A Strange Disappearance, Page 2

  CHAPTER II. A FEW POINTS

  Mrs. Daniels, for that was her name, took me at once up stairs to thethird story back room. As we passed through the halls, I could not butnotice how rich, though sombre were the old fashioned walls and heavilyfrescoed ceilings, so different in style and coloring from what we seenow-a-days in our secret penetrations into Fifth Avenue mansions. Manyas are the wealthy houses I have been called upon to enter in the lineof my profession, I had never crossed the threshold of such an one asthis before, and impervious as I am to any foolish sentimentalities,I felt a certain degree of awe at the thought of invading with policeinvestigation, this home of ancient Knicker-bocker respectability. Butonce in the room of the missing girl, every consideration fled save thatof professional pride and curiosity. For almost at first blush, I sawthat whether Mrs. Daniels was correct or not in her surmises as to themanner of the girl's disappearance, the fact that she had disappearedwas likely to prove an affair of some importance. For, let me statethe facts in the order in which I noticed them. The first thing thatimpressed me was, that whatever Mrs. Daniels called her, this was nosewing girl's room into which I now stepped. Plain as was the furniturein comparison with the elaborate richness of the walls and ceiling,there were still scattered through the room, which was large even fora thirty foot house, articles of sufficient elegance to make thesupposition that it was the abode of an ordinary seamstress open tosuspicion, if no more.

  Mrs. Daniels, seeing my look of surprise, hastened to provide someexplanation. "It is the room which has always been devoted to sewing,"said she; "and when Emily came, I thought it would be easier to put upa bed here than to send her upstairs. She was a very nice girl anddisarranged nothing."

  I glanced around on the writing-case lying open on a small table in thecentre of the room, on the vase half full of partly withered roses, onthe mantel-piece, the Shakespeare, and Macaulay's History lying on thestand at my right, thought my own thoughts, but said nothing.

  "You found the door locked this morning?" asked I, after a moment'sscrutiny of the room in which three facts had become manifest: first,that the girl had not occupied the bed the night before; second, thatthere had been some sort of struggle or surprise,--one of the curtainsbeing violently torn as if grasped by an agitated hand, to say nothingof a chair lying upset on the floor with one of its legs broken; third,that the departure, strange as it may seem, had been by the window.

  "Yes," returned she; "but there is a passageway leading from my roomto hers and it was by that means we entered. There was a chair placedagainst the door on this side but we easily pushed it away."

  I stepped to the window and looked out. Ah, it would not be so verydifficult for a man to gain the street from that spot in a dark night,for the roof of the newly-erected extension was almost on a level withthe window.

  "Well," said she anxiously, "couldn't she have been got out that way?"

  "More difficult things have been done," said I; and was about to stepout upon the roof when I bethought to inquire of Mrs. Daniels if any ofthe girl's clothing was missing.

  She immediately flew to the closets and thence to bureau drawers whichshe turned hastily over. "No, nothing is missing but a hat and cloakand--" She paused confusedly.

  "And what?" I asked.

  "Nothing," returned she, hurriedly closing the bureau drawer; "only somelittle knick-knacks."

  "Knick-knacks!" quoth I. "If she stopped for knick-knacks, she couldn'thave gone in any very unwilling frame of mind." And somewhat disgusted,I was about to throw up the whole affair and leave the room. But theindecision in Mrs. Daniels' own face deterred me.

  "I don't understand it," murmured she, drawing her hand across her eyes."I don't understand it. But," she went on with even an increase in herold tone of heart-felt conviction, "no matter whether we understand itor not, the case is serious; I tell you so, and she must be found."

  I resolved to know the nature of that must, used as few women in herposition would use it even under circumstances to all appearance moreaggravated than these.

  "Why, must?" said I. "If the girl went of her own accord as some thingsseem to show, why should you, no relative as you acknowledge, take thematter so to heart as to insist she shall be followed and brought back?"

  She turned away, uneasily taking up and putting down some little matterson the table before her. "Is it not enough that I promise to pay forall expenses which a search will occasion, without my being forced todeclare just why I should be willing to do so? Am I bound to tell you Ilove the girl? that I believe she has been taken away by foul means,and that to her great suffering and distress? that being fond of her andbelieving this, I am conscientious enough to put every means I possessat the command of those who will recover her?"

  I was not satisfied with this but on that very account felt myenthusiasm revive.

  "But Mr. Blake? Surely he is the one to take this interest if anybody."

  "I have before said," returned she, paling however as she spoke, "thatMr. Blake takes very little interest in his servants."

  I cast another glance about the room. "How long have you been in thishouse?" asked I.

  "I was in the service of Mr. Blake's father and he died a year ago."

  "Since when you have remained with Mr. Blake himself?"

  "Yes sir."

  "And this Emily, when did she come here?"

  "Oh it must be eleven months or so ago."

  "An Irish girl?"

  "O no, American. She is not a common person, sir."

  "What do you mean by that? That she was educated, lady-like, pretty, orwhat?"

  "I don't know what to say. She was educated, yes, but not as you wouldcall a lady educated. Yet she knew a great many things the rest of usdid'nt. She liked to read, you see, and--O sir, ask the girls about her,I never know what to say when I am questioned."

  I scanned the gray-haired woman still more intently than I had yet done.Was she the weak common-place creature she seemed, or had she reallysome cause other than appeared for these her numerous breaks andhesitations.

  "Where did you get this girl?" I inquired. "Where did she live beforecoming here?"

  "I cannot say, I never asked her to talk about herself. She came to mefor work and I liked her and took her without recommendation."

  "And she has served you well?"

  "Excellently."

  "Been out much? Had any visitors?"

  She shook her head. "Never went out and never had any visitors."

  I own I was nonplussed, "Well," said I, "no more of this at present.I must first find out if she left this house alone or in company withothers." And without further parley I stepped out upon the roof of theextension.

  As I did so I debated with myself whether the case warranted me or notin sending for Mr. Gryce. As yet there was nothing to show that the girlhad come to any harm. A mere elopement with or without a lover to helpher, was not such a serious matter that the whole police force needbe stirred up on the subject; and if the woman had money, as she said,ready to give the man who should discover the whereabouts of this girl,why need that money be divided up any more than was necessary. Yet Grycewas not one to be dallied with. He had said, send for him if the affairseemed to call for his judgment, and somehow the affair did promise tobe a trifle complicated. I was yet undetermined when I reached the edgeof the roof.

  It was a dizzy descent, but once made, escape from the yard beneathwould be easy. A man could take that road without difficulty; but awoman! Baffled at the idea I turned thoughtfully back, when I beheldsomething on the roof before me that caused me to pause and ask myselfif this was going to turn out to be a tragedy after all. It was a dropof congealed blood. Further on towards the window was another, andyes, further still, another and another. I even found one upon the verywindow ledge itself. Bounding into the room, I searched the carpet forfurther traces. It was the worst one in the world to find anythingupon of the nature of which I was seeking, being a confused pattern ofmingled drab and red, and in my difficulty
I had to stoop very low.

  "What are you looking for?" cried Mrs. Daniels.

  I pointed to the drop on the window sill. "Do you see that?" I asked.

  She uttered an exclamation and bent nearer. "Blood!" cried she, andstood staring, with rapidly paling cheeks and trembling form. "They havekilled her and he will never--"

  As she did not finish I looked up.

  "Do you think it was her blood?" she whispered in a horrified tone.

  "There is every reason to believe so," rejoined I, pointing to a spotwhere I had at last discovered not only one crimson drop but many,scattered over the scarcely redder roses under my feet.

  "Ah, it is worse than I thought," murmured she. "What are you going todo? What can we do?

  "I am going to send for another detective," returned I; and stepping tothe window I telegraphed at once to the man Harris to go for Mr. Gryce.

  "The one we saw at the Station?"

  I bowed assent.

  Her face lost something of its drawn expression. "O I am glad; he willdo something."

  Subduing my indignation at this back thrust, I employed my time intaking note of such details as had escaped my previous attention. Theywere not many. The open writing-desk--in which, however I found noletters or written documents of any kind, only a few sheets of paper,with pen, ink, etc.; the brush and hairpins scattered on the bureau asthough the girl had been interrupted while arranging her hair (if shehad been interrupted); and the absence of any great pile of work such asone would expect to see in a room set apart for sewing, were all I coulddiscover. Not much to help us, in case this was to prove an affair ofimportance as I began to suspect.

  With Mr. Gryce's arrival, however, things soon assumed a better shape.He came to the basement door, was ushered in by your humble servant, hadthe whole matter as far as I had investigated it, at his finger-ends ina moment, and was up-stairs and in that room before I, who am called thequickest man in the force as you all know, could have time to determinejust what difference his presence would make to me in a pecuniary way inevent of Mrs. Daniels' promises amounting to anything. He did not remainthere long, but when he came down I saw that his interest was in no wiselessened.

  "What kind of a looking girl was this?" he asked, hurrying up to Mrs.Daniels who had withdrawn into a recess in the lower hall while all thiswas going on. "Describe her to me, hair, eyes, complexion, etc.; youknow."

  "I--I--don't know as I can," she stammered reluctantly, turning veryred in the face. "I am a poor one for noticing. I will call one of thegirls, I--" She was gone before we realized she had not finished hersentence.

  "Humph!" broke from Mr. Gryce's lips as he thoughtfully took down a vasethat stood on a bracket near by and looked into it.

  I did not venture a word.

  When Mrs. Daniels came back she had with her a trim-looking girl ofprepossessing appearance.

  "This is Fanny," said she; "she knows Emily well, being in the habit ofwaiting on her at table; she will tell you what you want to hear. Ihave explained to her," she went on, nodding towards Mr. Gryce with acomposure such as she had not before displayed; "that you are lookingfor your niece who ran away from home some time ago to go into some sortof service."

  "Certainly, ma'am," quoth that gentleman, bowing with mock admirationto the gas-fixture. Then carelessly shifting his glance to thecleaning-cloth which Fanny held rather conspicuously in her hand, herepeated the question he had already put to Mrs. Daniels.

  The girl, tossing her head just a trifle, at once replied:

  "O she was good-looking enough, if that is what you mean, for them aslikes a girl with cheeks as white as this cloth was afore I rubbed thespoons with it. As for her eyes, they was blacker than her hair, whichwas the blackest I ever see. She had no flesh at all, and as for herfigure--" Fanny glanced down on her own well developed person, and gavea shrug inexpressibly suggestive.

  "Is this description true?" Mr. Gryce asked, seemingly of Mrs. Daniels,though his gaze rested with curious intentness on the girl's head whichwas covered with a little cap.

  "Sufficiently so," returned Mrs. Daniels in a very low tone, however.Then with a sudden display of energy, "Emily's figure is not whatyou would call plump. I have seen her--" She broke off as if a littlestartled at herself and motioned Fanny to go.

  "Wait a moment," interposed Mr. Gryce in his soft way. "You said thegirl's hair and eyes were dark; were they darker than yours?"

  "O, yes sir;" replied the girl simpering, as she settled the ribbons onher cap.

  "Let me see your hair."

  She took off her cap with a smile.

  "Ha, very pretty, very pretty. And the other girls? You have other girlsI suppose?"

  "Two, sir;" returned Mrs. Daniels.

  "How about their complexions? Are they lighter too than Emily's?"

  "Yes, sir; about like Fanny's."

  Mr. Gryce spread his hand over his breast in a way that assured me ofhis satisfaction, and allowed the girl to go.

  "We will now proceed to the yard," said he. But at that moment the doorof the front room opened and a gentleman stepped leisurely into thehall, whom at first glance I recognized as the master of the house. Hewas dressed for the street and had his hat in his hand. At the sightwe all stood silent, Mrs. Daniels flushing up to the roots of her grayhair.

  Mr. Blake is an elegant-looking man as you perhaps know; proud,reserved, and a trifle sombre. As he turned to come towards us, thelight shining through the windows at our right, fell full upon hisface, revealing such a self-absorbed and melancholy expression, Iinvoluntarily drew back as if I had unwittingly intruded upon a greatman's privacy. Mr. Gryce on the contrary stepped forward.

  "Mr. Blake, I believe," said he, bowing in that deferential way he knowsso well how to assume.

  The gentleman, startled as it evidently seemed from a reverie, lookedhastily up. Meeting Mr. Gryce's bland smile, he returned the bow, buthaughtily, and as it appeared in an abstracted way.

  "Allow me to introduce myself," proceeded my superior. "I am Mr. Grycefrom the detective bureau. We were notified this morning that a girlin your employ had disappeared from your house last night in a somewhatstrange and unusual way, and I just stepped over with my man here, tosee if the matter is of sufficient importance to inquire into. With manyapologies for the intrusion, I stand obedient to your orders."

  With a frown expressive of annoyance, Mr. Blake glanced around anddetecting Mrs. Daniels, said: "Did you consider the affair so serious asthat?"

  She nodded, seeming to find it difficult to speak.

  He remained looking at her with an expression of some doubt. "I canhardly think," said he, "such extreme measures were necessary; the girlwill doubtless come back, or if not--" His shoulders gave a slight shrugand he took out his gloves.

  "The difficulty seems to be," quoth Mr. Gryce eyeing those gloves withhis most intent and concentrated look, "that the girl did not go alone,but was helped away, or forced away, by parties who had previouslybroken into your house."

  "That is a strange circumstance," remarked Mr. Blake, but still withoutany appearance of interest, "and if you are sure of what you say,demands, perhaps, some inquiry. I would not wish to put anything in theway of justice succoring the injured. But--" again he gave that slightshrug of the shoulders, indicative of doubt, if not indifference.

  Mrs. Daniels trembled, and took a step forward. I thought she wasgoing to speak, but instead of that she drew back again in her strangehesitating way.

  Mr. Gryce did not seem to notice.

  "Perhaps sir," said he, "if you will step upstairs with me to the roomoccupied by this girl, I may be able to show you certain evidences whichwill convince you that our errand here is not one of presumption."

  "I am ready to concede that without troubling myself with proof,"observed the master of the house with the faintest show of asperity."Yet if there is anything to see of a startling nature, perhaps I hadbest yield to your wishes. Whereabouts in the house is this girl's room,Mrs. Daniels?"


  "It is--I gave her the third story back, Mr. Blake;" replied that woman,nervously eyeing his face. "It was large and light for sewing, and shewas so nice--"

  He impatiently waved his hand on which he had by this time fitted hisglove to a nicety, as if these details were an unnecessary bore to him,and motioned her to show the way. Instantly a new feeling appeared toseize her, that of alarm.

  "I hardly think you need trouble Mr. Blake to go up-stairs," shemurmured, turning towards Mr. Gryce. "I am sure when you tell him thecurtains were torn, and the chair upset, the window open and--"

  But Mr. Gryce was already on the stairs with Mr. Blake, whom this smallopposition seemed to have at once determined.

  "O my God!" she murmured to herself, "who could have foreseen this."And ignoring my presence with all the egotism of extreme agitation, shehurried past me to the room above, where I speedily joined her.