STEEL AGAINST STEEL
Shortly before noon next day, Ashton-Kirk, in an immaculate morning
suit, was ushered into the presence of Miss Edyth Vale. If he expected
confusion, embarrassment or anything of that sort, he was
disappointed; for she greeted him eagerly and with outstretched hand.
"This is a surprise," she said.
He held her hand and looked meaningly at her.
"My appearances _are_ sometimes surprising," he said. "But I usually
select the night for them; the effect is better then, you see."
She smiled into his eyes.
"I have no doubt but that you are dreadfully mysterious," she said.
"But please sit down."
She seated herself near the window; holding a book in her hand, she
fluttered the leaves to and fro.
"The composure," thought the investigator, as he sat down, "is
somewhat overdone."
"I wonder," said Miss Vale, looking at the book, "if you are an
admirer of Ibsen." And as he nodded, she proceeded with a slight
smile. "I know that he is scarcely the usual thing for a spring
morning. But there are times when I simply can't resist him."
"He's a strong draught at any time," said Ashton-Kirk. "But his tonic
quality is undoubted."
"His disciples claim that for him, at any rate," she answered. "But
sometimes I question its truth. Where is the tonic effect of
'Rosmersholm?' I think it full of terrors." She shuddered and added:
"The White Horses will haunt me for weeks."
"It's the atmosphere of crime," said he. "That quiet home on the
western fiords reeks with it."
She made a gesture of repulsion.
"It's ghastly!" she exclaimed. "And, somehow, one feels it from the
very first--before a word is spoken. Imagine Rebecca at the window,
watching through the plants to see if Rosmer uses the footbridge from
which his wife once leaped to her death." She paused a moment, her
eyes upon the open pages; then lifting her head, she asked: "What do
you think of Rebecca?"
"A tremendous character--of wonderful strength. It was just such
proud, dark, purposeful souls that Byron delighted to draw; but the
only one in literature to whom I can fully liken her is the wife of
Macbeth. There was the same ambition--the same ruthless will--the same
disregard of everything that stood in her way. And, like Cawdor's
wife, she weakened in the end."
She regarded him fixedly.
"Would you call it weakness?" she asked.
"She fell in love with Johannes, did she not? That was weakness--for
her. She herself recognized it as such."
The girl looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.
"That is true," she said.
"Some of the world's most daring and accomplished criminals have been
women," he went on. "But Nature never intended woman to be the bearer
of burdens; there is a weakness in her soul structure somewhere; she
usually sinks under the consciousness of guilt."
"More so than men, do you think?"
"As a rule--yes."
She put down the book and clasped her hands in her lap.
"There is no need to sympathize with Rebecca," she said. "She was
brave and strong, even in her love for Johannes. But he," and there
was a note in her voice that recalled the night he had listened to it
over the telephone, "he was different. There is no more dreadful thing
in the play, to me, than the character of Rosmer. To think of him
sitting quietly in that charnel house, prospering in soul, growing
sleek in thought, becoming stored with high ideas. Perfect peace came
to him in spite of the stern-faced portraits which shrieked murder
from the walls. He dreamed of freeing and ennobling mankind, and all
the time Fate was weaving a net about him that was to drag him from
the mill bridge after his dead wife."
"Kroll knew him," said the investigator. "And he said Rosmer was
easily influenced. It is usually men of that type who are drawn into
the vortex which swirls at every door."
Her face was a little pale; but she now arose with a laugh and began
rubbing her finger-tips with a handkerchief.
"I think we'd better remove the dust of the Norwegian," she said; "and
I make a vow never to read him again--in the morning." She stood
looking down at her caller, good-humoredly and continued: "I suppose
it is my fault, but you have a dreadfully gloomy expression. Or
maybe," as an afterthought, "you ate an unwholesome dinner last night.
Were you at the Perrings, by any chance?"
He shook his head, his keen eyes searching her face.
"No," said he, "I had much more important matters on hand."
She held up her hand.
"It was something about this Hume affair," she said.
"Yes," he replied.
The smile was now gone; she leaned back against a heavy table, her
fingers tightly clasping its edge.
"I have been trying to forget that dreadful thing," she said. "I've
stopped looking at the papers, because I would be sure to see it
mentioned. And," with never a faltering in her eyes, "because I might
be reminded of it in some other way, I now remain indoors."
"Last night was an exception, perhaps," suggested he, smoothly.
"Last night?" There was a questioning look in her beautiful eyes; the
finely posed head with its crown of bright hair bent toward him
inquiringly.
An expression of chagrin crept into his face.
"You were not out last night, then?" said he.
"What makes you think so?" smilingly. "It was dreadfully dull here,
too. But then," with a shrug, "anything is better than a constant
reminder of that Christie Place affair."
He nodded understandingly.
"I suppose it _is_ very distressing." He frowned gloomily at the tips
of his shoes and she could see that he bit his lip with vexation.
After a moment or two, he said: "It's very strange; but I was quite
sure I saw you last night."
"Yes?" Her tone was one of careless interest.
"However," he went on, "I had but a glimpse of the lady; and could
easily have been mistaken." He wore a baffled look, but smiled as he
got up. "And," said he, "my visit of this morning was based upon the
sight I fancied I had of you last night."
She laughed amusedly.
"It was something interesting," she said. "Please tell me about--but,
no, no," hastily. "If it has anything to do with the Hume case, I'd
rather not hear it."
She had pressed the bell call for the footman, when he said:
"Mr. Morris still keeps himself well concealed, I note."
Like a tigress leaping to defend her young, she met the accusation.
"Mr. Morris has done no wrong," she declared, spiritedly. "And there
is no need of his concealing himself."
"Of course I will not say as to that." His voice was soothing and low.
"But he makes a mistake in not coming forward. His name, you have
noticed, has already appeared in the papers in direct connection with
the murder."
He glanced at her keenly once more.
"It may be that he has gone away upon some urgent business," she said.
"And the chances are that he has not heard anything of the matter."
"If he had gone away on business, don't you think he would have
mentioned it to someone?"
"Perhaps he did not think it necessary. And again, maybe he did not
expect to be gone so long. Such things frequently happen, you know."
"They do," admitted Ashton-Kirk. "But in the case of Allan Morris,
they somehow fail to fit. I am convinced that he is in hiding."
She regarded him steadily for a moment; then she said:
"You are convinced, you say?"
"I am."
"May I ask upon what your conviction is based?"
"Not now--no."
There was another pause; the man was at the door, ready to show the
investigator out.
"Perhaps," and her tone was very low, "you even fancy that you know
his hiding-place."
"Not just yet," said he, "but in a few hours at most, I will."
Her lips formed the good-by as he stood in the doorway; but she made
no sound. And Ashton-Kirk as he walked down the hall, smiled quietly
to himself.