CHAPTER XXVI
THE MYSTERY CLEARS
Godfrey's powers of recuperation have astonished me more than once,and never more so than when I found him at the breakfast-table, asfresh and rosy as though he had had a full night's sleep. But even Ifelt better by the time the meal was over. It is wonderful what a cupof coffee can do for a man!
"I 'phoned a message to Swain, as soon as I was up," Godfrey said,"telling him, in your name, that we had the evidence to clear him, andthat Miss Vaughan was safe."
"I must go down to him," I said, "and start proceedings to set himfree. I'll get Simmonds to go with me before Goldberger, and thenbefore the magistrate. We ought to get an order of release at once."
"You've got something to do before that," Godfrey reminded me. "We'reto hear Miss Vaughan's story at ten o'clock. I'm taking it forgranted," he added, with a smile, "that I'll be welcome, as well asHinman."
"That doesn't need saying," I retorted, and ten minutes later, wewere on the way to Elmhurst.
There was a man on guard at the library door, but he allowed us topass when we gave our names, having evidently had his instructionsfrom Simmonds. In answer to Godfrey's question, he said that, so faras he knew, no trace had been found of Silva.
We went on into the room, and found that some one, Simmondspresumably, had closed the safe and swung the section of shelving backinto place before it. It was not locked, however, and I opened it andwent through its contents carefully, with the faint hope that themoney might have been thrust into some other compartment. But I foundno trace of it, and was replacing the contents, when a voice at thethreshold brought me to my feet.
"Mr. Lester!" it said, and I turned to behold a vision which made mecatch my breath--a vision of young womanhood, with smiling lips andradiant eyes--a vision which came quickly toward me, with handsoutstretched.
"Miss Vaughan!" I cried, and took the hands and held them.
"Can you forgive me?" she demanded.
"For what?"
"For treating you so badly! Oh, I could see what you thought of me,and I longed to tell you it was only make-believe, but I didn't dare!I could see your grimace of disgust, when I fell on my knees besidethe chair yonder...."
"Miss Vaughan," I broke in, "whatever my sentiments may have been--andI was an idiot not to suspect the truth!--they have all changed intoenthusiastic admiration. You were wiser and braver than all of us."
A wave of colour swept into her cheeks.
"I might add," I went on, "that I thought white robes becoming, butthey were not nearly so becoming as this gown!"
"It is of the last century!" she protested. "But anything is betterthan that masquerade! And when--when...."
"I think I can get Swain free this afternoon," I answered. "I'm goingto try, anyway. Mr. Godfrey 'phoned him the good news the first thingthis morning. This is Mr. Godfrey, Miss Vaughan," I added, "and veryeager to shake hands with you."
"Very proud, too," said Godfrey, coming forward and suiting the actionto the word.
There was a step on the walk outside, and Dr. Hinman appeared at the door.
"Well!" he cried, coming in, his face beaming. "There's no need for meto ask how my patient's doing!"
"I'm afraid you haven't got any patient, any more, doctor," I laughed.
"I'm afraid not," agreed Hinman. "I'll have to go back to my officeand wait for another one. But before I go, Miss Vaughan, I want tohear the story. Mr. Lester promised me I should."
Miss Vaughan looked at me.
"We all want to hear it," I said; "how you came to suspect--how yougot the glove--everything."
Her face grew sober, and a shadow flitted across it.
"Suppose we sit down," she said, and just then the sentry at the doorsaluted and Simmonds stepped into the room.
I saw him shake his head in answer to Godfrey's questioning look andknew that Silva had not been found. Then I brought him forward to MissVaughan and introduced him.
"Mr. Simmonds," I explained, "has been in charge of this case; and itwas he who arranged to watch the house, for fear some harm wouldbefall you...."
"I know," broke in Miss Vaughan, clasping Simmonds's hand warmly."Annie told me all about it this morning. I don't know how to thankyou, Mr. Simmonds."
"Oh, it wasn't me, especially," protested Simmonds, red to the ears."It was really Godfrey there, and Mr. Lester. They were worried to death."
"We _were_ rather worried," Godfrey admitted; "especially after we sawyou at that midnight fireworks party."
"You saw that?" she asked quickly; "but how...."
"Oh, we had seen the show every night for a week. It was its failureto come off last night which first told us something was wrong."
"Well," said Miss Vaughan, with a deep breath, sitting down again andmotioning us to follow her example, "it seems to me that you have astory to tell, too! But I'll tell mine first. Where shall I begin?"
"Begin," I suggested, "at the moment when you first suspected theplot."
"That was when you were telling me of Fred's arrest. When you told meof the handkerchief and then of the finger-prints, I knew that someonewas plotting against him. And then, quite suddenly, I thought ofsomething."
"You jumped up," I said, "as though you were shot, and ran to thebook-case over there and got down that album of finger-prints, andfound that Swain's were missing. That seemed to upset you completely."
"It did; and I will tell you why. My father, for many years, had beena collector of finger-prints. All of his friends were compelled tocontribute; and whenever he made a new acquaintance, he got hisprints, too, if he could. He believed that one's character wasrevealed in one's finger-prints, and he studied them very carefully.It was a sort of hobby; but it was, for some reason, distasteful toSenor Silva. He not only refused to allow prints to be made of hisfingers, but he pooh-poohed my father's theories, and they used tohave some terrific arguments about it. One night, after a particularlyhot argument, Senor Silva made the assertion that he could, byhypnotic suggestion, cause his servant Mahbub to reproduce anyfinger-prints he desired. Mahbub's finger-tips had been manipulated insome way, when he was a child, so that they showed only a series ofstraight lines."
"Yes," I said, "his prints were taken at the inquest."
"Father said that if Senor Silva could show him proof of thatassertion, he would never look at finger-prints again. Senor Silvaasked for a week in which to make a study of the prints, in order toimpress them upon his memory; at the end of that time, the test wasmade. It was a most extraordinary one. Senor Silva, father, and I satat the table yonder, under the light, with the book of prints beforeus. Mahbub was placed at a little table in the far corner, with hisback to us, and Senor Silva proceeded to hypnotise him. It took only amoment, for he could hypnotise Mahbub by pointing his finger at him.He said Mahbub was a splendid subject, because he had hypnotised himhundreds of times, and had him under perfect control. Then he placedan ink-pad on the table in front of him--nothing else. My father wrotehis name and the date upon the top sheet of a pad of paper, and SenorSilva placed it before Mahbub. Then he sat down with us, selected apage of prints, and asked us to concentrate our minds upon it. At theend of a few moments, he asked me to bring the pad from before Mahbub.I did so, and we found the prints upon it to be identical with thoseon the page we had been looking at. My father touched them with hisfinger and found that they were fresh, as the ink smeared readily. Hisname was on the corner of the page, where he had written it. Therecould be no doubt that in some way Mahbub had been able to duplicatethe prints.
"Senor Silva repeated the experiment with another set of prints andthen with another. I think there were six altogether, and every one ofthem was successful."
"Was Swain's one of them?" asked Godfrey.
"No; but when Mr. Lester told me that Fred was suspected because ofthose finger-prints, the thought flashed into my mind that if SenorSilva and Mahbub could imitate those of other people, they couldimitate Fred's, too; and when I looked at the album and f
ound thatsheet torn out, I was sure that was what had happened."
"And so you decided to stay in the house, to win Senor Silva'sconfidence by pretending to become a convert, and to search forevidence against him," I said. "That was a brave thing to do, MissVaughan."
"Not so brave as you think," she objected, shaking her head. "I didnot believe that there would be any real danger, with the threeservants in the house. Only at the last did I realise the desperatenature of the man...."
She stopped and shivered slightly.
"Tell us what happened," I said.
"It was on Sunday afternoon," she continued, "that I went to SenorSilva and told him that I had decided to carry out my father's wish,renounce the world, and become a priestess of Siva. I shall neverforget the fire in his eyes as he listened--they fairly burned into me."
"Ah!" said Godfrey. "So that was it!"
She looked at him inquiringly.
"Except upon one hypothesis," he explained, "that action on your partwould have embarrassed Silva, and he would have tried to dissuade you.He had left him by your father's will this valuable place and amillion dollars. If money had been all he sought, that would havesatisfied him, and he would have tried to get rid of you. That he didnot--that his eyes burned with eagerness when you told him of yourdecision--proves that he loved you and wanted you also."
A brighter colour swept into Miss Vaughan's cheeks, but she returnedhis gaze bravely.
"I think that is true," she assented, in a low voice. "It was mysuspicion of that which made me hesitate--but finally I decided thatthere was no reason why I should spare him and let an innocent mansuffer for him."
"Especially when you loved the innocent man," I added to myself, butmanaged to keep the words from my lips.
"As soon as I told him of my decision," Miss Vaughan continued, "heled me to the room where the crystal sphere is, placed me on thedivan, sat down opposite me, and began to explain to me the beliefs ofhis religion. Meditation, it seems, is essential to it, and it was bygazing at the crystal that one could separate one's soul from one'sbody and so attain pure and profound meditation."
"Was that your first experience of crystal-gazing?" Godfrey asked.
"Yes; both he and my father had often tried to persuade me to jointhem. They often spent whole nights there. But it seemed to me thatthe breaking down of father's will was due to it in some way; I grewto have a fear and horror of it, and so I always refused."
"The change in your father was undoubtedly directly traceable to it,"Godfrey agreed. "During those periods of crystal-gazing, he was reallyin a state of hypnosis, induced by Silva, with his mind bare toSilva's suggestions; and as these were repeated, he became more andmore a mere echo of Silva's personality. That was what Silva desiredfor you, also."
"I felt something of the sort, though I never really understood it,"said Miss Vaughan; "and as I sat there on the divan that Sundayafternoon, with his burning eyes upon me, I was terribly afraid. Hiswill was so much stronger than mine, and besides, I could not keep myeyes from the crystal. In the end, I had a vision--a dreadful vision."
She pressed her hands to her eyes, as though it was still before her.
"The vision of your father's death?" I questioned.
She nodded.
"With Swain as the murderer?"
"How did you know?" she asked, astonished.
"Because he induced the same vision in me the next evening. But don'tlet me interrupt."
"I don't know how long the seance lasted," she continued; "some hours,I suppose, for it was dark when I again realised where I was. Andafter dinner, there was another; and then at midnight he led me to theroof and invoked what he called an astral benediction--a wonderful,wonderful thing...."
Godfrey smiled drily.
"You were over-wrought, Miss Vaughan," he said, "and straight from aspell of crystal-gazing. No wonder it impressed you. But it was reallyonly a clever trick."
"I realise, now, that it must have been a trick," she agreed; "but atthe time it seemed an unquestionable proof of his divine power. Whenit was over, I had just sufficient strength of will remaining to tearmyself away from him and gain my own room and lock the door."
"You mean he tried to detain you?"
"Not with his hands. But I could feel his will striving to conquermine. Even after I was in my room, I could feel him calling me. In themorning, I was stronger. I lay in bed until nearly noon, trying toform some plan; but I began to fear that I must give it up. I realisedthat, after a few more nights like the night before, I should nolonger have a will of my own--that what I was pretending would becamereality. I decided that I could risk one more day--perhaps two; but Ifelt very weak and discouraged. You see, I did not know what to lookfor, or where to look. I wanted evidence against him, but I had noidea what the evidence would be. I wanted to search his room, but Ihad not been able to, because he was scarcely ever out of it, exceptwhen he was with me; and, besides, Mahbub was always squatting in thelittle closet next to it.
"I got up, at last, and after breakfast he met me here in the library.He suggested another seance, but I pleaded a headache, and he walkedwith me about the grounds. I remembered that you were to come in theevening, Mr. Lester, and I determined to leave you with him, on somepretext, and search his room then. I told him you were coming, that Ihad asked you to take charge of my affairs; and it was then he told meof the legacy he believed my father had left him, adding that whetherthe legacy should stand or not was entirely in my hands. Then I beganto feel his influence again, and managed to excuse myself and goindoors.
"You know what happened in the evening, Mr. Lester. As soon as I leftyou, I flew to his room, determined to search it at any cost. But Iwas scarcely inside, when I heard the outer door open, and I had justtime to get behind the curtains in one corner, when someone entered.Peering out, I saw that it was Mahbub. He looked about for a moment,and then sat down on the divan, folded his feet under him, and fellinto a contemplation of the sphere. I scarcely dared to breathe. I wasalways afraid of Mahbub," she added; "far more so than of Senor Silva.About Senor Silva there was at least something warm and human; butMahbub impressed me somehow as a brother to the snake, he seemed socold and venomous."
"You knew he was dead?" I asked, as she paused.
"Yes; Annie told me," and she shuddered slightly.
"The cobra, too, is dead," added Godfrey. "I agree with you, MissVaughan. There was a kinship between them--though the cobra turnedagainst him in the end. How long did he sit there?"
"I do not know--but it seemed an age to me. Finally, in despair, I hadmade up my mind to try to steal away, when I heard steps in the entry.Mahbub slipped from the divan and disappeared behind the curtains,and then the door opened and Senor Silva and Mr. Lester entered. Isaw, at once, that there was to be another seance, and that I couldnot escape, for Senor Silva sat down facing the corner where I was. Icould only brace myself against the wall and wait. It was a dreadfulordeal. But it had its reward," she added, with a smile.
"And that was?" I asked.
"The discovery of the glove. Senor Silva suddenly switched on thelights, and I knew that the seance was over; but he had somedifficulty in arousing you--the trance must have been a very deepone--and finally, leaving you lying on the divan, he went to the wall,drew aside the hangings, and pressed his hand against a panel. Alittle door flew open, and I saw that there was a cupboard in thewall. He filled a glass with some liquid, pulled the hangings intoplace, and went back to you and made you drink it. It seemed to do yougood."
"Yes," I said; "it brought me around at once. And then?"
"And then, as soon as you went out together, I ran to the cupboard andlooked into it. But for a moment I was confused--I saw nothing whichseemed of any importance--some bottles and decanters and glasses, aglass tray or two, a pile of rubber gloves. I couldn't understand. Ipicked up one of the gloves and looked at it, but it was just anordinary glove. Then farther back, I saw some others--theirfinger-tips were stained with ink--and then anothe
r, lying by itself.I looked at it, I saw the patches on the finger-tips--I saw thestains--and then I understood. I do not know how I understood, orwhy--it was like a flash of lightning, revealing everything. And then,as I stood there, with the glove in my hand, I heard Senor Silvareturning."
She paused a moment, and I could see the shiver which ran through herat the recollection.
"It was not that I was afraid," she said; "it was that I seemed to belost. I let the draperies fall, ran to the divan and sat down beforethe sphere. I could think of nothing else to do. I can still see hisastonished face when he entered and found me sitting there.
"'I was waiting for you,' I said, trying to smile. 'You remember I wasto have another lesson to-night.'
"'Yes,' he said, and looked at me, his eyes kindling.
"I was trembling inwardly, for suddenly I began to fear him; I knewthat I must keep my head, that I must not yield to his will, or Iwould be swept away.
"'I thought Mr. Lester would never go,' I said.
"He came to the divan and sat down close beside me, and looked into myeyes.
"'Did the time really seem so long?' he asked.
"'It seemed very long,' I said.
"He gazed at me for another moment, then rose quickly and turned onthe light.
"'Sit where you are,' he said, 'and I will sit here. Fix your eyesupon the sphere and your mind upon the Infinite Mind--so shall greatwisdom come to you.'
"I felt my will crumbling to pieces; I closed my eyes and crushed theglove within my hand, and thought of this man's villainy and of thepart I must play, if I were to defeat him. His voice went on and on,but gradually I ceased to hear it--I was thinking of the glove, ofescape, of Fred...."
Yea, love is strong, I told myself, and it giveth to the dove thewisdom of the serpent, else how had this child come victorious fromsuch an ordeal!
"I do not know how long I sat there," Miss Vaughan continued, "butSenor Silva rose suddenly with an exclamation of impatience andswitched on the light.
"'There is something wrong,' he said, coming back and standing overme. 'Some hostile influence is at work. What is it?'
"'I do not know,' I said. 'I cannot lose myself as I did last night.'
"'Something holds you to earth--some chain. Perhaps it is your own wish.'
"'No, no!' I protested. 'Let us try again.'
"He switched off the light and sat down facing me, and again I felthis will trying to enter and conquer me. And again I clasped theglove, and kept my mind upon it, thinking only of escape."
You can guess how we were leaning forward, listening breathless tothis narrative. I fancied I could see her sitting there in thedarkness, with Silva's evil influence visibly about her, but held atbay by her resolute innocence, as Christian's shield of Faith turnedaside the darts of Apollyon. It was, indeed, a battle of good andevil, the more terrible because it was fought, not with bodilyweapons, but with spiritual ones.
"At last, Senor Silva rose again," Miss Vaughan continued, "and turnedon the lights, and I shivered when I met his gaze.
"'You are defying me,' he said, very low. 'But I will break you yet,'and he clapped his hands softly together.
"I knew that I was lost"]
"Mahbub appeared at the inner door, received a sharp order, anddisappeared again. A moment later, there was a little swirl of smokefrom the door of his room, and a sharp, over-powering odour, whichturned me faint.
"And then Senor Silva, who had been pacing, up and down the room,stopped suddenly and looked at me, his face distorted.
"'Is it that?' he muttered. 'Can it be that?'
"And he strode to the curtain which hung before his secret cupboardand swept it back.
"I knew that I was lost. I sprang for the outer door, managed to getit open and set a foot in the hall, before he seized me. I rememberthat I screamed, and then his hand was at my throat--and I suppose Imust have fainted," she added, with a little smile, "for the nextthing I remember is looking up and seeing Dr. Hinman."
I sat back in my chair with a long breath of relief. My tension duringthe telling of the story had been almost painful; and it was not untilit was ended that I saw two other men had entered while Miss Vaughanwas speaking. I was on my feet as soon as I saw them, for I recognisedGoldberger and Sylvester.
"Simmonds telephoned me this morning that I was needed out hereagain," Goldberger explained. "But first I want to shake hands withMiss Vaughan."
"You have met Mr. Goldberger, Miss Vaughan," I said, as he cameforward, "but Dr. Hinman didn't tell you that he's the cleverestcoroner in greater New York."
"He doesn't really think so, Miss Vaughan," Goldberger laughed. "Youought to read some of the things he's written about me! But I want tosay that I heard most of your story, and it's a wonder. About thatglove, now, Simmonds," he added, turning to the detective. "I'd liketo see it--and Sylvester here is nearly dying to."
"Here it is," said Simmonds, and took it from his pocket and passed itover.
Goldberger looked at it, then handed it to Sylvester, who fairlyseized it, carried it to the door, and examined it with gleaming eyes.Then, without a word, he took an ink-pad from his pocket, slipped theglove upon his right hand, inked the tips of the fingers and pressedthem carefully upon a sheet of paper. From an inner pocket, heproduced a sheaf of photographs, laid them beside the prints, andcarefully compared them. Finally he straightened up and looked at us,his face working.
"Do you know what this does, gentlemen?" he asked, in a voice huskywith emotion. "It strikes at the foundation of the whole system offinger-print identification! It renders forever uncertain a method wethought absolutely safe! It's the worst blow that has ever beenstruck at the police!"
"You mean the prints agree with the photographs?" asked Godfrey, goingto his side.
"Absolutely!" said Sylvester, and mopped his face with a shaking hand.
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