 CHAPTER VIII. George sat so long over the newspapers that in spite of my absorbing interest in the topic engrossing me, I fell asleep in my cozy little rocking chair. I was awakened by what seemed like a kiss falling very softly on my forehead, though to be sure, it may have been only the flap of George's coat sleeve as he stooped over me. Wake up, little woman, I heard, and try to wait to bed. I'm going out and may not be in till daybreak. You? Going out? At ten o'clock at night? Tired as you are as we both are? What has happened? Oh! This broken exclamation escaped me as I perceived in the dim background by the sitting-room door the figure of a man who called up recent but very thrilling experiences. Mr. Sweetwater, explained George, we are going out together. It is necessary, or you may be sure I should not leave you. I was quite wide awake enough by now to understand. Oh, I know, you are going to hunt up the man how I wish, but George did not wait for me to express my wishes. He gave me a little good advice as to how I had better employ my time in his absence and was off before I could find words to answer. This ends all I have to say about myself, but the events of that night carefully related to me by George are important enough for me to describe them with all the detail which is their rightful due. I shall tell the story as I have already been led to do in other portions of this narrative as though I were present and shared the adventure. As soon as the two were in the street, the detective turned towards George and said, Mr. Anderson, I have a great deal to ask of you. The business before us is not a simple one, and I fear that I shall have to subject you to more inconvenience than is customary in matters like this. Mr. Brotherson has vanished. That is, in his own proper person, but I have an idea that I am on the track of one who will lead us very directly to him if we manage the affair carefully. What I want of you, of course, is mere identification. You saw the face of the man who washed his hands in the snow and would know it again, you say. Do you think you could be quite sure of yourself if the man were differently dressed and differently occupied? I think so. There's his height and a certain strong look in his face. I cannot describe it. You don't need to. Come. We're all right. You don't mind making a night of it? Not if it is necessary. That we can't tell yet. And with a characteristic shrug and smile, the detective led the way to a taxicab which stood in waiting at the corner. A quarter of an hour of rather fast riding brought them into a tangle of streets on the east side. As George noticed the swarming sidewalks and listened to the noises incident to an overpopulated quarter, he could not forbear despite the injunction he had received to express his surprise at the direction of their search. Surely, he said, the gentleman I have described can have no friends here. Then, be thinking himself, he added, but if he has reasons to fear the law, naturally he would seek to lose himself in a place as different as possible from his usual haunts. Yes, that would be some men's way, was the curt, almost indifferent answer he received. Sweetwater was looking this way and that from the window beside him, and now leaning out gave some directions to the driver which altered their course. When they stopped, which was in a few minutes, he said to George, We shall have to walk now for a block or two. I am anxious to attract no attention, nor is it desirable for you to do so. If you can manage to act as if you were accustomed to the place and just leave all the talking to me, we ought to get along first rate. Don't be astonished at anything you see and trust me for the rest, that's all. They alighted and he dismissed the taxi cab. Some clock in the neighborhood struck the hour of ten. Good, we shall be in time, muttered the detective, and led the way down in the street and around a corner or so until they came to a block darker than the rest, and much less noisy. It had a sinister look, and George, who is brave enough under all ordinary circumstances, was glad that his companion wore a badge and carried a whistle. He was also relieved when he caught sight of the burly form of a policeman in the shadow of one of the doorways. Yet the houses he saw before him were not so very different from those they had already passed. His uneasiness could not have sprung from them. They had even an air of positive respectability as though inhabited by industrious workmen. Then what was it which made the close companionship of a member of the police so uncommonly welcome? Was it a certain aspect of solitariness which clung to the block, or was it the sudden appearance here and there of a strangely gliding figure which no sooner loomed up against the snowy perspective, then disappeared again in the unseen doorways? There's a meeting on tonight of the associated brotherhood of the All, the Plain, and the Trowel, whatever that means. And it is the speaker we want to see, the man who is to address them promptly at ten o'clock. Do you object to meetings? Is this a secret one? It wasn't advertised. Are we carpenters or masons that we can count on admittance? I am a carpenter. Don't you think you can be a mason for the occasion? I doubt it, but hush, I must speak to this man. George stood back and a few words passed between Sweetwater and a shadowy figure which seemed to have sprung up out of the sidewalk. He balked at the outset, were the encouraging words with which the detective rejoined George. It seems that a password is necessary, and my friend has been unable to get it. Will the speaker pass out this way? He inquired of the shadowy figure still lingering in their ear. He didn't go in by it, yet I believe he's safe enough inside, was the muttered answer. Sweetwater had no relish for disappointments of this character, but it was not long before he straightened up and allowed himself to exchange a few more words with this mysterious person. These appeared to be of a more encouraging nature than the last, for it was not long before the detective returned with renewed alacrity to George, and, willing him about, began to retrace his steps to the corner. Will he be going back? Are you going to give up the job? George asked. No, we're going to take him from the rear. There's a break in the fence. Oh, we'll do very well, trust me. George laughed. He was growing excited, but not altogether agreeably so. He says that he has seen moments of more pleasant anticipation. Evidently my good husband does not cut out for detective work. Where they went under this officer's guidance he cannot tell. The torturous tangle of alleys through which he now felt himself led was dark as the nether regions to his unaccustomed eyes. There was snow under his feet, and now and then he brushed against some obtruding object, or stumbled against a low fence. But beyond these slight miscalculations on his own part, he was a mere automaton in the hands of his eager guide, and only became his own man again when they suddenly stepped into an open yard, and he could discern plainly before him the dark walls of a building pointed out by sweet water as their probable destination. Yet even here they encountered some impediment which prohibited a close approach. A wall or shed cut off their view of the building's lower story, and though somewhat startled at being left unceremoniously alone after just a whispered word of encouragement from the ever ready detective, George could quite understand the necessity which that person must feel for a quiet reconnoitering of the surroundings before the two of them ventured further forward in their possibly hazardous undertaking. Yet the experience was none too pleasing to George, and he was very glad to hear sweet water's whisper again at his ear, and to feel himself rescued from the pool of slush in which he had been left to stand. The approach is not all that can be desired, remarked the detective as they entered what appeared to be a low shed. The broken board has been put back and securely nailed in place, and if I am not very much mistaken, there is a fellow stationed in the yard who will want the password too. Looks shady to me. I'll have something to tell the chief when I get back. But we, what are we going to do if we cannot get in front or rear? We're going to wait right here in the hopes of catching a glimpse of our man as he comes out, returned the detective, drawing George towards a low window overlooking the yard he had described as sentineled. He will have to pass directly under this window on his way to the alley, sweet water went on to explain. And if I can only raise it, but the noise would give us away, I can't do that. Perhaps it swings on hinges, suggested George. It looks like that sort of a window. If it should, well, it does. We're in great luck, sir. But before I pull it open, remember that from the moment I unlatch it, everything said or done here can be heard in the adjoining yard, so no whispers and no unnecessary movements. When you hear him coming, as sooner or later you certainly will, fall carefully to your knees and lean down just far enough to catch a glimpse of him before he steps down from the porch. If he stops to light his cigar or to pass a few words with some of the men he will leave behind, you may get a plain enough view of his face or figure to identify him. The light is burning low in that rear hall, but it will do. If it does not, if you can't see him or if you do, don't hang out of the window more than a second. Duck, after your first look. I don't want to be caught at this job with no better opportunity for escape than we have here. Can you remember all that? George pinched his arm encouragingly and sweet water with an amused grunt, softly unlatched the window and pulled it wide open. A fine sleet flew in, imperceptible saved the sensation of damp it gave, and the slight haze it diffused through the air. Enlarged by this haze, the building they were set to watch rose in magnified proportions at their left. The yard between, piled high in the center with snow heaps or other heaps covered with snow, could not have been more than forty feet square. The window from which they peered was halfway down this yard, so that a comparatively short distance separated them from the porch where George had been told to look for the man he was expected to identify. All was dark there at present, but he could hear from time to time some sounds of restless movement as the guard posted inside shifted in his narrow quarters or struck his benumbed feet softly together. But what came to them from above was more interesting than anything to be heard or seen below. A man's voice, raised to a wonderful pitch by the passion of oratory, had burst the barriers of the closed hall in that towering third story, and was carrying its tail to other ears than those within. Had it been summer and the windows open, both George and Sweetwater might have heard every word, for their tones were exceptionally rich and penetrating, and the speaker intent only on the impression he was endeavoring to make upon his audience. That he had not mistaken his power in this direction was evinced by the applause which rose from time to time from innumerable hands and feet. But this uproar would be speedily silenced, and the mellow voice ring out again, clear and commanding. What could the subject be to rouse such enthusiasm in the associated brotherhood of the all, the plain, and the trowel? There was a moment when our listening friends expected to be enlightened. A shutter was thrown back in one of those upper windows, and the window hurriedly raised, during which words took the place of sounds, and they heard enough to wet their appetite for more. But only that. The shutter was speedily restored to place, and the window again closed. A wise precaution or so thought George if they wished to keep their doubtful proceedings secret. A tirade against the rich and a loud call to battle could be gleaned from the sentences they had heard. But its virulence and pointed attack was not that of a second-rate demagogue or business agent, but of a man whose intellect and culture rang in every tone and informed each sentence. Sweetwater, in whom satisfaction was fast taking the place of impatience and regret, pushed the window too before asking George this question. Did you hear the voice of the man whose action attracted your attention outside the Clermont? No. Did you note just now the large shadow dancing on the ceiling over the speaker's head? Yes, but I could judge nothing from that. Well, he's a rum one. I shan't open this window again till he gives sign of reaching the end of his speech. It's too cold. But almost immediately he gave a start, and, pressing George's arm, appeared to listen. Not to the speech which was no longer audible, but to something much nearer. A step or movement in the adjoining yard. At least so George interpreted the quick turn which this impetuous detective made, and the pains he took to direct George's attention to the walk running under the window beneath which they crouched. Someone was stealing down upon the house at their left, from the alley beyond. A big man whose shoulder brushed the window as he went by, George felt his hand seized again and pressed as this happened. And before he had recovered from this excitement, experienced another quick pressure, and still another, as one, two, three additional figures went slipping by. Then his hand was suddenly dropped, for a cry had shot up from the door where the sentinels stood guard, followed by a sudden loud slam and the noise of a shooting bolt, which, proclaiming as it did that the invaders were not friends, but enemies to the cause which was being vaunted above, so excited sweet water that he pulled the window wide open and took a bold look out. George followed his example, and this was what they saw. Three men were standing flat against the fence, leading from the shed directly to the porch. The fourth was crouching within the ladder, and in another moment they heard his fist descend upon the door, inside, in a way to rouse the echoes. Meantime the voice in the audience hall above had ceased, and there could be heard instead the scramble of hurrying feet and the noise of overturning benches. Then a window flew up and a voice called down. Who's that? What do you want down there? But before an answer could be shouted back, this man was drawn fiercely inside and the scramble was renewed, amid which George heard sweet water's whisper at his ear. It's the police. The chief has got ahead of me. Was that the man where after the one who shouted down? Neither was he the speaker. The voices are very different. We want the speaker. If the boys get him, we're all right, but if they don't, wait, I must make the matter sure. And with a bound he vaulted through the window whistling in a peculiar way. George, thus left quite alone, had the pleasure of seeing his sole protector mix with the boys, as he called them, and ultimately crowd in with them through the door which had finally been opened for their admittance. Then came a wait, and then the quiet reappearance of the detective alone in no very amiable mood. Well, inquired George, someone breathlessly. Do you want me? Do they- they don't seem to be coming out. No, they- they've gone the other way. It was a red-hot anarchist meeting, and no mistake. They have arrested one of the speakers, but the other escaped. How? We have not yet found out, but I think there's a way out somewhere by which he got the start of us. He was the man I wanted you to see. Bad luck, Mr. Anderson, but I'm not at the end of my resources. If you'll have patience with me, and accompany me a little further, I promise you that I'll only risk one more failure. Will you be so good, sir? End of Chapter 8. Recorded by Renata McLaughlin at RenataMCL at yahoo.com. Temecula, California, September 20th, 2008. Chapter 9 of Initials Only. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Renata McLaughlin. Initials Only by Anna Catherine Green. Chapter 9. Incident of the Partly Lifted Shade. The fellow had a way with him. Hard to resist. Cold as George was, and exhausted by an excitement of a kind to which he was wholly unaccustomed, he found himself acceding to the detective's request. And after a quick lunch and a huge cup of coffee in a restaurant, which I wish I had time to describe, the two took a car which eventually brought them into one of the oldest quarters of the borough of Brooklyn. The sleet which had stung their faces in the streets of New York had been left behind them somewhere on the bridge, the chill was not gone from the air, and George felt greatly relieved when sweet water paused in the middle of a long block before a lofty tenement house of mean appearance, and signified that here they were to stop and that from now on mum was to be their watchword. George was relieved I say, but he was also more astonished than ever. What kind of haunts were these for the cultured gentleman who spent his evenings at the Clermont? It was easy enough in these days of extravagant sympathies to understand such a man addressing the uneasy spirits of Lower New York. He had been called an enthusiast, and an enthusiast is very often a social agitator, but to trace him afterwards to a place like this was certainly a surprise. A tenement such a tenement as this meant home, home for himself or for those he counted his friends, and such a supposition seemed inconceivable to my poor husband with the memory of the gorgeous parlor of the Clermont in his mind. Indeed he hinted something of the kind to his affable but strangely reticent companion, but all the answer he got was a peculiar smile whose humorous twist he could barely discern in the semi-darkness of the open doorway into which they had just plunged. An adventure! Certainly an adventure! flashed through poor George's mind as he peered in great curiosity down the long hall before him into a dismal rear opening into a still more dismal court. It was truly a novel experience for a businessman whose philanthropy was carried on entirely by proxy, that is, by his wife. Should he be expected to penetrate into those dark, ill-smelling recesses, or would he be led up the long flights of naked stairs so feebly illuminated that they gave the impression of extending indefinitely into dimmer and dimmer heights of decay and desolation? Sweetwater seemed to decide for the rear. For leaving George, he stepped down the hall into the court beyond where George could see him casting inquiring glances up at the walls above him. Another tenement similar to the one whose rear end he was contemplating, towered behind but he paid no attention to that. He was satisfied with the look he had given and came quickly back, joining George at the foot of the staircase up which he silently led the way. It was a rude, none too well cared for building, but it seemed respectable enough and very quiet. Considering the mass of people it accommodated, there were marks of poverty everywhere but no squalor. One flight, two flights, three, and then George's guide stopped and, looking back at him, made a gesture. It appeared to be one of caution, but when the two came together at the top of the staircase, Sweetwater spoke quite naturally as he pointed out a door in their rear. That's the room. We'll keep a sharp watch and when any man, no matter what his dress or appearance comes up these stairs and turns that way, give him a sharp look. You understand? Yes, but... Oh, he hasn't come in yet. I took pains to find that out. You saw me go into the court and look up. That was to see if his window was lighted. Well, it wasn't. George felt nonplussed. But surely, said he, the gentleman named Brotherson doesn't live here. The inventor does. Oh, and but I will explain later. The suppressed excitement contained in these words made George stare. Indeed, he had been wondering for some time at the manner of the detective which showed a curious mixture of several opposing emotions. Now the fellow was actually in a tremble of hope or impatience, and, not content with listening, he peered every few minutes down the well of the staircase, and when he was not doing that, tramped from end to end of the narrow passageway separating the head of the stairs from the door he had pointed out, like one to whom minutes were hours. All this time he seemed to forget George who certainly had as much reason as himself for fighting the time long. But when, after some half hour of his tedium and suspense, there rose from below the faint clatter of ascending footsteps, he remembered his meek companion and beckoning him to one side began a studied conversation with him, showing him a notebook in which he had written such phrases as these. Don't look up till he is fairly in range with the light. There is nothing to fear. He doesn't know either of us. If it is a face you have seen before, if it is the one we are expecting to see, pull your neck tie straight. It's a little on one side. These rather startling injunctions were read by George with no very perceptible diminution of the uneasiness, which it was only natural for him to feel at the oddity of his position. But only the demand last made produced any impression on him. The man they were waiting for was no further up than the second floor, but instinctively George's hand had flown to his neck tie, and he was only stopped from its premature rearrangement by a warning look from Sweetwater. Not unless you know him, whispered the detective, and immediately launched out into an easy talk about some totally different business which George neither understood nor was expected to, I dare say. Suddenly the steps below paused and George heard Sweetwater draw in his breath in irrepressible dismay, but they were immediately resumed, and presently the head and shoulders of a working man of uncommon proportions appeared in sight on the stairway. George cast him a keen look, and his hand rose doubtfully to his neck and then fell back again. The approaching man was tall, very well proportioned, and easy of carriage, but the face, such of it as could be seen between his cap and the high collar he had pulled up about his ears, conveyed no exact impression to George's mind, and he did not dare to give the signal Sweetwater expected from him. Yet as the man went by with a dark and sign-long glance at them both, he felt his hand rise again, though he did not complete the action much to his own disgust and to the evident disappointment of the watchful detective. You're not sure, he now heard, oddly interpolated in the stream of half-whispered talk with which the other endeavored to carry off the situation. George shook his head. He could not rid himself of the old impression he had formed of the man in the snow. Mr. Dunn, a word with you! Suddenly spoke up Sweetwater to the man who had just passed them. That's your name, isn't it? Yes, that is my name, was the quiet response, in a voice which was at once rich and resonant, a voice which George knew, the voice of the impassioned speaker he had heard resounding through the sleet as he cowered within hearing in the shed behind the Avenue A tenement. Who are you who wish to speak to me at so late an hour? He was returning to them from the door he had unlocked and left slightly ajar. Well, we are, you know what? smiled the ready detective advancing half-way to greet him. We're not members of the associated brotherhood, but possibly have hopes of being so. At all events, we should like to talk the matter over if, as you say, it's not too late. I have nothing to do with the club. But you spoke before it. Yes. Then you can give us some sort of an idea how we are to apply for membership. Mr. Dunn met the concentrated gaze of his two evidently unwelcome visitors with a frankness which dashed George's confidence in himself, but made little visible impression upon his daring companion. I should rather see you at another time, said he. But his hesitation was inappreciable save to the nicest ear. If you will allow me to be brief, I will tell you what I know, which is very little. Sweetwater was greatly taken aback. All he had looked for, as he was careful to tell my husband later, was a sufficiently prolonged conversation to enable George to mark and study the workings of the face he was not yet sure of. Nor did the detective feel quite easy at the readiness of his reception, nor any too well pleased to accept the invitation which this man now gave them to enter his room. But he suffered no betrayal of his misgivings to escape him, though he was careful to intimate to George as they waited in the doorway for the other to light up that he should not be displeased at his refusal to accompany him further in this adventure and even advised him to remain in the hall till he received his summons to enter. But George had not come as far as this to back out now, and as soon as he saw Sweetwater advance into the now well-lighted interior, he advanced too and began to look around him. The room, like many others in these old-fashioned tenements, had a jog just where the door was so that on entering they had to take several steps before they could get a full glimpse of its four walls. When they did, both showed surprise. Comfort, if not elegance, confronted them, which impression, however, was immediately lost in the evidences of work, manual as well as intellectual, which were everywhere scattered about. The man who lived here was not only a student, as was evinced by a long wall full of books, but he was an art lover, a musician, an inventor, and an athlete. So much could be learned from the most cursory glance. A more careful one picked up other facts fully as startling and impressive. The books were choice. The invention to all appearance was a practical one. The art of a high order and the music, such as was in view, of a character of which the nicest taste need not be ashamed. George began to feel quite conscious of the intrusion of which they had been guilty, and was amazed at the ease with which the detective carried himself in the presence of such manifestations of culture and good hard work. He was trying to recall the exact appearance of the figure he had seen stooping in the snowy street two nights before, when he found himself staring at the occupant of the room who had taken up his stand before them and was regarding them while they were regarding the room. He had thrown aside his hat and rid himself of his overcoat, and the fearlessness of his aspect seemed to daunt the hitherto dauntless sweetwater, who for the first time in his life perhaps hunted in vain for words with which to start conversation. Had he made an awful mistake? Was this, Mr. Dunn, what he seemed an unknown and careful genius, battling with great odds in his honest struggle to give the world something of value in return for what it had given him? The quick, almost deprecatory glance he darted at George betrayed his dismay, a dismay which George had begun to share, notwithstanding his growing belief that the man's face was not wholly unknown to him, even if he could not recognize it as the one he had seen outside the Clermont. You seem to have forgotten your errand. Came in quiet, if not good-natured sarcasm from their patiently waiting host. It's the room, muttered sweetwater, with an attempt at his old time ease which was not as fully successful as usual. What an all-fire genius you must be. I never saw the like. And in a tenement house, too. You ought to be in one of those big new studio buildings in New York where artists be and everything you see is beautiful. You'd appreciate it, you would. The detective started, George started, at the gleam which answered him from a very uncommon eye. It was a temporary flash, however, and quickly veiled, and the tone in which this done now spoke was anything but an encouraging one. I thought you were deserious of joining a socialist fraternity, said he. A true aspirant for such honors don't care for beautiful things unless all can have them. I prefer my tenement. How is it with you, friends? Sweetwater found some sort of a reply, though the thing which this man now did must have startled him, as it certainly did George. They were so grouped that a table quite full of anomalous objects stood at the back of their host, and consequently quite beyond their own reach. As Sweetwater began to speak, he whom he had addressed by the name of Dunn drew a pistol from his breast pocket and laid it down barrel towards them on this table top. Then he looked up courteously enough and listened till Sweetwater was done. A very handsome man, but one not to be trifled with in the slightest degree, both recognized this fact, and George for one began to edge towards the door. Now I feel easier, remarked the giant, swelling out his chest. He was unusually tall, as well as unusually muscular. I never liked to carry arms, but sometimes it is unavoidable. Damn it, what hands! He was looking at his home, which certainly showed soil. Will you pardon me? He pleasantly apologized, stepping towards a wash stand and plunging his hands into the basin. I cannot think with dirt on me like that. Hey, did you speak? He turned quickly on George, who had certainly uttered an ejaculation, but receiving no reply went on with his task, completing it with a care and a disregard of their presence, which showed him up in still another light. But even his hardy-hood showed shock when, upon turning round with a brisk, now I am ready to talk, he encountered again the clear eye of Sweetwater. For in the person of this non-to-welcome intruder, he saw a very different man from the one upon whom he had just turned his back with so little ceremony, and there appeared to be no good reason for the change. He had not noted in his preoccupation how George, at sight of his stooping figure, had made a sudden significant movement, and, if he had, the pulling of a necktry straight would have meant nothing to him. But to Sweetwater it meant everything, and it was in the tone of one fully at ease with himself that he now dryly remarked, Mr. Brotherson, if you feel quite clean, and if you have sufficiently warmed yourself, I would suggest that we start out at once, unless you prefer to have me share this room with you till the morning. There was silence. Mr. Dunn, thus addressed, attempted no answer, not for a full minute. The two men were measuring each other. George felt that he did not count at all, and they were quite too much occupied with this task to heed the passage of time. To George, who knew little, if anything, of what this silent struggle meant to either, it seemed that the detective stood no show before this Samson of physical strength and intellectual power, backed by a pistol just within reach of his hand. But as George continued to look and saw the figure of the smaller man gradually dilate, while that of the larger, the more potent, and the better guarded gave unmistakable signs of secret wavering, he slowly changed his mind, and, ranging himself with the detective, waited for the word or words which should explain the situation and render intelligible the triumph gradually becoming visible in the young detective's eyes. But he was not destined to have his curiosity satisfied so far. He might witness and hear, but it was long before he understood. Brotherson repeated their host after the silence had lasted to the breaking point. Why do you call me that? Because it is your name. You called me done a minute ago. That is true. Why done if Brotherson is my name? Because you spoke under the name of done at the meeting tonight, and if I don't mistake, that is the name by which you are known here. And you, by what name are you known? It is late to ask, isn't it? But I'm willing to speak it now, and I might not have been so a little earlier in our conversation. I am Detective Sweetwater of the New York Department of Police, and my errand here is a very simple one. Some letters signed by you have been found among the papers of the lady whose mysterious death at the Hotel Clermont is just now occupying the attention of the New York authorities. If you have any information to give which will in any way explain that death, your presence will be welcome at Coroner Heath's office in New York. If you have not, your presence will still be welcome. At all events I was told to bring you. You will be on hand to accompany me in the morning, I am quite sure, pardoning the unconventional means I have taken to make sure of my man. The humor with which this was said seemed to rob it of anything like attack, and Mr. Brotherson, as we shall hereafter call him, smiled with an odd acceptance of the same as he responded. I will go before the police certainly. I haven't much to tell, but what I have is at their service. It will not help you, but I have no secrets. What are you doing? He bounded towards Sweetwater, who had simply stepped to the window, lifted the shade, and looked across at the opposing tenement. I wanted to see if it was still snowing, explained the detective with a smile, which seemed to strike the other like a blow. If it was a liberty, please pardon it. Mr. Brotherson drew back the cold air of self-possession, which he now assumed, presented such a contrast to the unwarranted heat of the moment before that George wandered greatly over it, and later, when he recapitulated to me the whole story of this night, it was this incident of the lifted shade, together with the emotion it had caused, which he acknowledged as being for him the most inexplicable event of the evening, and the one he was most anxious to hear explained. As this ends our connection with this affair, I will bid you my personal farewell. I have often wished that circumstances had made it possible for me to accompany you through the remaining intricacies of this remarkable case. But you will not lack a suitable guide. End of Chapter 9. Recorded by Renata McLaughlin at RenataMCL at yahoo.com, Temecula, California, January 30th, 2009. Chapter 10 of initials only. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Initials only by Anna Catherine Green. Book 2. As seen by Detective Sweetwater. Chapter 10. A Difference of Opinion. At an early hour the next morning, Sweetwater stood before the coroner's desk, urging a plea he feared to hear refused. He wished to be present at the interview soon to be held with Mr. Brotherson, and he had no good reason to advance why such a privilege should be allotted him. It's not curiosity, said he. There's a question I hope to see settled. I can't communicate it. You would laugh at me, but it's an important one, a very important one. And I beg that you will let me sit in one of the corners and hear what he says. I won't bother, and I'll be very still, so still that he'll hardly notice me. Do grant me disfavor, sir. The coroner, who had some little experience with this man, surveyed him with a smile less forbidding than the poor fellow expected. You seem to lay great stall by it, said he. If you want to sort those papers over there, you may. Thank you. I don't understand the job, but I promise you not to increase the confusion. If I do, if I rattle the leaves too loudly, it will mean press him further on this exact point. But I doubt if I rattle them, sir, no such luck. The last three words were uttered, so to vice. But the coroner heard him and followed his ungainly figure with a glance of some curiosity as he settled himself at the desk on the other side of the room. Is the man he begun? But at this moment the man entered, and Dr Heath forgot the young detective in his interest in the new arrival. Neither dressed with the elegance known to the habitues of the Claremont, nor yet in the workman's outfit in which he had thought best to appear before the associated brotherhood, the newcomer advanced with an aspect of open respect which could not fail to make a favourable impression upon the critical eye of the official awaiting him. So favourable indeed was this impression that that gentleman half rose, infusing a little more consideration into his greeting than he was accustomed to show to his prospective witnesses. Such a fearless eye he had seldom encountered, nor was it often his pleasure to confront so conspicuous as specimen of physical and intellectual manhood. Mr Brotherson, I believe, said he as he motioned his visitor to sit. That is my name, sir, Orlando Brotherson, the same, sir. I'm glad we have made no mistake, smiled the doctor. Mr Brotherson, I have sent for you under the supposition that you were a friend of the unhappy lady, lately dead, at the Hotel Claremont. Miss Chalena? Certainly Miss Chalena. I knew the lady, but hear the speaker's eye took on a look as questioning as that of his interlocutor, but in a way so devoid of all publicity that I cannot but feel surprised that the fact should be known. At this, the listening sweetwater hoped that Dr Heath would ignore the suggestion must convey and decline the explanation it apparently demanded. But the impression made by the gentleman's good looks had been too strong for this coroner's proverbial caution. And handing over the slip of a note which had been found among Miss Chalena's effects by her father, he quietly asked, Do you recognize the signature? Yes, it is mine. Then you acknowledge yourself the author of these lines? Most certainly, have I not said that this is my signature? Do you remember the words of this note, Mr Brotherson? Hardly, I recollect its tenor, but not the exact words. Read them. Excuse me, I had rather not. I am aware that they were bitter and should be the cause a great regret. I was angry when I wrote them. That is evident, but the cause of your anger is not so clear, Mr Brotherson. Miss Chalena was a woman of lofty character, or such was the universal opinion of her friends. What could she have done to a gentleman like yourself to draw forth such a tirade? You ask that. I am obliged to. There is a mystery surrounding her death, the kind of mystery which demands perfect frankness on the part of all who were near her on that evening, or whose relations to her were in any way peculiar. You acknowledge that your friendship was of such a guarded nature that it surprised you greatly to hear it recognized, yet you could write her a letter of this nature. Why? Because. The word came glibly, but the next one was long in following. Because, he repeated, letting the fire of some strong feeling disturb for a moment his dignified reserve. I offered myself to Miss Chalena, and she dismissed me with a great disdain. Ah, and so you thought a threat was due her. A threat? These words contain a threat. Do they not? They may. I was hardly master of myself at the time. I may have expressed myself in an unfortunate manner. Read the words, Mr. Brotherson. I really must insist that you do so. There was no hesitancy now. Rising, he leaned over the table and read the few words the other had spread out for his perusal. Then he slowly rose to his full height, as he answered with some slight display of compunction. I remember it perfectly now. It is not a letter to be proud of. I hope, pray, finish, Mr. Brotherson, that you are not seeking to establish a connection between this letter and her violent death. Letters of this sort are often very mischievous, Mr. Brotherson. The harshness with which this is written might easily rouse emotions of a most unhappy nature in the breast of a woman as sensitive as Miss Chalena. Pardon me, Dr. Heath. I cannot flatter myself so far. You overrate my influence with the lady you know. You believe, then, that she was sincere in her rejection of your addresses? A stark, too slight to be noted by anyone but the watchful sweetwater showed that this question had gone home. But the self-poise and mental control of this man were perfect, and in an instant he was facing the coroner again, with the dignity which gave no clue to the disturbance into which his thoughts had just been thrown. Nor was this disturbance apparent in his tones when he made his reply. I have never allowed myself to think otherwise. I have seen no reason why I should. The suggestion you would convey by such a question is hardly welcome now. I pray you to be careful in your judgment of such a woman's impulses. They often spring from sources, not to be sounded even by her dearest friends. Just but how cold, Dr. Heath, eyeing him with admiration rather than sympathy, hesitated how to proceed, while sweetwater, peering up from his papers, sought in vain for some evidence of the bereaved lover in the impressive but wholly dispassionate figure of him who had just spoken. Had pride got the better of his heart, or had that organ always been subordinate to the will in this man of instincts so varying, that at one time he impressed you simply as a typical gentleman of leisure, at another as no more than a fiery agitator with powers absorbed by, if not limited to the one cause he advocated, and again, and this seemed the most contradictory of all, just the ardent inventor living in a tenement with science for his goddess and work always under his hand. As the young detective weighed these possibilities and marbled over the contradictions they offered, he forgot the papers now lying quiet under his hand. He was too interested to remember his own part, something which could not often be said at sweetwater. Meantime, the coroner had collected his thoughts with an apology for the extremely personal nature of his inquiry. He asked Mr. Brotherson if he would object to giving him some further details of his acquaintanceship with Miss Chalner, where he first met her and under what circumstances their friendship had developed. Not at all was the ready reply. I have nothing to conceal in the matter. I only wish that her father were present, that he might listen to the recital of my acquaintanceship with his daughter. He might possibly understand her better and regard with more leniency the presumption into which I was led by my ignorance of the pride inherent in great families. Your wish can very easily be gratified, return the official, pressing an electric button on his desk. Mr. Chalner is in the adjoining room. Then, as the door communicating with the room he had mentioned, swung a jar and stood so. Dr. Heath added, without apparent consciousness of the dramatic character of this episode, you will not need to raise your voice beyond its natural pitch. He can hear perfectly from where he sits. Thank you. I am glad to speak in his presence. Came in undisturbed, self-positioned from this not easily surprised witness. I shall relate the facts exactly as they occurred, adding nothing and concealing nothing. If I mistook my position or Miss Chalner's position, it is not for me to apologize. I never hid my business from her, nor the moderate extent of my fortune. If she knew me at all, she knew me for what I am, a man of the people who glories in work and who has risen by it to a position somewhat unique in this city. I feel no lack of equality, even with such a woman as Miss Chalner. A most unnecessary preamble, no doubt, and of doubtful efficiency in smoothing his way to a correct understanding with the deeply bereaved father, but he looked so handsome as he thus asserted himself and made so much of his inches and the noble pores of his head, though cold of eye and always cold of manner, that those who saw as well as heard him forgave this display of egotism in consideration of its honesty and the dignity it imparted to his person. I first met Miss Chalner in the Berkshires. He begun, after a moment of quiet listening, the any possible sound from the other room. I had been on the tramp and had stopped at one of the great hotels for a seven days rest. I will acknowledge that I chose this spot at the instigation of a relative who knew my tastes and how perfectly they might be gratified there. That I should mingle with the guests may not have been in his thought any more than it was in mine at the beginning of my stay. The panorama of beauty spread out before me on every side was sufficient in itself for my enjoyment and might have continued so to the end if my attention had not been very forcibly drawn on one memorable morning to a young lady, Miss Chalner. By the very earner's look she gave me as I was crossing the office from one veranda to another. I must insist on this look even if it shocked the delicacy of my listeners for without the interest it awakened in me I might not have noticed the blush with which she turned aside to join her friends on the veranda. It was an overwhelming blush which could not have sprung from any slight embarrassment and though I hate the pretensions of those egotists who see in a woman's smile more than it by right conveys I could not help being moved by this display of feeling in one so gifted with every grace and attribute of the perfect woman. With less caution than I usually display I approached the desk where she had been standing and, meeting the eyes of the clerk, asked the young lady's name. He gave it and waited for me to express the surprise he expected it to evoke but I felt none and showed none. Other feelings had seized me. I had heard of this gracious woman from many sources in my life among the suffering masses of New York and now that I had seen her and found her to be not only my ideal of personal loveliness but seemingly approachable and not uninterested in myself. I allowed my fancy to sour and my heart to become touched a fact which the clerk now confided to me naturally deepened the impression. Miss Chalena had seen my name in the guest book and asked to have me pointed out to her. Perhaps she had heard my name spoken in the same quarter where I had heard hers. We had never exchanged confidences on the subject and I cannot say. I can only give you my reason for the interest I felt in Miss Chalena and why I forgot in the glamour of this episode. The aims and purposes of a not unambitious life and the distance which the world and the so-called aristocratic class put between a woman of her wealth and standing and a simple worker like myself. I must be pardoned. She had smiled upon me once and she smiled again. Days before we were formally presented I caught her softened look turned my way as we passed each other in hall or corridor. We were friends or so it appeared to me before ever a word passed between us and when fortune favoured us and we were duly introduced our minds met in a strange sympathy which made this one interview a memorable one to me. Unhappily as I then considered it this was my last day at the hotel and our conversation interrupted frequently by passing acquaintances was never resumed. I exchanged a few words with her by way of goodbye but nothing more. I came to New York and she remained in Lenox a month after and she too came to New York. This goodbye do you remember it? The exact language I mean. I do. It made a great impression on me. I shall hope for our further acquaintance she said we have one very strong interest in common ever a human face spoke eloquently it was hers at that moment. The interest as I understood it was our mutual sympathy for our toiling half-starved, downtrodden brothers and sisters in the lower streets of this city but the eloquence that I probably mistook. I thought it sprung from personal interest and it gave me courage to pursue the intention which had taken the place of every other feeling and ambition by which I had hitherto been moved. Here was a woman in a thousand one who could make a man of me indeed if she could ignore the social golf between us I felt free to take the leap. Caledas had never been a fault of mine but I was no fool even then. I realized that I must first let her see the manner of man I was and what life meant to me and must mean to her if the union I contemplated should come an actual fact. I wrote letters to her but I did not give her my address or even request a reply I was not ready for any word from her I am not like other men and I could wait and I did for weeks then I suddenly appeared at her hotel. The change of voice the bitterness which he infused into this final sentence made everyone look up. Hitherto he had spoken calmly almost monotonously as if no present heartbeat responded to this tale of vanished love but with the words then I suddenly appeared at her hotel he showed himself human again and betrayed a passion which though curbed was of the fiery quality befitting his extraordinary attributes of mind and person. This was when put in Dr Hith anxious to bridge the pause which must have been very painful to the listening father. The week after Thanksgiving I did not see her the first day and only casually the second but she knew I was in the building and when I came upon her one evening seated at the very desk in the mesmene which we all have such bitter cause to remember I could not forbear expressing my soul why she could not misunderstand the result was of a kind to drive a man like myself to an extremity of self-condemnation and rage she rose up as if insulted and flung me one sentence and one sentence only before she hailed the elevator and left my presence a cure could not have been dismissed with less ceremony that is not like my daughter what was the sentence you allude to? let me hear the very words Mr Chalner had come forward and now stood awaiting his reply a dignified but pathetic figure which all must view with respect I hate the memory of them but since you demanded I will repeat them just as they fell from her lips was Mr Brotherson's bitter retort she said you of all men should recognise the unseenliness of these proposals had your letters given me any hint of the feelings you have just expressed you would never have had this opportunity of approaching me that was all but her indignation was scathing ladies who have sucked exclusively off silver show a fine scorn for the common wear of the cotager Mr Chalner bowed there is some mistake said he my daughter might be averse to your addresses but she would never show indignation to any aspirant for her hand simply on account of extraneous conditions she had wide sympathies wider than I often approved something in the conduct or the confidence you showed shocked her nicer sense not your lack of the luxuries she often misprised this much I feel obliged to say out of justice to her character which was uniformly considerate you have seen her with men of her own world and yours was the harsh response she had another side to her nature the man of a different sphere and it killed my love that you can see and led her to my sending her the injudicious letter with which you have confronted me the hurt bull uttered one bellow before he dies I bellowed and bellowed loudly but I did not die I am my own man still and mean to remain so the assertive boldness some would call it bravado with which he thus finished the story of his relations with the dead heiress seemed to be more than Mr. Chalano could stand with a look of extreme pain and perplexity he vanished from the doorway and it fell to Dr. Heath to inquire is this letter a letter of threat you will remember the only communication which passed between you and Miss Chalano after this unfortunate passage of arms at the Claremont yes, I had no wish to address her again I had exhausted in this one outburst whatever humiliation I felt and she did she give no sign make you no answer none whatever then as if he found impossible to hide this hurt to his pride she did not even seem to consider me worthy the honour of an added rebuke such arrogance is no doubt commendable in a Chalano this time his bitterness did not pass unrebuted by the coroner remember the grey hairs of the only Chalano who can hear you and respect his grief Mr. Brotherson bowed I have finished, said he I shall have nothing more to say on the subject and he drew himself up in expectation of the dismissal he evidently thought pending but the coroner was not done with him by any means he had a theory in regard to this lamentable suicide which he hoped to establish by this man's testimony and in pursuit of this plan he not only motioned to Mr. Brotherson to reseed himself but begun at once to open a fresh line of examination by saying you will pardon me if I press this matter I have been given to understand that not withstanding your break with Miss Chalano you have kept up your visits to the Claremont and were even on the spot at the time of her death on the spot in the hotel I mean there you are right I was in the hotel at the time of her death very near the time I remember hearing some disturbance in the lobby behind me just as I was passing out at the Broadway entrance you did and did not return why should I return I am not a man of much curiosity there was no reason why I should connect a sudden alarm in the lobby of the Claremont with any cause of special interest to myself this was so true and the look which accompanied the words was so frank that the coroner hesitated a moment before he said certainly not unless well to be direct unless you had just seen Miss Chalano a newer state of mind and what was likely to follow your abrupt departure I had no interview with Miss Chalano but you saw her saw her that evening and just before the accident sweet water's papers rattled it was the only sound to be heard in that moment of silence then what do you mean by those words inquired Mr. Brotherson with studied composure I have said that I had no interview with Miss Chalano why do you ask me then if I saw her because I believe that you did from a distance possibly but yet directly with no possibility of mistake do you put that as a question I do did you see her figure or face that night I did nothing not even the rattling of sweet water's papers disturbed the silence which followed this admission from where Dr Heath asked at last from a point far enough away to make any communication between us impossible I do not think you will require me to recall the exact spot if it were one which made it possible for her to see you as clearly as you could see her I think it would be very advisable for you to say so it was such a spot then I think I can locate it for you or do you prefer to locate it yourself I will locate it myself I had hoped not to be called upon to mention what I cannot but consider a most unfortunate coincidence as a gentleman you will understand my reticence and also why it is a matter of regret to me that with an acumen worthy of your position you should have discovered a fact which while it cannot explain Miss Chalena's death will drag our little affair before the public possibly give it a prominence in some minds which I am sure does not belong to it I met Miss Chalena's eye for one instant from the top of the little staircase running up to the mezzanine I had yielded thus far to an impulse I had frequently combated to seek by another interview to retrieve the bad effect which must have been made upon her by my angry note I knew that she frequently wrote letters in the mezzanine at this hour and got as far as the top of the staircase in my effort to join her but got no further when I saw her on her feet with her face turned my way I remembered the scorn with which she had received my former heartfelt proposals and without taking another step forward I turned away from her and fled down the steps and so out of the building by the main entrance she saw me for her hand flew up with a startled gesture but I cannot think that my presence on the same floor with her could have caused her to strike the blow which terminated her life why should I no woman sacrifices her life at a mere regret for the disdain she has shown a man she has taken no pains to understand his tone and his attitude seemed to invite the concurrence of Dr Heath in this statement but the richness of the one and the grace of the other showed the handsome speaker off to such advantage that the coroner was rather inclined to consider how a woman even of Miss Chaloner's fine taste and careful breeding might see in such a situation much for regret if not for active despair and the suicidal act he gave no evidence of his thought however, but followed up the one admission made by Mr Brotherson which he and others must naturally view as of the first importance you saw Miss Chaloner lift her hand what you say which hand and what was in it anything she lifted her right hand but it would be impossible for me to tell you whether there was anything in it or not I simply saw the movement before I turned away it looked like one of alarm to me I felt that she had some reason for this she could not know rather than in fulfillment of my threat aside from the adjoining room Mr Brotherson rose as he heard it and in doing so met the clear eye of sweet water fixed upon his own its language was no doubt peculiar and it seemed to fascinate him for a moment for he started as if to approach the detective but for silk attention almost immediately and addressing the coroner gravely remarked her death following so quickly upon this aborted attempt of mine at an interview startled me by its coincidence as much as it does you if in the weakness of a woman's nature it was more than this if the scorn she had previously shown me was a cloak instinctively assumed to hide what was she not ready to disclose my remorse will be as great as anyone here could wish but the proof of all this will have to be very convincing before my present convictions will yield to it some other and more poignant source will have to be found for that instance impulsive act then is supplied by this story unfortunate attachment Dr. Heath was convinced that he was willing to concede something to the secret demand made upon him by sweet water who was bundling up his papers with much clutter looking up with a smile which had elements in it he was hardly conscious of perhaps himself he asked in an offhand way then why did you take such pains to wash your hands at the affair the moment you had left the hotel I do not understand you passed around the corner into street did you not very likely I could go that way as well as another and stopped at the first lamppost oh I see someone saw that childish action of mine what do you mean by it just what you have suggested I did go through the pantomime of washing my hands of an affair I considered definitely ended I had resisted an irrepressible impulse to see and talk with Miss Chalner again and was pleased with my firmness unaware of the tragic blow which had just fallen I was full of self congratulations at my escape from the charm which had lured me back to this hotel again and again in spite of my better judgment and I wished to symbolise my relief by an act of which I was in another moment ashamed strange that there should have been a witness to it here he stole a look at sweet water stranger still that circumstances by the most extraordinary of coincidences should have given so unforeseen a point to it you are right Mr. Brotherson the whole occurrence is startling and most strange but life is made up of the unexpected as none known better than we physicians whether our practice be of a public or private character as Mr. Brotherson left the room with the curiosity to which he had yielded once before led him to cast a glance of penetrating inquiry behind him full at sweet water and if I ever felt embarrassment it was not the hunted but the hunter but the feeling did not last I've simply met the strongest man I've ever encountered with sweet waters encouraging comment to himself all the more glory if I could find a joint in his armor or a hidden passage to his cold secretive heart end of chapter 10 Chapter 11 of initials only this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this reading by Anna Roberts initials only by Anna Catherine Green Book 2 as seen by Detective Sweetwater Chapter 11 alike in essentials Mr. Grice I am either a fool or the luckiest fellow going you must decide which the agent detective thus addressed laid down his evening paper and endeavored to make out the dim form he could just spaintly discern standing between him and the library door Sweetwater is that you? No one else sweetwater much too wise for his own good I don't know which perhaps you can find out and tell me a grunt from the region of the library table then the sarcastic remark I'm just in the mood to settle that question this last failure to my account ought to make me an excellent judge of another's folly I've meddled with the old business for the last time sweetwater you'll have to go it alone from now on the department has no more work for Ebenezer Grice or rather Ebenezer Grice will make no more full attempts to please them strange that a man doesn't know when his time has come to quit I remember how I once scored yardsly for hanging on after he had lost his grip and here am I doing the same thing but what's the matter with you speak out my boy something new in the wind no Mr. Grice nothing new it's the same old business but if what I suspect is true this same old business offers opportunities for some very interesting and unusual effort you're not satisfied with the coroner's verdict in the Chaloner case no I'm satisfied with nothing that leaves all ends dangling suicide was not proved it seemed the only presumption possible but it was not proved there was no blood stain on that cutter point nor any evidence that it had ever been there no I'm not proud of the chain which lacks a link where it should be strongest we shall never supply that link I quite agree with you that chain must throw away and forge another sweetwater approached and sat down yes I believe we can do it yet I have only one indisputable fact for a starter that is why I want you to tell me whether I'm growing daft or simply adventurous Mr. Grice I don't trust Brotherson he has pulled the wool over Dr. Heath's eyes and almost over those of Mr. Chaloner but he can't pull it over mine though he should tell a story ten times more plausible than the one with which he has satisfied the coroner's jury I would still listen to him with more misgiving than confidence yet I have caught him in no misstatement and his eye is steadier than my own perhaps it is simply a deeply rooted antipathy on my part or the rage one feels at finding he has placed his finger on the wrong man again it may be what sweetwater a well-founded distrust Mr. Grice I'm going to ask you a question ask away ask fifty if you want to the one may involve fifty but it is big enough in itself to hold our attention for a while did you ever hear of a case before that in some of its details was similar to this no it stands alone that's why it is so puzzling you forget the wealth beauty and social consequence of the present victim has blinded you to the strong resemblance with her case bears to one you know in which the sufferer had none of the worldly advantages of Mr. Chaloner I allude to wait the washerwoman in Hicks Street sweetwater what have you got up your sleeve you do mean that Brooklyn washerwoman don't you the same the department may have forgotten it but I haven't Mr. Grice there's a startling similarity in the two cases if you study the essential features only startling I assure you yes you are right there but what if there is we were no more successful in solving that case than we have been in solving this yet you look and act like a hound which has struck a hot scent the young man smooth his features with an embarrassed laugh I shall never learn said he not to give tongue till the hunt is fairly started if you will excuse me will first make sure of the similarity I've mentioned then I'll explain myself I have some notes here made at the time it was decided to drop the Hicks Street case as a wholly inexplicable one as you know I never can bear to say die and I sometimes keep such notes as a possible help in case any such unfinished matter should come up again do you read them do twenty years ago it would not have been necessary I should have remembered every detail of an affair so puzzling but my memory is no longer entirely reliable so fire away my boy though I hardly see your purpose or what real bearing the affair in Hicks Street has upon the Claremont one a poor washerwoman and the wealthiest challenger true they were not unlike in their end the connection will come later smiled the young detective with that strange softening of his features sometimes forget his extreme plainness I'm sure you will not consider the time lost if I ask you to consider the comparison I am about to make if only as a curiosity in criminal animals and he read on the afternoon of December 4th 1910 the strong and persistent screaming of a young child in one of the rooms of a rear tenement in Hicks Street Brooklyn drew the attention of some of the inmates and led them after several ineffectual efforts to gain an entrance to the end of the door which had been fastened on the inside by an old fashioned door button the tenant whom all knew for an honest hardworking woman had not infrequently fastened her door in this manner in order to safeguard her child who is abnormally active and had a way of rattling the door open when it was not thus secured but she had never refused to open before and the child's cries were pitiful this was no longer a matter of wonder when the door having been wrenched from its hinges they all rushed in across a tub of steaming clothes lifted upon a bench in the open window they saw the body of this good woman lying inert and seemingly dead the frightened child tugging at her skirts she was of a robust make plushy and fair and had always been considered a model of health and energy but at the sight of her helpless figure thus stricken while at work the one cry was a stroke till she had been lifted off and laid upon the floor then some discoloration in the water at the bottom of the tub led to a closer examination of her body and the discovery of a bullet hole in her breast directly over the heart as she had been standing with face towards the window all crowded that way to see where the shot had come from as they were on the fourth story it could not have come from the court upon which the room looked it could only have come from the front tenement towering up before them some twenty feet away a single window of the innumerable ones confronting them stood open and this was the one directly opposite nobody was to be seen there or in the room beyond but during the excitement one man ran off to call the police and another to hunt up the janitor and ask who occupied this room his reply threw them all into confusion the tenement of that room was the best the quietest and most respectable man in either building then he must be simply careless in the shot an accidental one a rush was made for the stairs and soon the whole building was in an uproar but when this special room was reached it was found locked and on the door of paper pinned up on which these words were written gone to New York will be back at six thirty words that recall the circumstance to the janitor he had seen the gentleman go out an hour before this terminated all inquiry in this direction though some few of the excited throng were for battering down this door just as they had the other one but they were overruled by the janitor who saw no use in such wholesale destruction and presently the arrival of the police restored order and limited the inquiry to the rear building where it undoubtedly belonged Mr. Grice here sweet water laid by his notes that he might address the old gentleman more directly I was with the boys when they made their first official investigation this is why you can rely upon the facts as here given I followed the investigation closely and missed nothing which could in any way throw light on the case it was a mysterious one from the first and lost nothing by further inquiry into the details the first fact to startle us as we made our way up through the crowd which blocked halls and staircases was this a doctor had been found and though he had been forbidden to make more than a cursory examination of the body till the coroner came he had not hesitated to declare after his first look that the wound had not been made by a bullet but by some sharp and slender weapon thrust home by a powerful hand you mark that Mr. Grice as this seemed impossible in the face of the fact that the door had been found buttoned on the inside we did not give much credit to his opinion and began our work under the obvious theory of an accidental discharge of some gun from one of the windows across the court but the doctor was nearer right than we supposed when the coroner came to look into the matter he discovered that the wound was not only too small to have been made by the ordinary bullet but that there was no bullet to be found in the woman's body or anywhere else her heart had been reached by a thrust and not by a shot from a gun Mr. Grice have you not heard a startling repetition of this report in a case near the end but to go back this discovery so important if true was as yet that is at the time of our entering the room limited to the offhand declaration of an irresponsible physician but the possibility it involved was of so astonishing in nature that it influenced us unconsciously in our investigation and led us almost immediately into a consideration of the difficulties attending an entrance into as well as an escape from a room situated as this was up three flights from the court with no communication with the adjoining room saved through a door guarded on both sides by heavy pieces of furniture no one person could handle the hall door buttoned on the inside and the fire escaped some 15 feet to the left this room of death appeared to be as removed from the approach of a murderous outsider as the spot in the writing room of the Claremont where Miss Chaloner fell otherwise the place presented the greatest contrast possible to that scene of splendor and comfort I had not entered the Claremont at that time and no such comparison could have struck my mind but I have thought of it since and you with your experience will not find it difficult to picture the room where this poor woman lived and worked bare walls with just a newspaper illustration pinned up here and there a bed tragically occupied at this moment a kitchen stove on which a boiler half filled with steaming clothes still bubbled and foamed an old bureau a large pine wardrobe against an inner door which we later found to have been locked for months and the key lost some chairs and most pronounced of all because of its position directly before the window a pine bench supporting a wash tub of the old sort as it was here the woman fell this tub naturally received the closest examination a board projected from its further side whether it had evidently been pushed by the weight of her falling body and from its top hung a wet cloth marking with its lugubrious drip on the boards beneath the first heavy moments of silence the natural accompaniment of so serious a survey on the floor to the right lay a half used cake of soap just as it had slipped from her hand the window was closed for the temperature was at the freezing point but it had been found up and it was put up now to show the height at which it had then stood as we all took our look at the house while opposite a sound of shouting came up from below a dozen children were sliding on barrel staves down a slope of heaped up snow they had been engaged in this sport all the afternoon and were our witnesses later that no one had made a hazardous escape by means of the ladder of the fire escape running as I have said at an almost unattainable distance toward the left of her own child whose cries had roused the neighbors nothing was to be seen the woman in the extreme rear had carried it off to her room but when we came to see it later no doubt was felt by any of us that this child was too young to talk connectedly nor did I ever hear that it ever said anything which could in any way guide investigation and that is as far as we ever got the coroner's jury brought in a verdict of death by means of a stab from some unknown weapon in the hand of a person also unknown but no weapon was ever found nor was it ever settled how the attack could have been made or the murder escape under the conditions described the woman was poor her friends few and the case seemingly inexplicable so after creating some excitement by its peculiarities it fell of its own weight but I remembered it and in many a spare hour have tried to see my way through the no thoroughfare it presented but quite in vain today the road is as blind as ever but here sweetwater's face sharpened and his eyes burned as he leaned closer and closer to the old detective but this second case so unlike the first in non-essentials but so exactly like it in just those points which make the mystery has dropped a thread from its tangled skein into my hand which may yet lead us to the heart of both can you guess have you guessed what this thread is but how could you without the one clue I have not given you Mr. Grice the tenement where this occurred is the same I visited the other night in search of Mr. Brotherson and the man characterized at that time by the janitor as the best the quietest and most respectable tenant in the whole building and the one you remember whose window opened directly opposite the spot where this woman lay dead was Mr. Dunn himself or in other words are late redoubtable witness Mr. Orlando Brotherson End of Chapter 11 Chapter 12 of initials only this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this reading by Anna Roberts initials only by Anna Catherine Green Book 2 as seen by Detective Clearwater Chapter 12 Mr. Grice finds an antidote for old age I thought I should make you sit up I really calculated upon doing so sir yes I've established the plain fact that this Brotherson was near to if not in the exact line of the scene of crime in each of these extraordinary and baffling cases a very odd coincidence is it not was the dry conclusion of our eager young detective odd enough if you are correcting your statement but I thought it was conceded that the man Brotherson was not personally near was not even in the building at the time of the woman's death in Hick Street that he was out and had been out for hours according to the janitor and so the janitor thought but he didn't quite know his man I'm not sure that I do but I mean to make his acquaintance and make it thoroughly before I let him go the hero well I will say the possible hero of two such adventures deserves some attention from one so interested in the abnormal as myself sweetwater how came you to discover that Mr. Dunn of this ramshackle tenement in Hick Street was identical with the elegantly equipped admirer of Miss Chaloner just this way the night before Miss Chaloner's death I was brooding very deeply over the Hick Street case it had so possessed me that I had taken the street in on my way from Flatbush as if staring at the house in its swimming courtyard was going to settle any such question as that I walked by the place and I looked up at the windows no inspiration then I sauntered back and entered the house with the full intention of crossing the courtyard and wandering into the rear building where the crime had occurred but my attention was diverted and my mind changed by seeing a man coming down the stairs before me of so fine a figure that I involuntarily stopped to look at him had he moved a little less carelessly had he worn his workmen's clothes a little less naturally I should have thought him some college bread man out on a slumming expedition but he was entirely too much at home where he was and too unconscious of his jeans for any such conclusion on my part and when he had passed out I had enough curiosity to ask who he was my interest you may believe was in no wise abated when I learned that he was that highly respectable tenant whose window had been open at the time when half the inmates of the two buildings had rushed up to his door only to find a paper on it displaying these words gone to New York will be back at 6 30 had he returned at that hour I don't think anybody had ever asked and what reason had I for such interference now but an idea once planted in my brain sticks tight and I kept thinking of this man all the way to the bridge instinctively and quite against my will I found myself connecting him with some previous remembrance in which I seemed to see his tall form and strong features under the stress of some great excitement but there my memory stopped till suddenly as I was entering the subway all came back to me I had met him the day I went with the boys to investigate the case in Hick Street he was coming down the staircase of the rear tenement then very much as I had just seen him coming down the one in front only the done of today seemed to have all his wits about him while the huge fellow who brushed so rudely by me on that occasion had the peculiar look of a man struggling with horror or some other grave agitation this was not surprising of course under the circumstances I had met more than one man and woman in those halls who had worn the same look but none of them had put up a sign on his door he had left for New York and would not be back till 6.30 and then changed his mind so suddenly that he was back in the tenement at three sharing the curiosity and the terrors of its horrified inmates but the discovery while possibly suggestive was not of so pressing a nature as to demand instant action and more immediate duties coming up I let the matter slip from my mind to be brought up again the next day you may well believe when all the circumstances of the death at the Claremont came to light and I was confronted by a problem very nearly the counterpart of the one then occupying me but I did not see any real connection between the two cases until in my hunt for Mr. Brotherson I came upon the following facts that he was not always the gentleman he appeared that the apartment in which he was supposed to live was not his own but a friend's and that he was only there by spells when he was there he dressed like a prince and it was while so clothed he ate his meals in the cafe of the hotel Claremont but there were times when he had been seen to leave this apartment in a very different garb and while there was no one to insinuate that he was slack in paying his debts or was given to dissipation or any overt vice it was generally conceded by such as casually knew him that there was a mysterious side to his life which no one understood his friend a seemingly candid and open-minded gentlemen explained these contradictions by saying that Mr. Brotherson was a humanitarian and spent much of his time in the slums that while so engaged he naturally dressed suit the occasion and if he was to be criticized at all it was for his zeal which often led him to extremes and kept him to his task for days during which time none of his uptown friends saw him then this enthusiastic gentleman called him the great intellectual light of the day and well if I ever want a character I shall take pains to insinuate myself into the good graces of this Mr. Conway of Brotherson himself I saw nothing he had come to Mr. Conway's apartment the night before the night of Miss Challenger's death you understand but had remained only long enough to change his clothes where he went afterwards is unknown to Mr. Conway nor can he tell us when to look for his return when he does show up my message will be given to him etc etc I have no fault to find with Mr. Conway but I had an idea in regard to this elusive Brotherson I had heard enough about him to be mighty sure that together with his other accomplishments he possessed the golden tongue and easy speech of an orator also that his tendencies were revolutionary and that for all his fine clothes and hankering after table luxuries and the like he cherished a spite against wealth which made his words under certain moods cut like a knife but there was another man known to us of the precinct who had very nearly these same gifts and this man was going to speak at a secret meeting that very evening this we had been told by a disgruntled member of the Associated Brotherhood suspecting Brotherson I had this prospective speaker described and thought I recognized my man but I wanted to be positive in my identification so I took Anderson with me and but I'll cut that short we didn't see the orator and that go went for nothing but I had another string to my bow in the shape of the workman Dunn who also answered to the description which had been given me so I lugged poor Anderson over into Hick Street it was late for the visit I proposed but not too late if Dunn was also the orator who surprised by a raid I had not been led into would be making for his home if only to establish an alibi the subway was near and I calculated on his using it but we took a taxi cab and so arrived in Hick Street some few minutes before him the result you know Anderson recognized the man as the one whom he saw washing his hands in the snow outside of Claremont and the man seeing himself discovered owned himself to be Brotherson and made no difficulty about accompanying us day to the coroner's office you have heard how he bore himself what his explanations were and how completely they fitted in with the preconceived notions of the inspector and the district attorney in consequence Miss Challenger's death is looked upon as a suicide the impulsive act of a woman who sees the man she may have scouted but whom she secretly loves turn away from her in all probability forever a weapon was in her hand she impulsively used it and another deplorable suicide was added to the list had I put in my order at the conference held in the coroner's office had I recalled to Dr. Heath a curious case of Mrs. Spots and then identified Brotherson as the man whose window fronted hers from the opposite tenement a diversion might have been created in the outcome been different but I feared the experiment I'm not sufficiently in with the chief as yet nor yet with the inspector they might not have called me a fool you may but that's different and they might have listened but it would doubtless even with an air I could not have held up against with that fellow's eyes fixed mockingly on mine for he and I are pitted for a struggle and I do not want to give him the advantage of even a momentary triumph he's the most complete master of himself of any man I ever met and it will take the united brain and resolution of the whole force to bring him to book if he is ever brought to book which I doubt what do you think about it that you have given me an antidote against old age was the ringing and unexpected reply as the thoughtful half puzzled aspect of the old man yielded impulsively to a burst of his early enthusiasm if we can get a good grip on the thread you speak of and can work ourselves along by it though it be by no more than an inch at a time we shall yet make our way through this labyrinth of undoubted crime and earn for ourselves a triumph which will make some of these raw and inexperienced young fellows about us stare sweetwater coincidences are possible we run upon them every day but coincidence and crime that should make work for a detective and we are not afraid of work there's my hand for the end of the business and here's mine next minute the two heads were closer than ever together and the business had begun end of chapter 12 chapter 13 of initials only this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org initials only by Anna Catherine Green book 2 as seen by detective sweetwater chapter 13 time, circumstance, and a villain's heart our first difficulty is this we must prove motive now I do not think it will be so very hard to show that this brotherson cherished feelings of revenge towards Miss Chaloner but I have to acknowledge right here and now most skillful and vigorous pumping of the janitor and such other tenants of the Hick Street tenement as I have dared to approach fails to show that he has ever held any communication with Mrs. Spots or even knew of her existence until her remarkable death attracted his attention I have spent all the afternoon over this and with no result a complete break in the chain at the very start we must set that down then have so much against us the next and this is a bitter pill too is the almost insurmountable difficulty already recognized of determining how a man without approaching his victim could manage to inflict a mortal stab in her breast no cloak of complete invisibility has yet been found even by the cleverest criminals true the problem is such as a nightmare offers for years my dreams have been haunted by a gnome who proposes just such puzzles but there's an answer to everything and I'm sure there's an answer to this remember his business he's an inventor with startling ideas so much I've seen for myself you may stretch probabilities a little in his case and with this conceded we may add by way of offset to the difficulties you mentioned coincidences of time and circumstance and his villainous heart oh I know that I am prejudiced but wait and see Miss Shalner was well rid of him even at the cost of her life she loved him even her father believes that now some lately discovered letters have come to light to prove that she was by no means so heart free as he supposed one of her friends it seems has also confided to him that once while she and Miss Shalner were sitting together she caught Miss Shalner in the act of scribbling capitals over a sheet of paper they were all bees with the exception of here and there a neatly turned oh and when her friend twitted her with her fondness for these two letters and suggested a pleasing monogram Miss Shalner answered OB transferring the letters as you see as the initials of the finest man in the world gosh has he heard this story who the gentlemen in question Mr. Brotherson yes I don't think so it was told me in confidence told you Mr. Grace pardon my curiosity by Mr. Shalner oh by Mr. Shalner he is greatly distressed at having the disgraceful suggestion of suicide attached to his daughter's name notwithstanding the circumstances notwithstanding his full recognition for a secret predilection for a man of whom he had never heard till the night of her death he cannot believe that she struck the blow she did intentionally he sent for me in order to inquire if anything could be done to reinstate her in public opinion he dared not insist that another had wielded the weapon which laid her low suddenly but he asked if in my experience it had never been known that a woman hypersensitive to some strong man's magnetic influence should so follow his thought as to commit an act which never could have arisen in her own mind uninfluenced he evidently does not like Brotherson either and what what did you say ass sweet water with a halting utterance and his face full of thought I simply quoted the latest authority on hypnotism that no person even in hypnotic sleep could be influenced by another to do what was antagonistic to his natural instincts latest authority that doesn't mean a final one supposing that it was hypnotism but that wouldn't account for Mrs. Spott's death her wound certainly was not a self inflicted one how can you be sure there was no weapon found in the room or in the court the snow was searched and the children too no weapon Mr. Grice not even a paper cutter besides but how did Mr. Shaliner take what you said was he satisfied with this assurance he had to be I didn't dare to hold out any hope based on so unsubstantial a theory but the interview had this effect upon me if the possibility remains a fixing guilt elsewhere then on Miss Shaliner's inconsiderate impulse I am ready to devote any amount of time and strength to the work to see this grieving father relieve from the worst part of his burden is worth some effort and now you know why I have listened so eagerly to you sweetwater I will go with you to the superintendent we may not gain his attention and again we may if we don't but we won't cross that bridge prematurely when will you be ready for this business I must be at headquarters tomorrow good then let it be tomorrow a taxicab sweetwater the subway is for the young I can no longer manage the stairs end of chapter 13