The girl neither answered, nor hesitated, but crossed the room swiftly, her hands seeking the lashings about his wrists. Her movement thrilled him, and his blood leaped at the soft touch of her fingers.
"Really, I did not realize you were tied into the chair," she exclaimed indignantly. "Hobart is a fool to do such a thing. Why, what has caused him to become so frightened? Tell me, Captain West, how all this occurred?"
"You know nothing?"
"Only what has been said since I entered the room. Mike simply told me they had a man here who Hobart thought was a detective, and he wanted me to come in a moment. I came, and found you. Now, please, what does it all mean?"
She slipped back to her seat again, her eyes on his face, as he arose and stretched his limbs to restore circulation. To his quick glance her face expressed only sympathy, and innocent interest. Any doubt he may have felt as to the sincerity of the girl vanished instantly; whatever of crime was concealed here, she had no suspicion. He could tell her the whole story without fear.
"I'll try and explain, Miss Natalie," he began rather lamely, "although perhaps, you may not wholly understand the motives which have prompted me. This, of course, is really no business of mine, and the only thing that has involved me is the deep interest I have felt in you."
"In me! why that is rather interesting. It was to serve me you came here?"
"At least I thought so. Shall I make it more definite? No doubt you are aware that you are an unusually pretty woman. Well, at least, I think so for one, and our first meeting, with its subsequent adventures, was romantic enough to shake me out of a commonplace existence. In fact, I became quite deeply interested in you."
"Why really, Captain," she interrupted, slightly puzzled. "I perhaps do not fully comprehend to what you refer. Do you mean there was something between us? Some special intimacy?"
"Oh, no; not that; probably no dream of what was occurring in your mind. Yet the circumstances of our meeting were peculiar; they rendered a very brief acquaintance into what promised to become a real friendship."
"How do you mean?"
"Surely you cannot have forgotten so soon," he exclaimed in surprise at her attitude, seating himself once more and facing her determinedly. "I came to you in response to a strange advertisement; you trusted me so completely as to introduce me to your friends as your fiance, and later confided to me the special trouble you were in. I pledged you my assistance, and it was surely very natural that, under these circumstances, I as a young man, should have become rather deeply interested--"
"In both the case, and the girl."
"Yes; so much so, indeed, that even when I was rather harshly dismissed, I could not accept it without a protest. I had grown to feel that this was not a mere business arrangement between us. Do you understand now?"
"I can see it from your stand-point. But nevertheless, I am surprised, Captain West. You--you mean you actually fell in love with me?"
"I felt a very, very deep interest in you," he admitted gravely, "a greater interest than I have ever felt in any other woman. That is my sole excuse for becoming involved in your affairs. I could not bear to see you make a mistake it might be in my power to prevent."
"What mistake?"
"Well, first of all, trusting in this man Hobart."
She laughed, her eyes glancing up quickly into his face.
"And why now, please? Remember your confession; I may think this only jealousy."
"You are not so silly as that," earnestly. "Moreover, I may as well be perfectly frank. I did confess an interest in you, and in a measure, I still feel eager to serve you in every possible way; but you have changed so greatly, Miss Natalie, that my confidence in you has been severely tried."
"You no longer believe?"
"I hardly know; I fail utterly to understand you of late; you seem an entirely different girl. For one thing, you have deliberately deceived me."
"Indeed! in what?"
"In your visit to Arch Street with Percival Coolidge. That was no mission of charity to a poor widow and children."
"What then?"
"An arranged conference with this fellow Hobart. He rented that cottage for no other purpose, and left it the next day. You made a mistake when you took me along."
She straightened up slightly in the chair, yet spoke rather indifferently, her voice cold.
"No doubt I did," she said tersely. "Indeed I have already discovered, Captain West, that I made an even greater mistake when I first took you into my service. You have proven altogether too inquisitive. Now I will be plain with you. Whatever need I once supposed I had for your services ended with the explanation I received in that Arch Street cottage. I told you so very distinctly after our return home. You recall that interview, no doubt?"
He bowed, waiting for her to go on.
"You were then and there dismissed from my service. That should have been sufficient. I knew nothing of your silly feeling of personal interest in me; nor did I realize any occasion for discussing with you the reasons causing me to change my plans. You were my employee, and I discharged you; that was all. It is true Percival Coolidge took me to that cottage to have certain mysterious things explained, and they were explained to my complete satisfaction."
"By Hobart?"
"Yes."
"You knew the fellow before?"
She hesitated slightly, although there was no perceptible change in the answering voice.
"For several years; he was in my father's employ; the--the whole trouble originated in a joke, and--and was quite amusing, once I understood. Of course, after that, I had no further need for you. Why did you persist in annoying me?"
West hesitated an instant, his mind struggling with the situation. Was she honest, truthful, in this statement? Could he say anything which would change her viewpoint? She must have been deceived by these men, yet how could he expose them so she would comprehend? He was so little certain of the facts himself, that he had nothing but suspicion to offer.
"Why do you not answer, Captain West?"
The girl's eyes were clear, insistent, a little amused; they somehow aroused his determination.
"I will endeavour to make you understood, Miss Natalie," he explained slowly. "I would not have you feel that I deliberately pushed myself into this affair. When I left Fairlawn after your dismissal, I had no thought of ever seeing you again. I have already told you the interest I had felt in you up to that time, but your abruptness during our last interview, left me angry, and with no inclination to seek your presence again. You can scarcely blame me for such a feeling?"
"No," she confessed. "I--I was so excited and nervous I was not very nice."
"You certainly hurt me. I departed with a sense of wrong rankling, and no desire to come back. But fate intervened. You know, perhaps, that I overheard the shot which ended the life of Percival Coolidge, and I was the first to discover his dead body. This made no particular impression on me at the time. I supposed it a case of suicide, and so bore witness at the inquest. The whole matter would have ended there; but the next day you discharged Sexton also, and the man sought me out at the Club."
She leaned forward, her lips parted, a new light in her eyes.
"He told you something? He made you suspicious?" she asked breathlessly.
"He caused me to see the affair from a somewhat different point of view--a point of view which, I confess, revived my interest in you. I began to believe you had been deceived, and your treatment of me arose through a misunderstanding; I thought you a victim, and that I would be a cad if I failed to stand by you. We put this and that together, carried out some investigations quietly, and arrived at a definite conclusion."
"What investigations?"
"In the field where the body was found first," West went on steadily, but no longer looking at her, "tracing the different tracks through the clover. Then I looked up that cottage in Arch Street, and thus learned about Hobart. Somehow he seemed to fit into the picture, and your mysterious visit there made me anxious to interview the man. He had left no address however, just faded out of sight suddenly, which increased suspicion. Then, when we were completely baffled, Sexton learned about your conversation over the telephone."
"How? Was he at the house?"
"Yes; he went out at my suggestion."
"And heard me repeat this number?"
"It makes no difference how he got the information; we knew you were coming here this afternoon, and jumped at the conclusion that you were going to meet Hobart for some reason."
"Very bright, I am sure," and there was a tone of relief in her voice. "And that is your whole story, I suppose? What does it amount to?"
"Not very much, perhaps."
"And the two of you came out here seeking to learn my business, to pry into my personal affairs. That was not a very gentlemanly act, Captain West, and I hardly see how you can justify yourself."
"I had two purposes," he insisted, "either of which justify. I felt it a duty to locate this man Hobart; and also to warn you of the danger you were in."
"Warn me!" she laughed scornfully. "That is ridiculous enough surely. I have a perfectly good reason for being here, but I am not accountable to you in any way for my movements. A duty you say--a duty to locate this man? A duty to whom?"
"To the State, if no one else," he answered gravely. "Percival Coolidge did not commit suicide; he was murdered."
"Murdered!" she came to her feet with utterance of the word. "You cannot think that!"
"I know it, Miss Natalie; the evidence is beyond question; he was murdered in cold blood."
"But by whom? for what purpose?"
"These points are not yet determined; I am only sure of the crime."
"Yes, but--but you suspect Jim Hobart. Isn't that true? You came here seeking him--yes, and me. You even think I know how this death occurred. You--you connect it with my fortune."
"No, Miss Natalie," he protested stoutly, moved by her agitation. "The cause is a mystery, and who did it equally mysterious. The evidence thus far unearthed is all circumstantial."
"Then why did you come out here searching for Hobart?"
"Because of his strange meeting with Percival Coolidge the very day of his death; because his sudden disappearance furnished the only clue."
"And that is all the knowledge you possess, absolutely all?"
"Yes; I am no more than groping in the dark. My main object in coming was to put you on your guard."
"You have repeated these suspicions to no one else? The Police?"
"To no one. Only Sexton and I have even talked the matter over. We are both too loyal to you to ever say a word which might be to your injury."
She suddenly held out her hand, and he took it, conscious of the firm clasp of her fingers.
"I thank you, Captain West," she said sincerely, "and believe your purpose was honourable. You have told me frankly all you suspect, and doubtless you have reasons. You have simply made a mistake, that is all. Percival Coolidge was not murdered; he killed himself because he had muddled my affairs, and knew he was about to be discovered. You have got upon a wrong trail. Will you accept my word for this, and drop the whole matter here?"
West was almost convinced, but not quite; the explanation had not been sufficiently explicit.
"This man Hobart--who is he? What connection does he have with your affairs?"
She hesitated slightly, yet her eyes did not fall, or her apparent cordiality change.
"Mr. Hobart," she explained, "I have known for years. I told you before he was once in my father's employ. Now he is a private detective, and was employed on my case, before I advertised for you. I thought then he was not accomplishing anything, but at our interview Sunday, all was cleared up."
"In the presence of Percival Coolidge?"
"Yes; he was given a week in which to straighten matters. That was why he killed himself."
"But why is it necessary for you to meet Hobart in a place like this--a veritable thieves' den?"
She shrugged her shoulders, releasing his hand.
"He has not completed his work, and does not think it best for us to be seen together. I know him so well I am not at all afraid, even here. Is that all, Captain West?"
"It seems to explain everything," he admitted, yet far from satisfied.
"And you will drop the whole affair?" she asked anxiously.
"If I say yes--what?"
"You will be released from here of course, and the whole misunderstanding forgotten."
"And otherwise?"
"I have no means of knowing what the men intend to do. They will accept your pledge, I am sure."
"Possibly, but I am not so sure I will consent to give such a pledge."
"Then you do not accept my word; do not believe what I have told you?"
"Not that exactly, Miss Natalie; I could have faith in your word, except that I believe you to be mistaken, deceived. Hobart is not square; he is using you for his own ends. Under these conditions, I would be a coward to give such a promise, and leave you helpless in this man's power."
"You intend then to refuse?"
"I do; I'll fight it out."
She stared at him, scarcely believing her own ears, her lips parted, a look of angry fright in her eyes.
"You are a fool, Captain West," she burst forth at last, unable to hold back the words. "I have done my best for you, and you spurn that. Now look out."
She stepped backward, still fronting him, and, with hand behind her, rapped sharply on the panel of the door.