It was a noble reply to the basest of insinuations, and the juryman drew back rebuked; but here another of them, one who had not spoken before, but whose appearance was not only superior to the rest, but also almost imposing in its gravity, leaned from his seat and in a solemn voice said:
“Miss Leavenworth, the human mind cannot help forming impressions. Now have you, with or without reason, felt at any time a suspicion as to who the murderer of your uncle might be?”
It was a frightful moment. To me and to one other, I am sure it was not only frightful but agonizing. Would her courage fail? Would her determination to shield her cousin remain firm in the face of duty and at the call of probity? I dared not hope it.
But Mary Leavenworth, rising to her feet, looked judge and jury calmly in the face, and, without raising her voice, giving it an indescribably clear and sharp intonation, replied:
“No; I have neither suspicion nor reason for any. The assassin of my uncle is not only entirely unknown to, but completely unsuspected by me.”
It was like the removal of a stifling pressure. Amid a universal outgoing of the breath, Mary Leavenworth stood aside and Eleanore was called in her place.
CHAPTER 8
Circumstantial Evidence
“O dark, dark, dark!”
And now that the interest was at its height; that the veil which shrouded this horrible tragedy seemed about to be lifted, if not entirely withdrawn, I felt a desire to fly the scene, to leave the spot, to know no more. Not that I was conscious of any particular fear that this woman was going to betray herself. The cold steadiness of her now fixed and impassive countenance was sufficient warranty in itself against the possibility of any such catastrophe. But if indeed the suspicions of her cousin were the offspring; not only of hatred, but of knowledge; if that face of beauty was in truth only a mask, and Eleanore Leavenworth was what the words of her cousin, and her own after behavior would seem to imply, how could I bear to sit there and see the frightful serpent of deceit and sin evolve itself from the bosom of this white rose! And yet, such is the fascination of uncertainty, that although I saw something of my own feelings reflected in the countenances of many about me, not a man in all that assemblage showed any disposition to depart, I least of all.
The coroner, upon whom the blonde loveliness of Mary had impressed itself to Eleanore’s apparent detriment, was the only one in the room who showed himself unaffected at this moment. Turning toward the witness with a look which, while respectful, had a touch of austerity in it, he began:
“You have been an inmate of Mr. Leavenworth’s family from childhood, they tell me, Miss Leavenworth?”
“From my tenth year,” returned she.
It was the first time I had heard her voice, and it surprised me, it was so like, and yet so unlike that of her cousin. Similar in tone, it lacked its expressiveness, if I may so speak, sounding without vibration on the ear and ceasing without an echo.
“Since that time you have been treated like a daughter, they tell me?”
“Yes, sir, like a daughter indeed; he was more than a father to both of us.”
“You and Miss Mary Leavenworth are cousins, I believe. When did she enter the family?”
“At the same time that I did. Our respective parents were victims of the same disaster. If it had not been for our uncle, we should have been thrown, children as we were, upon the world. But he”—here she paused, her firm lips breaking into a halftremble—“but he in the goodness of his heart adopted us into his family, and gave us what we had both lost, a father and a home.”
“You say that he was a father to you as well as to your cousin—that he adopted you. Do you mean by that, that he not only surrounded you with present luxury, but gave you to understand that the same should be secured to you after his death; in short, that he intended to leave any portion of his property to you?”
“No, sir; I was given to understand, from the first, that his property would be bequeathed by will to my cousin.”
“Your cousin was no more nearly related to him than yourself, Miss Leavenworth; did he never give you any reason for this evident partiality?”
“None but his pleasure, sir.”
Her answers up to this point had been so straightforward and satisfactory that a gradual confidence seemed to be taking the place of the rather uneasy doubts which had from the first circled about this woman’s name and person. But at this admission, uttered as it was in a calm unimpassioned voice, not only the jury, but myself, who had so much truer reason for mistrusting her, felt that actual suspicion in her case must be very much shaken before the utter lack of motive which this reply so clearly betokened.
Meanwhile the coroner continued: “If your uncle did for you all that you say, you must have become very much attached to him?”
“Yes, sir,” her mouth taking a sudden determined curve.
“His death, then, must have been a great shock to you?”
“Very, very great.”
“Enough of itself to make you faint away, as they tell me you did, at the first glimpse you had of his body?”
“Enough, quite.”
“And yet you seemed to be prepared for it?”
“Prepared?”
“The servants say you were much agitated at finding your uncle did not make his appearance at the breakfast table.”
“The servants!” Her tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of her mouth; she could hardly speak.
“That when you returned from his room you were very pale.”
Was she beginning to realize that there was some doubt, if not actual suspicion, in the mind of the man who could assail her with questions like these? I had not seen her so agitated since that one memorable instant up in her room. But her mistrust, if she felt any, did not long betray itself. Calming herself by a great effort, she replied with a quiet gesture:
“That is not so strange. My uncle was a very methodical man; the least change in his habits would be likely to awaken our apprehensions.”
“You were alarmed, then?”
“To a certain extent I was.”
“Miss Leavenworth, who is in the habit of overseeing the regulation of your uncle’s private apartments?”
“I am, sir.”
“You are doubtless, then, acquainted with a certain stand in his room containing a drawer?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How long is it since you had occasion to go to this drawer?”
“Yesterday,” visibly trembling at the admission.
“At what time?”
“Near noon, I should judge.”
“Was the pistol he was accustomed to keep there in its place at that time?”
“I presume so; I did not observe.”
“Did you turn the key upon closing the drawer?”
“I did.”
“Take it out?”
“No, sir.”
“Miss Leavenworth, that pistol, as you have perhaps observed, lies on the table before you. Will you look at it?” And lifting it up into view, he held it toward her.
If he had meant to startle her by the sudden action, he amply succeeded. At the first sight of the murderous weapon she shrank back, and a horrified, but quickly suppressed shriek burst from her lips. “Oh, no, no!” she moaned, flinging out her hands before her.
“I must insist upon your looking at it, Miss Leavenworth,” pursued the coroner. “When it was found just now, all the chambers were loaded.”
Instantly the agonized look left her countenance. “Oh, then——” She did not finish, but put out her hand for the weapon.
But the coroner, looking at her steadily, continued: “It has been lately fired off for all that. The hand that cleaned the barrel forgot the cartridge-chamber, Miss Leavenworth.”
She did not shriek again, but a hopeless, helpless look slowly settled over her face, and she seemed about to sink, but like a flash the reaction came, and lifting her head with a steady, grand action I have never seen equalled, she exclaimed
: “Very well, what then?” The coroner laid the pistol down; men and women glanced at each other, everyone seemed to hesitate to proceed. I heard a tremulous sigh at my side, and turning, beheld Mary Leavenworth staring at her cousin with a startled flush on her cheek, as if she began to recognize the fact that others beside herself felt that there was something unexplained about this woman. At last the coroner summoned up courage to continue.
“You ask me, Miss Leavenworth, upon the evidence given, what then? Your question obliges me to say that no burglar, no hired assassin, would have used this pistol for a murderous purpose, and then taken the pains not only to clean it, but to reload it, and lock it up again in the drawer from which he had taken it.”
She did not reply to this, but I saw Mr. Gryce make a note of it with that peculiar emphatic nod of his.
“Nor,” he went on even more gravely, “would it be possible for anyone who was not accustomed to pass in and out of Mr. Leavenworth’s room, at all hours, to enter his door so late at night, procure this pistol from its place of concealment, traverse his apartment, and advance so closely upon him as the facts show to have been necessary—without causing him at least to turn his head to one side, which, in consideration of the doctor’s testimony, we cannot believe he did.”
It was a frightful suggestion, and we looked to see Eleanore Leavenworth recoil. But that expression of outraged feeling was left for her cousin to exhibit. Starting indignantly from her seat, Mary cast one hurried glance around her, and opened her lips to speak, but Eleanore, slightly turning, motioned her to have patience, and replied in a cold and calculating voice: “You are not sure, sir, that this was done. If my uncle, for some purpose of his own, had fired the pistol off yesterday, let us say—which is surely possible if not probable—the like results would be observed, and the same conclusions drawn.”
“Miss Leavenworth,” the coroner went on, “the ball has been extracted from your uncle’s head.”
“Ah!”
“It corresponds with those in the cartridges found in his stand-drawer, and is of the number used with this pistol.”
Her head fell forward on her hands, her eyes sought the floor, her whole attitude expressed disheartenment. Seeing it, the coroner grew still more grave.
“Miss Leavenworth,” said he, “I have now some questions to put you concerning last night. Where did you spend the evening?”
“Alone in my own room.”
“You, however, saw your uncle or your cousin during the course of it?”
“No, sir; I saw no one after leaving the dinner table—except Thomas,” she added after a moment’s pause.
“And how came you to see him?”
“He came to bring me the card of a gentlemen who called.”
“May I ask the name of the gentleman?”
“The name on the card was Mr. Le Roy Robbins.”
The matter seemed trivial, but the sudden start given by the lady at my side made me remember it.
“Miss Leavenworth, when seated in your room are you in the habit of leaving your door open?”
A startled look at this, quickly suppressed. “Not in the habit, no, sir.”
“Why did you leave it open last night?”
“I was feeling warm.”
“No other reason?”
“I can give no other.”
“When did you close it?”
“Upon retiring.”
“Was that before or after the servants went up?”
“After.”
“Did you hear Mr. Harwell when he left the library and ascended to his room?”
“I did, sir.”
“How much longer did you leave your door open after that?”
“I—I—a few minutes a—I cannot say,” she added hurriedly.
“Cannot say? Why, do you forget?”
“I forget just how long after Mr. Harwell came up, I closed it.”
“Was it more than ten minutes?”
“Yes.”
“More than twenty?”
“Perhaps.” How pale her face was, and how she trembled!
“Miss Leavenworth, according to evidence, your uncle came to his death not very long after Mr. Harwell left him. If your door was open, you ought to have heard if anyone went to his room or any pistol shot was fired. Now did you hear anything?”
“I heard no confusion, no, sir.”
“Did you hear anything?”
“Not any pistol shot.”
“Miss Leavenworth, excuse my persistence, but did you hear anything?”
“I heard a door close.”
“What door?”
“The library door.”
“When?”
“I do not know.” She clasped her hands hysterically; “I cannot say. Why do you ask me so many questions?”
I leaped to my feet; she was swaying, almost fainting. But before I could reach her, she had drawn herself up again and resumed her former demeanor. “Excuse me,” said she, “I am not myself this morning. I beg your pardon,” and she turned steadily to the coroner. “What was it you asked?”
“I asked,” and his voice grew thin and high—evidently her manner was beginning to tell against her—“when it was you heard the library door shut?”
“I cannot fix the precise time, but it was after Mr. Harwell came up and before I closed my own.”
“And you heard no pistol shot?”
“No, sir.”
The coroner cast a quick look at the jury, who almost to a man dropped their eyes as he did so.
“Miss Leavenworth, we are told that Hannah, one of the servants, started for your room late last night after some medicine. Did she come there?”
“No, sir.”
“When did you first learn of her remarkable disappearance from this house during the night?”
“This morning before breakfast. Molly met me in the hall, and asked how Hannah was. I thought the inquiry a strange one, and so questioned her. A moment’s talk made the conclusion plain that the girl was gone.”
“What did you think when you became assured of this fact?”
“I did not know what to think.”
“No suspicion of foul play crossed your mind?”
“No, sir.”
“You did not connect the fact with that of your uncle’s murder?”
“I did not know of this murder then.”
“And afterward?”
“Oh, some thought of the possibility of her knowing something about it may have crossed my mind. I cannot say.”
“Can you tell us anything of this girl’s past history?”
“I can tell you no more in regard to it than my cousin has done.”
“Do you not know what made her so sad at night?”
Her cheek flushed angrily; was it at his tone or at the question itself? “No, sir; she never confided her secrets to my keeping.”
“Then you cannot tell us where she would be likely to go upon leaving this house?”
“Certainly not.”
“Miss Leavenworth, we are obliged to put another question to you. We are told that you were the one who ordered your uncle’s body to be removed from where it was found, into the next room.”
She bowed her head.
“Didn’t you know that it is not proper to disturb the body of a person found dead, except in the presence and under the authority of the proper officer?”
“I did not consult my knowledge, sir, in regard to the subject, only my feelings.”
“Then I suppose it was your feelings that prompted you to remain standing by the table at which he was murdered instead of following the body in and seeing it properly deposited? Or perhaps,” he went on with relentless sarcasm, “you were too much interested just then in the piece of paper you took away, to think much of the proprieties of the occasion?”
“Paper?” lifting her head with determination. “Who says that I took a piece of paper from the table? I am sure I have not.”
“One witness has sworn tha
t he saw you bending over the table upon which there were lying several papers, another, that when she met you a few minutes later in the hall, you were in the act of putting a piece of paper in your pocket. The inference follows, Miss Leavenworth.”
This was a home thrust and we looked to see some show of agitation, but her haughty lip never quivered.
“You have drawn the inference, and you must prove the fact.”
The answer was stateliness itself, and we were not surprised to see the coroner look a trifle baffled; but recovering himself, he said:
“Miss Leavenworth, I must ask you again, whether you did or did not take anything from that table?”
She folded her arms; “I decline answering the question,” she said quietly.
“Pardon me,” he rejoined, “it is necessary that you should.”
Her lip took a still more determined curve. “When any suspicious paper is found in my possession, it will be time enough then for me to explain how I came by it.”
This defiance seemed to quite stagger the coroner. “Do you realize to what this refusal is liable to subject you?”
She drooped her head. “I am afraid that I do; yes, sir.”
Mr. Gryce lifted his hand and softly twirled the tassel of the window-curtain.
“And you still persist?”
She absolutely disdained to reply.
The coroner did not press it further.
It had now become evident to all, that Eleanore Leavenworth not only stood upon her defense, but was perfectly aware of her position and prepared to maintain it. Even her cousin, who until now had preserved some sort of composure, began to show signs of strong and uncontrollable agitation, as if she found it one thing to utter an accusation herself, and quite another to see it working its way to light in the countenances of the men about her.
“Miss Leavenworth,” the coroner continued, changing the line of attack, “you have always had free access to your uncle’s apartments, have you not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Might even have entered his room late at night, crossed it and stood at his side, without disturbing him sufficiently to cause him to turn his head?”
The Leavenworth Case (Penguin Classics) Page 8