The Incendiary Part 44

"Not since this visit of sympathy, do you mean?"

"That was the last time."

"Then all your sympathy expended itself in that single visit?"

"No, not exactly."

"Why didn't you renew it?"

"Rob and I didn't part good friends."

"Indeed? And what was the cause of your disagreement?"

"Some thoughtless words of mine."

"Then you were at fault?"

"Wholly. I have been sorry since."

"But you have kept your repentance to yourself until now, have you not?"

"Well----"

"And volunteered to testify against your cousin?"

"No, sir; I was subpoenaed."

"From what quarter do you suppose these rumors of Floyd's disinheritance arose?"

"I don't know."

"Consider that answer carefully."

"I have done so. I don't know. I read it in the papers."

"You knew Floyd was disinherited before your visit to his cell?"

"No, sir."

"You knew you yourself were disinherited before the fire?"

"No, sir."

"You knew a will had been made?"

"Yes, sir."

"From whom?"

"From my mother."

"Your mother and yourself share most items of family interest between you?"

"Naturally we do. We have no secrets from each other."

"Wasn't it your mother who first informed Mr. McCausland that Robert had been disinherited?"

"I don't know."

"Yet you read the papers, you said."

"I must have skipped that item."

"How did Mrs. Arnold know this fact?"

"I don't know."

"You are very rich, Mr. Arnold?"

"Yes, we are considered wealthy."

"So rich that I presume you were indifferent whether Prof. Arnold added to your fortunes or not by a bequest of his property?"

"He may have thought we didn't need anything more."

"How large a stud of horses do you keep?"

"In all? Only six."

"How many servants?"

"Six."

"For a family of two?"

"My mother and myself. But then, we entertain a good deal."

"You have a summer residence at Hillsborough?"

"Yes, sir."

"And a house at Woodlawn?"

"Yes, sir."

"The supplies for your table are not generally purchased from a common street vender, I presume?"

"I don't know. I don't attend to the commissariat."

"Shouldn't you suppose they would come from market?"

"Game and such things, yes."

"And greens?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

"When did you first hear of the burning of Prof. Arnold's house?"

"That's hard to say at this distance of time."

"I wish you would try to recollect."

"Why, I think the morning afterward--Sunday morning. Yes, it was in the Sunday papers. I remember now."

"You remember distinctly?"

"Yes, sir."

"What paper?"

"The Beacon. We take no other."

The Beacon was the paper upon which Robert was employed, thus forming a curious bond of communication between the two Arnold households.

"You were not in town, then, that afternoon?"

"No, sir."

"Positive of that?"

"Why, yes; I was ill--or, rather, just convalescing from a fever. Dr. Whipple called, I believe, to see me that very Sat.u.r.day."

"In the forenoon or afternoon?"

"Afternoon."

"About what hour?"

"About 3:45."

"And this fire started at 3:30?"

"I heard a witness say so in the testimony yesterday."

"Of your own knowledge you couldn't say when it started?"

"No, sir."

Harry was red as fire during all these rapid questions, some apparently aimless, some sharply pointed.

"A man could not start that fire in Cazenove street at 3:30 and reach your house in Woodlawn at 3:45, could he?"

"Not very well."

"He might, however, start the fire at 3:28 and reach your house at 3:48?"

"I don't know," said Harry. "Twenty minutes isn't long."

"Isn't there a train which leaves the Southern depot at 3:29?"

"I never use the Southern depot."

"Never?"

"Well, not enough to know the trains."

"I have not said that you did, Mr. Arnold. It happens, however, that there was a train--an express train--which left the Southern depot at 3:29 on June 28, arriving in Woodlawn at 3:45. A person starting from Prof. Arnold's house at 3:28 could have caught that train, could he not?"

"In one minute? Yes, by hurrying."

"And, leaving the train at Woodlawn at 3:45, he could have arrived in your house at 3:48, could he not?"

"Yes, sir, by walking briskly."

"Across the fields?"

"Across the fields."

"Wasn't it 3:48 when Dr. Whipple visited you on that Sat.u.r.day of the fire?"

"Why, of course I could not swear within a minute or two."

"But a minute or two is momentous at times--when a train is to be taken, for example."

"Oh, yes."

"What were you doing all Sat.u.r.day afternoon before the doctor arrived?"

"Why"--Harry hesitated--"I was ill in my chamber."

"Reading?"

"Perhaps. Killing time lazily."

"You have frequently to do that, I presume?"

"Sir?"