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Page 18
"Thanks, I'll take a bite."
The lunch was served in Margaret's apartment, and the detective did
ample Justice to it, for he never allowed business to interfere with
his appetite. As he ate, the girl watched him curiously.
"Mr. Adams," she said presently, "do you know, you do not seem a bit
like a detective to me--I mean like the detectives you read about--the
men going about in wonderful disguises and the like, and doing
marvelous things? And yet, I know you have a wonderful
reputation--Raymond told me about it."
At that he smiled broadly. "Wonderful disguises, eh? Well, I use them
when I think them necessary, and not otherwise. When I started out,
years ago, I used a great many more than I do now. To me a mystery of
this sort is a good deal like a cut-up picture that you give a child to
put together. First, you want to make sure you have all the pieces,
and then you want to sit down, put on your thinking-cap, and match the
pieces together. To you this is an awful tragedy," his tone softened
greatly, "to me it is another case, nothing more. Work such as I have
done is bound to harden a fellow, in spite of all of his finer
feelings. But I feel for you and you have my sympathy."
"And you will aid me? You said you would," she pleaded.
"I am going to do what I can--no man can do more."
CHAPTER VI
THE MYSTERY DEEPENS
From the Langmore mansion Adam Adams went to town, and at the morgue
made a careful inspection of the pair who had been the victims of the
tragedy. This critical examination brought nothing new to light, and
he turned away from the place with something of disappointment.
"I'll take a look around that brook again, and see if that strange man
is anywhere in sight," he told himself, and got back to the vicinity
without delay.
Fortune favored him for once, for scarcely had he reached the back of
the Langmore mansion when he saw the stranger leap the brook again and
come up towards the house.
"Just in time," murmured the detective. "He shall not slip me again in
a hurry."
The stranger was very much on his guard, and Adam Adams had all he
could do to keep out of his sight. It was now growing dark, especially
under the trees which surrounded the mansion.
At length the fellow gained a point almost under one of the library
windows. He gazed around sharply, and then appeared to be searching
for something on the ground. The detective saw him start to pick
something up, but at that moment the side door of the mansion opened
and the policeman came out.
"Hullo! What are you doing here?" demanded the officer.
"Oh, that's all right," was the low answer. "Don't mind me."
"But what are you doing here?"
"Just looking around, that's all."
"You haven't any right in this yard."
"I think I have."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Watkins--Jack Watkins," and then some words followed which
Adam Adams did not catch.
"Oh, then I suppose that makes a difference," came from the policeman
in a more humble tone. "Do you want to come in the house and see Miss
Langmore?"
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