The Mystery of the Hidden Room Read online

  CHAPTER V

  THE SECRETARY

  What was Orton going to say? How many of last night's events had comeunder his notice? I had no recollection of having seen him until he hadturned on the study lights, yet Ruth had been manifestly uneasy and hadthought that she had heard his step in the hall. Where had he been whenRuth left the drawing-room and how close was he to the scene of thetragedy when the shot was fired? But all this was idle conjecture. Iwould know soon enough what I had to fear from this man, and as I caughtthe ugly gleam in his prominent eyes when he turned them for an instantmy way I realized that he would do his very best to hurt me. Myperemptory manner last night would be paid back in full, measure formeasure, and he was cunning enough to guess that he could wound me mostthrough Ruth.

  "You are Mr. Darwin's secretary?" the coroner was saying when I was oncemore cognizant of my surroundings.

  "I am his private secretary. I have charge of his business affairs,"with a trace of condescension beneath his apparent humility.

  "Where do you discharge your duties?"

  "At his office in Broad Street. I attend to his correspondence."

  "Is it not odd that a man of Mr. Darwin's--er--wealth--should introducehis secretary on an equal footing with his family?"

  The secretary squirmed and the man beside me grinned delightedly throughhis forest of red whiskers.

  "I am a distant connection of the family," answered Orton. "I--er--heasked me to make my home with him a month ago."

  "And how long have you been in his employ?"

  "About two months."

  "You are then acquainted with his private affairs also?"

  "Not at all, only those relating to his business."

  "And what is this business you are always talking about?" inquired thecoroner ironically. In his opinion rich men evidently had no need ofoccupation.

  "He was director of the Darwin Bank," answered Orton, discomfited. "Healso played on the market."

  "A speculator, eh? Did he also play fast and loose in his domesticaffairs?" continued the coroner with a shrewdness I should not havegiven him credit for.

  For a moment Orton was puzzled, then a great light dawned upon him andhe laughed feebly. "Yes, he was not on good terms with his wife, if thatis what you mean. He was not what you would call a model husband."

  "What an infernal idiot that fellow is," said the man beside me with asneer, but I was too much concerned with what Orton would reveal to takeany interest in side comments.

  "You testified last night that you had heard the shot?" remarked thecoroner, changing the subject abruptly. "Where were you at thatparticular time?"

  "On the stairs. I had been doing some work in the little room beyond thestudy and on my way to my room had paused on the lower step to count thestrokes of the hall clock. Just as I finished counting twelve the shotrang out," answered Orton very humbly, as if anxious to efface hispersonality from the minds of his listeners.

  "What did you do then?"

  "My first impulse was to flee up the stairs. I am a timid man anddislike the sight of bloodshed. But sometime previously I had heard astep in the hall and looking out had seen Mrs. Darwin enter the study.Fearing that it was she who was hurt I followed Mr. Davies into thestudy."

  He wiped his brow with a trembling hand and I mentally decided that hehad had a bad minute concocting that piece of testimony--for one part ofit at least was a decided fabrication. Ruth had been in the study only aminute and had not gone in some time before, as he tried to imply.

  "Mr. Davies entered ahead of you? Where did he come from?" queried thecoroner.

  "He was in the drawing-room, which is nearer the study than the stairs,and so he reached the room first, but he paused at the door for a minuteand I was right behind him when he spoke to Mrs. Darwin."

  "What did he say to Mrs. Darwin?"

  "He cried out, 'Ruth!' and she dropped something shiny from her hand andfainted. While Mr. Davies picked her up I turned on the light andnoticed for the first time that Mr. Darwin was dead."

  Another prevarication! He could no more have helped knowing who had beenshot than I if he was right behind me as he said!

  "The study was in darkness then?"

  "No. There was a small lamp lighted on the table but it did not givesufficient light to distinguish clearly the rest of the room."

  "And when you turned on the light how many persons were in the room?"

  "Just Mr. Davies, Mrs. Darwin, and I."

  "Might there not have been someone else who left by the windows beforeyou lighted the room?"

  "No, for I locked the windows at Mr. Darwin's request a half-hourbefore, and they were still locked when the police arrived."

  "Could anyone have escaped by the door then?"

  "Impossible, for I should have seen that person. Besides, Mr. Davies wasat the door almost immediately after the shot was fired."

  "You said Mrs. Darwin had something shiny in her hand. Were you able totell what it was?"

  "Yes, it was a pistol," he said, with a triumphant look in my direction.

  "That's a lie!" cried a man's voice, and Ruth's chauffeur detachedhimself from the group of servants to shake a finger beneath Orton'snose. "It's a lie, you miserable little worm! Take it back or I'll wringyour neck!"

  I think he would have done it, too, had not a policeman thrust him outinto the hall, where he remained to curse Orton roundly before he movedaway. A servant's loyalty to a sweet and gentle mistress, and Idetermined it should not go unrewarded, for nowadays such loyalty israre.

  The murmur of approval that followed this act showing in what odium thesecretary was held by the servants, made the coroner a little doubtfulof his man and more than ever anxious that his statement be properlysubstantiated.

  "Have you any reason to suspect Mrs. Darwin other than the fact that sheheld the pistol in her hand?" he asked after due deliberation.

  "She knew that Mr. Darwin kept a pistol in the drawer of this table andshe had quarreled with him an hour and a half before," replied Ortonwith a triumphant expression on his pale face.

  "She quarreled with him, you say? Tell me all you know about it."

  "Mr. Darwin was away for dinner and I believe he returned aboutten-thirty, but of this I cannot be absolutely sure, since he has a keyof his own and I was in the study with the door closed."

  "What were you doing in the study?" interrupted the coroner.

  "I was answering some letters which Mr. Darwin had left for me," repliedOrton.

  "Mason testified that the study was usually kept locked," continued thecoroner. "Have you also a duplicate key?"

  "No, I have no key. He told me he would leave the door open for me andhe unlocked it before he left the house," returned Orton, quietly.

  "Go on with your story."

  "At ten-thirty Mr. Darwin entered the study and told me to call Mrs.Darwin," resumed Orton. "She, as you know, answered the summons. Atfirst they talked in low tones, but presently from their raised voices Iknew that they were quarreling and quarreling bitterly, for I heard Mr.Darwin threaten to do something or other to Mr. Davies. Then Mrs.Darwin opened the door and rushed upstairs and Mr. Darwin called me tohim. He said that he was expecting a visitor but wished me to watch Mrs.Darwin's movements and, when he summoned me, to report them to him.After which he closed and locked the door. It was then that I heard Mrs.Darwin telling her maid to make haste. I hurried to the back stairs andfollowed Annie to the garage where I heard her instructions to thechauffeur. Coming back to the house I hung around the darkened hall andwhile I waited I heard voices in the study, but I was unable todistinguish whose they were. Then Mrs. Darwin came downstairs and I drewback into the little room next the study to await developments. Shelighted the drawing-room and about eleven-twenty-five she opened thefront door, admitted Mr. Davies, locked the door, and led him into thedrawing-room. It must have been about five minutes later that Mr. Darwincalled me to the study and asked for my report. He was seated in thatchair leaning back with his pen
in his hand and in just the sameposition as we found him when he had been shot. I told him what I hadseen and he laughed and clapped his hands softly as if something tickledhis fancy."

  "'So we've a broker in the house, eh?' he said. 'He should know how toplay fast and loose, eh? I'll make him useful, this broker lover of ourstainless Ruth!'"

  Orton got no further. It was more than flesh and blood could endure tosit and hear him repeat that odious man's remarks in that softlyinsinuating voice. "Stop!" I cried, springing to my feet. "Your honor, Iprotest against such things being dragged into this court of inquiry!"

  "That will do, Mr. Davies," said the coroner stiffly. But I believe hefeared to antagonize me too far, for he said to Orton, "You need notrepeat Mr. Darwin's conversation."

  Orton bowed obsequiously in deference to his superior. Ugh, how Idespised him!

  "It was then that he told me to lock the windows and he was laughingwhen I left the room," finished Orton.

  "Do you know what occasioned the quarrel between the husband and wife?"suddenly inquired the inquisitive juror.

  "It was a love-letter that Mrs. Darwin had written to Mr. Davies," saidOrton.

  I think the coroner was afraid he was going to divulge its contents, forhe interposed hurriedly, "Did anyone else know that the pistol was keptin this table drawer?"

  "No, only Mrs. Darwin and myself."

  "Is this the pistol in question?" pointing to the revolver.

  "Yes. It belongs to Mr. Darwin and has his initials engraved on thehandle."

  The coroner nodded in confirmation. "Do you recognize thishandkerchief?" holding up a dainty lace-covered bit of cambric partlystained with blood.

  "I have seen Mrs. Darwin carry one like it."

  "Are you and Mrs. Darwin the only members of the household?"

  "We were last night. Mrs. Darwin's father has been away for two weeks ona vacation, and Lee Darwin, Mr. Darwin's nephew, left the houseyesterday morning."

  "What do you mean?"

  "He had a dispute with his uncle and I overheard Mr. Darwin tell Lee toget out and stay out, which he promptly did. He went to the Yale Cluband has not been back since."

  "That is all, Mr. Orton. Gregory," called the coroner.

  "Yes, sir," answered that worthy.

  "Go to the Yale Club and inquire for Mr. Lee Darwin. If possible bringhim here."

  "Very good, sir."

  When the policeman had gone the coroner turned to me. "Now, Mr. Davies,we will hear what you have to say."