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Mansion of Mystery

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<h2 id="id00121" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER II</h2> <h5 id="id00122">LOVE UNDER A SHADOW</h5> Raymond Case dropped back into his chair and buried his face in his hands. Adam Adams eyed him curiously and with something of a fatherly glance. "It is plain to see what his trouble is," thought the detective. "He is in love." He was right, Raymond Case was furiously, desperately, hopelessly in love. He had met Margaret Langmore at Bar Harbor but a few short weeks before, and it had been a case of love at first sight upon both sides. A few automobile rides and a few dances, and he had proposed and been accepted, and he had counted himself the happiest man in all this wide world. And now— "Then they suspect the servant girl?" queried Adam Adams, knowing they did nothing of the sort. "No!" came sharply. "They suspect Margaret—Miss Langmore." "Ah!" "Yes. It is—is preposterous—absurd, but they insist. And that is what has brought me to you. I want to prove her innocence to the world. Do that, and you can name your own price, Mr. Adams." "You have a high regard for the young lady—you are close friends?" "More. I may as well tell you, though so far Margaret and I have kept the matter more or less a secret. I love her and we are engaged to be married." "Did Mr. Langmore know of his daughter's engagement?" "He did, and he approved of it." "And what of Mrs. Langmore, didn't she approve?" "She did not know of it. Margaret did not tell her." "Why not?" "Because—well, the young lady and her stepmother did not get along very well together. Margaret wanted to be friendly, but Mrs. Langmore was very dictatorial, and besides she loved her own children better than Mr. Langmore's." "Let me ask, was the daughter on good terms with her father?" "Yes, excepting on one point. He wished her to obey her stepmother and that she was not always willing to do. This brought on a run of petty quarrels which fairly made Margaret sick." "And this is the reason why the police think Miss Langmore the guilty person?" "It is. Their theory is that she first quarrelled with her stepmother and murdered her, and then struck down her father to cover her guilt, he having discovered what she was doing." "How old is Miss Langmore?" "She has just passed her twenty-third birthday." "Humph! Rather young to commit such a cold-blooded crime as this." "She never did do it—I'll wager my life on it! Oh, it's absurd—insulting! But what are you going to do with a lot of pig-headed country police—" "How did they come to suspect her? Was there nothing else?" "Yes, there was. Mrs. Bardon, the woman who lives next door, is a great gossip and one who is continually poking her nose into other folks' business. She told the police that she was out in the garden cutting a bouquet early in the morning, and she heard a violent quarrel going on at the breakfast table between Mrs. Langmore and Margaret, and that Mr. Langmore took his wife's part. Margaret wished to give a small house party and Mrs. Langmore would not listen to it." "Did Mrs. Bardon hear all that was said?" "No, only enough to make her run to the police with the tale." "Is any other house near by?" "The Harrison mansion, but it is locked up, as the family is in Europe." "Did you hear if Mrs. Bardon and her son were home all morning?" "They were, excepting when the doctor went out to make some calls, between nine and eleven." "Did they see any suspicious characters around the Langmore mansion?" "Not a soul." "Did Mary Billings, the servant, see anybody?" "She thinks she saw somebody near the river, but she is not sure; in fact, she is so scared that she is all mixed up. She has told the police a thousand times that she had nothing to do with the crime." "Did Miss Langmore see anybody?" "She saw a Doctor Bird pass in his buggy and a farmer named Carboy go by on foot." "When was this?" "While she was at the piano. She doesn't know the exact time." There was a pause and the detective gave a faraway look out of the window and down the bustling thoroughfare. "So far as you are aware, Mr. Case, did Mr. Langmore have any personal enemies?" "I never heard of any." "He was rich?" "Yes." "What was his business?" "He was a dealer in patents and a promoter. Some thought he was rather eccentric, but I never found him so. He used to have an office here in New York but gave that up a year ago." "Well, what is your idea of this crime?" "I haven't any. But I know Margaret Langmore is not guilty." "Evidently if they suspect her they have concluded that Mrs. Langmore was killed first." "That is their idea, but it looks to me as if both were killed at about the same time, although I know that couldn't very well be." "No, not if one was upstairs and the other down. Do you think it possible that one killed the other and then committed suicide?" At this Raymond Case started back. "I had not thought of that!" he cried. "If it is true then that clears Margaret." Evidently he was thinking only of the girl he loved—everything else concerning the mystery was of secondary consideration. "Such a thing is possible, although not probable, unless the two had a bitter quarrel between themselves. Every crime must have a motive. People do not commit murder unless there is a reason for it or unless they are insane. Motives may be divided into three classes—jealousy, revenge, or gain. In this instance I think we can throw out jealousy—" "Mrs. Langmore was jealous of Margaret." "And wasn't the young lady jealous of her stepmother in a way?" "But she is not guilty—I'll stake my life on her innocence." "Then let us come down to revenge or gain. You say nothing was stolen. Was there a safe in the house?" "Yes, and it is closed, and will remain so until the experts open it." "Nobody knew the combination but Mr. Langmore?" "That's it. Margaret did know, but her stepmother had her father change the combination and keep it to himself." "Had he much money in the house?" "I think not. Margaret says her father was in the habit of depositing cash in the bank as soon as he received it." "What sort of promoting did he do?" "He organized companies to manufacture his patents. He also speculated in real estate and in mortgages. He owned two buildings in this city and several in the country." "Who are the other members of the family?" "Margaret's married sister, Mrs. Andrew Wetherby, of Sanhope, and Mrs. Langmore's two sons, Tom and Dick Ostrello." "Where are these people located?" "Mrs. Wetherby is traveling with her husband in South America. The Ostrello brothers are commercial travelers and somewhere on the road." "Then the Ostrellos are not rich?" "No, they are poor, and Mrs. Ostrello was poor, too, before she married Mr. Langmore." There was another pause. "Can you tell me anything else?" asked Adam Adams. "Nothing of much importance. It's a deep mystery, isn't it?" "Yes, it's very simplicity makes it deep." The detective drew a long breath. "I was thinking of taking a vacation. My doctor says I need it." "Oh!" There was a world of disappointment in the word. "Don't say that! You must take hold of this. I planned it all out as I came to town. I know you can clear Margaret if you will only try. Think of her position—the disgrace—my position— Oh, you can't refuse me, Mr. Adams!" The young man came closer and caught the detective by the shoulder. "If it's money, set your price." "If I take hold, I'll charge you only what is fair, Mr. Case. But I never take a case, unless—" "Any request you have to make is already granted." "Unless I can first interview the person who stands accused of the crime." "You can see Miss Langmore at any time. I told her that I was coming to town to interview you, and that I would bring you back with me, if you would come. I told her what a wonderful man you were and what you had done for others. I think it cheered her a little, although she was terribly cast down." "You must not promise too much on my account, young man. I am no wizard, and I cannot perform the impossible, much as I might wish to do so." "But you will come?" "Yes, I will come." "At once?" cried Raymond Case impatiently. "At once." <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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