Trent's Last Case

rent, who had slept ill, went down before eight o'clock to a pool among the rocks, the direction of which had been given him, and dived deep into clear water. Between v

nd, cleared for the moment of a heavy disgust for the affair

t's shop, conferred privately for some time with a photographer, sent off a reply-paid telegram, and made an enquiry at the telephone exchange. He had said but little about the case to Mr. Cupples, who seemed incurious on his side, and nothing at all about the results of his investigation or the steps he wa

or hours to the exclusion of sleep; and in this glorious light and air, though washed in body and spirit by the fierce purity of the sea, he only saw the more clearly the darkness of the guilt in which he believed, and was more bitterly repelled by the motive at which he guessed. But now at least his zeal was awake again, and the sense of

he most delicately beautiful of all the movements of water-the wash of a light sea over broken rock. But no rock was there. A few feet below him a broad ledge stood out, a rough platform as large as a great room, thickly grown with wiry grass

s of the straight and fine sort, exquisitely escaping the perdition of too much length, which makes a conscientious mind ashamed that it cannot help, on occasion, admiring the tip-tilted. Her hat lay pinned to the grass beside her, and the lively breeze played with her thick dark hair, blowing backward the two broad bandeaux that should have covered much of her forehead, and agitating a hundred tiny curls from the mass gathered at her nape. Everything about this lady was black, from her shoes of suede to the hat that she had discarded; lustreless black covered her to her bare throat. All she wore was fine and well put on. Dreamy and delicate of spir

all times his keen vision and active brain took in and tasted details with an easy swiftness that was marvellous to men of slower chemistry; the need to stare, he held, was evidence

body with feline grace, then slowly raised her head and extended her arms with open, curving fingers, as if to gather to her all the glory and overwhelming sanity of t

He knew suddenly who the woman must be, and it was as if a curta

*

ird-like alertness. The prospect of the inquest seemed to enliven him. He entertained Trent with a disquisition upon the history of that most ancient and once busy tribunal, the coro

t this end of the wire, as he expresses it, of the complicated business situation caused by the death of his principal, and he has advised very wisely as to the steps I should take on Mabel's behalf, and the best course for her to pursue until effect has been given to the provisions of the will. I was accordingly less disposed than I might otherwise have been to regard his suggestion of an industrial vendetta as far-fetched. When I questioned him he was able to describe a number of cases in w

'that Puritanism was about as stro

h is extremely well illustrated by the case of Manderson himself, who had, I believe, the virtues of purity, abstinence, and self-restraint in their strongest form. No, Trent, there are other and more worthy things among the moral constituents of which I spoke; and in our finite nature, the more we preoccupy ourselves with the bewildering complexity of external apparatus which science places in our hands, the less vigour have we left for the development of the holie

he Foreigner", you would find multitudes to go to the stake for it. But you were planning to go to White Gables before the inquest, I think. You ought to be

een that morning, he did not wish it to come from his hand. An exaggerated chivalry had lived in Trent since the first teachings of his mother; but at this moment the horror of bruising anything so lovely was almost as much the artist's revulsion as the gentleman's. On the other hand, was the hunt to end in nothing? The quality of the affair was such that

owe and the American standing in talk before the front

s presentation her eyes of golden-flecked brown observed him kindly. In her pale composure, worn as the mask of distress, there was no trace of the emotion that had seemed a ha

she said earnestly. 'Do y

Manderson. When I have the case sufficiently complete I shall ask you to let me see you

r an instant in her eyes. 'If it is necess

e desired to hear her voice and watch her face a little longer, if it might be; but the matter he had to mention really troubled his mind, it was a queer thing that fitted nowhere into the pattern within who

opportunity of studying the case, that I am going to ask leave to put a questi

,' said Trent hurriedly. 'We know that your husband lately drew an unusually large sum of ready money from his L

t imagine,' she said. 'I did not know he had

it sur

to be irritated about something, and asked me at once if I had any notes or gold I could let him have until next day. I was surprised at that, because he was never without

t tell you why

nd he thought it might help him to sleep. He had been sleeping badly, as perhaps you know. Then he went off with Mr. Marlow

slowly upon the lawn. The young man seemed relieved to talk about the coming business of the day. Though he still seemed tired out and nervous, he showed himself not without a quiet humour in

e oddest facts. But I have lived long enough in the United States to know that such a stroke of revenge, done in a secret, melodramatic way, is not an unlikely thing. It is

own name?' e

nty minutes. You know how fond they are of lodges and brotherhoods. Every college club has its secret signs and handgrips. You've heard of the Know-Nothing movement in politics, I dare say, and the Ku Klux Klan. Then look at Brigham Young's penny-dreadful tyra

r the determination to make life interesting and lively in spite of civilization. To return to the matter in hand, however; has it struck you as a possibility that Manderson's mind

es in with what we've just been saying. Manderson had a strong streak of the national taste for dramatic proceedings. He was rather fond of his well-earned reputation for unexpe

ris?' inter

o various things I booked a deck-cabin, at Manderson's request, for a Mr. George Harris on the boat that sailed on Monday. It seems that Manderson suddenly found

few words at the end of your conversation with Manderson in the orchard before you started with him in the car. He heard him say, "If Harris is there, every moment is of importance." Now, Mr. Marlowe,

ctive. Manderson plainly said to me that he could not tell me what it was all about. He simply wanted me to find Harris, tell him that he desired to know how matters stood,

at you were taking him for a moonlight run. Why

of helplessness. 'Why? I ca

zing on the ground, 'did he conceal it-fro

ther amended coolly. 'He

the subject. He drew from his breast-pocket a letter-case,

er see them before? Have you any idea where they come from?' he a

m the October pages,' Marlowe observed, looking them over on both sides. 'I see no writin

might have such a diary without your having seen it. But I didn't much expect you wo

n came towards them. 'My uncle think

re certain business matters that must be disposed of as soon as possible. Will you com

came up this morning in order to look about me here for some indications I thou

Trent. Please do exactly as you wish. We are all relying upon yo

cle and the American had alre

companion. 'That is a wonderful

,' replied Marlowe in a similar

the road a boy appeared trotting towards them from the direction of the hotel. In his hand was the orange envelope, unmistakable afar off, of a telegram. Trent wat

e young man. '

guess. It's one of the things you can

marked in one way or another, perhaps. I should h

my hair wan

e seen artists do, with an eye that moves steadily from deta

legram for you, sir,' he sai

his eyes lighted up so visibly as he read the sl

news,' he murmure

be read. 'Not exactly news,' he said. 'It only tells