"My dear Miss Darrow," I said at length; "you attach too much importance to the last words of your father, who, it is clear, was not in his right mind.You must know that he has, for some months, had periods of temporary aberration, and that all his delusions have been of a sanguinary nature.Try to think calmly," I said, perceiving from her expression that I had not shaken her conviction in the least."Your father said he had been stabbed.You must see that such a thing is physically impossible.Had all the doors and windows been open, no object so large as a man could possibly have entered or left the room without our observing him; but the windows were closed and fastened, with the exception of the east window, which, as you may see for yourself, is open some six inches or so, in which position it is secured by the spring fastening.The folding doors are locked on the inside and the only possible means of entrance, therefore, would have been by the hall door.Directly in front of that, between it and your father, sat Mr.Maitland and myself.You see by my chair that I was less than two feet from the door.It is inconceivable that, in that half-light, anyone could have used that entrance and escaped observation.Do you not see how untenable your idea is? Had your father been stabbed he would have bled, but I am as certain as though I had made a thorough examination that there is not so much as a scratch anywhere upon his body." Gwen heard me through in silence and then said wearily, in a voice which had now neither intensity nor elasticity, "I understand fully the apparent absurdity of my position, yet I know my father was murdered.The wound which caused his death has escaped your notice, but - ""My dear Miss Darrow," I interrupted, "there is no wound, you may be sure of that!" For the first time since Darrow's death Maitland spoke."If you will look at the throat a little more closely, you will see what may be a wound," he said, and went on quietly with his examinations.He was right; there was a minute abrasion visible.
The girl's quick observation had detected what had escaped me, convinced as I was that there was nothing to be found by a scrutiny however close.
Gwen now transferred her attention to Maitland, and asked: "Had not one of us better go for an officer?" Maitland, whose power of concentration is so remarkable as on some occasions to render him utterly oblivious of his surroundings, did not notice the question and Browne replied to it for him."I should be only too happy to fetch an officer for you, if you wish," he said.Have you ever noticed how acute the mind is for trifles and slight incongruities when under the severe tension of such a shock as we had experienced?
Such attacks, threatening to invade and forever subjugate our happiness, seem to have the effect of so completely manning the ramparts of our intellect the nothing, however trivial, escapes observation.Gwen's father, her only near relative, lay cold before her, - his death, from her standpoint, the most painful of mysteries, - and yet the incongruity of Browne's "only too happy " did not escape her, as was evident by the quick glance and sudden relaxation of the mouth into the faintest semblance of a smile.All this was momentary and, I doubt not, half unconscious.She replied gravely:
"I would indeed be obliged if you would do so."Maitland, who had now finished his examination, noticed that Browne was about to depart.When the artist would have passed him on his way to the hall door, he placed his hand upon that gentleman's shoulder, saying: "Pardon me, sir, but I would strongly urge that you do not leave the room!"Browne paused.Both men stood like excited animals at gaze.
CHAPTER III
Nothing is so full of possibilities as the seemingly impossible.
Maitland's request that Browne should not leave the room seemed to us all a veritable thunderbolt.It impressed me at the time as being a thinly veneered command, and I remember fearing lest the artist should be injudicious enough to disregard it.If he could have seen his own face for the next few moments, he would have had a lesson in expression which years of portrait work may fail to teach him.At length the rapidly changing kaleidoscope of his mind seemed to settle, to group its varied imaginings about a definite idea, - the idea that he had been all but openly accused, in the presence of Miss Darrow, of being instrumental in her father's death.
For a moment, as he faced Maitland, whom he instinctively felt to be a rival, he looked so dark and sinister that one could easily have believed him capable of almost any crime.
Gwen was no less surprised than the rest of us at Maitland's interference, but she did not permit it to show in her voice as she said quietly: "Mr.Browne has consented to go for an officer." As I felt sure she must have thought Maitland already knew this, as anyone else must have heard what had passed, I looked upon her remark as a polite way of saying:
"I am mistress here."
Maitland apparently so regarded it, for he replied quickly: "I hope you will not think me officious, or unmindful of your right to dictate in a matter so peculiarly your own affair.My only desire is to help you.Mr.Browne's departure would still further complicate a case already far to difficult of solution.My legal training has given me some little experience in these matters, and I only wish that you may have the benefit thereof.It is now nearly three-quarters of an hour since your father's death, and, I assure you, time at this particular juncture may be of the utmost importance.Not a moment should be wasted in needless discussion.
