 Chapter 24 of The House of the Arrow by A. E. W. Mason This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 24. An Upcaught Story Early the next morning, Anno rang up the Maison Cronelle and made his appointment for the afternoon. Jim, accordingly, spent the morning with Monsieur Bex, who was quite overwhelmed with the story which was told to him. Prisoners have their rights nowadays, he said. They can claim the presence of their legal advisor when they are being examined by the judge. I will go round at once to the prefecture. With his head erect and his little chest puffed out like a bantam cock, he hurried to do battle for his client. There was no battle to be waged, however. Certainly, Monsieur Bex's unhappy client was for the moment authentic clay. She would not come before the judge for a couple of days. It was the turn of Francine Royaud. Every opportunity was to be given to the defense, and Monsieur Bex would certainly be granted an interview with Betty Harlow if she so wished, before she was brought up in the judge's office. Monsieur Bex returned to the place at Tientole to find Jim Frobisher restlessly pacing his office. Jim looked up eagerly, but Monsieur Bex had no words of comfort. I don't like it, he cried. It displeases me. I'm not happy. They are all very polite, yes, but they examined the maid first. That's bad. I tell you, and he tapped upon the table, that is, Hanneau. He knows his affair. The servants, they can be made to talk. And this Francine Royaud, he shook his head, I shall get the best advocate in France. Jim left him to do his work and return to the Maison-Cranel. It was obvious that nothing of these new and terrible developments of the Affaire Raveschi had yet leaked out. There was not a whisper of it in the streets, not a loiterer about the gates of the Maison-Cranel. The Affaire Raveschi had, in the general view, become a stale joke. Jim sent up word to Anne Upcott in her room that he was removing his luggage to the hotel in the Place d'Orcy and leaving the house to her, where he prayed her to remain. Even at that moment, Anne's lips twitched a little with humor as she read the embarrassed note. He is very correct, as Mishir of Becks would say, she reflected, and proper enough to make every nerve of Mishir Hanneau thrill with delight. Jim returned in the afternoon and once more in the shade of the Sycamores, whilst the sunlight dappled the lawn and the bees hummed among the roses. Anne Upcott told a story of terror and darkness, though to a smaller audience. Certain additions were made to the story by Hanneau. I should never have dreamed of going to Madame Levet's ball, she began, except for the anonymous letter, and Hanneau leaned forward alertly. The anonymous letter had arrived whilst she, Betty, and Jim Frobischer were sitting at dinner. It had been posted, therefore, in the middle of the day and very soon after, Anne had told her first story in the garden. Anne opened the envelope expecting a bill and was amazed and a little terrified to read the signature, The Scourge. She was more annoyed than ever when she read the contents, but her terror had decreased. The Scourge bade her attend the ball. He gave her explicit instructions that she should leave the ballroom at half past ten, follow a particular corridor, leading to a wing away from the reception rooms, and hide behind the curtains in a small library. If she kept very still, she would overhear in a little while the truth about the death of Mrs. Harlow. She was warned to tell no one of her plan. I told no one, then, and declared, I thought the letter just a malicious joke, quite in accord with The Scourge's character. I put it back into this envelope, but I couldn't forget it. Suppose that by any chance there was something in it, and I didn't go. Why should The Scourge play a trick on me, who had no money, and was of no importance, and all the while the sort of hope which no amount of reasoning and crush kept growing and growing. After dinner Anne took the letter up to her sitting room and believed it and scorned herself for believing it and believed it again. That afternoon she had almost felt the handcuffs on her wrists. There was no chance which she ought to refuse of clearing herself from suspicion, however wild it seemed. Anne made up her mind to consult Betty and ran down to the treasure room which was lit up but empty. It was half past nine o'clock. Anne determined to wait for Betty's return and was once more perplexed by the low position of the clock upon the marketry cabinet. She stood in front of it, staring at it. She took her own watch in her hand with the sort of vague idea that it might help her, and indeed it was very likely to. Had she turned its dial to the mirror behind the clock, the truth would have leapt at her, but she had not the time. For a slight movement in the room behind her arrested her attention. She turned abruptly. The room was empty, yet without doubt it was from within the room that the faint noise had come. And there was only one place from which it could have come. Someone was hiding within the elaborate sedan chair with its shining gray panels, its delicate gold beading. Anne was uneasy rather than frightened. Her first thought was to ring the bell by the fireplace. She could do that well out of view of the sedan chair and carry on until Gaston answered it. There were treasures enough in the room to repay a hundred thieves. Then without arguing at all, she took the bolder line. She went quietly towards the chair, advancing from the back, and then with a rush planted herself in front of the glass doors. She started back with a cry of surprise. The rail in front of the doors was down, the doors were open, and leaning back upon the billowy cushions sat Betty Harlow. She sat quite still, still as an image even after Anne had appeared and uttered a cry of surprise. But she was not asleep. Her great eyes were blazing steadily out of the darkness of the chair in a way which gave Anne a curious shock. I have been watching you, said Betty very slowly, and if ever there had been a chance that she would relent, that chance was gone forever now. She had come up out of the secret passage to find Anne playing with her watch in front of the mirror, seeking for an explanation of the doubt which troubled her, and so near to it, so very near to it. Anne heard her own death sentence pronounced in those words, I have been watching you. And though she did not understand the men as they conveyed, there was something in the slow, steady utterance of them, which a little unnerved her. Betty, she cried, I want your advice. Betty came out of the chair and took the anonymous letter from her hand. Aught I to go, Anne upcaught asked. It's your affair, Betty replied. In your place I should, I shouldn't hesitate. No one knows yet that there's any suspicion upon you. Anne put forward her objection. To go from this house of mourning might appear an outrage. You're not a relation, Betty argued. You can go privately just before the time. I have no doubt we can arrange it all, but of course it's your affair. Why should the scourge help me? I don't suppose that he is, except indirectly, Betty reasoned. I imagine that he's attacking other people and using you. She read through the letter again. He has always been right, hasn't he? That's what would determine me in your place, but I don't want to interfere. Anne spun round on her heel. Very well, I shall go. Then I should destroy that letter, and she made as if to tear it. No, cried Anne, and she held out her hand for it. I don't know Madam LeBae's house very well. I might easily lose my way without the instructions. I must take it with me. Betty agreed and handed the letter back. You want to go quite quietly, she said, and she threw herself heart and soul into the necessary arrangements. She would give Francine Roulade a holiday and herself help Anne to dress in her fanciful and glistening frock. She wrote a letter to Michel LeBae, Madame LeBae's second son, and one of Betty's most indefatigable courtiers. Fortunately for himself, Michel LeBae kept that letter, and it saved him from any charge of complicity in her plot. For Betty used to him the same argument which had persuaded Jim Frobiture. She wrote frankly that suspicion had centered upon Anne Upcott, and that it was necessary that she should get away secretly. All the plans have been made, Michel. She wrote, Anne will come late. She is to meet the friends who will help her. It is best that you should know as little as possible about them in the little library. If you will keep the corridor clear for a little while, they can get out by the library doors into the park and be in Paris the next morning. She sealed up this letter without showing it to Anne and said, I will send this by a messenger tomorrow morning with orders to deliver it into Michel's own hands. Now how are you to go? Over that point the two girls had some discussion. It would be inviting a no's interference if the big limousine were ordered out. What more likely than that he should imagine Anne meant to run away and that Betty was helping her. That plan certainly would not do. I know, Betty cried. Jean Leclerc shall call for you. You will be ready to slip out. She will stop her car for a second outside the gates. It will be quite dark. You'll be away in a flash. Jean Leclerc, Anne exclaimed, drawing back, it had always perplexed Anne that Betty, so exquisite and fastidious in her own looks and bearing, should have found her friends amongst the flamboyant and the cheap. But she would rather thrown it amongst her inferiors than take her place amongst her equals. Under her reserved demeanor she was insatiable of recognition. The desire to be courted, admired, looked up to as a leader and a chief, burned within her like a raging flame. Jean Leclerc was of her company of satellites, a big red-haired woman of excessive manners, not without good looks of a kind, and certainly received in the society of the town. Anne Upcott, not merely disliked, but distrusted her. She had a feeling that there was something indefinably wrong in her very nature. She will do anything for me, Anne, said Betty. That's why I named her. I know that she is going to Madame Levet's dance. Anne Upcott gave in, and a second letter was written to Jean Leclerc. This second letter, as Jean took call at the Maison Grinnell at an early hour in the morning, and Jean Leclerc came and was closeted with Betty for an hour between nine and ten. Thus all the arrangements were made. It was at this point that Frobisher interrupted Anne Upcott's explanations. No, he said, there remains Espinoza and the young brother to be accounted for. Madame Iselle has just told us that she heard a slight noise in the treasure room and found Betty Harlow seated in the sedan chair. Anne Upcott replied, Betty Harlow had just returned from the Hotel de Brambissar with her Espinoza went that night after it had grown dark and about the time when dinner was over at Maison Grinnell. From the Hotel de Brambissar, Espinoza went to the Rue Gambetta and waited for Jean Claudelle. It was a busy night, that one, my friends. That old wolf, the law, was sniffing at the bottom of the door. They could hear him. They had no time to waste. The next night came. Dinner was very late, Jim remembered. It was because Betty was helping Anne to dress, Francine, having been given her holiday. Jim and Betty dined alone and whilst they dined, Anne Upcott stole downstairs a cloak of white ermine hiding her pretty dress. She held the front door a little open and the moment Jean Leclerc's car stopped before the gates, she flashed across the courtyard. Jean had the door of her car open. It had hardly stopped before it went on again. Jim, as the story was told, remembered vividly Betty's preoccupation whilst dinner went on and the amenity of her relief when the hall door so gently closed and the car moved forward out of the street of Charle-robert. Anne Upcott had gone for good from the Maison-Granelle. She would not interfere with Betty Harlow anymore. Jean Leclerc and Anne Upcott reached Madame Levet's house a few minutes after 10. Michel Levet came forward to meet them. I'm so glad that you came, mademoiselle, he said to Anne. But you are late. Madame, my mother, has left her place at the door of the ballroom. But we shall find her later. He took them to the cloakroom and, coming away, they were joined by Espinosa. You are going to dance now? Michel Levet asked. No, not yet. Then, senior Espinosa will take you to the buffet while I look after others of our guests. He hurried away towards the ballroom where a clatter of high voices competed with the music of the band. Espinosa conducted the two ladies to the buffet. There was hardly anybody in the room. We are still too early, says Jean Leclerc in a low voice. We shall take some coffee. But Anne would not. Her eyes were on the door. Her feet danced. Her hands could not keep still. Was the letter a trick? Would she indeed, within the next few minutes, learn the truth? At one moment her heart sank into her shoes. At another a sword. Mlle, you neglect your coffee, said Espinosa urgently, and it is good. No doubt, Anne replied. She turned to Jean Leclerc. You will send me home, won't you? I shall not wait afterwards. But, of course, Jean Leclerc replied. All that is arranged. The chauffeur has his orders. You will take your coffee, dear. Again, Anne would not. I want nothing, she declared. It is time that I went. She caught a swift and curious interchange of glances between Jean Leclerc and Espinosa, but she was in no mood to seek an interpretation. There could be no doubt that the coffee set before her had had some drugs slipped into it by Espinosa when he fetched it from the buffet to the little table at which they sat. A drug which would have half stupefied her and made her easy to manage. But she was not to be persuaded, and she rose to her feet. I shall get my cloak, she said, and she fetched it, leaving her two companions together. She did not return to the buffet. On the far side of the big central hall, a long corridor stretched out. At the mouth of the corridor, guarding it, stood a Michel Levé. He made a sign to her, and when she joined him, turned down to the right into the wing, he said in a low voice, the small library is in front of you. Anne slipped past him. She turned into a wing of the house, which was quite deserted and silent. At the end of it a shut door confronted her. She opened it softly. It was all dark within, but enough light entered from the corridor to show her the high-booked cases ranged against the walls, the position of the furniture, and some dark heavy curtains at the end. She was the first then to come to the trist. She closed the door behind her, and moved slowly and cautiously forwards with her hands outstretched until she felt the curtains yield. She passed in between them into the recess of a greatable window, opening on to the park, and a sound, a strange creaking sound, brought her heart into her mouth. Someone was already in the room then. Somebody had been quietly watching as she came in from the lighted corridor. The sound grew louder. Anne peered between the curtains, holding them apart with shaking hands, and through that chink from behind her, a vague twilight flowed into the room. In the far corner, near to the door, high up on a tall bookcase, something was clinging, something was climbing down. Whoever it was had been hiding behind the ornamental top of the heavy mahogany bookcase, was now using the shells like the rungs of a ladder. Anne was seized with a panic. A sob broke from her throat. She ran for the door, but she was too late. A black figure dropped from the bookcase to the ground, and as Anne reached out her hands to the door, a scarf was whipped about her mouth, stifling her cry. She was jerked back into the room, but her fingers had touched the light switch by the door, and as she stumbled and fell, the room was lighted up. Her assailant fell upon her, driving the breath out of her lungs, and nodded the scarf tightly at the back of her head. Anne tried to lift herself and recognized with a gasp of amazement that the assailant who pinned her down by the weight of her body and the thrust of her knees was Francine Roulade. Her panic gave place to anger and a burning humiliation. She fought with all the strength of her supple body, but the scarf about her mouth stifled and weakened her, and with a growing dismay she understood that she was no match for the hearty peasant girl. She was the taller of the two, but her height did not avail her. She was like a child, matched with a wildcat. Francine's hands were made of steel. She snatched Anne's arms behind her back and bound her wrist as she lay face downwards, her bosom laboring, her heart racing, so that she felt that it must burst. Then, as Anne gave up the contest, she turned and tied her by the ankles. Francine was upon her feet again in a flash. She ran to the door, opened it a little way and beckoned. Then she dragged her prisoner up onto a couch and Jean Leclerc and Espinosa slipped into the room. It's done, said Espinosa. Francine laughed, but she thought, the pretty baby, you should have given her the coffee. Then she would have walked with us. Now she must be carried. She's wicked, I can tell you. Jean Leclerc twisted a lace scarf about the girl's face to hide the gag over her mouth and while Francine held her up, set her white cloak about her shoulders and fastened it in front. Espinosa then turned out the light and drew back the curtains. The room was at the back of the house. In the front of the window, the park stretched away, but it was the park of a French chateau where the cattle feed up to the windows and only a strip about the front terrace is devoted to pleasure gardens and fine lawns. Espinosa looked out upon a meadowland thickly studded with trees and cows dimly moving in the dusk of the summer night like ghosts. He opened the window and the throb of the music from the ballroom came faintly to their ears. We must be quick, said Espinosa. He lifted the helpless girl in his arms and passed out into the park. They held the window open behind them and between them they carried their prisoner across the grass keeping where it was possible in the gloom of the trees and aiming for a point in the drive where a motor car waited halfway between the house and the gates. A blur of light from the terrace and ornamental grounds in front of it became visible away upon their left but here all was dark. Once or twice they stopped and set Anne upon her feet and held her so while they rested. A few more yards Espinosa whispered and stifling Anne oath he stopped again. They were on the edge of the drive now and just ahead of him he saw the glimmer of a white dress and close to it the glow of a cigarette. Swiftly he put Anne down again and propped her against a tree. Jean Leclerc stood in front of her and as the druents from the ballroom approached she began to talk to Anne nodding her head like one engrossed in a lively story. Espinosa's heart stood still as he heard the man say why there are some others here that is curious shall we see but even as he moved across the drive the girl in the white dress caught him by the arm that would not be very tactful she said with a laugh let us do as we would be done by and the couple sauntered past. Espinosa waited until they had disappeared quick let us go he whispered in a shaking voice a few yards further on that they found Espinosa's closed car hidden in a little alley which led from the main drive they placed Anne in the car Jean Leclerc got in beside her and Espinosa took the wheel as they took the road to the Valdeton a distant clock struck 11 within the car Jean Leclerc removed the gag from Anne upcott's mouth drew the sack over her head and fastened it underneath her feet at the branch road young Espinosa was waiting with his motorcycle and sidecar I can add a few words to that story Madame Azele said no when she had ended first Michelle Levet went later into the library and bolted the window again believing you to be well upon your way to Paris second Espinosa and Jean Leclerc were taken as they returned to Madame Levet's ball End of chapter 24 Chapter 25 of The House of the Arrow by A. E. W. Mason this Libervocht recording is in the public domain Chapter 25 The Night of the 27th We are not yet quite at the end said Hanoe as he sat with Frobisher for a while upon the lawn after Anne upcott had gone in but we are near to it there is still my question to be answered why was the communicating door open between the bedroom of Madame Harlow and the treasure room on the night when Anne upcott came down the stairs in the dark when we know that we shall know why Francine Rolode and Betty Harlow between them murdered Madame Harlow then you believe Francine Rolode had a hand in that crime too asked Jim I am sure returned Hanoe do you remember the experiment I made the little scene of reconstruction Betty Harlow stretched out upon the bed to represent Madame and a Francine whispering now that will do now yes Hanoe lit a cigarette and smiled Francine Rolode would not stand at the side of the bed no she would stand at the foot and whisper those simple but appalling words but nowhere else that was significant my friend she would not stand directly where she had stood when the murder was committed he added softly I have great hopes of Francine Rolode a few days of a prison cell and that untamed little tiger cat will talk and what of Wabersky and all this Jim exclaimed and all laughed and rose from his chair Wabersky he is for nothing in all this he brought a charge in which he didn't believe and the charge happened to be true that is all he took a step or two away and returned but I am wrong that is not all Wabersky is indeed for something in all this for when he was pressed to make good his charge and must rake up some excuse for it somehow by a piece of luck he thinks of a morning when he saw Betty Harlow in the street of Gambetta near to the shop of Jean Claudel and so he leads us to the truth yes we owe something to that animal Boris Wabersky did I not tell you missure that we are all the servants of chance I know went from the garden and for three days Jim Frobischer saw him no more but the development which missure backs feared and for which and no hoped took place and on the third day and oh invited Jim to his office in the prefecture he had Jim's memorandum in his hand do you remember what you wrote he asked see he pushed the memorandum in front of Jim and pointed to a paragraph but in the absence of any trace of poison in the dead woman's body it is difficult to see how the criminal can be brought to justice except by a confession be the commission of another crime of a similar kind Hino's theory wants a poisoner always a poisoner Frobischer read it through now that is very true said Hino never have I come across a case more difficult at every step we break down I think I have my fingers on Jean Claudel I am five minutes too late I think that I shall get some useful evidence from a firm in Paris the firm has ceased to be for the last 10 years all the time I strike at air so I must take a risk yes and a serious one shall I tell you what that risk was I have to assume that mademoiselle Anne will be brought alive to the Hotel de Babrezat on the night of Madame Levet's ball that she would be brought back I had no doubt for one thing there could be no safer resting place for her than under the stone flags of the kitchen there for another there was the portmanteau in the sidecar it was not light the portmanteau some friends of mine watched it being put into the sidecar before young Aspenosa started for his rendezvous I have no doubt it weighed just as many kilos as mademoiselle Anne I never understood the reason for that portmanteau Frobischer interrupted it was a matter of timing there were 25 kilometers of a bad track with many sharp little twists between the Val-de-Zon and the Hotel de Babrezat and a motorcycle with an empty sidecar would take appreciably longer to cover the distance than a cycle with a sidecar waited which could take the corners at its top speed they were anxious to get the exact time the journey would take with Anne upcaught in the sidecar so that there might be no needless hanging about waiting for its arrival but they were a little too careful our friend Dabora said a shrewd thing didn't he some crimes are discovered because the alibis are too unnaturally perfect oh there was no doubt they meant to bring back mademoiselle Anne but suppose they brought her back dead it wasn't likely no it would be much easier to finish her off with the dose of the arrow poison no struggle no blood no trouble at all I reckoned that they would dope her at mademoiselle baseball and bring her back half conscious as indeed they meant to do but I shivered all that evening at the risk I had taken and when that cycle shut off its engine as we stood in the darkness of the gallery I was in despair he shook his shoulders uncomfortably as though the danger was not yet passed anyway I took the risk he resumed and so we got fulfilled your condition B the commission or in this case the attempted commission of another crime of the same kind fruish or nodded but now said Heno leaning forward we have got your condition A fulfilled a confession a clear and complete confession from Francine Roulade and so many admissions from the Espinosa's and Jean Leclerc and Morris Debenet that they amount to confessions we have put them all together and here is the new part of the case with which Mr. Beck's and you will have to deal the charge not of murder attempted but of murder committed the murder of madame Harlow Jim Frobischer was upon the point of interrupting but he thought better of it go on he contended himself with saying why Betty Harlow took to writing anonymous letters mature who shall say the doneness of life for a girl young and beautiful and passionate in a provincial town as our friend Boris suggests the craving for excitement something bad and vicious and abnormal born in her part of her and craving more and more expression as she grew in years the exacting attendance upon the madame probably all of these elements combined to suggest the notion to her and suddenly it became easy for her she discovered a bill in that box in Madame Harlow's bedroom a recited bill 10 years old from the firm of Chaperon builders of the route of Batignol in Paris you by the way saw an unburnt fragment of the bill in the ashes upon the hearth of the treasure room this bill disclosed to her the existence of the hidden passage between the treasure room and the Hotel de Brabazard for it was the bill of the builders who had repaired it at the order of Simon Harlow an old typewriting machine belonging to Simon Harlow and the absolute privacy of the Hotel de Brabazard made the game easy and safe but as the opportunity grew so did the desire Betty Harlow tasted the power she took one or two people into her confidence her maid Francine, Maris de Venet, Jean Leclerc and Jean Claudel a very useful personage and once started the circle grew blackmail followed blackmail of Betty Harlow you understand she the little queen became the big slave she must provide the Venet with his mistress Espinosa with his car and his house Jean Leclerc with her luxuries so the anonymous letters become themselves blackmailing letters Maris de Venet knows the police side of Dijon and the province Jean Leclerc has a friend shall we say in the director of an insurance company and believe me for a blackmailer nothing is more important than to know accurately the financial resources of one's let us say clients thus the game went merely on until money was wanted and it couldn't be raised Betty Harlow looked around Dijon there was no one for the moment to exploit yes one person let us do Betty Harlow the justice to believe that the suggestion came from that promising young novice Maris de Venet who was that person Mishir Frobisher even now Jim Frobisher was unable to guess the truth led up to it though he had been by Hanno's exposition why Madame Harlow herself Hanno explained and as Jim Frobisher started back in a horror of disbelief he continued yes it is so Madame Harlow received a letter at dinner time just as Anne Upcott did on the night of Mishir de Poillac's ball she took her dinner in bed do you remember that night that letter was shown to Jean Baudin the nurse who remembers it very well it demanded a large sum of money and something was said about a number of passionate letters which Madame Harlow might not care to have published not too much you understand but enough to make it clear that the liaison of Madame Riviera and Simon Harlow was not a secret from the scourge I'll tell you something else which will astonish you Mishir Frobisher that letter was shown not only to Jean Baudin but to Betty Harlow herself when she came to say good night and show herself in her new dance frock of silver tissue and her silver slippers it was no wonder that Betty Harlow lost her head a little when I sat my little trap for her in the library and pretended that I did not want to read what Madame had said to Jean Baudin after Betty Harlow had gone off to her ball I hadn't one idea what a very unpleasant little trap it was but wait a moment Frobisher interrupted if Madame Harlow showed this letter first of all to Jean Baudin and afterward to Betty Harlow in Jean Baudin's presence why didn't Jean Baudin speak of it at once to the examining magistrate when Wabersky brought his accusation she kept silent yes she kept silent why shouldn't she return to know Jean Baudin is a good and decent girl for her Madame Harlow had died a natural death in her sleep the very form in which death might be expected to come for her Jean Baudin didn't believe a word of Wabersky's accusation why should she rake up old scandals she herself proposed to Betty Harlow to say nothing about the anonymous letter Jim Frobisher thought over the argument and accepted it yes I see her point of view he admitted and Hano continued his narrative well then Betty Harlow is off to her ball on the boulevard yes and up God is in her sitting room Jean Baudin has finished her offices for the night Madame Harlow is alone what does she do drink for that night no she sits and thinks were there any of the letters which pass between her and Simon Harlow before she was Simon Harlow's wife still existing she had thought to have destroyed them all but she was a woman she might have clutched some back if there were any where would they be why in that house at the end of the secret passage some such thoughts must have passed through her mind for she rose from her bed slipped on her dressing gown and shoes unlocked the communicating door between her and the treasure room and passed by the secret way into the empty hotel de bravissar and what does she find there Monsieur a room in daily use a bundle of her letters ready in the top drawer of her empire writing table and on the writing table Simon's corona machine and the paper and envelopes of the anonymous letters Monsieur there is only one person who can have access to that room the girl whom she has befriended whom in her exacting way she no doubt loved and at 11 o'clock that night Francine Roulard is startled by the entrance of Madame Harlow into her bedroom for a moment Francine fancied that Madame had been drinking she was very quickly better informed she was told to get up to watch for Betty Harlow's return and to bring her immediately to Madame Harlow's bedroom at one o'clock Francine Roulard is waiting in the dark hall as Betty comes in from her party Francine Roulard gives her the message neither of these two girls know as yet how much of their villainies has been discovered but something at all events Betty Harlow bad Francine wait and ran upstairs silently to her room Betty Harlow was prepared against discovery she had been playing with fire and she didn't mean to be burnt she had the arrow poison ready yes ready for herself she filled her hypodermic needle and with that concealed in the palm of her glove she went to confront her benefactress you can imagine that scene the outraged woman whose romance and tragedy were to be exploited blurting out her fury in front of Francine Roulard it wasn't Robertsky who was to be stripped to the skin no but the girl in the pretty silver frock and the silver slippers you can imagine the girl too her purpose changing under the torrent of abuse why should she use the arrow poison to destroy herself when she can save everything fortune liberty position by murder only she must be quick Madame's voice is rising in gusts of violence even in that house of the old thick walls Jean Baudin someone might be awakened by the clamor and in a moment the brutal thing is done Madame Harlow is flung back upon her bed her mouth is covered and held by Francine Roulard the needle does its work that will do now whispers Betty Harlow but at the door of the treasure room in the darkness an up-god is standing unable to identify the voice which whispered just as you and I were unable mature to identify a voice which whispered to us from the window of Jean Claudel's house but taking deep into her memory the terrible words and neither of the murder wrasses knew it they go calmly about their search for the letters they cannot find them because Madame had pushed them into the coffer of old bills and papers they rearrange the bed they compose their victim in it as if she were asleep they pass into the treasure room and they forget to lock the door behind them very likely they visit the hotel de bravissar Betty Harlow has the rest of the arrow poison and the needle to put in some safe place and where else is safe in the end when every care has been taken that not a scrap of incriminating evidence is left to shout murder the next morning Betty creeps up the stairs to make sure that an up-god is asleep and an up-god waking stretches up her hands and touches her face that Mishir and Enno rose to his feet is what you would call the case of the crown it is the case which you and Mishir Bex have to meet Jim Frobisher made up his mind to say the things which he had almost said at the beginning of this interview I will tell Mishir Bex exactly what you have told me I shall give him every assistance that I personally or my firm can give but I have no longer any formal connection with the defense Enno looked at Frobisher in perplexity I don't understand Mishir this is not the moment to renounce a client nor do I return Frobisher it is the other way about Mishir Bex put it to me very how shall I say Enno supplied the missing word with the twitch of his lips very correctly he told me that mademoiselle did not wish to see me again Enno walked over to the window the humiliation evident in Frobisher's voice and face moved him he said very gently I can understand that can't you she has fought for a great stake all this last week her liberty her fortune her good name and you oh yes he continued as Jim stirred at the table let us be frank and you Mishir you were a little different from her friends from the earliest moment she set her passion upon you do you remember the first morning I came to the Maison Grinnell you promised Anne Upcock to put up there though you had just refused the same invitation from Betty Arlo such a fury of jealousy blazed in her eyes that I had to drop my stick with a clatter in the hall lest she should recognize that I could not but have discovered her secret well having fought for this stake and lost she would not wish to see you you had seen her too in her handcuffs and tied by the legs like a sheep I understand her very well Jim Frobisher remembered that from the moment Hano burst into the room at the Hotel de Brabazar Betty had never once even looked at him he got up from his chair and took up his hat and stick I must go back to my partner in London with this story as soon as I have told it to Mishir Bax he said I should like it complete when did you first suspect Betty Arlo Hano nodded that too I shall tell you oh don't thank me I am not so sure that I should be so ready with all of these competencies if I was not certain what the verdict in the SI's court must be I shall gather up for you the threads which are still loose but not here he looked at his watch see it is past noon we shall once more have Philippe Le Bonce terrace tower to ourselves it may be too that we shall see Mont Blanc across all the leagues of France come let us take your memorandum and go there end of chapter 25 chapter 26 of the house of the arrow by AEW Mason this LibriVox recording is in the public domain chapter 26 the facade of Notre Dame for a second time they were fortunate it was a day without mist or clouds and the towering silver ridge hung in the blue sky distinct and magical Hano lit one of his black cigarettes and reluctantly turned away from it there were two great mistakes made he said one at the very beginning by Betty Harlow one at the very end by me and of the two mine was the least excusable let us begin therefore at the beginning Madame Harlow has died a natural death she is buried Betty Harlow inherits the Harlow fortune Boris Wabersky asked her for money and she snaps her fingers why should she not ah but she must have been very sorry a week later that she snapped her the fingers for suddenly he flings his bomb Madame Harlow was poisoned by her niece Betty imagine Betty Harlow's feelings when she heard that the charges preposterous no doubt but it is also true a minute back she is safe nothing can touch her now suddenly her head is loose upon her neck she is frightened she is questioned in the examining magistrate's room the magistrate has nothing against her all will be well if she does not make a slip but there is a good chance she may make a slip for she has done the murder her danger is not any evidence which Wabersky can bring but just herself in two days she is still more frightened for she hears that Hano is called in from Paris so she makes her mistake she sends a telegram to you in London why was that a mistake Frobisher asked quickly because I began to ask myself at once how does Betty Harlow know that Hano has been called in oh to be sure I made a great fluster in my office about the treachery of my colleagues in Dijon but I did not believe a word of that no I am at once curious about Betty Harlow that is all still I am curious well we come to Dijon and you tell her that you have shown me that telegram yes Jim admitted I did I remember too he added slowly that she put out her hand on the windowsill yes as if to steady herself but she was quick to recover return to know with a nod of appreciation she must account for that telegram she cannot tell me that Maurice Thémenet sent a hurried word to her no so when I ask her if she has ever received one of these anonymous letters which remember were my real business in Dijon she says at once yes I received one on the Sunday morning which told me that Monsieur Hano was coming from Paris to make an end of me that was quick huh yes but I know it is a lie for it was not until the Sunday evening that any question of my being sent for arose at all you see Mademoiselle Betty was in a corner I had asked her for the letter she does not say that she has destroyed it lest I should at once believe that she never received any such letter at all on the contrary she says that it is in the treasure room which is sealed up knowing quite well that she can write it and to place it there by way of the hotel de bravissar before the seals are removed but for the letter to be in the treasure room she must have received it on the Sunday morning since it was on the Sunday morning that the seals were affixed she did not know when it was first proposed to call me in she draws a bow at a venture and I know that she is lying and I am more curious than ever about Betty Arlo he stopped for Jim Frobuchar was staring at him with the look of horror in his eyes it was I then who put you on her track I who came out to defend her he cried for it was I who showed you the telegram miss you Frobuchar that would not have mattered if Betty Harlow had been as you believed her innocent Hano replied gravely and Frobuchar was silent well then after my first interview with Betty Harlow I went over the house whilst you and Betty talked together in the library yes said Jim and in Mademoiselle and sitting room I found something which interested me at the first glance now tell me what it was and he cocked his head at Jim with the hope that his riddle would divert him from his self-reproaches and in that to some extent he succeeded that I can guess Frobuchar answered with a ghost of a smile it was the treatise on strophanthus yes the arrow poison the poison which leaves no trace miss sure that poison has been my nightmare who would be the first poisoner to use it how should I cope with him and prove that it brought no more security than arsenic or plastic acid these are questions which have terrified me and suddenly unexpectedly in a house where a death from heart failure has just occurred I find a dry as dust treatise upon the poison tucked away under a pile of magazines in a young lady sitting room I tell you I was staggered what was it doing there how did it come there I see a note upon the cover indicating a page I turn to the page and there staring at me is an account of Simon Harlow's perfect specimen of a poison arrow the anonymous letters they are at once forgotten what if that animal waberski without knowing it were right and madame Harlow was murdered in the mezonga now I must find that out I tuck the treatise up my back beneath my waistcoat and I go downstairs again asking myself some questions is mademoiselle ann interested in such matters as strophanthus hispitas or had she anything to hope for from madame Harlow's death or did she perhaps not know at all that the treatise was under that pile of magazines upon the table at the side I do not know and my head is rather in a whirl then I catch that wicked look of Betty Harlow at her friend mature of revealing look I have not the demure and a simple young lady of convention to deal with at all no I go away from the mezonga annel still more curious about Betty Harlow Jim Frobuchar sat quickly down at Hanoe's side are you sure of that he asked suspiciously quite Hanoe replied in wonder you have forgotten haven't you that immediately after you left the mezonga annel that day you had the sergeant de Villa removed from its gates no I don't forget that at all Hanoe answered imperturbably the sergeant de Villa and his white trousers was an absurdity worse than that an actual hindrance there is little use in watching people who know that they are being watched so I remove the sergeant de Villa and now I can begin really to watch those young ladies of the mezonga annel and that afternoon was mature frobuchar is removing his luggage from his hotel Betty Harlow goes out for a walk is discreetly followed by Nicholas Moreau and vanishes I don't blame Nicholas he must not press too close upon her heels she was in that place of small lanes about the hotel de brabazar no doubt it was through the little postern in the wall which we ourselves used a few days afterwards that she vanished there was the anonymous letter to be written ready for me to receive when the seals of the treasure room were broken but I don't know that yet no all that I know is that Betty Harlow goes out for a walk and is lost and after an hour reappears in another street meanwhile I pass my afternoon examining so far as I can how these young ladies pass their lives and who are their friends an examination not very productive and not altogether futile for I find some curious friends in Betty Harlow's circle now observe this mature young girls with advanced ideas social political literary and what you will in their case curious friends mean nothing they are to be expected but with a young girl who is to all appearances leading the normal life of her class the case is different in her case curious friends are curious the espinoza S'mores de Venet Jean Leclerc flashy cheap people of that type how shall we account for them as friends of that delicate piece of china Betty Harlow Jim Frobischer nodded his head he too had been a trifle disconcerted by the familiarity between espinoza and Betty Harlow the evening Hano continued which you spent so pleasantly in the cool of the garden with the young ladies I spent with the Edinburgh professor and I prepared a little trap yes and the next morning I came early to the Maison Grinnell and I set my little trap I replaced the book about the arrows on the bookshelf in its obvious place and oh pause in his explanation to take another black cigarette from his eternal blue bundle and to offer one to Jim then comes our interview with the animal Waversky and he tells me that queer story about Betty Harlow in the street of Gambetta close to the shop of Jean Clodell he may be lying he may be speaking the truth and what he saw might be an accident yes but also it fits in with this theory of Madame Harlow's murder which is now taking hold of me for if that poison was used then someone who understood the composition of drugs must have made the solution from the paste upon the arrow I am more curious than ever about Betty Harlow and the moment that animal has left me I spring my trap and I have a success beyond all my expectations I point to the treatise of the Edinburgh professor it was not in its place yesterday it is today who then replaced it I asked that question and mademoiselle Anne is utterly at sea she knows nothing about that book that is evident as Montblanc over there in the sky on the other hand Betty Harlow knows at once who has replaced that book and in a most unwise moment of sarcasm she allows me to see that she knows she knows that I found it yesterday that I have studied it since and replaced it and she is not surprised no for she knows where I found it I am at once like Wabersky I know it in my heart that she put it under those magazines in an upcott's room although I do not yet know it in my head Betty Harlow had prepared to divert suspicion from herself upon an upcott should suspicion arise but innocent people do not do that Mishir then we go into the garden and mademoiselle Anne tells us her story Mishir Frobisher I said to you immediately afterwards that all great criminals who are women are great actresses but never in my life have I seen one who acted so superbly as Betty Harlow while that story was being unfolded imagine it a cruel murder has been secretly committed and suddenly the murderer has to listen to a true account of that murder in the presence of the detective who is there to fix the guilt there was someone at hand all the time almost an eyewitness perhaps an actual eyewitness for she cannot know that she is safe until the last word of the story is told picture to yourself Betty Harlow's feelings during that hour in the pleasant garden if you can the questions which must have been racing through her mind did Anne upcott in the end creep forward and appear through the lighted doorway does she know the truth and has she kept it hidden until this moment when Hanno and Frobisher are present and she can speak it safely will her next words be and here at my side sits the murderess these must have been terrible moments for Betty Harlow yet she gave no sign of any distress Frobisher added but she took a precaution Hanno remark she ran suddenly and very swiftly into the house yes you seem to me on the point of stopping her and I was continued to know but I let her go and she returned with the photographs of Mrs Harlow Frobisher interrupted oh with more than those photographs Hanno exclaimed she turned her chair towards Mademoiselle Anne she sat with her handkerchief in her hand and her face against her handkerchief listening the tender sympathetic friend but when Mademoiselle Anne told us that the hour of the murder was half past in a weakness overtook her could not but overtake her and in that moment of weakness she dropped her handkerchief oh she picked it up again at once yes but where the handkerchief had fallen her foot now rested and when the story was all ended and we got up from our chairs she spun round upon her heel with a certain violence so that there was left a hole in that well watered turf I was anxious to discover what it was that she had brought out from the house in her handkerchief and had dropped with her handkerchief and had driven with all the weight of her body into the turf so that no one might see it in fact I left my gloves behind in order that I might come back and discover it but she was too quick for me she fetched my gloves herself much to my shame that I Hanno should be waited on by so exquisite a young lady however I found it afterwards when you and Girodo and the others were all waiting for me in the library it was that tablet of cyanide a potassium which I showed to you in the prefecture she did not know how much Ann Upcott was going to reveal the arrow poison had been hidden away in the Hotel de Brabazar but she had something else at hand more rapid death like a thunderbolt so she ran into the house for it I tell you miss sure it wanted nerve to sit there with that tablet close to her mouth she grew very pale I do not wonder what I do wonder is that she did not topple straight off her chair in a dead faint before us all but no she sat ready to swallow that tablet at once if there were need before my hand could stop her once more I say to you people who are innocent do not do that Jim had no argument were with to answer yes he was forced to admit she could have got the tablets no doubt for John Claudel very well then and I've resumed we have separated for luncheon and in the afternoon the seals are to be removed before that takes place certain things must be done the clock must be moved from the mantel shelf in the treasure room on to the marketry cabinet some letters too must be burned yes why Robesher asks eagerly and oh shrugged his shoulders the letters were burned it is difficult to say for my part I think those old letters between Simon Harlow and Madame Rabia alluded too often to the secret passage but here I am guessing what I learnt for certain during that luncheon hour is that there is a secret passage and that it runs from the treasure room to the hotel de bravissar for this time Nicholas Marot makes no mistake he follows her to the hotel de bravissar and I from this tower see the smoke rising from the chimney look Michelle there it is but no smoke rises from it today he rose to his feet and turned his back upon Mont Blanc the trees in the garden the steep yellow patterned roof and the chimneys of the Maison Grinnell stood out above the lesser buildings which surrounded them only from one of the chimneys did the smoke rise today and that one at the extreme end of the building where the kitchens were we are back then in the afternoon the seals are removed we are in Madame Harlow's bedroom and something I cannot explain occurs the disappearance of the necklace Rabissar exclaimed confidently and I know Grand joyfully see I set a trap for you and at once you were caught he cried the necklace oh no no I am prepared for that the guilt is being transferred to mademoiselle Anne good but it is not enough to hide the book about the arrow in her room no we must provide her also with a motive mademoiselle is poor mademoiselle and here it's nothing therefore the necklace worth a hundred thousand pounds vanishes and you must draw from its vanishing what conclusion you will no the little matter I cannot explain is different Betty Harlow and our friend Giroudot pay a visit to Jean Baudin's bedroom to make sure that a cry from Madame's room could not be heard there yes our good Giroudot comes back yes but he comes alone that is the little thing I cannot explain where is Betty Harlow I ask for her before I go into the treasure room and low very modestly and quietly she has slipped in amongst us again I am very curious about that my friend and I keep my eyes open for an explanation I assure you I remember said Rabissar you stopped with your hand upon the door and asked for mademoiselle Harlow I wondered why you stopped I attached no importance to her absence no flourish his hand he was happy he was in the artist's mood the work was over the long strain and pain of it now let those outside admire of all that the treasure room had to tell us you know Mr. Frohwischer but I answer a question in your memorandum the instant I am in that room I look for the mouth of that secret passage from the Hotel de Rabissar at once I see there is only one place the elegant sedan chair framed so prettily in a recess of the wall so I am very careful not to pry amongst its cushions for the poison arrow just as I am very careful not to ask for the envelope with the postmark in which the anonymous letter was sent if Betty Harlow thinks that she has overreached the old fox and oh good let her think so so we go upstairs and I find the explanation of that little matter of Betty Harlow's absence which has been so troubling me Jim Frohwischer stared at him no he said I haven't got that we went into an upgot sitting room I write my memorandum with the shaft of the poison arrow and you notice it yes but the matter of Betty Harlow's absence no I haven't got that but you have cried I know that pin it was not there in the pen tray on the day before when I found the book there was just one pin the foolish thing young ladies use a great goose quill dyed red and nothing else the arrow shaft have been placed there since when why just now it is clear that where was that shaft of the poison arrow before in one of two places either in the treasure room or in the hotel de bravissar Betty Harlow has fetched it away during that hour of freedom she carries it in her dress she seizes her moment when we are all in Madame Harlow's bedroom and there it is in the pen tray of mademoiselle and to make suspicion that's still more convincing Mishir I walk away with Mishir Beks who has some admirable scheme that I should search the gutters for a matchbox full of pearls I agree oh yes that is the only way Mishir Beks has found it on the other hand I get some useful information about the maize uncle annel and the hotel de bravissar I carry that information to a very erudite gentleman in the palace of the departmental archives and the next morning I know all about the severe etienne de granel and the joyous madame de bravissar so when you and Betty Harlow are rehearsing in the val de zone Nicolas Marot and I are very busy in the hotel de bravissar with the results which now are clear to you and one of which I have not told you for the pearl necklace was in the drawer of the writing table jim provisor took a turn across the terrace yes the story was clear to him now a story of dark passions and vanity and greed of power with cruelties for its methods was there no spark of hope and cheer in all this desolation he turned abruptly upon Hanoe he wished to know the last hidden detail you said that you had made the inexcusable mistake what was it I bad you read my estimate of an upcott on the facade of the church of Notre Dame and I did cry jim provisor he was still looking towards the maize uncle annel and his arm swept to the left of the house his fingers pointed at the renaissance church with its cupolas and its logia to which Betty Harlow had driven him there it is and under its porch is that terrible relief of the last judgment yes said Hanoe quietly but that is the church of Saint Michel monsieur he turned provisor about between him and Montblanc close at his feet rose the slender abs of a gothic church delicate and its structure like a jewel that is the church of Notre Dame let us go down and look at the facade Hanoe let provisor to the wonderful church and pointed to the frieze there provisor saw such images of devils half beast half human such grinning hogmen such tortured creatures with heads twisted round so that they looked backwards such old and drunken and vicious horrors as imagination could hardly conceive and amongst them one girl praying her sweet face tormented her hands tightly clasped an image of terror and faith a prisoner amongst all these monsters imploring the passersby for their pity and their help that monsieur provisor is what i sent you out to see said Hanoe gravely but you did not see it his face changed as he spoke it shone with kindness he lifted his hat jim provisor with his eyes fixed in wonder upon that frieze heard an upcott's voice behind him and how do you interpret that strange word monsieur Hanoe she stopped beside the two men that mademoiselle i shall leave monsieur provisor to explain to you both an upcott and jim provisor turned hurriedly towards Hanoe but already he was gone end of chapter 26 end of the house of the arrow by A. E. W. Mason