That Affair Next Door · Book II · Chapter 23 (2/2)

“You look like one accustomed to tell the truth,” proceeded Miss Althorpe. “Do you not think you have made some mistake, Miss Butterworth?” she asked, approaching me with an ingenuous smile.

I had forgotten to caution her not to make use of my name, and when it fell from her lips I looked to see her unhappy companion recoil from me with a scream.

But strange to say she evinced no emotion, and seeing this, I became more distrustful of her than ever; for, for her to hear without apparent interest the name of the chief witness in the inquest which had been held over the remains of the woman with whose death she had been more or less intimately concerned, argued powers of duplicity such as are only associated with guilt or an extreme simplicity of character. And she was not simple, as the least glance from her deep eyes amply showed.

Recognizing, therefore, that open measures would not do with this woman, I changed my manner at once, and responding to Miss Althorpe, with a gracious smile, remarked with an air of sudden conviction:

“Perhaps I have made some mistake. Miss Oliver’s words sound very ingenuous, and I am disposed, if you are, to take her at her word. It is so easy to draw false conclusions in this world.” And I put back the pincushion into my pocket with an air of being through with the matter, which seemed to impose upon the young woman, for she smiled faintly, showing a row of splendid teeth as she did so.

“Let me apologize,” I went on, “if I have intruded upon Miss Oliver against her wishes.” And with one comprehensive look about the room which took in all that was visible of her simple wardrobe and humble belongings, I led the way out. Miss Althorpe immediately followed.

“This is a much more serious affair than I have led you to suppose,” I confided to her as soon as we were at a suitable distance from Miss Oliver’s door. “If she is the person I think her, she is amenable to law, and the police will have to be notified of her whereabouts.”

“She has stolen, then?”

“Her fault is a very grave one,” I returned.

Miss Althorpe, deeply troubled, looked about her as if for guidance. I, who could have given it to her, made no movement to attract her attention to myself, but waited calmly for her own decision in this matter.

“I wish you would let me consult Mr. Stone,” she ventured at last. “I think his judgment might help us.”

“I had rather take no one into our confidence⁠—especially no man. He would consider your welfare only and not hers.”

I did not consider myself obliged to acknowledge that the work upon which I was engaged could not be shared by one of the male sex without lessening my triumph over Mr. Gryce.

“Mr. Stone is very just,” she remarked, “but he might be biased in a matter of this kind. What way do you see out of the difficulty?”

“Only this. To settle at once and unmistakably, whether she is the person who carried certain articles from the house of a friend of mine. If she is, there will be some evidence of the fact visible in her room or on her person. She has not been out, I believe?”

“Not since she came into the house.”

“And has remained for the most part in her own apartment?”

“Always, except when I have summoned her to my assistance.”

“Then what I want to know I can learn there. But how can I make my investigations without offence?”

“What do you want to know, Miss Butterworth?”

“Whether she has in her keeping some half dozen rings of considerable value.”

“Oh! she could conceal rings so easily.”

“She does conceal them; I have no more doubt of it than I have of my standing here; but I must know it before I shall feel ready to call the attention of the police to her.”

“Yes, we should both know it. Poor girl! poor girl! to be suspected of a crime! How great must have been her temptation!”

“I can manage this matter, Miss Althorpe, if you will entrust it to me.”

“How, Miss Butterworth?”

“The girl is ill; let me take care of her.”

“Really ill?”

“Yes, or will be so before morning. There is fever in her veins; she has worried herself ill. Oh, I will be good to her.”

This in answer to a doubtful look from Miss Althorpe.

“This is a difficult problem you have set me,” that lady remarked after a moment’s thought. “But anything seems better than sending her away, or sending for the police. But do you suppose she will allow you in her room?”

“I think so; if her fever increases she will not notice much that goes on about her, and I think it will increase; I have seen enough of sickness to be something of a judge.”

“And you will search her while she is unconscious?”

“Don’t look so horrified, Miss Althorpe. I have promised you I will not worry her. She may need assistance in getting to bed. While I am giving it to her I can judge if there is anything concealed upon her person.”

“Yes, perhaps.”

“At all events, we shall know more than we do now. Shall I venture, Miss Althorpe?”

“I cannot say no,” was the hesitating answer; “you seem so very much in earnest.”

“And I am in earnest. I have reasons for being; consideration for you is one of them.”

“I do not doubt it. And now will you come down to supper, Miss Butterworth?”

“No,” I replied. “My duty is here. Only send word to Lena that she is to drive home and take care of my house in my absence. I shall want nothing, so do not worry about me. Join your lover now, dear; and do not bestow another thought upon this self-styled Miss Oliver or what I am about to do in her room.”