The Greatest Works of Anna Katharine Green. Анна Грин

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      “Madam, there are not twelve men in the city so devoid of intelligence as to apply the name of crime to an act which was so evidently one of self-defence. No true bill will be found against young Mrs. Adams. Rest easy.”

      The look of gloom disappeared from Miss Butterworth’s eyes.

      “Then I may return home in peace,” she cried. “It has been a desperate five hours for me, and I feel well shaken up. Will you escort me to my carriage?”

      Miss Butterworth did not look shaken up. Indeed, in Mr. Gryce’s judgment, she had never appeared more serene or more comfortable. But she was certainly the best judge of her own condition; and after satisfying herself that the object of her care was reviving under the solicitous ministrations of her husband, she took the arm which Mr. Gryce held out to her and proceeded to her carriage.

      As he assisted her in, he asked a few questions about Mr. Poindexter.

      “Why is not Mrs. Adams’s father here? Did he allow his daughter to leave him on such an errand as this without offering to accompany her?”

      The answer was curtness itself:

      “Mr. Poindexter is a man without heart. He came with us to New York, but refused to follow us to Police Headquarters. Sir, you will find that the united passions of three burning souls, and a revenge the most deeply cherished of any I ever knew or heard of, have been thrown away on a man who is positively unable to suffer. Do not mention old John Poindexter to me. And now, if you will be so good, tell the coachman to drive me to my home in Gramercy Park. I have put my finger in the police pie for the last time, Mr. Gryce—positively for the last time.” And she sank back on the carriage cushions with an inexorable look, which, nevertheless, did not quite conceal a quiet complacency which argued that she was not altogether dissatisfied with herself or the result of her interference in matters usually considered at variance with a refined woman’s natural instincts.

      Mr. Gryce, in repressing a smile, bowed lower even than his wont, and, under the shadow of this bow, the carriage drove off. As he walked slowly back, he sighed. Was he wondering if a case of similar interest would ever bring them together again in consultation?

       Footnotes:

1 Since my readers may not understand how an opening above the stairway might communicate with Mr. Adams’s study, I here submit a diagram of the same. The study walls were very high, forming a rounded extension at the back of the house.

2 It must be remembered that the scraps of writing in Felix’s hand had not yet been found by the police. The allusions in them to Bartow show him to have been possessed by a jealousy which probably turned to delight when he saw his master smitten down by the object of that master’s love and his own hatred. How he came to recognize in the bride of another man the owner of the name he so often saw hovering on the lips of his master, is a question to be answered by more astute students of the laws of perception than myself. Probably he spent much of his time at the loophole on the stairway, studying his master till he understood his every gesture and expression.

      Detective & Mystery Novels:

       Table of Contents

      The Leavenworth Case

       Table of Contents

       Book I. The Problem

       I. “A Great Case”

       II. The Coroner’s Inquest

       III. Facts and Deductions

       IV. A Clue

       V. Expert Testimony

       VI. Side-Lights

       VII. Mary Leavenworth

       VIII. Circumstantial Evidence

       IX. A Discovery

       X. Mr. Gryce Receives New Impetus

       XI. The Summons

       XII. Eleanore

       XIII. The Problem

       Book II. Henry Clavering

       XIV. Mr. Gryce at Home

       XV. Ways Opening

       XVI. The Will of a Millionaire

       XVII. The Beginning of Great Surprises

       XVIII. On the Stairs

       XIX. In My Office

       XX. “Trueman! Trueman! Trueman!”

       XXI. A Prejudice

       XXII. Patch-Work

       XXIII. The Story of a Charming Woman

       XXIV. СКАЧАТЬ