The Mystery of the Hidden Room Read online

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  The Mystery Of

  The Hidden Room

  BY MARION HARVEY

  GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

  Made in the United States of America

  Copyright, 1922, by Edward J. Clode

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE

  I. THE NOTE 1

  II. THE SHOT 9

  III. THE POLICE 15

  IV. THE INQUEST 24

  V. THE SECRETARY 36

  VI. CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE 44

  VII. THE LAWYER 51

  VIII. LEE DARWIN 56

  IX. THE VERDICT 63

  X. JENKINS' ADVICE 72

  XI. ARTHUR TRENTON 79

  XII. AN EXPLANATION 85

  XIII. THE SUICIDE 92

  XIV. GRAYDON MCKELVIE 100

  XV. THE INTERVIEW 108

  XVI. THE EXHIBITS 115

  XVII. THE LAMP 121

  XVIII. THE SECRET ENTRANCE 133

  XIX. THE LAWYER AGAIN 141

  XX. DEDUCTIONS 146

  XXI. THE STEWARD 157

  XXII. ORTON'S ALIBI 167

  XXIII. GRAMERCY PARK 177

  XXIV. THE SIGNET RING 192

  XXV. THE DECEPTION 200

  XXVI. JAMES GILMORE 208

  XXVII. THE STRONG BOX 216

  XXVIII. GOLD AND BLUE 222

  XXIX. THE REWARD 229

  XXX. THE CURIO SHOP 236

  XXXI. THE RESCUE 243

  XXXII. LEE'S STORY 250

  XXXIII. THE SECOND BULLET 257

  XXXIV. THE WOMAN IN THE CASE 265

  XXXV. A STRANGE ACCOUNT 273

  XXXVI. THE TRAP 282

  XXXVII. MCKELVIE'S TRIUMPH 288

  XXXVIII. THE MOTIVE 297

  XXXIX. CONCLUSION 309

  THE MYSTERY OF

  THE HIDDEN ROOM

  CHAPTER I

  THE NOTE

  I had intended spending the evening at the Club; but after my solitarymeal, I found that I was too tired to care to leave my own invitingfireside. Drawing up a chair before the open grate in my library, forthe October night was chill and the landlord had not sufficientlyrelented to order the steam-heat, I settled myself comfortably with mybook and pipe. The story I had chosen was a murder mystery, extremelyclever and well-written, and so engrossed did I become that I wasentirely oblivious to the passage of time.

  The entrance of my man, Jenkins, brought me back to my surroundings witha start to find that the clock on the mantel was chiming eleven. Alittle impatient at the interruption for I had not concluded the story,I grew sarcastic.

  "What is it, Jenkins? Have you come to remind me that it is long past mybed-time?" I inquired.

  Jenkins' face grew longer if such a thing were possible in a countenancealready attenuated by nature into the semblance of perpetual gloom, andshook his head with a grieved air as though he considered my remark anaspersion upon his knowledge of his duties as a valet.

  "A man who claims to be Mrs. Darwin's chauffeur, sir," he replied in atone that indicated that he at least would not be responsible for theveracity of the statement, "has just brought this note. He says that hewill await the answer below in his machine, sir."

  He extended an unaddressed white envelope with a funereal air. The notewas from Ruth. The message was brief and to the point.

  "Will you return at once with my chauffeur? I need you."

  "My hat and coat, Jenkins," I cried, flinging aside my jacket. "You neednot wait up for me. I have my key," I added.

  I could have descended the stairs a half dozen times before the elevatorfinally arrived, or so it seemed to my impatience. The moment we reachedthe lobby I was out of the elevator and down the steps into the waitingmotor before the boy had recovered his wits sufficiently to follow me tothe door.

  The chauffeur evidently had his instructions, for I was hardly withinbefore the machine was speeding toward the Drive. My bachelor apartmentswere situated on 72nd Street, just off the Park, and I knew we could notcover the distance to the Darwin home on the outskirts of RiversideDrive in less than twenty minutes, even at the rate at which we weretraveling.

  I had stuffed Ruth's note into my pocket as I left. Mechanically I drewit forth and tore it to shreds, flinging the scraps from the window.Letters are compromising things.

  What had possessed Ruth to commit herself to writing after the compactwe had made to have no further communication with each other! It was shewho had suggested that we become as strangers, and I could only read inthis sudden appeal and the haste with which I was being whirled towardher some dread calamity. Nor was my anxiety lessened by the fact that Iwas hopelessly in love with her. Yes, hopelessly, I speak advisedly,because she was another man's wife, and while that man lived she wouldbe true to him although he deserved it less than anyone I knew.

  To think that a few short months ago Ruth and I had been engaged! If Ihad had my way we should have been married at once without any fuss, andso should have avoided the trouble that befell us, but Ruth wanted atrousseau and a big wedding, so like many a better man before me Ihumored her to the extent of promising to wait another month.

  Did I say a month? Six have passed and I am waiting yet, while Ruth hashad her wish, for her wedding was a sort of nine days' wonder, PhilipDarwin having long been voted by his feminine friends as "the type ofman who never marries, my dear."

  In letting my bitterness run away with my discretion, I have begun mystory at the wrong end, giving a false impression of the facts of thecase, for I never once dreamed of blaming or censuring Ruth for themisery that her decision cost me.

  Two weeks before the date set for my wedding, Ruth came to me with tearsin her eyes, and laying the ring I had given her upon the table beggedme if I loved her never to see her again. I was decidedly taken aback,but I retained sufficient presence of mind to laugh at her and torequest her not to be absurd. She was not to be diverted, however, norwould she say anything beyond a reiteration of the fact that if I lovedher I would be willing to obey her without questioning her moti
ves.

  All of which was folly to my way of thinking, and being very much inlove, I refused to be disposed of in any such high-handed fashion,particularly as I felt that as her affianced husband I was entitled tosome say in the proceedings. Never in the course of my life before had Ibeen called upon to plead so skillfully, and plead I did; for it wasmore than my life I was fighting for, it was our love, our happiness,our future home. Gradually I wore down her defenses and finally shesobbed out the whole pitiful story.

  Her brother, her adored and darling Dick, whom she had mothered almostfrom the time that he was born, had fallen of late under the influenceof Philip Darwin, director of the bank of which her father was presidentand Dick assistant cashier. Handsome, spoiled, the boy had beenflattered by the attentions of the older man, who explained his intereston the ground that Dick reminded him strongly of what he had been tenyears before. Under his tutelage, then, the boy early became a devoteeof the twin gods of gambling and of drink.

  Two nights before in a questionable gambling den to which Philip Darwinhad taken him, Dick, his temper inflamed by the strong liquor he hadbeen drinking, quarreled with his neighbor, accusing him of trying tocheat. The fellow, a big, powerful chap, made for Dick, who pulled out apistol which Darwin had given him, and fired. His opponent went downlike a log, and as the man fell, Darwin extinguished the light. In theconfusion that ensued the older man got the boy away to his home, whereDick gathered some things together and with the connivance of his fatherleft for the West.

  Of course the affair came out in the papers, I recalled it as Ruthspoke, and the police were on the hunt for the unknown assailant of thedead man. Fortunately for Dick, both he and Darwin attended these placesin disguise and a trip West for the scion of a wealthy family was nounusual event, hence his absence from social circles was easilyaccounted for, and Ruth and her father were merely waiting for thefurore to abate before sending for the boy, when Darwin exploded a bombin their midst.

  He had always admired Ruth, he had always wanted to make her his wife.She had spurned his love and he had accepted defeat stoically. But nowthings were different. Her brother was wanted by the police for murder.The police, to be sure, didn't know it was her brother that they wantedbut he, Philip Darwin, was quite willing to supply them with theinformation unless Ruth agreed to become his bride.

  "What was there for me to do, Carlton, but to acquiesce?" she had endedwith a sob. "Philip Darwin is an implacable man. And even if Dick eludedthe police, think of the disgrace for Daddy and for me. It's terribleenough that he should have killed a man, but that he should become ahunted thing, my little brother--! No, no! I'd rather sacrifice my lovethan have that happen!"

  I remained silent, for I could think of no argument that would sufficeto meet the situation, and taking my apparent immobility for acceptance,she continued: "It's a big sacrifice, dear, I know, but you will bearit bravely for my sake, because--because there is more in life thanlove alone and it's the honor of my name that is at stake."

  In the face of her sublime unselfishness I felt that I could do no lessthan prove myself as noble as she deemed me. I agreed, therefore, togive her up and when she said we had better not meet again I consenteddumbly, comprehending the wisdom of her decision even while my heartrebelled against its enforcement.

  When she had gone my resentment flared full and strong, but curiouslyenough not against the one who had been the chief cause of the ruin ofmy happiness. I felt only pity, a profound and sincere pity, for themisguided boy who had committed the crime. My anger blazed toward thatman who by his foolish adoration of his only son had spoiled andindulged the boy to his own undoing. What right had any man to bring upa son in that fashion? How dared his father let him loose upon the worldwithout teaching him the first principles of self-restraint?

  It was not Dick but Mr. Trenton who was to blame for the boy's act.Almost from the moment that he could make his wants known the boy hadbeen given to understand that what he wanted was his for the asking.Everyone in the home had to give way before him. He was never crossedand never denied. Small wonder that when he grew to manhood he shouldexpect the world to give as much and more than his father had done, thatwhen he ran across temptation he had no moral strength to resist, andthat he became an easy prey to a man of Philip Darwin's type.

  Here my thoughts veered abruptly to the man who would soon become Ruth'shusband and for a moment I saw red. Ruth, pure, sweet Ruth, married tothat vile wretch! I could not endure it.

  I had actually grasped my hat and was on the point of hastening to herhome to plead with her not to sacrifice herself in so dreadful a manner,even if she never married me, when I paused, for the horriblealternative flashed across my mind. With a groan I returned to mylibrary where the remainder of the night I wrestled with what to meseemed the only solution to the problem, the instant and speedy death ofPhilip Darwin.

  By morning I was saner. There was not much use in jumping out of thefrying-pan into the fire, and besides what did I know of Philip Darwinbeyond the fact that he had been the one to lead Dick astray? For oughtI knew to the contrary he might make Ruth a very good and devotedhusband. There were hundreds of cases on record where a man had beenreformed and steadied by marriage.

  Though all this philosophizing by no means alleviated the pain in myheart, still it helped to allay the fever in my tortured brain, and fromthat time on I resolutely put Ruth from my mind and plunged into my workin an effort to forget.

  Forget! How much had I forgotten in the six months that had passed? Notone single detail had escaped my memory and it all came back withtenfold force for having been thrust out of sight so long. With a groanI buried my head in my hands.

  How long I remained thus oblivious to time and space I do not know. Thechauffeur's voice brought me back to a realization that we had arrivedat our destination. I alighted and as he backed the car down the drive Ipaused a moment before ascending the steps to try to distinguishsomething of this home whose mistress Ruth had become.

  It was very dark, a dull, cloudy night, and all I beheld was a greatblack bulk looming before me like some Plutonian monster, harbinger ofevil, and the soughing of the wind in the branches of the nearby treesgave me such a feeling of superstitious dread that I raced up the stepsand rang the bell as though in fear of my life.