The Incendiary: A Story of Mystery

by William Augustine Leahy

  CHAPTER LV.

  WEATHERVANES VEER.

  "Do you know Ellen Greeley?"

  "I did know her slightly."

  "Never corresponded with her?"

  "Oh, no."

  "You have a key to your own house, I suppose?"

  "Certainly."

  "And can slip out and in unobserved?"

  "If I choose to."

  "Which door do you generally use going into your uncle's house?"

  "The front door always."

  "And in coming out?"

  "The same."

  "You knew, however, that there was a side door opening into thepassageway?"

  "Yes."

  "How long are you back from Lenox?"

  "Two weeks."

  "Do you remember an evening entertainment there at Mr. March's?"

  "The purple tea? Yes, sir."

  "Do you remember falling into a species of trance on that occasion?"

  "Perfectly."

  "Do you remember what was on your right hand when you awoke?"

  The witness drew a deep breath before he answered. He no longer had theheart to look toward Rosalie, though her eyes were turned with stonyfixity upon his face and she had even lifted her veil.

  Shagarach's manner was now as imperious, as fierce, as on that memorableevening.

  "Yes," answered Harry; "it was a lemon-colored glove."

  "Whose glove?"

  "Mine."

  "A lost glove?"

  "Yes."

  "A right-hand glove?"

  "Yes."

  "Where had you lost it?"

  Harry hesitated.

  "Will you look about the room and tell me if you see any person besidesyour mother whom you saw on that Saturday afternoon of the fire?"

  Walter Riley had recovered by this time from Kennedy's caning andoccupied a front seat among the spectators. But it was Rosalie's eyethat Harry met--met and hastily avoided. Had she seen him after all thatafternoon when he crossed Bond street from the burning house? Would thisremorseless inquisitor contradict his denial with the affirmation of thewoman he loved?

  "Wasn't it you instead of Floyd who paid a cash fare to ConductorCheckerberry on the 3:29 train and whose voice he recognized hereyesterday?"

  "Yes," said Harry, "it was."

  "Then you had heard of the fire before Sunday morning?"

  "I had."

  "And you lied again when you testified to the contrary?"

  "I am sick of lying. Let me tell you the truth."

  "It is the truth I am searching for."

  "You have tripped and tangled me," said Harry, speaking slowly, "so thatmy actions when I make a clean breast of them may look worse than theywere. I wish I had told you the truth from the beginning. I was a foolto hide it at all.

  "I did leave Woodlawn that Saturday for my uncle's house on the 3o'clock train and returned on the 3:29 from the city. I had been wroughtup by Mr. Hodgkins' visit of the night before. He was going to open thesafe at 2:30 the next day and the will would be read at last. If I weredisinherited I should be absolutely penniless, dependent on my mother,and her property, I knew, was encumbered."

  "Your mother, then, was your father's sole heir?" asked the districtattorney.

  "Yes, sir."

  "Encumbered largely through your extravagance?" added Shagarach.

  "Through my extravagance. I was on pins and needles, too nervous tosleep, to eat--the servants can corroborate that--until this should besettled; too nervous even to await my mother's return."

  "She had driven in to meet Mr. Hodgkins?"

  "She had. It must have been nearly 3:25 when I arrived and theappointment of Hodgkins was at 2:30."

  "You took the Southern line?"

  "Yes."

  "Why?"

  "Because I heard the train coming. I acted on the impulse, flung out ofthe house and headed it off."

  "Go on."

  "I walked toward my uncle's up Broad street, entered the passageway,mounted the steps and found the side door open."

  "Open?"

  "I mean unlocked, not ajar. There was no one stirring in the lowerfloor. I wondered whether Hodgkins had come and the safe was opened.Then I went upstairs to the study."

  "Your glove in your left hand?"

  "As I remember it, yes. I forgot to mention the barking of the dogupstairs. When I got to the study door the barking was louder and thedog seemed to be pawing at the door inside. Smoke was streaming outthrough the keyhole and I could hear a loud crackling inside. I lookedat my watch"--here Harry's delivery grew broken and he stuttered overthe words--"I looked at my watch and saw that I had time to catch the3:29. So I ran out the way I had come, slammed the door, knocked oversome boys that were blocking up the alleyway, crossed Broad street anddove into the little passage called Marketman's row, which opens at theother end opposite the door of the depot.

  "The 3:29 train was just steaming out when I caught the last car. AtWoodlawn I jumped off on the unused side of the station and crossed themeadows to my house. Dr. Whipple had just come and had been directed tomy room. I doubt if even the servants knew of my departure and arrival."

  There was a pause when Harry finished. He looked straight at Shagarach,flush-cheeked and ashamed, but with all the Arnold boldness.

  "You have left out the vital part of your story," said the lawyer, whenit appeared that the witness had nothing more to add. "Why did you flyfrom a stream of smoke issuing through a keyhole?"

  "There were two reasons, shameful both of them, but I ask you toremember that I had recently risen from a fever and that I was greatlyexcited at the time. In the first place, the image of the safe in thatstudy had haunted me for days."

  "Although you have testified that you did not know you weredisinherited. Is that another lie?"

  "No, sir; it is the truth. I had absolutely no knowledge of the terms ofmy uncle's will."

  "Then why were you apprehensive? Why did the image of the safe in whichit was guarded haunt you?"

  "Because--because I feared what actually did happen. I feared that hehad bequeathed my share of his property elsewhere."

  "Go on."

  "I knew that the destruction of the safe would set me back to myposition as heir, would assure me $5,000,000. It could do me no harm.That idea flashed through me as I stood on the landing, with my hand onthe knob. And then my own position! I might be accused of setting thefire for that very purpose. This was the thought that led me to flee. Iremember looking at my watch, as I said. The 3:29 train would place mein safety almost before the fire was under way."

  "And as a matter of fact, you were back in Woodlawn almost before thefirst stream of water was played upon the burning building?"

  "I reached there at 3:45."

  "You didn't stop to liberate the dog?"

  "No, sir."

  "You didn't think it your duty to save property and life by checking theflames or at least giving the alarm?"

  "No, sir."

  "You simply wanted your uncle's money."

  "I wanted my uncle's money."

  The gathering indignation of the audience expressed itself at thisavowal by a sharp, spontaneous hiss. But the prisoner only bit his lips.The officers rapped for order and Chief Justice Playfair arose.

  "I cannot find it in my heart to rebuke this manifestation, unseemlythough it be in a temple of justice. For I knew Benjamin Arnold for manyyears. His cheek at the age of nearly fourscore had the rosy flush of aboy's and his unimpaired vigor was a living attestation of the pureyouth and honorable manhood through which he had passed. He deserved abetter return from his brother's son than the avaricious greed for hisriches which the witness has confessed."

  "Your honor," said Harry, "I have not made myself understood. It is notfor me to parry your honor's rebuke. I have richly deserved it. I havebeen selfish and a seeker of my own pleasure. But it would be unjust tomy better self, which is now struggling to the surface, if I did notdisown the entertainment of such feelings now. I am on the stan
d underoath and I told you the simple truth about my motives at that criticalmoment."

  "I find it hard," replied the chief justice, "to understand such a frameof mind. If you were present and consented to the fire, as you admit, byfailing to check the flames or give the alarm, then it appears to methat you are morally if not legally a self-confessed accessory after thefact."

  "The explanation can only deepen my blame, your honor. I itched formoney at that time. Yet all that I received flowed from me faster thanit came. I had exhausted my mother's income, trenched upon her credit,borrowed of my friends, and still I craved more. I was a victim of thepassion for games of chance."

  "Then you were capable of the gravest crimes," said Chief JusticePlayfair.

  "The fact that the witness took the 3 o'clock train when the will wassupposed to have been read at 2:30," said the district attorney, "seemsto me evidence that he had not contemplated a crime in coming."

  "I do not charge that he contemplated a crime when he started from thehouse," answered Shagarach, promptly, "but I do charge that, finding anopportunity to hand, Harry Arnold, who by his own confession was presentat the door of his uncle's study at the time this fire started, yieldedto an evil impulse, ignited the loose papers lying about and fled."

  "Harry Arnold has, indeed, been traced to the study door," retorted thedistrict attorney, "but Robert Floyd was inside the room."

  "Then we must bring Harry Arnold across the threshold," said Shagarach,resuming the cross-examination.

  "Did you not know when you entered the house that the safe was unopened,owing to Hodgkins' detention?"

  "No, sir; I knew nothing about that. When I went I expected to meetHodgkins there."

  "Then what good would it do you to see your uncle's study burned if itcontained only an empty safe?"

  "I didn't know whether the will was in the safe or not."

  "And you didn't know whether the will disinherited you or not?"

  "No, sir."

  "But, acting on the possibility that there might be a will there, whichmight disinherit you, you ran away and left the house to burn?"

  "It was contemptible, I admit."

  "Hadn't you met your mother that afternoon?"

  "Not after she left Woodlawn."

  "What time was that?"

  "Before 2 o'clock."

  "She left in a carriage?"

  "Yes, sir; one of the family carriages."

  "And arrived at your uncle's toward three?"

  "She has told me so."

  "Leaving there a little after three?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "She might have driven around, then, for fifteen minutes and returned bythe Southern depot just in time to meet you?"

  "She might have done so."

  "And inform you of Hodgkins' detention?"

  "She might have done so, but whether you believe me or not, I never sawmy mother until she came home that evening."

  "Or any messenger from her?"

  "Or any messenger."

  "Did you set the fire?"

  "No, sir."

  "Did Floyd set it?"

  "I refuse to believe that he did."

  "Then who did? It must have been one or the other of you two."

  "Or both of them," whispered Inspector McCausland to John Davidson, butthe marshal shook his head.

  "It is a mystery I cannot solve," said Harry Arnold.

  "Let us help you, then. You testified before that you never correspondedwith Ellen Greeley?"

  "Why should I correspond with the girl?"

  "In order that she might sell you what information she could overhearabout your uncle's will."

  Shagarach brought his face closer to Harry's and his eyes seemed toblaze like searchlights, illuminating the depths of the young man'ssoul.

  "Will you kindly read that aloud?" The lawyer handed his witness aletter. Harry glanced it over curiously, then read:

  "'The peddler has not come for two days, so I send you this by a trustworthy messenger. As I wrote you in my last, the professor said in the study: "Harry gets his deserts." That was all I could hear. Only he and Mr. Robert talked for a long time afterward. The will is in the safe in the study. If I hear anything more I will let you know, and please send me the money you promised me soon.'"

  "Whose handwriting is that?" asked Shagarach.

  "I never saw it before."

  "It is unsigned, unaddressed and undated, is it not?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Presumably, then, a letter in which both sender and receiver desired toconceal their names?"

  "Perhaps so. I cannot offer an opinion as to that."

  "Don't you know that letter was written by Ellen Greeley to you?"

  "No, sir; I never received such a letter."

  "I am aware that you never received it. But you received the previousletters referred to in this case, did you not? You received the letterstating that 'Harry gets his deserts,' meaning obviously that he getsnothing, did you not?"

  "No, sir; I have never received a shred of communication from EllenGreeley."

  "Do you know the peddler referred to in this letter?"

  "No, sir."

  At this point Mrs. Arnold, who had sat through each of the threeprevious days' sessions, arose hurriedly and passed out. Shagarach justcaught a glimpse of a lady's back departing, but the vacant seat toldits story. He paused in his examination of Harry. It was Mrs. Arnold whohad put McCausland on Floyd's track, Mrs. Arnold who had stolen Harry'sphotographs from Jacob, Mrs. Arnold who had driven up to the house in acarriage, Mrs. Arnold who would naturally deal, through her servants,with a street vender calling at the house.

  "A subpoena blank!" he cried suddenly to Aronson. His pen flew over thepaper, filling in names and other details.

  "Serve that at any cost," he said to his assistant, and Aronson smoochedthe ink, so eager was he to obey.

  "You do not know the peddler?" said Shagarach, taking up thecross-examination.

  "No, sir."

  "You never saw a peddler in a green cart that used to call at your housein Woodlawn during the month of June?"

  "Not to my knowledge. Of course, there are peddlers everywhere and someof them have green carts."

  "Wouldn't you regard it as a peculiar circumstance if a particularpeddler began calling at your house and your uncle's house about thetime your uncle made his will and stopped his visits after the fire?"

  "I don't know that I should attach importance to that circumstance. Itmight be accidental."

  "But he might also be a go-between."

  "Between whom?"

  "Between you and Ellen Greeley."

  "I never conducted any intrigue of any kind with Ellen Greeley."

  "Did you know the man who was captured here yesterday?"

  "No, sir."

  "Wasn't he the peddler referred to in Ellen Greeley's letter?"

  "The letter you handed me? I do not know."

  "Is this one of your lies or the truth?"

  "This is the truth."

  "How are we to distinguish between your lying and truth-telling?"

  Harry was silent.

  "The only means of distinction thus far has been our own superior proofof the facts."

  "I can only give you my word. If you choose to doubt it I am helpless."

  "Will you please explain how your mother, who has left the court-room, Iperceive, was able to inform Mr. McCausland that Robert Floyd wasdisinherited by his uncle and thus guide the finger of suspicion towardan innocent man from you, the incendiary?"

  "I had no hand or finger in setting that fire. Circumstances tellagainst me. I have debased my own word, ruined my credibility, by aseries of perjuries, all flowing from one initial folly. I can nowunderstand my cousin's position--the shame of being misunderstood,unjustly suspected, though I am not fortified, as I feel that he is, bya consciousness of stainless honor throughout the affair. If he isguilty, then I am, and I ask--or, rather, I insist--that you shall placeme
under the same restriction of liberty as my cousin. Let me sleepunder the same roof, endure the same privations, until he is acquittedand set free. For if to have had wrongdoing, ever so remotely, in one'sheart is guilt, then I am the guiltier of us two."

  "The sheriff, I think, will provide you a lodging," said Shagarach,coolly, and after a conference between the chief justice, the districtattorney and the lawyer it was announced that a warrant for HarryArnold's arrest would be granted and that he would spend the night in acell.

  "There are still several points against the prisoner not met," said thedistrict attorney, when Shagarach moved for Robert's discharge.

  "It is a new doctrine that a man should be held because there isreasonable doubt of his innocence," said the lawyer. But the districtattorney was rigid and the chief justice thought it best, since therewas only one more witness for the prosecution, to let the jury decideupon the facts, which were properly their province.

  "Forgive me, Rosalie," said Harry, humbly, as he passed her, going out,and her eyes, though they were full of mortification, disillusion,rebuke, told that she forgave him because she loved him.

  "Arnold or Floyd?" was the alternative on the lips of the multitudesurging homeward after that dramatic day, and Robert for the first timewas actually cheered when he left the courthouse.

  "Looks as though we might have two hangings instead of one," remarkedInspector McCausland to a reporter.

  "Did you notice the expression on that woman who went out?" said Ecks toWye.

  "No."

  "Guilt," said Ecks, shuffling his notes into his pocket. Then Emily sawRosalie March's beautiful face soiled with tears and hastened down tocomfort her.

  "I am sorry," she said. "Don't fear for Harry. Nobody in the world setthat fire. It just caught----"

  But why importune readers with Emily's theory, when they have doubtlessalready guessed it in detail?