondering what that steel vault would produce.
All were silent. There was something about this Midnight Masquer that
held them intently. Perhaps some were inclined to think him a jester,
one of the party masquerading under the famous bandit's guise; if so,
his last words to Maillard had removed all such thought. That indictment
had been deadly and terrible--and true, as they knew. Bob Maillard was
not greatly admired by those among his father's friends who best knew
him.
Now the door of the safe swung open. The compartments appeared empty.
"Take out the drawers and turn them up over the table," commanded the
Masquer.
Maillard obeyed. He took several of the small drawers, and all proved to
be empty; this development drew a dry chuckle from Jachin Fell. Then,
from the last drawer, there fell out on the table a large envelope,
sealed. The Masquer leaned forward, seized upon this envelope, and
crushed it into his pocket.
"Thank you," he observed. "That is all."
"Damn you!" cried Maillard, shaking a fist. "You'd try blackmail, would
you?"
The bandit regarded him a moment, then laughed.
"If you knew what was in that envelope, my dear financier, you might not
speak so hastily. If I knew what was in it, I might answer you. But I
don't know. I only suspect--and hope."
While he spoke the bandit was backing toward the door that opened upon
the lower hallway of the house. He drew this door open, glanced swiftly
out into the hall, and then placed the key on the outside.
"And now, my friends--_au revoir_!"
The Masquer sprang backward into the hall. The door slammed, the key
clicked. He was gone!
Maillard was the first to wake into voice and action. "The other door!"
he cried. "Into the dining room----"
He flung open a second door and dashed into the dining room, followed by
the other men. Here the windows, giving upon the garden, were open. Then
Maillard came to a sudden halt, and after him the others; through the
night was pulsating, with great distinctness, the throbbing roar of an
airplane motor! From Maillard broke a bitter cry:
"The detectives--I'll get the fools here! You gentlemen search the
house; Uncle Neb, go with them, into every room! That fellow can't
possibly have escaped----"
"No word of alarm to the ladies," exclaimed Judge Forester, hurriedly.
"If he was not upstairs, then they have seen nothing of him. We must
divide and search."
They hastily separated. Maillard dashed away to summon the detectives,
also to get other men to aid in the search.
The result was vain. Within twenty minutes the entire house, from cellar
to garret, had been thoroughly gone over, without causing any alarm to
the dancers in the ballroom. Maillard began to think himself a little
mad. No one had been seen to enter or leave the house, and certainly
there had been no airplane about. The Masquer had not appeared except in
the library, and now he was most indubitably not in the house. By all
testimony, he had neither entered it nor left it!
"Well, I'm damned!" said Maillard, helplessly, to Judge Forester, when
the search was concluded. "Not a trace of the scoundrel! Here,
Fell--can't you help us out? Haven't you discovered a thing?"
"Nothing," responded Jachin Fell, calmly.
At this instant Bob Maillard rushed up. He had just learned of the
Masquer's visit. In response to his excited questioning his father
described the scene in the library and added:
"I trust there was nothing important among those papers of yours,
Robert?"
"No," said the younger man. "No. Nothing valuable at all."
Henry Gramont was passing. He caught the words and paused, his gaze
resting for an instant upon the group. A faint smile rested upon his
rather harshly drawn features.
"I just found this," he announced, holding out a paper. "It was pinned
to the outside of the library door. I presume that your late visitor
left it as a memento?"
Jachin Fell took the paper, the other men crowding around him.
"Ah, Maillard! The same handwriting as that of your letter!"
Upon the paper was pencilled a single hasty line:
My compliments to Robert Maillard--and my thanks.
Bob Maillard sprang forward, angrily inspecting the paper. When he
relinquished it, Fell calmly claimed it again.
"Confound the rogue!" muttered the banker's son, turning away. His
features were pale, perhaps with anger. "There was nothing but stock
certificates in that envelope--and they can be reissued."
The festivities were not broken up. As much could hardly be said for the
host, who felt keenly the verbal lashing that had been administered to
him before his friends. News of the robbery gradually leaked out among
the guests; the generally accepted verdict was that the Masquer had
appeared, only to be frightened away before he could secure any loot.
It was nearly two in the morning when Jachin Fell, who was leaving,
encountered Henry Gramont at the head of the wide stairway. He halted
and turned to the younger man.
"Ah--have you a pencil, if you please?"
"I think so, Mr. Fell." Gramont felt beneath his Franciscan's robe, and
extended a pencil.
Jachin Fell examined it, brought a paper from beneath his domino, and
wrote down a word. The paper was that on which the farewell message of
the Midnight Masquer had been written.
"A hard lead, a very hard point indeed!" said Fell. He pocketed the
paper again and regarded Gramont steadily as he returned the pencil.
"Few men carry so hard a pencil, sir."
"You're quite right," and Gramont smiled. "I borrowed this from Bob
Maillard only a moment ago. Its hardness surprised me."
"Oh!" said Jachin Fell, mildly. "By the way, aren't you the Prince de
Gramont? When we met this evening, you were introduced as plain Mr.
Gramont, but it seems to me that I had heard something----"
"Quite a mistake, Mr. Fell. I'm no prince; simply Henry Gramont, and
nothing more. Also, an American citizen. Some of these New Orleans
people can't forget the prince business, most unfortunately."
"Ah, yes," agreed Fell, shyly. "Do you know, a most curious thing----"
"Yes?" prompted Gramont, his eyes intent upon the little gray man.
"That paper you brought us--the paper which you found pinned to the
library door," said Fell, apologetically. "Do you know, Mr. Gramont,
that oddly enough there were no pin holes in that paper?"
Gramont smiled faintly, as though he were inwardly amused over the
remark.
"Not at all curious," he said, his voice level. "It was pinned rather
stoutly--I tore off the portion bearing the message. I'll wager that
you'll find the end of the paper still on the door downstairs. You might
make certain that its torn edge fits that of the paper in your pocket;
if it did not, then the fact _would_ be curious! I am most happy to have
met you, Mr. Fell. I trust that we shall meet again, often."
With a smile, he extended his hand, which Mr. Fell shook cordially.
As Jachin Fell descended the wide staircase his face was red--quite red.
One would have said that he had just been worsted in some encounter, and
that the sense of defeat still rankled within him.
Upon gaining the lower hall he glanced at the door of the library.
There, still pinned to the wood where it had been unregarded by the
passersby, was a small scrap of paper. Mr. Fell glanced at it again,
then shook his head and slowly turned away, as though resisting a
temptation.
"No," he muttered. "No. It would be sure to fit the paper in my pocket.
It would be sure to fit, confound him!"
A little later he left the house and walked along the line of cars that
were waiting parked in the drive and in the street outside. Before one
of the cars he came to a halt, examining it closely. The sleepy
chauffeur got out and touched his cap in a military salute; he was a
sturdy young fellow, his face very square and blunt.
"A very handsome car. May I ask whose it is?" inquired Fell, mildly.
"Mr. Gramont's, sir," answered the chauffeur.
"Ah, thank you. A very handsome car indeed. Good-night!"
Mr. Fell walked away, striding briskly down the avenue. When he
approached the first street light he came to a pause, and began softly
to pat his person as though searching for something.
"I told you that you'd pay for knowing too much about me, young man!" he
said, softly. "What's this, now--what's this?"
A slight rustle of paper, as he walked along, had attracted his
attention. He passed his hands over the loose, open domino that cloaked
him; he detected a scrap of paper pinned to it in the rear. He loosened
the paper, and under the street light managed to decipher the writing
which it bore.
A faint smile crept to his lips as he read the pencilled words:
I do not love you, Jachin Fell,
The reason why I cannot tell;
But this I know, and know full well,
I do not love you, Jachin Fell!
"Certainly the fellow has wit, if not originality," muttered Mr. Fell,
as he carefully stowed away the paper. The writing upon it was in the
hand of the Midnight Masquer.