An Artist in Crime Part 8

"I have had the pleasure of meeting the gentleman before," replied Mr.

Mitchel, and with a stiff bow he crossed to the side of Emily as though to prevent an introduction to her. This, of course, was impossible, and Mr. Mitchel was plainly annoyed. Emily stepped forward, extended her hand to Mr. Thauret, and then turning, presented him to Mr. Barnes, who had arisen, and who simply bowed.

"Ah! Mr. Barnes," said the Frenchman, "I am delighted to meet you again."

"Why, do you know Mr. Barnes also?" cried Dora greatly surprised.

"Who does not know Mr. Barnes, the celebrated detective." He said this in that extremely polite tone so much a.s.sumed by his race, when inclined to be most complimentary. Yet Mr. Barnes thought that he had some sinister motive in thus proclaiming his connection with the police. Was it to prevent him from calling upon these women again? If so he failed to make the desired impression upon Dora, for that young woman seemed fairly enraptured.

"A detective?" said she. "Are you really the great Mr. Barnes?"

"I am a detective, but scarcely a great one."

"Oh! but you are, you are! I read all about the wonderful way in which you caught that man Pettingill. And now tell me, are you going to catch the man who robbed the woman on the Boston train yesterday?"

"How do you know that it is a man?" asked Mr. Barnes amused at her impetuosity, and pleased at the turn taken by the conversation.

"Oh! it is not a woman. I am sure of that. I read about it in the papers this morning. I bought three so as not to miss anything. No woman would have been clever enough to plan it all, and then carry it out so thoroughly."

"This is very interesting," said Mr. Thauret. "Of course I too have read the papers, but besides that, as you know, Mr. Barnes, I was on the train myself, and the first to be searched. I have thought of the case ever since. In my own country we claim that our detectives can unravel any mystery, and I am curious to know how you will manage in an affair of this kind. The thief evidently is clever, do you not think so?"

Mr. Mitchel had drawn apart and apparently was absorbed in a conversation with Emily; nevertheless Mr. Barnes was confident that he missed little of what was being said by the group of which he himself was one. Under ordinary circ.u.mstances he would not for a moment have thought of speaking of so important a case before one who at least might be suspected of complicity. But these were not ordinary circ.u.mstances.

Here were two men, about both of whom there was a mysterious connection with the crime, or crimes, which he was investigating. If either, or both, were guilty, it was evident from their courage in visiting unconcernedly at the very building in which the murder had been committed, that extreme skill would be required to obtain a conviction.

The detective therefore considered that these men must be met with methods as bold as their own. Speaking in a tone loud enough to reach Mr. Mitchel's ears he said:

"I think that the thief is clever, but that he is not so clever as he considers himself."

"How is that?"

"He believed--I say he, because like Miss Remsen, I think it is a man--"

"How delightful of you to agree with me," said Dora.

"This man then," continued Mr. Barnes, "considers that he has misled me.

He thinks that when I directed that all the pa.s.sengers should be searched, I did so hoping to find the lost jewels, whereas I was not looking for the jewels, but for the thief."

"How could you do that?"

"You may think me egotistic, but I hoped to detect him by his conduct. I was entirely successful. I know who stole the jewels." This was a bold a.s.sertion, especially as Mr. Barnes had not decided the matter in his own mind. He wished to note the faces of these men, when he made the statement. He gained nothing by the manoeuvre, for Mr. Mitchel seemed not to have heard, whilst the Frenchman quickly said:

"Bravo! Bravo! You are better than Lecocq. It is like a wizard's trick.

You pa.s.s the suspects before you in review, and then, presto! you pick out the criminal with your eye. That is a charming method, and so simple!"

"Mr. Thauret," said Dora, "you are laughing at Mr. Barnes, and that is not good-natured. Mr. Barnes says he knows the thief. I believe him."

"Pardon! I believe him also. I did not mean to laugh. But tell me, Mr.

Barnes, how did the man secrete the diamonds, I suppose they were diamonds, were they not?"

"Diamonds and other jewels. But let me ask you----how would you have hidden them, had you been in his place?" This time the shot went home.

Plainly the Frenchman did not like the suggestion of being himself the criminal. He quickly recovered his equanimity, however, and answered:

"Do you know, I have thought of that very thing. Of course I would probably make a bungle of it. Still I have thought of a way."

"A way by which he could have hidden the jewels so that a search could not have found them, and yet in a place accessible to himself afterwards?"

"I think so! Perhaps I am wrong, but I think my little plan would do that much. The newspaper says the jewels were unset stones. I should have pushed them into the cake of soap in the wash-room. No one would think to look for them there, and even if so, there would be nothing against me. Afterwards, I should have gone back, taken the soap, and the jewels would have been mine."

"You are mistaken."

"How so?"

"You were the first person searched, and I watched you till you left the train. It would have been difficult for you to come to New York from Stamford on another train, and then gain access to the coaches on a side track and in the hands of the scrub-women. Even then you would have failed, for I took all the soap away, and subst.i.tuted new cakes before the second man was searched."

A smile on Mr. Mitchel's face proved that he was listening, and that he was pleased at the detective's cleverness. The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders, and said, laughing:

"There, you see, I should never make a thief. Besides there was the satchel. I had forgotten about that. One could not hide a satchel in a cake of soap."

"But he could throw it out of a window, to mislead the man who picked it up," replied the detective.

"You are shrewd, Mr. Barnes," said Mr. Thauret, after a keen scrutiny, which Mr. Barnes thought betokened uneasiness. "But," he continued, "will you tell me how you think the thief hid the treasure on the train?"

"He hid it _off_ the train," said Mr. Barnes, quickly, and to his satisfaction both his men started slightly. Evidently Mr. Mitchel decided that it was time for him to enter the game, for he crossed and joined the group, saying as he did so:

"Are you all discussing the train robbery?"

"Oh, yes!" said Dora. "And it is just lovely, the way Mr. Barnes has found out all about it!"

"Found out all about it? Has he, indeed?"

"Yes! He knows who the thief is, and that he hid the jewels off the train."

"How very clever of you, Mr. Barnes, to discover that. Where else could he have hidden them, since the train itself and everybody on it was searched?"

It irritated Mr. Barnes, the way in which Mr. Mitchel always seemed to belittle his skill. He was a trifle angry, therefore, as he made his next bold stroke.

"I will tell you, ladies and gentlemen, where the thief might have hidden the jewels, on the train--a place which no one thought of searching, not even myself."

"Oh! tell us!" exclaimed Dora. The two men looked interested, nothing more. Emily had come behind Mr. Mitchel, and slyly slipped her hand within his.

"The woman carried the jewels in a satchel. Suppose the thief had stolen the satchel and thrown it from the window. Missing that, the woman would have naturally concluded that the jewels were gone, would she not? Very well. The thief might have hidden the jewels in her own pocket whilst she slept." Mr. Barnes had hoped much from this proposition, but it was a distinct failure. Either that was not the thief's method, or else Mr. Mitchel and Mr. Thauret were both innocent.

Both smiled incredulously. The former spoke:

"That is too far-fetched, Mr. Barnes. How do you suppose that he would regain possession of the gems?"

"By murdering the woman," answered the detective. Again he failed, for neither of the men winced. Mr. Barnes was foiled for the moment, but not entirely discouraged. The start which both men had made, when he suggested that the stolen property had been hidden off the train, still remained to be explained.

"Come! Come! Mr. Barnes," said Mr. Mitchel patting his shoulder familiarly, "don't let this case upset you so. When you go so far for a theory, you do not show the skill which you displayed in tracking Pettingill. Why even I can get you a better one than that."

"You must not think me quite a fool, Mr. Mitchel. If my theory seems preposterous, it does not follow that it is the only one at my command.