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Page 67
EXTRAORDINARY WORK OF A FRENCH DETECTIVE!
The Net so Completely Woven About the Alleged
Assassin That it is Thought He Will Confess.
The Arrest Entirely Due to the Unassisted Efforts of
M. LOUIS GODIN!
I did not stop to read the article, but seized my hat and hastened
at once to Maitland.
A copy of the Herald lay upon his table, advising me that he was
already acquainted with the strange turn affairs had taken. He
told me that he had heard the newsboys in the street calling out
"The Darrow Mystery Solved!" and had at once rushed out and bought
a paper.
I informed him of Gwen's condition and he wished to go to her at
once, but I told him he must wait until the morrow, as she had
already retired, and was, I had reason to hope, fast asleep. I
reassured him with the information that a night's sleep and the
medicine I had given her would probably put Gwen in full possession
of her faculties. Having thus satisfied his fears, I thought it
fitting he should satisfy mine. I asked him what had become of the
young woman in the next room. He did not reply, but quietly led me
into his camera obscura that I might see for myself. She was
sitting at the table in the centre of the room, with her face buried
in her hands. I watched her for a long time, and the only movement
I could discern was that occasioned ever and anon by a convulsive
catching of her breath. The pet monkey was nowhere to be seen.
"They took her father away early this morning," Maitland said, "and,
after the first shock, she sank into this condition. She has not
moved since. When I see the despair her father's arrest has
occasioned I am almost tempted to rejoice that I had no hand in it,
and yet--well, there's no great harm without some small good--no
one will say now that John Darrow took his own life, eh? What do
you think our friends, Osborne and Allen, will say now? They were
so sure their theory was the only tenable one. Ah, well! we should
ever hold ourselves in readiness
for surprises."
"And for emergencies too," I continued; "and this strikes me as
being very like one. That young woman needs attention, if I am any
judge of appearances, and I'm going in there." "No use, Doc,"
Maitland replied, "the door is locked, and she either cannot or
will not open it. I knocked there for an hour, hoping to be able
to comfort her. It's no use for you to try, she won't open the
door." "Won't, eh! then I'll go through it!" I exclaimed, in a
tone that so amazed Maitland that he seized me by the shoulders and
gazed fixedly into my face. "It's all right, George," I said,
answering his look. "I'm going in there, and I'm not going to be
at all delicate about my entrance either."
He looked at me a little doubtfully, but I could see that, on the
whole, he was pleased with my decision. I went into the hall and
knocked loudly on the door. There was no response. I kicked it
till I must have been heard all over the house, but still there
was no response. It was now clear I should not enter by invitation,
so I went up four or five stairs of the flight opposite the door and
from that position sprang against it. I am not, if you remember, a
heavy man, but momentum is MV and I made up in the 'V' what I lacked
in the 'M.' The door opened inwardly, and I tore it from its hinges
and precipitated both myself and it into the centre of the apartment.
As I look back upon this incident I regard it as the most precipitous
thing I ever did in the way of a professional visit. If the young
lady started at all, she did so before I had gathered myself together
sufficiently to notice it. I spoke to her, but she gave no evidence
of hearing me. I raised her head. Her eyes were wide open and
stared full at me, yet in such a blank way that I knew she did not
hear me. The contraction of the brows, the knotted appearance of
the forehead, and the rigor of the face told me she was under an
all-but-breaking tension. There were tear-stains from tears which
long since had ceased to flow. The fire of fever had dried them up.
I regarded her case as far more desperate than Gwen's and determined
to lose no time in taking charge of it. It seemed to me so like
sacrilege to touch her without an explanation that, though I knew
she could not understand me, I said to her, as I took her in my arms.
"You are ill, and I must take you away from here."
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