The Luminous Face

“Because it seems to incriminate him,” Zizi nodded her little head; “but I compel the truth – don’t I?” she smiled at Phyllis. “I’ll bet you wouldn’t have said that to any other detective. Well, now, with the knowledge that Mr Barry is quick tempered, that he was jealous of Mr Gleason and that he wrote the threatening letter, and that he has given no positive account of what he was doing at the critical moment – shall we suspect him? Answer, no.”

“Why?” Phyllis spoke breathlessly, relieved but anxious to know more.

“Well, principally for the reason that he has confessed.”

“Don’t murderers ever confess?” Louis asked, his eyes on the beautiful young thing that was of a type hitherto unknown in his experience.

Zizi was not really beautiful, but her magnetic charm was so great, her ways so winsome, and her mysterious eyes so full of changing expression and half-veiled witchery that she enthralled them all.

Wise watched her. He was accustomed to have his clients surprised at his strange little assistant, but oftener they were critical than wholly admiring. Tonight, however, Zizi was at her best – she was more than usually attractive, and her manner was gentler than she often chose to make it.

“Oh, yes,” she said, in reply to Louis’ query, “but you have to know why they confess. You see Mr Barry confessed to shield some one else.”

“Who?” Louis asked, but he flushed and looked embarrassed.

“You know who,” Zizi returned, “and maybe it wasn’t only yourself, but Phyllis, too. You see – you must see, all of you, that the situation is serious. Louis was there very shortly before the crime took place. Phyllis is said to have been there – whether she was or not – no one can be found who saw or spoke to Mr Gleason after that – so it would be just like the detectives to fasten the crime on one or both of the Lindsays. Anyway, that’s the way it looked to Mr Barry, and in his quick tempered – which means impulsive way – he gave himself up. Although he is as innocent of the crime as you two are.”

“My goodness!” Millicent exclaimed, “you start out by clearing all those who have been suspected!”

“Not all. There still remain several of the Club men – also the possibility of a stranger – I mean a stranger to you people who are interested. Mrs Lindsay, where did your brother live before he went to Seattle?”

“In a little village in New Hampshire – Coggs’ Hollow.”

“Lovely name! Did you live there, too?”

“No; I lived in Ohio with my parents. An uncle, my mother’s brother, took Robert to live with him, in New Hampshire, when the boy was quite small. That’s why Robert and I never saw much of each other. We were affectionate enough when we met, but living apart, we were not really intimate. I was surprised when he came East, and we renewed our family relations. Then – ”

“Then he fell in love with Phyllis” – Zizi interrupted. “And it wasn’t reciprocated.”

“Quite true,” Phyllis said, calmly.

“Yes,” Millicent agreed, “it was really love at first sight. And as Phyllis had any number of suitors, Robert tried to cut them out by promises of such luxuries and dazzling prospects as his wealth could offer. But Phyllis couldn’t seem to bring herself to say yes – ”

“But she had, hadn’t she?” Zizi didn’t look at Phyllis. “Wasn’t the dinner party to be an announcement?”

Millicent shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know,” she said: “ask her.”

Zizi turned. “How about it, Phyllis?”

“I don’t know, either,” Phyllis said, slowly. “I had half promised – because – oh, why not tell? because Mr Gleason had promised me a lot of money – which I very much needed – at once – if I would make the announcement that night.”

“Go on, tell it all,” Pennington Wise put in; “you wanted that money – ”

“To pull me out of a desperate hole,” Louis burst forth. “I got in bad – very bad – with some gamblers and some loan sharks – and Sis was good enough to try to get me out of it. She – she didn’t have to marry old Gleason – even if she did announce an engagement.”

“Hush, Buddy,” said Phyllis, looking at him reprovingly; “I never thought of saying yes to him, and backing out afterward. I wouldn’t do such a thing. But I planned to go there that afternoon and try once more to persuade him to give me the money, without a definite promise on my part. I hoped that for the sake of Louis’ good name I could persuade him. But – I didn’t go.”

“Never mind all that,” Zizi said, impatiently, “it won’t get us anywhere to mull over that. Now, Penny Wise, here’s where I stand. All people here present are innocent of this crime. Philip Barry – I think – is also innocent. I’ve no reason to suspect a stranger – an acquaintance of Mr Gleason’s – and I think if there were such an individual, there must have been some trace of him. People don’t glide in and out of a situation like shadows.”

“Go slow, Ziz,” cautioned the detective, looking at her thoughtfully. “Keep your imagination in leash.”

“Yes, sir,” and she bowed with mock docility. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go to Coggs’ Hollow.”

“To-night!” gasped Millicent, as Zizi rose, and began pulling on her gloves.

“Yes; there’s a train at midnight, I can easily catch it. Good-by, all.”

She drew her cloak together and fastened it, and held out her hand to Wise with a demanding gesture.

Understandingly, he took out his pocketbook, and gave it to her without a word.

She tucked it into her roomy handbag, and turned to the door.

“I’ll go with you,” Louis cried, already in the hall, and getting into his overcoat.

“To the station? Thank you,” Zizi smiled.

“No; all the way. To New Hampshire.”

“Nixy!” she laughed, flashing her white teeth. “He travels the fastest who travels alone. But I’ll be glad to have you entrain me.”

The two went out together, and hailing a taxicab, Louis delightedly put Zizi in.

“Anyway, I’ll have you to myself for an hour,” he exulted. “What are you, I can’t make you out. A sprite, a witch, an elf?”

“Oh, yes, all those things, and a girl beside. And you needn’t fall in love with me – it would be a foolishness.”

“But I’ve already fallen.”

“Oh, well, all right. It doesn’t matter.” Zizi was absorbed in thought, and seemed really to care nothing at all for Louis’ state of mind.

Meantime, Millicent was demanding of Pennington Wise an explanation of the astonishing Zizi.

“Don’t worry about her,” he said, smiling. “Don’t think about her. She never does a wrong thing – in detective work, I mean. She will some day – I daresay – and it may be she has now. But she acts on impulse, on intuition, on what some people call a hunch. And I’ve never known her to slip up. She is a wonder – but don’t try to understand her – for you can’t.”

“But will she go to New Hampshire – all alone by herself? At night!”

“Oh, yes, and she’ll take care of herself.”

“Louis will go with her,” Phyllis said, “I know he will.”

“No, Miss Lindsay, you’re mistaken there. Zizi won’t let your brother accompany her.”

“I’m sure it would be all right,” Millicent observed; “at work on a case, you know.”

“Right enough, but Zizi won’t let him go because she doesn’t want him to. Now, as to Mr Gleason’s will. Did you two ladies know about its terms?”