  It was not until after the funeral of her husband that Minna Varian really came to herself. The three intervening days, she had been free from hysterics but had been in a state of physical exhaustion and incapable of any exertion. But on the day after the funeral, she seemed to take on a new vitality. “I have come to life,” she said, speaking very seriously. “I have at last realized what has happened to me. I was dazed at first, and couldn’t seem to get my senses. Now, we will have no more hysterics, no more emotional scenes, but we go to work to find my child,—to save what I can from my wrecked life. It is a wonder that I didn’t lose my mind utterly. Think of it, Herbert, to lose my husband by death and my child by a mystery far worse than death——” Minna showed signs of breaking down again, but forced herself to control her voice. “I have made up my mind,” she went on, “to go about the search for Betty systematically and immediately. The detectives can do nothing,—they have proved that. The sheriff and that Mr Dunn are at the end of their rope. I don’t blame them,—it is a baffling case. And I know they think Betty’s dead body is hidden somewhere on the premises. Though how they can think that, I don’t see, after the search that has been made.” “They think it,” Janet said, “because there’s no other possible conclusion. You know, yourself, Minna, if Betty were alive we would know of it by this time.” “Never mind theories or conclusions,” Minna said, determinedly, “action is what I want. I know my Betty never killed her father! I know that as well as I know that I’m alive. And Betty may be dead or alive,—but I’m going to find her in any case. Now, first of all, I suppose you people want to get away from here. Herbert, your practice is calling you, of course. I’m not going to keep you. But I’m going to stay here, on these premises, where my child disappeared, until I get some knowledge of what happened to her.” “But, Minna,” Varian objected, “you can’t stay here alone——” “Then I’ll get some one to stay with me. I can get a companion or a nurse or a secretary,—you see, Herbert, there’s a lot of business to be attended to in connection with Fred’s papers and affairs. He left me very well off, but the financial settling up will call for the trained work of a good lawyer or accountant.” “Young Granniss spoke to me about that,” Doctor Varian said; “he’s a bright young lawyer, you know, and he thought perhaps you’d employ him, and then he thought he’d help you in the search for Betty.” “I’d like that. Rod’s a nice chap, and truly, Fred had nothing against him, except that he wanted to take Betty away from us. It would be no slighting of Fred’s wishes if I should have to do with Mr Granniss,—and nobody could be better help to me in my search.” “I can’t see, Minna,” said Janet, “what you hope from that search. Every nook and cranny of this whole place has been thoroughly examined, and as nothing has been found——” “That’s just it, Janet,” Minna spoke patiently, “because nothing has been found is the very reason I must search more and further. I shall, first of all, offer a large reward. The size of the reward may bring information when no other means would.” “Make the offer as large as you like, Minna,” Varian said, but not unkindly, “for you’ll never be called upon to pay it. Why, child, there’s no hope. I don’t want to be brutal, but really, Minna, dear, you oughtn’t to buoy yourself up with these false hopes, that never can be realized.” “Look here, Herbert, what do you think happened to my child? Who do you think killed Fred?” “Since you ask me, Minna, I must say, in all honesty, that I can’t see any possible theory or any imaginable explanation except that Betty shot her father, and then shot herself.” “Where is she, then?” “Hidden in some secret cupboard in this house, that she knew of, but that we haven’t yet found.” “I can see, Herbert,” Minna spoke slowly, “how you can believe that, because, as you say, you can’t think of any other case. But I know,—I know Betty never shot her father. I know that,—and I shall yet prove it.” “But, Minna, there must have been more enmity between Fred and Betty than you know of, to make him leave the Varian pearls to Eleanor.” “That is incredible,” Minna mused. “I can’t understand that and I shouldn’t believe it, if it were not right there in Fred’s own handwriting. I haven’t seen the pearls for some years. I’ve been too much of an invalid to wear them often, and they’ve stayed in the safe deposit for the last five or six years. But I meant Betty should wear them next winter. Of course, I was sure Fred would leave them to her in his will. I can’t understand it! It isn’t so much the loss of the value that affects me, as the appalling fact that he wanted to leave them away from Betty. As you say, there must have been something between those two,—something desperate that I don’t know about.” “But what could there be?” Janet said, a blank wonder on her face. “That’s the very point,” said Minna. “I know there has never been any special or particular ground for disagreement between those two except as to the matter of Betty’s getting married,—or engaged. Fred never would consent to that. But of course he would have done so, later. He didn’t approve of very early marriages,—but more, I think, he dreaded the idea of Betty’s going away from us.” “Yet that only proves a special and even selfish fatherly love,” Varian said, “and in that case, why take the pearls away from her?” “I can’t understand it,” said Minna again; “it is too amazing! He adored Betty, and what ever possessed him to give the pearls to Eleanor,—he liked Eleanor, as we all do, but he never seemed especially attached to her. Not to put her ahead of Betty, anyway!” “Of course she shall never take the pearls,” said Janet, decidedly. “I think Fred was temporarily out of his mind when he made that will, or he was temporarily angry at Betty. When is it dated?” “That’s the strange part,” said Minna. “He made that will ten years ago.” “When Betty was only about ten years old! He couldn’t have been angry at the child then!” “I think that is the only explanation,” Doctor Varian said. “I can’t think of any other explanation except that Fred was foolishly angry at the child, and in a fit of silly temper made the will giving the pearls to Eleanor, and then forgot all about it.” “Forgot the Varian pearls!” cried Janet; “not likely. But I never shall let Eleanor accept them.” “Don’t say that, my dear,” remonstrated her husband. “If Betty never is found, of course it’s right Eleanor should have the pearls. I am the next Varian to Fred, and my daughter is the rightful heir,—after Betty.” “That’s true,” said Minna. “But let that matter rest for the present. If Betty is never found, Eleanor ought to have the pearls. If Betty is found, I shall be so happy, I don’t care what becomes of them!” “You’re right, Minna,” Doctor Varian said, “in thinking I ought to get back to the city. But Janet or Nell or both will stay here with you as long as you need or want them.” “Only till I can get somebody else. I’ve about concluded to take Rodney Granniss as secretary and have him settle up Fred’s estate. With the co-operation of Fred’s own lawyers. Then, I’ll have a sort of nurse companion who can look after me, and then, I shall devote my life and, if need be, all my money to solving my mysteries. I shall get the best detectives in the country. I shall follow out also some ideas of my own, and if success is possible, I shall attain it.” Minna sat upright, her eyes shining with a clear, steady determined light. She seemed another being from the one who had screamed in hysterics at first knowledge of her sorrows. “I’ve found myself,” she said, in explanation. “I’ve risen above my dead self of grief and sorrow. Why, my desolation is so great, so unspeakable, that I must do something or go mad! I’m not going mad,—I have too much to do. Now, Janet, if you and Eleanor,—or one of you, will stay a day or two longer, I’ll get a nurse up from the city, and as soon as she arrives you can go. I know you’ll be glad to get away from this place of horrors——” “Not that, Minna, dear, but we have several engagements——” “Yes, of course, I know. Well, plan for two days more,—I’ll be settled by that time.” And she was. Inside of forty-eight hours, the now energetic woman had Rodney Granniss installed as her secretary and man of business, and had secured the services of a capable and kindly woman as nurse and companion. Her new household made up, she let her relatives go back to their own summer home, and devoted herself to her life work. “Of course,” she said to Granniss, “we must go ahead on the supposition that Betty is alive.” “And she is, Mrs Varian,” the young man said, earnestly. “For, North and I have been all over this place, and North is a sort of an architect, you know, and I’m sort of a detective, and we can’t find any place where any one could be concealed. Now, it doesn’t do any good, as some do, to say there must be a secret passage, or secret cupboard. If there were, we must have found it. And it’s too ridiculous, even to think for a minute that Betty killed her father! I know Betty, even better, perhaps than you or her father ever knew her. We have been sweethearts for nearly a year, and I tried many a time to persuade Betty to defy her father, and announce her engagement to me. She would have done so soon, I’m sure, but it was her love and respect for him that made her hold off so long. As to their little squabbles, they meant nothing at all. To imagine that girl shooting anybody is too absurd! I could rather imagine——” Granniss paused, and Minna took up his thought. “You could rather imagine her father shooting her! I’ve thought that over, but you see, it’s impossible, because there was no weapon found.” “It’s the strangest case I ever heard of! Now, about the reward. It’s time that was attended to.” “Yes; and I think we’ll make it as high as ten thousand dollars,——” “For Betty’s return?” “Yes, that is, for any information that may lead to knowledge of what happened to Betty and where she is now.” “Nothing about apprehending the criminal?” “You know, Mr Granniss, they make fun of me for imagining this ‘criminal.’ How could there be one? How did he get in the house? How did he disappear again? You say yourself there’s no secret passage,—we know nobody came in through the regular way,—how, then, even suggest a ‘criminal’?” “Yes, but why offer a reward, if there’s no one who could by any chance appear to claim it?” “That’s the point Doctor Varian makes. He says it doesn’t matter how large we make the offer, for it never will be claimed.” “Then we’ll just assume that criminal, and go ahead with the reward plan,” said Granniss, cheerfully. “I’ll attend to it, and we won’t speculate on its result at present. It surely can’t do any harm. But, Mrs Varian, we must do more than that.” “What, for instance?” “Detectives. I think you should get the best one you can and get him up here at once.” “Please do that, Mr Granniss. What do you do? Apply to a city agency?” “Yes; or get a private detective. I know of one,—the best there is in the country, but we might not be able to get him.” “Try, anyway. Offer any price,—any bonus. Only get him.” “Very well,—I’ll try. I have to go down to New York soon, for there are many important matters to see to with Mr Varian’s lawyers. I’ll see about this detective then.” Minna had replaced the servants who had left her with maids from the village. There were some who were glad to go to a house suddenly made famous by such an astounding mystery. Others declared the house was haunted, and wouldn’t go near it. Among those who inclined to the haunted house idea was the new nurse. A Mrs Fletcher: she was of a psychic turn of mind, and while she didn’t exactly believe Betty was carried off by spooks, yet she thought the girl might have taken her own life, and perhaps her father’s, because of supernatural influences or directions. “Rubbish!” Minna Varian told her. “My Betty was,—is,—a healthy, normal girl. She has none of those foolish notions of the occult or supernatural.” “It’s the only explanation,” said Mrs Fletcher, doggedly. “And I do think the house is haunted,—I heard mysterious sounds last night,—like rustling of wings.” Minna Varian only looked amused at this, but Granniss, who was present, said, “That’s interesting, Mrs Fletcher. Tell me about it.” The account, however, was merely a vague idea of sounds, that might have been mysterious, but were more likely made by the servants going about at night. Sheriff Potter and his colleague, Bill Dunn, had practically given up the matter. They pretended to be working on it, but as they themselves put it, “What can you do when you can’t do nothin’?” There was room for much discussion, but when it came to action, what was there to be done? You can’t hunt a criminal when you’ve no reason to assume any criminal intent. You can’t hunt for a missing girl after you’ve scoured all the places where she could by any possibility be found. You can’t hunt for the murderer of a man when there was no way for a murderer to be on the scene. “Then are you going to give up the quest?” Granniss asked of the sheriff. “No, not that,” Potter said, uneasily. “We’re open to suggestion,—we’re keen for any new clue or testimony,—but where can we look for such? You must see, Mr Granniss, that it’s a mighty unusual case,—a most mysterious and unsolvable case.” “I do see that, and that’s why I’m going to get expert assistance.” “Go ahead,” said Potter, agreeably. “I’ll be glad to see any man who can handle the thing. Why, there’s no handle to it. No place to catch hold. Here’s a man killed, and a girl missing. Now, we’ve no more idea what happened to those two people than we had at the moment of the discovery of the situation.” “That’s perfectly true.” “And what’s more, we never will have. That mystery will never be solved.” “You’re saying that, Mr Potter, doesn’t necessarily make it true.” “No; but it’s true all the same. If Miss Betty was in any way to blame,—which, I can’t believe,—you’ll never find out anything. Because, if she’s alive she’d have shown up by this time.” “Go on,—and if Miss Betty was not to blame——” “Then, whoever was to blame made a blame good job of it,—and you’ll never catch him!” “That’s the principle I’m going to work on,—the idea that somebody did do it,—that he did make a good job of it,—and that I am going to catch him!” “Fine talk, but there’s the same old stumbling block. You can’t argue an outsider,—an intruder, without allowing a secret entrance to that house,—and you say there isn’t any.” “There sure isn’t.” “Well, suppose your criminal didn’t arrive and depart in an aeroplane?” “I’ve thought of that,—but it isn’t possible. You see there were half a dozen people looking on all the time. I wish I’d been there!” “’Twouldn’t have done any good. You couldn’t ’a’ seen more’n anybody else did. There was nothing to see.” “No,” agreed Granniss, “there was nothing to be seen.” Lawrence North came up to the house again at Rod’s request, and once more they looked for a secret room or cupboard. Armed with a yardstick and measuring tape, they went through the house from roof to cellar. They paced floors and measured walls and tapped ceilings, and proved to their own conviction that there was no foot of space in the whole structure unaccounted for. “It isn’t,” said North, “as if it were an old English manor house or a medieval castle. It’s modern, it isn’t built with any sinister plan or any desire for secret maneuvers. There never was any smuggling going on up as far as this, and, anyway, this is a simple pleasure house, built for a pleasant simple family life. I’ve looked up the builders, and they say it was built by a commonplace man with a commonplace family. They moved out of the state long ago, but there never was anything secretive or mysterious about them.” They spent a long time in the cellar, but here, too, there was no uncertain space. Everything was built four-square. Every room, bin or cupboard was as plainly defined as those above, and there was no hiding place possible. Granniss looked down the old dried up well. “Dunn went down that,” Lawrence said; “nothing doing.” “I’ve got to go down myself,” returned Rodney, shortly, as he took off his coat. “Be careful, then,” North admonished him. “I’ll hold the light.” A good, strong flashlight illumined the old well, and Rod Granniss clambered down its stone sides. But he returned with the same message Dunn had brought. “All dried up; nothing down there but a muddy bottom and moss-grown stones.” “No stones missing?” “No; all solid and complete. I gave it a most careful scrutiny, for I don’t want to have to go down again.” “Well, that finishes the cellar, then.” “Yes; and finishes the house. You must admit, Lawrence, there’s no possible chance of Betty Varian being in this house, dead or alive.” “Of course, I admit that,—but, what, then?” “I can’t even suggest! Can you?” “There’s nothing left but that she went away,—managed somehow to elude the watchers,—perhaps they were not noticing the house.” “You talk as if she could get down from this headland by any other route than right past where the crowd were waiting.” “Maybe she hid here in the house, until after dark——” “Oh, don’t suggest such awful things! Betty kill her father, and then, hiding until dark, make her way out and down to the village and away from the Harbor—oh, impossible!” “Alternative?” “I don’t know! The more I think it over the less I can see any solution!” “What about the haunted house idea?” “That doesn’t mean a thing to me,” Granniss scorned it. “In fact, I usually come back to the idea that Mr Varian in some way killed himself.” “Weapon?” “I know, but I mean, maybe he shot himself, and Betty, who might have been trying to prevent it, took the pistol and ran away.” “Why?” “Oh, I don’t know! You are too exasperating, Lawrence! You just stand there and say ‘why’? Stop it.” “Keep your temper, Rod. I’m only trying, as you are, to find some way to look. It is indeed impenetrable!” “And then that matter of the pearls.” “To me that is the strangest revelation yet. No matter how much the father and daughter had little disagreements, even quarrels, how could he leave that great treasure away from his child and give it to his niece!” “I think that very thing is a key to the mystery.” “How do you mean?” “I don’t know. You know I don’t know, Lawrence; if I did I’d have told long ago! But I believe when the worthwhile detective that I’m going to get for Mrs Varian takes hold of the case, he’ll work from that strange bequest of the Varian pearls.” “Maybe he will,—but to me,—while it’s passing strange, it doesn’t seem to indicate anything definite.” “No, nor to me. But we haven’t the trained mind of the real detective.” “Who’s the man you’re going to get?” “Pennington Wise, the best in the country.” “I’ve heard of him. Well, it will be interesting to see how he goes about it.” |
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