When Fleming Stone arrived I met him at the station and took him at once to the inn, where I had engaged rooms for him.
We first had a long conversation alone, in which I told him, everything I knew concerning the murder.
"When did it happen?" he asked, for, though he had read some of the newspaper accounts, the date had escaped him.
I told him, and added, "Why, I was called here just after I left you at the Metropolis Hotel that morning. Don't you remember, you deduced a lot of information from a pair of shoes which were waiting to be cleaned?"
"Yes, I remember," said Stone, smiling a little at the recollection.
"And I tried to make similar deductions from the gold bag and the newspaper, but I couldn't do it. I bungled matters every time.
My deductions are mostly from the witnesses' looks or tones when giving evidence."
"On the stand?"
"Not necessarily on the stand. I've learned much from talking to the principals informally."
"And where do your suspicions point?"
"Nowhere. I've suspected Florence Lloyd and Gregory Hall, in turn, and in collusion; but now I suspect neither of them."
"Why not Hall?"
"His manner is too frank and unconcerned."
"A good bluff for a criminal to use."
"Then he won't tell where he was that night."
"If he is the murderer, he can't tell. A false alibi is so easily riddled. It's rather clever to keep doggedly silent; but what does he say is his reason?"
"He won't give any reason. He has determined to keep up that calm, indifferent pose, and though it is aggravating, I must admit it serves his purpose well."
"How did they find him the morning after the murder?"
"Let me see; I believe the coroner said he telephoned first to Hall's club. But the steward said Hall didn't stay there, as there was no vacant room, and that he had stayed all night at a hotel."
"What hotel?"
"I don't know. The coroner asked the steward, but he didn't know."
"Didn't he find out from Hall, afterward?"
"I don't know, Stone; perhaps the coroner asked him, but if he did, I doubt if Hall told. It didn't seem to me important."
"Burroughs, my son, you should have learned every detail of Hall's doings that night."
"But if he were not in West Sedgwick, what difference could it possibly make where he was?"
"One never knows what difference anything will make until the difference is made. That's oracular, but it means more than it sounds. However, go on."
I went on, and I even told him what Florence had told me concerning the possibility of Hall's interest in another woman.
"At last we are getting to it," said Stone; "why in the name of all good detectives, didn't you hunt up that other woman?"
"But she is perhaps only a figment of Miss Lloyd's brain."
"Figments of the brains of engaged young ladies are apt to have a solid foundation of flesh and blood. I think much could be learned concerning Mr. Hall's straying fancy. But tell me again about his attitude toward Miss Lloyd, in the successive developments of the will question."
Fleming Stone was deeply interested as I rehearsed how, when Florence was supposed to be penniless, he wished to break the engagement. When Philip Crawford offered to provide for her, Mr.
Hall was uncertain; but when the will was found, and Florence was known to inherit all her uncle's property, then Gregory Hall not only held her to the engagement, but said he had never wished to break it.
"H'm," said Stone. "Pretty clear that the young man is a fortune-hunter."
"He is," I agreed. "I felt sure of that from the first."
"And he is now under arrest, calmly waiting for some one to prove his innocence, so he can marry the heiress."
"That's about the size of it," I said. "But I don't think Florence is quite as much in love with him as she was. She seems to have realized his mercenary spirit."
Perhaps an undue interest in my voice or manner disclosed to this astute man the state of my own affections, for he gave me a quizzical glance, and said, "O-ho! sits the wind in that quarter?"
"Yes," I said, determined to be frank with him. "It does. I want you, to free Gregory Hall, if he's innocent. Then if, for any reason, Miss Lloyd sees fit to dismiss him, I shall most certainly try to win her affections. As I came to this determination when she was supposed to be penniless, I can scarcely be accused of fortune-hunting myself."
"Indeed, you can't, old chap. You're not that sort. Well, let's go to see your district attorney and his precious prisoner, and see what's to be done."
We went to the district attorney's office, and, later, accompanied by him and by Mr. Randolph, we visited Gregory Hall.
As I had expected, Mr. Hall wore the same unperturbed manner he always showed, and when Fleming Stone was introduced, Hall greeted him coldly, with absolutely no show of interest in the man or his work.
Fleming Stone's own kindly face took on a slight expression of hauteur, as he noticed his reception, but he said, pleasantly enough "I am here in an effort to aid in establishing your innocence, Mr. Hall."
"I beg your pardon?" said Hall listlessly.
I wondered whether this asking to have a remark repeated was merely a foolish habit of Hall's, or whether, as I had heretofore guessed, it was a ruse to gain time.
Fleming Stone looked at him a little more sharply as he repeated his remark in clear, even tones.
"Thank you," said Hall, pleasantly enough. "I shall be glad to be free from this unjust suspicion."
"And as a bit of friendly advice," went on Stone, "I strongly urge that you, reveal to us, confidentially, where you were on Tuesday night."
Hall looked the speaker straight in the eye.
"That," he said, "I must still refuse to do."
Fleming Stone rose and walked toward the window.
"I think," he said, "the proof of your innocence may depend upon this point."
Gregory Hall turned his head, and followed Stone with his eyes.
"What did you say, Mr. Stone?" he asked quietly.
The detective returned to his seat.
"I said," he replied, "that the proof of your innocence might depend on your telling this secret of yours. But I begin to think now you will be freed from suspicion whether you tell it or not."
