_ CHAPTER VI
I stood with folded arms, awaiting his approach. Nonchalance is always respected by the police. I must have presented a likely picture, however--my face blackened with coal-dust, cobwebs stringing down over my eyes, my Capuchin gown soiled and rent. The girl quietly took her place beside me.
"So you took a chance at the cellars, eh?" inquired the detective urbanely. "Well, you look it. Will you go with us quietly, or shall we have to use force?"
"In the first place, what do you and your police want of _me_?" I returned coolly.
He exhibited his star of authority.
"I am Haggerty of the Central Office. I want you for several things."
Several things? I stared at him stupidly. Several things? Then it came to me, with a jar like an earthquake. The story in the newspaper returned to my vision. Oh, this was too much, altogether too much! He took me to be the fashionable thief for whom half the New York police force were hunting. My sight swam for a moment in a blur.
"What is it you think I have done?" I demanded.
"You have, or have had, several thousand dollars' worth of gems on your person to-night."
I shrugged. The accusation was so impossible that my confidence returned.
"Mr. Haggerty, you are making a stupid mistake. You are losing time, besides. I am not the man for whom you are hunting. My name is Richard Comstalk."
"One name or another, it does not matter."
"Plenty of gall," murmured one of the minions of the law, whom I afterward learned was the chief of the village police.
"The card by which you gained admittance here," demanded the great Haggerty truculently.
I surrendered it. A crowd had by this time collected curiously about us. I could see the musicians on the stage peering over the plants.
"The thief you are looking for has gone," said I. "He escaped by the coal-window." By this statement, my feet sank deeper still.
"What did I tell you?" cried Haggerty, turning to his men. "They had an accomplice hidden in the cellars."
"I beg to inform you that you are making a mistake that will presently cost you dear,"--thinking of the political pull my uncle had in New York. "I am the nephew of Daniel Witherspoon."
"Worse and worse!" said the chief of police.
"We shall discuss the mistake later and at length. Of course you can easily explain how you came to impose upon these people,"--ironically. "Bah! the game is up. When you dropped that card in Friard's and said you were going to a masquerade, I knew your game in a minute, and laid eyes upon you for the first time since I began the chase. I've been after you for weeks. Your society dodge has worked out, and I'll land you behind the bars for some time to come, my gay boy. Come,"--roughly.
"I request Mr. Hamilton to be called. He will prove to you that you are greatly mistaken." Everything looked pretty black, I can tell you.
"You will see whom you please, but only after you are safely landed in the lockup. Now, Madame,"--turning swiftly upon the Blue Domino, "what is your part in this fine business?"
"It certainly has no part in yours,"--icily.
Haggerty smiled. "My skin is very thick. Do you know this fellow?"
She shook her head. He stood undecided for a space.
"Let me see your card."
"I decline to produce it,"--haughtily.
Haggerty seemed staggered for a moment. "I am sorry to annoy you, but you must be identified at once."
"And why?"--proudly. "Was it forbidden to go into the club cellars for such harmless things as apples?"
Apples! I looked at her admiringly.
"Apples?" repeated Haggerty. "Couldn't you have sent a servant for them?"
She did not reply.
"You were with this clever gentleman in the cellars. You may or may not be acquainted with him. I do not wish to do anything hasty in regard to yourself, but your position is rather equivocal. Produce your card and be identified--if you really can."
"I refuse!"
"Then I shall ask you to accompany us to the room up stairs till the police-patrol arrives."
"I will go,"--quietly.
"Nonsense!" I objected. "On my word of honor, I do not know this lady. Our presence in the cellar was perfectly harmless. There is no valid reason for detaining her. It is an outrage!"
"I am not going to stand here arguing with you," said Haggerty. "Let the lady produce her card; let her disclose her identity. That is simple enough."
"I have already given you my determination on that subject," replied the girl. "I can very well explain my presence here, but I absolutely decline to explain it to the police."
I didn't understand her at all. She had said that she possessed an alibi. Why didn't she produce it?
So the two of us left the gorgeous ball-room. Every one moved aside for us, and quickly, too, as if we had had the plague. I looked in vain for Hamilton. He was a friend in need. We were taken into the steward's office and the door was shut and locked. The band in the ball-room went galloping through a two-step, and the gaiety was in full swing again. The thief had been rounded up! How the deuce was it going to end?
"I can not tell you how sorry I am to have mixed you up in this," I said to the girl.
"You are in no manner to blame. Think of what _might_ have happened had you blown up the post-office!"
She certainly was the least embarrassed of the two of us. I addressed my next remarks to the great Haggerty.
"Did you find a suitable pistol in Friard's?"
"A man in my business," said Haggerty mildly, "is often found in such places. There are various things to be recovered in pawnshops. The gentlemen of this club sent _me_ the original ten of hearts, my presence being necessary at such big entertainments. And when I saw that card of yours, I was so happy that I nearly put you on your guard. Lord, how long I've been looking for you! I give you credit for being a clever rascal. You have fooled us all nicely. Not a soul among us knew your name, nor what you looked like. And but for that card, you might still be at large. Until the lady submits to the simple process of identification, I shall be compelled to look upon her and treat her as an accomplice. She has refused the offer I have made her, and she can not blame me if I am suspicious, when to be suspicious is a part of my business." He was reasonable enough in regard to the girl.
He turned to the chief of the village police, who was sitting at the desk ordinarily used by the club's steward.
"No reporters, mind you."
"Yes, sir. We'll see that no reporter gets wind of the capture."
The telephone bell rang. One of the police answered it.
"For you, Mr. Haggerty," he said.
Haggerty sprang to the telephone and placed the receiver to his ear.
"What?" we heard him exclaim. "You have got the other fellow? A horse and carriage at once!"
"Take mine," said the chief excitedly. "What is it?"
"My subordinate at the railway station has just landed the fellow with the jewels. Mighty quick work. I must hustle into town at once. There'll be plenty of time to attend to these persons. Bring them to town the moment the patrol arrives. The gems are the most important things just now."
"Yes, sir. You can rely upon us, Mr. Haggerty. Billy, go down with Mr. Haggerty and show him my rig."
"Good!" said Haggerty. "It's been a fine night's work, my lads, a fine night's work. I'll see that all get some credit. Permit no one to approach the prisoners without proper authority."
"Your orders shall be obeyed to the letter," said the chief importantly. He already saw his name figuring in the New York papers as having assisted in the capture of a great thief.
I cursed under my breath. If it hadn't been for the girl, I am ashamed to confess, I should have cursed out loud. She sat rigid and motionless. It must have been a cruel ordeal for her. But what was puzzling me was the fact that she made not the slightest effort to spring her alibi. If _I_ had had one! Where was Hamilton? I scarcely inclined to the idea of sleeping in jail in a dress-suit.
Haggerty departed. A silence settled gloomily down on us. Quarter of an hour passed. The grim-visaged police watched us vigilantly. Half an hour, three-quarters, an hour. Far away we heard the whistle of an out-going train. Would I had been on it! From time to time we heard faint music. At length there was a noise outside the door, and a moment later Hamilton and two others came in. When he saw me, he stopped, his eyes bulging and his mouth agape.
"Dicky Comstalk?" he cried helplessly. "What the devil does this mean?"--turning to the police.
"Do you know this fellow, Mr. Hamilton?" asked the chief.
"Know him? Of course I know him," answered Teddy; "and I'll stake my last dollar on his honesty."
(Thanks, Teddy!) I began to breathe.
"But--" began the chief, seized with sudden misgivings.
"It is impossible, I tell you," interrupted Hamilton. "I know this gentleman is incapable of the theft. There is some frightful mistake. How the dickens did you get here, Dicky?"
And briefly I told him my story, my ass's ears growing inch by inch as I went along. Hamilton didn't know whether to swear or to laugh; finally he laughed.
"If you wanted to come, why didn't you write me for an invitation?"
"I shouldn't have come to your old ball, had I been invited. It was just the idea of the lark."
"We shall have to hold him, nevertheless," said the chief, "till everything is cleared up. The girl--"
Hamilton looked at the Blue Domino.
"Madame, will you do me the honor to raise your mask?"
[Illustration: "Madame, will you do me the honor to raise your mask?"]
She did so; and I saw Hamilton draw in his breath. Her beauty was certainly of an exquisite pattern. He frowned anxiously.
"I never saw this young woman before," he admitted slowly.
"Ha!" cried the chief, glad to find some one culpable.
"Did you receive your invitation through the proper channels?" asked Hamilton.
"I came here to-night,"--coldly, "on the invitation of Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds, who sailed for Europe Wednesday."
Here was an alibi that was an alibi! I was all at sea. Hamilton bowed; the chief coughed worriedly behind his hand. The girl had told me she was an impostor like myself, that her ten of hearts was as dark-stained as my own. I could not make head or tail to it. Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds! She was a law in the land, especially in Blankshire, the larger part of which she owned. What did it all mean? And what was her idea in posing as an impostor?
The door opened again.
"The patrol has come," said the officer who entered.
"Let it wait," growled the chief. "Haggerty has evidently got us all balled up. I don't believe his fashionable thief has materialized at all; just a common crook. Well, he's got him, at any rate, and the gems."
"You have, of course, the general invitation?" said Hamilton.
"Here it is,"--and she passed the engraved card to him.
"I beg a thousand pardons!" said Hamilton humbly. "Everything seems to have gone wrong."
"Will you guarantee this man?" asked the chief of Hamilton, nodding toward me.
"I have said so. Mr. Comstalk is very well known to me. He is a retired army officer, and to my knowledge a man with an income sufficient to put him far beyond want."
"What is your name?" asked the chief of the girl, scowling. It was quite evident he couldn't understand her actions any better than I.
"Alice Hawthorne," with an oblique glance at me.
I had been right!
"What is your occupation? I am obliged to ask these questions, Miss."
"I am a miniature painter,"--briefly,
Hamilton came forward. "Alice Hawthorne? Pardon me, but are you the artist who recently completed the miniatures of the Emperor of Germany, the Princess of Hesse, and Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds?"
"I am. I believe there is no further reason for detaining me."
"Emperor of Germany?" echoed the now bewildered chief. "Why didn't you tell all this to Mr. Haggerty?"
"I had my reasons."
Once again the door opened. A burly man in a dark business-suit entered. His face ruddy and his little grey eyes sparkled with suppressed ire. He reminded me of Vautrin, the only difference being that Vautrin was French while this man was distinctly Irish. His massive shoulders betrayed tremendous strength. He was vastly angry about something. He went to the chief's desk and rested his hands upon it.
"You are a nice specimen for a chief of police, you are!" he began.
"And who the devil are _you_?" bawled the chief, his choler rising.
"I'll tell you who I am presently."
We all eyed him in wonder. What was going to happen now?
"Which of you gentlemen is Mr. Hamilton?" asked the new-comer gruffly.
Hamilton signified that he was the gentleman by that name.
"Some ladies at your ball have been robbed of their diamonds, I understand?"
"About ten thousand dollars' worth."
"Look here, sir," cried the chief, standing up and balling his fist, "I want you to explain yourself, and mighty quick. You can't come into my presence in this manner."
"Bah! You have just permitted the cleverest rascal in the state to slip through your butterfingers. _I_ am Haggerty."
The chief of police sat down suddenly. _