The Brand of Silence

by Harrington Strong

  CHAPTER XXII

  AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR

  Waiting in anticipation of hearing good news, Sidney Prale paced thefloor of the living room of his hotel suite until noon the followingday, expecting Jim Farland to put in an appearance at any time and makehis report.

  Murk, having done all the work that there was to do, spent the most ofhis time looking from the window at the busy, fashionable avenue, andglancing now and then at Prale as if wishing to anticipate his wishesand save him the trouble of voicing them.

  Prale had luncheon served in the suite, and then he stepped to thetelephone and called Jim Farland's office. Farland's stenographerinformed him that the detective had not been there during the morning,though there was some business that needed his attention.

  Then Prale got Farland's residence on the telephone, and the detective'swife answered the call. Prale gave his name, and asked where Jim couldbe found.

  "That is more than I can tell, Mr. Prale," Mrs. Farland said. "He got atelephone call last evening, and from what I overheard I think he wentsome place to meet a man. He left soon after he received the call, and Ihave not heard from him since. That is peculiar, too. When he is obligedto remain away, he generally finds time to telephone and let me know."

  This conversation bothered Sidney Prale, but he tried to tell himselfthat Farland was following a hot trail, and that perhaps it had led himsome distance away, or that he was in a locality where he did not careto telephone.

  He did not want to miss Farland if he did call, and so he remained atthe hotel during the afternoon and kept Murk there also.

  "I have a hunch that something is going to happen soon," Prale said tohis valet.

  "A little action wouldn't make me mad any!" Murk declared. "I'm spoilin'to mix with the enemy, Mr. Prale. Most of all, I'd like to meet up withthem two thugs that got gay with us. You're sure about that Jim Farland,boss?"

  "I've told you a hundred times, Murk, that Jim Farland is my friend andas square a man as you can find anywhere. He has not deserted us, ifthat is the thought in your head."

  "I'm beginnin' to like him a bit myself," said Murk. "Ain't you got anyidea, boss, who's engineerin' this deal against you?"

  "Once more, Murk, old boy, allow me to state that I haven't the faintestidea who my enemies are, or why they are trying so hard to make lifemiserable for me. If I knew where to start to round them up, I wouldn'tbe standing in this room talking to you--I'd be out rounding them up!"

  "Well, if you ask me, I think it's about time that Farland settled thatmurder case," Murk said. "If he don't get busy pretty quick, I'll tackleit myself. I've got an idea----"

  The ringing of the telephone bell cut his sentence off. Sidney Prale wasnear the instrument, and he answered the call.

  "Mr. Prale?" asked a man's voice.

  "Talking."

  "I just wanted to inform you that you needn't depend on Detective JimFarland any more. We've got him--and we'll get anybody else you engage.And we'll get you, too, Mr. Prale, before very long. Don't think we'llnot!"

  The man at the other end of the wire hung up his receiver. Prale pacedthe floor and told Murk of the conversation.

  "They've got Farland!" Prale exclaimed. "They probably got him lastnight, decoyed him in some way. Well, Murk, if that is the truth, and Iimagine that it is, we'll have to do our sleuthing ourselves."

  "Suits me!" Murk said. "I'm ready to start out right now and sleuthuntil it's settled. Let's get in action, boss!"

  "We are in the same old quandary, Murk. We don't know where to start,"Sidney Prale said. "If our foes would come out in the open, instead offighting from the dark, we might have a chance. This is some city, Murk,and there are several million persons in it and around it. Startingright in such a maze isn't the easiest thing in the world, you know."

  For the second time that afternoon, Murk was interrupted by the ringingof the telephone bell, and once more Sidney Prale happened to be nearand answered the call.

  "Send them up at once!" Murk heard him say.

  And then Sidney Prale hung up the receiver and whirled around with apuzzled expression on his face.

  "Murk," he said, "Miss Kate Gilbert is coming up here with that big maidof hers--coming to see me. What she wants is more than I can guess,remembering what happened the last time I talked with her. It may begood news, Murk!"

  They waited impatiently for the ring at the door. Murk opened it andushered them in.

  He grinned at the gigantic Marie, but she did not return the compliment.There was a serious expression in her face, and Murk looked past her atKate Gilbert, who was being greeted by Sidney Prale.

  Something important had happened, Murk told himself immediately. KateGilbert did not look frightened exactly or sorrowful or triumphant.There was a peculiar expression about her mouth, and her face seemedpale.

  "I felt that I had to come, Mr. Prale, and have this talk with you,"Kate Gilbert said, when she was seated near the window. "I wanted tospeak to you here instead of in some public place, and so I broughtMarie and came to your suite."

  "You are welcome, Miss Gilbert, I am sure," Prale said. "If you wish tospeak in private, Marie and Murk can step into the adjoining room."

  "Please," she said softly.

  Murk opened the door, and the maid stepped in. Then he followed andclosed the door again. Prale sat down near Kate Gilbert and turnedtoward her.

  "Now, Miss Gilbert," he prompted.

  She met his eyes squarely as she spoke, but her lips trembled at timesas if she were undergoing an ordeal.

  "Mr. Prale," she said, "as you know, I have been associated with othersin an attempt to bring retribution home to you. When I became associatedwith them, it was understood between us that there was to be noviolence, nothing outside the law. We were simply to attack you fromevery angle, cause you trouble and annoyance, take away your money if wecould, break you in every way."

  "Pardon me, but----"

  "Please say nothing until I am finished, Mr. Prale. We began at once togather all the information we could about you and your affairs. We beganto plan for your downfall. We found that we could do nothing thatamounted to anything while you were in Honduras, where you were apowerful man. But we were about to try, even there, when we learned thatyou were selling out your properties and preparing to return to NewYork.

  "You may know how that struck us. You had gone away and made yourfortune, and you were coming home, possibly with the hope that the pasthad been forgotten. We intended showing you that it had not beenforgotten, that you could not return and enjoy the fortune whosefoundation was----But enough of that!

  "I had been in Honduras spying upon you. I was sent because you did notknow me, and would not be on guard, as you might have been, had some mangone down there. We did not care to send an ordinary detective, ofcourse. I kept the people here informed of all your movements. I beganthe punishment by leaving that note in your stateroom and pasting theother on your suit case, began it by reminding you that the past livedin the minds of some persons.

  "You know the rest. We began our work. We caused you annoyance from thefirst, with the banker, the hotel manager, and all that. Before we coulddo any more, you were accused of murder. That pleased us, of course. Wedid not believe you guilty, but we were glad to see that you were beingcaused some trouble, that your name was being stained. Some of us evenbegan to think that the law of retribution was at work itself, withoutour poor help.

  "We went ahead with our plans, however. You engaged a prominentattorney, and finally we induced him to leave you. But some who werehandling the affair went too far. You were assaulted in Central Park.Your valet was knocked on the head and kidnaped, and an attempt made toget him to take payment and spy upon you. At that time I told a certainman who had the handling of the affair that there could be no moreviolence.

  "We should not break a law to undo you, I declared. If we did that, wewere as bad as you. I said that, if there was any more violence, Ishould cease having anything to do with the affair,
and would come toyou and tell you so. An hour ago, I found out that Detective Farland, aman in your employ, had been seized and treated with violence and wasbeing held prisoner because he insisted upon remaining loyal to you. SoI am here!"

  "This is amazing, Miss Gilbert!" Sidney Prale told her. "The whole thinghas been amazing. Somebody has tried to connect me with that murder.Somebody tried to smash my alibi. The little annoyances were bad enough,and the knowledge that I had unknown foes who fought in the dark; butthe murder charge was the worst of all, for it placed me in a positionwhere I had to clear myself absolutely or remain forever suspected bymany persons."

  "I understand that," Kate Gilbert said.

  "And now you have come to me to say that you are no longer associatedwith my enemies?"

  "For what you did, there can be no forgiveness, Mr. Prale. I want to seeyou punished. But I will not be a party to violence. It seems to me thatthe man who has been managing this affair has gone beyond proper bounds.For some reason, he is particularly vindictive, though he did not sufferat all, as did some of the others. I cannot forgive you for what youdid, Sidney Prale. But I can wash my hands of the entire affair and tryto forget you entirely and hope that there is a law of retribution thatwill take vengeance for me. That is all, Mr. Prale. Only please rememberthat, from this hour, I am not concerned with the others in thisaffair."

  She started to rise, but Prale motioned for her to retain her seat. Hebent forward and looked at her searchingly.

  "I am very glad that you have come here and spoken to me in this way,Miss Gilbert," he said. "I scarcely know how to express what I feel thatI must tell you. I have listened to you patiently, without interruption.Will you be kind enough to listen to me for a moment now?"

  "I'll listen, though it will be useless," she said.

  "When I left Honduras, Miss Gilbert, I was a happy man. I had made mypile and was coming home. I had left ten years before because a selfishwoman, whom I imagined I loved, jilted me for a wealthier man. Thatwound had healed, and when I left Honduras, I did not think that I hadan enemy in the world, unless it was some poor devil of a disgruntlednative workman I had been forced to discharge, or somebody like that.

  "I believed those notes on the ship to be in the nature of a jest, orelse that somebody was making a mistake. Then troubles began, and I wasat a loss to understand them. Next came the murder charge! We will putthat aside for the moment, for it seems to be the result ofcircumstantial evidence and probably has nothing to do with the otheraffair--merely a coincidence.

  "Miss Gilbert, look at me! I want you to believe what I am going to say.You must believe it! In the name of everything I hold sacred, I swear toyou that I do not know these foes of mine, or the reason for theirenmity!"

  "How can I believe that?" she cried. "Why should you ask me to believesuch a statement?"

  "Because I want some light on this subject, Miss Gilbert, and I amdetermined to get it. There is some terrible mistake. I am beingpunished for the fault of some other person."

  "Can you not remember back ten years?" she asked.

  "Easily. I can live over again the last day I spent in New York tenyears ago."

  "And the few days before that time?"

  "Certainly, Miss Gilbert."

  "And yet you ask why others should seek to punish you? Perhaps you areone of those men whose natures are so dishonorable that you think youdid nothing wrong at that time."

  "So it was then that I was supposed to have done this terriblething--whatever it was?"

  "As you know, Mr. Prale."

  "But I do not know, Miss Gilbert. To the best of my recollection I leftNew York without having done anything in the least dishonorable; andcertainly I did nothing to merit a band of enemies working against me."

  "What is it that you wish me to do?" she asked.

  "Be fair with me, Miss Gilbert. I tell you that there is some terriblemistake! If I am supposed to know all about this, what harm can there bein your repeating the details to me? Tell me what crime I am supposed tohave committed to merit this attack. Give me a chance to prove myinnocence! The common thug gets that chance in a court of law, youknow."

  "But this is ridiculous!" she exclaimed. "There can be no question ofit! The whole thing came out at the time."

  "Then you do not wish to be fair?" Prale asked.

  "I cannot allow you to say that. I will tell the story to you, Mr.Prale, tell exactly what you did--as you know very well--if that will beany satisfaction to you. But it will do you no good to deny it!"

  "Tell me!" Sidney Prale said.