CHAPTER XXVII.
THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED.
During the next afternoon all of the most active parties in thiswritten drama were congregated in the parlor belonging to a suite ofrooms at one of our second-class hotels.
Here Mat Morris had been taken, as he could be more comfortable herethan at any other place, not knowing where to find his mother.
Here also had Helen Dilt been conveyed in a carriage.
Shadow was there.
And lastly, I had just put in an appearance.
Both Mat and Helen understood that to Shadow they owed theirdeliverance, and both were deeply grateful and could not thank himenough.
After a while I said plainly that there was a mystery underlying allthis which I should like to have explained.
"You shall hear the explanation," said Shadow. "I am not what Iseem; I am not a man; I am Nellie Millbank, to whom you were kindenough--although a stranger--to lend the money with which to decentlyinter the body of her murdered lover."
"I sometimes suspected as much," I said, while Mat and Helen bothopened their eyes with surprise at learning that Shadow was a woman.
"Now," said I to Shadow, "it was to you whom I paid five hundreddollars?"
"Yes."
"Then"--to Mat--"how was it possible for you to send that same fivehundred dollars to your mother?"
"I found the money," said Mat.
"I lost it," said Shadow.
Here was one of those little things which had so deeply puzzled me madelight as day.
By questioning, by listening when all the parties talked freely, Ifinally understood all the ins and outs of the thrilling drama in reallife.
In his search after Helen, and in his endeavor to find her abductor,Mat had been engaged only a short while when he rendered himselfsuspected by the sugar-house gang, had been arrested and clapped intothe Black Hole, where he had been kept a close prisoner ever since.
So it turned out that Mat Morris, whom I had believed the most activecharacter in the drama, was for the greater part of the time kept in acondition of forced inactivity.
Nellie Millbank told me how, after having seen her lover laid away inhis resting-place, she had taken an oath to avenge his death.
Knowing how slight a clew she had on which to work--the most vaguedescription of the murderer--she had adopted a male attire, and startedout with the plan of insinuating herself into the confidence of such aman as she might suspect, and lead him to convicting himself.
Starting out on this plan, she had just caught sight of an individualwhom she thought answered the description of the murderer, and wasshaking her finger after him when I saw her shadow.
She heard the remark I dropped at the time, and, when she afterwardwrote to me, she adopted the name my remark had suggested.
The five hundred dollars I gave to her she had lost, and Mat Morris hadfound, which explained the complications arising from finding billswhich I recognized in the hands of Mrs. Morris.
I also then learned how it was that Shadow had come to be in thesugar-house at the time of handing me that note, although that issomething concerning which the reader needs no explanation, thedetective's purpose being made evident at the time.
And this is so as regards many other incidents in connection withShadow, mysteries to me at the time of their occurrence, but made plainto the reader in various places.
And this is so also as regards Helen Dilt.
We had all her adventures and experiences to listen to, which have beenrecorded in their proper places.
Late in the afternoon Mrs. Morris, who had been sent for, put in anappearance, having been found and sent here.
A happier woman never drew the breath of life than she was when she wasenabled to clasp both her loved ones to her heart.
Nellie Millbank and I drew a little apart, that the others might havethe first few minutes of meeting to themselves.
In response to a question of mine as to how she had gathered up all thethreads of the tangled skein, she replied:
"It was through McGinnis. He was the tool of Brown, the abductor ofHelen, as well as the murderer of my lost one. I suspected him rightly,after many previous failures, threw myself in his way in the characterof a thing which I care not to name, and when he was in liquor he toldme all. He convicted himself out of his own mouth."
"Where is McGinnis?"
Shadow turned away. He pretended not to have heard my question, and Idid not press it.
Together we five had supped, and a right merry party it was--although Ithought that the merriment of Nellie Millbank was rather forced.
This I thought might be because of a natural embarrassment at being inmen's clothing after having revealed her true sex.
Early in the afternoon I had heard of the discovery of a dead body onan East River pier. The man was handcuffed and gagged, and had beenrepeatedly stabbed. Already it was becoming spoken of as the mostbrutal murder on record.
That evening I was sent to look at the body and to give any assistanceI could toward working up the case.
The moment I reached the Morgue and the sheet was drawn down, Iunderstood the reason why Shadow had pretended not to hear my question.
The body was that of McGinnis.
On his breast had been found pinned a bit of paper, bearing these words:
"This man died a righteous death. He was a murderer, and meets the same fate he dealt to another. His victim is avenged.
"Search for the person who inflicted this punishment will be in vain."
This last sentence several shrewd detectives thought implied that thewriter intended self-destruction.
This view I bolstered up to the best of my ability.
Needless to say, the murderer of McGinnis was never discovered.
In fact, none of us who knew Shadow--confound it! Nellie Millbank--eversaw her afterward, unless---- Well, one day long afterward I entered ahorse-car; opposite to me sat two black-garbed sisters of mercy. Forjust one fleeting second the eyes of one of them encountered mine.
It may not have been Nellie Millbank, but I have always thought it was,and hope that I was right.
Dick Stanton, the false detective, was brought from the private cell inwhich I had placed him, and was convicted and "sent up" with the restof the sugar-house gang.
Tige and her companion hyenas were roughly dealt with.
Murder was charged to their account, and was so well sustained thatthey all received life sentences.
Brown was sent to prison for twenty years, a sentence long enough toinsure his never leaving the prison alive.
Helen Dilt was not long kept out of the money which her rascally unclehad so long deprived her of, and the first thing she did was to buy andpresent to her kind benefactress, Mrs. Morris, a completely furnishedhome.
Not so very long since I met a gentleman in the street, who clasped mewarmly by the hand, as he said:
"Howard, it's a boy, and we think of naming it after you."
The speaker was Mat Morris.
He and Helen have been married some years now, and this boy he spoke ofis not the first baby by--well, a few.
And thus we draw to a close, and with genuine regret bid adieu to thehistory of the strange being who was so long a mystery to me under theindefinite title of SHADOW.
[THE END.]
Transcriber's notes:
Italics are represented with _underscores_.
Added table of contents.
The original contained some publisher's advertisements that are notreproduced here.
Changed "Her knowlege of herself" to "Her knowledge of herself."
Changed "name of her benefactor's" to "name of her benefactors."
Changed "speeech" to "speech."
Added missing quote after "And now, who are you?"
Changed "quick-witedness" to "quick-wittedness."
Changed "less that two hours" to "less than two hours."
Changed "capn's orders" to
"cap'n's orders."
Changed "Helen'e uncle" to "Helen's uncle."
Removed unnecessary quote after "how he did eat."
Changed "ead not denied it" to "had not denied it."
Changed "credted" to "credited."
Changed "it" to "I" in "I would not put my knowledge into use."
Changed "that had not really done so" to "they had not really done so."
Changed "I was because" to "It was because."
Changed "unclapsed" to "unclasped."
Changed "prespiration" to "perspiration."
Changed ? to ! after "meted out to your murderer!"
Added missing "not" to "They were puzzled, and knew not what to do."This word was present in the original _Boys of New York_ appearance butwas missing from the _New York Detective Library_ reprint.
Shadow, the Mysterious Detective Page 27