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Page 19
"No, I don't want to see the girl. But I'll come into the house,"
answered the strange man, and walked up the piazza steps and into the
mansion, with the policeman by his side.
As soon as the fellow was ought of sight, Adam Adams drew closer and
looked under the bushes where the other had been searching.
At first he saw nothing, but then his keen eye detected a bit of paper,
caught at the foot of some shrubbery.
"More documentary evidence, perhaps," he murmured, as he shoved the
paper into his pocket. "I wonder if this connects with the piece I
found under the safe?"
He approached the window, the blinds of which were closed, and peered
through the slats. A light had been lit, and the policeman and the
stranger had just entered the room.
"I don't think you'll find much to interest you," said the officer.
"All of the others have hunted around, and they didn't find much."
The stranger walked around the apartment slowly, and then sank into an
armchair.
"Sit down and have a smoke with me," he said, pulling out his cigar
case. "You've got a long night before you."
"I am not going to stay up all night. The women folks and me are going
to take turns. They should have sent another man here, but the Chief
couldn't spare him, two of the men being sick."
Cigars were lit, and the pair smoked away for several minutes, talking
of the case in all of its details. Evidently the stranger agreed with
the general public regarding Margaret Langmore's guilt.
"Of course she'll put on a good front," said he, blowing a ring of
smoke into the air. "She's that sort--so I've heard. What does her
stepbrother say about it?"
"Not much, now. At first he didn't think her guilty, but after he
talked with me and the women folks, he changed his mind, I reckon.
It's a blow to him, for he thought a good deal of the old lady."
"Mr. Sudley!" came a call from the hallway. "Mr. Sudley, where are
you?"
It was one of the women who was calling, and, laying down his cigar,
the policeman left the library to see what she wanted.
The door had scarcely closed on the officer when the demeanor of the
other man changed. He arose, looked into the dining room, and listened
at the hall doorway for a second. Then he recrossed the apartment and
knelt before the safe. Adam Adams heard him mutter something to
himself as he twirled around the knob of the combination. Twice he
tried the door and failed to open it, but the third effort was
successful. But before he could do more than glance into the strong
box, there was a noise in the hallway. Instantly he shut the door
again, dropped into his chair, and resumed his smoking.
"Women folks are a regular nuisance," was the policeman's comment, on
coming back. "Want you to do this and then that--keep you on the go
all the time. I'm tired of it."
"Take my advice, and don't marry," was the rejoinder, with a laugh.
"Too late--I've got a wife and five children already. But I've got to
go to the barn. Will you come along?"
"Why--er--I suppose so." The stranger hesitated. "I'll have to be
going pretty soon. Going to stay in this room all night?"
"No; I'm going to lock up and go upstairs."
"That's right; nothing like resting on a good bed. I don't think the
girl will try to run away,"
"She can't--we're watching her too closely."
The pair left the library. Scarcely had they gone when Adam Adams
opened one of the blinds, made a quick leap, and came inside.
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