  "It's the most perplexing case I've been up against, Kennedy, for a long time." Doctor Leslie, now medical adviser to the district attorney, had dropped in at the laboratory, and, to tell the truth, I was glad of the interruption. For from a retort Kennedy was evolving an olfactory offense which was particularly annoying to me, especially as I was struggling with an article on art for The Star. The things were incongruous, and the article suffered. "A case?" repeated Kennedy, mechanically. "Here—stick your foot up. That's fine," he added, as he scraped the sole and heel of Leslie's shoe, while Leslie fidgeted impatiently. "This is new." Apparently Leslie's case was forgotten before it was begun. "You know," Craig went on, eagerly, "the use of all these new leather substitutes is opening a new "Yes. You know the lawyer, Vail Wilford? Well, they found him in his office—this morning—dead—the lights on; a suicide—that is, it looked like a suicide at first. I don't know. The thing's a mystery to me." "Oh—a suicide?" Craig frowned, as though such a thing was entirely too trivial to interrupt his analysis of rubber heels. "He left this letter—to his wife," persisted Leslie. We read the note. Honora [it began]—Don't think I am a coward to do this, but things cannot go on as they have been going. It is no use. I cannot work it out. This is the only way. So I shall drop out. You will find my will in the safe. Good-by forever. Vail. The peculiarly pungent smell of burning rubber had by this time completely filled the laboratory. It was stifling, sickening. "There—you made me forget that test, with your confounded suicide," reproached Kennedy. "That sample's ruined." "Glad of it," I snorted. "Now I won't need a gas-mask." However, in curiosity I looked at the note again. It was, strangely enough, written on a typewriter. "Hm!" exclaimed Kennedy, with mild interest. "Suicides don't usually write on typewriters. A hasty scrawl—that's what you usually find." "But Wilford was an unusual man," I suggested. "You might look for almost anything from Wilford." I read the note again. And as I did so I asked myself whether it was a suicide note, after all. To me, now, it seemed too calmly composed and written for that, as Kennedy had suggested. I knew Wilford as a lawyer, still comparatively young and well known almost to the point of notoriety, for of late he had taken many society divorce cases. Altogether, his office had become a sort of fashionable court of domestic relations. "Here's the strange thing," hastened Leslie, taking advantage of Kennedy's momentary interest before he could return to another retort laden with some new material. "We found in the office, on the desk, two glasses. In one there seemed to be traces of nothing at all—but in the other I have discovered decided traces of atropin." "That looks promising," remarked Kennedy, his analysis now entirely forgotten. "That's why I decided to call you in. Will you help me?" "Craig," I interrupted, "I don't know much about Vail Wilford, but he has had such an unsavory reputation that—well, I'd hesitate. I've always considered him a sort of society rat." "What difference does that make, Walter?" argued Craig, turning on me suddenly. "If a crime has been committed, I must get at it. It is my duty—even if the man is a 'rat,' as you call him. Besides, this promises to be a very interesting case. Where is the body?" he asked, abruptly, in as matter-of-fact a tone as if it had been a wrecked car towed to a garage. "Removed to his apartment on the Drive," replied Doctor Leslie, now much encouraged and not concealing it. "I've just come from the place. That was where I saw Honora Wilford." "How did Mrs. Wilford take it?" asked Craig. "Has she been told all this yet?" "Not about the atropin, I think. That's just what I wanted to tell you about. She was grief-stricken, of course. But she did not faint or do anything like that." "Then what was it?" hastened Kennedy, impatiently. "When we told her," replied Leslie, "she exclaimed: 'I knew it! I knew it!' She stood at the side of the bed where the body had been placed. 'I felt it!' she cried. 'Only the other night I had such a horrible dream. I dreamed I saw him in a terrific struggle. I could not make out who or what it was with which he struggled. I tried to run to him. But something seemed to hold me back. I could not move. Then the scene shifted—like a motion picture. I saw a funeral procession and in the coffin I could see as though by a second "I tried to calm her," went on Leslie. "But it was of no use. She kept crying out: 'It has come true—just as I saw in the dream. I feared it—even when I knew it was only a dream.' Strange, don't you think, Kennedy?" "Why didn't you tell me this before?" asked Craig, impatiently. "Didn't have a chance. You were studying my rubber heels." "Well—what then? Is there anything else?" "I questioned her," went on Leslie. "I asked her about her dreams. 'Yes,' she said, 'often I have had the dream of that funeral procession—and always I saw the same face—Vail's! Oh, it is horrible—horrible!'" Kennedy was studying Leslie now keenly, though he said nothing. "There's another thing, too," added Leslie, eagerly. "Although Mrs. Wilford seems to be perfectly normal, still I have learned that she was suffering from the usual society complaint—nervousness—nervous breakdown. She had been treated for some time by Doctor Lathrop—you know, the society physician they all run to?" Kennedy nodded. "Then, on a sort of docket, or, rather, calendar for private notes by dates, on the desk of Wilford, I discovered this entry, among others, 'Prepare papers in proposed case of Lathrop vs. Lathrop.' I glanced over at Kennedy. Vina Lathrop! I knew also of Vina Lathrop, the beautiful wife of the society physician. It was certainly news that a divorce proceeding had even been contemplated. I could imagine how the newspapers would revel in it when they knew. "Then you'll go?" queried Doctor Leslie, anxiously. Kennedy completely ignored my earlier objection. "Certainly I'll go," he replied, pulling off his stained smock. Ten minutes later, with Doctor Leslie, we came to the Wilford apartment, one of those ornate and expensive multiple dwellings that front the river and command a rental that fixes a social station in certain sets. Following him, we rode up in the elevator, and had scarcely been admitted to the Wilford suite when we were greeted familiarly by a voice. It was Doyle, of the detective bureau, a sleuth of the old school, but for all that a capital fellow and one with whom we got along very nicely, so long as we flattered him and allowed him a generous share of credit when the rounding out of a case came about. "What do you really know about her?" he whispered, finally, after a few moments' chat, jerking "Very little, it's true," cut in Leslie. "I think our report said that her maiden name was Honora Chappelle, that her father, Honore Chappelle, made quite a fortune as an optician, that she was an only child and inherited—" "I don't mean her pedigree," scorned Doyle. "I mean modern history. Now, I've been making some inquiries, from the neighbors and others, and I've had a couple of men out picking up stray bits of information." Doyle leaned over patronizingly to Kennedy, as much as to say that, with all Craig's science, he couldn't beat the organization of the regular force, a contention Kennedy was always quite willing to admit. "I have just learned," informed Doyle, "that Wilford had been having her shadowed. They tell me, too, that she has been seen once or twice with an old friend of hers, Vance Shattuck, the broker. They tell me that before she married Wilford she was once engaged to Shattuck. Know him?" he asked, turning to me. "I've heard of him," I replied. "I guess he's well known on Wall Street—seems to get his name into the papers often enough, anyhow, in one scandal or another." "Well, I think that dream stuff is all camouflage, just between you and me," nodded Doyle, sagely, He held out the paper to Kennedy. It was a page torn out of a book of poetry, an anthology, I imagined, for on the page was printed the title of a sonnet, "Renouncement," and the name of the author, Alice Meynell. On the wide margin of the page was written in ink, in what Doyle assured us was Mrs. Wilford's own handwriting, the notation, "One of the greatest sonnets of pure emotion." We all read it and I am forced to admit that, whatever our opinion might have been of Honora Wilford before, we were convinced that her literary judgment was not at fault. I add the sonnet: I must not think of thee; and tired, yet strong, I shun the love that lurks in all delight— The love of thee—and in the blue heaven's height And in the dearest passage of a song. Oh, just beyond the sweetest thoughts that throng This breast, the thought of thee waits hidden, yet bright; But must it never, never come in sight; I must stop short of thee the whole day long. But when sleep comes to close each difficult day, When night gives pause to the long watch I keep, And all my bonds I needs must loose apart, Must doff my will as raiment laid away— With the first dream that comes, with the first sleep I run, I run, I am gathered to thy heart. Kennedy folded up the sonnet and its notation, and, without a word, turned from Doyle and On the table before Doyle there were two glasses, as well as some other objects which Doyle had either collected or brought with him from the office. "I suppose those are the glasses you found at the office," ventured Kennedy. "In one of them I understand that traces of atropin were found." Doyle nodded. "What's that?" asked Craig, pointing to a cut-glass-stoppered bottle which was standing by the glasses, empty. "That? It was found with a vanity-case and some other things on her dressing-table. It once contained belladonna—atropin, you know. I've had her maid, Celeste, cross-examined. Mrs. Wilford used belladonna to brighten her eyes sometimes, as many society women do." I shot a glance of inquiry at Doyle, who nodded. "So far, we haven't been able to connect Mrs. Wilford directly with the mystery, but we're keeping the evidence," he confirmed. I must admit that both Doyle's information and his general attitude after what we had heard from Leslie came as a shock. Yet, try as I might, I had to admit that even if that were the purpose for which Honora Wilford had the belladonna, it need not have been the only use to which she put it. Doyle was raising a very serious presumption, at least. A poison like belladonna A moment later, with the physician and the detective, we entered the room where the body lay. Wilford had been a large and rather forceful figure in life. I knew him as a man of unusual ability, though I despised the direction in which his legal talents had been diverted. Perhaps, I thought, unusual talents had brought unusual temptations. For, whatever we may have thought of people in life, our judgments are necessarily softened by death. As I looked at him now, I could not escape the feeling that his peculiar kind of success somehow would afford the basic reason which would prove to be the solution of the mystery before us. At length Kennedy straightened up and turned to us, a peculiar look on his face. "What is it?" I queried, impatiently. "Have you discovered something already?" Without replying for the moment, Kennedy glanced down significantly at the eye of Wilford as he held the lid with his finger. "Atropin, you know, would dilate the pupil," he remarked, simply. We took a step closer and looked. The pupils of both eyes were contracted. "I know," remarked Doyle, wisely, "but there may have been something else. You remember the Buchanan case?" Before any one could answer, he went on: "Remember when the Carlyle Harris case was going on, the testimony showed that Helen Potts's eyes had been contracted to a pin-point? Well, at that time Doctor Buchanan, a dentist down on Staten Island, I think, was talking to a patient. He said that Harris was a fool—that all he needed to have done was to have put some atropin in the capsule with the morphine—and her pupils would have expanded—and thus covered up the morphine clue. Later, when he himself was accused of murder, the patient recollected what the doctor had said, and it was found that he had tried the very thing himself. It was proved against him. Perhaps there is something like that." Kennedy nodded sententiously at Doyle's wisdom, but did not betray what his real opinion was, if indeed he had formed any so soon. "You have examined the contents of the stomach?" asked Craig of Leslie. Doctor Leslie shook his head. "Not yet. I have not had time. Remember, it is only a couple of hours since this case was handed over to me and it has been only a matter of minutes since I learned that there was anything suspicious." "Then I suppose you have no objection to my sharing the examination with you?" "None whatsoever. In fact, I should welcome it. Leave it to me. I will arrange for samples of everything to be sent to you at your laboratory at the very first opportunity." "Very well, then," thanked Kennedy. "Now I should like to see Mrs. Wilford, if she is here." "You bet she's here," ejaculated Doyle. "You don't suppose I'd let her get away, do you?" He led the way down the hall to a sort of drawing-room. Honora Wilford was a tall, perfectly formed woman, a beautiful woman, too. At first glance she gave one an impression of youth, though soon one saw that she was mature. I think that for that very reason she was fascinating. There was something baffling about her. Remembering what Leslie had said about the dream, I was surprised to see she was of anything, apparently, but a hysterical nature. One would not have thought her to be the type subject to hallucinations of any nature. Honora had large, lustrous, gray-blue eyes. From her carefully dressed chestnut hair to her dainty, fashionable foot-gear she was "correct." Her face had what people call "character." Yet, as I studied it and the personality it expressed, I had an indefinable feeling that there was something wanting. It was some time before I was able to catch it, much less express it. But as she talked I realized what it was. Her beauty was that of a splendid piece of sculpture—cold, almost marble. There seemed to be something lacking. I could not at first define it, yet I felt that it was lacking, nevertheless. The very perfection I saw fell short As we entered with Doyle, Honora seemed to ignore him. Once I saw her covertly eying Kennedy, after our introduction, as though estimating him. Doyle had glossed the introduction over by saying that we were a "couple of scientists." What idea it conveyed to Mrs. Wilford I do not know. It meant nothing to me, except that Doyle suffered from either secret jealously or contempt. "I understand," questioned Doyle, in his best third-degree, hammer-and-tongs method, "that some time ago you had a disagreement with Mr. Wilford and even threatened to leave him." "Yes?" parried Honora, without admitting a syllable. "I didn't leave him, though, did I?" I watched her closely. She did not flinch from the questioning, nor did she betray anything. Her face wore an expression of enforced calmness. Had she steeled herself for this ordeal, as merely the first of many? Try as he might, Doyle could not shake her calmness. Yet all the time he gave the impression that he was holding something in reserve against her. "We shall have to require you to stay here, for the present," added Doyle, ominously, as his man summoned him outside for some message from headquarters. I saw what his idea was. It was a refinement of torture for her—in the hope that, surrounded by For a moment we were alone with her. If I had expected any appeal to Kennedy, I was mistaken. "I understand that you have been under the care of Doctor Lathrop," hazarded Craig. "Yes," she replied; "I've been so run down and miserable this season in town that I needed some treatment." "I see," considered Kennedy. "Doctor Leslie has told me. He also told me about your dreams." She averted her eyes. "They have made me even more nervous," she murmured, and I now noticed that it was quite true that her apparent placid exterior was merely a matter of will-power. "Do you dream more—or less, lately?" Craig asked. "That is, I mean since you have been consulting Doctor Lathrop. Has his treatment done you any good?" I wondered whether, beneath her nervousness, she was on guard always. "I think I have been getting more and more nervous, instead of less," she answered, in a low tone. "So many dreams of Vail—and always dreams of warning—of death. My dreams are so peculiar, too. Why, last night I dreamed even of "Have you told him? What does he say?" "I haven't had a chance to see him—though by the way I feel after this tragedy I shall need a physician—soon. He tells me that I am run down, that I need a complete change of surroundings." It was evident that, whatever the reason, her nervous condition was quite as she described it. Kennedy evidently considered that nothing was to be gained by questioning her further just at that moment, and we left her. Outside we were joined by Doctor Leslie. "What do you think of it?" he asked. "A most peculiar tangle, to say the least," remarked Kennedy. "Just consider it. Here are two couples—Wilford and Honora, Doctor Lathrop and his wife, Vina. We may suspect, from what you found at the office, something in the relations of Wilford and Vina. As to the doctor and Honora—we don't know. Then, into the case seems to have entered a fifth person, Vance Shattuck. Really, Leslie, I cannot say anything now. It seems as though it might be quite complicated. I shall have to visit them, talk with them, find out. You and Doyle will keep me informed?" "Certainly. And I will let you have the materials for your tests as soon as possible." As we left the apartment, Kennedy appeared preoccupied. "Those dreams were peculiar," he remarked, slowly, almost to himself. I glanced at him quickly. "You don't mean to say that you attach any importance to dreams?" I remarked. Kennedy merely shrugged. But I knew from his actions that he did. |
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