An Artist in Crime Part 19

"Don't you know our pa.s.sword?" asked the detective.

"Pa.s.sword? Rats!! We are not real thieves"; and with a laugh he turned away. Mr. Barnes felt himself powerless, and besides recalled the fact that whilst he followed this will-o'-the-wisp he was not keeping an eye upon Ali Baba. Hurrying back into the ball-room, he soon found him, though he had parted from Scheherezade.

About eleven o'clock, a blare upon a cornet attracted the attention of the frolicking throng. A man dressed as a Genius announced that the time had arrived for the entertainment. Immediately every one went into the Aladdin's Cave room, except Scheherezade and the Sultan, and a heavy pair of satin curtains were dropped, so that they hid the Cave from the Sultan's Palace.

The Sultan lay down upon a divan near the curtains, and Scheherezade sat beside him upon a satin cus.h.i.+on on the floor. Behind the curtains, the committee busied themselves forming a tableau, those not needed being hidden from view behind still another pair of curtains, which were of a gloriously beautiful blue, and served as a rich background. Many of the guests, knowing that their tableau would not be reached for some time, pa.s.sed around and stood crowding about the doorways of the hall, to get a view of the first pictures.

Soft music was begun, when at a signal the electric lights in the Palace room were extinguished, and the front pair of yellow satin curtains were drawn aside showing a tableau of Sindbad the Sailor. Mr. Barnes peeping from behind the red curtain noticed that as Scheherezade sat on her low cus.h.i.+on, in the now darkened Palace room, the rays of an electric light in the Cave just touched a gorgeous ruby which she wore in her hair.

This he knew at once was the same which Mr. Mitchel had shown to him, and which Lucette told him had been presented to his _fiancee_.

Scheherezade began to recite the story of Sindbad, a monologue for the evening having been prepared which told in a few words enough to explain the sequence of the tableaux. Her voice was musical, and her reading admirable, so that very soon there was a silence as of death save as it was broken by her words. As she reached various parts of her tale, she would clap her hands, and at once others entered the scene, grouping themselves to form new pictures. Thus Sindbad was followed along his various travels, till at the end the curtains were dropped for a moment, to be parted again, showing all who had taken a character. Then followed a pretty ceremonial. Sindbad pa.s.sed out of the Cave room and approached the Sultan and Scheherezade. Reaching them he stopped, made a salaam, bowing low with his arms upraised in front of him, and then pa.s.sing on, taking a place in the room and so becoming a part of the audience for the succeeding pictures. Each of the characters followed his example, until all had pa.s.sed out, when the next set of tableaux was at once quickly arranged. Again Scheherezade renewed her recitation.

Thus fable after fable was told and acted, the audience in the Palace room growing larger, after each, so that soon well-managed pictures received generous applause.

At last the committee announced that the fable of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves would be the next on the program. The parts to be acted by each were quickly explained, and all was ready. As the Forty Thieves were practically like supernumeraries in a spectacular play, Mr. Barnes thought that he could take any position which he should choose and so stood through all the scenes as near to Ali Baba as possible. At last the recitation was ended, and the signal given for them to form a line to do obeisance to the Sultan. Mr. Barnes attempted to stand immediately behind Ali Baba, and was surprised to find two other men try for the same place coincidently. There was a moment of confusion, and then Mr.

Barnes found himself in line just between the two other aspirants for second place behind the leader.

That what next occurred may be thoroughly understood, it will be well to call accurate attention to the position of the various actors. The Palace room was practically dark, though light from the Cave room lessened the gloom so much that the figures could be distinguished enough to know whether a man or a woman were crossing the floor.

The Sultan, Mr. Van Rawlston, lay on a divan, not far from the Cave room, and facing it. Scheherezade, Miss Emily Remsen, sat on a cus.h.i.+on beside him. Both of them faced the tableaux, and it will be seen at once that from gazing towards the light, if either turned towards the darkness, blindness would result for a few moments. Ali Baba, heading the line of Forty Thieves came towards the divan. Here he stopped, made a salaam, bowing low, bringing his arms up above the head outstretched in front of him, then parting them with a swaying movement backwards, he rose erect again. This done he pa.s.sed on into the darker part of the room. Next came the first of the Forty Thieves, Mr. Barnes following close behind him. This man made his salaam, bowing low. As he did so there was a slight noise. This attracted Mr. Barnes's attention for a moment, and his eye wandered in the direction of the sound. For the merest part of a second, however, did his gaze leave the man before him, and when it returned he distinctly saw the figure do this. In making his salaam when outstretching his arms he allowed his hand to pa.s.s just over the head of Miss Remsen, who was looking down, perhaps to become relieved from the glare of the other room. Mr. Barnes saw him deliberately and slowly take hold of her ruby pin, gently withdrawing it from her hair. Just then a clock began to chime the midnight hour.

Instantaneously a thought flashed through the detective's mind. At the first note of the chimes the time had pa.s.sed within which Mr. Mitchel had wagered to commit his robbery. He had thought that the man who had spoken to him had the voice of Mr. Mitchel. He had also come to this place expecting that this very jewel would be stolen. He had supposed that Thauret would play the part of accomplice and thief, whilst the princ.i.p.al, Mitchel, was manufacturing an _alibi_ down in Philadelphia.

It was evident now, so he thought, that Mitchel had escaped his spies, returned to New York, a.s.sumed one of the disguises which he himself had placed within easy reach, and now, on the very stroke of the last hour of his time, had committed his robbery,--a robbery, too, which would make a commotion, and yet for which he could not be imprisoned if detected, since his _fiancee_ at his instigation would say that she had simply aided the scheme to further the wager, as perhaps she had, since she did not stir when the gem was being taken. All this flashed through Mr. Barnes's brain in a half moment, and by the time the thief before him had secured the ruby and was standing erect he had decided upon his course of action. This was to seize the man at once, and proclaim him a thief. Of course Mr. Mitchel would be able to explain his act, but at the same time he would have lost his wager.

The man in front turned to pa.s.s on, and Mr. Barnes darted forward to seize him, when, to his astonishment, he was himself held as in a vise by the man behind him. He struggled to free himself, but, taken by surprise, he discovered that he was powerless. What angered him more was that the thief was fast disappearing in the gloom. Determined not to be outwitted, he shouted:

"Turn up the lights. A robbery has been committed."

Instantly all was confusion. People crowded forward, and Mr. Barnes felt himself hurled violently toward the advancing throng. Toppling against some one, both fell to the ground, and several others tumbled over them.

Pandemonium reigned supreme, yet it was some time before any one thought of turning up the lights. Mr. Van Rawlston, understanding the situation better than any other, was the first to recover his presence of mind, and himself turned on the electricity. The sudden rush of light at first only made things worse, for it blinded everybody. Thus to the detective's chagrin several valuable minutes were lost before he could extricate himself from the pile of people who had tumbled over him, and find a chance to say aloud:

"Miss Remsen has been robbed. Let no one leave the house. Masks off."

Mr. Van Rawlston rushed to the door to see that no one departed, and people crowded around Miss Remsen to condole with her upon her loss. Mr.

Barnes searched for Ali Baba, and was amazed when he found him to discover that it was not Mr. Thauret.

"Who are you?" he asked roughly.

"My name is Adrian Fisher," was the reply. This astonished the detective, but it pleased him too, for it seemed to confirm the suspicion that this man was an accomplice. He decided quickly to say no more to him at that time, and hastened towards Miss Remsen to observe her behavior. If she knew anything in advance she certainly was acting admirably, for she had grown excited, and was talking vehemently to those about her, declaring against the disgraceful management, so she termed it, which had enabled a thief to enter the rooms.

Whilst Mr. Barnes was thinking what to do, he saw Mr. Van Rawlston approaching him, accompanied by Mr. Thauret, who was now in evening dress.

"Mr. Barnes, how was this thing done? Why did you not prevent it?"

"I tried to do so, but could not. You must understand, Mr. Van Rawlston, that I am not omniscient. I suspected that this robbery would occur, but I could not know how it would be accomplished. Nevertheless I saw the act."

"Then why did you not seize the thief?"

"I attempted to do so, and was thrown down from behind by his accomplice."

"Can you identify the person by his dress?"

"That is, unfortunately, impossible. All that I know is that he was one of the Forty Thieves, and evidently played his part well."

"This is Mr. Barnes?" said Mr. Thauret, inquiringly, continuing at once: "Yes, of course it is. We have met twice, I think. You say your thief was dressed as one of the Forty Thieves. That interests me, for I wore one of those dresses. Why not ask all who did to allow themselves to be searched?"

"I will not hear of such an indignity to my guests," at once e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mr. Van Rawlston. "Search people in my own house! No, sir. I will willingly pay for the lost gem rather than do so."

"You are quite right," said the detective, keenly eying Mr. Thauret, "I am sure that it would be useless."

"As you please," said Mr. Thauret, and with a satirical smile he bowed and joined the group around Miss Remsen.

Mr. Barnes told Mr. Van Rawlston that it would be useless for him to remain longer, and that he would depart. He did not do so, however, until he had a.s.sured himself that Mr. Mitchel was not in the house. He went to the door, and found that the boy who had been told to guard it had been absent looking at the tableaux when the confusion occurred, so that he did not know whether any one had left the house or not. He therefore departed in disgust.

"That fellow Mitchel," thought he, as he walked rapidly down the avenue,--"that fellow is an artist. To think of the audacity of waiting till the very moment when his wager would be lost, and then committing the robbery in such a manner that a hundred people will be able to testify that it occurred within the limited period. Meanwhile there is an excellent _alibi_ for him. Sick in a hotel in Philadelphia! Bah!

Isn't there one man that I can depend upon?"

At Forty-second Street he took the elevated road, and in twenty minutes he was at his office. Here he found the spy who had followed Mr. Mitchel to Philadelphia.

"Well," said he, angrily, "what are you doing here?"

"I am sure that Mitchel has returned to New York. I came on hoping to catch up with him, and at least to warn you."

"Your warning comes too late. The mischief is done. Didn't you have brains enough to telegraph?"

"I did just before I started." The despatch was on Mr. Barnes's desk unopened. It had arrived after he had started for the festival.

"Well, well," said the detective, testily, "I suppose you have done your best. That fellow has the devil's luck. What made you think that he had come to New York? Wasn't he sick?"

"I thought that might be a game for an _alibi_. To find out, I registered, asking for a room near my friend Mr. Mitchel. They gave me the one next to his. I picked the lock of the door between the rooms and peeped in. Seeing no one, I went in. The place was empty. The bird had skipped."

"Take the next train back to Philadelphia, and do the best you can to find out when Mitchel reaches there. He has gone back sure, and will be sick in bed in the morning, or my name is not Barnes. Bring me proof of his trip to and from New York, and I will give you fifty dollars. Skip."

CHAPTER XI.

MR. BARNES RECEIVES SEVERAL LETTERS.

On the morning of the third of January the mail which reached Mr. Barnes contained several letters of interest to those who follow this history.

The first which he opened was very brief. It read:

"If Mr. Barnes will call at his earliest convenience he will greatly oblige EMILY REMSEN."

He read this twice, and then took up another, which was as follows: